Category: blaze media

An unmarked dirt trail in the Tonto National Forest once gave police an indication of what was going on in the park, and it turns it out was much worse than they thought.

In 2025, an acre of land was being investigated, with an officer describing it as one of the “worst” cases he has ever seen. This June, forest rangers were not prepared for how things had progressed.

‘I was flabbergasted by the amount of debris in the area.’

Garbage in

Two U.S. national forest rangers came upon an illegal site in Tonto National Forest in central Arizona in June, and with it was 65-year-old Mark Aaron Gatz.

According to documents acquired by ABC News, Gatz was operating an illegal campsite that contained not just a wood-burning fire — a huge problem in itself — but also 1,000 pounds of trash.

Gatz’s encampment was entrenched in garbage that had built up over two years of him living in that location, with the man telling officers that he had been living in the forest for eight years in total.

WCNC-TV reported that the trash was scattered over about half an acre of forest service land and was causing permanent damage to the ecosystem. The garbage included items like tires, plastic bags, regular trash bags, aluminum cans, and more.

Aside from finding Gatz’s illegal campfire, they also saw he had made a canopy to go over his SUV that was parked in the forest.

“I was flabbergasted by the amount of debris in the area,” a responding officer reportedly wrote in response to the mess.

RELATED: Why are today’s parents so scared of the sun?

–

Bless this mess

This latest discovery was part of an extensive rap sheet that had been built by the older male; police soon discovered Gatz had six outstanding federal warrants from previous forest-related violations.

The citations go back to May 2025 when forest officials followed a dirt trail to a campsite littered with clothes, tools, plastic, and other trash. Authorities determined it was there for at least a month.

In early July 2025, officers reportedly responded to complaints of a “large messy campsite” that contained years’ worth of trash. It was described at the time by one officer as “one of the worst residential cases” he had seen in the entire forest.

Gatz was cited for unsanitary conditions due to his household trash being scattered around the land.

Then, in February 2026, forest officers found a red and white trailer that was surrounded by tarps and string used as clothes lines, seemingly to dry towels, sheets, and sleeping bags. This belonged to Gatz, who was also allegedly operating a 3-foot campfire made of stone and clay.

RELATED: What was the ‘alt-right’? ‘Whitepill’ clears up the media hysteria

Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis/Getty Images

Camp scamp

The serial camper has been in violation of U.S. Department of Agriculture rules surrounding camping in a national forest. The rules state that camping for more than 14 days in a 30-day period or more than 30 days in a 365-day period is prohibited.

According to ABC News, Gatz pleaded guilty to a violation of fire restrictions for his recent activities, along with residential use of the forest without a permit. He was sentenced to three years of probation.

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​News, Arizona, National forest, Lifestyle 

California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) believes access to artificial intelligence is so important, he’s willing to put taxpayer money where his mouth is.

The governor announced that the state is entering a new partnership that will inevitably see AI spread across state agencies and possibly municipalities throughout California.

‘Building AI responsibly and in service of people has been our approach from the start.’

Newsom’s government is already using AI in the Office of Emergency Services and the Department of Technology, but is looking to expand the usage across all departments by offering the service at a discount.

California agencies will have access to Anthropic’s Claude at a 50% discount after the state secured a contract with the Silicon Valley company.

However, there is no statewide budget allocation for this service, and each department will have to pay from its own budget. The offer is available to local governments, too, the Sacramento Bee reported.

“We’re entering a partnership to strengthen cybersecurity and provide [Claude AI] to state agencies — and California local governments — at a 50% discount,” Newsom wrote on X.

“The Golden State helped build Silicon Valley — and every Californian should benefit from the responsible use of their latest innovations.”

Despite the governor’s wording, the “benefit” is to come only through government usage, as the discount is not available to the average resident.

RELATED: The next AI race isn’t about smarter machines. It’s about human experience.

A state press release says the new deal offers workforce training, “expert” technical assistance, and “workflow input” from Anthropic developers to state actors.

“This partnership is about using technology the California way: responsibly, transparently, and in service of people,” Newsom claimed. “AI should not replace the human work of government; it should help our workers move faster, solve problems more effectively, and deliver better results for Californians.”

A California Department of Technology spokeswoman said that as of the Monday after the announcement, no departments had taken up the state’s offer to use the technology under the new contract.

Blaze News previously reported on Claude’s pricing structures, which can pile up quickly if not limited or monitored by employers. The prices are based on tokens, which cost upwards of $25 per million.

One token is equal to approximately four written characters in English text or “0.75 words,” so generating a PDF costs about 125,000 tokens, a large document around 25,000 tokens, and a webpage roughly 2,500 tokens.

RELATED: Trump signs ‘quantum’ executive order: Here’s what it means

Jim WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

Anthropic’s head of Americas, Kate Jensen, said the company feels “a real responsibility to our home state” which encouraged the company to strike the deal.

“Building AI responsibly and in service of people has been our approach from the start, and that’s exactly what this partnership puts into practice.”

California’s Government Operations Agency Secretary Nick Maduros said state employees are hoping to provide Californians “with the best possible service,” and in order to do that they “need to make sure” their teams have access to “the best modern tools,” including Claude and other “emerging technologies.”

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​News, Anthropic, Claude, California, Gavin newsom, Ai, Artificial intelligence, Tech 

The Daughters of the American Revolution is a genealogical society for women whose relatives helped America gain independence 250 years ago.

The society has been around for 135 years, but it just voted to allow men in.

At the organization’s 135th Continental Congress, a resolution to define “woman” as someone born female was struck down 1,481 to 984. DAR leadership had already been allowing men who identify as women to join — and now five men are members.

“The wokesters have now accomplished institutional capture in one of our age-old historical institutions here in the United States,” Stuckey says, noting that while conservatives have had some “major wins” recently, “woke is not dead.”

And unless you “eradicate it completely,” she explains that it will “keep coming back like mold.”

“So, don’t have any delusions that wokeness and progressivism has waned. It will come back with a vengeance, especially if they take political power in the midterms and then in 2028. So, the resolution stated this, and praise God for you, woman, who brought this forth,” Stuckey says.

The struck-down resolution by the resistance group Daughters Advocating for Restoration said, “The term ‘woman’ shall be understood to clearly mean a woman who was born female, and therefore, individuals who were born male shall not be eligible for membership; transgender women shall not be eligible for membership; and men who have their birth certificates changed from male to female shall not be eligible for membership.”

The group’s reasoning for allowing men into the group is that while the existing bylaws require members to be women, they do not define the term “woman.”

This, Stuckey says, is “why it’s so important for us Christians to define our terms.”

“We are supposed to be a bastion of courage and clarity,” she says.

“There’s a lot of people who want to be confused, so they are actually sowing chaos through the confusion. That’s what they want to do. They might do that in the name of empathy or niceness or whatever it is,” she continues.

“But there are a lot of people who don’t want the confusion, who don’t want the chaos, who just want to be told what is real, what is true,” she says. “That’s where Christians come in.”

Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?

To enjoy more of Allie’s upbeat and in-depth coverage of culture, news, and theology from a Christian, conservative perspective, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Allie beth stuckey, Conservatives, Relatable, Wokeness, Daughters of the american resolution, Transgender, Christianity, The blaze, Relatable with allie beth stuckey 

The top baby name for boys born in England and Wales has held on to its crown for the third consecutive year.

