Category: blaze media

The Trump administration confirmed a Justice Department investigation into the arrest of a conservative journalist at an anti-ICE riot in Portland and suggested the city might face a steep price.

Left-wing protesters have been rioting outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland for months, but the issue came to a head on Thursday when conservative journalist Nick Sortor was arrested during the protest.

‘We will not fund states that allow anarchy. … Law and order will prevail, and President Trump will make sure of it.’

“President Trump will end the radical left’s reign of terror in Portland once and for all,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a media briefing Friday. “The president has directed Secretary [of War Pete] Hegseth to provide all necessary troops to protect war-ravaged Portland and any ICE facilities under siege from attack by Antifa and other left-wing domestic terrorists.”

She said that Antifa militants have been attacking the ICE field office in south Portland since mid-June.

“This is not peaceful protesting. This is left-wing anarchy that has been destroying this great American city for years, leaving police officers battered, citizens terrorized, and business properties damaged,” Leavitt said.

“These radical left-wing lunatics have violently breached the ICE facility by using a stop sign as a battering ram,” she added, “hurled explosives and other projectiles at law enforcement, repeatedly assault and doxx officers, berate their law-abiding neighbors, and have even rolled out a guillotine in front of the ICE facility.”

She went on to cite the circumstances surrounding Sortor’s arrest as evidence of the failure of local officials to combat the leftist violence.

“Instead of arresting these violent mob members night after night after night after night who are ravaging this community, the police arrested a journalist who was there trying to document the chaos, and everyone in this room should be extremely concerned about that,” she added.

Leavitt said the Justice Department spoke with Sortor and was launching “a full investigation into his arrest.”

RELATED: Hilarious video shows Portland officers enraging anti-ICE protesters by blaring out order in Trump’s voice

“This incident is part of a troubling trend in Portland where left-wing mobs believe they get to decide who can visit and live in their city. It is not their city. It is the American people’s city, and President Trump is going to restore that,” Leavitt continued.

Leavitt said the president was being advised on what potential federal funds could be cut from Portland over the lawlessness allowed on the city’s streets.

“We will not fund states that allow anarchy,” she said.

“Law and order will prevail, and President Trump will make sure of it,” she added.

She added that additional ICE and enhanced resources from Customs and Border Protection were going to be rerouted to Portland.

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​Nick sortor arrest, Portland antifa attack, Anti-ice rioting, Karoline leavitt, Politics 

On Thursday, a man rammed his car into a crowd of people and proceeded to go on a stabbing spree outside a synagogue in Manchester, England. While several casualties were originally reported, Greater Manchester Police have released new details that cast a different shadow on the atrocity.

Police have since reported that examination of the bodies has revealed that Jihad Al-Shamie, the named perpetrator of the attack, did not cause all of the injuries in the incident.

‘This injury may sadly have been sustained as a tragic and unforeseen consequence of the urgently required action taken by my officers to bring this vicious attack to an end.’

In a statement published at 10:35 a.m. local time, less than an hour after the Thursday attack, police reported: “Shots were fired by Greater Manchester Police firearms officers at 9:38am. One man has been shot, believed to be the offender.”

Additionally, this first report indicated that four people were injured, stating that there were “currently four members of the public with injuries caused by both the vehicle and stab wounds.”

In the wake of the attack, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham wrote on X: “We condemn whoever is responsible and will do everything within our power to keep people safe.”

RELATED: Man with apparent ‘explosive device’ kills 2, injures 4 in Manchester synagogue attack

Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham, Secretary of State for the Home Department Shabana Mahmood, and Chief Constable Sir Stephen Watson visit the scene at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue.Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

In a another report timestamped at 12:10 p.m. local time, police confirmed the deaths of two victims of the attack. The offender was also believed to be dead, but police did not confirm his death at that time over safety issues due to “suspicious items on his person.”

The other report varied from the first report in the number of injured victims, saying that there were only “three other members of the public … in a serious condition.” It did not mention a fourth injured person.

It is unclear what led to the discrepancy in the number of injured people in the reports, particularly because the next update returned to reporting that four were injured.

In a report timestamped at 15:56, or 3:56 p.m. local time, police stated that “four further people remain in hospital, having suffered a variety of serious injuries and their treatment is ongoing.”

Police also added that two additional suspects were arrested and in custody at that time.

The statement added that those inside the synagogue were kept safe because of the heroic actions of those inside, who barricaded the entrance to prevent the attacker from gaining entrance: “All those inside were safely contained until police were able to confirm that it was safe to leave the premises.”

The 15:56 report suggested that the police identified the suspect but said it was “premature” to reveal his identity at that time.

In a report timestamped at 21:05, nearly 12 hours after the attack, police provided new, substantive information, including the arrest of three total suspects, two men in their 30s and a woman in her 60s, and the identity of the attacker, 35-year-old Jihad Al-Shamie, “a British citizen of Syrian descent.”

One of the victims in the hospital likewise ‘suffered a gunshot wound, which is mercifully not life-threatening.’

The statement once more confirmed the deaths of two innocent men and the serious injury of only three men, varying once again from previous reports.

As was established in the first report from 10:35 that morning, the victims sustained injury from the car ramming into the crowd as well as stab wounds, the 21:05 report said. The report gave more information of the nature of the injuries: “Three other men remain in hospital with serious injuries. One sustained a stab wound and a second was struck by the car involved in the attack.”

Police then gave the first indication of a new development in the story: “The third man later presented himself at hospital with an injury that may have been sustained as officers stopped the attacker.”

The following morning at approximately 10:54 local time, Chief Constable Sir Stephen Watson provided another update on X about the perpetrator and the deceased victims, suggesting that police were responsible for one of the deaths and one of the severe injuries: “The Home Office Pathologist has advised that he was provisionally determined, that one of the deceased victims would appear to have suffered a wound consistent with a gunshot injury.”

“This injury may sadly have been sustained as a tragic and unforeseen consequence of the urgently required action taken by my officers to bring this vicious attack to an end,” Watson continued, adding that one of the victims in the hospital likewise “suffered a gunshot wound, which is mercifully not life-threatening.”

The report further ruled out the possibility that Jihad Al-Shamie shot any victims. He was “not in possession of a firearm and the only shots fired were from GMP’s Authorised Firearms Officers as they worked to prevent the offender from entering the synagogue and causing harm to our Jewish community.”

The deceased victims were named as Adrian Daulby and Melvin Cravitz in a police update on social media.

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​Politics, Manchester synagogue attack, Manchester england, Jihad al shamie, Adrian daulby, Melvin cravitz, Uk, Andy burnham 

Iconic comedian Dave Chappelle was among those who chose to perform at the controversial Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia, and he further enflamed criticism with his comments about the U.S.

The comedy festival includes many comedians who have made left-wing statements in the past but are unlikely to criticize the host country for its decidedly authoritarian policies regarding women’s rights and religious freedom.

‘They’re going to do something to me so that I can’t say what I want to say.’

During Chappelle’s performance, he claimed that speech is freer in Saudi Arabia than it is in the U.S.

“Right now in America, they say that if you talk about Charlie Kirk that you’ll get canceled,” said the comedian, according to the New York Times.

“I don’t know if that’s true, but I’m gonna find out,” he added. “It’s easier to talk here than it is in America.”

He also reportedly added later, “They’re going to do something to me so that I can’t say what I want to say.”

Chappelle’s comments were especially ironic given that the comedians were restricted from criticizing the Saudi royals or any religion at the festival, according to an order posted by one of the comedians.

The comedian was lambasted on social media for the comments.

“Hey, Dave … How about — if you’re so concerned about free speech, you go ahead and talk s**t about the royals in Saudi Arabia … No? Crickets? Huh! Enjoy the blood money,” replied writer Patrick Read Johnson.

