Category: blaze media

A Michigan father is accused of firing a gun outside his son’s middle school earlier this week after being denied entry, which prompted a lockdown.

Police in Romulus — which is about a half hour southwest of Detroit — said Shawntez Marshaun Gregory, 44, just before 10 a.m. Tuesday, drove to Romulus Middle School, approached the front doors, and told the school secretary through the intercom, “I am here to get my son. I want my son now!”

‘This case is every parent’s nightmare.’

Police said the secretary recognized Gregory as someone who’d been barred from school property and reportedly displayed unstable behavior in the past — and that in this instance, he was “extremely upset” and had a gun.

With that, police said the secretary called 911 and put the school on lockdown. The secretary then heard gunshots, dropped to the floor, and told 911 he was trying to gain entry to the school by “shooting at the locks,” police said.

Police said arriving officers took Gregory into custody, recovered a gun, and found seven spent rounds.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy charged Gregory with multiple felonies, including false report or threat of terrorism; intentional threat to commit act of violence against school, school employees, or students with specific intent to carry out or overt act; carrying a concealed weapon; possession of a weapon in a weapons-free school zone; reckless use of a firearm; and two counts of felony firearm in connection to the incident, WXYZ-TV reported.

Prosecutors told the station that Gregory was about a foot away from the building when he fired the gun seven times — but not directly at the school.

“This case is every parent’s nightmare,” Worthy said in a statement, WXYZ said, adding that no one was harmed.

What’s more, in regard to police saying the secretary recognized Gregory as someone who’d been barred from school property, it turns out he had a no-trespassing order from the school and was not allowed near his son since Gregory also has been accused of attempting to kidnap him, the station said.

RELATED: Mom ‘barged into’ third-grade classroom, threatened and cursed out teacher, blocked door preventing teacher, students from leaving: Report

Then came Gregory’s arraignment on Thursday at 34th District Court, WXYZ said.

With Judge Lisa Martin presiding, WDIV-TV reported that Gregory swore 14 times, told the judge to get a real job, put his fingers in his ears, and said it was the “the fakest s**t I’ve seen in my life.”

He also refused to answer the judge’s questions, WXYZ said.

During the virtual hearing, Martin asked Gregory to state his name for the record, and he replied by saying, “Nope, good f**king bye. Don’t need to talk to me, quit f**king playing with me,” WDIV replied.

RELATED: Dad enters HS classroom, confronts student for allegedly bothering his daughter. Dad now charged for making threats, assault.

As bond was being discussed, WDIV said Gregory stated, “This is the fakest s**t I’ve seen in my life. … You’re going to actually act like this, huh? That s**t is fake. Sorriest s**t and racist in my life. Bunch of racists doing stuff. So I’m done. I’m done talking. We can go, and I can go back and get ready to go back home now. I’m done playing around.”

Gregory then verbally attacked the judge, WDIV said: “You are one of the dumbest black person [sic] I’ve seen in my life, about the dumbest [expletive] I’ve seen in my life. I hate to say that because it’s some racist right here. I hate to say that, though, but don’t waste my time. There’s a racist right here, so don’t waste my time, no more. Tired of f**king with all of y’all. So don’t waste my time.”

The judge then adopted the police department’s recommendation and remanded Gregory without bond, WDIV said.

“Why don’t you get a real job?” Gregory added to the judge, according to WDIV. “Go get a real job.”

Gregory remained Friday in the Wayne County Jail.

His next court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 20, WDIV reported.

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​Arrest, Court hearing, Cursing out judge, Father, Felony charges, Firing gun, Lockdown, Michigan, Middle school, Son, Crime 

Like many of us, Katie Pasitney entered the new year with a resolution.

Hers, however, is not personal or private, but public and political: to hold the Canadian government accountable for what it did to her family, their farm, and the more than 300 ostriches whose blood still stains their British Columbia property.

Pasitney describes the cull as ‘one of the biggest heinous acts of animal cruelty probably in Canadian history.’

Pasitney recently spoke to Align after what she calls the worst Christmas season of her life — describing weeks of shock, trauma, and severe depression in the wake of the government’s November 6 culling of Universal Ostrich Farms’ entire herd.

Death sentence

The culling was the sad and brutal end to a nearly year-long legal fight — one that thrust Pasitney into the spotlight as the farm’s spokesperson, making her case in widely shared, self-produced videos.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency ordered the birds killed under its “stamping out” policy after a possible case of avian influenza in December 2024. After a brief pause that gave the farm hope that the order might be reconsidered, the CFIA formally rejected an exemption request on January 10, 2025 — roughly a month before the federal government announced the purchase of 500,000 avian influenza vaccines.

From that point on, the walls began to close in on Pasitney and her mother, Karen Espersen, co-owner of the farm. The two spent much of the year fighting the CFIA in court, accumulating legal bills while the federal government racked up legal victories. Throughout the ordeal, the playing field appeared tilted: The government was largely permitted to advance a single argument — that the cull must proceed because it had already been ordered.

Doomed fight

Prominent Americans including Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Dr. Mehmet Oz, and businessman John Catsimatidis publicly supported the farm. Despite political pressure and repeated questions in Parliament about the CFIA’s handling of the case, federal ministers consistently deferred to the agency and the courts as the legal process unfolded.

To Pasitney and her supporters, it often seemed as if Ottawa was content to let lawfare grind the family down.

It did not matter, Pasitney argues, that the birds showed signs of herd immunity. It did not matter that there was no evidence of disease for months. The CFIA refused to conduct further testing. After the farm lost its appeal in federal court, CFIA officials arrived on Sept. 23, took control of the property, and prepared to carry out the kill.

The Supreme Court of Canada briefly intervened, agreeing to hear an appeal and issuing a temporary stay. But CFIA officials remained on site with what they described as “custody” of the ostriches. Over the next seven weeks, Pasitney and her supporters documented what they say was harassment and mistreatment of the birds by CFIA inspectors. Independent counts showed the ostrich population continuing to decline.

Into the ‘kill pen’

On November 6, the Supreme Court declined to intervene further. The execution could proceed.

That evening and into the early hours of Nov. 7, CFIA marksmen shot hundreds of ostriches while Pasitney and her supporters looked on. It took roughly 1,000 rounds to kill the herd.

Even after the slaughter, the CFIA maintained a quarantine over the property. The family was not permitted to retrieve spent shell casings or remove hay bales used to construct what Pasitney calls a “kill pen.”

Raw memories

I spoke with Pasitney on Jan. 3 in a video interview from the farm in Edgewood, British Columbia, which still resembles a war zone. She is seeking to have the quarantine lifted so cleanup can begin, but she is equally focused on holding the CFIA — and the Liberal government of Prime Minister Mark Carney — accountable.

The memories remain raw. Pasitney describes the cull as “one of the biggest heinous acts of animal cruelty probably in Canadian history,” saying the ostriches were forced to witness one another being shot “in fear and panic for hours,” while her family endured what she characterizes as 11 months of state-sanctioned intimidation.

RELATED: Massacre at Universal Ostrich Farms: Canada kills hundreds of birds despite no evidence of avian flu

Universal Ostrich Farms

Suppressing the science?

Demonstrating the science, she says, was always her goal. “They suppressed our real science,” Pasitney argues. “There was no testing for almost 300 days. There was no surveillance, no proof of active disease — and still they came in and they stripped us of our freedoms.”

She also questions how the agency handled biosecurity on the ground. CFIA officials maintained that their protocols required full protective equipment only in designated quarantine or “hot” zones, a distinction that allowed inspectors, police, and contractors outside those zones to operate without hazmat suits or full PPE. To Pasitney, that contrast — between claims of an ongoing viral threat and what she observed on site — raises serious doubts.

“There was no viral threat,” she says. “Show us proof of active illness.”

“It is clear that there was never a quarantine,” Pasitney adds. “They would have disinfected their vehicles. They would have worn consistent PPE. They would have had a certified company handling biohazardous waste. They wouldn’t have left our animals killed out in the field overnight. … They definitely wouldn’t have left this hay-bale mess out there, littered with blood, littered with shell casings. There’s no quarantine. Let’s just be honest. This was all a theatrical display of punishment for using our voices.”

Pasitney further alleges that not all ostriches were destroyed during the operation, claiming some birds were removed from the property. “They stole our science,” she says. “They stole ostriches.” She urges anyone with information about their whereabouts to come forward.

‘Wake up’

Pasitney insists her fight was never just about one farm.

“Our poor farmers are under attack everywhere across our country,” Pasitney says.

By accountability, she means a full reckoning: review of CFIA outbreak protocols, recognition of farmers’ rights, and an end to what she calls one-size-fits-all policies like stamping out.

She is now working to organize a national federation for farmers — one that, she says, will ask basic but urgent questions: Who protects the people who feed the country? Who holds regulators to account?

Pasitney is reluctant to talk about fundraising but says she has little choice. The quarantine, she notes, eliminated all income: no product sales, no tours, no feathers, no eggshells — nothing.

“At the end of the day,” she says, “the government still stripped us from absolutely everything. And we are fighting.”