The newly unveiled list, compiled by the Office for National Statistics, is based on birth data from the 2025 calendar year.

Muhammad has ranked among the top 10 boys’ names in England and Wales every year since 2016.

Muhammad, given to 5,957 newborn boys, topped the list, up 4% from 2024. Noah ranked second with 4,075, followed by Leo, Luca, and Arthur.

Alternate spellings of the top boy name also fared well, with Mohammed in 20th place and Mohammad in 55th place, increasing the count by an additional 2,600.

The ONS additionally provided a month-by-month breakdown, which revealed that for every month of 2025, Muhammad claimed first and Noah second.

Muhammad has ranked among the top 10 boys’ names in England and Wales every year since 2016 and among the top 100 since 1997.

By contrast, traditional girls’ names have remained popular. Olivia appeared in the top slot for the 10th year in a row. Lily moved up to second place, followed by Amelia, Isla, and Florence.

RELATED: ‘Rape of Britain’ ignored because of the Muslim vote, UK lawmaker tells Joe Rogan

Office for National Statistics

According to the 2021 census, the Muslim population of England and Wales was 3.87 million, or 6.5% of the total population. A third of the population growth in England and Wales between 2011 and 2021 was Muslim.

Restore Britain party leader Rupert Lowe criticized the rankings on X, writing, “This is awful and demonstrates the rapidly changing demographics of our country.”

“Only Restore Britain will fight this,” he added.

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​Muslim, Politics, Muhammad 

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said her administration will take legal action against the U.S. after the lethal shooting of a Mexican national who had lived in Texas for decades.

Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer during a traffic stop in a “targeted enforcement operation” in Houston on Tuesday.

‘There’s no reason for them to be in detention centers or for violence to be used. So, we’re preparing legal measures — obviously, more significant ones.’

The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that Araujo refused to follow orders and then tried to run over an officer, who fired at him in self-defense.

Araujo was shot in the stomach and declared dead at a hospital later.

The man’s family claimed he had no criminal history and had been applying for legal status for more than a year before the lethal incident.

“Our goal is to go beyond diplomatic notes and what we raised at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, since we cannot allow the mistreatment of our brothers and sisters who are in the United States — our fellow citizens. So we’re proposing other measures,” Sheinbaum said to reporters on Wednesday.

“There has been another tragic death of a fellow citizen in the United States due to detention issues, when their only ‘offense’ is not having papers — even though they were hired by a U.S. company. There’s no reason for them to be in detention centers or for violence to be used. So, we’re preparing legal measures — obviously, more significant ones.”

Sheinbaum previously feuded with President Donald Trump over illegal immigration as well as tariffs imposed on her country.

Three other people were detained during the enforcement operation.

RELATED: ‘He is no victim’: Sister of man shot by Border Patrol in Arizona tells anti-ICE protesters to stop defending him

Local leaders immediately called for a transparent investigation into the shooting.

“ICE has released an initial account, but the facts must be independently and thoroughly investigated, including the circumstances that led to the use of deadly force,” Democratic Rep. Sylvia Garcia of Texas said.

“There must be a complete and transparent investigation, and my office stands ready to support our community and any local investigation into how this tragedy unfolded,” Harris County Attorney Abbie Kamin responded.

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​Department of homeland security, Houston, Illegal alien, Illegal immigration, Immigration and customs enforcement, Lethal ice shootings, Mexican national, Mexican president, Politics 

The New York City Police Department told Blaze News that it received a report that a 30-year-old female was aboard a northbound R train approaching the West 28th Street and Broadway subway station around 3 p.m. June 28 when an unidentified individual sexually abused her.

Police told Blaze News that the victim exited the train, and EMS transported her to a local hospital for treatment. The unidentified individual accused of sexually abusing her remained on the train, police told Blaze News.

‘Savage.’

Police noted to Blaze News that Ari Shtein, an 18-year-old male from Washington, D.C., was arrested and charged Wednesday evening in the NYPD’s 5th Precinct with aggravated sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child.

Citing prosecutors and a criminal complaint, WPIX-TV reported that Shtein is accused of putting his fingers inside a woman’s private area while she was riding a Manhattan subway train with four kids, ages 7 to 11.

The station, citing authorities, said Shtein was standing behind the woman when he allegedly sexually abused her.

Shtein was arrested after turning himself in, WPIX said.

The station said it was unclear whether the victim is the mother of any of the kids she was with.

RELATED: Florida teacher accused of kissing male student for about 6 minutes, unzipping victim’s pants, performing sex act on him

WPIX, citing police, added that Shtein also was charged with sexual abuse and forcible touching.

The station reported that Shtein was arraigned Wednesday, and he pleaded not guilty and was released without bail, according to court records.

WPIX said his attorney could not be immediately reached.

One commenter under the NYPD Crime Stoppers’ “wanted for sexual abuse” X post regarding the incident replied with one word: “Savage.”

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​Male suspect, Arrest, New york city, Subway train, Children, Aggravated sexual abuse, Fingers, Woman’s privates, Sexual abuse, Forcible touching, Endangering the welfare of a child, Crime 

The American people have not been getting the full story on alien disclosure, and while Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R) isn’t yet allowed to tell it, she isn’t shying away from teasing it.

“Under the last administration, we were being obstructed, and really, until President Trump gave the green light for them to start releasing stuff,” Luna tells Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck, “we would not have been able to talk about or share some of the investigations that have been conducted by the federal government. We wouldn’t have been able to talk about some of the footage that you’re now seeing.”

“Do you know something that has not been released?” Glenn asks. “Do you know things that you feel the American people should know?”

“There will be an announcement soon on one other kind of factor to all this, but … I think it’ll just kind of give the assurance that people will understand that the phenomenon is real,” Luna responds.

“What I will say is, without a doubt the phenomenon is real,” she adds.

“Are you leaning one way or another? Foreign or not earthly?” Glenn asks.

“I think when you talk about these things, I don’t want to say not earthly because we don’t know … but what I would say is that energy is real, and a lot of these — you can see in some of them orbs — they can’t explain it,” Luna responds.

“And so I think that gets into a deeper discussion,” she adds.

Glenn wants to dig deeper, asking, “Is this a defense, or is this a spiritual question? Which is the bigger question — defense or philosophical/spiritual?”

“I think that it will really kind of make people ask the fundamental question of, ‘Do you believe?’” Luna explains.

“Do you believe in God or not, and then do you believe that we’re the only creation, not speculating on nefarious or bad,” she adds.

“I don’t understand how people are saying that this is going to make everybody question their faith,” Glenn answers. “If I find out that there are other beings, why would I question my faith?”

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​Aliens, Anna paulina luna, Creation, Disclosure, Donald trump, Energy, Faith, Glenn beck, Philosophical, The glenn beck program 

President Donald Trump has stamped his name on a Florida airport effective immediately, according to Transportation Sec. Sean Duffy.

Duffy posted a video Thursday showing the transformation of the welcome sign reading “Palm Beach International Airport” to the new one bearing the president’s name.

‘There is no person who has done more for Florida and our country, and no one more deserving of this incredible honor.’