“That a**hole Dave Chappelle took the money from Saudi Arabia — which executes people w/no due process, which sawed journalist Jamal Khashoggi up alive — and joked that it’s easier to speak freely there than the U.S. (while adhering to written rules about what NOT to say there),” said writer Matthew Rettenmund.

“Pretty remarkable that the entire time Chappelle was raging against cancel culture in the U.S. he was actually just auctioning himself off to the highest bidder,” replied sports analyst Luke Thomas.

RELATED: Dave Chappelle responds to transgender outrage: ‘I am not bending to anybody’s demands’

Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

“Chappelle is a disgrace and a liar! I’ve always said he was a ghetto slime who made it big and he is proving it now,” responded another critic.

Others who performed at the Riyadh Comedy Festival included Bill Burr, Pete Davidson, Jimmy Carr, Louis CK, Wayne Brady, Kevin Hart, Tom Segura, and Chris Tucker.

They were reportedly paid between $375,000 and $1.6 million each.

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​Dave chappelle, Riyadh comedy festival, Comedians free speech, Saudi arabia, Politics 

The Taliban has denied shutting down its tech sectors after residents went 48 hours without cellphone or internet service.

The largest phone service providers, the foreign-owned Roshan and Etisalat, were restored on Wednesday afternoon after internet, satellite television broadcasts, and even flight operations were disrupted.

‘This measure was taken to prevent immorality.’

According to the Independent, not only were at least five flights at Kabul airport canceled, but banking operations were also affected during the shutdown.

The reports of a shutdown started with an X post on Monday by NetBlocks, which wrote that Afghanistan is “now in the midst of a total internet blackout as Taliban authorities move to implement morality measures, with multiple networks disconnected through the morning in a stepwise manner; telephone services are currently also impacted.”

When asked, the Taliban had a different story. The ruling terrorists said the internet blackout was simply a case of “decaying fiber-optic infrastructure” and any inference that it was part of a ban were just “rumors.”

According to the Taliban, the regime was just replacing the broadband internet infrastructure, which caused interruptions in service.

What paints the claim with uncertainty, however, is the fact that the Taliban openly cited morality as a reason to cut off internet access to residents just a few weeks prior.

RELATED: Trump reveals why the US is trying to get back Bagram Air Base

Photo by WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP via Getty Images

In mid-September, outlets reported that the Taliban banned fiber-optic internet in the Northern Afghan province of Balkh.

The province, which sits on the southern border of Uzbekistan, left government offices, private residences, and public institutions without Wi-Fi, all in the name of morality.

“This measure was taken to prevent immorality, and an alternative will be built within the country for necessities,” said Haji Attaullah Zaid, a provincial government spokesman, according to Gulf Today.

The spokesman said there was a “complete ban” in the province by order of Hibatullah Akhundzada, the leader of the Taliban. No reason was given as to why only Balkh was cut off from the world wide web.

RELATED: State Department isn’t buying ProPublica’s sob story about Taliban alumnus whose funding was exposed by DOGE

Photo by Haroon Sabawoon/Anadolu via Getty Images

During the shutdowns, the BBC ran multiple stories about Afghan women being cut off from online learning, their only option for advanced knowledge since they are banned from receiving formal education after the age of 12.

The Muslim regime has also removed any books written by women from its universities, which, according to the BBC, was part of a ban on teaching about human rights and sexual harassment.

Approximately 140 books were allegedly found to be of “concern” to the Taliban, which found them to be “anti-Sharia” and violating “Taliban policies.”

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​Return, Internet, Afghanistan, Fiber optics, Taliban, Tech 

Theologian and Pastor Voddie Baucham was a beacon of hope and a bright mentor for the black community — but he tragically passed away after a medical emergency at only 56 years old.

And despite his profound message, many black churches tend to avoid him.

“Voddie in his presentation wasn’t the stereotypical black minister. Wasn’t a lot of emotion,” BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock says, before pointing out that after Baucham’s passing, he couldn’t find any mainstream media articles on his legacy.

“Maybe that’s changed,” Whitlock admits, but adds, “And it’s almost like they wanted … to keep Voddie a secret from the traditional black Protestant leftist. They didn’t want us to know about Voddie. And it’s tragic.”

“I think you’re absolutely spot-on,” BlazeTV contributor Chad O. Jackson agrees. “I mean, Voddie’s been on CNN all of one time and they told him, ‘We’ll have you back.’ And they never had him back because of how he was able to embarrass them just by leading into the word of God, quite frankly.”

“But you’re absolutely right. I mean, when you look at black pastors, typically what comes to mind are your Jamal Bryants, your T.D. Jakeses … even Eric Masons. I know Eric Mason had beef with Dr. Voddie Baucham, even going so far as to, in one of his sermons, use kind of slave vernacular to explain what Voddie Baucham was doing,” Jackson explains.

Jackson tells Whitlock that Mason was “basically accusing Voddie Baucham of making up words like ethnic narcissism to explain or to protect white supremacy.”

“Just this utter nonsense,” he says, calling Baucham “one of the few pastors” he’s aware of who “are unafraid to call out hollow and deceptive philosophies, how these ideologies are infiltrating and subverting God’s people, and how we need to be made aware of them.”

“The Bible says to test every spirit to see if it’s of God. And that’s what Voddie was doing from behind the pulpit,” he adds.

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​Upload, Camera phone, Sharing, Video, Video phone, Free, Youtube.com, Jason whitlock harmony, Jason whitlock, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Voddie baucham, Voddie baucham passing, Black church, Black pastor, Chad o jackson, White supremacy 

After stumbling upon a Netflix show titled “Dead End: Paranormal Park,” Elon Musk is not happy with the streaming service — urging his followers on X to “cancel Netflix for the health of your kids.”

The show featured a teenage protagonist who is a trans boy — and in a clip making the rounds on social media, he’s shown kissing another boy to the cheers of his friends.

In the show’s description, it’s advertised as an animated series that “centers on Barney, a transgender teen protagonist who relentlessly pursues another man sexually while battling demons.”

Now, Netflix stock is tanking — but BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales warns that there’s more shows that parents have to be worried about.

The show “CoComelon,” which is for toddlers and babies, has a scene where two fathers are singing and dancing with their son, who is beaming while wearing a dress.

“Oh, and the dads have to be interracial as well,” Gonzales comments.

“This is for babies, and they just want to indoctrinate them as soon as they possibly can into thinking that this is normal, into thinking that they should strive to be like that,” she says.

“And so, there’s been this big push, this big expose into Netflix, and why in the world as we allowing our children, not mine, why is America allowing their children to just sit in front of the TV, walk away, and let them just soak all of that in?” she asks.

“Well, Netflix stock is tanking right now because people are waking up to this agenda. I don’t know why it has taken so long, but I welcome it. But I would just like to remind people that this problem goes way beyond Netflix,” she continues.

“It is so many children’s shows. So many children’s shows across the board in the entertainment industry that are just subtle messaging, trying to just throw it in wherever they can to make it just seem like it’s just a blip. It’s just a blip on their radar. Because if it’s just a blip, that means it’s normal,” she adds.

And Gonzales is right, it’s not just Netflix. In an all-hands company Zoom meeting in 2020, Latoya Raveneau, an executive producer for Disney, told her co-workers that “the showrunners were super welcoming” to what she called her “not-at-all secret gay agenda.”

“They’re turning it around, they’re going hard, and then all that, like, momentum that I felt, like, that sense of, I don’t have to be afraid to, like, ‘Let’s have these two characters kiss’ … I was wherever I could, just basically adding queerness … no one would stop me, and no one was trying to stop me,” Ravaneau said.

