Category: blaze media

An executive order signed by President Trump upon taking office is having a ripple effect on gender activism in Canada.

On January 20, Trump signed an order titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.”

The order affirmed the “biological reality of sex” and formally recognized only two genders in the United States. Canadians were recently notified that the order is now restricting their gender performance in terms of travel documents.

‘Canada must uphold its commitment to gender inclusion.’

Since 2019, Canadians have been allowed to designate their genders as “X” on their passports, a policy that progressed through the Nexus travel cards, a joint program between the Canada Border Services Agency and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The program allows travelers between the two countries to cross faster using expedited lines and screening processes.

Now, the CBSA has confirmed that Nexus users from Canada will no longer be allowed to label their gender as “X” and must be compliant with Trump’s executive order moving forward.

As Juno News reported, current Nexus cards will remain valid if they use the X, but all future applications are required to select either “male” or “female.”

Canadian border officials confirmed that this will affect hundreds of Nexus members.

RELATED: Border Patrol switches up tactics to apprehend illegal immigrants in Los Angeles

Photo by Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images

Approximately 550 Nexus applications have been submitted with the gender marked as “X” between January 2022 and March 2025. It is unknown, however, how many current card holders will have to change once they renew; Nexus cards are valid for five years.

A CBSA spokesman told the Canadian Press that while Canada’s government recognizes the “X,” it cannot guarantee entry to other countries.

“Not all countries have the same values and legal system that we have in Canada,” Luke Reimer said in a statement. “As a result, it is important for travelers to be informed about the legal framework and social customs governing sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics in the destination country.”

Predictably, transgender activists in Canada were not pleased about the change and labeled it a regression.

RELATED: Sanctuary cities on DOJ’s list set to reap the whirlwind

Photo by Stacey Newman/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Removing the “X” option is a “step backward for the recognition and inclusion of trans, nonbinary, and gender-diverse people,” according to Helen Kennedy. Kennedy is the executive director of Egale Canada, a gay activism charity. Kennedy told the Canadian Press, “Canada must uphold its commitment to gender inclusion and human rights by working with U.S. counterparts to find solutions that do not erase the identities of 2SLGBTQI people.”

A lawyer named Sarah Mikhail claimed the change is a “manifestation” of how Trump’s policies affects different gay identities.

“What we are seeing right now is a policy that is at odds with our own policy and inconsistent and incompatible with it,” she told the Canadian Press. She added that the change of policy is “distressing and troubling” to those who believe they are transgender or nonbinary.

The U.S. will continue to accept Canadian passports that use an “X” gender for general travel, though.

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​News, Trump, Canada, Gender ideology, Gender identity, Woke, Transgenderism, Politics 

Texas Democrats have once again fled the state — not in the face of danger or persecution, but to block a vote they know they’ll lose.

This time, they’re trying to derail a redistricting plan that would likely establish five more Republican districts. Rather than face the debate, they bolted. Gov. Greg Abbott responded by ordering the Texas Rangers to investigate the absent legislators for potential violations of state law, including bribery.

Voters should recognize that these performative walkouts have nothing to do with democracy or the rule of law. They’re tantrums — undemocratic and unaccountable.

This isn’t a new tactic for Democrats in Texas. In 2003, they fled to a motel in Ardmore, Oklahoma, to block another redistricting vote. Eleven Senate Democrats later fled to New Mexico in a failed attempt to stop the plan. In 2021, Democrats once again abandoned their posts — this time flying to Washington, D.C. — to obstruct a bill that tightened mail-in voting rules and curbed 2020-era voting expansions in Harris County. That bill passed too.

Now they’re repeating the act, claiming to “defend democracy” from Republican gerrymandering while retreating to safe blue havens like Illinois, Massachusetts, and New York. One Democrat compared the new redistricting map to the Holocaust (she later apologized). Others predictably called the plan “racist.” Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries flew to Austin for “closed-door meetings,” and California Gov. Gavin Newsom and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul pledged to pursue their own gerrymanders back home.

The hypocrisy is as plain as it is tedious.

As journalist Matt Kittle noted in the Federalist, this brand of protest isn’t just ineffective — it’s absurd. Wisconsin Democrats tried something similar in 2011, fleeing to Illinois to block a bill that curbed public-sector union power. Then-Gov. Scott Walker and Republicans passed it anyway using a procedural maneuver to overcome the quorum requirement.

Kittle also pointed out the irony: The Democrats’ sanctuary states — Illinois, New York, California — are among the most gerrymandered in the country. Yet those states don’t seem to trouble the “defenders of democracy.”

It’s easy to see why Texas Democrats like Reps. Jasmine Crockett and Al Green want to preserve a system that favors them. What’s harder to see is what they hope to gain from this stunt. They have no leverage. Their absence ensures failure. Even as political theater, it’s weak and self-defeating. It makes them look unserious and incapable of governing.

Rep. Salman Bhojani, one of the Texas Democrats who fled, may not return at all — he reportedly needs to leave the country for a “family medical emergency.” His constituents in Euless should ask: Who’s representing them now?

But most won’t ask. Most don’t even know who Bhojani is. And that’s the deeper problem.

Too many state legislators are anonymous placeholders. They win office by running with a “D” or “R” next to their names. They stay in office because they’ve been there before. Their constituents rarely track their votes or positions — many wouldn’t even recognize their representative if they saw them on TV.

Bhojani faced no opponent in his last election. Apart from donors and staffers, almost no one in Euless likely knows who he is — until now that he’s left the country and quite likely his job.

RELATED: The cold civil war is real — and only one side is fighting to win

Photo by KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images

So what kind of democracy is this?

If lawmakers go unchallenged, remain largely unknown, and face no accountability for skipping out on their duties, can we really call this democratic representation? And if redistricting efforts aim to align political boundaries more closely with population centers — rather than carve out safe enclaves for party operatives — might that not restore some of the lost accountability?

At present, most lawmakers serve parties and donors, not voters. The party ensures they run unopposed or draws the district to guarantee victory. The campaign is just a formality. Once elected, they vote the party line and maybe dabble in social media branding.

Right now, this is more a problem for Democrats than Republicans. But that could easily flip. Voters of all stripes should recognize that these performative walkouts have nothing to do with democracy or the rule of law. They’re tantrums — undemocratic and unaccountable.

Republicans in Washington and across red states should follow Texas’ lead: Call the bluff, pass the bills, and begin the work of restoring actual representative government. That’s what voters want — left, right, and center.

​Opinion & analysis, Texas, Democrats, Quorum, Quorum breakers, Redistricting, Gerrymandering, Greg abbott, Texas rangers, Republicans, Gavin newsom, California, Jb pritzker, Illinois, Kathy hochul, New york, Democracy, Jasmine crockett, Al green, Salman bhojani 

You are what what you eat eats. Try saying that in a hurry.

It’s a simple maxim, but one that guides me in my nutritional choices and in the advice I give to other people about improving their diet. If the meat and animal products you eat come from animals that live unhealthy, unhappy lives — if they’re stuffed full of poor-quality food they shouldn’t even be eating and housed in an unnatural environment — then you’re not going to derive as much benefit from those products as you should.

If you feed animals badly, you get a bad product. It’s that simple.

And why would you want that?

Animal welfare matters

Animal welfare matters not only because it determines the quality of the food you eat, but also because animals are sentient, feeling creatures who deserve moral consideration.

This doesn’t get said enough, actually, and there’s been a rather depressing tendency for so-called conservatives to pay little heed to the suffering of livestock or animals. This is part of a broader Philistine tendency on the right, I think, that reduces everything to economics and lines on a graph.

But of course it’s more economical to immobilize 10,000 chickens in a strip-lit warehouse instead of pasturing them on grass, in rather the same way it might seem economical to import your nation’s birth rates and undercut native labour with cheap foreigners at half the price — and of course they don’t unionize either!

A two-way pact

Domestication, which created cows and chickens and sheep and pigs as we know them, was a two-way pact, and we shouldn’t forget it. We got reliable, high-quality nutrition that didn’t have to be hunted on the plains and in the forests, at great risk to ourselves, and the animals got care and protection — including from other animals like wolves and bears and big cats.

The terms of this pact, and of man’s proper relation to nature more broadly, were given their most solemn expression in the book of Genesis, when God granted man “dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”

By “dominion,” God didn’t mean, “You can do anything you want to these animals.” He meant, “You are the lord of these animals, and like every lord and his subjects, you have obligations to them. They are in your care. They are not to be abused or misused.”

I didn’t really intend this piece to be a bit of Biblical exegesis, but oh well — here we are.

But as I was saying, if you feed animals badly, you get a bad product. It’s that simple.

Farmed salmon ‘toxic’

Take farmed salmon, for example. I think we all know we’re supposed to eat more oily fish to get those important omega-3s in our diet, but the truth is, farmed salmon may be one of the most toxic foods on the planet, and it’s all to do with how the fish are raised and in particular what they’re fed.

RELATED: Cattle rancher’s STARK warning: You’ll only have meat ‘as a treat’

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Research has linked regular consumption of farmed salmon to diabetes and obesity. Mice fed farmed salmon gain twice as much weight as mice fed other foods. Farmed salmon has been shown to carry an enormous payload of harmful chemicals, which probably explains its obesogenic effects.