​Align interview, Universal ostrich farms, Rfk jr, Mark carney, Culling, Avian flu, Culture, Letter from canada 

While arguing that owning a home is rooted in “deep racism and classism,” Zohran Mamdani’s newly instated radical-left tenant advocate, Cea Weaver, seems to have forgotten that her roots are made of gentrification and million-dollar homes.

“Democratically controlled public housing is really important. … You know, people like homeownership because they like control, and that’s been perverted by, like, deep racism and deep classism in our society,” Weaver once said confidently on a podcast.

“So, like, we have to not have a racist and classist society. And so that’s, like, something we need to think about, like, deeply,” she continued.

“To me, it’s about control,” she added. “And why rent control is really important is because rent control alters the power dynamic between renters and who owns the building,” she added.

“So, it’s racist to own a home,” BlazeTV host Pat Gray says on “Pat Gray Unleashed,” before pointing out that Weaver’s mother reportedly owns a $1.6 million home in Nashville, Tennessee.

“So, she’s obviously a racist,” Gray says. “And it’s in what used to be a predominantly black neighborhood, which they’ve gentrified, and that’s absolutely wrong no matter who you are or where you’re doing it. You can’t have white people moving into black neighborhoods.”

And Gray isn’t the only one aware of Weaver’s mother’s “racist” homeownership.

When she walked outside of her Brooklyn apartment this week, she was asked about the home her mother owns — and instead of answering, she began crying and ran back inside.

“She broke down in tears. She turned around and left. Now, they thought that she was heading toward the subway station,” Gray laughs. “Instead, she just went back home and then started looking out the window where there’s also a poster there that says, ‘Free Palestine.’”

Want more from Pat Gray?

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

​Camera phone, Free, Sharing, Upload, Video, Video phone, Youtube.com, Pat gray unleashed, Pat gray, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Mamdani, Zohran mamdani, Cea weaver, Home ownership, Rent control, Communism, Tenant advocate nyc 

As the media attempts to convince viewers that Renee Good was simply acting as a legal “observer” when she was fatally shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis on Wednesday, Glenn Beck sat down with someone who instead linked Good to a far-left radical group.

On Friday’s episode of “The Glenn Beck Program,” Beck spoke with counterterrorism expert Ryan Mauro of the Mauro Institute about Good’s ties to Minnesota ICE Watch, which reportedly works to “document and resist” the federal immigration crackdown in Minnesota.

‘Again, you don’t park your car across the road to block it if you’re just an observer.’

Mauro discovered through his research that Good likely first learned about Minnesota ICE Watch through her child’s charter school, which he described as “openly radical” and which promised to get children involved in politics.

According to Mauro, the group is very radical as well.

“You go to their social media page, and it doesn’t take much work, actually, to find instructions on how to assault police in order to free people, open up cop car doors, and pull people out,” he explained.

RELATED: ‘You should be ashamed’: Vance fires back at media for forgetting key details about Minnesota ICE shooting

Photo by Olivier Touron/AFP via Getty Images

“They do not recognize the United States as a legitimate country,” he said, saying that they instead refer to the U.S. as “Turtle Island,” prompting Glenn Beck to laugh out loud.

Mauro explained that their goals are not so much about observing law enforcement as “eliminating America” and “setting cop cars on fire.” Mauro said Minnesota ICE Watch even had a social media post with “a depiction of a cop car on fire.”

“That’s how you build an insurgency,” Mauro added, noting the “violent intention” implied by that imagery.

Beck played a clip of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) from earlier this week seemingly echoing the same type of violent rhetoric. Walz can be heard telling people that they need to “rise up as neighbors” in the clip.

Beck emphasized that Walz has effectively been priming a “neighborhood revolutionary guard” in recent days with his comments, especially considering the groups that might respond to those entreaties.

Beck and Mauro also agreed that no matter how hard the media tries to spin the story, Good was “not just an observer.”

“She was not just somebody who is there to observe. Again, you don’t park your car across the road to block it if you’re just an observer. That’s insanity, and we all know it. Will anyone actually admit to that in the press?”

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​Politics, Glenn beck, Ryan mauro, Dhs, Ice, Ice agent, Minneapolis, Renee good, Mauro institute, Minnesota ice watch 

The Trump administration’s unique social media brand was on full display this week, with several Cabinet officials cutting through the eventful news cycle with humorous posts and online exchanges.

This administration is proving to be one of the most meme-literate administrations of our time, whether its Vice President JD Vance embracing the countless, often unflattering AI depictions of himself or Secretary of State Marco Rubio piling on to running online jokes.

‘I do not normally respond to online rumors but feel the need to do so.’

Rubio most recently leaned into an ongoing joke about his various roles in the administration. In addition to serving as secretary of state, Rubio also serves as acting national security adviser and acting archivist of the United States. Given the vast responsibilities Rubio has taken on, online users will often joke that he will fill any vacant role, even if it’s completely irrelevant to his current positions.

Whether its the newest vacancy in Venezuelan leadership or an open slot for an NFL head coach or general manager, Rubio took to social media to quash the rumors.

RELATED: RFK Jr. steals the show after hilarious quacking ringtone interrupts White House briefing

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

“I do not normally respond to online rumors but feel the need to do so at this moment[.] I will not be a candidate for the currently vacant HC and GM positions with the Miami Dolphins,” Rubio said in a post on X. “While you never know what the future may bring right now my focus must remain on global events and also the precious archives of the United States of America.”

Rubio was not the only high-profile official to chime in on the online discourse.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. unveiled his new and improved dietary guidance on Wednesday, which quickly became the subject of humorous exchanges online.

RELATED: Vance makes Jeffries a hilarious promise if Democrats end the shutdown

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

Vice President Vance jokingly pushed back on Kennedy’s new food pyramid, lamenting one go-to “dietary staple” he felt was underrepresented.

“Hey [Secretary Kennedy] this new food pyramid is solid but you forgot to include one dietary staple,” Vance said in a post on X alongside a photo of cookies and cream ice cream.

Kennedy replied with the infamous meme photo of Vance edited to appear overweight with overgrown hair.

“Caution! Do not take dietary advice from this guy,” Kennedy said in the post.

Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, also outlined health standards for alcohol consumption, noting that alcohol is appropriate in moderate quantities for social occasions so long as people “don’t have it for breakfast.” He later made a humorous clarification on in a social media post.

“Brunch is obviously different than breakfast,” Oz said. “(Yes, still keep to a minimum.)”

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​Rfk, Robert f. kennedy jr., Donald trump, Jd vance, Dr. oz, Marco rubio, Troll, Memes, Politics 

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) can thank his own legislation for putting a stop to deepfakes on Grok and X.

Cruz introduced the Take It Down Act in early 2025, aimed at stopping online publication of “intimate visual depictions of individuals,” both authentic and computer-generated.

‘These unlawful images … should be taken down and guardrails should be put in place.’

According to the BBC, an usual trend of asking xAI tool Grok to artificially remove people’s clothing from their photos has permeated across the website and has even extended to victimizing children, according to the Guardian.

In response, X owner Elon Musk announced consequences for anyone inappropriately uploading content.

“Anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content,” Musk wrote.

X’s safety team followed suit, saying it would take action against “illegal content,” including permanently suspending accounts and working with law enforcement.

When Cruz made note of the unlawful images and praised X for addressing the issue, he was hit with a string of bizarre attempts to use Grok against him.

RELATED: The early social media reviews of Cruz’s 2028 POTUS trial balloon are in

— (@)

“These unlawful images … should be taken down and guardrails should be put in place,” Cruz wrote.

What followed were remarks like users asking Grok to put “Ted Cruz on his knees” in front of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; in this case, Grok obliged.

Other obvious violations of the Take It Down Act included generated photos of Cruz naked, photos of body parts in his mouth, and multiple AI photos of him wearing a dress, sometimes while wearing a yarmulke.

One user even posted an AI video of Cruz saying he was upset with Tucker Carlson for not wanting to date him.

RELATED: Elon Musk’s xAI inks new deal with War Department

Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images

On January 6, however, Cruz himself posted an AI-generated video regarding “Trump’s Venezuela Magic,” which showed President Trump making former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro magically appear onstage.

Despite others taking issue with his own usage of AI generation, Cruz’s post is unlikely to be against his own drafted bill because it does not contain “intimate visual depictions.”

Additionally Variety reported that X has now limited AI image editing to paid users only.

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has rung alarm bells over the controversy, advocating for “all options to be on the table” in terms of legal punishment and a possible ban of the platform.

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​Return, Ted cruz, X, Xai, Grok, Image generation, Senator cruz, Twitter, Tech 

So you got a new phone. Now what? Whether you just unboxed a big and bold iPhone or you’re giving the latest shiny Android handset a spin, there are several things you’ll need before, during, and after you get it all set up. Jump ahead, and you could completely break the setup experience. Follow these steps in order, though, and your new phone will be ready to roll in no time with all your data intact.

Before you turn on your new phone

Both iPhones and Android phones require an account to set them up properly. If this is your first smartphone, you will need to either create an Apple or Google account from scratch or choose an existing account that you have used with other devices in the Apple or Google ecosystems. If you’re upgrading from an old smartphone, however, you already have the account you’ll need for your new device. Either way, make sure you have your login email address and password handy. You’ll need both of them soon.