“Imagine being a grown adult and getting that much glee, that much joy from talking about how you’re trying to indoctrinate children,” Gonzales comments, adding, “It’s really sick, these people. These people need mental help.”

Want more from Sara Gonzales?

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

​Camera phone, Free, Sharing, Upload, Video, Video phone, Youtube.com, Sara gonzales unfiltered, Sara gonzales, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Netflix, Disney, Nickolodeon, Indoctrination, Lgbtq indoctrination childrens shows, Lgbtq agenda television, Lgbtq agenda, Trans netflix show 

The walls are closing in!

Late-night hacks Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, and Seth Meyers are doing what the legacy media couldn’t — stopping President Donald Trump dead in his tracks.

‘The Tonight Show’ was late-night TV’s gold standard, in terms of both quality and ratings, for decades. Now, it’s an also-ran.

Just kidding.

The ultra-competitive hosts are taking turns interviewing each other and making group appearances to smite Orange Man Bad. And, boy, are they cracking us up in the process. Consider this golden exchange.

“I mean, that son of a b***h, you know?” said Kimmel about Trump.

“Mister son of a b***h,” Colbert added.

“No, I never thought we would have a president like this, and I hope we don’t have another president like this again,” Kimmel said.

Mark Twain would have killed to pen comedy like that …

Sleazy rider

Who says they don’t make ’em like they used to?

The upcoming “Pillion” stars Alexander Skarsgård as a gay “dom” who gets into a relationship with a meek lover played by Harry Melling.

This British rom-com, based on Adam Mars-Jones’ 2020 book “Box Hill,” comes out (no pun intended) stateside in February. Variety describes the story as Skarsgård’s character taking his new lover on “as his submissive while introducing him to the community of kinky, queer bikers.”

It’s the “Sons of Anarchy” reimagining no one wanted …

Bad bet

The good times had to end, right?

This weekend, “Saturday Night Live” ends its annual hibernation with an all-new episode. The first host couldn’t be more perfect, and that’s hardly a compliment. It’s Bad Bunny, the anti-ICE warrior slated to perform at the Super Bowl halftime show early next year.

Gee, who knows what he’ll bring up during his monologue?

“SNL” once pushed the boundary on humor and good taste. Now, it’s a hard-left hack-a-thon with predictable gags and one-sided satire. If Kate McKinnon mourning Hillary Clinton’s 2016 electoral loss to Trump didn’t convince you the show had hit rock bottom, nothing will.

Here’s betting Jimmy Kimmel will make a cameo, and every notable Democrat in power will be either ignored or feted.

That’s not a Nostradamus-like prediction. It’s just a “recent past is prologue” reality. It’s a shame, too — since “South Park” went 100% anti-Trump and late-night TV abandoned humor for activism, it’s the perfect time for “SNL” to reclaim its bipartisan greatness.

The Vegas odds scream otherwise …

Not ‘Tonight’

Jimmy Fallon did the impossible.

He took over “The Tonight Show” from Jay Leno in 2014 and slowly drove the franchise into a ratings ditch.

Fallon’s “Tonight Show” consistently comes in third behind CBS’ “The Late Show” (which is reportedly losing the network $40 million a year) and ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Fallon could be considered a fourth-place finisher if one includes Fox News’ “Gutfeld,” which airs 90 minutes earlier.

“The Tonight Show” was late-night TV’s gold standard, in terms of both quality and ratings, for decades. Now, it’s an also-ran. Why?

For starters, Fallon is a wishy-washy version of ColbertKimmelMeyersOliverStewart. His show is left-leaning, but in a less mean-spirited fashion. That helped drive away right-leaning viewers and alienated today’s far-left types who see late-night as group therapy.

The funny part? Fallon recently claimed his show “hits both sides equally.”

Yeah, remember all the gags about President Joe Biden’s dementia-like condition and Kamala “Word Salad” Harris?

We don’t either …

RELATED: Colbert gets canceled — by CBS, not conservatives

Photo by Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty Images

Pistol Pete

The least shocking story of the week? Dude-bro podcaster Joe Rogan ate up Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s military makeover.

This didn’t involve a TLC host or influencer hottie. Hegseth put his foot down on woke military nonsense, the kind that caught fire under the previous administration. Rogan cheered on the news.

“No more identity politics and bulls**t,” Rogan said. He was just warming up. “The most important thing is be ready. Be ready. Have the best, most capable military that’s humanly possible given the resources that we have today. This is what our goal is. This is what our job is,’ which makes sense.”

Rogan hasn’t seen eye to eye with President Trump on every issue so far, particularly ICE’s aggressive push to arrest illegal immigrants. The frenemies are back on the same side again

Bloody good

Sick of waiting for Quentin Tarantino’s next, and allegedly last, film? There’s an antidote for that.

The director’s dueling “Kill Bill” films from the early 2000s will be repackaged as one extended feature, hitting theaters Dec. 5. “Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair” will include a previously unseen animated sequence as part of the presentation.

Tarantino originally envisioned the films as a single movie, but the size of the project suggested that he release them as separate features. The only problem? Those gory fight scenes will still be as epic as the first time we saw them, but it could be an exhausting way to spend four-plus hours.

And we can only imagine what the accompanying popcorn bucket will look like!

​Entertainment, Culture, Tonight show, Jimmy kimmel, Stephen colbert, Movies, Tv, Toto recall 

Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested several violent criminals on Thursday, according to a Department of Homeland Security press release obtained exclusively by Blaze News.

‘Nothing will deter us from our mission to make America safe again.’

Despite the ongoing government shutdown, ICE has vowed to continue working “around the clock to arrest and remove” illegal alien criminals.

“Nothing will deter us, not even a Democrat government shutdown, from fulfilling the president’s mandate from the American people to remove the worst of the worst,” the release reads.

Those arrested included child sex predators, rapists, and domestic abusers. The DHS highlighted five of the “worst of the worst” criminal illegal aliens removed from American streets across the country.

Hector Patricio Quinchi-Saldana, a 42-year-old Ecuadoran, was picked up by ICE Buffalo. Quinchi-Saldana was previously convicted of rape in Queens, New York.

RELATED: ICE operation uncovers fraud in half of immigration cases

Hector Patricio Quinchi-Saldana. Image source: Department of Homeland Security

ICE Houston arrested Yoni Garado-Cobix, a 42-year-old Mexican national. His criminal history includes a conviction in Texas for assault of a family or household member, impeding breath or circulation.

Yoni Garado-Cobix. Image source: Department of Homeland Security

Zeisly Jose Samaniego-Landaeta, a 37-year-old Venezuelan national, was nabbed by ICE Salt Lake City. He was previously convicted of aggravated assault and aggravated assault resulting in serious bodily injury.

Zeisly Jose Samaniego-Landaeta. Image source: Department of Homeland Security

Mouncef Lahoura, a 25-year-old Moroccan national, was convicted of oral copulation: use of force/injury before ICE Los Angeles arrested him.

Mouncef Lahoura. Image source: Department of Homeland Security

ICE San Francisco captured Luis Robles-Minjares, a 45-year-old Mexican national. Robles-Minjares’ criminal history includes a conviction for sexual assault of a child younger than 10 years old.

RELATED: ‘War from within’: ICE agents descend from helicopters to nab suspected TDA gangsters in Chicago apartment

Luis Robles-Minjares. Image source: Department of Homeland Security

“Every day — even when the government is shut down — our brave ICE law enforcement officers are risking their lives to arrest the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens including pedophiles, rapists, and domestic abusers,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated. “Nothing will deter us from our mission to make America safe again. While the Democrats play politics, the deportation flights will continue.”

