Category: blaze media

The legacy media feverishly concern-mongered about COVID-19 and then tried unsuccessfully to generate similar hysteria over the gay-spread monkeypox virus.

Clearly desperate for a new health scare — especially after America formally rejected the World Health Organization — outlets seized upon reports of a deadly outbreak of hantavirus last month among passengers and crew of the MV Hondius, a Dutch cruise ship carrying 147 souls embarking from the southern tip of the Andes mountains in South America to the Canary Islands off the coast of Morocco.

‘We should shy away from making bold pronouncements that may prove dangerously misleading weeks or months later.’

While some publications rushed to attack emerging theories about the nature of the virus, including the notion that it was cooked up in a lab — narrative attacks that neglected to mention a recent gain-of function experiment involving hantaviruses — others pushed alarmist headlines such as:

“Is hantavirus the next COVID? Is the U.S. response on point? An outbreak update” — NPR“Why hantavirus is giving us a ‘sinking feeling,’ despite experts’ reassurance” — Canadian state media“Fears rat virus has spread to seven countries” — The Telegraph“Could human-transmitted hantavirus be the next pandemic threat?” — The Week“Hantavirus: Many unknowns surround an ‘unprecedented and worrying’ outbreak” — Le Monde

Despite provocative headlines and framing, many media outfits and experts have acknowledged that it is extremely unlikely that there will be a hantavirus epidemic, let alone a pandemic — though a news article at CNN cautioned against “calm-mongering” over hantavirus lest “post-COVID anxiety” be triggered.

A new article in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases, for instance, emphasized that while the suspected variety of hantavirus on the MV Hondius “can cause severe disease, high case fatality, and intense public anxiety when they emerge in mobile or closed settings,” such “outbreaks are not frequent” and are “unlikely to become a global outbreak.”

Hantavirus is a family of potentially deadly single-stranded RNA viruses that are naturally found in rodents. Only 890 cases of hantavirus were reported in the U.S. between 1993 and 2023, 35% of them fatal.

RELATED: Bizarre academic paper about releasing ticks resurfaces amid surging bites

The MV Hondius. Omar Havana/Getty Images

When spread to humans, hantaviruses can cause two diseases: hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome — a condition affecting the kidneys — and hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, which affects the lungs.

The hantavirus affecting people on the MV Hondius, the HPS-associated Andes strain, is unique.

Whereas other strains leap from rodents to humans, the Andes virus — symptoms of which appear anywhere from four to 42 days after exposure — has been reported to transmit from person to person via saliva droplets and other oral fluids, although this transmission theory has not been definitively proven.

The breakout on the cruise ship, which has so far claimed the lives of three people, is hardly unprecedented in terms of alleged mass human transmissions of the disease — at least where South America is concerned.

From November 2018 through February 2019 in Chubut Province, Argentina, there was, for instance, a person-to-person outbreak that resulted in 34 confirmed infections and 11 deaths.

Amid continued uncertainty over the genesis of the latest outbreak and media fearmongering, a wide range of theories have emerged about the rodent-borne virus.

Having heard for years about the various efforts to enhance the transmissibility, virulence, or host range of certain viruses, some have speculated that human-to-human transmission of hantavirus points to gain-of-function experimentation.

While there’s been nothing yet to suggest that the virus responsible for the breakout on the Hondius was the result of intentional genetic meddling, scientists have previously modified viruses incorporating hantavirus components and increased their viral fitness in a lab setting. This is similar to the controversial work done on bat coronaviruses at the lab in Wuhan, China.

Hantaviruses are considered a bioagent requiring Biosafety Level 3 containment for research and viral propagation. Consequently, BSL-2 laboratories won’t cut it.

However, a peer-reviewed study funded by the National Institutes of Health and published in 2019 by the American Society for Microbiology describes how researchers developed a work-around for conducting hantavirus research in a lower biocontainment-security BSL-2 laboratory.

Researchers tried to make a safer chimeric virus — which is a hybrid virus created by piecing together parts of two different viruses. They used a relatively weaker virus, vesicular stomatis virus, as the main body, and then attached the entry proteins from the more dangerous hantavirus to the outside so that it could infiltrate and infect cells.

This new recombinant virus — the result of an artificial mash-up of genetic material — apparently started acting just like a real hantavirus and underwent a series of mutations to become more infective:

Serial passage of the rescued rVSV-HTNV Gn/Gc virus markedly increased its infectivity and capacity for cell-to-cell spread. This gain in viral fitness was associated with the acquisition of two point mutations: I532K in the cytoplasmic tail of Gn and S1094L in the membrane-proximal stem of Gc. Follow-up experiments with rVSVs and single-cycle VSV pseudotypes confirmed these results. Mechanistic studies revealed that both mutations were determinative and contributed to viral infectivity in a synergistic manner.

The lead researcher on the 2019 study declined Blaze News’ request for comment.

This study is anything but a smoking gun. Whereas the COVID-19 pandemic appears to have originated in the neighborhood of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where dangerous gain-of-function experiments were being conducted on coronaviruses, the Hondius outbreak seemingly took place a world away from this ostensibly low-danger hantavirus study.

Still, researchers have yet to provide a comprehensive and satisfying explanation for how the Andes virus spreads, prompting speculation that members of the scientific community that possibly manufactured the SARS-COV-2 virus are again not being entirely forthright about what they know and don’t know regarding the Hondius outbreak.

“Public health officials have to be more honest and more humble about how this virus actually spreads,” noted Joseph Allen, professor of exposure assessment science at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “An essential lesson from COVID is that officials should be candid about communicating that we are often learning in real time, and we should shy away from making bold pronouncements that may prove dangerously misleading weeks or months later.”

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​Andes strain, Andes virus, Argentina, Epidemic, Gain in viral, Gain of function, Gain-of-function, Hantavirus, Hondius, Liberal media, Media, Outbreak, Outbreaks, Research, Rodent, Scaremongering, Science, Strain, Virus, Wuhan, Wuhan institute of virology, Politics 

Meta was one of the first tech giants to bring smart glasses to the mainstream market, thanks to a partnership with Ray-Ban. Unfortunately, Meta’s reputation for spying on users just landed a vicious blow to its hardware ambitions. According to a former business partner, Meta is secretly recording and saving everything its users see through its Meta Ray-Ban glasses, from simple outings to much more intimate encounters.

Sama says Meta is watching

The claim comes from Sama, a Kenyan-based AI company that partnered with Meta starting in 2017. According to its website, Sama helps train AI and machine learning models by annotating, validating, and evaluating large swaths of data. It’s also part of the Everest Group, an organization recognized by former President Clinton and the Clinton Foundation for outsourcing jobs to “underserved communities.” During their partnership, Sama provided moderation services to Meta that are no longer part of its business portfolio.

Privacy is more at risk now than ever.

In 2022, Sama filed a lawsuit against Meta over poor working conditions, unreasonable pay, poor mental health support for employees, and infringement on employee privacy. As part of their moderation partnership, some employees were forced to view and flag distressing content on Meta’s platforms, including murder and sex crimes involving minors. However, the companies continued to work together for many years, leading up to this year.

In April 2026, Sama employees filed new complaints expressing that they reviewed intimate footage captured by customers’ Meta Ray-Ban glasses. While not as graphic as the scenes from 2022, content included users visiting the bathroom, undressing in their bedrooms, and even engaging in private adult relations.

Weeks after these details emerged, Meta severed its contract with Sama, forcing its former partner to fire more than 1,000 staff members to account for the financial loss.