A 2004 study showed at least 13 different persistent organic pollutants in the flesh of farmed salmon and that levels of polychlorinated biphenyls — chemicals known to be carcinogenic and to cause hormonal disruption — were eight times higher in farmed salmon than wild. Two other kinds of carcinogenic chemicals — dioxins and polybrominated diphenyl ethers — have also been found in high concentrations in farmed salmon.

One of the main foods given to farmed salmon is eel and other fatty fish, which are chosen because of their high protein and fat content. The problem is that fatty fish readily accumulate harmful substances, many of which are lipophilic (attracted to fat) and get stuck in their fat stores. A lot of the fatty fish that go into fish feed are taken from the Baltic, one of the most heavily polluted seas on the planet, concentrating the waste of nine industrial nations. (In Sweden, fishmongers are legally required to warn customers of the health risks of consuming fish caught in the Baltic. I bet you didn’t know that.)

Pigs under pressure

The same is true of pigs and pork. Apart from chickens, pigs bear the greatest burden of suffering in the modern industrial farming system. If you want any further reason to pray for the Three Gorges Dam to fail, look up China’s multi-story pig farms, which have the capacity to house and slaughter millions of pigs a year.

We in the West aren’t much better, though. For the most part, pigs here are just as unhappy: cramped, stressed, stuffed full of cheap corn and soy to fatten them up for slaughter as quickly and economically — there it is, that word again — as possible.

That means atrocious misery and poor-quality pork and lard to boot. There’s been a lot of talk of putting away seed and vegetable oils and returning to healthy traditional animal fats like butter and tallow and lard, but lard from industrially raised pigs is anything but healthy or traditional. Because pigs don’t have a rumen — those magical multiple stomachs possessed by cows and sheep — if they’re fed trash like soybean oil, they can’t convert the fats in it to saturated fat. As a result, the fat content of the pork comes to resemble soybean oil, and you’ve got seed oil but it’s called lard. So it goes.

Meet Acorn Bluff

Thank God, then, for Acorn Bluff Farms, a family farm in the rolling bluff country of Louisa County, Iowa. The farm has been in continuous use for nearly 200 years, but in the last five years its owners have converted the farm to focus on producing the highest quality pasture-raised pork, using one of the world’s most prestigious heritage breeds: the Hungarian Mangalitsa.

Mangalitsa pigs were originally bred for the Habsburgs, the royal family of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. You can recognize them by their absurdly cute curly hair. Since they were bred for European royalty, you can bet Mangalitsa pigs taste good. Some call Mangalitsa the “Kobe beef” of pork, Kobe beef being one of the priciest and most prized kinds of beef in the world. The cows are fed beer and given massages. (Really: Look it up.)

Acorn Bluff Farms

The other red meat

At Acorn Bluff Farms, the pigs and piglets are allowed to roam and forage and wallow in the mud and chase one another through the fields and forest like pigs and piglets should. Follow the farm’s Twitter account (@acornblufffarms) for regular heartwarming videos.

In the middle of the 20th century, pork began to be marketed as “the other white meat,” but this was only really possible because modern farming methods were turning pork into an insipid, watered-down, pale shadow of the meat it really is.

If you buy some pork chops or a side of spare ribs from Acorn Bluff Farms, you’ll see pork in its true form: the other red meat. And what’s more, you can enjoy every single mouthful, without guilt — which is how it should be, because God said so.

​Maha, Acorn bluff farms, Pork, Farming, Mangalitsa pigs, Lifestyle, Health and wellness, Fitness, Provisions 

The Department of Labor reported on August 1 that the U.S. unemployment rate ticked up slightly in July to 4.2%. Employers added just 73,000 jobs — well below the 110,000 economists had projected.

Democrats pounced immediately.

This isn’t economic chaos. It’s called a comeback.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) claimed the report showed Americans are “paying the price” for “Donald Trump’s destructive trade war.” He called the data an illustration of “economic chaos.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) — already positioning himself for a 2028 presidential run — declared that Trump is “crashing our economy” and insisted, “We haven’t seen conditions like these since 2020.”

Sen. Chris Murphy (D) of Connecticut said the economy was “chaotic and full of corruption.” He later wrote on X: “Companies don’t want to create jobs in Trump’s chaos economy with weakening rule of law and rampant corruption.”

But the reality is far less dramatic than the rhetoric.

Numbers in context

Yes, the July jobs report was underwhelming. But it was far from catastrophic.

The 4.2% unemployment rate in July 2025 is the same as it was in July 2024 — and in March, April, May, August, and November of last year. The rate has held steady for months. In what way is that “crashing our economy”? That’s called consistency.

By contrast, unemployment rose significantly during President Biden’s final year in office. In July 2023, the rate was 3.5%. A year later, just before Biden dropped out of the 2024 race, it had climbed to 4.2%.

The fact is, Trump didn’t inherit a strong economy. He got Biden’s inflation, stagnation, and policy uncertainty. So what we’re seeing now is more of a course correction, not a crash.

Signs of progress

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, full-time employment has grown by 1.1 million over the past 12 months. Layoffs in July were down 15% year over year.

Gross domestic product also rebounded. The Commerce Department reports that U.S. economic output rose 3% in the second quarter of 2025, reversing a 0.5% contraction in the first.

None of this suggests economic free fall. It suggests recovery.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has brokered major trade agreements with key global players and secured historic investment deals — moves that will pay off in the years ahead.

Japan pledged to invest $550 billion in U.S. industries, and Saudi Arabia agreed to $600 billion in new investments. In May, the United Arab Emirates agreed to more than $200 billion in commercial deals, on top of a $1.4 trillion commitment earlier this year to back emerging technologies.

Domestic investment is ramping up

American companies are also stepping up in response to Trump’s pro-business regulatory agenda.

Apple this week reached an agreement with the White House to commit another $100 million to domestic manufacturing. This follows the tech giant’s announcement in February of plans to spend more than $500 billion in the U.S. over four years, focusing on operations in Arizona, California, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, and North Carolina.

IBM pledged $150 billion over five years.

RELATED: Powell’s tight money policy is strangling the US economy

Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images

Eli Lilly in February committed $27 billion for new domestic manufacturing, including four new plants. That initiative alone will create more than 3,000 permanent jobs and 10,000 construction jobs.

These investments are not instant, but they are real — and they will reshape America’s economy.

The real panic is political

The Democrats’ sudden alarm over a flat unemployment rate reveals more about their political fears than economic facts. A strengthening Trump economy threatens their narrative — and their electoral strategy.

They’re hoping manufactured panic can drown out progress. But Americans can see what’s really happening.

The July jobs report may have missed expectations, but the broader trend is unmistakable. Trump is rebuilding what Biden’s policies eroded. Jobs are returning. Investment is growing. Stability is taking root.

This isn’t economic chaos. It’s called a comeback.

​Opinion & analysis, Opinion, Economy, Trump economy, Economic recovery, Donald trump, Apple, Ibm, Eli lilly, Unemployment, Joe biden, Chuck schumer, Economic chaos, Gavin newsom, Chris murphy, Recession, Expansion, Manufacturing, Tariffs, Trade, Bureau of labor statistics 

After one fan was arrested for throwing a sex toy at a WNBA game, other fans did not heed the warning — as they have continued throwing them on the court.

On Tuesday night, green dildos were thrown at Barclays Center during the Liberty-Wings game and at the Crypto.com Arena.

In the Los Angeles game, the sex toy was thrown onto the court and appeared to hit Fever star Sophie Cunningham, before Sparks star Kelsey Plum kicked the green object away from the court.

“Stop throwing dildos on the court,” Cunningham posted on X following the incident. “You’re going to hurt one of us.”

While the women of the WNBA are not happy, BlazeTV host Alex Stein is a fan of the development.

“The WNBA is being barraged by a bunch of fake penises, and America loves it actually. So much so that the betting lines are getting more action on whether or not a dildo will be thrown on the court than on who will win or lose the game,” Stein says on “Prime Time with Alex Stein.”

And it’s true. Crypto-based prediction market Polymarket is allowing users to put money on whether or not more dildos will fly. One user even earned more than $6,000 following the latest sex toy stunt.

“I, for one, am all about this. I’m actually going to start going to a lot of WNBA games,” Stein says.

“This is brilliant,” he continues. “I just love that we have hacked the WNBA where we can have a gambling edge.”

Want more from Alex Stein?

To enjoy more of Alex’s culture jamming, comedic monologues, skits, and street segments, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Video phone, Upload, Sharing, Free, Camera phone, Video, Youtube.com, Prime time with alex stein, Alex stein, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Court dildo, Wnba, Womens basketball, Sophie cunningham, Indiana fever 

Two men were arrested after they were found squatting at a family’s home in Texas while they were away on vacation, according to Houston police.

Connie and Joe Cases told KRIV-TV that they were alerted by a relative about a strange man on their front porch at their home on Thiess Road. He was identified as 43-year-old Jerry Vallade.

‘They drank all our alcohol, chopped up some brisket, had hot sauce out.’