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation passed by the legislature to approve the change earlier this year.

Trump Force One was the first aircraft to land at President Donald J. Trump International Airport, or DJT, touching down at 5:01 a.m. ET on Thursday.

The president’s son Eric Trump expressed his happiness that Trump Force One was the first plane to land at the renamed airport.

“There is no person who has done more for Florida and our country, and no one more deserving of this incredible honor,” he wrote on social media.

“Congratulations Dad — I’m happy to have played a big role in making this happen,” he added.

On the other hand, critics of the president posted their outrage on social media about the change to the airport in West Palm Beach.

“Good to know. I will never set foot in that s**thole,” one response reads.

“What is the point of f**king renaming everything. Get America out of debt. I guess it is up to some future president,” another detractor said.

“It’s a joke. Living presidents should NOT have public infrastructure named after them. Maybe this is an omen that @realDonaldTrump will die of old age and obesity soon?” a critic said.

“Nothing says ‘definitely not a cult’ like naming an international airport after a sitting politician and having his son write a love letter about it. … This isn’t patriotism. It’s personality cult politics. The constant worship is embarrassing,” another reply reads.

RELATED: Outrage erupts over passport celebrating America’s 250th — and guess whose image is on it

“I live in Florida all my life. Your dad hasn’t done f**king s**t for me bro,” another critic said.

Supporters of the president were thrilled by the change. The Trump Organization also posted video of Trump Force One landing at the newly named airport.

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​Eric trump, President donald trump, Transportation dept, Trump force one, Trump organization, Politics 

Maine Democrat Senate candidate Graham Platner is not having a good week — and it just got much worse. He has now suspended his campaign after a rape allegation, as another scandal surfaced in an “exclusive” Washington Post report.

“We have a new story out about him,” BlazeTV host Stu Burguiere excitedly tells co-host Dave Landau.

“Ex-girlfriend of Graham Platner says he removed condoms without consent during sex,” Stu says, reading the headline from the Washington Post exposé.

“Lyndsey Fifield is the woman who brought this information to our attention. She’s one of the original accusers from the New York Times article as well. She said she dated Platner from 2013 to 2015 in D.C.,” Stu explains.

Fifield alleges that she told Platner he had to wear condoms during sex because she was not on birth control, but Platner would ignore her and pull them off.

According to the Washington Post, she said in an interview, “He would do it in a sneaky way.”

Dave finds the story interesting, as “Democrats basically lost men because they called them Nazi rapists,” but now they “plan to elect [an alleged] Nazi rapist.”

“You bring up the point on the Nazi rapist thing, which is a great point because the reason why this happened is because they looked at a group of people, you know, regular middle class Americans who got sick of political elites and were like, ‘I want somebody who’s going to speak, you know, plainly, who’s not going to be part of the establishment,’” Stu says.

“‘I want someone from the outside,’” he continues. “‘I want someone who maybe is a little offensive like Donald Trump and will say some things that are uncomfortable like Donald Trump.’ So they went, and they just found a freaking Nazi.”

“It’s not working out all that fine, though,” he adds. Even after Platner suspended his campaign, these accumulating scandals highlight the Democratic Party’s vetting problems in the high-stakes Maine Senate race.

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​Dave landau, Graham platner, Maine, Senate, Stu burguiere, The blaze, Washington post, Accusations, Lyndsey fifield, Stu and dave do america 

Vice President JD Vance has compared the Democratic mayor of Milwaukee to a child stealing cookies after relating a story about the mayor’s “aggressive” denial of election fraud.

The vice president was speaking at a stop in Milwaukee on Wednesday when he related that Mayor Cavalier Johnson sent him a letter objecting to the probe into the 2020 presidential election.

‘It was a little bit of “he doth protest too much.”‘

Johnson invited Vance in the July 7 letter to talk to the officials who run the election and scrutinize the process, but he denied any justification for the probe.

“Federal law enforcement agents, deployed at the direction of the President’s administration, have been present in my city, interviewing election officials,” Johnson wrote in the letter. “I know of no justification for this activity. Evidence of wrongdoing is entirely absent.”

Vance responded in comments to a reporter that he didn’t have time to visit Johnson.

“I did get the letter from the mayor of Milwaukee, and he wants to meet, and he’s welcome to come to Washington, D.C.,” Vance responded. “I’ll sit down and meet with him.”

Vance went on to compare the mayor to his cookie-stealing son.

“Some guy sends me a letter, the mayor of Milwaukee, and says, ‘We don’t do any election fraud! We don’t do any election fraud! We don’t do any election fraud!'” the vice president said.

“And my response to that is, you know what? It kind of reminds me of like a couple weeks ago. I get home … and my 6-year-old greets me, and I love my little boy, but he’s a little mischievous,” Vance explained. “And he gives me a big hug, and he says, ‘Daddy, I’m glad you’re home! I didn’t steal any of the cookies!’ I said, ‘Huh, that’s interesting that you volunteered that, when I wasn’t even talking about that!’ Well, of course, he stole the cookies.”

Vance got some laugher from the audience.

“So, when I hear a guy protesting out of nowhere, ‘I did not do any election fraud! I did not do any election fraud!’ it makes me wonder, why is that guy protesting so aggressively? It’s a little odd!” he added.

Video of Vance’s comments was posted to social media, where it was widely circulated.

RELATED: Democrat demands answers on ICE detention of Islamic leader in Milwaukee — and DHS slaps her down

“It was a little bit of ‘he doth protest too much,'” Vance added, referring to the famous Shakespeare line.

In a statement emailed to Blaze News, the mayor responded by accusing the vice president of raising “false claims regarding election integrity.”

He added, “Rather than addressing the real questions, the vice president digresses into stories about his child.”

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​Vice president jd vance, Milwaukee mayor cavalier johnson, 2020 election fraud, Milwaukee, Politics 

On Thursday, the Utah prosecutors working to convince state District Judge Tony Graf to try Charlie Kirk’s suspected assassin, Tyler Robinson, for aggravated murder delivered perhaps the most damning pieces of evidence yet.

In a pre-recorded deposition played in court despite protest from the defense, Lance Twiggs — Robinson’s trans-identifying homosexual lover who was given immunity for the statements — says that the individual shown in FBI images taken from the Utah Valley University surveillance footage played in court earlier this week “looks like [Robinson] in terms of the shoes he’s wearing, the sunglasses.”

‘I will have left no evidence.’

“It’s definitely, especially the bottom, the last two [images], definitely do look like him,” continued Twiggs, who spoke to authorities on Sept. 12 and again on April 20. “They do look like Tyler Robinson.”

The court saw surveillance videos on Tuesday showing the individual who Twiggs said looked like Robinson skulking around Utah Valley University campus — where he was not a student — ahead of the Sept. 10 shooting and ascend onto the roof of the Losee Center building.

Twiggs, who started dating the suspected assassin in 2023 and lived with Robinson in a townhouse in St. George, Utah, also told law enforcement that on the day of Kirk’s killing, Robinson left their residence earlier than usual — as early as 4 a.m.

Twiggs noted further that he lent Robinson a tool to engrave some bullets for a supposed hunting trip.