Tip: Always make sure your login information is saved somewhere safe. Keep it written down in a vault, store it in a digital password manager (both Apple and Google have their own native password managers built into their operating systems), lock it in a diary, or commit it to your photographic memory (if you have been so blessed). No matter what you do, record your login info and make sure you never lose it. Recovering account credentials is much harder than storing them properly in the first place.

Back up your old phone

Next, you’ll need to back up your old phone. A cloud backup makes a copy of all the data, apps, and settings on your old device so that your new device can re-download them and set everything back up exactly as you left it. For a detailed tutorial, check out our complete phone backup guide. Otherwise, use the search function in the “Settings” app to find your device’s backup options.

Tip: If you don’t have enough cloud storage to back up your phone properly, both iPhone and Android offer local quick setup options that let you send your personal information to the new device by holding both phones side by side. That said, even if you choose this option, it’s still a good idea to keep a cloud backup of your device in case it is ever lost, stolen, or destroyed.

Set up your new device

Okay, now it’s time to turn on your new phone. Power it up, log in with your email address and password, and follow the instructions to restore your new phone from your cloud backup or through the quick-start option. Either route pulls the same information into your new device, and they both take about the same amount of time to completely re-download your apps and restore your settings. Depending on how much data you have saved on your old device, expect to set aside 30 minutes to several hours for a complete device restore.

Tip: If you’re switching from iPhone to Android or vice versa, you won’t be able to download an exact copy of your old phone, but you can still pull over a lot of your personal data. To get started, download the Android Switch app to your old iPhone or the Move to iOS app to your old Android phone, open the app, and follow the prompts to migrate as much information as possible.

Photo credit: Apple Support

Move your SIM card

Your SIM card is the little chip in your phone that interfaces with your cellular carrier so that you can make calls, send text messages, and surf the web. If your new and old phones still use physical SIM cards, you can simply pop the card out of your old phone using a SIM ejector pin (or a paper clip will do) and insert it into your new device.

However, many new phones have moved to digital eSIM cards. Even more confusing, some carriers will allow you to move your eSIM card from one device to another through their apps, which you can download from the App Store or Google Play. Other carriers require you to call their customer support line and provide some information to complete the switch.

Whichever option fits your carrier, go ahead and move your cell service to your new device now before you do anything else.

WARNING: It’s much harder to move an eSIM from your old phone to your new phone after the old one is erased. Do not erase your old phone until your service is activated on your new device.

Erase your old phone

After your new device is set up and your carrier service is activated, thumb through it briefly to make sure all your data, apps, and settings were transferred properly. This step is important, because once you erase your old device, there’s no going back. After you know everything is in order, open the Settings app on your old phone.

For iPhone owners, select “General,” swipe down, and tap “Transfer or Reset iPhone.” Hit “Erase All Content and Settings,” then “Continue.” From here, Apple may prompt you for your lockscreen passcode and your iCloud password. Type these in to erase your old device. The old phone will cycle through a reboot, and once you see the “Hello” screen, you’re all done.

Screenshots by Zach Laidlaw

For Android owners, tap on your Google account at the top of the page, select your account email address, then “manage accounts on this device.” Under the “Personal” section, select your email address one more time and remove the account from your old phone. It’s important that you remove your Google account first; otherwise your old device will show up in your account for another month or two.

Screenshots by Zach Laidlaw

Once that is done, go back to the main Settings app page and choose “System.” Scroll all the way down, select “Reset options,” tap on “Erase all data (factory reset),” then “Erase all data” again. You’ll need to enter your lockscreen PIN, confirm one more time that you want to erase all data, and you’re done.

Screenshots by Zach Laidlaw

Get rid of your old phone

The last thing you need to do is get rid of your old phone. If you received your new device as a gift, you can sell your old phone outright in an online store, like Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, etc. You might also be able to sell it to a retailer, like Best Buy, for store credit or simply recycle it with no payout.

If you purchased your phone — or plan to purchase one — in person, many stores offer trade-in options to turn over your old device in exchange for money off your new one.

Whichever option you choose, don’t simply throw your phone away in the trash. Most electronic devices come with lithium-ion batteries that can explode when compressed by a trash compactor or put under the extreme heat of an incinerator. Always recycle old gadgets responsibly.

Enjoy your new phone!

That’s it! Now that your new phone is set up and your old phone is long gone, you’re ready to enjoy your device for many years to come. Just make sure your cloud backup settings are turned on in case of accidents, theft, or future upgrades. You never know when your new device will become your old one.

​Tech 

A career criminal killed a beloved North Carolina teacher in a horrific home invasion, according to police — and new reports suggest the suspect previously received a sweetheart plea deal that allowed him back on the streets.

The Raleigh Police Department said in a statement that officers responded to a report of a burglary just after 6:30 a.m. Jan. 3.

‘It was like a horror movie.’

Police said the victim — 57-year-old Zoe Welsh — indicated a man was inside her home.

“While still on the phone with dispatch, the suspect began to assault her,” police stated.

Police said Welsh was suffering from life-threatening injuries when officers arrived at her home. However, Welsh later died at a hospital.

Officers arrested 36-year-old Ryan Camacho, and he was taken into custody without incident.

Camacho was charged with murder and felony burglary. He was denied bond and is being detained at the Wake County Detention Center.

Raleigh Police Chief Rico Boyce said of Welsh, “I am deeply heartbroken for this mother, friend, and mentor to many in our community, and for the unimaginable trauma her family must endure.”

Boyce added, “The arrest of the suspect sends a strong message that criminal acts will not be tolerated in the city of Raleigh.”

This investigation remains ongoing.

RELATED: 14-year-old ‘angel’ reportedly found dead in RV; alleged relative with criminal past charged with her murder, sexual assault

Welsh had taught AP biology and forensic science at Ravenscroft School in Raleigh since 2006, a school spokesperson told WTVD-TV.

“Her loss is deeply felt by all of us who had the privilege of working with her and learning in her classroom,” the school spokesperson said.

Calysa Sauls, one of Welsh’s former students, told WRAL-TV, “She really cared for her students. She definitely was one of those teachers who was passionate about the subject that she taught.”

Olivia Alvarez — Welsh’s house cleaner for years — added to WTVD, “I’ll remember her smile; she was always happy.”

Alvarez added, “I love you, Zoe, so much, you are now with God, and this man is going to pay, he’s going to pay.”

North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein (D) wrote, “Zoe Welsh, by all accounts, was a special teacher and person. My heart goes out to her family and students, who have suffered a traumatic loss from another senseless act of violence.”

Camacho reportedly has a lengthy criminal history spanning over 20 years but allegedly has benefited from generous plea deals.

In December, a judge dismissed breaking-and-entering charges against Camacho after a mental competency examination, WRAL noted in a separate story.

Prosecutors recommended that Camacho be involuntarily committed to a mental hospital, but that request was denied by Judge Louis Meyer, according to District Attorney Lorrin Freeman.

Freeman told WRAL, “Based on the evidence that was available to the court at the time, the court did not find that he met the threshold for involuntary commitment. For involuntary commitment, the judge has to make a finding that they are a danger to themselves or others.”

Meyer did not immediately respond to Blaze News‘ request for comment.

WRAL reported that Camacho’s lengthy rap sheet includes charges of assault with a deadly weapon, breaking and entering, larceny after breaking and entering, malicious conduct by a prisoner, injury to personal property, injury to real property, trespassing, stalking, and probation violations.

In 2025, Camacho reportedly got a sweetheart plea deal that allowed him back on the streets.

Citing public records, WRAL reported that Camacho faced up to a four-year prison sentence for four felony charges — but all the felonies were reduced to a single misdemeanor.

What’s more, Camacho in 2021 attempted to escape from the Piedmont Correctional Institution in Salisbury, according to the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction.

Freeman on Monday said “he has spent a lot of time bouncing between the prison system and the local jails over the last few years and has really been in custody all but maybe a total of 12 months within the past six years.”

RELATED: Pregnant woman disappears without a trace — but a grisly forest horror scene sends cops straight to her mother and stepfather

Wes Phillips — a long-time Raleigh resident — claimed he was forced to move after Camacho, his former neighbor, allegedly harassed and stalked his family nearly a decade ago.

In the spring of 2016, Phillips said he discovered two tires on his car were slashed and a mirror was torn off while a mirror on his wife’s car also was torn off.

According to the Raleigh News and Observer, Phillips questioned Camacho about the vandalization of the cars, “The lightbulb sort of went on for me at that point, and I asked him, ‘Did you touch my [expletive] car?'”

Phillips alleged that Camacho walked toward him and “cocked his fists into a fighting position.” Phillips’ wife reportedly broke things up.

In October 2016, as Hurricane Matthew hit North Carolina, Phillips noticed Camacho outside his home.

“It was like a horror movie, like he was standing there in a black jacket, staring at us in front of our house during a hurricane,” Phillips told WRAL-TV. “Not talking, like making sure that we knew who he was.”

Just days later, Phillips alleged that after he entered his vehicle and locked the doors, Camacho “was pulling on the door, trying to get in.”