The worst part

It’s honestly hard to pick out the worst part of this story. Is it Meta’s alleged negligence of Sama’s employees? Is it the illegal content that requires human moderation on Meta’s platforms? Is it the fact that Sama continued to work with Meta, despite the poor conditions?

It’s all terrible. But looking at the story from a tech angle, it’s particularly disturbing that Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses captured footage and uploaded it directly to Meta’s servers to be saved and reviewed, especially when users weren’t aware this was happening. The news is a clear violation of user privacy, and it highlights Meta’s blatant lie that “you’re in control of your data and content.”

Clearly not.

RELATED: Trump phones begin shipping as liberal media melts down: ‘You got scammed’

Avishek Das/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

Meta’s privacy policies

The marketing drivel Meta pushes on a webpage is one thing though. What do its legally binding privacy policies say? Several times, the original policy mentions that humans may review user content for various purposes, especially to “combat harmful or unlawful behavior,” including scenes deemed to be troubling until a person reviews it and decides otherwise. The page reads:

The Meta products are designed to research and help ensure the safety, integrity, and security of those services and those people who enjoy them, on and off Meta products. We process information we have associated with you and apply automated processing techniques and, in some instances, conduct manual (human) review.

A second policy specifically for “supplemental Meta platforms” includes AI-powered smart glasses like Meta Ray-Ban. Under the photos, videos, and audio section, it states:

You can use the AI Glasses to take photos and video recordings with audio. … We will process your Media when you turn on cloud processing on your AI Glasses, interact with the Meta AI service on your AI Glasses, or upload your Media to certain services provided by Meta (i.e., Facebook or Instagram). You can change your choices about cloud processing of your Media at any time in Settings.

In other words, Meta Ray-Bans may process footage on Meta’s servers when cloud services are turned on, and this feature can be disabled in settings. Unfortunately, the only thing that mentions human review in the policy references audio processing for Meta VR products, like the Meta Quest. That means, as far as the supplemental privacy policy is concerned, Meta employees should not have the right to review footage captured on Meta Ray-Ban glasses.

Yet, Sama says it does.

Maybe don’t trust that camera on your face

Smart glasses are a niche product that haven’t fully caught on with the general public, and no one’s exactly sure how to feel about them. On one hand, smart glasses can be used for noble causes, like making the streets safer from illegal aliens and criminals. On the other, it opens Pandora’s box for mass surveillance of the American people. Clearly, Meta is choosing the latter, even if it doesn’t say it out loud.

The moral of the story is that Meta Ray-Ban glasses can’t be trusted, whether you wear a pair yourself or you know someone who does. These devices can record everything they see, with that footage accessible to third-party contractors and Meta employees.

Of course, this shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone familiar with Meta’s business practices. The company has found itself in plenty of privacy-related legal trouble over the years, from WhatsApp’s questionable encryption to its now-defunct Onavo Protect VPN data-tracking scandal, and more.

At their core, Meta Ray-Bans are intrusive with huge privacy implications for their users and the people around them. This is the same problem Google Glass faced more than a decade ago, and now that extended reality glasses are on the rise again, privacy is more at risk now than ever.

​Meta, Ray-ban, Surveillance, Privacy, Tech 

Incumbent Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass bewildered many when the Democrat made an impassioned statement about fixing the rotting teeth of methamphetamine addicts.

Bass made the comments while campaigning for re-election at a candidate forum on the homelessness crisis.

‘They don’t have teeth. Why? Because meth rots your teeth!’

“How many people who are unhoused that you meet have no teeth at all? They don’t have teeth. Why? Because meth rots your teeth,” she said.

“You can’t succeed without teeth,” she added. “So there needs to be comprehensive health care provided to people.”

Bass was immediately hounded by critics who saw the crazed comments as emblematic of Democratic policies.

“Yes, we want our f**king taxes paying for dope heads to get teeth. How could this get any worse? God please, intervene,” reads one response on the X platform.

“Once they get those new choppers, they will become successful, gainfully employed, model citizens. It’s like Magic Teeth. If only we had known this sooner,” another user replied.

“Think of all the people in LA that aren’t drug addicts that need dental care and she’s not doing anything for them,” another critic said.

Homelessness was a main focus of the mayor’s main competitor, former reality TV star Spencer Pratt.

In a popular clip from the mayoral debate, Pratt mocked the homeless policies espoused by Bass and far-left candidate Nithya Raman, a former ally to Bass and a city councilwoman.

“The reality is, no matter how many beds you give these people, they are on super meth. They are on fentanyl,” Pratt explained.

RELATED: TMZ tries to nuke Spencer Pratt’s mayoral campaign — and gets bitten in the Bass

“The DEA statistic says 93% of this is a drug addiction problem,” he added. “I will go below the Harbor Freeway tomorrow with [Raman], and we can find some of these people she’s going to offer treatment for. She’s going to get stabbed in the neck!”

While the most recent polling showed Bass still in the lead, Pratt is firmly in second place, and he received the greatest gain among all candidates since the last polling in March.

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​Karen bass, Rotting meth teeth, Spencer pratt, Los angeles mayoral election, Politics 

A particular species of Christian now flourishes in America. I call him the “wet noodle Christian.”

He is easy to recognize. He attends Bible studies, laments the moral collapse of the nation over coffee after church, and speaks with deep concern about the culture. But ask whether Christians should publicly oppose evil or contend for the moral direction of society, and he recoils as though you had proposed human sacrifice.

When Jesus taught believers to turn the other cheek, he addressed personal vengeance, not civilizational surrender.

“Oh, I don’t get involved in politics,” he says.

Or: “The world is supposed to get worse anyway.”

Or, with special confidence: “Jesus told us to turn the other cheek.”

He says all this as though Christian ethics can be reduced to the consistency of warm pudding.

This attitude springs partly from biblical illiteracy, partly from a successful Marxist strategy, and entirely from sin.

Biblical confusion

Christians often invoke the crucifixion as though Christ’s death requires believers to become passive spectators while evil marches through every institution of society. That confuses the unique work of Christ with the ordinary duties of Christians.

Christ’s death was the once-for-all atoning sacrifice of the Lamb of God. No Christian is called to redeem the world by offering himself as a substitute for sin. That office belongs to Christ alone. Nor did Christ go unwillingly or by force.

During his earthly ministry, Jesus rebuked sin, denounced hypocrisy, drove money changers from the temple with a whip, and told adulteresses to stop sinning. Hardly the behavior of a celestial yoga instructor murmuring therapeutic affirmations beside a Himalayan stream.

When Jesus taught believers to turn the other cheek, he addressed personal vengeance, not civilizational surrender. The command restrains sinful retaliation. It does not abolish justice, civil authority, or moral responsibility.

The same Christ who taught mercy also stands behind Romans 13, where the civil magistrate bears the sword as a minister of God against evil. The same Jesus appears in Psalm 2 as the enthroned king while rebellious rulers “take counsel together, against the Lord and against His Anointed.”

The biblical picture is one of advance, not retreat.

In the Great Commission, Jesus does not tell Christians to preserve their private religious feelings until death mercifully arrives. He commands them to make disciples of all nations, teaching them to observe all that he has commanded.

One searches the text in vain for the line: “Go therefore and quietly lose every institution while avoiding conflict.”

And here the second problem appears: Marxists understood the wet noodle instinct long before many Christians did.

RELATED: Adults are refusing to grow up, and their children are paying the price

Matt Stroshane/Walt Disney World Resort/Getty Images

Marxist subversion

For roughly 70 years, leftist media, academic institutions, and entertainment industries have carefully catechized Christians into believing that public Christianity is somehow immoral.