RELATED: ‘Did they know?’ FBI investigating whether pro-trans radicals knew in advance about Charlie Kirk assassination plot

Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Images

In the aftermath of Kirk’s assassination, Utah Governor Spencer Cox (R) confirmed that investigators found an inscription on a spent fire casing that read, “Notices bulges, OwO what’s this?” — an alleged reference to an online meme that has been used to mock gay furries — as well as the following inscriptions on unfired cartridges:

“Hey fascist! Catch! ↑ → ↓ ↓ ↓” — the arrows are an apparent reference to a move in the video game “Helldivers 2″ that sets the stage for the deployment of a large bomb;”Oh bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao, ciao,” lyrics from an Italian folk song that has been embraced by anti-fascist movements and various leftist causes and features in the violent Spanish TV show “Money Heist.” Willem van Spronsen, the Antifa terrorist who firebombed a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in July 2019, apparently referred to the song in his final statement; and”If you read this, you are gay, LMAO.”

Twiggs claimed that the morning after the shooting, Robinson returned to the apartment and appeared nervous.

“He started crying a little bit,” Twiggs claimed, “and said he wishes he hadn’t done it.”

Utah State Bureau of Investigation Agent Brian Davis walked the court through text messages between Twiggs and the alleged assassin where Robinson allegedly wrote in the wake of the shooting, “Shouldn’t be long until I can come home, but I gotta grab my rifle still. To be honest I hoped to keep this secret till I died of old age. I am sorry to involve you.”

Robinson allegedly added, “I had planned to grab my rifle from my drop point shortly after, but most of that side of town got locked down.”

“If I am able to grab my rifle unseen, I will have left no evidence,” Robinson allegedly wrote. “Going to attempt to retrieve it again.”

Earlier in the week, Utah Department of Public Safety Sgt. Jennifer Faumuina testified that the two sets of male DNA discovered on the towel wrapped around the suspected murder weapon were a match to Twiggs and very likely to Robinson.

The texts read by Davis show that when asked by Twiggs why he had allegedly done it, Robinson allegedly answered, “I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out.”

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​Charlie kirk, Assassination, Tyler robinson, Lance twiggs, Lgbt, Utah, Utah valley university, Trans, Politics 

Three adults and four juveniles have been arrested in connection with the July 4 mob attack on female police officers caught on video in South Carolina.

North Charleston Police said the juveniles face charges ranging from assault by mob (third degree), assault on police while resisting arrest, resisting arrest, and possession of a machine gun to breach of peace.

‘We just can’t do that. We can’t attack and jump on a police officer who was just trying to do her job and beat her like that, like a mob. That just can’t happen.’

Police also said 19-year-old Giovanni Mekhi Sincere Campbell of North Charleston faces a charge of possession of a machine gun, and 18-year-old Sa’Mya Adriana Collette Weaver of North Charleston faces charges of breach of peace and assault on police.

In addition, the police department’s Gang Intervention Team and the Intelligence Led Policing Team said they arrested 21-year-old Charleston resident Dejuan Ravenel in connection with the theft of a Taser and loaded gun magazines from one of the assaulted police officers. Police said they received information identifying Ravenel and determining he was possibly staying at an apartment complex in the West Ashley area, after which police established surveillance at the location.

Police said they saw Ravenel leave the apartment and enter the back seat of a vehicle. Soon they followed the vehicle to a restaurant, and Ravenel was taken into custody after exiting the restaurant, police said.

Investigators later executed a search warrant at the apartment and recovered the stolen Taser and loaded gun magazines, police said.

Ravenel was charged with unlawful taking of a weapon from law enforcement and transported to jail, police said, adding that the investigation remains ongoing and additional arrests are possible.

The following is cellphone video of the physical attacks on police:

RELATED: Over 400 arrested after July 4 ‘TikTok Takeover’ in beach city leads to fights, looting, vandalism, violence against cops

Prior to the July 4 mob attack, police said North Charleston had permitted a neighborhood block party. Police said leadership met with block party organizers to discuss the event, including traffic and parking plans to ensure emergency vehicles could safely access the area if needed.

But police said around 8:30 p.m., officers began receiving reports of gunfire and individuals shooting fireworks toward passing vehicles.

Officers responded immediately, and attendees told them that several people had begun discharging firearms, police said, adding that officers made repeated public announcements advising that the event had ended and directing attendees to leave the area safely, in an attempt to de-escalate the situation.

Police said that despite those efforts, multiple fights broke out and additional gunshots were fired.

Officers exited their patrol vehicles to intervene, separate individuals involved in fights, and restore order and protect the public, police said, adding that during the response, multiple firearms and a makeshift spear were recovered.

Police said “multiple officers were physically assaulted, with two female officers sustaining minor injuries,” and “several attendees were arrested as a result of their own actions.”

“Attacks on law enforcement are unacceptable, and those responsible will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” police said. “The safety of our residents and visitors remains our highest priority.”

Police also said “we especially thank those from the community who helped officers during the attacks.”

WCSC-TV reported that the attacks occurred near Chicora Community Park on Calvert Street — and that police said the event had been held in the same location for about 10 years without incident.

About 400 people were present at the scene, police told WCSC.

North Charleston Police Chief Ron Camacho told the station that the two female officers who were injured “are fine. They’re working.”

Community advocate Elvin Speights told WCSC he was shaken after watching the video circulate online: “A lot of emotions. Ashamed. Disgraced. I’m very pleased that no one was seriously hurt. That could have gone really bad.”

Speights added to the station that “we just can’t do that. We can’t attack and jump on a police officer who was just trying to do her job and beat her like that, like a mob. That just can’t happen.”

Speights also told WCSC the police response was admirable: “I just wanted to give a huge shout-out to that officer who showed humongous restraint on not going out here and pulling her gun and start shooting. The North Charleston Police Department as a whole — no one was seriously hurt. They showed a lot of restraint.”

Camacho told the station that police had prior intelligence that juveniles were planning to engage in fights using fireworks in the area that night — but were not prepared for the scale of what took place at the block party.

“We were not ready for this,” Camacho noted to WCSC.

“We need some help,” Camacho told WCSC. “We really do. We need some help from the community. Because stuff like this is getting dangerous.”

Camacho also told the the station that unruly juveniles are “the most difficult thing that I’ve had to deal with in my policing career.”

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​Mob attacks police, North charleston, South carolina, Viral video, Arrests, July 4, Crime 

For years, Americans have been told not to worry about the explosion of AI surveillance cameras. They’re only looking for stolen cars. They’re only helping solve crimes. If you’re not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to fear.

Then the CEO of one of the country’s largest AI surveillance companies, Flock Safety, said something that should make every American stop and think.

Americans can support law enforcement while also believing there must be limits on mass surveillance.

In an interview with Forbes last year, Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley called DeFlock — a volunteer group that maps the locations of Flock’s automated license plate reader cameras — a “terroristic organization.” He contrasted the group with the ACLU and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, saying those groups use the courts, while DeFlock’s “primary motivation is chaos.”

Think about that for a moment.

Citizen terrorists?