WRAL reported, “Security video from that day showed a man throw a rock into the windshield of Phillips’ car and then through the sunroof, before punching and kicking the vehicle.”

Phillips’ landlord let him end the lease early so he and his family could move away from Camacho, but the suspect allegedly showed up at Phillips’ new townhome with a gun.

Phillips explained, “He shot into our building where he thought that we lived. That’s something that stays with us.”

Citing court documents, WRAL reported that no one was injured in the shooting, but Camacho was arrested and spent two years in prison.

In fear of violence from Camacho, the Phillips family armed themselves with “lethal and non-lethal protection measures.”

Phillips noted, “It’s not like there weren’t signs. We were really adamant about the danger that we felt we were in, and perhaps other people were in, and it just wasn’t taken seriously.”

Phillips said that there was a complete failure that led to a “woman being killed.”

Phillips continued, “My wife and I are asking ourselves right now as we think about what happened this past week, how close did we come to being that person, and could that have been prevented?”

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​True crime, True crime news, Murder, Stalking, Ryan camacho, Zoe welsh, Home invasion, Crime, Teacher 

On Wednesday, January 7, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, 37-year-old U.S. citizen Renee Nicole Good was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent during a large-scale federal immigration enforcement operation. Based on video footage from the incident, President Trump, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and many other officials have accused Good of deliberately obstructing ICE and weaponizing her vehicle in an attempt to ram and run over the agent who shot her.

The left, meanwhile, is foaming at the mouth, framing Good, whose vehicle struck an officer, requiring him to seek medical attention, as an innocent observer.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) have even gone as far as challenging federal forces. Most conservatives have had little reaction to their statements, as they’re on brand for the two radical leftists, but Glenn Beck says they should terrify everyone.

On this episode of “The Glenn Beck Program,” Glenn breaks down the dangerous implications of Frey’s and Walz’s statements.

In a press conference following the incident with Good, Frey said, “I have a message for ICE. To ICE, get the f**k out of Minneapolis. We do not want you here. Your stated reason for being in this city is to create some kind of safety, and you are doing exactly the opposite.”

Glenn is flabbergasted by the mayor’s words. “What else is going on in Minneapolis? … The biggest scandal of the state and possibly the biggest heist of taxpayer money in the history of our country is going on in [Minneapolis’] Somali community,” he says, predicting that both Frey and Walz will “go to jail” for their alleged complicity in it.

“So do they have any incentive at all to make the federal government into the bad guy? Absolutely,” Glenn continues, adding that Frey’s disdain for the federal government is akin to that of the “anarchists, communists, [and] people who are trying to actively overthrow our government by causing chaos in our streets.”

Walz’s statement was even more terrifying, however.

“We do not need any further help from the federal government. To Donald Trump and Kristi Noem, you’ve done enough. … I have issued a warning order to prepare the Minnesota National Guard. We have soldiers in training and prepared to be deployed if necessary. I remind you, a warning order is a heads-up for folks,” he said.

“There is no other way to read this other than: ‘I am training our National Guard to stand up against our federal government,’” Glenn translates.

As outlined in the Constitution, a governor, Glenn explains, “cannot block the Department of Justice in any criminal investigation,” “the Department of Homeland Security enforcement action,” or “Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportations carried out under federal statute.”

“Federal authority in these areas come directly from what’s called the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. It means the federal law is supreme over what the governor says and what the state law is,” he explains.

“State consent for federal law enforcement is not required, so when a governor says, ‘We don’t need any further help from the federal government’ … there’s nothing legal in that — nothing.”

It is legal, however, for a governor to “refuse cooperation,” “withdraw all state resources,” and even “instruct state agencies, ‘you’re not to participate.”’ But “the moment the governor crosses this line from non-cooperation to interference, they’ve just violated the Constitution and put us on the edge of a constitutional crisis or civil war,” says Glenn.

Walz threatening to deploy the military against federal operations in the state is “the brightest red line,” he says.

“Once the governor said that, everything has to change.”

One option, although it’s Glenn’s least favorite, is Trump federalizes the Minnesota National Guard.

The other option is for Walz to face “obstruction consequences,” says Glenn. “Federal injunctions, contempt of court, criminal exposure for obstruction — this all has precedent, and it should be considered.”

Glenn is certain that Walz is not actually threatening to deploy the National Guard against federal officers — as that would land him in jail, which he’s already trying to avoid in light of the state’s egregious Somali fraud schemes.

“He is calling up the Democratic national guard. … He is calling on people like Renee Nicole Good. He is trying to get people who are so zombie-like on the Democratic side to go up and put their bodies in and to obstruct. He’s using them as soldiers,” Glenn lays bare.

What Walz said is “not just unconstitutional on the National Guard side. That is just morally reprehensible.”

To hear more, watch the video above.

Want more from Glenn Beck?

To enjoy more of Glenn’s masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis, and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​The glenn beck program, Glenn beck, Jacob frey, Tim walz, Minnesota, Renee nicole good, Ice, Ice shooting, Ice shooting minneapolis, Minneapolis, Somali fraud, Blazetv, Blaze media 

In early 2025, the new Trump administration asked Dr. Steven Greer — founder of the Disclosure Project and a leading figure in the UFO/UAP research community — to write a one-page briefing document to hand directly to the president.

Greer confirms he had been asked to write such a document, had written it, and had been told it was put in the president’s hand.

In the face of the unknown, do we choose hope over fear? Do we choose courage over cowardice?

The following is the text of that memorandum:

From: Steven M. Greer, MD — Director of the Disclosure Project
To: President Donald J. Trump
Re: The UFO/UAP subject

Since the 1950s, the UFO/UAP subject has been handled by a corrupt deep state transnational organization whose power has grown to a level that is an imminent threat to national security and international peace and security.

This organization is a hybrid of unconstitutional deep state and government compartmented operations and corporate special projects.

It has reverse-engineered non-human intelligence (NHI) craft and is operating man-made advanced technologies at parity with NHI technologies. These human technologies are currently being used in a number of criminal operations including assassinations, abductions, human/drug/weapons trafficking, embezzlement of US government funds, acts of treason and have the capacity to simulate a fake alien attack at any moment.

I have debriefed over 700 government and corporate whistleblowers over the past 35 years and have documented their information in the Briefing Document provided to your staff.

The following Executive Orders are urgently needed:

Explicit whistleblower protection specifying both legal amnesty and personal security.An Executive Order authorizing a TS-SCI SAP [top secret, secure communication infrastructure Special Access Program] with significant funding currently configured under law enforcement to stand down these illegal operations and especially the illegal use of electromagnetic pulse weapons (EMP) currently being used against NHI craft as these actions imperil the future of humanity.An Executive Order requiring all UFO/UAP operations to be fully disclosed within 6 months or those responsible will be vigorously prosecuted.An Executive Order to authorize an advanced diplomatic team to make peaceful contact with NHI civilizations.An Executive Order authorizing the review and release of Advanced Technology (AT) held by this criminal organization that would create total energy independence for the US and would begin a new energy economy with which the US would lead the world economically.

Please feel free to contact me at any time. I am the world’s leading expert on this subject. There is not a distant second. I will provide any assistance, advice and evidence that you and your administration require.

Respectfully yours,
Steven M. Greer, MD
February 9, 2025

According to Greer, this memorandum was put into Trump’s hands, Trump read it, his eyes lit up, and he said, “I want to pursue this.”

And that’s probably where all of us sit with this story. Many allegations have been made, and we can’t tell you what is true. But we know that when a number of claims all point in a similar direction, it should engage your attention.

RELATED: Public will soon be able to invest in ‘advanced or reverse-engineered alien technology’

simonbradfield via iStock/Getty Images

Even the skeptics interviewed for our book, “Catastrophic Disclosure,” including U.S. Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.), believe that important secrets are being kept from the American public. Perhaps we have accurately depicted what has been hidden for more than 70years. Perhaps we have been fooled by an elaborate series of lies.

In the classic television series “The X-Files,” a common refrain is, “I want to believe.” But it’s not enough to believe or disbelieve in the alien phenomenon. More than anything else, we want to know whether aliens, non-human intelligences, and unidentified aerial phenomena are real — and whether a golden age of scientific miracles is at hand.

Can we cure disease, clean up our planet, feed the hungry, and journey to the stars?

In the face of the unknown, do we choose hope over fear? Do we choose courage over cowardice?

Perhaps we begin by refusing to accept the lies. Perhaps it is by accepting that whatever the facts may be, we know that their full and complete disclosure will not be catastrophic.

We can handle the truth.

Editor’s note: This article is an excerpt from Heckenlively and Mazzola’s “Catastrophic Disclosure,” published this week by Post Hill Press.

​Opinion & analysis, Ufos, Uap, Ufo sightings, Uap sightings, Steven greer, Donald trump, Age of disclosure, Declassify, Area 51, Aliens, Deep state, Corporations, Non-human intelligence, Corruption, Electromagnetic pulse, National security, Advanced technology, Alien technology, Reverse engineering ufos, X-files, Catastrophic disclosure book, Eric burlison, Congress, Congressional hearing, Transparency, Trust 

U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent revealed on Thursday that the Trump administration is clamping down on extra-national remittances by individuals exploiting public assistance.