“He told him he knew us, because he’d seen our name,” Connie Cases said to KRIV. “As he’s talking to him, our Jeep comes pulling down the road with the other thief driving it.”

They said the other man got out of the Jeep and walked off to a gas station before police arrived. He was identified as 40-year-old Dustin Gamblin, and within an hour both men had been arrested.

When the couple returned, they found that the men had helped themselves to their food and their alcohol and had even worn their clothing. They also found weapons, money, and electronics missing.

“They drank all our alcohol, chopped up some brisket, had hot sauce out,” Connie Cases said.

The couple found evidence that the men intended to return to the home and continue their unauthorized residence when they were rudely interrupted by the rightful owners.

“I’m sure they were going to stay longer — Connie just found some boudin in our freezer. I guess they were going to cook it tonight if we didn’t come home,” Joe Cases said, referring to Cajun/Creole sausage.

Connie Cases said that when she went to take the Jeep to be cleaned at a car wash, she discovered a bag of meth inside the console. Police said the men had drugs in their possession and that they found drugs inside the home as well.

RELATED: Woman says judge refused to evict squatters in her house to avoid them being homeless over Christmas — while she was homeless

The Cases were thankful that the men didn’t make a mess of their home.

“At least they didn’t tear the house up,” Joe Cases said. “It could’ve been worse.”

They did, however, use the couple’s toothbrushes and leave dirty clothing in their hamper. Connie Cases suspected that the men were homeless and that they stayed in the woods near the home to befriend their dogs before making their move.

The two men face numerous felony charges, including drug possession, breaking and entering, and unauthorized use of a vehicle. Gamblin was given a $60,000 bond, while Vallade was given a $35,000 bond.

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​Squatters leave meth, Meth-lovin squatters, Couple returns from vacation, Texas squatters, Crime 

The Trump administration recently ended the Transportation Security Administration’s outdated shoe-removal rule — a long-overdue rollback of post-9/11 security theater. But at the same time, it’s resisting a bipartisan push to rein in something far more intrusive: the agency’s unregulated use of facial recognition technology at airports.

The Traveler Privacy Protection Act — co-sponsored by Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), John Kennedy (R-La.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) — would set limits on the TSA’s biometric surveillance program at airports.

Facial recognition checkpoints are already being piloted at major airports. TSA officials have made clear that their goal is to replace traditional IDs altogether.

Here’s what the bill does:

Restores consent: Manual ID checks would become the default again. Passengers would have to opt in to facial recognition. The TSA would be required to notify travelers clearly that they can opt out.Limits retention: Most biometric data would have to be deleted within 24 hours.Restricts sharing: The TSA could no longer hand over biometric data to other federal agencies or private entities, except in very narrow circumstances.

The legislation follows a bipartisan letter sent in November 2023 to the Department of Homeland Security inspector general, requesting a full audit of the TSA’s biometric collection, retention, deletion, and cybersecurity protocols. The letter was co-authored by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

“TSA has not provided Congress with evidence that facial recognition technology is necessary to catch fraudulent documents, decrease wait times, or stop terrorists from boarding planes,” the senators wrote.

Despite that, the TSA appears to be quietly lobbying against the bill.

When asked directly whether the TSA was fighting the legislation, Kennedy said: “The short answer is yes; the long answer is hell yes.”

Behind-the-scenes pressure

The Senate Commerce Committee had planned to mark up the bill just before the August recess. But at the last minute, the legislation was pulled from the docket.

Officially, the travel industry raised concerns. But Politico reported that behind the scenes, TSA leadership — backed by political appointees — played a central role in derailing the bill. Republican staffers familiar with the process said the agency helped coordinate opposition that ultimately killed the markup.

It’s not hard to see why TSA brass would resist oversight.

Acting TSA Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill previously served as TSA chief of staff during part of Trump’s first term. After leaving government, she joined BigBear.ai, a company specializing in facial recognition and identity verification powered by artificial intelligence. She eventually became the firm’s president.

Now she’s back — nominated to lead the TSA for the duration of Trump’s administration.

AI, contracts, and civil liberties

Under McNeill’s leadership, the TSA has pushed to expand its use of AI-powered surveillance tools. In 2023, officials openly discussed plans to eliminate boarding passes and photo IDs altogether in favor of biometric scans.

“Imagine embarking on a journey where the seamless orchestration of technology transforms traditional security checkpoints,” said Kristin Ruiz, the TSA’s deputy chief information officer, at an AI summit last year. “AI-powered advancements signify an evolution driven by data science, analytics, and intelligent automation.”

That vision may sound efficient. But it’s also a red flag for anyone who doesn’t want American airports to become nodes in a Chinese-style surveillance state.

The TSA isn’t alone. The Department of Homeland Security has been inking massive contracts with tech companies specializing in surveillance.

Palantir Technologies, co-founded by Trump ally Peter Thiel, has landed a $1 billion contract with the DHS. The company also has similar contracts with the Department of Health and Human Services and the Pentagon, now worth a combined $10 billion.

RELATED: The One Big Beautiful Bill Act hides a big, ugly AI betrayal

Photo by DAVID MCNEW/AFP via Getty Images

Palantir’s market cap now exceeds $400 billion — bigger than Home Depot or Coca-Cola. Since its first DHS deal was announced in April, the company’s stock price has jumped 131%.

It doesn’t need a marketing team. The federal government is its customer.

Palantir has also benefited from the revolving door.

Gregory Barbaccia, Palantir’s former head of intelligence, now serves as the chief information officer of the federal government.Clark Minor, a longtime Palantir employee, now holds the same role at HHS.Jacob Helberg, a senior adviser to Palantir CEO Alex Karp, was appointed to lead the State Department’s economic and trade policy.

This is the ecosystem driving the TSA’s resistance to reform: private contractors, political insiders, and intelligence bureaucrats profiting from biometric surveillance — at your expense.

The stakes

Facial recognition checkpoints are already being piloted at major airports. TSA officials have made clear that their goal is to replace traditional IDs altogether. And if this bill fails, there may be no legal limit to how far the agency can go.

Congress has a choice: Protect passengers or protect the Big Tech-Big Government industrial complex.

At the very least, senators should not confirm McNeill without hard, enforceable commitments: clear opt-outs, data deletion requirements, and strict limits on sharing and retention. The federal government should not be harvesting and storing your face just so a contractor can hit its quarterly earnings target.

You don’t build a free society by handing over the keys to Big Tech and hoping the companies don’t abuse them.

​Opinion & analysis, Opinion, Ai, Artificial intelligence, Facial recognition, Facial recognition technology, Transportation security administration, Tsa, Palantir, Palantir ceo alex karp, Big tech, Big government, Security, Ha nguyen mcneill, Traveler privacy protection act, Jeff merkley, John kennedy, Ed markey, Roger marshall, Ted cruz, Privacy, Liberty, China 

According to court documents obtained by Blaze News, Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) has been ordered to appear for a court hearing regarding a request for a restraining order filed by Miss United States Lindsey Langston. The restraining order filing was first reported by Drop Site News.

Mills has been battling numerous allegations of improper behavior, but the latest allegations have to do with harassment and threats made against an American beauty queen who said she had a relationship with the congressman.

Langston broke up with Mills, and he allegedly threatened to send private videos of her to her acquaintances to embarrass and humiliate her.

On Thursday, in an apparent attempt to shift the narrative, Mills said in a statement to the Floridian that a judge had denied the application of the restraining order against him.

However, while an emergency protection order was rejected in Columbia County, according to Daytona Beach News-Journal, a restraining order can be still be granted after both sides present evidence at a hearing for consideration. The Journal reported that a hearing had been scheduled. The matter has not been fully adjudicated.

Blaze News has reviewed a copy of a court order from a judge in Columbia County. That document set the hearing for August 18 at 1:30 p.m. via Zoom for a hearing before a judge. As the respondent, Cory Mills was told to appear. The order states that if either party fails to appear, they will be bound by the ruling of the judge.

In addition to reporting on the upcoming hearing, the Daytona Beach News-Journal also noted that Mills has retained the services of an attorney to represent him in the matter.

On Tuesday, Lindsey Langston told Blaze News that she had met Mills when she was in her twenties, about a year before he won his first congressional election. Langston claimed that they had a romantic relationship and that Mills proposed that they get married and begin a family.

After a tumultuous relationship, Langston broke up with Mills, and he allegedly threatened to send private videos of her to her acquaintances to embarrass and humiliate her.

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​Restraining order, Cory mills, Beauty queen vs cory mills, Date violence restraining order, Politics 

A former DOGE employee known as “Big Balls” was reportedly brutally beaten in an attempted carjacking.

“Big Balls,” whose real name is Edward Coristine, was left bloodied by a group of “thugs” in Washington, D.C., after trying to protect his girlfriend.

President Donald Trump called Mr. Coristine an “incredible man” and threatened to take federal control of Washington, D.C., until crimes of this nature were stopped.

