Category: blaze media

By now, you have seen the headlines about Grok creating nonconsensual images of real people and reposting them online for the world to see. You may even have spotted these images in your X feed. Not only is the emergence of this kind of content a problem for the platform, but it’s especially risky when you remember that the fate of the republic rests partly on the shoulders of X and Elon Musk.

The story so far

This is a rapidly developing story, so the details are likely to expand in the coming weeks. So far, this is what we know.

Last week, a barrage of X users were found using Grok to digitally remove the clothing of photos containing real women, often putting them in bikinis or other skimpy outfits. While this is bad enough on its own, some users even targeted minors — including one of the prominent actors in “Stranger Things” — to swap outfits for something inappropriate, and Grok complied.

We have to address how Grok’s behavior could impact X on the world stage.

After plenty of blowback on the web, Elon Musk issued a firm statement, warning, “Anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content.” The X Safety account later doubled down with the same message, explaining that the platform takes action against CSAM content on X by removing the images, suspending accounts, and even working with local law enforcement as necessary.

That wasn’t enough, however. Although Musk and company scrubbed the social network of the illegal imagery depicting minors, users continued to undress photos of real adult women without discretion. As a result of further inaction, U.S. Democrats asked Apple and Google to remove X from their app stores (though that hasn’t happened yet), the U.K. instated a law that makes it illegal to create nonconsensual intimate images, and Malaysia and Indonesia blocked Grok altogether.

This ultimately prompted Musk to remove Grok’s image creation and editing tool from public access, instead restricting it to paid users, where any illicit activity can be attached directly to users’ accounts and identities.

A self-imposed problem of reckless proportions

The problem of Grok creating nonconsensual images is bad enough on its own. In the United States, we have nonconsensual intimate images laws that prohibit the threat and distribution of private photos and videos. More specifically, the Take It Down Act was designed to protect victims of such content, and posting it on X violates the platform’s user policies.

The worst part is that none of this needed to happen. The fact that Grok can remove the clothes of unconsenting users — adults or otherwise — is an entirely self-made problem that could have been avoided with some proper guardrails. It should not have been an option in the first place, but now that it is, we have to deal with it. Even more important than that, we have to address how Grok’s behavior could impact X on the world stage.

RELATED: Ted Cruz pelted with insane AI memes as X bans unpaid users from editing pics with Grok

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

1. One more reason to block free speech

Foreign governments have already been looking for excuses to ban X from their slice of the public square ever since Musk opened the platform to free speech in 2022. This latest stunt is the final reason they need to prove that X is “dangerous” to their people, and places like the U.K., Malaysia, and Indonesia are already moving ahead with laws to restrict or downright ban access. This is bad, of course, because X is one of few online platforms that not only values free speech but encourages it. When users lose access to X, wherever they are, they lose access to the truth.

2. A test of political loyalty

While the governments that already hate Elon Musk are a lost cause, legal missteps with Grok unnecessarily test the loyalty and values of U.S. politicians who are friends with Musk. Lawmakers on the right now have to choose between regulating Grok to protect X users who were harmed by the photos and giving Elon a pass while he self-governs the platform into a better place. Meanwhile, the left will continue to villainize Musk, Grok, and X every chance they get, no matter what happens. It’s a tough position to be in, and it’s a shame that it had to come to this at all.

3. Users lose when Grok goes out of control

The deepfake photo scandal has made users — especially young women — more cautious about posting photos of themselves on the platform. Users shouldn’t have to worry about someone creating and sharing intimate images crafted out of their own content. At the same time, users who flock to X for news, engagement, and information shouldn’t have to dodge these photos as they pop up in their feeds, either. The worst part is that Grok is complicit in the whole thing. At this point, Grok’s behavior is making users leery about coming to X instead of bringing them to the platform, which is the last thing X needs as Threads gains ground.

4. Grok is better bot than this

If nothing else, the images Grok has created are legally dubious, and whether the image creation/editing feature is available to the general public or locked behind a subscription paywall, this isn’t a capability that Grok should have. Other AI platforms, including OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google Gemini, block this type of content wholesale. Yes, Grok has always valued free speech above the others, and that is great for users, but deepfakes go beyond the First Amendment. It’s simply illegal to create nonconsensual intimate content of real people and share it online. Further, Musk’s AI platform is far too clever and sophisticated to debase itself down to an adult content creation bot, and that bit needs to be removed from Grok’s source code.

We need X more than Grok

X is so much more than the public square. It’s a bastion of free speech where people of all walks of life from around the globe can speak their minds and share ideas that otherwise would go unheard.

Because of X, the truth about so many topics that would otherwise have been relegated to the shadows has been exposed. Just this past week, footage of Renee Good surfaced, showing that she tried to run over the ICE agent who took her life in self-defense. Without X, the leftist media narrative that she was an innocent woman simply driving away from the scene would have permeated the web and we never would have known the truth. Before that, we saw the protests in Iran erupt as its oppressed citizens fought for freedom. And before that, Nick Shirley exposed the multibillion-dollar fraud unraveling in Minnesota over the Somali-run business debacle. And on and on and on.

X is a vital piece of our political landscape, helping the people combat lies, scandals, censorship, and the left (though I repeat myself), and we’ll need X again in the future when the time is right. The platform it has become is far too important to be a test bed for Grok’s edgiest features. The prevalence of the digital public square, the ability to expose corruption, and the sustainability of the republic all hinge on X maintaining its position as a free, open, and truthful platform, and it would be a terrible shame if Grok’s unchecked features got in the way.

​Tech 

Despite their vilification by Democrat officials and an 8,000% increase in death threats, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents continue in Minneapolis and other dangerous sanctuary jurisdictions to make arrests — 70% of which are reportedly of criminal illegal aliens charged or convicted of a crime in the United States.

When attempting to make one such arrest on Wednesday evening, a federal law enforcement officer was savagely attacked not only by the illegal alien he was pursuing but by a pair of onlookers who apparently felt compelled to frustrate the administration of justice.

‘Minnesota insurrection is a direct result of a FAILED governor and a TERRIBLE mayor encouraging violence.’

The incident resulted in an apparent defensive shooting, which radicals seized upon as yet another excuse to attack police, engage in wanton destruction, and altogether ramp up what the Department of Justice is now referring to as an “insurrection.”

The shooting

The Department of Homeland Security indicated that around 6:50 p.m. local time, federal agents attempted to arrest an illegal alien from Venezuela. The suspect peeled away in his vehicle and fled the scene but ultimately crashed into a parked car.

While the suspect proceeded to take off running, an agent, who has been identified as an ICE officer by U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commander Gregory Bovino, caught up with the Venezuelan in the 600 block of 24th Avenue North.

When the ICE officer attempted once again to make the arrest, “the subject began to resist and violently assault the officer,” said the DHS.

Seeing the two men struggling on the ground, two individuals exited a nearby apartment and allegedly began attacking the officer with a shovel and a broom handle, enabling the illegal alien to break free.