The announcement, which comes on the heels of a series of damning revelations about fraud committed by Somalis in Minnesota, could prove impactful for the crime-ridden Islamic nation of Somalia.

After all, members of the Somali diaspora sent $2.12 billion in remittances home in 2024 alone. The loss of the American portion of this funding stream would not go unnoticed for a failed nation with a GDP in the neighborhood of $12 billion.

‘Our generosity has been taken advantage of.’

Bessent, who is also the acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham, “We are here to follow the money because that’s what Treasury does.”

“We did it with the mafia, we have done it with the cartels, and now we are going to do it with these Somali fraudsters,” continued Bessent. “Treasury has something called FinCEN, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, and we are coming in.”

Bessent indicated that the agency is launching four investigations into money-service businesses “that we believe may have wired money out of the country — a lot of the ill-gotten, stolen money — over to the Middle East, over to Somalia. We’ll see where that’s going.”

RELATED: Somali terror group cashing in on your tax dollars? Minnesota’s child-care fraud whistleblowers warned about a decade ago.

Photographer: Ben Brewer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

As part of the crackdown, Bessent indicated that FinCEN will be issuing a Geographic Targeting Order, an order that imposes new identification and record-keeping requirements pertaining to transactions within a certain region, and engaging in “enhanced surveillance.”

“There’s something called a Suspicious Activity Report if a certain amount of money gets wired,” added Bessent.

According to guidance released in October by FinCEN, financial institutions are required to “file a SAR if the institution knows, suspects, or has reason to suspect that the transaction or series of transactions are designed to evade [currency transaction reporting] requirements.”

After Ingraham suggested the threshold was $10,000, Bessent said, “We’re lowering that to $3,000.”

In addition to significantly lowering the threshold for a SAR, Bessent said that “from now on, anyone who wires money out from one of these money-service businesses has to check a box saying whether they are on public assistance.”

“If you are on public assistance, we are going to start pushing that you cannot wire money out of the country,” added Bessent.

“Our generosity has been taken advantage of.”

The treasury secretary further suggested that if a so-called asylum seeker is wiring money out of the country, “one of two things must be true: You are getting too much money and your benefits should be cut, or you are part of this conspiracy.”

Days before President Donald Trump announced the termination of the Temporary Protected Status designation for Somalia, BlazeTV host Christopher Rufo and investigative reporter Ryan Thorpe detailed the alleged direction of stolen taxpayer funds by Somalis in America to terrorists abroad.

According to the duo’s City Journal report, federal counterterrorism sources confirmed “that millions of dollars in stolen funds have been sent back to Somalia, where they ultimately landed in the hands of the terror group Al-Shabaab.”

Al-Shabaab is a Somalia-based, Al-Qaeda-linked terrorist organization committed to waging a global jihad.

One confidential source told Rufo and Thorpe that “the largest funder of Al-Shabaab is the Minnesota taxpayer.”

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​Scott bessent, Treasury, Fraud, Somali, Somalia, Minnesota, Minneapolis, Fincen, Financial, Remittances, Wire fraud, Wire, Terrorism, Al-shabaab, Politics 

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis did her apparent best to throw President Donald Trump in jail and failed miserably.

While Willis was disqualified in 2024 from the Georgia case regarding alleged 2020 election interference and the case was dropped late last year, the Democrat DA has proven unable to put the lawfare behind her.

In addition to having to fight misconduct allegations, Willis now faces the possibility of having to shell out millions to the president in attorney fees and costs, thanks to legislation ratified in May by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R).

‘It’s Fani Willis’ fault.’

The new law, which went into effect in July, provides “for the award of reasonable attorney’s fees and costs in a criminal case to the defendant upon the disqualification of the prosecuting attorney for misconduct in connection with the case and the subsequent dismissal of the case by the court of a subsequent prosecutor.”

Although the law might appear perfectly tailored to Trump’s case, the legislation had bipartisan support.

RELATED: Fani Willis has ugly meltdown when confronted with how much her office paid her ex-lover to prosecute Trump

Photo by Dennis Byron-Pool/Getty Images

Trump is pushing for over $6.2 million in restitution. As the president’s legal team has reportedly already been paid, most of the requested funds would go to reimburse Trump.

Steve Sadow, Trump’s lead attorney in the case, told WXIA-TV, “I feel for the people in Fulton County, because Fani Willis has involved herself in improper conduct. She’s now set up a situation where her office, from funds that have been collected through Fulton County, will have to pay for it. It’s Fani Willis’ fault.”

“At the same time, maybe Fani Willis will tell us how much money she spent from her budget pursuing this politically motivated case against President Trump,” added Sadow.

Her office has since filed a motion to intervene in the matter, which states, “The statute raises grave separation-of-powers concerns by purporting to impose financial liability on a constitutional officer, twice elected by the citizens of Fulton County, for the lawful exercise of her core duties under the Georgia Constitution.”

Willis’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

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​Fani willis, Georgia, Donald trump, Trump, Restitution, Election interference, Lawfare, Nathan wade, Steve sadow, Winning, Politics 

Late-night host and writer Conan O’Brien says Trump-deranged comedians need to step up their game.

Speaking at the Oxford Union Society, the former talk-show host and “Simpsons” writer lamented that some in the comedy establishment have given up on laughs in favor of angry tirades about President Trump.

‘We don’t have a straight line right now. We have a very bendy, rubbery line.’

“I think some comics go the route of, ‘I’m going to just say F Trump all the time’ [and] that’s their comedy. And I think, well, now, a little bit, you’re being co-opted because you’re so angry.”

“You’ve been lulled,” added the Harvard alum, likening the allure of crowd-pleasing but joke-free anti-Trump material to a siren song.

The comedian continued, “You’ve been lulled into just saying ‘F Trump. F Trump. F Trump. Screw this guy.’ I think you’ve now put down your best weapon, which is being funny, and you’ve exchanged it for anger.”

Finding the funny

The 62-year-old noted that he has always prided himself on finding a way to be funny in any situation, and he did not give his peers an out when it comes to political comedy.

RELATED: ‘I wouldn’t ask for no f**king charity!’ Mickey Rourke blasts ’embarrassing’ GoFundMe plea

“Any person like that would say, ‘Well, things are too serious now. I don’t need to be funny.’ I think, well, if you’re a comedian, you always need to be funny. You just have to find a way,” O’Brien told the audience at the esteemed student debating society.

“And you just have to find a way to channel that anger. … Good art will always be a great weapon, will always be a perfect weapon against power, but if you’re just screaming and you’re just angry, you’ve lost your best tool in the toolbox.”

Playing it straight

Earlier in the interview, O’Brien recalled that some of his most joyful memories in comedy were parodying different magazines or news outlets by mocking their tone and style. At the same time, he said it was impossible to parody something that doesn’t follow a “straight line.”

He referred to the National Enquirer, describing the outlet’s content as impossible to make fun of because it would print stories like, “Elvis found in Titanic lifeboat 105 years after sinking. He is now a woman, and he’s married a giant peanut-butter sandwich.”

“How do you parody that? You can’t,” he explained. “And I think with Trump we have a similar situation in comedy, which is people saying, ‘We’ve got a great Trump sketch for you. In this one, he’s kind of talking crazy and he’s saying stuff, and he tears down half the White House to build a giant ballroom, and he says it’s going to be the new Mar-a-Lago.’ Yeah, no, that happened yesterday,” O’Brien joked.

RELATED: How ‘conservative’ art can go from cringey to cathartic

Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images

“Comedy needs a straight line to go off of,” O’Brien added. “And we don’t have a straight line right now. We have a very bendy, rubbery line. We have a slinky. We have a fire hose that’s whipping around, spewing water at 100 miles an hour or something else.”

​Align, Trump, Conan o’brien, Comedy, Colbert, Kimmel, Comedians, Leftism, Oxford, Entertainment 

“It’s official. I’m running for Mayor of LA.”

After a year of calling out Democrat leadership for its handling of last year’s devastating Los Angeles wildfires, Spencer Pratt is offering Angelenos an alternative: himself.

Pratt, who shot to fame playing a villainous version of himself on hit MTV reality show “The Hills,” lost the Pacific Palisades house he shared with wife (and former castmate) Heidi Montag and their children in the January 7, 2025, conflagration. Since then, he has emerged as one of the most prominent critics of L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and California Governor Gavin Newsom, both Democrats.

‘Gavin Newsom and his state park policies actually literally dictated that we let the Palisades burn.’

Fired up

The Palisades native has accused Bass of bungling the response to the deadly blaze, which eventually spread to 23,448 acres, costing 12 lives and destroying almost 6,000 homes.

Pratt has also claimed that Newsom’s inadequate brush-clearance policy helped cause what was otherwise a preventable disaster.

Pratt kicked off his mayoral campaign on Wednesday with an impassioned speech to at least 1,000 attendees.

RELATED: ‘Reckoning day’ for Newsom: Trump DOT yanks $160 million over illegal trucker licenses

“It’s official. I’m running for Mayor of LA,” Pratt announced in a post sharing video of the speech. “I’ve waited a whole year for someone to step up and challenge Karen Bass, but I saw no fighters. Guess I’m gonna have to do this myself. Let’s make LA camera ready again!”