“Crime in Washington, D.C., is totally out of control. Local ‘youths’ and gang members, some only 14, 15, and 16-years-old, are randomly attacking, mugging, maiming, and shooting innocent Citizens, at the same time knowing that they will be almost immediately released,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

“The Laws in D.C. must be changed to prosecute these ‘minors’ as adults, and lock them up for a long time, starting at age 14. … If D.C. doesn’t get its act together, and quickly, we will have no choice but to take Federal control of the City,” he continued.

“If this continues, I am going to exert my powers, and FEDERALIZE this City. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Trump concluded.

“This image and this guy is going to end up being the George Floyd for white people, that he is going to be a rallying cry. It’s clear cut who the hero is here. It’s clear cut who the good guys and bad guys are here. This isn’t controversial. This is a smoking gun,” Whitlock says.

“He’s a rallying point, a hero, a line in the sand. That’s what black people, Black Lives Matter used George Floyd as, ‘This is the example of how America treats black people.’ I think white people are about to say, ‘This is an example of how black people treat white people,’” he adds.

“I don’t think so,” BlazeTV contributor and former Patriots wide receiver TJ Moe argues.

“Nobody believes anything anymore. And that is, I think, what’s going to stop the next George Floyd from happening. Nobody has any idea what’s real. Like what are the actual details? We always wait to see,” he explains.

“George Floyd was different. And I also don’t think it’s very easy. People don’t love to hear this, but just look, 90% of black people vote the same way. Ninety percent of black people, I think, feel like they’re victims. … It’s very easy to get black people running in the same direction. It’s not easy to get white people running in the same direction,” he continues.

“Fifty percent run the other way the second they hear that the other 50% is going this way,” he says, adding, “So this rallying cry, like you’re going to get all the white people, I don’t see it.”

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A Florida teacher says she did not intend to violate a state law that forbids her from using a name for a student that does not match the student’s biological gender without parental approval.

Melissa Calhoun said Tuesday that she was not aware she was breaking the state law and did not have any political motivation. She was given a written reprimand and suspended from teaching for a year, but the district now says she will not be rehired after the probation period.

‘We must have trust in our teachers to act in partnership with families, not come between parents and their children, especially when it comes to these meaningful conversations.’

“There was no intent behind it. I was just trying to teach a student in my classroom,” Calhoun said to WESH-TV. “I immediately owned my actions. In reality, I had forgotten about the law.”

She was allowed to retain her teaching certificate despite the suspension and she says she reapplied to teach at Satellite High School, where she was teaching when she made the comment.

Dr. Mark Rendell, the superintendent of Brevard Public Schools, issued a lengthy statement on Tuesday accusing the teacher of consciously and deliberately violating the law.

“The Florida Department of Education has issued a formal reprimand and placed a former Brevard Public School teacher, Melissa Calhoun, on a one-year probation for knowingly and repeatedly violating state law by referring to a student by a name that did not match their biological gender, without parental consent,” Rendell wrote.

He went on to seemingly contradict the claims that Calhoun made in order to justify the decision to not rehire her.

“This was not a mistake. This was a conscious and deliberate decision to engage in gender affirmation without parental knowledge,” he added. “We notify parents when students are absent or struggling with classwork; it is unacceptable to withhold information on matters of such personal significance. This was not a case of confusion or lack of training.”

School district and state officials were divided on how harsh a punishment Calhoun should face. She will have to pay a $750 fine and also take a college-level course in ethics.

RELATED: Poll finds an overwhelming majority approve of what’s in Florida’s parental rights bill when it is described accurately

“Mrs. Calhoun has acknowledged that her actions were intentional and that she was aware of the law and violated it. That is deeply troubling,” Rendell added. “We must have trust in our teachers to act in partnership with families, not come between parents and their children, especially when it comes to these meaningful conversations.”

Calhoun said she will seek a teaching position elsewhere.

“As Superintendent, I want to reaffirm our district’s unwavering commitment to parental rights,” Rendell concluded. “Teachers hold a powerful position of influence, and that influence must never override the rights of parents to be involved in critical decisions affecting their children.”

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On August 5, rumors began swirling that “The Howard Stern Show” will likely be canceled after nearly 20 years on SiriusXM, as Stern’s five-year, $500 million contract is set to expire in the fall of 2025. While Stern has not confirmed the cancellation, several sources have hinted that financial disagreements and Stern’s evolving political views indicate his departure is imminent.

On a recent episode of “The Glenn Beck Program,” Glenn gave an overview of Stern’s radio career and explained the real reason his days are likely numbered.

When Glenn was just 18 years old, he worked at the WPGC in Washington D.C. — one of the most popular radio stations in the metroplex. “For years it had been number one, and then Howard Stern came along and … took everything and turned everything upside down,” he says.

Glenn recalls how Stern made light of the Air Florida Flight 90 tragedy in 1982 when a plane crashed into the 14th Street Bridge, killing 78 people.

“While they were digging bodies out of the Potomac, [Stern] called the airline and tried to book a seat live on the air,” Glenn says.

Despite his brashness, Stern was popular because he brought something to radio that the industry had never seen before: edginess.

“He was like punk rock,” Glenn says. “You didn’t necessarily listen to punk rock because you liked punk rock. You listened because nobody else was saying anything like that.”

Stern’s approach had both dark and light sides. “He fought the government and won. … He was a trailblazer for freedom of speech, but he was also a trailblazer for just degrading our society, the degrading of women and relationships and everything else,” Glenn says.

“He was a pox on our culture for a very long time,” but “he was an innovator, to be sure.”

Then sometime in the early 2000s, Stern began to change.

“He started to just concentrate on interviews, and he became one of the best interviewers of anybody on radio or television,” Glenn says, recalling how he found himself telling Stern things he “hadn’t told anybody before” during their 2015 interview.

The COVID-19 pandemic, however, was when Stern lost all touch with the rebel he used to be.

“I think COVID radicalized him into this big-state monster,” Glenn says, noting how Stern now embraces the very people and systems he used to spit on.

“I mean, the 20-year-old Howard Stern would be disgusted with the 70-year-old Howard Stern,” he says.

Some leftists claim that Stern’s departure has something to do with Donald Trump, but Glenn dismisses it as completely unfounded. “Donald Trump was a regular on [Stern’s] show for a very long time, and Howard Stern loved him until he became president of the United States … because he was on his journey of just becoming this diehard Democrat,” he says.

“As soon as Donald Trump became the candidate, he went nuts and never changed on that, and then COVID happened and he went even crazier.”

Stern’s impending cancellation mirrors Stephen Colbert’s, he says. “You’ve just lost touch with what you do and who you are.”

Both Stern and Colbert made the fatal mistake of “taking [themselves] so seriously” that they started to believe it’s their destiny to “change the world.”

“I think that’s the problem,” Glenn says.

To hear more of his analysis, watch the episode above.

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Former Superman actor Dean Cain announced that he has joined the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in a video posted to social media Tuesday.

“JOIN ICE!! We need your help to protect [America],” he posted on his accounts.

‘If you want to help save America, ICE is arresting the worst of the worst and removing them from America’s streets. I like that. I voted for that.’

“I am a sworn law enforcement officer, as well as being a filmmaker, and I felt it was important to join with our first responders to help secure the safety of all Americans,” the 59-year-old said.

“If you want to help save America, ICE is arresting the worst of the worst and removing them from America’s streets. I like that. I voted for that,” he added.

ICE got a massive financial boost in the “big, beautiful bill” passed by Republicans and signed by President Donald Trump. The funding bill includes billions in increased federal cash for immigration enforcement, which is a priority of the administration.

“You can defend your homeland and get great benefits like a $50,000 signing bonus — think about that! Student loan repayment, legally,” Cain laughed, “enhanced retirement benefits, and special pay for those in the field operations and law enforcement roles.”

ICE announced that it had made 1,000 new job offers since July and was making progress toward a goal of hiring 10,000 new agents. If successful, the new hires would mean about a 50% increase in ICE employees from 20,000, according to ABC News.

RELATED: Progressive Democrat calls ICE the ‘Nazi Gestapo’ and threatens to ‘confront’ agents: ‘It will be a day of reckoning’

The administration has said it has a goal of 3,000 deportations on a daily basis and has already retooled the leadership at ICE once after the goals weren’t being met.

Cain is best known for portraying Superman in the TV series “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman” in the ’90s. He has since come out as a conservative and spoken out against the liberal slant in Hollywood.

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A public school system in Virginia has launched an investigation into allegations that school employees attempted to arrange and fund abortions for female students without notifying their parents, according to public education officials.

Local reports revealed accusations that staff at the Centreville High School in Union Hill allegedly attempted to facilitate and bankroll abortions for girls in 2021, including a 17-year-old female student.

‘Staring down a potential criminal firestorm.’

The Fairfax County Public Schools system told WJLA-TV on Wednesday, “We learned yesterday of these concerning allegations from 2021. We are launching an immediate and comprehensive investigation as we take all concerns of student wellbeing very seriously.”

When asked if there was any evidence that any school staff members ever facilitated abortions for students without notifying parents, the school district stated, “Not to [our] knowledge. We have launched an immediate investigation into these concerns as soon as we were made aware.”

According to the “Counseling Pregnant Students” guidelines set by Fairfax County Public Schools, “Every effort shall be made to encourage and support students suspecting pregnancy to discuss their concern with their parents or guardians.”