DeFlock’s primary activity is mapping the locations of publicly visible cameras installed throughout American communities. Flock argues that publishing those locations could help criminals avoid detection. DeFlock argues that citizens have a right to know where government-connected surveillance technology is being deployed. Reasonable people can disagree about that. But calling transparency activists “terroristic” is something else entirely.

Words matter, especially when they come from the CEO of a company whose business depends on collecting, analyzing, and sharing vast amounts of location data. He didn’t call the group irresponsible or reckless; he chose language normally associated with violent extremism. That choice tells us how criticism of surveillance is increasingly viewed by the industry building it.

Then there was another statement from that interview that deserves just as much attention. Langley said, “We’re not forcing Flock on anyone.”

Really?

No choice

Americans never voted to install AI-powered camera networks throughout their communities. They didn’t vote for systems capable of tracking vehicle movements across cities. They didn’t vote for technology that has evolved far beyond simply reading license plates. Today’s systems can identify vehicles by make, model, color, aftermarket wheels, roof racks, bumper stickers, damage, window tint, and countless other characteristics — even when a license plate isn’t visible. Every generation of this technology becomes more sophisticated than the last.

This isn’t simply about solving crime anymore. It’s about building an increasingly comprehensive picture of where vehicles travel, when they travel, and how artificial intelligence can connect those movements. That is why transparency matters. If these cameras are installed in public places with taxpayer dollars, why shouldn’t the public know where they are? That’s the question DeFlock is asking. And asking it, apparently, makes them terrorists.

It’s also a question the surveillance industry appears increasingly uncomfortable answering. Perhaps the most revealing part of this controversy isn’t the quote itself. It’s what it says about the mindset behind the technology.

When someone maps surveillance cameras, the cameras aren’t questioned. The person documenting them is. That’s an extraordinary shift. The debate moves away from whether expanding surveillance deserves public scrutiny and toward whether the people asking questions are somehow the threat. That inversion should concern anyone who values accountability.

RELATED: California wants to decide what tires you can buy — what could possibly go wrong?

Bloomberg/Getty Images

Mounting frustration

The frustration is building. People across the country are vandalizing or removing Flock surveillance cameras. While Flock doesn’t operate in Europe, activists have targeted similar surveillance cameras in London, France, and Italy.

To be clear: Destroying public or private property is illegal, and I don’t support it. But those incidents reflect something policymakers and technology companies shouldn’t ignore — a growing segment of the public feels these systems are being imposed without meaningful public debate or consent. Ignoring that frustration won’t make it disappear. Calling critics “terroristic” certainly won’t either.

The irony is hard to miss. The surveillance industry frequently tells Americans these systems are about building trust and making communities safer. But trust isn’t built by dismissing or demonizing people who ask legitimate questions about privacy, accountability, and the limits of government surveillance. Trust is earned through transparency — and right now, that transparency is disappearing fast.

Just asking

Americans can support law enforcement while also believing there must be limits on mass surveillance. They can believe violent criminals should be caught while also asking who owns the data, who can search it, how long it is retained, and whether artificial intelligence should be allowed to follow their daily movements without their knowledge. Those aren’t extremist questions. They’re the kinds of questions citizens in a free society are supposed to ask.

Garrett Langley’s comments may have been intended to defend his company. Instead, they revealed something far more important. They exposed an attitude many Americans have long suspected exists beneath the rapid expansion of AI surveillance: that questioning the system is becoming more objectionable than expanding it. He said the quiet part out loud. And that matters, because once a society accepts ubiquitous surveillance as normal, history suggests it rarely moves in the opposite direction.

So let me get this straight: We did not vote to add these surveillance cameras, and letting people know where they are located makes us the bad guys. This is not a joke.

I guess I’m “terroristic” for discussing this and telling everyone about it.

​Aclu, Ai surveillance cameras, Artificial intelligence, Mass surveillance, Privacy, Data ownership, Flock, Flock safety, Deflock, Garrett langely, Driving, Automotive 

Maine Democrats have their work cut out for them this week after Graham Platner, who was accused of rape on Monday by an ex-girlfriend, took one more step toward exiting the campaign.

On Wednesday night, Platner posted an 11-minute video on social media explaining that he was “suspending campaign operations.”

‘What comes next needs to come from the people.’

While maintaining his innocence, Platner blamed the Democrat establishment for making the continuation of his candidacy untenable.

“This is incredibly difficult, because I know that some will think it’s an admission of guilt, and it most certainly is not,” he said in the video. “We’re not doing it because of the allegations. We’re doing it because of the structures that are being taken away from us by those in power.”

He intimated that he had not filled out the paperwork to officially suspend his campaign at the time of recording the video but suggested that he intends to do so before the deadline.

RELATED: The clock is ticking for Democrats as Platner scandal triggers campaign crisis — here’s what to know

Mel Musto/Bloomberg/Getty Images

“What comes next needs to come from the people,” he said.

Platner has asked his supporters to answer a 48-hour survey with two questions.

The message above the questions reads, in part, “We firmly believe that the supporters and volunteers who built this movement deserve to have a real role in any nomination process. If the Democratic Party hopes to harness our movement, and avoid disillusioning the hundred of thousands of supporters who came into the fray because of our movement’s policies, it must consult the feedback and proposals of the people who built and sustained this.”

While some of the details about “what comes next” are still up in the air, party leaders have been preparing a solution to the selection process, though it remains to be seen if it will be sufficiently “from the people,” as Platner called for.

Multiple outlets reported Wednesday that Democrat leaders are preparing to select a new candidate via a roughly 600-person convention.

The Bangor Daily News, citing an account of a party meeting shared with the outlet, reported that the convention will likely include 500 delegates proportionally selected by county committees as well as the roughly 100 members of the state committee.

Confirmation of these and other details are still forthcoming from the party.

Maine Democratic Party Executive Director Devon Murphy-Anderson released a statement on Wednesday accusing Platner of “distracting from the job of defeating Susan Collins” while emphasizing the party’s intent to develop “a representative, transparent, and inclusive process to select a new nominee when he chooses to withdraw from the race.”

“While we may be frustrated with Graham Platner’s continued efforts to manipulate this process, we are so thankful for his supporters and all of their efforts to defeat Susan Collins — they are a vital part of our Party and deserve to participate in an open process to select Platner’s replacement,” Murphy-Anderson added.

Platner will need to officially suspend his candidacy before the Democratic Party can begin planning the convention. The deadline is 5 p.m. ET on Monday.

The party must decide on a candidate and announce the decision to the Maine secretary of state by July 27.

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The White House’s Domestic Policy Council dropped a 162-page report on Independence Day titled “Saving America’s Story” that exposes the radicalism infecting the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History.

The report highlighted various manifestations of “extreme political activism” under Director Anthea Hartig — from the NMAH’s characterization of Mickey Mouse as a vestige of “blackface minstrelsy” to its propagation of a tool kit that characterizes objectivity and individualism as oppressive traits of “whiteness” — and concluded that the museum, under its current leadership, “cannot be trusted to tell America’s story honestly.”

‘US history was taught as the history of white Christian men who conquered a continent.’

The council’s damning assessment has evidently ruffled feathers at the Smithsonian and elsewhere.

Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch III sent an institution-wide letter on Tuesday pushing back against the evidence-based critique, claiming that the “report is not a fair characterization of the work and totality of the National Museum of American History.”