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​News, Department of homeland security, Dhs, Immigration crisis, Illegal immigration crisis, Illegal immigration, Immigration and customs enforcement, Ice, Politics 

Republican lawmakers have referred to the government closure as the “Schumer shutdown,” blaming Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) for directing his fellow Democrats to oppose the clean continuing resolution that would have temporarily extended funding.

‘He’s afraid of his own party.’

Majority Leader Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) shared his comments about the shutdown on Thursday, arguing Democrats had taken the CR hostage.

“I don’t know that there’s a lot to negotiate,” Thune told NBC News.

“I don’t think you can keep this hostage. As soon as they release the hostage, then we can talk about those other issues.”

When asked whether Democrat lawmakers were “forcing Senator Schumer’s hand,” Thune responded, “Sure they are.”

“He’s under a tremendous amount of pressure. The far-left activist base in his party is what’s driving this, and they want to fight with the president,” Thune continued.

“They picked this hostage. I don’t think it’s a smart one, and I think it undermines what they’re trying to accomplish in the long run.”

RELATED: Trump’s MASTER PLAN to ensure shutdown spells DOOMSDAY for Democrats

Senate Majority Leader John Thune. Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

During a Thursday episode of “Blaze News: The Mandate,” Blaze Media senior politics editor and Washington, D.C., correspondent Christopher Bedford speculated that Schumer is afraid of a primary from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).

“He’s afraid of his own party,” Bedford said. “And it’s people like her that threaten him.”

— (@)

He emphasized the importance of understanding government.

“It’s fine to be AOC and a rock-thrower on the outside. It’s fine to be some of the back-benchers in the GOP, who just want to throw rocks and don’t want to get along with people and don’t understand why they can’t get their way. But at the end of the day, it’s the people who really understand how to wield power and how to use power, which is what’s differentiated this Republican administration from previous ones,” Bedford said.

He explained that those in this Trump administration “actually know how the mechanisms of the bureaucracy work.”

RELATED: Russell Vought’s quiet war on big government

House Speaker Mike Johnson, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, and Vice President JD Vance. Photographer: Annabelle Gordon/Bloomberg via Getty Images

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought is “working diligently” to slash government bureaucracy amid the shutdown.

“I have a meeting today with Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent. I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity. They are not stupid people, so maybe this is their way of wanting to, quietly and quickly, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” President Donald Trump wrote on social media Thursday morning.

Trump called on Republicans to use the shutdown as an opportunity to “clear out dead wood, waste, and fraud.”

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​News, Christopher bedford, Chuck schumer, Schumer, Donald trump, Trump, Trump administration, Trump admin, John thune, Government shutdown, Russell vought, Russ vought, Karoline leavitt, Politics 

X journalist Nick Sortor was on the ground in Portland, Oregon, on Thursday night, documenting Antifa harassing federal agents at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building, when he was attacked by the far-left crowd and ended up getting arrested by Portland police officers.

During the night, Sortor took away a burning American flag and put out the flames, video showed. Once the flames were out, he carried the remnants of flag away from Antifa. This led to Sortor being targeted by the Antifa crowd.

Sortor recalled that he was getting video of federal agents macing protesters when he was surrounded by the crowd, who then pushed him down into a flower bed and one of them threw a punch, Fox News national correspondent Bill Melugin reported. Sortor said he swung back and missed, but then disengaged and walked over to a group of Portland officers.

It was at that point he was taken into custody by Portland police.

“He says he was then shocked to be arrested by them, and he sat in the back of a police cruiser while officers figured out what to charge him with. I asked him about the female protester who was also arrested with him. He said he talked to her in the jail and she didn’t seem like she was the one who assaulted him,” Melugin reported.

Sortor was charged with disorderly conduct and spent the night in jail. He was released from custody early Friday morning.

RELATED: Democrats gloss over anti-ICE violence in Portland ahead of Trump’s crackdown on ‘domestic terrorists’

Portland Antifa in 2021Photo by MATHIEU LEWIS-ROLLAND/AFP via Getty Images

For his part, Sortor is gearing up for a legal fight.

Portland police “is going to absolutely HATE what’s coming. Lawyer up, folks!” he posted on X.

Sortor further claimed that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has promised to investigate his arrest. “Attorney General Pam Bondi has ORDERED a full investigation, led by Asst. AG Harmeet Dhillon, of the Portland Police Bureau, following my wrongful arrest last night, Bondi confirmed to me,” Sortor posted to X Friday, noting that Bondi had contacted him “personally” to let him know.

“FAFO, @PortlandPolice,” he added.

A spokesperson confirmed to Blaze News that the DOJ will investigate Sortor’s arrest.

Sortor’s arrest by Portland police set off a firestorm among conservatives and the Trump administration. Earlier this week, Post Millennial reporter Katie Daviscourt was allegedly attacked by Antifa. She was hit in the face with a flagpole that caused a black eye and a concussion. Daviscourt attempted to get Portland officers on the scene to arrest her suspected attacker, but an officer standing nearby seemingly let the suspect go, according to video.

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia Mclaughlin said there is going to be a surge of federal personnel in response to Sortor being attacked and arrested.

“This violence will end under [President] Trump,” she added.

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​Antifa, Katie daviscourt, Nick sortor, Politics 

I’ve got an old desk in my office. It’s covered in scratches, rings from coffee mugs, and countless old stains that set into the dark wood long before I was born. It’s a plain desk. A simple square top, three drawers on the left, and a tall cabinet on the right. It’s heavy as hell and a pain to move.

It was my grandpa’s desk.

My grandpa sat at his desk and wrote with a pen, and not much else. I’m not sure he ever learned how to type.

He used it when my dad was little, and then after he passed away it sat in our basement for a while. I’m not sure my dad wanted to use it. He was close with his father, and sometimes things like that make us too sad. But a grandson isn’t a son, and so now I use it.

Every day, I sit down in front of the old wood, set my black coffee to the right, open my laptop, and work.

In with the old

When I’m organized, I’ve got a pad of paper and a pencil to the left, unopened mail near the edge, a small lamp in the corner, and an external hard drive on the other side. When I’m less organized, I’ve got all the same things, plus a bunch of extra papers, tubes of chapstick, handkerchiefs, old coffee mugs, half-empty cans of sparkling water, and a ton of other random ancillary stuff that doesn’t really contribute to my productivity at all.

I’ve used my grandpa’s old desk for about 10 years now. When I first started using it, I was working in music composition and production. The top of the desk was crammed with keyboards, MIDI controllers, USB interfaces for recording vocals, and a couple of large displays.

I remember sitting there, working late at night in our big loft studio apartment. All the lights out, the skyline of the city beyond the windows, my wife sleeping in the corner we had blocked off as a bedroom, my headphones on with the music playing, the colorful little boxes in the DAW, the soft blue and red blinking lights on the various technological gear laid across the top of the desk.

I would sit there and think about how this desk is so old and my equipment is so new. My grandpa sat at his desk and wrote with a pen, and not much else. I’m not sure he ever learned how to type. His desk inhabited the old world before computer technology, and now it lives in the new one with more tech than we know what to do with. He worked at his desk in his way, and I work at his desk in my way. The work looks different, but it’s work nonetheless.

RELATED: A kid got a mint PS1 from his grandpa, and the internet is freaking out

Photo by Geoff Garrett/Mirrorpix via Getty Images

Lost in space

Our world can feel pretty sterile and soulless these days. Not the world of nature or the world of people; family life is the opposite of sterile, and love is not soulless. But our built environment really does seem to feel kind of like a mix between Star Trek and a shopping mall.

Technology plays a big role in that. It’s not only in the architecture; it’s also in all the little stuff we are surrounded with. Our phones, our tablets, our computers, our TVs, our “smart homes,” our doorbells with video cameras, and everything else that feels slick and plasticky.