The Venezuelan allegedly proceeded to use one of the two improvised hitting implements to strike the outnumbered officer.

RELATED: Blocking ICE with ‘micro-intifada’: Good’s group taught de-arrest, cop-car chaos before her death

Photo by Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu via Getty Image

“Fearing for his life and safety as he was being ambushed by three individuals, the officer fired a defensive shot to defend his life,” said the DHS.

The two alleged attackers and the Venezuelan — who sustained a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to the leg — reportedly barricaded themselves in the apartment but were ultimately flushed out. The illegal alien and the officer were taken to the hospital, and the two suspected attackers were placed in custody.

Minneapolis police were ultimately joined at the scene by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the FBI.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara confirmed that a broom and a snow shovel were found at the scene of the struggle and indicated “at least one person may have assaulted federal law enforcement.”

The Minneapolis reflex

O’Hara indicated that in the wake of the struggle and shooting, a mob assembled and began “engaging in unlawful acts.”

In addition to pelting law enforcement officers with incendiary devices, ice, rocks, and other projectiles, rioters ransacked and vandalized federal vehicles, videos showed.

Mayor Jacob Frey (D) wasted no time in fanning the flames, referring to ICE during a press conference on Wednesday night as an invading force that’s supposedly rounding up American citizens.

“I’ve seen conduct from ICE that is disgusting and is intolerable,” said Frey.

After demonizing ICE and championing anti-ICE protests, Frey suggested that radicals “taking the bait” weren’t helping.

Gov. Tim Walz (D) also responded with mixed signals, characterizing federal agents as villains and recommending resistance but also suggesting that Minnesotans should remain peaceful.

“You’re angry. I’m angry. Angry is not a strong enough word,” Walz said in a video address on Wednesday night. “You are not powerless, you are not helpless, and you are certainly not alone. All across Minnesota people are learning about opportunities, not just to resist, but to help people who are in danger.”

The Justice Department evidently saw the signal through the noise and accused the two Minnesota Democratic Party leaders of incitement.

“ICE operates in thousands of counties without incident. Men and women doing their jobs, protecting us from criminal aliens,” said Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. “Minnesota insurrection is a direct result of a FAILED governor and a TERRIBLE mayor encouraging violence against law enforcement. It’s disgusting.”

“Walz and Frey,” continued Blanche. “I’m focused on stopping YOU from your terrorism by whatever means necessary. This is not a threat. It’s a promise.”

President Donald Trump threatened on Thursday morning to invoke the Insurrection Act “if the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job.”

Trump noted that many presidents have utilized the Insurrection Act of 1807 and that it would “quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great state.”

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​Minneapolis, Minnesota, Us immigration and customs enforcement, Immigration, Trump administration, Ice, Department of homeland security, Homeland security, Dhs, Shooting, Venezuela, Venezuelan, Riot, Protest, Insurrection, Politics 

A few days ago, I found myself in a text exchange about two women killed by agents of the state.

One was Renée Nicole Good, a 37-year-old activist mother shot last week by an ICE agent in Minneapolis. The other was Ashli Babbitt, a 36-year-old U.S. Air Force veteran shot by a Capitol Police lieutenant inside the Speaker’s Lobby on January 6, 2021.

Are words being used to think — or to show whose side someone is on?

I asked what I thought was a simple moral question: Does the state ever have the moral right to kill an unarmed person who poses no immediate lethal threat?

I did not try to provoke. I did not claim the cases were the same. I said plainly that the facts, motives, and political contexts differed. My own answer was no. The purpose was not to merge the stories, but to test whether the same moral rule applied in both cases.

I was asking my friend to reason with me.

The response was not an argument. It came as a rush of narrative detail, moral verdicts, and firm insistence that the question itself was illegitimate. “Not comparable.” “Straw man.” The stories did not clarify the rule. They aimed to shut down the conversation.

But what struck me most was not the emotion. It was the disconnect.

I asked about a principle. I received a story. I tested a rule. I got a verdict. We used the same words — justice, murder, authority — but those words did very different work.

The exchange failed not because of tone or ideology. It failed because we spoke different civic languages. More troubling, we no longer agree on what civic language is for.

More than a failure of civility

For years, we have blamed polarization and tribalism. We shout past one another. We retreat into bubbles. All of that is true. But the deeper problem runs deeper than disagreement.

We no longer share a civic vocabulary shaped by common expectations about clarity, restraint, and universality.

We still speak words that are recognizably English. But we use the same words to reach very different ends.

One civic language treats words as tools for reasoning. Call it “principled” or “rule-based.” Questions test limits and consistency. Moral claims aim at rules that apply beyond one case. Disagreement is normal. When someone asks, “What rule applies here?” the question is not an attack. It is the point.

This language shapes law, constitutional argument, philosophy, and journalism at its best. Words like “justified” or “legitimate” refer to standards that others can test and challenge. If a claim fails under scrutiny, it loses force.

The other civic language works differently. Call it “narrative” or “moral-emergency” language. Here, words signal alignment more than reasoning. Stories carry moral weight on their own. Urgency overrides abstraction. Questions feel like invalidation. Consistency tests sound like hostility.

RELATED: The day the media taught me it’s always wrong to be right

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In this mode, terms drift. “Murder” no longer means unlawful killing. It means moral outrage. “Straw man” stops meaning logical distortion and starts meaning emotional offense. “Not comparable” does not mean analytically distinct. It means do not apply your framework here.

Neither language is dishonest. That is the danger. Each serves a different purpose. The breakdown comes when speakers assume they are having the same kind of conversation.

The principled speaker hears evasion: “You didn’t answer my question.” The moral-emergency speaker hears bad faith: “You don’t care.”

Both walk away convinced the other is unreasonable.

Moral certainty over moral reasoning

Social media did not create this divide, but it rewards one language and punishes the other. Platforms favor speed over reflection, story over rule, accusation over inquiry. Moral certainty spreads faster than moral reasoning. Over time, abstraction starts to feel cruel and questions feel aggressive.

That is why so many political arguments stall at the same point. Facts do not resolve them because facts are not the dispute. The real question is whether rule-testing is even allowed. Once someone frames an issue as a moral emergency, universality itself looks suspect.

A simple test helps. Is this person using words to reason toward a general rule, or to signal moral alignment in a crisis?

Put more simply: Are words being used to think — or to show whose side someone is on?

RELATED: I don’t need your civil war

Photo by Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call Inc. via Getty Images

Once you see this, many conversations make sense. You understand why certain questions trigger anger. You see why consistency tests go unanswered. You recognize when dialogue cannot move forward, no matter how careful you sound.

This does not mean outrage is always wrong. It does not mean people should stop caring. It does mean we need better civic literacy about how language works. Sometimes restraint is a virtue. Walking away is not cowardice. Declining to argue is not surrender.

What cannot work is trying to make a principled argument within a moral-emergency frame.

America’s founders understood this. They designed institutions to slow decisions, force deliberation, and channel arguments into forms governed by rules rather than passion.