Christians were told that bringing moral convictions into public life is divisive. They were taught that the First Amendment requires a functionally atheist public square, though this alleged neutrality somehow never excludes progressive secular dogmas. The Christian could privately believe whatever he wished, provided he kept it quarantined like a contagious disease.

Meanwhile, the left marched through the institutions with all the subtlety of Sherman marching through Georgia.

One suspects many Marxists privately thought: “I cannot believe how easy this is.”

They taught Christians that offending anyone is the supreme moral evil, that strength itself is suspicious, that certainty is oppressive, and that masculinity is toxic. They insisted public Christianity was dangerous, and most Christians agreed to stop speaking publicly.

The remarkable thing is not that Marxists advanced their agenda. The remarkable thing is that so many Christians surrendered before the battle even began.

Part of this surrender also comes from bad eschatology, the notion that Christians should expect inevitable defeat in history. If collapse is certain, why resist anything? Why build institutions? Why fight corruption? Why educate children? Why preserve civilization?

This mentality looks far more like ancient Israel than faithful Christianity.

The Old Testament repeatedly shows Israel absorbing the gods and practices of surrounding nations, surrendering covenant distinctiveness, and then coming under divine judgment. Defeatism was never treated as humility. It was treated as faithlessness. One can almost hear an ancient pagan telling his Israelite neighbor that the Temple sacrifices and the Law of Moses are simply not nice.

The New Testament continues the theme. Hebrews 12 reminds believers that God disciplines his people for their good, though “for the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant.” Divine chastening does not mean abandonment. It means fatherly correction.

Perhaps America is living through precisely such discipline now.

RELATED: New book from Eric Metaxas shares the American Revolution’s forgotten Christian roots

ericmetaxas.com

Recovering the truth

Many Christians anxiously avoid offending anyone while ignoring Christ’s explicit command to disciple the nations. They have become highly obedient to a command Jesus never gave — be inoffensive at all costs — while neglecting the one he did give.

Christians often speak as though courage belongs to secular revolutionaries, while faith belongs to timid people waiting for evacuation. But biblically, faith grounds courage because faith rests on the certainty of Christ’s victory.

Christ will have the nations as his inheritance. The gospel will go into all the world. Faith lives here and now in light of what we know will be then and there.

The Great Commission is not a suggestion to attempt cultural survival until the batteries die. It is a declaration of conquest grounded in Christ’s authority: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me” (Matthew 28:18).

All authority. Not partial authority pending polling data.

The remedy for the wet noodle Christian, therefore, is not anger, resentment, or partisan hysteria. It is the courage of faith.

Christians must recover confidence that truth is true, that Christ reigns now, and that obedience does not become optional simply because it provokes pushback. They must stop confusing passivity with holiness and cowardice with kindness.

Above all, they must understand the strategy that has been used against them. The first step in losing a civilization is convincing its defenders that defending it is somehow unchristian.

​Marxists, America, Jesus christ, American christians, Christians, First amendment, Great commission, Bible, Opinion & analysis 

After winning the 2024 Republican primary for Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District, Rep. Thomas Massie cleaned up in the general election, securing 99.6% of the vote. Yet his political career still may not survive 2026.

The MIT-trained engineer proceeded to force the issue of the Jeffrey Epstein files’ release, speak out against the joint U.S.-Israeli entanglement in Iran, and pad his 86.79% lifetime Turning Point Action score. He also managed to once again draw the ire of President Donald Trump, who faulted Massie for being “an automatic ‘NO’ vote on just about everything.”

Months after vowing in March 2025 to “lead the charge” against Massie, Trump officially named his champion: Navy SEAL veteran Ed Gallrein.

The final polls conducted before the primary election indicate the race is virtually deadlocked.

Gallrein — who not only enjoys the president’s backing but the support of numerous powerful individuals and organizations, including War Secretary Pete Hegseth, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — is now poised to possibly oust Massie from the congressional seat he has held since 2012.

As he is running on a platform textually similar to Massie’s, Gallrein has endeavored to distinguish himself from his competitor online and in rallies — but not in a debate — largely in terms of his relationship with Trump.

RELATED: Massie takes aim at AIPAC with new bill about Nazi-era law

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

Gallrein has called Massie both a “turncoat” and a “roadblock to the America First agenda,” noting, for instance, that Massie:

Opposed the U.S. entanglement with Iran; Voted against a stopgap spending bill to keep the government funded; Voted against a resolution the congressman said would unhelpfully equate “anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism”; and Voted against the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — which the congressman said would “significantly increase U.S. budget deficits in the near term, negatively impacting all Americans through sustained inflation and high interest rates.”

Gallrein has shared a graphic stating that Massie also voted against the SAVE America Act, even though the congressman voted against a particular rule then ultimately voted to pass the legislation.

Unlike Massie, who has apparently failed to toe the line and has been characterized in attack ads as “cheating with ‘the Squad’ on the America First movement,” Gallrein has emphasized he will alternatively “stand with President Trump and put American first.”

Vice President JD Vance has likewise said that Massie ultimately is not helpful for the Republican Party.

“Being independent, having your own opinions is one thing,” Vance said at a TPUSA event six months ago. “Voting against the party on every single issue, you’re eventually going to make too many enemies. And that is the problem that Thomas has had. It’s not one issue. It’s not three or four issues. It’s that every time that we’ve needed Thomas for a vote, he has been completely unwilling to provide it.”

The final polls conducted before the primary election indicate the race is virtually deadlocked.

A Neighborhood Research poll published on Friday found that the candidates were tied but that Gallrein “seems to be surging as the election comes to a close.”

The poll found that Massie enjoyed a dominant 47-30 advantage among voters under 50, whereas Gallrein was leading 46-17 among women ages 50 and older. Men in the older cohort were split evenly between the two candidates.

The Public Polling Project also released a poll on Friday, this time finding that Massie led Gallrein among all likely voters 50.6% to 49.4%.

According to AdImpact, the battle between Gallrein and Massie for Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District is the most expensive House primary on record, with $32.6 million spent on advertising.

The Republican Jewish Coalition has reportedly spent $4 million on ads supporting Gallrein. The AIPAC super PAC United Democracy Project has spent another $2.6 million helping Trump’s champion.

In light of injections of cash into the primary battle by these and other pro-Israel groups, Massie has framed the race as a referendum on whether “Israel gets to buy seats in Congress.”

Massie and pro-Massie groups Kentucky 4th PAC and Kentucky First PAC have also dumped a fortune into ads, including an ad accusing Gallrein of being “bought and paid for by the LGBTQ mafia.”

A victory of Gallrein over Massie would be another scalp for Trump, who just in the past few weeks has seen crushing primary defeats for the Indiana state senators who defied him on redistricting and for Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who voted to convict Trump on impeachment articles related to January 6.

Trump noted in a Truth Social post on Monday, “The Great People of Kentucky are wise to Massie — He only votes against the Republican Party, making life very easy for the Radical Left. Unlike ‘lightweight’ Massie, a totally ineffective LOSER who has failed us so badly, CAPTAIN ED GALLREIN IS A WINNER WHO WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN.”

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​America first agenda, Donald trump, Jeffrey epstein files, Pete hegseth, Republican primary, Thomas massie, Israel, Aipac, Kentucky, Congress, Congressional, Politics, Ed gallrein 

As Britain cracks down on free speech and heightens surveillance measures, it’s becoming a cautionary tale for the rest of the Western world — one that Tommy Robinson has experienced firsthand.