I’m writing all these words on a laptop, of course. It’s silver like a spaceship, and the keys are black as night. It’s not really a very human machine; it’s pretty cold and inorganic.

With the grain

But that old desk isn’t. It’s so worn, scratched, and blemished. It’s wood — real wood! Remember that? Remember when we used to make stuff out of it? I run my fingers over it, and I can feel the deep grain. There are a few chips on the corners. It’s so earthy and so human; it’s so real. Its realness isn’t due to the fact it was my grandpa’s. It’s just the fact that it comes from the old world, and it feels like it.

I’ve thought a lot about the impact my grandpa’s old desk has on my office and my work. There is something estranging about technology. Being surrounded by it makes us feel unsettled in a way that’s hard to explain. In a sterile world of inhuman electronics, that old wood feels anchoring, or maybe just a little warm and relatable. It reminds me of humanity in a way that my computer never will.

Of course, the family history of that old desk has its own, slightly different, impact. My grandpa died almost 20 years ago, and to use something that was once his feels like keeping his memory alive in a physical sense. It’s why we don’t bulldoze old historic buildings and part of the reason why we have museums, even if we tell ourselves they are primarily for research purposes.

I think we are all comforted by some gentle reminder of the past. It reminds us of where we came from and who we are, keeps some memory alive, roots us in time and ties us to a bigger story, and even makes us feel a little more human in an increasingly inhuman age.

​Men’s style, Grandfathers, Lifestyle, Desks, Family heirlooms, Work, The root of the matter 

President Trump announced earlier this week his effort aimed at lowering drug costs, which includes the creation of a “TrumpRx” website, where Americans can buy medicine at a discount — and somehow got Pfizer to agree to join him.

“The United States is done subsidizing the health care of the rest of the world,” Trump said. “By taking this bold step, we’re ending the era of global price gouging at the expense of American families.”

Surprisingly, Pfizer is the first pharmaceutical company to comply with Trump’s demands, which include selling drugs to Medicaid and setting prices of new drugs at “Most-Favored Nation” levels, which is the lowest price available in other countries.

BlazeTV host Stu Burguiere is surprised by the move.

“This is interesting to me for a bunch of different reasons,” Burguiere tells BlazeTV host Dave Landau. “First of all, as a conservative, I don’t really like the idea of the government being involved in these things, but there are, you know, real concerns with drug prices on certain things.”

“The other thing I find fascinating about it, is like a big chunk of Donald Trump’s base thinks Pfizer is the Nazi regime. Literally hates this company more than anything else. And what I find fascinating about it is Trump can just do this stuff,” he continues.

“He’s the only guy I’ve ever seen that can just do this stuff. He can embrace a company that his base hates and somehow just go right down the middle unscathed,” 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.

​Video, Free, Video phone, Sharing, Upload, Camera phone, Youtube.com, Stu does america, Stu burguiere, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Trumprx, President trump, Donald trump, Big pharma, Global price gouging, Pharmaceuticals, Affordable care, Maga, Make america great again, Dave landau, Conservatives 

The discovery of SIM farms that threatened cellular networks in New York City is only the tip of a massive nationwide network run by the Chinese Communist government that poses an immediate threat to critical American infrastructure and has led to terrorist acts including hoax SWAT raids at the homes of national leaders, Blaze News has learned.

Sources in the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. intelligence community said these SIM card networks were operating in the United States as early as 2004. They have proliferated exponentially since President Donald J. Trump was re-elected to the presidency in November 2024.

‘It’s absolutely an act of war.’

“This is something that is a direct threat to our nation right now,” a top intelligence official told Blaze News. “A direct threat to our nation, and it needs to be shut down today — like ASAP. Only five of them have been taken down so far.”

The owner of the five sites raided in the New York City area is cooperating with Homeland Security Investigations and the Secret Service, the intelligence expert said.

The SIM networks were put in place and are managed by China’s Ministry of State Security, an ultra-secretive, massive espionage agency that has grown in prominence and global activity in recent years, according to the journal China Leadership Monitor.

The MSS employs more than 800,000 people, nearly double the Soviet KGB at its peak. The MSS “now operates worldwide at a scale and tempo not seen in decades,” China Leadership Monitor wrote in a recent newsletter.

Several officials who spoke with Blaze News anonymously said the establishment and use of this destructive network by China should be considered an act of war. The potential threat to America would be “second only to thermonuclear war,” one source said.

“It’s absolutely an act of war — an internationally recognized act of war,” one intelligence expert told Blaze News. “Cyberattacks on critical infrastructure is, and facilitating terrorism to the point where you’re trying to kill high-ranking members of the United States government. Those two alone are acts of war.”

Recently, these SIM farms are believed to be responsible for dozens of hoax SWAT raids, including a senior U.S. Secret Service official, FBI Director Kash Patel, members of Congress including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), and media influencers such as Tim Pool and Stephen K. Bannon.

“These things were being used all summer to SWAT people since Trump was elected,” said one source, speaking anonymously because the source is not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation. “Swatting — that’s a terrorist act. The Trump administration declared that a terrorist act.”

RELATED: Romanian man pleads guilty to orchestrating online ‘swatting’ campaign against US lawmakers, including an ex-president

Homeland Security Investigations agents led September raids on five SIM farms tied to a secret nationwide network built by the Chinese Communist government.Photo by Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

While the Chinese facilitated the SWAT raids, it is believed that Americans who are familiar with the system — either through a government or a criminal enterprise — are initiating the hoax calls, the source said.

The swatting of a senior Secret Service official and some Secret Service protectees last spring led to the investigation that discovered the Chinese SIM farms in the Tri-State area, the Secret Service confirmed to Blaze News. A Secret Service engineer assigned to the investigation was key to discovering the SIM network.

“The only reason we found this network is because a senior Secret Service official was targeted for a SWAT raid,” the source said. “Otherwise, this investigation would have never been initiated.”

No U.S. intelligence or law enforcement agency detected the secret network, nor did the three major wireless carriers in the U.S., AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile, and Verizon.

Homeland Security Investigations led raids that disrupted five SIM farm sites in the Tri-State area of New York City just before the United Nations General Assembly, where President Trump spoke Sept. 23. The raids led to seizure of more than 300 co-located servers and more than 100,000 SIM cards.

“The potential for disruption to our country’s telecommunications posed by this network of devices cannot be overstated,” Secret Service Director Sean Curran said in a statement. “The U.S. Secret Service’s protective mission is all about prevention, and this investigation makes it clear to potential bad actors that imminent threats to our protectees will be immediately investigated, tracked down and dismantled.”

RELATED: Secret Service says it busted ‘nefarious’ network capable of crippling NYC cellphone system, linked to ‘nation-state’ threats

Secret SIM farms are typically housed in nondescript corporate buildings and enable thousands of simultaneous cellular connections.U.S. Secret Service photos

An ongoing forensic investigation of the source of the servers and SIM cards is being carried out by Homeland Security Investigations, the Secret Service, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, said Matt McCool, special agent in charge of the Secret Service New York Field Office.

“This was a difficult and complex effort to identify the source of these fraudulent calls and the impact on the Secret Service protective mission,” McCool said in a video statement.

The SIM farms and their networked cellular chips pose a threat to critical infrastructure with the ability to disable cell towers, enable internet denial of service attacks, and facilitate anonymous, encrypted communication between potential threat actors and criminal cartels, the Secret Service said.

‘They’ve launched legitimate cyberattacks against our critical infrastructure.’

Officials who spoke to Blaze News said the New York raids and seizure of servers are the tip of a much larger iceberg.

A nationwide network using millions of SIM cards operated by China has the capability to wipe out communications across entire regions with a cyberattack; target large lists of victims for hoax SWAT calls; act as chatbots to interact with teens and young adults in online forums such as Reddit; and operate identity-theft rackets, among other applications.