If we fail to see that we now speak different civic languages, we will lose the ability to talk calmly about the ideas and ideals that should bind us together. The alternative is full adoption of moral-emergency language — where persuasion gives way to force.

Too many Americans have already chosen that path.

​Renee nicole good, Shared language, Law and order, Social media, Opinion & analysis, Argument, Civic institutions, Language, Debate, Good faith, Disagreement, Logic and reason, Immigration and customs enforcement, Ashli babbitt, Facts, Civility, Tribes 

I live in Madison County, Montana. Long before cable panels debated corruption and accountability, this place learned a hard lesson about what happens when government goes bad.

In the 1860s, Bannack served as the territorial capital of Montana. Henry Plummer was its elected sheriff. He wore the badge, swore the oath … and built the gallows.

Healthy institutions correct themselves. Unhealthy ones protect themselves. Madison County learned that lesson the hard way. Minnesota is confronting it now.

And according to many who lived here at the time, he also ran the crime.

Plummer and his deputies were accused of leading a gang of road agents who robbed and murdered travelers hauling gold through these mountains. Stagecoaches were ambushed. Men vanished. Fear became routine. Complaints led nowhere. The law appeared to be shielding the very violence it existed to stop.

So the citizens acted.

In 1864, a vigilance committee arrested Plummer and two of his deputies. No formal trial followed. No appeals. The man who built the gallows was hanged on them.

Historians still debate Plummer’s guilt. They do not debate why the vigilantes emerged. People believed government had become part of the threat rather than the safeguard. When authority no longer restrained crime, citizens concluded that authority itself required restraint.

That story unsettles. It should. But it is real, and it matters now.

The distance between frontier Montana and modern Minnesota is not as wide as we might like to think.

Minnesota is now reckoning with one of the largest public-assistance fraud scandals in American history. Billions of taxpayer dollars intended to feed children and support vulnerable families were siphoned through nonprofits that faced minimal oversight and little urgency to address obvious red flags.

Warnings surfaced early. Audits flagged problems. But the payments continued anyway.

It was a prolonged, systemic failure, not a single clever con.

RELATED: Trump has the chance to end the welfare free-for-all Minnesota exposed

Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP via Getty Images

As the scope became clearer, more voices spoke up. Questions multiplied. The alarms grew louder. Yet the machinery kept moving. Oversight failed to halt the flow of money in real time. Accountability arrived only after exposure, not before.

For many watching, the most disturbing fact was not that warnings existed but that raising them changed nothing.

Imagine a medical provider entrusted with managing a patient’s pain. The patient is vulnerable, dependent, unable to advocate fully. Now imagine discovering that the provider has been siphoning the medication, not to heal, but to feed a personal addiction.

The first problem is theft.

The deeper problem is betrayal.

The most dangerous problem involves everyone who noticed and did nothing.

That provider violates something fundamental. So does a government that tolerates corruption while presenting itself as a caretaker.

This summer, America turns 250. There will be speeches, reenactments, and familiar lines from the Declaration of Independence. We will hear again about equality, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Those words deserve their place.

But Americans have developed a habit of quoting the Declaration selectively.

“All men are created equal” fits neatly on a bumper sticker. The context Thomas Jefferson supplied fits less comfortably. He warned about power, corruption, and the responsibility citizens bear when government betrays its charge.

The founders did not merely announce ideals. They warned about consequences.

They wrote that governments exist to secure rights and that “whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it.” That sentence is often cited. The one that follows rarely is: “Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes.”

These were not men eager for upheaval. They understood that stability is precious and easily lost.

But they continued, warning that when “a long train of abuses and usurpations” reveals a consistent design toward despotism, resistance becomes not merely permissible but necessary.

The prophet Jeremiah put the problem bluntly: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).

RELATED: ‘Shameful revisionist history’: America250 faces scrutiny after posting ‘progressive propaganda’

Photo by Heather Diehl/Getty Images

That realism about human nature runs through both scripture and the Declaration. The framers carried it forward into the Constitution. They assumed power would be abused. They assumed ambition would seek advantage. They assumed virtue would require reinforcement.

So they divided authority, erected checks and balances, and made corruption harder rather than trusting leaders to be better.

Vigilance was the price of liberty. When a people become absorbed in the pursuit of happiness and neglect the pursuit of accountability, history intervenes.

In this Montana county, the story of Sheriff Plummer serves as a reminder of what happens when authority receives blind trust and accountability arrives too late.

The lesson does not praise vigilantism. Vigilantism signals collapse, not health. When citizens feel forced outside lawful systems, failure has already occurred upstream.

Unchecked corruption creates pressure that does not dissipate on its own. Healthy institutions correct themselves. Unhealthy ones protect themselves.

Madison County learned that lesson the hard way. Minnesota is confronting it now. America itself may be closer than we care to admit.

Every summer, tourists pass through this county on their way to Yellowstone National Park. In Virginia City, students retell the story of Sheriff Plummer, often dressed in Old West attire, offering visitors a taste of frontier drama.

The story feels safely distant. A relic of a rougher age.

But news from Minnesota sounds less like reporting and more like repetition.

A century from now, what story will students tell about Minnesota?

Then, as now, theft was dismissed. Warnings were minimized. Institutions protected themselves rather than correcting themselves. Trust eroded quietly before it collapsed publicly.

Corruption ignored does not remain contained. Betrayal tolerated becomes precedent. Institutions that refuse correction eventually lose consent.

History shows what follows. When authority protects itself instead of the public, legitimacy erodes quietly, then collapses suddenly. By the time citizens reach for drastic remedies, lawful ones have already failed.

Madison County learned that lesson in blood and with rope. Minnesota is learning it through audits and indictments. The difference is only the stage of decay.

History does not repeat itself as theater forever. When its warnings go unheeded, it returns as judgment.

​Institutions, Curruptions, Government curruption, Minnesota fraud, Founding fathers, Opinion & analysis, Madison county, Montana, Henry plummer, Law and order, Vigilante justice, Revolution, History, America 250, Gallows 

West Virginia has banned young men like Becky Pepper-Jackson — a transgender 15-year-old — from competing in girls’ and women’s sports.

While the law has been blocked by lower courts, conservatives and fathers — like BlazeTV host Stu Burguiere — are hoping that the outcome will be different at the conservative-dominated Supreme Court.

“The 15-year-old Becky Pepper-Jackson is the sole transgender student athlete in the entire state of West Virginia, according to her attorneys and her bid to continue playing competitive sports is in the hands of the Supreme Court,” Stu reads from a Washington Post article on “Stu Does America.”

Jackson’s lawyers argued that the ban discriminates against him for being transgender, which they believe violates his constitutional equal protection rights.

However, the state argued that the ban is necessary in order to preserve fairness in women’s sports, which means that Becky Pepper-Jackson — who the state also argued has an unfair physical advantage like all biological males — is no exception.