“They wanted us isolated, they wanted us alone, wanted total control, which they had. Total control. I was invisible,” Robinson tells Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck, explaining that the media in the U.K. has branded him as one of the “far-right, racist, extremist agitators who are intent on violence.”

“You couldn’t even mention my name … deleted from society for daring to show — and what was I showing? The problems of mass open-border immigration,” Robinson says.

“Why do they want to hide it?” he asks. “Because it lays at their feet.”

And U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s latest ad is only proving Robinson right.

“This is our country with a majority who share those values. A majority who may not always be as loud but must always define who we are. So my government will not stand in the way of peaceful protest,” Starmer said, adding, “But we will act decisively against hatred.”

“We will use the full force of the law when that hatred manifests as violence. And we will ban those coming into the U.K. who seek to stir it up as we have done already because this country belong to all of us, and I will not tolerate anyone who seeks to stand in the way of that,” Starmer finished.

Robinson notes that Starmer has already made his last few points in the video crystal clear.

“After the 2024 riots … he politicized the judiciary, weaponized the media, and he sent mothers to jail for 31 months for tweets. He sent Peter Lynch, a grandfather, to jail, who has died in jail. He sent innocent people to jail,” he explained, noting that Starmer did it to “instill fear in the British public.”

“The problem he’s got is he didn’t instill fear. It lit a fire in the heart of us. … This is a battle for the soul of this nation, and it’s a battle he’s going to lose. He’s losing,” he continues, adding, “They’re losing. We’re winning the hearts and minds of the public whether he likes it or not.”

Want more from Glenn Beck?

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​Ban, Britain, Country, Extremist, Far right, Free speech, Hatred, Immigration, Judiciary, Keir starmer, Law, Media, Protest, Racist, Surveillance, The glenn beck program, Tommy robinson, Uk, Violence, Western world 

A major media company wants to expand while making a clearer commitment to free speech. You would think that would cheer any American who still believes in the First Amendment.

Instead, Democrats are furious.

That authoritarian impulse, not Ellison’s support for Trump, is the real free-speech crisis in America.

In April, Paramount CEO David Ellison hosted a dinner celebrating the First Amendment. That was no coincidence. Paramount, and Ellison in particular, have long signaled support for free expression. Yet Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) responded by branding Ellison an “oligarch” and vowing to break up “anti-consumer” media companies “into pieces.”

Apparently, supporting free speech while maintaining ties across the political divide now qualifies as anti-consumer.

The real source of Democratic outrage is not some abstract concern for consumers. It is Paramount’s planned acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. That deal could create a stronger competitor to Netflix and other streaming giants while opening more space for content that does not conform to left-wing orthodoxy.

That possibility has set off alarms on the left.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), fresh off the permanent closure of Spirit Airlines after helping sink its proposed merger with JetBlue, posted on X last week that “we need to block this merger and break up monopolies everywhere.” Reps. Sam Liccardo (D-Calif.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) both members of the House Financial Services Committee, tried to pressure Paramount out of the deal. California Attorney General Rob Bonta said his office would launch a “vigorous” investigation into Paramount and WBD.

None of this should surprise anyone. Democrats routinely use regulatory power to punish people and companies that support free speech.

The Biden administration pressured Facebook and what was then Twitter to suppress content that challenged Democratic talking points. Censored subjects included election integrity and the origins of COVID-19.

Elon Musk bought Twitter, renamed it X, and made it more open to speech the left dislikes. Democrats came after him too, including efforts to strip him of federal contracts. Meanwhile, criminals set Tesla vehicles on fire and torched dealerships in several states. This is the same Tesla that, as the Associated Press noted, “was once the darling of the left.”

The pattern extends well beyond social media and corporate regulation.

Former Secretary of State John Kerry complained that the First Amendment is “a major block” to stamping out so-called disinformation.

RELATED: The trial lawyers come for online free speech

BigNazik/iStock/Getty Images

On college campuses, the divide is even clearer. A 2017 Cato Institute study found major differences between Democrats and Republicans on allowing controversial or offensive speakers to appear on campus. Even on issues where Republicans might be expected to take greater offense, Cato found that Democrats were still more likely to support canceling the speaker.

That result fits the broader Democratic instinct. Free speech is welcome only when it serves the approved narrative. Once it threatens left-wing control over public discourse, it becomes dangerous, irresponsible, or anti-consumer.

That is what this fight over Paramount and WBD is really about.

If the merger succeeds, Paramount Skydance could become a more serious rival to the dominant streaming platforms. That competition could improve content and lower prices. But none of that matters to Democrats if Ellison is politically aligned with Trump and if the merged company might distribute material that leans right.

The left does not fear monopoly in principle. It fears losing its monopoly on the narrative.

Democrats have been losing ground at the ballot box and in the arena of ideas for years. Rather than examine why, they blame “disinformation” and target companies that refuse to toe the line.

That authoritarian impulse, not Ellison’s support for Trump, is the real free-speech crisis in America.

​Ballot box, Biden administration, Chris murphy, College campuses, Disinformation, Elizabeth warren, Elon musk, First amendment, John kerry, Opinion & analysis, Paramount skydance, Social media, Tim huelskamp, Warner bros discovery 

The Democratic members of the city council in Portland, Maine, lamented with the mayor that their sanctuary city policies were powerless to actually stop federal agents.

Democratic Portland Mayor Mark Dion touted the city for its previous efforts to protect illegal immigrants before admitting that they were limited legally from stopping Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations completely.

‘They don’t have any sense of what they’re supposed to do; they just go out and do things impulsively and destructively.’

Video of the meeting from May 4 resurfaced on social media and went viral.

Dion opposed a new proposal that would put the obligation of opposing ICE on city employees, but he said his opposition had nothing to do with partisan politics.

“Where I do have a fundamental disagreement is the nature of our employees,” the mayor said. “My sense of it [is] if they want to come, they’re coming.”

He went on to call the new policy “magical” thinking that would stop ICE.

“There’s a supposition that if we have this as an ordinance, that somehow ICE is gonna move on. That’s silly,” the mayor said.

“In my mind, that’s an interesting magical thought. My conclusion is they don’t have any sense of what they’re supposed to do; they just go out and do things impulsively and destructively,” he added. “The existence of this particular couple of sentences is not gonna change their equation. I’m confident of that.”

Dion was pressured by City Councilman Pious Ali, the Democratic author of the motion, that they had not done enough to protect staff as well as immigrants from ICE.

“If we don’t have a very strong protection for our staff and our community, nobody can predict what they can do,” Ali said.

The mayor disagreed.

“If that’s the case, if in your heart you understand that ICE is gonna do what ICE is gonna do, then why do we have to have our staff controlled under the guise of an order and an ordinance, other than for political purposes?” Dion continued. “As a pragmatic purpose, it’s not gonna deter ICE.”

Despite the mayor’s exhortations, the order passed 7-1.

“There you go,” the mayor said.

RELATED: Man served time for threatening to kill Trump — then gets arrested for more alleged threats against Trump

While Portland City Council members don’t have to designate their political affiliation, none are registered Republicans. All council members that have a political affiliation are either Democrats or democratic socialists.

Portland officials previously expressed their outrage at ICE operations in the city, and Councilman Wes Pelletier went so far as to call it a “war of terror” on immigrants. Pelletier is a member and leader of the Democratic Socialists of America.

The full video of the city council meeting from May 4 can be viewed on the Portland city website.

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​Portland maine city council, Portland mayor mark dion, Democrats vs ice, Sanctuary city policies, Politics 

The remains of a 23-year-old Alabama woman who had been missing for more than a week were found Saturday, and a male was charged with abuse of a corpse in connection with her death, AL.com reported.