“What’s shocking is that there may be up to 100 or more of these sites everywhere,” an intelligence source told Blaze News. “There’s probably 60, 80, 100 of these in the United States.”

A SIM, or a subscriber identity module, is a small plastic card with an embedded silicon chip similar to chips found on credit cards. The chip has a microprocessor and memory circuits that store subscriber information including a device ID and authentication key so cellular networks can recognize each device. The SIM can store text messages and run applications.

RELATED: Noem, Patel vow cowardly ‘swatting’ perpetrators will be hunted down in wake of attacks on conservatives

U.S. Secret Service Director Sean Curran said the potential for disruption of cellular and other communications from secret SIM farms “cannot be overstated.”Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

A SIM farm is typically a nondescript room in a commercial building with dozens of SIM card servers stacked in metal racks. The device that holds the SIM cards is called a gateway, with 32 to 64 cellular modems with slots for 64 to 512 SIM cards, antennas, and ethernet ports for each SIM to connect to the internet wirelessly or via ethernet cables. The SIM farms don’t require huge power draws or generate substantial heat like traditional computer servers.

Experts say the potential for nefarious uses is huge — and so is the risk to national security.

George Hill, a retired FBI supervisory intelligence analyst who ran counterterrorism, counterintelligence, and cyber operations for the four-state Boston Field Office, told Blaze News that widespread cellular outages would be a disaster.

“EMS and hospitals rely almost exclusively on cell networks to coordinate responses to large-scale emergencies,” said Hill, a U.S. Marine veteran who also worked for the National Security Agency. “An attack in a major metropolitan area that loses cell service would result in EMS being unable to coordinate triage and the movement of injured people. This would then overburden radio networks, resulting in dispatch and redeployment of first responders going offline.”

The SIM farms can launch dangerous cyberattacks, spoof multifactor authentication to access and clean out bank accounts, and allow spies to carry out covert communications.

‘There may be up to 100 or more of these sites.’

“They’ve used these non-attributable networks to sneak into our networks,” the intelligence analyst told Blaze News. “So they’ve launched cyberattacks from these; they’ve launched legitimate cyberattacks against our critical infrastructure.”

The SIM farms can cost $10-$15 million per location to operate, but they actually make money because criminal organizations including drug cartels and scammers are allowed to use the networks, the source said. A site with 100 SIM gateway boxes can generate $240,000 per month in profit.

Most of the SIM farms have a multifactor authentication capability, so they can create real-looking accounts for social media, cryptocurrency wallets, email, and banking. They can also create undetectable chatbots on Reddit, Discord, and Meta platforms “to radicalize our citizens and divide our nation,” the source said.

Hill said the potential negative impacts from cyberattacks are staggering, affecting retail sales locations, banking, gasoline and petroleum refiners, and domestic military operations.

“The movement of traditional combat units’ equipment travels via the Military Sealift Command. These are government-owned ships operated by private companies,” Hill said. “These too would come offline, as would the use of trains to move heavy combat equipment inside the U.S.”

Blaze News reached out to the Secret Service, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for comment on the SIM farms.

Coming next: How SIM farms masquerade as humans in online forums, radicalizing youth and encouraging violence.

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​National security, Politics 

An Alabama woman fatally shot a male amid an alleged home burglary Sunday night in Decatur, WZDX-TV reported.

A dispatch call indicated a woman said her house was being robbed, and that a male was heard screaming in the background.

State records show Brinkley served time for offenses, including first-degree robbery, third-degree burglary, possession of a pistol by a convicted felon, and distribution of a controlled substance, WZDX noted.

WAFF-TV said it picked up the following from a dispatch phone call: “10-4 units responding to the burglary in progress, 22nd Avenue caller now advising it was a black male wearing a white shirt armed with a firearm. The caller now advises she has shot that male; he is currently laying on the ground.”

A dispatch call also noted the woman shot the male in the chest and that he was “not conscious, not breathing.”

RELATED: Thug allegedly recorded himself raping woman at gunpoint — before she shot him

Decatur police officers responded around 7:30 p.m. to the report of a burglary in progress in the 1200 block of 22nd Avenue SW, and police said they were informed the caller shot the male suspect, WZDX reported.

When officers arrived, the male was found inside the residence with apparent gunshot wounds, and Morgan County Coroner Jeff Chunn pronounced him dead at the scene, WZDX noted.

Chunn on Tuesday identified the male as 46-year-old Narado Brinkley, and WZDX said his criminal past includes drug and burglary convictions.

State records show Brinkley served time for offenses, including first-degree robbery, third-degree burglary, possession of a pistol by a convicted felon, and distribution of a controlled substance, WZDX noted.

His records also indicate multiple probation violations, and he most recently served five months after a 2023 conviction on drug and burglary counts, WZDX added.

RELATED: Mother hid from home invader in closet with her baby — then shot thug in the head, police say

WZDX said the alleged shooter cooperated with investigators and was released with no charges at this time.

However, the station noted that the incident remains under investigation and will be referred to the Morgan County District Attorney’s Office for grand jury consideration.

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​Alabama, Decatur, Home invasion, Fatal shooting, 2nd amend., Guns, Gun rights, Intruder, Burglary, Self-defense, Crime 

Several Arizona police departments are piloting a new AI-powered policing tool that promises to revolutionize how officers catch criminals. But without robust constitutional safeguards, this cutting-edge technology could pose a serious threat to the civil liberties of everyday Americans.

Arizona police agencies are now testing a new AI program that “deploys lifelike virtual agents, which infiltrate and engage criminal networks across various channels.” The program, called Overwatch, was developed by Massive Blue and provides police departments with up to 50 different AI personas.

While the technology could, in theory, be used for noble purposes, … it also creates new opportunities for government overreach.

These include a sex trafficker persona, an escort persona, a 14-year-old boy in a child trafficking scenario, and a vaguely defined “college protester.” Beyond social media monitoring, the program allows police to communicate directly with suspects while posing as one of these AI-generated personas, all without a warrant.

No transparency

So far, both the police departments using Overwatch and the company behind it have been extremely secretive about its operations. Massive Blue co-founder Mike McGraw declined to answer questions from 404 Media, which first broke the story, about how the program works, which departments are using it, and whether it has led to any arrests.

“We cannot risk jeopardizing these investigations and putting victims’ lives in further danger by disclosing proprietary information,” McGraw said.

The Pinal County Sheriff’s Office, one of the few agencies that have confirmed using the program, admitted it has not yet led to any arrests. Officials refused to provide details, saying, “We cannot risk compromising our investigative efforts by providing specifics about any personas.”

At an appropriations hearing, a Pinal County deputy sheriff also declined to share information about the program with the county council. Remarkably, the Arizona Department of Public Safety, which funds the initiative, does not appear to have been informed about the program’s specifics.

While the technology could, in theory, be used for noble purposes, such as preventing terrorist attacks or combating human trafficking, it also creates new opportunities for government overreach. Without safeguards, it poses a direct threat to the civil liberties of innocent Americans.

Invitation to entrapment

History is full of examples of government entrapment and abuse of power. In the plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-Mich.), for example, FBI involvement played a central role in bringing groups together that may never have otherwise connected.

Similarly, in Jacobson v. United States (1992), federal agents sent child sexual abuse material through the mail to a man with no prior criminal record, leading to his conviction, which was later overturned.

RELATED: Netflix’s chilling new surveillance tools are watching you

Photo Illustration by Piotr Swat/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

In both cases, it is doubtful the crimes would have occurred without government intervention. A program like Overwatch makes such abuses easier, granting the government new ways to monitor and manipulate citizens who have never been convicted of a crime, and all without warrants.