“This is something that literally everyone knows. And when I say literally everyone knows it, I mean not just you and me. … Everyone, including far-left lunatics, understand this. They all know it. They all know it in their hearts, in their minds. They all know it,” Stu says.

“What they admit publicly, what they argue publicly, is something totally different many times. But they all know what the truth is here. Every single one of them. This is not, like, some mysterious information we’ve stumbled upon. I didn’t dig through a government report and find some little notation at the end that indicates, ‘Wow, we discovered new information,’” he continues.

“That’s not what’s going on here. This is just blatantly obvious things that everyone understands,” he adds.

Want more from Stu?

To enjoy more of Stu’s lethal wit, wisdom, and mockery, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Upload, Free, Camera phone, Video phone, Video, Sharing, Youtube.com, Stu does america, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, The supreme court, Becky pepper jackson, Transgender rights, Transgenders, Men in womens sports, Trans women, Mental illness 

An autopsy report on the remains of an 11-year-old girl found in a plastic bin behind an abandoned home contains disturbing details about her death.

The report said there was amphetamine as well as an antihistamine present in the body of Jacqueline “Mimi” Torres-Garcia. There was also evidence that she had been starved before dying.

Her body had been ‘folded into a tight fetal position’ and placed into a laundry bin that was put into a black garbage bag.

The girl’s remains were found in October behind the Clark Street home in New Britain, Connecticut.

She only had a single blueberry in her stomach and weighed only 27 pounds despite being 4’8″ tall. The report said she had a “near absence of subcutaneous fat.”

The medical examiner ruled that her cause of death had been fatal child abuse with starvation. The manner of death was found to be homicide from maltreatment and neglect.

The autopsy report also found no injuries to the girl’s head, body, or neck.

Her body had been “folded into a tight fetal position” and placed into a laundry bin that was put into a black garbage bag. That was put into the 40-gallon rubber tote that was found behind the boarded-up home, according to the State of Connecticut Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

Police arrested the girl’s mother, Karla Garcia, and the mother’s boyfriend, Jonatan Nanita, for her murder. The girl’s aunt, Jackelyn Garcia, has also been charged with other charges related to her murder.

Her mother was charged with murder, tampering with evidence, and intentional cruelty to a child, among other charges. Nanita was charged with murder and intentional cruelty to a child.

RELATED: Mom allegedly left children in filthy apartment with trash, human and animal feces: police

An arrest warrant said that all three had allegedly admitted to “intentional restraint, neglect, and cruelty.”

Police said at a press conference in October that Torres-Garcia had likely died in the fall of 2024, about the time of her 12th birthday on Jan. 29.

The mother and boyfriend had previous arrests for violent criminal behavior, while the girl’s aunt had been arrested previously for causing risk to a minor.

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​Girl starved to death, Mother and boyfriend kill child, New britain child murder, Crime, Jacqueline "mimi" torres-garcia 

In “Politics,” Aristotle explains that political rule comes in three basic forms: rule of one, rule of the few, and rule of the many. Each form has a healthy and a degenerate expression. Monarchy and tyranny describe rule by one. Aristocracy and oligarchy describe rule by the few. Polity and democracy describe rule by the many.

What separates the good from the bad in each category is not structure but motive. A king governs for the common good. A tyrant governs for himself.

Despite the millennia that separate us from Aristotle, the philosopher’s portrait of tyranny feels uncomfortably contemporary.

Aristotle does more than classify regimes. He explains, in cold and unsentimental terms, how tyrants preserve power once they seize it. His warnings, written more than 2,000 years ago, read less like ancient theory and more like a field manual.

The tyrant begins by eliminating rivals. He fears competition, especially from men of spirit and competence. Anyone admired for virtue, courage, or leadership poses a danger because excellence inspires imitation. Such men are removed through exile, execution, or disgrace.

Next the tyrant attacks institutions that allow citizens to form bonds. Aristotle lists common meals, clubs, educational gatherings, literary societies, and discussion groups. Any shared practice that fosters trust, loyalty, or independent thought threatens despotic rule. Organization creates solidarity, and solidarity creates resistance.

The tyrant also forces citizens to live publicly. Privacy breeds conspiracy. Public life enables surveillance. Aristotle describes rulers who compel their subjects to remain visible so that dissent never escapes notice. Long before Bentham’s panopticon, Aristotle understood that constant observation disciplines behavior.

Surveillance alone does not suffice. Tyrants cultivate networks of informers to uncover thoughts that cannot be seen. Citizens learn to treat one another as potential threats. Suspicion replaces trust. Speech becomes guarded. Silence becomes safety.

Aristotle could not have imagined digital surveillance, but he would have recognized its function. Technology merely perfects a strategy the ancients already understood.

Social bonds must then be weakened. The tyrant sows discord between neighbors, friends, and families. These relationships form the first line of resistance to centralized power. When trust dissolves at the most intimate level, organized opposition becomes nearly impossible.

Poverty also serves the tyrant. Aristotle observes that despots deliberately exhaust their populations with endless labor. The goal is not productivity but distraction. Citizens too busy to rest or reflect lack the energy to conspire.

He cites the construction of the Egyptian pyramids as an example of forced labor designed less to achieve a purpose than to consume a people’s strength. The task glorifies the ruler while leaving the population depleted.

War further strengthens despotism. Constant external threat convinces citizens that they need a strong ruler to survive. Crisis suspends normal limits. Emergency justifies control. Under perpetual conflict, organization becomes treason.

Aristotle claims that tyranny, the degenerated rule of one, borrows from the worst features of democracy. Despots empower groups unlikely to organize independently against them. He mentions women and slaves not as moral judgments but as political calculations within the ancient world.

The logic remains familiar. Tyrants elevate those dependent on the regime and hostile to existing social hierarchies. Dependence fosters loyalty. Resentment supplies enforcement.

Flattery plays a crucial role. Tyrants surround themselves with sycophants who inflate their ego and confirm their righteousness. Men willing to abase themselves rise quickly. Men of honor refuse to flatter and therefore remain dangerous.

Flattery becomes a sorting mechanism. Those who value dignity exclude themselves. Those who crave favor advance.

Aristotle adds that tyrants prefer foreigners to citizens. Citizens possess memory, tradition, and moral expectation. They know how things once were and how they ought to be. Foreigners lack these attachments, and they are happy to flatter the ruler who elevated them.

This arrangement benefits both sides. The tyrant gains enforcers without local allegiance. The foreigner gains status, wealth, and protection. Without the ruler, he has nothing.

RELATED: Do you want Caesar? Because this is how you get Caesar.

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Despite the millennia that separate us from Aristotle, his description of tyranny feels uncomfortably contemporary. Surveillance now operates through algorithms and cellphone cameras rather than forcing everyone to live at the city gates, but the purpose remains unchanged. Security replaces liberty. Total observation replaces trust.

Our institutions remove ambitious and virtuous individuals while elevating compliant managerial drones. Debt binds the population to endless labor. Work consumes life without building independence. Citizens remain busy, anxious, poor, and isolated.