Karen Deann Hollis vanished May 8 from Northport, the outlet reported, adding that Hollis was last seen around midnight in the area of 43rd Avenue in Northport.

‘Multiple search warrants were executed, and a great deal of physical, witness, and electronic information was obtained.’

Northport police said Hollis at the time of her disappearance was believed to have been living with a condition that could impair her judgment, AL.com added.

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency issued a missing person alert in connection with her disappearance, the outlet said.

Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit Capt. Jack Kennedy said the initial investigation led detectives to believe that foul play may have been involved, AL.com reported, adding that the violent crimes unit and Northport police have been working together on the case.

A person of interest was developed last week, but the victim still had not been located, AL.com reported.

But family and friends located Hollis’ remains on Saturday while searching an area determined to be of interest based on information received from an electronic device, the outlet said.

Kennedy said Hollis’ remains were recovered in Greene County, AL.com reported, adding that the Greene County Sheriff’s Office, Greene County District Attorney’s Office, and Greene County coroner assisted in the recovery of the remains.

“The investigation has been a priority for both agencies,” Kennedy said, according to the outlet. “Multiple search warrants were executed, and a great deal of physical, witness, and electronic information was obtained.”

The male identified last week as the person of interest — 44-year-old Randall Lendell Dejourney — was taken into custody, the outlet said.

RELATED: Manhunt under way for man seen dragging a body away before woman was found stabbed to death, police say

Dejourney is charged with abuse of a corpse, AL.com reported, adding that he was booked into the Tuscaloosa County Jail with a bond set at $15,000. A jail official on Monday afternoon told Blaze News that Dejourney was still behind bars.

Kennedy said Hollis’ remains have been sent to the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences for an autopsy to determine the cause and manner of her death, AL.com reported.

The investigation is ongoing, and more charges could be brought following the autopsy results, the outlet added.

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​Alabama, Missing woman, Remains found, Abuse of corpse, Arrest, Crime 

Campaign ads may never look the same again after Spencer Pratt dropped yet another AI-generated video that looks more like a Hollywood sci-fi trailer than a traditional political ad — and BlazeTV hosts Pat Gray and Keith Malinak believe it could completely reshape how campaigns reach voters.

The viral video features Pratt soaring through a destroyed, burning Los Angeles on a futuristic vehicle straight out of “Star Wars,” while AI-generated versions of California politicians delivered sinister one-liners about the city’s decline.

“You didn’t finish burning the city to the ground in your first term. Make sure you finish the job in your second,” the AI version of California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) says with a grin.

The ad also features AI Mayor Karen Bass (D) saying, “The only thing that can stop us is someone telling the truth. As long as they don’t have any hope, the city’s ours.”

Bass then gets into a lightsaber duel with Pratt, before the citizens of Los Angeles all whip out their own lightsabers in defense of their city.

“If you don’t have a lot of money in your campaign, you just let AI take over,” Malinak says, while Pat Gray predicts the technology is about to revolutionize campaign strategy from here on out.

“I think we’re seeing a complete change in the political advertising world from now on. There’s going to be a lot of that kind of stuff, AI-generated things,” Gray says.

“I hope it works out for Spencer Pratt,” Malinak says.

“If they were ever going to get Republican leadership, it’s this cycle.”

Want more from Pat Gray?

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​Aigenerated video, Blaze media, Blaze news, Blaze online, Blaze orginals, Blaze podcast network, Blaze podcasts, Blazetv, Blazetv hosts, Burning los angeles, California politicians, Campaign ads, Campaign strategy, Governor gavin newsom, Hollywood scifi, Keith malinak, Lightsaber duel, Mayor karen bass, Pat gray, Pat gray unleashed, Political ad, Political advertising, Republican leadership, Spencer pratt, Star wars, The blaze, Viral video 

A 64-year-old woman admitted to violating election laws by paying homeless people on Skid Row in Los Angeles to register to vote.

Brenda Lee Brown Armstrong worked as a paid petition signature gatherer for about two decades, according to a press release from the U.S.

‘Armstrong regularly paid and offered to pay individuals cash, usually in amounts between $2 and $3, to induce them to sign her petitions.’

Armstrong, who is known as “Anika,” has agreed to plead guilty to one felony count of paying another person to register to vote.

She said she was hired by “coordinators” to “collect voter signatures on official petitions that qualify initiatives, referendums, and recalls for California state ballots.”

Armstrong would drive around Los Angeles and seek signatures from registered voters and receive payment for each signature. To make the job easier, she began paying homeless people in the Skid Row area to sign.

“Armstrong regularly paid and offered to pay individuals cash, usually in amounts between $2 and $3, to induce them to sign her petitions,” prosecutors said.

Since the homeless people did not have a residence, Armstrong would have them register as voters under her previous address. Armstrong also paid them to register as voters.

“This case is important because it shows how it is under California law to corrupt the state’s voter rolls and thereby corrupt the state and federal elections administered by the state,” DOJ Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said at a media briefing.

U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli indicated that prosecutors depended on independent journalism from James O’Keefe to identify Armstrong and catch her in the act.

“California’s lax attitude towards voter registration endangers our democracy. We won’t stand by when ballot box corruption threatens the foundations of our republic,” Essayli said.

RELATED: Noncitizen Kansas mayor accused of illegally voting ‘multiple times’ after winning re-election

Armstrong faces a statutory maximum penalty of five years in federal prison for the felony charge.

“False registrations undermine Americans’ faith in elections — even more so when payoffs are involved,” Dhillon said.

“This Justice Department is committed to ensuring that all U.S. elections are fair and free from illegal meddling,” she added, “so that all Americans can accept the results with confidence.”

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​California illegal voting, Homeless people voting registration, Skid row voting scam, Petition gatherer scam, Politics 

A massive crowd of British patriots gathered in London on Saturday to participate in Tommy Robinson’s Unite the Kingdom march. However, several international figures who had planned to attend and speak at the event, including some Americans, were absent after Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government banned them from entering the country.

The Metropolitan Police, which deployed 4,000 officers and admitted it would use facial recognition technology on the crowd, estimated that 60,000 people attended Saturday’s UTK march. However, Robinson insisted attendance was in the “millions.”

‘It’s good to know that Britain can enforce its borders and stop people from coming to our country, after consecutive years where legal migration ran above a million.’

Hours ahead of the march, Starmer released a video statement condemning the UTK movement, accusing its organizers of “peddling hatred and division.” He announced that his government had blocked “far-right agitators” who planned to attend the march from entering the country.

Journalist Dan Wootton called Starmer’s video “a despicable and disgusting attack on British patriots.”

“He was wanting to stoke violence,” Wootton told Blaze News. “And hundreds of thousands of proud Englishmen and women proved him wrong. All this Labour government has left now is going after an invisible ‘far right.’”

A press release from the prime minister’s office stated that 11 foreigners were prevented from entering the country “to spew their extremist views.” The government’s press release did not name every individual denied entry, but it did state that it denied entry to “U.S.-based extremist” Valentina Gomez, citing her “inflammatory and dehumanising rhetoric about Muslim communities.”

Gomez blamed the ban on “corrupt politicians” and criticized Starmer for using facial recognition technology against those who attended the rally but not against “muslim rape gangs and violent palestine protests.” A pro-Palestine and anti-Robinson rally was held in London the same day as UTK.

American political commentator Don Keith was also banned from entering the U.K.

“I have no idea why I was banned from the UK other than my friendship with Tommy Robinson and opposition to Keir Starmer’s policies,” Keith wrote in a post on X.