The risks are compounded by the program’s vague and troubling categories, such as “college protester,” which could be redefined depending on who is in power. That opens the door for the technology to be weaponized against political dissent, even when no crime has been committed.

Without serious constitutional safeguards, programs like this are poised to become political tools of tyranny. Americans must demand warrant requirements and legislative oversight before this technology spreads nationwide and the erosion of our constitutional liberties becomes irreversible.

​Opinion & analysis, Opinion, Ai, A.i., Artificial intelligence, Artificial intelligence surveillance, Surveillance, Police surveillance, Ai surveillance, Civil liberties, Entrapment 

Progressive journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates knows how to create a villain — a useful talent for his side gig as a prolific Marvel comics writer.

But real life ain’t Wakanda — and when it comes to Charlie Kirk’s legacy, not everyone is sticking to Coates’ simplistic good guys/bad guys script.

In Coates’ world, that can only mean they’re “sanitizing” who the slain Turning Point USA leader really was.

‘But if you ask me what the truth of his life was … I would’ve had to tell you it’s hate.’

Coates, who’s scripted acclaimed runs of “Black Panther” and “Captain America,” slammed Kirk in Vanity Fair just six days after his murder, calling the 31-year-old conservative activist a purveyor of “transphobia” who “reveled in open bigotry” and was “unconcerned with” the “humanity of Palestinians.”

His proof? Out-of-context quotes from Kirk, all from infamous left-wing political machine Media Matters.

Having assembled this rap sheet of word crimes, Coates took it upon himself to call out those he felt were being too kind to Kirk after he was assassinated.

These included California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) for saying Kirk loved to debate, the Atlantic’s Sally Jenkins for stating that Kirk “argued with civility,” and NYT’s columnist Ezra Klein for opining that Kirk “was practicing politics in exactly the right way.”

Coates had a chance to confront Klein face-to-face as a guest on the September 28 episode of his NYT podcast, “The Ezra Klein Show.”

Just 10 minutes in, Klein asked Coates, “Why do you think [Charlie Kirk] was winning?”

“That’s not really hard for me to understand,” Coates began, performing a roundabout before delivering some incredibly off-color remarks.

RELATED: Hollywood goes full antifa with ‘One Battle After Another’

“I published a book 10 years ago, ‘Between the World and Me.’ And one of the constant, constant reactions to that was that it was overly pessimistic about this country. It was overly pessimistic about the future. ‘Why are you so dark, Ta-Nehisi? Why can’t you give us any sense of hope?’” the writer prefaced.

“And the reason I would always say is because any sort of sober examination of the history of this country says that those of us who believe in equality, those of us who believe in respecting the humanity of our neighbors and of everyone, that we’re up against some really, really powerful forces of history and powerful, powerful narratives.”

Coates went on to reminisce about identity politics in reference to President Obama and said that while it is nice to bask in the race-based joy of “seeing a black family in the White House mirroring what some of us felt the best of us was,” the public sometimes “soothe ourselves” by pointing out instances of love and acceptance. Stating that he feels those are indeed powerful forces, Coates juxtaposed them with hate, which he believed Kirk was a purveyor of.

“I also believe hate is a powerful force. I believe it’s a powerful, powerful unifying force. And I think Charlie Kirk was a hate-monger.”

“I really need to say this over and over again,” Coates continued. “I have a politic that rejects violence, that rejects political violence. I take no joy in the killing of anyone, no matter what they said. But if you ask me what the truth of his life was, and the truth of his public life, I would’ve had to tell you it’s hate. I’d had to tell you it is the usage of hate and the harnessing of hate towards political ends,” Coates added.

RELATED: Bill Maher attempts risky intervention on Trump-deranged pal Rob Reiner: ‘You have to talk to people’

Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The writer condemned Kirk’s killing as “horrifying,” before trying to convince Klein that “political violence is the norm for the black experience” in America.

“I don’t even mean, like, the Malcolm X, Martin Luther King variety of it, right? Which is the norm too. You would be hard-pressed to have a conversation with a black person in this country that is a descendant of slavery and not have them be able to reach maybe right here, or to tell you themselves, ‘Look, my uncle, my grandfather, my great-grandfather, they lived in a small town in Mississippi, in Tennessee, in Alabama. They got into some sort of dispute with a white man, and either they were lynched or we had to run.’ Political violence runs through us.”

According to Britannica, between 1882 and 1951, 4,730 people were lynched in the United States: 1,293 whites and 3,437 blacks.

The encyclopedia also states that after 1935, “the number of lynchings drastically declined. During the 1950s and early ’60s, the average stood at less than one per year. Some years saw no lynchings at all.”

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​Comics, Align, Marvel, Black panther, Charlie kirk, New york times, Gavin newsom, Entertainment 

The friends and family of 60-year-old Joey Alexander are grieving his violent end allegedly at the hands of a drug user in San Francisco.

Alexander worked for Urban Alchemy, a nonprofit tasked by the city to prevent crime and drug abuse through community-based initiatives rather than the use of law enforcement officers.

Alexander was the first of the nonprofit’s workers to die on the job, but he was the third to get shot. … Workers were sent into dangerous places of the city without law enforcement training.

On Friday, Alexander confronted a man outside the library in Civic Center Plaza just before 5 p.m. and asked him to stop using illicit drugs in front of children.

That man allegedly pulled out a shotgun and shot Alexander in the gut.

He died four days later at a hospital.

Police arrested 42-year-old Edmund Bowen and booked him into jail.

Urban Alchemy recruits people with a criminal past who are trying to fix their lives and pays them to be street ambassadors and help deter crime as well as drug abuse. Alexander reportedly served 23 years in prison prior to working for the nonprofit for two years.

“That was his beat, in front of the main library. He showed up to work every day when it was his shift,” said Jess Montejano, a spokesperson for Urban Alchemy.

He went on to say that the incident has scared other ambassadors.

“It’s a tight-knit team. There’s definitely some fear amongst Urban Alchemy practitioners right now. It’s very easy to see themselves in Mr. Alexander,” he said.

Montejano also told KQED-TV that Alexander was the first of the nonprofit’s workers to die on the job, but he was the third to get shot. He said workers were sent into dangerous places of the city without law enforcement training.

“They are trained with their lived experience,” he said, “to bring more peace, safety, and cleanliness on the streets. It’s an unfortunate reality that, yes, we do experience hate and sometimes violence in the line of work that we do.”

RELATED: Fight erupts right in front of city ‘security ambassadors’ — who stand on sidewalk and watch it go down

The nonprofit won contracts from many cities to operate homeless shelters and implement its community-based solutions, but it has been plagued with criticism about alleged financial mismanagement as well as improper conduct by workers. On Tuesday, about 100 workers were laid off by the group in Texas.

“As we mourn his loss, I am grateful for all of our ambassadors, including those from Urban Alchemy,” reads a statement from Mayor Daniel Lurie. “Every single day, they work alongside our city outreach workers and law enforcement to help those on the street and keep all of us safe.”

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​Street ambassador, Urban alchemy, Drug user shoots street worker, San francisco murder, Crime 

The government is shut down again, and the usual panic is back. I even had someone call my house this week to ask if it was safe to fly today. The person was half-joking, half-serious, wondering if planes would “fall out of the sky.”

For the record, the sky isn’t falling — at least not literally. But the chaos in Washington does feel like it. Once again, we’re watching the same old script: a shutdown engineered not by fiscal restraint but by political brinkmanship. And this time, the Democrats are driving the bus.

This shutdown may be inconvenient. But it’s also an opportunity — to stop funding our own destruction, to reset the table, and to remind Congress who actually pays the bills.

Democrats, among other things, are demanding that health care be extended to illegal immigrants. Democratic leadership caved to its radical base, which would rather shut down the government for such left-wing campaign points than compromise. Republicans — shockingly — said no. They refused to rubber-stamp more spending for illegal immigration. For once, they stood their ground.