Cultural and political authorities weaken family, denigrate religion, and discourage independent association. Community dissolves into administration. Loyalty transfers from neighbors to systems.

Ruling classes increasingly rely on populations with little connection to national history or tradition. These groups have no reason to defend inherited norms and every incentive to please those who grant them status.

Some details differ but the formula for tyranny does not. Aristotle understood tyranny because he understood human nature. His analysis endures because the same impulses govern power in every age.

There is nothing new under the sun.

​Opinion & analysis, Aristotle, Tyranny, Philosophy, Liberty, Totalitarianism, Panopticon, Surveillance, Police state, Technology, Algorithms, Ancient, Modern, Wealth, Poverty, Public good, Labor, Distraction 

A newly released surveillance video shows a handcuffed Florida female pulling a gun hidden in her pants and opening fire in a moving sheriff’s cruiser after a traffic stop.

Last June, Rheanna Harden — then 22 years old — was accused of driving with a suspended license, providing false identification to law enforcement, and possession of drugs, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office told WESH-TV.

Court records indicate Harden told investigators she got angry about how she was treated on the way to jail, WFTV reported, adding that she told investigators she said a prayer moments before opening fire.

But despite the deputy checking Harden three times, he never found a gun hidden in her pants, WFTV-TV reported.

In surveillance video WFTV said it recently obtained recorded inside a sheriff’s department cruiser, Harden is seen searching for something in her pants while sitting in the back of the patrol vehicle, WESH said.

Deputies said Harden was “flexible” enough to grab a gun from her pants and open fire while inside the cruiser, WFTV reported. The deputy was driving the vehicle at the time of the shooting, WESH added.

The patrol car crashed into a utility pole before the deputy managed to exit the cruiser and return fire, WESH said, citing the sheriff’s office.

Harden suffered shoulder and hip injuries, and the deputy suffered a graze wound near his right eye, authorities told WESH, which added that both Harden and deputy were hospitalized and later released.

The surveillance video also shows that Harden was able to get her left hand out of her handcuffs at least once, WFTV reported, adding that the deputy handcuffed her three times.

Indeed, investigators added to WFTV that Harden was able to pull off the shooting using a small revolver, despite having been handcuffed behind her back and patted down before her arrest.

Court records indicate Harden told investigators she got angry about how she was treated on the way to jail, WFTV reported, adding that she told investigators she said a prayer moments before opening fire.

Reports indicate Harden fired six rounds.

As you likely expect, Harden was hit with additional charges after the incident — namely attempted second-degree murder of a law enforcement officer and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, the sheriff’s office told WESH.

Harden — who was denied bond — has a lengthy criminal history out of Bay County, which includes fleeing and eluding law enforcement officers and grand theft, WFTV said.

Her next court date is Jan. 29, jail records show.

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Whitney Cummings mocked and ridiculed the hypocrisy of liberals during her appearance on Joe Rogan’s incredibly popular podcast.

Cummings was explaining how she came to have some conservative beliefs after being liberal and seeing the contradictory claims and beliefs they held.

‘We believe in climate change and the sea is rising, but we live on the coast! Like, would you buy a house on the beach if you truly believe that?’

“I was as liberal — I had blue hair, you guys! I rescue pit bulls. It doesn’t get any more liberal than me!” she joked. “But the whole idea with being liberal is like, you had me at, ‘We’re not racist, everybody’s equal,’ diversity, but then it turns into diversity but not diversity of thought!”

She said that she was not an expert in politics but could easily pick up on hypocrisy.

“So, it just started to just be like, hold on, you know, we don’t believe in gender, but we need a female president. And you’re like, huh?” she said. “And it’s like, ‘My body my choice,’ unless it’s a baby that needs a vaccine for hepatitis B, which comes from butt sex!”

“And sharing needles,” Rogan added.

“And sharing needles!” she agreed. “And then, we believe in climate change and the sea is rising, but we live on the coast! Like, would you buy a house on the beach if you truly believe that?”

Rogan and Cummings were ridiculing a far-left socialist scheme espoused by a housing activist who had been hired by newly inaugurated New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

RELATED: Libs are outraged at Jay Leno’s comments about politics in comedy amid cancellation of Stephen Colbert

Photo by Michael S. Schwartz/Getty Images

Video of the interaction was posted to social media, where it garnered millions of views. The entire podcast with Cummings can be viewed on the show’s YouTube channel.

She went on to express support for Democratic politician Beto O’Rourke, which Rogan appeared to oppose. He said that there would likely be a backlash to Mamdani’s policies, and it might lead to Republican control of the city.

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After being subpoenaed by the Republican-led House Oversight Committee to provide closed-door deposition testimony related to their past associations with Jeffrey Epstein and the federal government’s handling of investigations into his horrific crimes, both Bill and Hillary Clinton failed to appear on their scheduled testimonies.

The former president and Secretary of State sent letters in advance stating that they would not appear, condemning the subpoenas as legally invalid and politically motivated.

Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) has since announced that the committee will proceed with contempt of Congress proceedings against both Clintons, with a committee vote planned for next week, potentially leading to a full House vote and referral to the Justice Department.

BlazeTV host Liz Wheeler says that this is President Trump’s second chance to do what he should’ve done a long time ago: Arrest Hillary Clinton.

“Bill and Hillary Clinton think they’re above the law. Well, in a sense, nothing else is new. They’ve thought they were above the law for a long time because sadly, quite tragically, they have been,” Liz says. “They’ve virtually never been held accountable for anything wrong that they have done, and so in a sense, who can blame them for thinking that they can get away flouting the law once again?”

She recalls that back in 2022, former Trump advisers Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro were both hit with two counts of criminal contempt of Congress and spent four months in federal prison as a result.

In their joint letter, the Clintons claimed executive privilege — the implied power of the U.S. president and executive branch officials to withhold certain confidential communications from Congress, courts, and the public. While this might go unchallenged for the former president, there’s no chance it’ll work for Hillary, Liz says.

“Who does Hillary Clinton think she is? Well, I know she thinks that she’s the president of the United States, but she’s not. She was the Secretary of State. She was a senator. She was a first lady. She’s now a private citizen. She’s exempt from nothing,” she says.

The list of crimes that should’ve already landed crooked Hillary behind bars is long: “She abused her position of power, especially when she was Secretary of State, to enrich herself and her husband. She engaged in pay-to-play quid pro quos, where she sold access to herself and to the vice president, even to the president.”

“And when she was caught, what did she do?” Liz asks. “Well, she brought out BleachBit … a computer program to essentially nuke every piece of information on a piece of technology so that there’s no possibility of any forensic analysis.”

“Lock her up.”

To hear more of Liz’s analysis, watch the episode above.

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The co-owner of a Michigan sandwich shop says he doesn’t care about the backlash from his profanity-laced rant against Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations.

The post was addressed to ICE and placed on the official Facebook page for Fatty Lumpkin’s Sandwich Shack in Muskegon, where it received a lot of attention.