Wootton told Blaze News that Keith was scheduled to co-host Wootton’s podcast, “Outspoken,” which was covering the march live.

“This is North Korean stuff,” Wootton continued, referring to Keith’s ban and adding that the media class seems to “think this is completely acceptable.”

“I am disgusted about what’s happening to our country when all we are trying to do is stop an Islamist takeover,” he added.

RELATED: Glenn Beck to risk lifetime ban from UK to speak at Tommy Robinson’s Unite the Kingdom rally

Richard Baker/In Pictures/Getty Images

Joey Mannarino, an American citizen and host on NewsForce, responded to Starmer’s video statement concerning the UTK rally and travel bans.

“I’m one of the people you banned. I went to school in the UK and love your country. I love the people of your country. The British ones. Not the ones your lot caters to,” Mannarino wrote. “You’re truly a disgrace to the beautiful nation which you ‘represent.’”

Others who were banned from entering the country ahead of the march included journalists Ezra Levant and Avi Yemini, politicians Dominik Tarczyński and Filip Dewinter, and political commentators Eva Vlaardingerbroek and Ada Lluch.

These individuals were notified that their presence “is not considered to be conducive to the public good.”

RELATED: ‘Frankly disgraceful’: British politicians implode after Trump official meets with Tommy Robinson

Carl Court/Getty Images

Connor Tomlinson, a London-based political commentator, told Blaze News, “It’s good to know that Britain can enforce its borders and stop people from coming to our country, after consecutive years where legal migration ran above a million. Unfortunately, Keir Starmer only wants to block foreigners warning against the replacement, rape, and murder of the British people from entering, rather than the perpetrators of such crimes.”

Tomlinson called Starmer “Britain’s most hated prime minister on record.”

“This rally seemed more sparsely attended, likely due to divisions in the nationalist base over whether Britain should be involved in the Iran war. But if it plays a role in expediting the destruction of the Labour Party, then it was worthwhile,” Tomlinson added.

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​News, Tommy robinson, Unite the kingdom, Keir starmer, United kingdom, Uk, U.k., London, Britain, Metropolitan police, Valentina gomez, Don keith, Joey mannarino, Ezra levant, Avi yemini, Dominik tarczyński, Filip dewinter, Eva vlaardingerbroek, Ada lluch, Connor tomlinson, Politics 

California officials confirmed that law enforcement officers responded to an active shooter report at the Islamic Center of San Diego in Clairemont Mesa on Monday afternoon.

The social media account for the San Diego Police Dept. said that at 12:03 p.m. PT, the incident was reported at the center on Eckstrom Ave.

News video also showed police escorting children out of the center.

Video on social media showed a massive police response in the area.

“Emergency personnel are on scene and actively working to protect the community and secure the area,” wrote San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria on social media.

At 1:06 p.m., police reported that the threat had been “neutralized.” A report from KGTV said there is at least one fatality.

News video also showed police escorting children out of the center, where there is a school. Several schools nearby were placed on lockdown.

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) added that the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services was responding as well.

“We are grateful to the first responders on the scene working to protect the community and urge everyone to follow guidance from local authorities,” his office said.

RELATED: Firebombing suspect recorded himself declaring jihad is greater than Zionists before attack

The Islamic Center in San Diego is the largest in San Diego County, according to its website.

This is a developing story.

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​Active shooter, Islamic center, San diego california, Islamic shooting, Politics 

Comedy used to be about making people laugh first — not lecturing audiences about politics — and according to BlazeTV host Stu Burguiere, a few comedians are finally saying out loud what audiences have been thinking for years.

“You’re looking for funny first. You don’t leave out funny,” Stu says, arguing that modern late-night television has largely abandoned comedy in favor of partisan activism.

However, Conan O’Brien appears determined to resist that trend. In a recent interview, O’Brien criticized comics who go “the route of ‘I’m just going to say F Trump all the time.’”

“That’s their comedy,” he said.

“And I think, well, now a little bit you’re being co-opted because you’re so angry. You’ve been lulled. It’s like a siren leading you into the rocks. You’ve been lulled into just saying, ‘F Trump, F Trump,’” he continued.

“And I think you’ve now put down your best weapon, which is being funny, and you’ve exchanged it for anger. And that person or any person like that would say, ‘Well, things are too serious now. I don’t need to be funny.’ And I think, well, if you’re a comedian, you always need to be funny,” he explained, adding, “you just have to find a way.”

And Conan isn’t the only comedian that feels this way.

In an interview on his podcast “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend,” comedian Zach Galifianakis recalled an episode he did of “Between Two Ferns” with Hillary Clinton.

“I remember when I interviewed Hillary Clinton, and I could tell she didn’t want to be there, and I totally get that. I get it. But before we had set that whole thing up, they wrote back, ‘Well, you can’t bring up those emails,’” Galifianakis said.

“And I go, ‘Well, we don’t have to do the interview. That’s fine. We won’t do it.’ When you tell powerful people no, it’s crazy. They were like, ‘OK, we’ll do it. You can ask,’” he said, adding, “Because it’s not that important to me to do it the way they want to do it.”

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​Activism, Anger, Between two ferns, Blaze media, Blaze news, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Blaze podcast network, Blaze podcasts, Blazetv, Comedians, Comedy, Conan obrien, Funny, Hillary clinton, Latenight television, Partisan, Politics, The blaze, Trump, Zach galifianakis, Stu and dave do america 

U.S. Border Patrol agents in San Diego discovered 19 people, including convicted drug traffickers, hiding in a drainage system near the border, according to a Customs and Border Protection press release exclusively obtained by Blaze News.

On the evening of May 4, Border Patrol agents from the Chula Vista Station, using the Remote Video Surveillance System, detected “suspicious activity” near the drainage tunnels. When they responded to the scene, they found a group of individuals attempting to illegally enter the U.S. through the drainage system.

‘If you try to illegally cross our border, we will catch you and arrest you.’

They arrested 19 suspects, 16 adults and three unaccompanied minors, all of whom are Mexican citizens.

“The dedicated men and women of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, alongside our law enforcement partners, have arrested and removed thousands of criminal aliens from the country — including gang members, rapists, kidnappers, and drug traffickers — to make our communities safer,” the CBP stated.

Raudel Carrillo-Padilla, 35, and his brother, Ivan Carrillo-Padilla, 31, were among those arrested. The two had previously been deported from the U.S. following a 2017 conviction for possession, transport, and intent to sell methamphetamine in Yreka, California. Ivan Carrillo-Padilla was deported a second time after he was arrested in 2019 for a drug-related interdiction stop in Eugene, Oregon.

RELATED: 6 people found dead in boxcar in Texas border town, police say

Image source: US Customs and Border Protection

All of the suspects were transported to the Chula Vista Station for processing. They will face either removal or federal prosecution, the CBP’s press release stated.

RELATED: Sexual predators, child abusers, and other criminal illegal aliens arrested by ICE during National Police Week

Image source: US Customs and Border Protection

“These smuggling attempts are not only dangerous, but they also frequently involve individuals who pose a threat to public safety,” San Diego Sector Chief Patrol Agent Justin De La Torre said. “Thanks to the vigilance of our agents and the effective use of surveillance technology, this group — which included convicted drug traffickers — was apprehended before they could move further into our communities. If you try to illegally cross our border, we will catch you and arrest you.”