In his letter, which was obtained by the Washington Post, Bunch claimed both that “the Smithsonian is the glue that holds the nation together” and that the Smithsonian team’s “work is driven by scholarship, accuracy, and an uncompromising commitment to tell the fullness of America’s story.”

Bunch thanked the activists who operate within his purview and wrote, “Every day, we are honored to tell America’s stories and hold that responsibility with the utmost regard, respect, and fidelity. We remain committed to fulfilling our mission for generations to come.”

RELATED: Russell Kirk’s dire warning: America cannot be taken for granted

Maxine Wallace/The Washington Post/Getty Images

Bunch sent his letter days after a spokesperson for the institution stated, “For more than 180 years, the Smithsonian has served the American public with nonpartisan and independent scholarship, and we remain committed to doing so.”

Bunch and the Smithsonian spokesperson weren’t alone in fretting over the White House’s report.

The Organization of American Historians rejected the report, calling it “another example of executive branch overreach” and an attempt on the part of the Trump White House “to coerce Smithsonian leadership to shape its presentation of U.S. history so that it serves the administration’s political agenda.”

The OAH, which has over 6,000 members at universities and other institutional settings across the country, complained that the report “insists that history itself is essentially, for Americans, a special and providential story of triumph.”

“Make no mistake: The report represents an attempt to turn back the clock to a time when U.S. history was taught as the history of white Christian men who conquered a continent, U.S. military leaders who rarely lost a battle, and U.S. presidents who were single-handedly responsible for national greatness, all under the cover of ‘anti-DEI’ and ‘anti-woke’ crusading,” the OAH continued.

The woke historians fear that orienting focus toward American exceptionalism would mean “women, workers, people of color, people with disabilities, immigrants, LGBTQ+ people and more, will not see themselves represented” at the NMAH and that “America’s rich and diverse history will be reduced to shallow and simple-minded stories and tropes.”

Marc Stein, the San Francisco-based homosexual activist and historian who currently serves as the OAH’s president, told the New York Times, “Released on July 4, 2026, the 250th birthday of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, the report is a declaration of independence from history.”

Stein, an apparent critic of “child protection” initiatives and defender of “drag queen story hours,” further claimed that the council’s report “mischaracterizes and misrepresents the words of Anthea Hartig, who has consistently worked to educate and inform visitors to the museum with innovative exhibits and inspirational programs.”

‘Deeply concerning to see the Smithsonian embrace politicized history over historical truth.’

The report that has vexed Stein, his organization, Bunch, and others not only revealed Hartig to be a radical who regards history as a “prime tool of social justice,” seeks to “get out of the ‘America First’ mentality” when telling history, and wanted to “problematize the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 2026,” but also highlighted the LGBT, anti-white, and anti-Western agitprop pushed by her museum.

According to the report, the NMAH has in exhibits, frameworks, curricula, and/or documentation:

Directed American teachers to tell students both that the “U.S. economy depends on an influx of migrants to augment the workforce in a number of industries” and that “there is no single American culture, language, or narrative”;Identified perfectionism, a sense of urgency, the prioritization of quantity over quality, paternalism, “worship of the written word,” either/or thinking, individualism, and objectivity as “characteristics of white supremacy culture which show up in our organizations” and are “damaging to both people of color and to white people”;Described Jared Jennings — the boy called “Jazz” whose genital mutilation was promoted on reality television — as someone who “always knew she ‘was a girl trapped inside a boy’s body'” and devoted an entire “A Girl’s Life” display to discuss his “transgender” experience;Displayed a two-piece chrome and rubber crotch harness designed for sadomasochist sexual activity in a Stonewall exhibit;Lionized Angela Davis, a former Black Panther and recipient of the Soviet Union’s Lenin Peace Prize who was once accused of supplying weapons to a black supremacist who went on to murder Superior Court Judge Harold Haley and two inmates;Adopted a decidedly pro-abortion stance, especially after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling and Hartig’s declaration that “a future without federally protected reproductive health care rights is not informed, just, or compassionate”;Hyped gun-control activism, particularly in its “Girlhood (It’s Complicated)” exhibit, which featured a life-size poster of a “March for Our Lives” speaker;Suggested that America rests on stolen land;Slandered America’s founders; and “Consistently denigrated and displaced whites, males, Christians, and Americans in educational materials and programming, failing to highlight how Christians and Christian principles also have contributed to America’s founding and flourishing.”

While liberal revisionists and other radicals clutched pearls over the report, conservatives were apparently happy to see the truth of the NMAH’s ideological capture brought to light.

New York Rep. Claudia Tenney (R) tweeted, “Deeply concerning to see the Smithsonian embrace politicized history over historical truth. Woke does not belong in our taxpayer funded museums. Our history deserves to be told honestly, faithfully, & with the respect owed to the nation that changed the world.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) wrote, “Politicizing American history to weaponize it in service of leftist activism. Not surprised they did this, but good to see it getting exposed.”

Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) introduced legislation last year that would codify President Donald Trump’s “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” executive order in part by directing executive appointees to the Smithsonian Board of Regents “to remove improper ideology and divisive racial narratives from Smithsonian properties.”

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The corporate entertainment complex is experiencing a collective nervous breakdown. The catalyst for this sudden departure from sanity is “Citizen Vigilante,” a cinematic hand grenade that blows the lid off the establishment’s favorite lies.

Directed by the notoriously uncompromising Uwe Boll, the film takes the documented reality of Europe’s border crisis, pairs it with an industry outcast, and refuses to apologize for the violence that follows.

‘Everybody loved that I knocked out the critics,’ Boll notes dryly. ‘They stepped into the ring and received a much-needed reality check.’

Film reviewers, conditioned by years of ideological conformity, responded with their usual panic-stricken script, hurling accusations of “fascism” like overexcited monkeys slinging feces.

Crying ‘fascist’

When asked why modern film critics seem so threatened by stories that reflect public frustrations instead of establishment-approved narratives, Boll doesn’t hesitate.

“They know that the facts are against them and they have no defense,” Boll states matter-of-factly. “So they label everyone a fascist or a Nazi if they point out that criminals need to be prosecuted and, if possible, deported.”

“The leftist governments in Europe are victims of their own propaganda. They are under immense pressure to ignore grooming scandals, knife stabbings, and all forms of violent random crime.”

The hysterical reaction from the press stems from a deep-seated fear of the obvious. For years, the European establishment maintained control by enforcing a strict code of censorship around the predictable outcomes of open-door migration policies. “Citizen Vigilante” breaks that code with a sledgehammer.

The film acts as a mirror to a continent where citizens are told to accept acts of savagery as a standard feature of daily life. When art reflects the dark reality instead of the utopian fantasy, the gatekeepers reach for the chloroform.

RELATED: ‘Citizen Vigilante’: A cinematic hand grenade lobbed at the cathedral of liberal pieties

bollfilms.com

Hammer time

The casting of the lead role provided another opportunity to challenge the industry’s enforced consensus. Beyond his fit for the role, casting Armie Hammer felt like a well-earned middle finger to an entertainment industry obsessed with moral conformity.

“Armie was a major star and would be the perfect James Bond,” Boll says. “Unfortunately, in today’s climate, a one-legged transgender person from Bangladesh has a better chance of getting that part.”