Brush-off

Pratt addressed the enthusiastic crowd with a mixture of defiance and sorrow.

“Standing here one year later, I have to tell you the most heartbreaking part of the past year wasn’t being displaced or losing everything I own. It was the realization that all of this was preventable,” he explained, fighting back tears.

The 42-year-old continued, “The state and local leaders let us burn. Gavin Newsom and the state of California let brush grow wild … no wildfire maintenance.”

RELATED: ‘Send in the next guy’: Nicki Minaj savages Newsom over his desire to ‘see trans kids’

Photo by Steve Granitz/WireImage

Policy pinch

Like many of the would-be constituents in attendance, Pratt faced the fires without standard homeowners’ insurance, after insurers declined to renew policies for thousands of homes in the Palisades, Altadena, and other designated fire-prone areas in recent years. Most notably, State Farm announced in 2024 that it would discontinue coverage for roughly 72,000 houses and apartments statewide.

Pratt’s sole coverage came from the state’s supplementary California FAIR Plan, which he has previously said did not provide enough money to rebuild.

In his speech, Pratt laid the blame squarely on Newsom, who he said “created an insurance market so hostile that every major carrier stopped writing policies” and thereby “dictated that we let the Palisades burn.”

The candidate also had harsh words for the Los Angeles Fire Department, which he blamed for “fail[ing] to deploy sufficient firefighters, fire engines, and firefighting resources, whether it be due to lack of budget, lack of knowledge, or simply DEI.”

Pratt concluded by touting his showbiz experience as something that made him uniquely attuned to the workings of power in the city. Singling out “NGOs, nonprofits, and unions,” he vowed to make it his “mission” to dismantle what he labeled a “machine designed to protect the people at the top.”

​Align, California, Los angeles, Hollywood, Spencer pratt, Mtv, Reality tv, Wild fires, Entertainment 

Across rural America, families are learning a hard lesson. The biggest threat to their local hospital or cancer clinic no longer comes from distance, workforce shortages, or regulation. It comes from private equity.

Over the past two decades, private equity firms have quietly bought hundreds of cancer clinics, oncology practices, and community hospitals. They promise efficiency and stability. Many communities experience something else: consolidation, higher costs, fewer doctors, and the slow erosion of care. When profit targets fall short, clinics close. Patients travel hours for treatment — or go without it altogether.

The same forces that hollowed out manufacturing towns and family farms are now targeting essential health care.

This shift reflects a deeper failure: treating health care as a financial asset rather than a public obligation.

Private equity follows a familiar playbook. Firms acquire medical practices with borrowed money, cut staffing, increase billing, extract profits, and sell within a few years. That model rewards investors. It fails patients who need long-term care and towns that depend on a single hospital or cancer center.

The collapse of 21st-century oncology shows how destructive this approach can be. After private equity took control, the company expanded rapidly across the Southeast while piling on debt. Pressure to generate revenue intensified. Federal investigators later uncovered widespread abuse, including unnecessary testing and illegal billing. The company paid more than $86 million in fraud settlements to the federal government and patients before filing for bankruptcy.

Entire regions lost access to cancer care with little warning. Investors exited. Patients were left to deal with the fallout.

Rural communities suffer the most. In cities, the loss of a clinic often means longer wait times. In rural America, it can mean the end of cancer care entirely. Patients face long drives, delayed treatment, or impossible choices between health and family obligations.

The same pattern appears in rural hospitals owned by Apollo Global Management through its control of LifePoint Health. After the acquisition, hospitals took on heavy debt. Executives sold real estate to raise cash, cut staffing, reduced services, and closed cancer centers. In New Mexico, state officials opened an investigation after reports that an Apollo-owned hospital denied or delayed cancer care for low-income patients.

RELATED: The hidden hospital scam driving up drug prices, coming to a state near you

amphotora / Getty Images

Defenders of private equity claim these firms rescue independent practices from hospital monopolies. In reality, they replace local control with corporate control.

Doctors lose authority to distant executives who never set foot in the affected communities. The language of independence disguises a transfer of power away from patients and physicians and toward investors.

Conservatives should recognize this for what it is. An elite financial class is extracting wealth from essential local institutions and leaving weaker communities behind. The same forces that hollowed out manufacturing towns and family farms are now targeting essential health care.

Cancer care should not function as a short-term investment. Rural hospitals should not exist to satisfy quarterly return targets. A system that allows this will continue to fail the people who rely on it most.

The answer is accountability, not a government takeover of medicine. Regulators must enforce antitrust laws. Policymakers should strengthen protections that preserve medical judgment from corporate interference. Communities deserve transparency about who owns their hospitals and who controls decisions about their care.

Health care depends on trust and continuity. When financialization dominates cancer care, rural Americans lose both. And once these institutions disappear, rebuilding them proves far harder than protecting them in the first place.

​Cancer, Cancer treatment, Private equity, Rural hospitals, Cancer care, Drug prices, Opinion & analysis 

The Rush reunion announcement landed like a Neil Peart cymbal crash heard from two continents away.

For some, it was a benediction. For others, a blasphemy. In America especially, Rush has always been a band that splits the room in two. On one side: devotion bordering on reverence. On the other: a curled lip, a sigh, a muttered word like “soulless” or “show-off.”

Rush endured because they never chased cool. Cool is perishable, but craft is not.

Few great bands inspire such loyalty and such irritation at the same time. Even fewer manage it without changing who they are.

A Farewell to Kings

The power trio we know as Rush formed in 1974 in Toronto, three young men chasing something bigger than barroom rock. They were loud, fast, and committed to mastery. As the years passed, they grew tighter, more disciplined, more deliberate. While other bands burned out or sold out, Rush stayed true.

That mindset carried them for four decades. Album after album. Tour after tour. By the time they bowed out in 2015, Rush had become one of the most reliable live acts in rock history. No scandals (despite a well-documented affection for Bolivian marching powder). The farewell felt final, especially as drummer Peart’s health declined. When he died in 2020, the door seemed closed for good.

Which is why this reunion lands so satisfyingly. It doesn’t feel forced. It doesn’t feel desperate. It feels natural. Two old friends picking up guitars, laughing through familiar songs, and realizing the music still matters to millions.

To others, it matters in the way a neighbor’s power drill matters — piercing, relentless, and likely to trigger a migraine.

Working Man

Rush has never fit comfortably into the American rock myth. The band wasn’t blues-rooted, booze-soaked, or born of Southern swag. Geddy Lee sang like a caffeinated banshee. Alex Lifeson mixed power with precision. And Neil Peart — the irreplaceable center — treated drums like an Olympic event.

To rock traditionalists, however, something about this just felt off. Rock, to them, was meant to feel dark and dangerous. Think Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, the Who, AC/DC. Part of the gig was bringing chaos — both on and off stage. Treating hotel rooms like demolition sites and sanity as optional. Consider the late, great Ozzy Osbourne: a man who built a Hall of Fame career out of conduct that would have ended most working lives in a padded room.

Rush never subscribed to that model. And for a certain kind of American critic, that alone was enough to raise suspicion.

Rock wasn’t supposed to sound so organized. It wasn’t supposed to sound like the band had talked things through. So the complaints piled up. Too clean. Too lame. “Cheesy” and “corny” became the easy shortcuts, a way to dismiss what they didn’t want to engage with.

RELATED: Exclusive: Former Toto bassist recalls 2019 breakup: It got a little ‘Lord of the Flies’

NurPhoto/Getty Images

Limelight

Take “Tom Sawyer,” still my personal favorite. Purists love to pick it apart. The synth line is too bright. The lyrics are too earnest. The chorus too triumphant. It doesn’t brood.

But that’s the point. “Tom Sawyer” isn’t trying to sound dangerous. The aim isn’t menace but momentum. It captures motion, confidence, and propulsion — three qualities rock critics often mistake for shallowness. Look past the childish nitpicking, and what’s left is undeniable. A song that still fills arenas, still hits hard, still makes people feel 10 feet tall.

For some critics, Rush was the band you loved if you owned graph paper and color-coded your homework. Rush’s music was for the kids who finished the test early and then checked their answers. Not rebels, not wreckers, but students of the thing itself. In rock culture, that kind of seriousness was treated like a social crime.

Subdivisions

Rush is hardly alone in this. Steely Dan took the same beating, dismissed as music for dental offices, waiting rooms, and people who alphabetize their spice racks, despite writing some of the sharpest, most venomous songs of the era. Yes was mocked as bloated and indulgent. Genesis, especially after Peter Gabriel left, got the same treatment.

America has always had a complicated relationship with genuine greatness. It celebrates brilliance, but only when it looks accidental. Genius is best received if it arrives late, drunk, and a little out of control.

You see this pattern everywhere. Adam Sandler spent decades being treated like a joke because his films made money and audiences laughed until they nearly lost bladder control. Jim Carrey wasn’t taken seriously until he stopped being funny and started looking permanently unwell. Rush refused that trade and paid the cultural price.