“Offers may be made to meet jointly with the parents or guardians and the student at school,” the directive advises. “In no case shall personnel commit themselves to maintain such information confidentially, keeping it from parents, guardians, or appropriate school authorities.”

The district’s directive instructs staff members, “If a student requests counseling services or is considered to be in need of such services, school staff members should refer the student to the public health nurse or Fairfax County Department of Health and avoid influencing the student regarding the pregnancy.”

RELATED: Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh puts his money where his mouth is in the abortion debate, offers to adopt unwanted babies: ‘Let the unborn be born’

Walter Curt – an investigative journalist and the founder of the W.C. Dispatch – asserted that officials with the Centreville High School are “staring down a potential criminal firestorm.”

“Two female students — both minors — say school officials arranged and bankrolled abortions at Fairfax Healthcare Center without so much as a phone call to their parents, a direct break with Virginia’s parental-notification law,” according to Curt.

The W.C. Dispatch published a letter that was reportedly handwritten by the first student, who was allegedly provided an abortion in November 2021 without her parents’ knowledge.

The W.C. Dispatch reported that the other female student was five months pregnant and “pleading to keep her baby” but “bolted” from the clinic after a social worker allegedly told her she “had no choice.” The student reportedly “bolted from the clinic rather than go through with the procedure.”

Chad Lehman – who was the principal of Centreville High School at the time of the allegations – is accused of approving the alleged abortion and scheduled abortion.

Citing sources, the W.C. Dispatch reported, “Both incidents, sources say, were green‑lighted by Principal Chad Lehman and financed — again, allegedly — through school funds, meaning taxpayer dollars may have underwritten clandestine abortions carried out on minors without parental knowledge.”

Virginia Code § 16.1‑241 states, “‘Consent’ means that (i) the physician has given notice of intent to perform the abortion and has received authorization from an authorized person, or (ii) at least one authorized person is present with the minor seeking the abortion and provides written authorization to the physician, which shall be witnessed by the physician or an agent thereof.”

An “authorized person” is described by Virginia law as: “A parent or duly appointed legal guardian or custodian of the minor or a person standing in loco parentis, including, but not limited to, a grandparent or adult sibling with whom the minor regularly and customarily resides and who has care and control of the minor.”

Fairfax County Public Schools told Blaze News, “We have serious questions about these allegations that must be answered. At no time would the situation as described in these allegations from back in 2021 be acceptable in Fairfax County Public Schools.”

“We have taken immediate action engaging an external investigator to get the facts,” FCPS stated. “We all deserve to know exactly what happened. We will take appropriate action as necessary.”

RELATED: ‘Truly sick and demented’: NPR trounced for airing ‘nauseating’ audio of an abortion, comparing procedure to childbirth

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Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) is voicing her anger at the Department of Homeland Security’s recent operation in her city that utilized a rented box truck to conceal U.S. Border Patrol agents.

As previously reported, Border Patrol agents arrived at a Home Depot parking lot in the box truck and jumped out to catch illegal aliens off guard. DHS said 16 illegal aliens from Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras, and Nicaragua were arrested in Operation Trojan Horse.

‘For those who thought immigration enforcement had stopped in Southern California, think again.’

Bass said the raid was “not acceptable” and that she will work hard to make sure the Trump administration follows the federal temporary restraining order put in place to end alleged discrimination and racial profiling during enforcement operations.

Bass also explained that the deportation operations have taken a toll on the local economy, as illegal immigrants are not leaving their houses like they used to, according to KABC-TV.

“When one breadwinner, one wage-earner, is gone and disappears — to survive in our city, economically, you need two, three, and four wage-earners to keep housing, to keep food on the table, to keep clothes on your kids,” Bass said. “When that is taken away from you, that just doesn’t destabilize a family, that destabilizes a neighborhood. It destabilizes businesses. It destabilizes a community.”

RELATED: ‘Deeply unserious’: DHS hits back at Democrats denied entry at detention facility

Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

The Trump administration has made clear it will enforce federal law in Southern California. Gregory Bovino, the commander for operations in California, has been posting videos showing agents arresting illegal aliens in the areas affected by the TRO.

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“For those who thought immigration enforcement had stopped in Southern California, think again. The enforcement of federal law is not negotiable, and there are no sanctuaries from the reach of the federal government,” said Bill Essayli, acting U.S. attorney for the Central District of California.

Blaze News reached out to DHS for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.

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Vance Luther Boelter has a habit of not finishing what he started.

Whether it was entrepreneurial business plans, charity proposals, or planned religious endeavors, Boelter’s life is littered with unfinished business.

It’s not that he wasn’t intelligent, wasn’t productive, or didn’t accomplish good things. But as often as not, Boelter didn’t complete the things he started.

The predawn hours of June 14, 2025, may have changed all that.

That’s when, according to the FBI, he coldly carried out a terrifying and deadly plan to murder four Minnesota Democrat politicians in the safety of their suburban Minneapolis homes.

That mission, he allegedly completed: two dead, two grievously wounded, and a state left reeling in shock.

Boelter will forever be linked to the masked suspect in the fake police uniform who police say inflicted sheer terror on the Upper Midwest.

Vance Boelter found God at the Del Monte vegetable factory.

Ever since Boelter — according to the FBI — forced his way into the Brooklyn Park home of Minnesota House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and assassinated her, her husband, Mark, and the family golden retriever, the public has tried to make some sense of the ghastly crime.

Surely there must have been hints along the way, across the decades, that a 58-year-old married father of five might somehow be capable of politically motivated, cold-blooded murder.

As he reportedly put it in a text to his wife and children less than three hours after the murders, “Dad went to war last night.”

What war?

Boelter’s personal life, employment history, and professed Christian beliefs don’t yield easy suspects, obvious motives, or pat explanations for that statement or Boelter’s alleged actions.

Sitting in isolation at the Sherburne County Jail in Elk River, Minn., Boelter is charged with state and federal felonies that could bring the death penalty. On Aug. 7 he pleaded not guilty to six federal charges including stalking, murder, attempted murder, and firearms violations.

His life is under a microscope. Yet he remains an enigma.

This despite breathless efforts from both sides of a bitter partisan divide to blame the other for the radicalization of this nondenominational Christian preacher into an alleged avenging angel or modern domestic terrorist. One minute he’s the MAGA Madman Killer, while another he’s the latest deranged leftist who apparently turned violent. Is it one or the other — or neither?

For his part, Boelter has spun grandiose tales since the FBI said he gunned down the Hortmans, shot state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, 17 times, and attempted to gun down daughter Hope Hoffman. Prosecutors said Boelter sought to kill two other lawmakers on June 14.

Boelter blamed Democrat Gov. Tim Walz, claiming the failed 2024 vice presidential candidate ordered him to commit murders as part of a scheme to free up a U.S. Senate seat. But the two current occupants of those seats were not Boelter’s alleged prospective victims on June 14.

Boelter told national news media he had been on a two-year undercover investigation of 400 unusual Minnesota deaths and had probed the connection of state politicians to communist China. He offered no substantiation or other details. Then, on Aug. 6, he told Alpha News that his intention was never to shoot anyone but rather make citizen’s arrests for the deaths occurring from COVID-19 shots.

Is that delusion talking? Or a desperate gambit to avoid the gallows?

Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson doesn’t buy Boelter’s daydreams, chalking them up to a man trying to justify his brutal crimes.

Before the largest manhunt in Minnesota history brought him to justice, Boelter’s worst offenses were speeding tickets, failure to pay for parking, violating overnight parking regulations, and failure to have his children wear life jackets on a boat he was operating.

RELATED: Accused Minnesota assassin: ‘If you want to save the country you have to get your hands dirty’

Vance Boelter gives a Sunday sermon at the Centre Evangelique Francophone La Borne Matadi church in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in February 2023.La Borne Matadi TV

Boelter’s history includes several failed business ventures. In the years leading up to the assassinations, he abandoned career-track employment to work for two funeral homes, hauling bodies to the morgue or the mortuary.

He worked for the University of Minnesota eye bank, removing eyeballs from the dead to be used as tissue samples. His last day on that job was June 13, one day before the shootings.

He studied mortuary science at an Iowa community college.

‘I tried to live a moral life’

From his youth onward, Boelter described himself as someone with something missing from his life — even though he came from a good middle-class Lutheran home in a quiet southern Minnesota town.

“I was raised in a church since I was the smallest child,” Boelter told an African mission gathering in September 2021. “I believed in the Bible. I believed in God. I tried to live a moral life. I didn’t drink, didn’t smoke, didn’t swear, didn’t cuss.

“I respected my parents. But there was something missing when I was a young man,” Boelter said.

‘There became a fire in my heart to live for God.’

Boelter was born on July 23, 1967, in Sleepy Eye, Minn., the youngest of six children of the late Donald LuVerne Boelter and the former Yvonne Strate. An older sister, Dawn Kate Boelter, died in infancy more than five years before Vance was born.

The city of 3,400 souls is named for Chief Sleepy Eye, onetime head of the Sisseton Dakota tribe. Chief Sleepy Eye was a signatory to the Treaty of Traverse de Sioux on July 23, 1851, which ceded 24 million acres of land to the U.S. government and paved the way for Minnesota statehood.