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​News, Customs and border protection, Cbp, Chula vista station, Chula vista, Border patrol, San diego, Illegal immigration, Illegal immigration crisis, Border, Us border, Us-mexico border, Drug trafficking, Drug traffickers, Politics 

A hysterical call for liberals to fight against the South from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) was immediately undermined by an embarrassing mistake in her speech.

The far-left socialist Democrat made the caustic comments while addressing supporters in Montgomery, Alabama, on Saturday. She appeared to employ language intended to hearken back to the Civil War.

‘What they thought was the final blow is actually just the opening silo!’

Ocasio-Cortez was excoriating the efforts by Republican-controlled states to redistrict in order to help Republicans gain an advantage in the congressional midterm elections.

“For all those watching today, when they ask, ‘What do we do in this moment? I feel helpless; what action can I take?'” said Ocasio-Cortez.

“It is time for the North to pull up to the South! It is time for New York to pull up to Alabama! It is time for all of us to come to Georgia, to Louisiana, to Tennessee, to Mississippi!” she yelled to loud applause. The phrase “pull up” is street slang referring to someone rushing into a confrontation or fight.

“And let them know exactly what they have uncorked with this injustice!” she added. “They think they can draw us out of power; they do not know the sleeping giant that they just awakened!”

She finished up the speech accidentally using the word “silo” when intending to use the word “salvo” instead.

“So if you are not from here, it is time to pull up!” she added. “Because what they thought was the final blow is actually just the opening silo!”

Video of the flub was widely circulated on social media, where she was ridiculed by critics.

RELATED: Gavin Newsom tries to dunk on Trump and gets obliterated with online ridicule

“She just can’t help taking every single opportunity to show the world how low her IQ is,” responded one user on X.

Hilariously, this wasn’t the first time she made that exact same mistake. In a post on social media from 2024, she referred to a Republican’s “opening silo” of rhetoric.

Ocasio-Cortez posted video of the speech on her YouTube channel, but the captions said “salvo” rather than “silo,” which she clearly says.

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​Alexandria ocasio-cortez, New york vs the south, Republican redistricting, Political violence rhetoric, Politics 

Canada’s Indian mass-graves hoax never stood up to scrutiny, so radicals are now working to denigrate and discredit their most vocal scrutineers — those derisively referred to in recent years as “denialists.”

A propaganda program called “Northland Tales” is currently being produced for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation — a Canadian state media outlet — and the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network.

According to the Indigenous Screen Office, the show is “an unscripted, half-hour comedy series where an Indigenous activist trio uses pranks as a form of social action.”

‘This fraudulent activity is being conducted with our tax dollars.’

Those behind the program have reportedly used false pretenses and fake companies to lure skeptics of claims about Indian mass graves into sitting for what are effectively struggle sessions.

Conservative lawmakers and critics have condemned the deceitful propaganda campaign, while defenders have alternatively framed it as a means toward reconciliation and a better understanding of perceived historical wrongs.

Quick background

Residential schools were established across Canada in the 1880s as part of a federally mandated campaign both to educate Indian children who had no alternative local school options and to assimilate them into contemporary society.

These schools — which were in many cases operated by various Catholic dioceses as well as by Anglican and Presbyterian churches — operated until the second half of the 20th century. An estimated 150,000 children attended the schools over the course of a century.

RELATED: Priest breaks hip — now Canada apparently wants him dead

Kamloops Indian Residential School. NICHOLAS RAUSCH/AFP/Getty Images

While thousands of children allegedly died while attending the schools, the main killer was reportedly tuberculosis, a disease that swept the rest of the nation as well.

Years after the last school was shuttered, a grievance industry grew around claims of abuse and so-called cultural genocide in the residential schools — claims that former newspaper publisher Conrad Black called “an outrage and a blood libel on the English- and French-Canadian peoples.”

Apparently getting in on the action, the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nation announced in May 2021 that it had confirmed the discovery of children’s remains in an apple orchard near a former Catholic-run residential school in Kamloops, British Columbia.

To date, not a single child’s body has ever been located there.

Despite a glaring absence of evidence,

The liberal media and various academics hyped the false narrative; Then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other officials in Ottawa expressed grief, observed a “moment of silence” to mark the supposed discovery, and badmouthed the country; A radical parliamentarian passed a motion with unanimous consent demanding the Canadian government “recognize what happened in Canada’s Indian residential schools as genocide.”Canadian institutions lowered the national flags in memory of the imagined missing children; Canada Day festivities were canceled around the country;Statues remembering historic figures were toppled; andHundreds of churches were vandalized and/or torched.

After fruitlessly blowing hundreds of millions of dollars on the Kamloops investigation and similar grievance industry initiatives, the powers that be considered amending Canada’s Criminal Code to prohibit “denialism,” thereby criminalizing the public recognition of the whole thing as a hoax.

Legislation banning such wrong-think has so far failed to advance.

Unable to silence critics of the hoax, radicals are apparently attempting to humiliate them.

Stitch-up artists

Author Lindsay Shepherd — an outspoken skeptic of the unmarked graves claims who was fired from the B.C. Conservative Party over her criticism of the provincial legislature’s flying of a flag honoring so-called survivors of the residential schools — is one of the individuals targeted by the propaganda program.

Shepherd has written extensively about Canada’s first prime minister, John A. MacDonald, often regarded as a key architect of the residential school system. Shepherd noted online that “a production group with what I now know has a fake name and fake identities gave me a friendly interview about my book A Day with Sir John A, and about Sir John A Macdonald, back in Feb.”

The production group allegedly connected Shepherd with a fake company that “hired” her to perform consulting work.

“We had what I now know were fake meetings, fake documents, fake commercial shoot, fake prototype of a Sir John A collectible,” Shepherd said. “Then in a second filmed interview last week, they turned on me, and it was revealed to have all been a setup in order to demonize Sir John A and smear me.”

Frances Widdowson — a Canadian political scientist who was fired from Mount Royal University partly over her criticism of leftist revisionism about the residential schools and imagined genocide of Indians in Canada — was also targeted by the propagandists.

Widdowson told state media in a recent interview that she was asked in March to be part of a docuseries by an organization calling itself Forge Media. Widdowson said she was flown to Vancouver for an interview about how historical figures were portrayed. A man poorly dressed up as John A. MacDonald joined her during the supposed interview, then a pair of Indian men interrupted, dumping “a whole bunch of children’s shoes” on a nearby table.

Activists led to believe there were unmarked children’s graves by the Kamloops residential schools have left children’s shoes on the steps of government buildings and churches in protest of the imagined harms of yesteryear.

After cluing in that it was “all part of some kind of setup,” Widdowson took out her phone and began recording.

Igor Vamos, one of the activists involved in the propaganda program, told Widdowson that it was a “social experiment,” that she wasn’t a target but rather a “participant.”

Widdowson told state media, “I’ve seen this happen with numerous individuals, and it can be quite a funny and a liberating thing to watch that, but I don’t think that’s what’s going on here.”

Instead, she suggested the propagandists were targeting “citizens who are dissidents.”

The propagandists have allegedly attempted to bamboozle other dissidents and perceived foes of the revisionist left, including veterans of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police who were allegedly brought in to discuss life after service only to be criticized by ideologues.

Backlash

Former Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said, “This is appalling, doubly so as this fraudulent activity is being conducted with our tax dollars.”

“I can’t believe the CBC did something like this,” Canadian Conservative politician Aaron Gunn said in a statement. “Using taxpayer money to mislead, deceive and outright lie to ordinary Canadians, including retired RCMP veterans, to trick them into taking part in some sort of twisted political propaganda film. Fake documentaries that slander Canadian history, defame Canadian institutions like the RCMP and smear the reputation of our first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald.”