Headlong Flight

What the reunion clarifies — especially now, in an age of irony fatigue — is that Rush endured because they never chased cool. Cool is perishable, but craft is not. When Lee and Lifeson talk about laughing while jamming, about the music “dispelling dark clouds,” they’re describing something purists often forget. Music is allowed to be joyful. It’s allowed to be exhilarating without being mystical. It can be thrilling without pretending to be profound every second.

The dark humor is that Rush’s biggest sin may have been optimism. In an era increasingly allergic to it, they believed in improvement — musical, personal, even societal. That’s unfashionable.

Cynicism sells. Rage Against the Machine built an entire brand on permanent fury, screaming about “the system” while cashing checks from it. Nine Inch Nails turned self-loathing into an aesthetic. Nirvana mattered because they captured the feeling that nothing worked and no one was coming to fix it. Misery read as honesty. Anger read as depth. Enjoyment, by contrast, looks unserious.

But why? We’re here for a good time, not a long one. Rush understood that early.

Music doesn’t always need to diagnose the human condition. Sometimes it just needs to move, lift, and hit you square in the chest. Half a century on, they’re back. Not to win over the skeptics, who never wanted convincing anyway. But to reward the faithful and quietly remind everyone else that having a good time isn’t a crime.

​Rush, Tom sawyer, Music, Culture, Rush reunion, Classic rock, Geddy lee, Alex lifeson, Neil peart, Review, His mind is not for rent 

It’s the $1.2 trillion question.

The United States spends roughly $1.2 trillion every year on means-tested welfare programs — cash aid, food assistance, housing subsidies, and medical care. The list runs through a thicket of acronyms: SNAP, TANF, SSI, EITC, ACTC, WIC, CHIP, ACA subsidies, and CCDBG, plus school meals, Medicaid, and Section 8 housing.

States that eliminate fraud can afford to provide better aid to real residents in need — creating a race to the top in administration rather than a race to exploit Washington.

This guaranteed-income architecture now fuels a destructive cycle. Federal spending drives debt. Debt fuels inflation. Inflation expands dependence. And Washington responds by printing more money and sending it back to the states — without demanding serious accountability.

The result is a bottomless pit of spending, fraud, and inflation, with states handed endless federal funds and almost no incentive to police abuse.

Minnesota’s massive Somali-linked fraud scandal exposes this system in its most grotesque form. The question is whether President Trump will use it to force states to reclaim ownership — and responsibility — over welfare.

The day-care, nutrition, and medical fraud uncovered in Minneapolis is not an aberration. It is the predictable outcome of an open-ended entitlement state. Fraud networks thrive wherever federal money flows without limits or consequences. While the Minneapolis cases involved tight-knit ethnic networks, the underlying problem is national and structural. As long as states do not have to pay their own way, fraud will remain rational behavior.

California offers a parallel example. A report last summer found that roughly one-third of all community college applications in the state were fake — submitted solely to extract federal financial aid. That scam could not survive if California had to pick up the tab.

It isn’t just a blue-state problem, either. As Alex Berenson has reported, Indiana’s Medicaid spending on “autism behavioral therapy” exploded thirtyfold in just six years, reaching $75,000 per child for a few hours a week of unproven playtime therapy. When federal dollars cover the bill, discipline evaporates.

RELATED: Government fraud meets its worst enemy: Some dude with a phone

Wanlee Prachyapanaprai via iStock/Getty Images

Many Americans ask how Minnesota allowed the Feeding Our Future scandal to persist for years. The answer is simple: Washington supplied unlimited money, and the state faced no budgetary consequence for ignoring warning signs.

Over 200 day-care and medical providers allegedly siphoned billions across Medicaid, child care, and nutrition programs. That scale of fraud does not occur without political indifference — or worse.

States have every incentive under this system to look away. Federal money enables a closed loop of special interests, dependency, and electoral protection. Oversight threatens the flow.

Devolving welfare programs to the states — using fixed block grants rather than open-ended federal matches — would cut this dynamic off at the knees. States must balance their budgets. They do not have a printing press. When fraud costs real money, enforcement follows.

This is the moment for Trump to make that case. Either states raise taxes to fund welfare programs themselves, or they reform and prioritize them. That choice restores democratic accountability.

Consider the contrast. The United States spends roughly $1 trillion on national defense — protecting everyone. Yet we now spend even more on means-tested welfare that serves narrower populations while distorting the economy for all. Open-ended welfare spending drives inflation, which then forces more people onto welfare. End the money-printing, and fewer people will need subsidies in the first place.

RELATED: The insane little story that failed to warn America about the depth of Somali fraud

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In response to the Minnesota scandal, Trump’s Office of Management and Budget froze $10 billion in funding for TANF and the Child Care Development Fund across several states. That is a start. But temporary freezes will not survive the next Democrat administration.

The durable fix is statutory restructuring — through budget reconciliation — to force states to assume full financial responsibility for welfare programs. Without unlimited federal backstopping, abuse becomes politically and fiscally intolerable.

Critics warn that block grants spark a “race to the bottom.” The 1996 welfare reform suggests the opposite. When states gained ownership, many innovated — emphasizing work, child-care support, and fraud reduction. Accountability improved because incentives changed.

Yes, benefits should be limited to the truly needy. Open-ended entitlements allowed 250 “meal sites” to appear almost overnight in Minnesota, claiming to feed 120,000 children a day.

Force states to balance their books, and they will treat taxpayer money with respect. States that eliminate fraud can afford to provide better aid to real residents in need — creating a race to the top in administration rather than a race to exploit Washington.

The real way to “feed our future” is to end inflationary money-printing and dismantle the infinite entitlement state — so families can afford food on their own again.

​Opinion & analysis, Welfare reform, Inflation, Fraud, Federalism, Donald trump, Snap benefits, Tanf, Families, Feeding our future, Scandal, Medicaid, Supplemental nutrition assistance program, Section 8 housing, National debt, Taxes and spending, Minnesota fraud, Somali fraud, Minneapolis, Alex berenson, California, Community college 

Minnesota has faced intense scrutiny in recent weeks due to revelations of a widespread childcare fraud scheme, largely among local Somalis, that has allegedly drained millions of taxpayer dollars. However, the problem is far from new, as whistleblowers have been warning about this alleged rampant abuse for nearly a decade.

Yet, there has been little progress or accountability.

In May 2018, KMSP-TV released a scathing report alleging “massive daycare fraud” based on whistleblower claims. Scott Stillman, a former employee of the Minnesota Department of Human Services, told the news outlet that he warned his supervisors about these issues in a series of emails in March 2017.

Stillman, an upper management employee who spent eight years overseeing the state’s digital forensics lab, explained that he reported alleged fraud to the state’s DHS because he was concerned there was a “strong possibility” that defrauded taxpayer funds were being used against innocent civilians and the U.S. military.

‘Everyone who did this must be arrested.’

The alleged fraud pertained to the Child Care Assistance Program, which the federal government created in 1990 to help low-income parents afford childcare so they could work or participate in job training.

Stillman told KMSP he wanted the federal government to launch an independent investigation into the handling of day care and Medicaid programs, claiming the fraud reached $100 million or more annually. He also alleged that individuals in the state sent the fraudulent money to Somalia, where it was used to fund a terrorist organization known as al-Shabaab.

The local news interview prompted lawmakers to hold a hearing that same month.

“This is not a Minnesota problem,” Stillman testified. “It started in Minnesota, but we found an individual in our investigation who was teaching and training other states to do this, and it’s spreading out.”

“A federal investigation would reveal that there are other entities involved in this who may be receiving benefits from this fraud,” he said.

RELATED: The insane little story that failed to warn America about the depth of Somali fraud

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Stillman’s testimony prompted the Minnesota’s Office of the Legislative Auditor in 2019 to issue a report in which auditors stated they could not verify the alleged $100 million in annual fraud and concluded they could not provide a reliable estimate.

However, they believed the fraud was greater than the $5 million to $6 million prosecutors were able to prove in several criminal cases where defendants were charged with felonies and ordered to pay $4.6 million in restitution for their participation in a childcare fraud scheme.

Auditors also said they could not substantiate Stillman’s claims that any of the alleged funds were making their way into the pockets of terrorist groups.

“On the other hand, we found that federal regulatory and law enforcement agencies are concerned that terrorist organizations in certain countries, including Somalia, obtain and use money sent from the United States by immigrants and refugees to family and friends in those countries,” the auditors wrote. “In addition, federal prosecutions have convicted several individuals in Minnesota of providing material support to terrorist organizations in foreign [countries].”

Federal and state officials have been concerned about Child Care Assistance Program fraud since at least 2013, the report added.

The auditor’s report referenced an August 2018 email from Jay Swanson, the then-manager of the CCAP Investigations Unit, in which he substantiated Stillman’s allegations.

“Investigators, as well as the Supervisor and Manager of this unit believe that the overall fraud rate in this program is at least 50% of the $217M paid to child care centers in CY2017,” he wrote in an email to then-Inspector General Carolyn Ham.

Swanson claimed that much of the “pervasive” fraud could be attributed to “large scale overbilling” by “many child care centers,” eligible mothers recruited by providers to receive cash kickbacks, fraudulent centers opening in the same location as a previous center that was ineligible for the program, and shell care centers that exist only to scam the program, among numerous other schemes and oversight gaps.