The chief’s name in his native tongue, “Ish-Tak-Ha-Ba,” adorns a monument in town and often appears in the high school yearbook, “The Big Chief.” His name came from his reportedly droopy, lazy eyelids. He died in 1860.

Don Boelter was native to New Ulm, Minn., a standout high school and college athlete who went on to a hall of fame coaching career at Sleepy Eye High School in Brown County, Minn. He set a standard of excellence for himself as a baseball coach and an award-winning social studies and history teacher.

The Boelter family has deep pioneer roots in Southern Minnesota that stretch back 170 years. Don’s father, Emil George Ludwig Boelter, operated a well-known road-construction business from New Ulm.

Emil’s father, Adolph Gustave Boelter, was a farmer in Sibley County, where Vance and his wife bought a $520,000 home in 2023.

The family patriarch, Johann Gottlieb Bölter, emigrated from Kuźniczka, an ethnic German Pomeranian village that is now part of Poland. He and his wife, the former Wilhelmine Noak, arrived in New York on Oct. 15, 1855, aboard the Barque Copernicus. He was listed on the ship register as an arbeiter, or laborer. His destination read “Minysoty,” or Minnesota.

RELATED: ‘The face of evil’: What do we know about accused assassin Vance Luther Boelter?

Vance Boelter’s father, Donald LuVerne Boelter (1932-2013), was an award-winning teacher and hall of fame baseball coach at Sleepy Eye High School. Sleepy Eye High School

John Boelter and Wilhelmine brought their toddler and an infant on the journey to America. Their family eventually grew to 14 children, who helped their parents farm in the towns of Henderson and Bismark in Sibley County.

More than 125 years removed from the days of his forebears, Vance Boelter was active in extracurricular school activities, just as his older siblings had been. He sang in the school chorus in junior high and high school. He played on the Sleepy Eye eighth-grade boys’ basketball team, wearing jersey No. 52. He played junior high baseball.

In 1981, the year before Vance enrolled for freshman year at Sleepy Eye High School, his father coached the school’s varsity baseball team to a Class A Minnesota state championship with a 20-3 record.

Coach Don Boelter won nine conference titles, was runner-up for six more, and had 309 career wins and a .620 winning percentage as a head baseball coach — most of them at Sleepy Eye. In 2009, he was voted into the Minnesota High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

Being a standout athlete active at school was simply the Boelter way.

Vance’s older brother, Tarry Boelter, was a baseball standout for Sleepy Eye High in the early 1970s. Nicknamed “Belt,” he played on three conference championship teams for the Sleepy Eye Indians. At the University of Minnesota in 1977, Tarry hit a home run that helped lift the Gophers over Iowa to win the Big Ten championship.

One of Tarry’s teammates at Minnesota was the future National Baseball Hall of Fame shortstop Paul Molitor, who played for the Milwaukee Brewers, Toronto Blue Jays, and Minnesota Twins. Tarry played a few seasons of minor league ball for the Twins.

RELATED: Accused assassin clarifies that President Trump, pro-life views did not motivate shootings

Vance Boelter wore No. 80 for the Sleepy Eye High School Indians football team. Sleepy Eye High School photo

Like his father, Tarry made a career of coaching and teaching. He racked up 350 varsity baseball wins at Murray County Central High School on his way to a 2013 induction into the Minnesota high school coaches’ hall of fame. The local ball field in Slayton, Minn., is named in his honor.

Being a standout athlete active at school was simply the Boelter way. It left some very big shoes to fill for the youngest Boelter, Vance.

When his father was inducted into the coaches’ hall of fame in 2009, an article published by the New Ulm Sports Central website listed all of the Boelter children and a brief description of their current vocation.

“The Don Boelters had five children including Diane, teaching Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s, Torry, teaching Head Start [in] Sleepy Eye, Tarry, coaching and teaching [in] Slayton, Vawn, teaching in Utah, and Vance, Sleepy Eye,” the article said.

That was his biographical summary: “Vance, Sleepy Eye.”

Vawn Boelter, five years older than Vance, accumulated an impressive list of school achievements splashed on the pages of “The Big Chief” yearbook in her senior year, 1980-81. She played basketball and volleyball, ran track, was in twirling corps, was cheerleader captain her senior year, was homecoming royalty in 1980, and was student council president in 1980-81.

‘When the reality of that hit me, I wept and I cried.’

While his school resume didn’t match his siblings, Vance embraced athletics, playing varsity baseball for his father’s Sleepy Eye Indians. Vance wore jersey No. 80 on the varsity football team.

Christian stirrings

During summer vacations, he worked at the Del Monte vegetable canning and packing factory — a major employer in Sleepy Eye from the late 1920s until 2019. The factory canned sweet corn and peas grown by hundreds of area farmers on more than 20,000 acres of prime farmland.

Vance Boelter found God at the Del Monte vegetable factory.

At least he found God in a new way that would have a major influence on him as he entered adulthood.

“I was 17 at that time. I worked with a man who talked about God all the time,” Boelter said years later. “I would talk about God once in a while. Or if I found myself in a difficult situation, I would pray. But this guy talked about God all the time.”

RELATED: Accused assassin makes ‘disgusting’ attempt to paint himself a victim over jail conditions: Sheriff

The Del Monte canning factory produced sweet corn and peas for shipment nationwide via rail.Sleepy Eye Historical Society

Every time Boelter went to work, he tried to make sure he was close enough to his older friend so he could hear his stories. “I would ask him questions about God, about faith, about things in the Bible,” Boelter said.

The man’s zeal had an influence on the teen, who started devotedly reading the Bible. “I read it in the morning before I went to work,” Boelter said. “I took it to work, and at break I’d read the Bible. I’d get home, and I’d read the Bible after work. There was this stirring in my heart.”

One day the factory shut down for an hour due to a mechanical failure. All of the workers were sent away and suddenly had a free hour. Boelter wondered what his new friend was going to do, since he lived in another town.

“So I asked him, ‘What are you going to do for this hour? We can’t work.’ He said, ‘There’s a lake not far. I’m going to go there, and I’m going to pray and then I’ll be back.’

“And I started thinking, ‘What would you talk to God for an hour about?’ I saw that he had a relationship with God I didn’t have.”

This Christian stirring wasn’t initially an inspiration to Boelter. The young man, not even old enough to drink, suddenly sized up his life and found it severely wanting. Instead of finding joy and motivation, however, Boelter hammered himself for perceived failings. “Just who are you living for?” he asked himself.

‘Forgive me, God, for living for myself and not for you.’

“I looked at my life, and the answer to that question was, ‘I’m living for me. I’m not living for God,’” Boelter said. “And when the reality of that hit me, I wept and I cried. I cried and I cried and I cried. I never cried so hard in my life.”

Boelter’s emotional reaction to his re-energized belief in God seems unusual for a boy of 17 whose family members were regular churchgoers.

Was it an early sign of an impossible standard Boelter established for himself but could never live up to? Would it play out as an impulse to judgment, which he may have later concluded had to be meted out to correct a morally decaying society?

“I cried and I got on my knees and I prayed to God. I remembered everything I heard in the church services growing up, and I thought of everything Jesus did for me,” Boelter recalled. “And I said, ‘I’m so sorry. Forgive me, God, for living for myself and not for you.’”

In recounting his awakening and conversion story, Boelter then told a 2021 audience of Congolese Lutherans something that sounded powerful at the time but echoes hollow after his alleged involvement in the events of June 14.

“Jesus, if you forgive me my sin and save me, I’ll live for you for the rest of my life,” Boelter said. “And the presence of God came in that room, and I knew I was right with God.

“He changed that selfish person into a person who cared about other people first,” Boelter said. “And that encounter with God is just like it happened yesterday, and there became a fire in my heart to live for God.”

Hacked to death in Zimbabwe

Another early experience with religious zeal deeply affected Boelter. While he attended St. Cloud State University, he befriended a devout Christian, David Thomas Emerson of Osakis, Minn., who was studying Arabic.

Emerson was, as his father described him, an “unusual person” who dropped out of the University of Minnesota-Duluth and for a time lived the life of a hobo. Emerson lived in a tepee in the woods near his Todd County hometown, trying to scrape out a living tapping maple trees for sap.

Then he joined a Pentecostal group that was planning a trip to Zimbabwe to dig wells for the poor and preach the gospel. After two years of missionary work in Zimbabwe, Emerson’s visa expired, and he returned to Minnesota and took classes at St. Cloud State. He told Boelter about his work and his plan to return to Zimbabwe in June 1987.

RELATED: Accused assassin clarifies that President Trump, pro-life views did not motivate shootings

Pentecostal missionary David Emerson and his Zimbabwean fiancée, Penelope Sarah Lovett, were murdered by anti-government rebels in November 1987. Emerson Family photo

Emerson, 34, wrote to Boelter from Africa, sharing the details of his missionary work. After Emerson went back to Zimbabwe under a visitor visa, things were not going well. Local anti-government rebels didn’t want white, Western Pentecostal missionaries in the country. Boelter said they accused his friend of being a communist.