Gunn has demanded that the Carney administration provide an “explanation and accountability for … the apparent use of taxpayer money to mislead, deceive and lie to Canadian citizens, including Members of Parliament, in attempts to trick them into participating in a fake documentary smearing the reputation of Canada’s first prime minister.”

Melissa Lantsman, deputy leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, wrote, “Fake documentaries. Hidden agendas. Entrapping ordinary Canadians and spending your tax dollars lavishly doing it. History-erasing ideologies who spare no expense.”

Chuck Thompson, CBC’s head of public affairs, defended the practice to the Canadian Press.

“Social experiments and satirical prank shows are a long-established television format used by broadcasters and streamers around the world, including many public broadcasters,” Thompson said. “In this case, the Indigenous creators are using the format for Northland Tales.”

Thompson added, “A form of comedy is being deployed to increase better understanding of historical injustices against indigenous peoples and support truth and reconciliation in Canada.”

CBC News and APTN both claimed to have “no involvement in this production or prior knowledge of it.”

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​British columbia, Canada, Canadian, Cbc, Conservative, Criminal code, False pretenses, Grievance industry, Indian, Indian mass graves, Kamloops, Leftism, Liberal media, Melissa lantsman, Propaganda, Residential schools, Royal canadian mounted police, State media, Truth and reconciliation, Politics 

As the Iran war continues to drag on, another unforeseen effect on the economy is likely to hit American budgets very soon.

Tightening oil supplies from the shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz have already raised gas prices, but now industry experts say it is also leading to a shortage of lubricants that are synthesized from specialized base oils.

‘This will impact not only consumers, but also industrial businesses that depend on machinery (which will end up impacting costs and supply throughout the economy).’

Internal communications from Nissan as well as Toyota indicated that service centers are seeing a shortage of motor oil stocks that is leading to increased prices.

“Due to ongoing global supply constraints impacting key raw materials and refining inputs due to the Middle East conflict, we have been advised of reduced production capacity for most lubricant products,” read the bulletin from the Nissan automobile company.

The bulletin outlined an expected drop of 45% for some motor oil supplies.

A spokesperson for the company confirmed the authenticity of the leaked bulletin to the Drive.

“Nissan is closely monitoring current oil supply constraints in coordination with our supplier partners,” read the statement from the spokesperson. “We remain fully committed to supporting our dealers and maintaining a high level of service for our customers.”

The shortage is likely to place more pressure on the Trump administration to reach a ceasefire deal with Iran and reopen the strait to oil tanker deliveries. President Donald Trump has forcefully rejected the latest round of negotiations from the Iranian regime and called its offer “garbage” and “unacceptable.”

Economic expert and Blaze Media contributor Carol Roth told Blaze News the shortage will likely affect the midterm election.

“Motor oil and lubricants are just a couple of the 6,000 derivative products of oil that are being affected by the conflict with Iran,” Roth wrote. “Retailers and auto dealers, among others, are reportedly being told to prepare for historic shortages. This will impact not only consumers, but also industrial businesses that depend on machinery (which will end up impacting costs and supply throughout the economy).”

RELATED: Ukraine and Russia agree to 3-day ceasefire just ahead of Soviet WW2 military parade

“While it seems like individuals haven’t reached the tipping point yet where they will take it out on politicians in the midterms,” she added, “we are getting closer to that point each day.”

On Tuesday the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its monthly report indicating that inflation had spiked to 3.8% in April, which many believe is a direct result of the U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran.

On the same day, the latest CNN/SSRS poll showed that about two-thirds of Americans believe the president’s policies have worsened economic conditions.

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​Motor oil shortage, Iran war prices, Lubricants shortage, Inflation from the war, Politics 

Dutch commentator Eva Vlaardingerbroek is well known for her criticism of Keir Starmer and mass immigration policies, which has resulted in the U.K. allegedly revoking her travel authorization.

“I just don’t see the inner hidden Nazi that everybody, I guess, in Parliament, in Europe, feels you are,” Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck tells Vlaardingerbroek.

“I actually got banned back in January already. I received an email out of the blue,” she explains.

“I posted a tweet calling Keir Starmer an evil, despicable man just three days prior to receiving that email, and I had been on the phone with Tommy Robinson privately confirming that I would be speaking at that rally,” she says.

“When we’re talking about the many, many attacks on free speech here in Europe … I received a message from Apple a year ago saying that my phone was under mercenary spyware attack. Meaning someone’s listening to me all of the time,” she continues.

“I can only speculate, but I wouldn’t be surprised if someone thought, ‘Hmm, the fact that she’s calling out Starmer for what he is … and that she’s planning to go and speak again at that rally, and it was such a success last time, we want to avoid that from happening again,’” she tells Glenn.

“And now they’re banning basically everyone who was coming from abroad to speak at that rally,” she adds.

Glenn points out that they have also “pushed aside all of the working class, the farmers” and “destroyed the factories.”

“They’ve destroyed these communities. Now they’ve moved in people that just don’t seem to want to be English. They don’t want the culture. They want their own culture. … And, you know, Sharia law in particular is incompatible with the Western culture. It cannot happen or coexist,” he tells Vlaardingerbroek.

“And the list of countries where they’ve tried it shows it fails every single time. I’m trying to figure out where these elites think they’re going to end up. I mean, how do they even begin to think this is going to work for their country? What is their plan?” he asks.

“I think it’s very sinister,” Vlaardingerbroek answers, pointing out that those who are speaking out against immigration and the attack on free speech are growing in numbers.

“And he clearly fears that,” she says of Starmer. “So that’s what I think this comes down to. They want to suppress that at all costs.”

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While BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey applauds the Trump administration’s new Moms.gov initiative for offering support and resources to mothers and pregnant women — she argues that one of the website’s goals raises serious ethical questions.

“Moms.gov is a good and new initiative by the Trump administration, and it’s a website that supports mothers and families,” Stuckey explains, noting that it helps expectant moms find nearby pregnancy care centers.

“God is working through these pregnancy care centers to give women truth, to give them resources, to connect them to believers, and to lead them to the gospel. It’s amazing what God is doing through these pregnancy centers, and I am so glad that the Trump administration is shining a light on that,” she says.

The website also provides information on nutrition and wellness for healthy pregnancies as well as breast feeding education and mental health support.

“If the left were really about supporting women and they were really about moms and babies, it would have been the Biden administration who created Moms.gov. It would have been a Democrat-led effort to make sure that moms have the resources that they need,” Stuckey says.

However, Stuckey doesn’t believe the website is as pro-life as it’s made out to be.

“On Moms.gov, the administration is promoting in vitro fertilization,” Stuckey says, pointing out that it’s being treated as a fertility treatment.

“IVF is not a fertility treatment, like it doesn’t solve infertility actually. It kind of tries to get around the issue, but it doesn’t solve the underlying cause of infertility,” she says.

And there are also “many ethical considerations” to make when discussing IVF.

“IVF almost always creates extra embryos that are stored, that are thrown away, that are frozen forever or used in experiments. Very often, this is a eugenic-type process where a couple will create more embryos than they could possibly transfer,” Stuckey explains.

“The vast majority of cases make as many embryos as you possibly can. Those embryos are then graded. If there is any kind of chromosomal abnormality … those embryos are discarded. Sometimes the couple doesn’t even know that those embryos are being discarded,” she continues.

“And morally for us, this is no different than abortion,” she says, adding, “because we’ve been saying in the pro-life movement for a very long time that Dr. Seuss line, ‘A person is a person no matter how small.’”

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