‘F**k your BLATANT fascism. You are NOT welcome at Fatty Lumpkins Sandwich Shack.’

“No more quiet today. F**k YOU. NO F**K YOU!!! Do not EVER set foot in this establishment without a warrant. You will be denied service. You will be laughed at and escorted out. We will immediately call 911 the second I see anything resembling your presence on our private property,” read the post from Brett Gilbert.

A screenshot of the screed was posted on social media by the popular “Libs of TikTok” account.

“F**k you. F**k your murderous ways we all saw on full display today,” the co-owner added. “F**k your disregard for due process and our beloved constitution. F**k your lack of humanity based on manmade borders. F**k your dear leader, everything he stands for, and every single person that supports anything he or you do/represent. F**k your bonuses while essential services go unfunded.

“Most importantly … F**k your BLATANT fascism,” the post continued. “You are NOT welcome at Fatty Lumpkins Sandwich Shack. You NEVER will be. Our food is too good for you but beyond that our humanity transcends your callousness. You no longer get to enjoy the delicious food, art, etc. that your chosen enemies produce. We are not you and you are not us. Stay away!!!”

In comments to WWMT-TV, Gilbert said that his business had tripled over people showing their support for his comments.

“A lot of people have talked about the language in the post, and I don’t really care,” Gilbert said. “It’s just not that big of a deal. They’re words. I think the actions that are happening right now are a lot more significant, and something that people should be concerned about.”

RELATED: ‘Nazi trash’: Unhinged outrage ensues after ICE posts video of Santa deporting illegal aliens

Gilbert said he accepted that some people would no longer eat at his shop because of the post.

“Sometimes you have to not care about that stuff,” he added. “Not everything is about money. At the end of the day, I know I’m going to take care of myself and the people I love and this is part of that.”

A sandwich was also used as a weapon by a man against National Guard members in Washington, D.C., but the assault case was tossed out of court by a grand jury in November.

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When interracial marriage became a hot topic on the tip of Christian nationalists’ tongues this week, the controversial pastor Joel Webbon chimed in — sparking even more debate.

“Interracial marriage, while biblically permissible, generally/ordinarily goes against God’s normative design for humanity, nations, and cultures,” Webbon said in a post on X.

Dale Partridge, another minister, responded to Webbon’s post, writing: “As a Christian man happily married to a Mexican/Spanish/American woman, I actually agree with Joel Webbon. Interracial marriage is not the ‘ideal.’ Now, like Joel, I do not believe it is sinful, and if providence positions two Christians from different ethnic backgrounds to unite in marriage, it can be a glorious thing (which it has been for us).”

=

Partridge went on to caveat that interracial marriage “does create a variety of additional hurdles in marriage and family life.”

BlazeTV contributor Virgil Walker doesn’t quite align with their beliefs, but he also doesn’t feel the need to disparage them for it.

“There’s a branch, there’s a segment of the Christian nationalist movement that I’ve warned about years ago, that I wrote about, regarding this ethnocentrism that would take shape and take place. And there’s nothing wrong with ethnic centrality, with thinking about your ethnicity,” Walker tells BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock on “Jason Whitlock Harmony.”

“The problem is when we start pushing these morality ideas, these moral issues, these moral ideas, into the context of ethnicity to say, ‘Hey, marriage outside of this is not ideal and here’s why.’ You’re adding to what God has already stated about who we are, about how we’re to function, and even about who we’re to marry,” Walker explains.

“What these men are doing are they’re signaling where they stand, and I’m not mad at that. I’m not angry at that at all. I think it’s actually a good thing for them to signal where they stand for those who operate and agree with them to align themselves with that kind of thinking,” he continues.

“I do think it is incumbent upon us, as ministers of the gospel, as Christians, as thought leaders, to be clear about what the Bible actually says and not allow anyone to say what God has not said,” he adds.

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President Donald Trump issued a warning to the Islamic regime of Iran over lethal state brutality against dissidents, and some say that signs are indicating a strike is imminent.

The totalitarian regime has been cracking down on massive political protests from the Iranian people against the despotic state as well as devastating shortages of water and other basic living supplies, reports claim.

‘May the Death to America crowd meet their 72 virgins tonight.’

The president warned on New Year’s Day that the U.S. would respond to Iran killing peaceful protesters.

“If Iran shots [sic] and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue. We are locked and loaded and ready to go,” he wrote on social media.

Since then, hundreds of protesters have reportedly been killed by the regime, with some estimates reaching over a thousand.

On Wednesday, some social media sleuths speculated that the U.S. is getting ready for an attack.

“The U.S. Air Force’s evacuation of military aircraft from Al Udeid Air Base has begun in preparation of strikes against Iran, with a steady stream of at least 6 KC-135R/T ‘Stratotanker’ Aerial-Refueling Tankers seen departing the base in Qatar,” said one account that posted a screenshot of the military maneuvers from Qatar.

The Washington Post noted that a similar evacuation preceded U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear capabilities in June.

Some have found users risking large amounts of money on betting markets that the U.S. will strike Iran soon, suspecting that these are people with insider knowledge about the administration’s intentions.

Others pointed to mass outages at Verizon Wireless as another sign of a possible attack. The outage-tracking site Downdetector documented more than 113,000 reports of customers losing service at the height of the outages at about 9 a.m. ET.

“We are aware of an issue impacting wireless voice and data services for some customers,” said a Verizon spokesperson to the New York Post. “Our engineers are engaged and are working to identify and solve the issue quickly. We understand how important reliable connectivity is and apologize for the inconvenience.”

The celebrated Pentagon Pizza Index, however, indicated there was only a small bump in the chances of a U.S. strike. The index measures the activity of pizza delivery locations around the Pentagon based on previous strikes that were accompanied by a measurable increase in pizzas being delivered to the headquarters of the U.S. military.

On Wednesday afternoon, the index showed high levels of orders at two pizzerias but lower levels at four others in the area.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) reiterated the U.S. threat to Iran in his own statement on social media on Saturday.

“If the Iranian people overthrow the Ayatollah, America — and the entire world — will be much, much safer,” wrote Cruz. “May the Death to America crowd meet their 72 virgins tonight.”

RELATED: Man arrested for driving U-Haul into Iran protesters in Los Angeles was released on $0 bail

Major General Mohammad Pakpour, the leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, reportedly warned that the nation was ready and eager to respond to any provocation from the U.S. as well as Israel.

“With reliance on Almighty God, under the leadership of the Leader, and through the sacred unity of the Iranian nation, we will nullify the schemes of the rulers in the White House and Tel Aviv against a ‘Strong Iran,'” Pakpour said, according to Press TV.

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Bill Maher’s first-ever Golden Globes nomination didn’t exactly leave him giddy with excitement.

Days before losing to fellow Best Performance in Stand-Up Comedy on Television nominee Ricky Gervais, the caustic comic seemed resigned to defeat.

‘I speak freely, and this woke town f**king hates that.’