On November 25, 1987, a group of rebels armed with machetes attacked the occupants of Olive Tree Farm and New Adam Farm in Umzingwane. They hacked 16 people to death, including Emerson and his Zimbabwean fiancée, Penelope Sarah Lovett, 28. Before escaping into the bush, the rebels burned down the farm buildings.

Emerson and Lovett had been planning a December 1987 wedding.

Boelter later said he held no animus toward the Marxist rebels who murdered his friend and 15 others.

“I knew if those people that did that horrible thing, if those people that killed them, if they had known Jesus, they wouldn’t have done that,” Boelter said. “So I felt compassion for those people.”

Boelter later named his only son David Emerson Boelter in honor of his friend. The couple’s daughters are named Grace, Faith, Hope, and Joy.

Boelter decided he wanted to share his newly discovered relationship with Christ, so he wrote out his testimony and published 10,000 copies in brochure format, which he handed out to anyone who would listen.

Faith in action

After finishing a bachelor’s degree in international relations at St. Cloud State University, Boelter moved south to enroll in classes at Dallas-based Christ for the Nations Institute, a charismatic interdenominational Bible college. It was founded in 1970 by James Gordon Lindsay, a Pentecostal revivalist minister.

Boelter earned a practical theology diploma from CFNI between 1988 and 1990. He later earned a master’s degree in management and a doctorate in leadership from Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee.

Shortly after, Boelter began what would be a three-decade career in food production, packaging, and fulfillment. He spent a short time in the early 1990s delivering frozen foods to residential customers for Schwan’s Home Service, a subsidiary of Schwan’s Company of Marshall, Minn.

He went to work at the Gold’n Plump Chicken Cold Spring Processing Plant in Cold Spring, Minn. His name appeared in a full-page ad in the Sept. 11, 1994, issue of the St. Cloud Times. Gold’n Plump congratulated its employees for the plant winning the Campbell Soup Select Supplier Award.

In mid-1997, Boelter became engaged to Jennifer Lynne Doskocil of Washburn County in Wisconsin’s North Woods. At the time, he was living in Arcadia, Wis. The couple were married on October 4, 1997, in Winona, Minn.

Jenny, as she is known to family and friends, graduated from Spooner High School in 1992. She was the 1991 prom queen, played on the girls’ golf team, was in the Science and Math Club, was a member of the Gifted and Talented Program, and was secretary of the Drama Club.

RELATED: Vance Boelter’s wife speaks out for first time since June 14 shooting rampage

Law enforcement officers lead pallbearers carrying the caskets of murdered Minnesota Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, on June 28, 2025, at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis.Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

Boelter supported his growing family with employment at a series of food production and processing companies over the next two decades. Employers included Gerber Products Company, Johnsonville Sausage, Del Monte Foods, Lettieri’s, and 7-Eleven. Boelter switched employers in 2000, 2004, 2008, 2011, 2016, and 2021.

A resume Boelter provided to a headhunter and obtained by journalist Ken Klippenstein is missing some employers that Boelter has touted in his business dealings, including Marathon Speedway, Northern Tier Energy, Western Refining, Andeavor, and Tesoro. Boelter told a business colleague that he ran a small food-processing plant for Andeavor to supply some of its 3,000 convenience store locations.

Boelter used this expanded list of companies in promotional copy developed for his Red Lion Group website, a copy of which was obtained by Blaze Media.

Western Refining acquired Northern Tier Energy in 2016. Northern Tier operated an oil refinery in St. Paul Park, Minn. Marathon Petroleum Corp. bought rival Andeavor in a $23 billion deal in 2018. Andeavor was previously known as Tesoro Corp.

Marathon Petroleum Corp. sold off its 3,800 Speedway locations to 7-Eleven Inc. in a deal finalized in May 2021. Boelter’s resume says he worked for 7-Eleven as an operations manager from April 2016 to November 2021. He told a Minnesota newspaper in December 2018 that he worked for Marathon Petroleum.

Vance and Jenny Boelter sold this home in Shakopee, Minn., for $310,000 in 2016, doubling what they had paid for it in 2012. Photo by Zillow

The job changes brought with them frequent moves. According to real estate records, over two decades the Boelters lived in Arcadia, Wis.; Eau Claire, Wis.; Fort Smith, Ark.; Muldrow, Okla.; Sheboygan, Wis.; Sleepy Eye, Minn.; Shakopee, Minn.; Inver Grove Heights, Minn.; Gaylord, Minn.; and Green Isle, Minn.

While Boelter wasn’t adept at long-term employment, he and his wife had a knack for turning profits on the homes and other properties they bought, according to deeds and lending records. In March 2022, the Boelters sold one Minnesota home for $300,000 more than what they paid for it in late 2016. In 2016, they doubled their money when selling their home in Shakopee, Minn., chalking up a $155,000 profit.

The equity they built over the years no doubt helped them purchase their Green Isle home for $520,000 in October 2023. The four-bedroom, 3,868-square-foot home set on 11 acres has a current estimated market value of $570,900, according to the real estate website Zillow. It appears the Boelters paid cash, since there is no lien against the property to secure a mortgage.

Boelter was named to the Minnesota Governor’s Workforce Development Council in 2016 by Democrat Gov. Mark Dayton. Democrat Gov. Walz appointed Boelter to a similar post that ran from December 2019 to January 2023.

Boelter was a member of the Dakota-Scott Workforce Investment Board from 2013 until 2023, “part of the team that went to Washington D.C. in 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, and 2023,” according to his resume.

New Apostolic Reformation

Seemingly inspired by the New Apostolic Reformation popularized at Christ for the Nations Institute, Boelter founded a nonprofit organization called Revoformation Ministries Inc.

Boelter formed Revoformation as a non-stock Wisconsin corporation on April 12, 2006. The corporation’s Wisconsin registration became delinquent in April 2011 and was dissolved by the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions August 2012, state records show.

The Revoformation website is no longer visible on the internet. Wayback Machine

Revoformation Ministries was approved as a nonprofit organization in 2007. It filed annual tax returns with the IRS for most years through 2023.

Vance Boelter applied for a registered service mark for the term “Revoformation” from the United States Patent and Trademark Office in 2015. It was approved in May 2017, but canceled by the USPTO in November 2023 because Boelter failed to file a declaration of use within six years of approval.

A book Boelter was writing in 2006 called “Original Ability” was promoted on his Revoformation.com website. The book “presents a different paradigm on the nature of man and our relationship with God.” Boelter said “original ability” is the “single most important factor in successfully explaining the Gospel.” It appears the book was never published.

Vance Boelter wrote a book as part of his Revoformation MInistries Inc., but the work was never published.Revoformation Ministries

The New Apostolic Reformation includes the belief that “an age of revival began around 1900, during which essentials that the Church lost or suppressed long ago were gradually ‘revived’ or ‘restored,’” according to Father Thomas Buffer, a priest writing in the Catholic Times.

Restorationist Pentecostals have been influenced by “Word of Faith” teachers “who taught the authority of the believer to ‘command’ evil spirits and sickness,” Buffer wrote. Under “dominion theology,” Christians believe they have been given authority over all creation, he said.

“This would later be combined with the ‘mandate’ to take over the ‘seven mountains’ of family, religion, education, media, arts and entertainment, business, and government,” Father Buffer said.

Vance Boelter registered “Revoformation” as a service mark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, but it was canceled in 2023 for failure to file proper paperwork.United States Patent and Trademark Office

The term “New Apostolic Reformation” was coined by the late Charles Peter Wagner in the 1990s. According to one January 2025 article, NAR is considered a “radical evangelical movement.”

“Unlike traditional conservative evangelicalism, which often seeks to uphold the status quo, the NAR promotes the establishment of ‘God’s Kingdom on Earth’ by dismantling secular governance,” wrote Abigail James in “The Rise of the New Apostolic Reformation.”

In speeches on his mission trips to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Boelter lamented the lack of unity among Christians and what he said was the American church’s failure to uphold crucial teachings.

“Many churches in America didn’t listen to Jesus. They’re divided,” Boelter said in February 2023. “This little group here, this little group here, this little group here, and the enemy, the devil, comes through and rips everything apart!”

“The churches are so messed up!” Boelter said. “They don’t know abortion is wrong, many churches. They don’t have the gifts flowing. God gives the body gifts to keep balance.”

“America’s in a bad place,” Boelter said. “Jesus didn’t suggest being one body. He commanded it. The American church didn’t listen to Jesus.”

Vance Boelter preaches an expressive sermon at a French-speaking Lutheran Church in Matadi, Democratic Republic of the Congo.La Borne Matadi TV

In a statement that comes straight from NAR teachings, Boelter said God would raise up members of the faithful to fix the vexing problems.

“God is going to raise up apostles and prophets in America to correct his church, and those that are connected to the body, they will come through this mess and they will be strong again, and once again, they’ll send missionaries out and be a blessing.”

New church locations?

The Boelters purchased four commercial properties in Wisconsin and Iowa between 2007 and 2020, possibly intended for use by Revoformation Ministries, but didn’t end up developing them, records showed. They sold the last of those properties in July 2024.