“By the way,” he adds, “that is not a joke against transgender people — that is a joke against the insanity of the woke police running Hollywood. Armie acted irresponsibly years ago, but he committed no crime. He rehabilitated himself and deserves to be a major star again. He was perfect for the role of Sanders, so I hired him.”

Boll is right. Hammer, a genuinely gifted actor, is not a criminal. Whatever one makes of his personal controversies, they are not comparable to the depravities of Harvey Weinstein. On screen, the American’s stoic, unsentimental delivery of justice feels both refreshing and revolutionary.

Hollywood thrives on a system of selective banishment, enforcing a social credit system that demands absolute ideological submission. Hiring Hammer was a calculated rejection of that ecosystem. It demonstrated that a filmmaker with independent backing can bypass the arbitrary tribunals of the cultural elite.

Wake-up call

The performance itself fuels a narrative that focuses directly on the systematic failure of European state institutions. The complete lack of public safety in major European centers is a daily reality on the streets of Berlin, Paris, and London, where the native populations find themselves treated as second-class citizens by their own representatives.

This fact is not lost on Boll.

“Germany is going down the drain, just like the U.K. and France, and we have watched it unfold for at least 15 years,” the filmmaker explains. “Now that more middle-class citizens are feeling the impact, they are starting to wake up and get upset. The general population always reacts too late, usually when the ship is already sinking and they have lost their jobs, their homes, or are simply running out of money for groceries. Then they become resentful and depressed.”

He considers his latest film “a harsh wake-up call designed for shock value to accelerate that awakening. Politicians are elected to bring safety and prosperity to their country. That is not happening.”

In Germany, he adds, “our bridges and schools are literally falling apart, but we are funding bicycle lanes in Peru. That is a documented fact, not a joke.” He’s right. It’s true.

Contract killers

This disconnect forms the emotional center of the film’s protagonist, a man driven to extreme measures by the state’s total abdication of authority. The character’s narrative arc reflects a growing sentiment across the continent. When the social contract is voided by the ruling class, the consequences will be severe.

Michael Sanders goes to some incredibly dark places by the end of the film, leaving fans to wonder if the sequel will bring a deeper escalation of his crusade or a confrontation with the true cost of taking the law into his own hands.

Boll remains coy about the exact plot of the sequel. “Maybe both,” he offers.

Bounty hunter

Obviously, one cannot interview Boll without discussing his decision to stream the film for free on X via Elon Musk’s account. This move bypassed traditional distribution entirely, rendering traditional studios obsolete.

“Thanks to X, the world could watch the film for two days,” Boll says. However, he adds, “you still need theatrical releases, Blu-ray, television, and streaming revenues to generate a profit. If you launch exclusively on social media, you would need an alternative model to get compensated for the work.”

In theory, this alternative model would look like a digital bounty system — direct-to-consumer micro-subscriptions or platform-backed ad-revenue splits driven entirely by viral engagement rather than studio greenlights. It is desperately needed because the current gatekeepers don’t just take a cut of the profit but also a cut of the truth.

The entertainment elite dislikes independent distribution channels because they destroy the monopoly on information. This rebellious streak defines Boll’s career. Twenty years ago, he famously challenged his fiercest critics to actual boxing matches and beat them in the ring, an event that permanently altered his relationship with the film establishment.

“Everybody loved that I knocked out the critics,” Boll notes dryly. “They stepped into the ring and received a much-needed reality check.” With “Citizen Vigilante,” Boll delivers the ultimate right hook, forcing open the eyes of the cultural commissars who would very much like us to ignore reality.

​Armie hammer, Citizen vigilante, Uwe boll, Violent crime, Elon musk, Entertainment, Movies, Immigration, Interview 

Senator Mitch McConnell was confirmed to have been hospitalized on June 14 for an unknown condition — but that was now weeks ago, and the people of Kentucky have received no meaningful updates about his condition.

Now, Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck is asking questions that Washington refuses to answer.

“Here are the rumors. And they’re rumors. If they’re true, they’re tragic. If the rumors are false, then somebody needs to step up and tell the American people the truth. Either way, this is not how a constitutional republic is supposed to function,” Glenn says.

According to these rumors, it’s been three weeks since the people of Kentucky have heard about the condition of Senator Mitch McConnell.

“His office has issued really carefully worded statements. He’s recovering. He appreciates everyone’s support. They don’t say what happened. They don’t say when he’s going to return,” Glenn explains. “They don’t answer even the basic question every citizen has a right to: Can he still do the job?”

“Is he still thinking? And this is not a cruel question, but the guy is a sitting senator, and it’s a question that matters, because this is bigger than Mitch McConnell. We watched America do this with President Biden,” he continues.

“Republicans are now the mirror image of the people they criticized,” he says. “You know, if your party has spent years demanding honesty about the president’s health, you kind of have an obligation to demand honesty about your own leader in your own GOP.”

“This is not about left or right. This is about representation,” he adds.

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.

​Constitutional republic, Glenn beck, Hospitalized, Investigation, Kentucky, Mitch mcconnell, Rumors, Washington, Health, Joe biden, Democrats, Republicans, The glenn beck program 

New York City without the Italians, Jews, and Irish?

Well, Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s “immigrant enclaves” map seems to think so.

‘Mamdani’s City Hall can find room for every fashionable progressive constituency, but somehow it cannot find Little Italy.’

Detailing 30 immigrant enclave communities across the five boroughs, the map is catching harsh criticism for excluding one of the city’s original “Little” — Little Italy.

Among the enclaves included are Chinatown in Manhattan, Little Egypt in Queens, and Little Haiti in Brooklyn.

“They were able to get a Little Bhod-Tibet in there, but what about the original ‘Little neighborhood,’ Little Italy?” Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Queens) told the New York Post.

“And what about areas like Woodlawn, in the Bronx, which are home to plenty of Irish immigrants? Do the Irish and Italians not count for the mayor’s office?” she continued.

In a statement from the Italian American Civil Rights League, President Mike Crispi blasted Mamdani for “erasing” Little Italy.

“This is not a clerical error. This is cultural erasure. Little Italy is sacred ground. It is where Italian immigrants came with nothing, worked like hell, opened shops, raised families, built churches, fed the city, and helped make New York what it is.”

“Mamdani’s City Hall can find room for every fashionable progressive constituency, but somehow it cannot find Little Italy,” Crispi added.

The league’s X account continued, “Italian Americans BUILT NEW YORK CITY. Not third world Ugandans. We stand AGAINST COMMUNISTS!”

Yet, this isn’t the first time the Italian-American community and Mamdani have been at odds with each other. During last year’s mayoral race, Mamdani faced intense backlash after an X post from 2020 resurfaced showing him giving the middle finger to a statue of Christopher Columbus. The post was captioned, “Take it down.”

RELATED: Mamdani smears America in unhinged address ahead of July 4: ‘We sell our elections to the highest bidder’

Fatih Aktas/Anadolu/Getty Images

The map received additional criticism for leaving out neighborhoods home to large Jewish populations.