Speech impediment

In a conversation with his “Club Random” podcast guest Joel Edgerton, Maher said he knows exactly why he’s always ignored when Hollywood hands out the hardware.

“Obviously, it’s something I said. Well, it’s everything I said.”

“I speak freely, and this woke town f**king hates that,” Maher continued. “And that’s OK. I’ve made my peace with that. So I know how this goes.”

Maher noted that he’s never won an Emmy either, despite a combined 33 nominations (a figure Variety later corrected to 41) for his shows “Politically Incorrect” and “Club Random.”

Thanks to the Globes’ new Best Podcast category, the pot-addled pundit has a whole new way to get snubbed. This year the award went to “Good Hang with Amy Poehler.” “Club Random” failed to secure a nomination.

RELATED: Democrat INFIGHTING: Progressives blast congresswoman for opposing leftist’s apparent rigged succession scam

I’m with stupid

As Maher’s rant built up steam, he rejected Edgerton’s gentle suggestion that as “two white dudes,” they should be careful with their critiques.

“The epicenter of woke stupid is this town. It really is,” Maher said, referring to accusations of “cultural appropriation,” which he said has been levied against everyone from Elvis Presley to Bradley Cooper.

“[Elvis] sang the way he sang. He grew up in the South. I mean, the cultures mixed, you know. I don’t — I think it’s just pointless to hate him for it,” Maher said.

RELATED: Socialism ‘will f**k you’: Bill Maher warns Democrats the radical left is leading party to ruin

Photo by Kevork Djansezian/CBS via Getty Images

Nose woes

As for Cooper, Maher mocked those who accused him of “Jewface” for wearing a prosthetic nose to play Leonard Bernstein.

“The ‘Jew nose’ they called it. … I mean, ‘Jew nose?’ Do they even know how stupid they sound?” Maher asked.

“I mean, to use that word. They made up this horrible word and then were like, ‘Oh, but we’re the good people. We’re saying, whoa, no Jew nose.’ It’s just so silly.”

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President Donald Trump’s promise to implement mass deportations has hit a successful milestone, according to a report from a left-wing think tank.

The Brookings Institute report found that net migration into the U.S. had turned negative for the first time in 50 years, meaning there were more migrants leaving than arriving.

‘President Donald J. Trump promised action on immigration, and in 2025 he delivered historic results.’

The report said that deportations contributed to the drop but more important was a significant decrease in entries to the U.S.

“We estimate net flows of -295,000 to -10,000 for the year,” wrote the authors of the Brookings study. “Though a high degree of policy uncertainty remains, continued negative net migration for 2026 is also likely.”

The report authors said they estimated the number of removals from the U.S. to be between 310,000 and 315,000, which is far less than the government estimates.

The official social media account of the White House posted a celebratory statement after the analysis dropped.

“SECURE BORDERS. NEGATIVE NET MIGRATION. REAL RESULTS. President Donald J. Trump promised action on immigration, and in 2025 he delivered historic results,” the post stated.

The Brookings authors went on to claim that the lower migration would lead to less economic activity.

“Certain parts of the economy will see unexpectedly weak economic activity, such as businesses that serve part of the affected immigrant population,” they added. “Such weakness is the new normal under current immigration policy, rather than weakness reflecting adverse business cycle conditions.”

RELATED: Worker at Hilton hotel posts anti-ICE video — then faces the consequences

Republicans have significantly increased spending on immigration enforcement, and the White House has sought to revoke legal status granted to numerous groups.

Left-wing critics of the mass deportation policy have accused the administration of violating constitutional rights of migrants, and some have mounted political protests that have ended in violence.

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The Trump administration delivered some bad news on Wednesday to would-be migrants from the third world hoping to exploit American beneficence.

The U.S. State Department announced that it is pausing immigrant visa processing from 75 countries “whose migrants take welfare from the American people at unacceptable rates.” The pause will apparently remain in effect until “the U.S. can ensure that new immigrants will not extract wealth from the American people.”

‘Pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the US system to fully recover.’

“The pause impacts dozens of countries — including Somalia, Haiti, Iran, and Eritrea — whose immigrants often become public charges on the United States upon arrival,” said the department.

The Center for Immigration Studies indicated in a report last month than in Minnesota, approximately 54% of Somali-headed households received food stamps and 73% of Somali households had at least one member on Medicaid. By way of comparison, the figures for native households were 7% and 18%, respectively.

The report noted further that 89% of Somali households with children received some form of welfare in the Gopher State.

President Donald Trump recently referred to these statistics on Truth Social and highlighted statistics regarding the high welfare participation rates of other immigrant communities.

RELATED: ‘America demands assimilation’: BlazeTV’s Christopher Rufo and Bessent slam Somali welfare scam ‘open secret’ in Minnesota

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Image

On Jan. 4, Trump shared a graph titled “Immigrant Welfare Recipient Rates by Country of Origin,” which provided damning insights into the apparent overreliance of various immigrant communities on the generosity of the American taxpayer.

The chart indicated, for example, that the the percentage of immigrant households from Bhutan that received assistance was 81.4%; Yemen was 75.2%; Somalia was 71.9%; the Marshall Islands was 71.4%; the Dominican Republic was 68.1%; Afghanistan was 68.1%; Congo was 66%; and Iraq was 60.7%.

Trump vowed on Nov. 27 to “end all Federal benefits and subsidies to noncitizens of our Country” and to “permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the US system to fully recover.”

The visa processing pause will go into effect on Jan. 21.

It will reportedly also impact the following countries: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Bhutan, Bosnia, Brazil, Burma, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominica, Egypt, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Republic of the Congo, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, and Yemen.

“We are working to ensure the generosity of the American people will no longer be abused,” said the State Department.

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A Georgia doctor testifying before Congress in support of abortion drugs was crushed by a Republican’s questioning after he asked her if men can get pregnant.

Dr. Nisha Verma argued that the mifepristone abortion pill was safe for women before Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri stopped her dead in her tracks with one question.

‘You won’t even acknowledge the basic reality that biological men don’t get pregnant.’

“Do you think that men can get pregnant?” Hawley asked, echoing a previous question from Sen. Ashley Moody (R-Fla.).

“I hesitated there because I wasn’t sure where the conversation was going or what the goal was,” Verma responded. “I mean, I do take care of patients with different identities. I take care of many women. I take care of people with different identities. And so, that’s where I paused. I think, yeah, I wasn’t sure where you were going with that.”

“Well, the goal is just the truth. So, can men get pregnant?” he replied.

“Again, the reason I paused there is, I’m not really sure what the goal of the question —” she responded.

“The goal is just to establish a biological reality,” Hawley said. “You just said a moment ago that ‘science and evidence should control, not politics.’ So, let’s just test that proposition: Can men get pregnant?”

“I take care of people with many identities, but um —” she stammered.

“Can men get pregnant?” he repeated.

“I do take care of people that don’t identify as women that —” Verma said.