“In my opinion anyone who claims that Mr. Stillman was making false statements on this topic either has no knowledge of this situation, or is attempting to shift the focus of the conversation away from a very serious issue,” Swanson concluded in his letter to the inspector general.

During a December 2018 hearing before the state lawmakers, IG Ham disputed Swanson’s claim.

“I do not trust the allegation that 50% of CCAP money is being paid fraudulently,” Ham remarked.

The CCAP Investigations Unit also warned about rampant fraud, according to the 2019 auditor report. The unit’s manager stated that investigators “do not believe, despite the number of cases investigated thus far, that any real progress has been made regarding CCAP fraud.”

“Investigators regularly see fraudulent child care centers open faster than they can close the existing ones down,” the manager explained.

While Minnesota DHS officials did not dispute the existence of a CCAP fraud problem, they argued that $100 million in fraud, as Stillman had claimed, was “not a credible number.”

“We’re concerned about fraud and are aggressively pursuing it, but it’s not at that level. Funding for the Child Care Assistance Program for 2017 was $248.2 million,” the MDHS said in a statement in May 2018, responding to Stillman’s allegations.

RELATED: Anna Paulina Luna refers Tim Walz and AG Keith Ellison for criminal charges: ‘May justice be swift’

Photographer: Simone Lueck/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Then-acting MDHS Commissioner Chuck Johnson reiterated that Stillman’s fraud estimate was not credible. However, he admitted he could not put a reliable number on the total fraud.

By the time the 2019 report was published, dozens of Minnesota residents and childcare centers had been charged with CCAP fraud.

Since these issues were initially brought to the MDHS’ attention, Minnesota has transitioned CCAP oversight and administration to the Department of Children, Youth, and Families. When reached for comment concerning childcare fraud, MDHS directed Blaze News to contact DCYF. That department did not respond.

Minnesota’s long-standing childcare fraud issues recently gained national attention, thanks to journalist Nick Shirley’s on-the-ground reporting in December. This explosive coverage has ignited fierce criticism of the state’s Democratic leadership while shining a harsh light on broader oversight failures that extend beyond the CCAP.

This week, the Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor released a performance audit highlighting grant issuance lapses in the Minnesota Department of Human Services’ Behavioral Health Administration, the department responsible for overseeing mental health programs and alcohol and drug abuse services.

Auditors aimed to assess whether the BHA had “adequate internal controls and complied with significant finance-related requirements related to oversight of grants.” Instead, they found that the administration had failed to comply with “most” of the tested requirements, concluding that it lacked sufficient internal controls over grant funds.

Some of the report’s shocking findings included nearly $300,000 in unsupported grant reimbursements, $915,000 in grant payments for work performed before fully executed agreements were established, $2.5 million in grants awarded without using a competitive bid process, and the improper use of single-source grants.

Additionally, auditors noted that, while MDHS and BHA staff were cooperative with the audit, they provided “a number of documents” that were “either backdated or created after our audit began.”

When reached for comment about the OLA report, Minnesota’s Department of Human Services provided an excerpt from temporary Commissioner Shireen Gandhi’s testimony at a Tuesday Legislative Audit Commission hearing.

During her opening remarks, Gandhi stated that she was “shocked” to learn that staff have provided auditors “anything other than an accurate representation of the work done.”

“With respect to the audit report, while it’s upsetting that DHS has findings in an area that we have placed concerted effort, the OLA’s report highlights the importance of the compliance work that is under way at the department. And the findings provide us with a road map for our focus going forward to continue strengthening oversight and integrity of behavioral health grants,” Gandhi said. “I take the report seriously, I accept responsibility for the findings, and I will ensure that DHS closes the findings.”

Eric Daugherty of Florida’s Voice reacted to the new “BOMBSHELL” report, stating that it confirms the MDHS “FABRICATED RECORDS and did not verify grant recipients, tried COVERING THEIR TRACKS, enabling massive fraud.”

He called on Gov. Tim Walz to immediately resign. Walz has already dropped out of his re-election campaign amid the state’s ongoing fraud controversy.

“Everyone who did this must be arrested,” Daugherty wrote.

It is not yet clear whether any of these reports will result in criminal investigations.

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​News, Minnesota, Tim walz, Scott stillman, Minnesota department of human services, Department of human services, Daycare fraud, Child care fraud, Child care assistance program, Ccap, Somali, Somali fraud, Minnesota legislative auditor, Minnesota office of the legislative auditor, Jay swanson, Chuck johnson, Carolyn ham, Inspector general, Dcyf, Behavioral health administration, Bha, Ola, Fraud, Fraud scheme, Politics, Department of children youth and families 

Police investigators said they were horrified to find more than 100 skulls and skeletons at the Pennsylvania home of a man who is now facing nearly 600 criminal charges.

Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse announced in a press conference Thursday that 34-year-old Jonathan Gerlach of Ephrata had been charged with 574 counts, including trespassing, abuse of a corpse, and theft.

‘It is truly, in the most literal sense of the word, horrific. I grieve for those who are upset by this.’

Detectives had been on a stakeout at the historic Mount Moriah Cemetery and Arboretum in Yeadon Tuesday when they noticed that a car belonging to Gerlach had “numerous bones and skulls in plain view in the back seat.”

They said they saw the man leaving the cemetery with a burlap bag and a crowbar. When he was detained and questioned, Gerlach admitted that he had stolen human remains from 30 grave sites.

They found far worse after raiding the man’s home.

“Detectives walked into a horror movie come to life in that home,” Rouse said at the press conference. “It is truly, in the most literal sense of the word, horrific. I grieve for those who are upset by this, who are going through this, who are trying to figure out if it is in fact one of their loved ones.”

Investigators are now trying to determine why Gerlach had been collecting the remains.

They are also investigating Gerlach’s involvement in a group on Facebook titled, “Human Bones and Skull Selling Group.”

Rouse said that some of the remains were hung up, some were pieced together, and skulls were found on the man’s shelf.

“Very simply, detectives have recovered an awful lot of bones at this point, and we are still trying to piece together who they are, where they are from, and how many we are looking at,” Rouse said. “It’s going to be quite some time before we have a final answer.”

Gerlach is being held at the George W. Hill Correctional Facility on bail of $1 million.

RELATED: 4 people arrested over human remains scattered across New York, bail reform sets them free

“Rest in peace is rest in peace, and this is definitely something that tears at your heartstrings,” Yeadon Police Chief Henry Giammarco said.

The cemetery was founded in 1855, according to a sign at the entrance.

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​Jonathan gerlach arrest, Grave site robbery, Hundreds of remains found, Mount moriah cemetery, Crime 

Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D) is making the media rounds as she eyes a U.S. Senate run — and her latest stop on “The View” raised eyebrows for all the wrong reasons.

“She’s running for Senate here in Texas, where she will fail miserably, and she’s making the rounds ’cause she’s running for U.S. Senate. And so, she made an appearance on everyone’s favorite daytime talk show, ‘The View.’ And they asked her a pretty reasonable question,” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales says.

When the panel asked Crockett why she’s willing to go all in on a Senate race in Texas, her answer was essentially that she’s black.

“We are also a majority minority state. So, for everybody that’s like, ‘Well, she running for Senate, and she black.’ Yes, I am. I am. … We have more African-Americans in the state of Texas than any other state,” Crockett said proudly on “The View.”

“That’s the first time I’ve ever heard you tell me that you’re black, Jasmine. I never would have known that you were black except for all the times that you’ve just led with the fact that you’re a black woman. Other than literally every time you speak, I would have never known that you were black,” Gonzales says sarcastically.

“It seems to be your only identification in your entire life, is that you’re an independent black woman who don’t need no man,” she adds.

Gonzales believes that Crockett, despite being black, might face some challenges trying to sway Texans to vote her way.

“President Trump won Texas in 2024. This was, like, unprecedented since 2012. 56 to 42. That’s the largest gap since 2012. It was a difference of 1.5 million votes, I believe,” Gonzales explains.

“So, yes, the overwhelming majority of black people voted for Harris, but they only made up 11% of the total vote. So, like, okay, cool. There are more black people who live in Texas than anywhere else. They’re not voting,” she continues.

“And I don’t know, I guess she’s just like, ‘I’m going to get black voter enthusiasm up so high that they’re just going to, like, skip to the ballot box,’” she adds.

Crockett also is refusing to release her polling numbers.

“What I did is, I evaluated the numbers. The numbers are clear that we can win,” Crockett said on “The View.”

“I want to be clear that a lot of people haven’t put their numbers up, and I haven’t put mine up for a good reason because I’m playing for keeps. But let me tell you that I know how to evaluate, and I know how to win races,” she explained.

Crockett went on to claim that she shared her numbers with the “front-runner” in the race, who decided to “step aside” after seeing her numbers.

“He decided to step aside because he felt like what mattered was getting the best person across the finish line,” she added.

“Or, Republicans just tricked you and astroturfed you,” Gonzales says.

“This was actually a thing that they did to try to push you into a Senate run,” she continues. “They ran these polls suggesting that she would win.”

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