“The Mayor’s Office made a map of NYC’s immigrant enclaves: Little Africa, Little Poland, Little Palestine. But they just couldn’t figure out how to represent 11% of the city. Couldn’t decipher where the Jews are from. Asked everyone. Huge riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma,” writer Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt said on X.

Former Republican candidate for Los Angeles mayor Spencer Pratt chimed in, calling the mayor’s actions “deliberate subversion” in a post to X.

“Leaving out the Italian, Jewish, and Irish enclaves in NYC is like leaving out Mexican and Persian enclaves in LA,” Pratt said. “It’s not an ‘oopsie!’ This is deliberate subversion. The communist must erase your history so he can demolish your home and make it his own.”

A spokeswoman from City Hall defended the map in a statement, saying it “highlights neighborhoods in New York City that have substantial foreign-born populations from regions and countries around the world.”

“It does not highlight religious groups,” she added. “Little Odessa, which is featured in the map, has a substantial Jewish population.”

“We are planning to add more neighborhoods in the upcoming months.”

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​Mayor zohran mamdani, New york city, Politics 

Watch live as Day 4 of the preliminary hearing in the murder case of Charlie Kirk gets under way in Provo, Utah.

After a dramatic third day dominated by legal battles over key evidence, prosecutors are expected to present the redacted recorded statements of Tyler Robinson’s former roommate, Lance Twiggs, along with additional digital evidence they say ties Robinson to the murder.

Day 3 also included testimony surrounding Robinson’s surrender to law enforcement, while defense attorneys continued challenging the prosecution’s forensic evidence and fought to limit what the judge could consider. With the hearing entering its final stages, today’s testimony could be among the most significant yet as prosecutors work to convince Judge Tony Graf there is enough evidence to send Robinson to trial on aggravated murder charges and pursue the death penalty.

Watch Day 4 live:

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I remember back in the early Trump days, I would cruise by the Politics section of my local bookstore to see which celebrity leftist pundit they were promoting this week.

One day, I noticed a small subsection within Politics called the Alt-Right.

The alt-right was like the early punk movement. If you were actually there, it was crazy fun. If you weren’t, everything you heard about it was negative.

I was amazed that a bookstore in my blue city would admit that the “alt-right” existed. But then I saw that all these books were about the evils of the alt-right.

Without exception, these books described a dark and dangerous world of neo-Nazis, white supremacists, fascists, racists, homophobes, and misogynists … most of whom apparently lived in caves in the darkest reaches of Idaho.

The authors of these books often struck a self-congratulatory tone. How brave they were to explore these nefarious netherworlds!

Eggheads unlimited

The truth was that all of these books were incredibly dry and boring. Most were published by university presses and featured dubious statistics, out-of-context quotes, and obvious misrepresentations.

The writers were brain-dead academics. They had no understanding of trends, or vibes, or zeitgeists. They barely knew what a meme was.

And of course, they lacked any sense of humor at all. This made it impossible for them to understand the sarcasm and irony of the quick-witted young bloggers and commentators they were supposedly writing about.

An untold story

I remember wondering if anyone would ever write an honest account of the alt-right. Probably not. It’s fairly common that most vanguard youth cultures are dismissed or misinterpreted.

The alt-right was like the early punk movement. If you were actually there, it was crazy fun. If you weren’t, everything you heard about it was negative.

So you can imagine my surprise when I heard about Scott Greer’s latest book, “Whitepill: The Online Right and the Making of Trump’s America.”

Though the official title was relatively innocuous, the word on the street was this is it, this is the first serious history of the alt-right, by a writer who understood it, participated in it, and was very nearly destroyed by its fallout.

Needless to say, I was eager to read it.

How far we’ve come

Greer named his book “Whitepill” because it describes the many advances conservatives have made during the Trump era and celebrates their many victories.

For those of us over 50: To be “white-pilled” about something means to be excited or happy about it.

In the first sections of the book, Greer reminds us of the state of conservatism during the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations.

It was “cuckservatism” basically, to borrow an alt-right-ism. The Republicans were so eager to please and so afraid of offending that they came up with catchphrases like “compassionate conservatism” to market themselves.

They promoted same-sex marriage, amnesty for illegal immigrants, affirmative action, and a host of other leftist projects.

We think of our current Republicans as being hypocritical, if not traitorous, for not protecting Americans from voter fraud, violent crime, and open borders.

But they were even worse 20 years ago! Greer gives a good, succinct accounting of this.

A new defiant energy

In response to the extreme wimpiness of 2000s establishment Republicans, a new defiant energy began to appear among young conservatives.

Greer describes an obscure 2008 article by historian Paul Gottfried, who predicted the end of that era’s gutless conservatism:

Beneath that crumbling establishment, [Gottfried] saw the stirrings of a “younger, less inhibited” generation of rightists willing to defy taboos and confront head-on what he described as an “intolerable political situation.” He called this nascent rebellion the Alternative Right.

Most people who read “Whitepill” will have a rough idea of what Gottfried’s alternative right became, but Greer simplifies it for the normies: “[The alt-right] was an online phenomenon, an ideological and aesthetic counter-culture that broke hard from the philosophical premises underpinning the modern [liberal] ‘idea’ of America.”

And more specifically:

Many young white men in particular came to feel alienated by a new liberalism that pathologized their “whiteness” and demanded that they “check their privilege.” The Alt-Right explained to them in explicit terms why and how they could reject this new social paradigm.”

RELATED: The cure for liking socialism? Visiting a socialist country

L-R: The author in East Berlin, 1984. Blake Nelson; Cuba, 2007. Matt Cardy/Getty Images

Youth must be served

From there, Greer takes us through the initial flourishing of alt-right culture. The kids were going to have their say!

But he also points out its obvious limitations, mainly that it was completely online and mostly anonymous. Its growth was therefore random and chaotic. There was no accountability; there were no boundaries.

If it sometimes felt like a “movement” or even a “political party,” in reality, it was a free-floating, spontaneous, cultural phenomenon created in the cartoon world of the internet.

Still, an entire generation came to know its symbols, its humor, its language, its youthful goofiness. It was hopeful and fun, and it pointed toward a way out of the mess we were in.

The end of the beginning

Of course, we all know where the alt-right story ended: in Charlottesville, in the summer of 2017.

The Charlottesville “Unite the Right Rally” was doomed from the beginning. Though I had only just become aware of the alt-right myself, even I could sense the danger inherent in its real-world manifestation.

I remember one blogger I followed begging people to stay away. “IT’S A TRAP!” he kept saying. And he was right. And a lot of people got caught in it.

Life in the swamp

Greer occasionally inserts his own experiences as a writer, editor, and journalist into this narrative. And it’s good that he does. As he describes his early career in Washington, D.C., you get a sense of what a treacherous time it was to work in politics.

Imagine trying to hold down a real-world job as a young conservative in the midst of peak wokeness! At different points, Greer was doxxed, fired, and blacklisted. But he managed to soldier on.

Which is good news for the rest of us. Because he has written an exceptional book about a very important subject.

Perhaps the most notable thing about “Whitepill” is that despite Greer’s obvious right-wing bias, he actually succeeds in producing a balanced and objective account of what happened and why. He is — as best he can — attempting to tell the truth.

Imagine that. An honest person in politics. That is indeed a white pill.

​Review