“Can men get pregnant?” he interrupted.

“As I’m saying —” she replied.

“Let me just remind you of what you testified just a moment ago. ‘Science and evidence should control, not politics.’ So, can men get pregnant?” he asked again. “You’re a doctor, I think.”

“Science and evidence should guide medicine. I —” she added.

“Do science and evidence tell us that men can get pregnant? Biological men, can they get pregnant?” he pressed.

“I also think yes-no questions like this are a political tool,” she evaded.

“No, yes-no questions are about the truth, doctor. Let’s not make a mockery of this proceeding,” Hawley said. “This is about science and evidence.”

The debate went on for another three minutes, with Hawley beating down Verma on the issue before he brought it back to the issue of the abortion pill.

“We are here about the safety of women and science that shows that this abortion drug causes adverse health events in 11% of cases. That’s 22 times greater than the FDA label, another fact you haven’t acknowledged, and yet you won’t even acknowledge the basic reality that biological men don’t get pregnant,” Hawley said.

“I don’t know how we can take you seriously and your claims to be a person of science if you won’t level with us on this basic issue!” he concluded.

Verma then claimed that polarized language was not serving the interests of patients.

RELATED: Pro-life activists celebrate victory after Costco announces policy on abortion drug

Video of the exchange was widely circulated on social media, where the doctor was mocked and ridiculed.

The Family Research Council released a statement about the congressional hearing.

“The Trump administration should not only restore but also strengthen FDA safety standards for mifepristone and direct the Department of Justice to enforce federal law,” the organization said.

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Less than a week after Renee Nicole Good was shot dead while attempting to obstruct a law enforcement operation in Minneapolis with romantic partner Rebecca Good, her former father-in-law appeared on CNN to give his thoughts on the situation.

Timmy Macklin, a Trump supporter, joined CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront” on Tuesday night.

‘I don’t blame ICE. I don’t blame Rebecca. I don’t blame Renee.’

Host Erin Burnett mentioned that the DOJ did not find substantial reason to launch an investigation into the incident, including the actions of the ICE agents and Good herself. She then asked Macklin how he felt about this aspect of the incident in particular.

Macklin stated, “It’s a hard situation all the way around. It’s hard for everybody involved. The ICE agent, you know, at first, I didn’t see the footage where he was actually [hit]. … In a flash like that it’s hard to say how you would react. From my understanding, he had been through that before, maybe dragged or something. And so, like I said, it’s just a hard situation for everybody.”

RELATED: ‘She was not just … there to observe’: Expert reveals to Glenn Beck Renee Good’s radical ties

Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images

“I don’t have any enemies. I love everybody. That’s what the Bible tells us: love our neighbors as we love ourselves,” Macklin said. “But, you know, I think there’s some bad choices. And the word says for the wrath of God will come upon the children of disobedience.”

Macklin expressed sympathy for everyone involved but refused to cast the blame on any one party

“I don’t blame ICE. I don’t blame Rebecca. I don’t blame Renee,” he said. “I just wish that, you know, if we were walking in the spirit of God, I don’t think she would have been there. That’s the way I look at it.”

Good left behind a 6-year-old son, Timmy Macklin’s grandson.

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Once upon a time, conservative influencer Ashley St. Clair went “hard in the paint” writing a children’s book speaking out against the transitioning of children, titled “Elephants Are Not Birds.”

“It’s a children’s book to explain that you can’t be something that you’re not. An elephant cannot be a bird. A boy cannot be a girl. This was like the entire reason she was one of the … activists who was trying to make sure that we stopped transing children and that we stopped trying to convince women to chop off health body parts, or boys to stop their puberty and the obvious sterilization that comes from that,” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales explains on “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered.”

St. Clair is also the mother of one of Elon Musk’s 14 children, and the two are having a very public fight over the child — which has been made worse by her now apologizing to the trans community.

“So now, Ashley St. Clair, in true, typical, feminist fashion, all of a sudden she has a totally different view on trans,” Gonzales explains.

In a post on X, St. Clair responded to criticism from an anonymous account that wrote, “you’ve previously engaged in blatant transphobia, how do you feel about trans people in the wake of noticing how the far right truly is?”

“I feel immense guilt for my role. And even more guilt that things I have said in the past may have caused my son’s sister more pain. Idrk how to make amends for many of these things but I have been trying incredibly hard privately to learn + advocate for those within the trans community that I’ve hurt,” St. Clair responded.

“What she’s referring to right there is Elon Musk’s trans child. He has a child who is a male whose mother is allowing him to live as a female. So now she’s referring to the trans person as a sister when it’s a boy,” Gonzales comments.

“Now all of a sudden she’s, like, weaponizing children’s lives and mental illness against her ex,” she adds.

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Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents continue their efforts to remove the most dangerous criminal illegal aliens from American communities.

The Department of Homeland Security highlighted the Tuesday arrests of five illegal aliens in a press release exclusively obtained by Blaze News.

‘What the media and sanctuary politicians do not want the American public to know is 70% of ICE arrests are of criminal illegal aliens charged or convicted of a crime in the US.’

“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced the arrest of more worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens from across the country, including those convicted of first-degree rape of a child, homicide, and arson,” the DHS wrote.

Federal agents captured Eduardo Salgado-Martinez, a Mexican national who was previously convicted of first-degree rape of a child in Benton County, Washington.

A 2019 local news report by KEPR-TV explained that Salgado-Martinez’s charges stemmed from an attack in 1995 but that he spent years on the run. Prosecutors claimed he raped two boys, a 7-year-old and a 6-year-old, whom he was babysitting.

Salgado-Martinez’s brother was found guilty of similar charges.

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Eduardo Salgado-Martinez. Image source: Department of Homeland Security

ICE officers nabbed Fermin Flores-Ramales, also from Mexico, who was convicted of rape in New York City.

Fermin Flores-Ramales. Image source: Department of Homeland Security

Khanh Tuan Pham, a Vietnamese national, was convicted of homicide, conspiracy, vehicle theft, and receiving stolen property in San Diego, California.

Khanh Tuan Pham. Image source: Department of Homeland Security

Agents caught Miguel Molina-Palacios, an illegal alien from El Salvador. He was previously convicted of arson in Queens, New York.

Miguel Molina-Palacios. Image source: Department of Homeland Security

ICE agents also captured Everado Javier Sanchez-Rivera, a Mexican national with a criminal history including burglary of habitation in Harris County, Texas.

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Everado Javier Sanchez-Rivera. Image source: Department of Homeland Security

“Our ICE law enforcement put their lives on the line every single day to arrest the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens. Yesterday’s arrests included child rapists, murderers, and arsonists,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated.

“What the media and sanctuary politicians do not want the American public to know is 70% of ICE arrests are of criminal illegal aliens charged or convicted of a crime in the U.S. Despite comparisons to the Gestapo and an 8,000% increase in death threats, our officers show up every day and arrest heinous criminals from American communities,” McLaughlin added.

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