But if you’ve watched Washington long enough, you know how this story usually ends: a shutdown followed by a deal that spends even more money than before — a continuing resolution kicking the can down the road. Everyone pretends to “win,” but taxpayers always lose.

The Vought effect

This time might be different. Republicans actually hold some cards. The public may blame Democrats — not the media, but the people who feel this in their wallets. Americans don’t like shutdowns, but they like runaway spending and chaos even less.

That’s why you’re hearing so much about Russell Vought, the director of the United States Office of Management and Budget and Donald Trump’s quiet architect of a strategy to use moments like this to shrink the federal bureaucracy. Vought spent four years building a plan for exactly this scenario: firing nonessential workers and forcing reauthorization of pet programs. Trump talks about draining the swamp. Vought draws up the blueprints.

The Democrats and media are threatened by Vought because he is patient, calculated, and understands how to leverage the moment to reverse decades of government bloat. If programs aren’t mandated, cut them. Make Congress fight to bring them back. That’s how you actually drain the swamp.

Predictable meltdowns

Predictably, Democrats are melting down. They’ve shifted their arguments so many times it’s dizzying. Last time, they claimed a shutdown would lead to mass firings. Now, they insist Republicans are firing everyone anyway. It’s the same playbook: Move the goalposts, reframe the narrative, accuse your opponents of cruelty.

We’ve seen this before. Remember the infamous “You lie!” moment in 2009? President Barack Obama promised during his State of the Union that Obamacare wouldn’t cover illegal immigrants. Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) shouted, “You lie!” and was condemned for breaching decorum.

Several years later, Hillary Clinton’s campaign platform openly promised health care for illegal immigrants. What was once called a “lie” became official policy. And today, Democrats are shutting down the government because they can’t get even more of it.

This is progressivism in action: Deny it, inch toward it, then demand it as a moral imperative. Anyone who resists becomes the villain.

RELATED: The dog that caught the car

Photo by Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images

Stand firm

This shutdown isn’t just about spending. It’s about whether we’ll keep letting progressives rewrite the rules one crisis at a time. Trump’s plan — to cut what isn’t mandated, force programs into reauthorization, and fight the battle in the courts — is the first real counterpunch to decades of this manipulation.

It’s time to stop pretending. This isn’t about compassion. It’s about control. Progressives know once they normalize government benefits for illegal immigrants, they never roll back. They know Americans forget how it started.

This shutdown may be inconvenient. But it’s also an opportunity — to stop funding our own destruction, to reset the table, and to remind Congress who actually pays the bills. If we don’t take it, we’ll be right back here again, only deeper in debt, with fewer freedoms left to defend.

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​Opinion & analysis, Opinion, Government shutdown, Federal jobs, Mass layoffs, Russ vought, Government spending, Government waste, Omb, Budget, Democrats, Republicans 

Tilly Norwood is a stunning London-based actress climbing the Hollywood ladder and closing in on almost 50,000 Instagram followers.

But there’s one catch. As you peruse her page of smiles and poses, you realize that she’s not real. Rather, Norwood is an AI-generated character that’s been created by the AI division of the production company Particle6.

And according to Particle6 founder Eline Van der Velden, she’s looking for an agent.

While Van der Velden is reportedly negotiating with multiple agencies to represent the AI character, Hollywood is not happy, as actors have been voicing strong opposition.

One actress, Emily Blunt, told the magazine “Variety” in an interview, “Good Lord, we’re screwed. That is really, really scary.”

“Come on, agencies, don’t do that. Please stop. Please stop taking away our human connection,” she added.

Not usually on the same page with Hollywood actors and actresses, BlazeTV host Dave Landau couldn’t agree more.

“They’re trying to get representation for this AI, which is disturbing to me,” Landau comments.

“You know what’s funny,” BlazeTV co-host ¼ Black Garrett chimes in, “is that the SAG-AFTRA strikes were about AI and who controls it, not keeping it from being in the industry.”

“Yeah, they should have worked on that part,” Landau says.

In an attempt to defend her “creation,” Van der Velden wrote in a statement on Instagram: “To those who have expressed anger over the creation of our AI character Tilly Norwood: she is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work — a piece of art.”

“Like many forms of art before her, she sparks conversation, and that in itself shows the power of creativity,” she added.

“The creator of the AI-generated actress released a statement, which itself sounds generated by AI,” Landau laughs.

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​Upload, Camera phone, Video phone, Free, Video, Sharing, Youtube.com, Normal world with dave landau, Normal world, Dave landau, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Tilly norwood, Hollywood actress, Artificial intelligence actress, Ai actress, Hollywood 

Most Americans assume proof of citizenship is required to vote. It isn’t. But thanks to the Trump administration’s new rule, the honor system that governs voter registration may finally be replaced with real safeguards.

At a time when Americans can’t seem to agree on anything — not even how to avoid a government shutdown — one principle still unites the country: Only U.S. citizens should vote in U.S. elections.

By requiring proof of citizenship at the point of registration, the Trump administration is doing what most Americans already assumed was happening.

A new poll from the Center for Excellence in Polling found that 87% of likely voters, including 80% of Democrats, support requiring individuals to prove their citizenship before registering.

The catch? More than 60% of those same voters believe the law already requires it. Nearly 70% of Democrats think citizenship is verified before registration. They’re wrong.

The honor system invites abuse

Yes, it’s illegal for noncitizens to register to vote. But the “verification” process amounts to checking a box. Election officials take applicants at their word. The result: a nationwide honor system for one of our most fundamental rights.

And bad actors are exploiting it. A 2024 study estimates that between 10% and 27% of noncitizens living in the United States are registered to vote. Census data suggests that could mean anywhere from 2 million to 5 million noncitizens on the rolls.

Consider Michigan, where a Chinese citizen faces felony charges for illegally voting in the 2024 election. Or Florida, where Russian and Uzbek nationals were arrested for allegedly conspiring to submit 132 fraudulent registration applications.

The problem goes beyond isolated cases. In Iowa, the Des Moines superintendent — earning roughly $286,000 a year — was arrested by ICE for living in the country illegally. He had been registered to vote in Maryland since 2012.

These examples add to a growing list of noncitizens caught on voter rolls in Arizona, Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

A long-standing vulnerability

Election fraud isn’t new. After the September 11 attacks, investigators discovered that eight of the 19 hijackers were registered to vote in Virginia or Florida, most likely through routine driver’s license applications.

For decades, we’ve known this vulnerability exists. But only now do we have a serious effort to close it.

The Trump administration steps in

President Trump signed an executive order this year requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote. The Election Assistance Commission has followed up with a proposed rule that would make documentary proof of citizenship mandatory.

RELATED: Trump order leads to investigation of 33 potential incidents of noncitizen voting, AG Paxton says

BackyardProduction via iStock/Getty Images

The Foundation for Government Accountability will be submitting comments in support of this rule before the October 20 deadline, alongside many others calling for stronger election security.

The proposal does more than enforce the law — it meets Americans where they already are. Voters believe citizenship is required to register, and they want it enforced. This rule would finally align government policy with public expectation.

Voting is not a casual privilege. It is a right that belongs exclusively to citizens of the United States. That right is weakened every time the honor system allows a noncitizen to slip through.

By requiring proof of citizenship at the point of registration, the Trump administration is doing what most Americans already assumed was happening: protecting the ballot box for citizens and restoring trust in the democratic process.

​Opinion & analysis, Voting rights, Citizenship, Citizens, Voting fraud, Voter registration fraud, Ballots, Donald trump, Polls, Virginia, Texas, Arizona, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Law, Des moines, Illegal aliens