The buildings included a former church in Pierson, Iowa, an office building in Radisson, Wis., a former school in Brillion, Wis., and a 23-unit rooming house in Park Falls, Wis.

The Boelters’ ownership of the former Iowa church raised the suspicions of neighbors.

The Boelters purchased the two-story brick structure at 230 Summit St. for $20,000 in November 2020. One neighbor told the Sioux City Journal she saw a spotlight on the building around midnight one night as “the occupants” painted the four large white pillars on the building front. A woman who lives across the street said she observed “a lot of riffraff” around the building during the years the Boelters owned it.

In 2021, the Boelters established another tax-exempt charity, You Give Them Something to Eat Inc., based on Christ’s admonition to his disciples to feed the crowds before He performed the miracle of the loaves and fishes. The charity did not report any income or expenses in 2022 or 2023. The IRS nonprofit organization database does not show a tax return filed for 2024.

Failed security business

Vance and Jenny Boelter appear to have made a serious run at launching a security company called Praetorian Guard Security Services LLC, starting in 2018.

It was the second time in 20 years they tried to establish a security company. The first iteration, known as Souljer Security LLC, was registered with the State of Wisconsin on Nov. 15, 1999. By October 2005, the LLC registration was delinquent. Notices sent to Vance Boelter were returned as undeliverable in 2009 and 2010. That led to a dissolution order from the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions.

RELATED: Religious leaders distance themselves from onetime Christian preacher accused of Minnesota assassinations

Police said Vance Boelter used one of his security company vehicles to visit four homes where he intended to murder state lawmakers on June 14, 2025. A cache of weapons was found in a vehicle he allegedly abandoned after the shootings.Photos by FBI, Praetorian Guard Security Systems

Praetorian Guard was founded in Minnesota on Sept. 12, 2018. Jenny Boelter was the president and Vance was director of security patrols, according to a now-defunct version of the company website accessed on the Wayback Machine. The LLC registration lapsed in early 2022, was reinstated 18 months later, lapsed again in January 2025, and was reinstated on Jan. 29, 2025.

The company invested heavily in vehicles and equipment, including the 2015 Ford Explorer Police Interceptor SUV Boelter allegedly drove to the Hortman home to carry out the assassinations on June 14.

According to vehicle registration records reviewed by Blaze Media, the Boelters purchased the 2015 Ford Explorer on May 14, 2019. The vehicle was originally owned by the Osceola Police Department in Polk County, Wis.

The Boelters purchased two other Ford Explorer Police Interceptor SUVs, model years 2018 and 2013. Those were originally operated by the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office in Black River Falls, Wis., and the Lakeville Police Department in Dakota County, Minn.

In December 2014, the Boelters purchased a 2011 Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor sedan originally owned by the St. Louis Park Police Department in Hennepin County, Minn., records show. The Boelters disposed of that vehicle in September 2017.

Ford has manufactured and marketed specially outfitted vehicles for law enforcement since the 1950s. The Police Interceptor line was introduced in 1992. The 2025 model has advanced sensors, such as a perimeter alert that rolls up windows and locks the doors if it senses an approaching threat.

‘God is going to raise up apostles and prophets in America to correct his church.’

Praetorian Guard Security never landed any clients or became fully operational, in part because of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a 2023 letter Jenny Boelter wrote to the Minnesota Private Detective and Protective Agents Board, which licenses security companies.

“She said the pandemic hit the company hard in 2020, noting her family had already invested thousands of dollars by buying vehicles, signs, firearms, uniforms, and other gear, but failed to qualify for any pandemic-related assistance,” read a June 27 article in the Minnesota Star Tribune.

Boelter’s biggest proposed business venture was the Red Lion Group, a company he founded to improve life in the Congo River Basin. Red Lion will be the subject of a forthcoming Blaze Media report.

Given his intense planning, several trips to the DRC, and the extensive expenses involved, abandoning the Red Lion Group was perhaps Boelter’s most crushing defeat. He made his final trip to the DRC in spring 2025 and returned to Minnesota dejected and facing financial troubles, according to his hometown friend, David Carlson.

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On Thursday morning, President Donald Trump ordered that the U.S. census be updated in order to cut out the counting of illegal aliens.

The president issued the decree from his Truth Social account. Many on the right have been calling for the census to count only legal residents, while Democrats have benefitted from increased representation in districts with large illegal alien populations.

‘People who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS.’

“I have instructed our Department of Commerce to immediately begin work on a new and highly accurate CENSUS based on modern day facts and figures and, importantly, using the results and information gained from the Presidential Election of 2024,” wrote Trump.

“People who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS,” he added.

If Trump is successful, a new census may lead to some states with large illegal alien populations losing congressional seats.

Democrats immediately assailed the order and accused the president of acting unconstitutionally.

“This is wholly unconstitutional. The Constitution mandates a census every ten years that counts every single person in the country, regardless of their citizenship status,” responded Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York.

RELATED: Joe Rogan questions Sen. Fetterman about scheme to use illegal aliens to ‘rig’ swing states for Democrats

“When Trump tried to do this in 2020, the courts flat out rejected it. The Constitution is plain and simple: ‘whole number of persons,'” he added.

Nadler was referring to an attempt by Trump in his first term to include a citizenship question on the census in 2020. The Supreme Court rejected that order on the basis the government was not giving its real motivation in adding the question.

CNBC reported that the Commerce Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the newest census order.

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The official narrative is that Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide via hanging in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center on August 10, 2019.

Of course, nobody believes that — including Hunter Biden, apparently.

In a recent interview on “Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan,” Hunter made it clear that he doesn’t buy the Epstein suicide narrative any more than the rest of the country does.

Liz Wheeler played a clip of his surprising comments on a recent episode of the “The Liz Wheeler Show.”

“Do you think it was, like, a suicide?” Callaghan asked.

“No, nobody does. I mean, really — except for, all of a sudden, Kash Patel and Dan Bongino,” Hunter scoffed.

He then listed multiple reasons why the suicide narrative falls flat.

He first brought up renowned forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden, who observed the autopsy and resolutely determined that Epstein almost certainly died by homicidal strangulation, not suicide by hanging.

“He talks about all the different … fractures in his neck and how it was impossible that he could have done that,” Hunter said.

He then pointed to Michael Franzese’s recent interview with NewsNation, during which he claimed suicide was virtually impossible in the cell Epstein occupied. Franzese was a former mob boss who was incarcerated in the exact same cell as Epstein years prior.

“I spent seven months on that tier and in those cells, and the first thing I have to say: There’s just no way you are able to commit suicide. There’s just no way. There’s just no way to hang yourself. There’s nothing from the ceiling. There’s nothing from the — you’d have to be a midget and work really hard to try to hang yourself,” he said.

Hunter’s third reason for dismissing the suicide narrative was the security footage of the night Epstein died. “You have the tape that comes out, and it’s not just one minute missing from the tape, it’s actually three minutes,” he said.

He then brought up Jean-Luc Brunel, a French associate of Jeffrey Epstein, who reportedly hung himself in his prison cell in February 2022, and Virginia Giuffre, Epstein’s most vocal accuser, who also reportedly died by suicide in April 2025.

“Now I’m feeding into the conspiracy, but clearly, I mean, who believes that he killed himself? Nobody,” Hunter concluded.

Liz was pleasantly surprised with Hunter’s candor and how much he knew about the controversy.

“You can tell this is not someone who is just commenting on the wavetops of the news. He’s actually following this story extremely closely because he knew all of the details,” she says.

Callaghan also asked Hunter who he thought killed Epstein.

To hear Hunter’s answer, watch the episode above.

Want more from Liz Wheeler?

To enjoy more of Liz’s based commentary, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​The liz wheeler show, Liz wheeler, Hunter biden, Epstein, Epstein suicide, Blazetv, Blaze media, Andrew callaghan, Channel 5 

A man is dead, and a woman was wounded after a shooter opened fire at them Wednesday night in a hospital emergency room in Tacoma, Washington, KIRO-TV reported.

Tacoma police said the apparent targeted attack took place just after 7 p.m. inside the emergency room of MultiCare Allenmore Hospital on South Union Avenue, the station said.

‘I know that she’s pretty shaken up because her boyfriend, I guess, like, pushed her out of the way, so she just watched him get shot pretty bad, you know.’

The female victim — a 21-year-old — was grazed by gunfire and is recovering, but her boyfriend was killed in the shooting, KIRO reported.

Medical workers attempted lifesaving efforts before the man was pronounced dead, the Seattle Times reported.

Police said the couple got into a fight with the suspect outside the hospital prior to the shooting, the station said, after which the suspect followed them into the ER and opened fire.

It’s not clear if the fight prior to the shooting was verbal, physical, or both.

RELATED: Homeowner fights knife-wielding, would-be burglar who escapes with stunt right out of ‘Batman’

“I know that she’s pretty shaken up because her boyfriend, I guess, like, pushed her out of the way, so she just watched him get shot pretty bad, you know,” the female victim’s uncle told KIRO in an exclusive interview. “I’m more worried about her mental and emotional state right now, more than anything.”

In a statement released Wednesday night, a MultiCare Allenmore official told the station the hospital was on restricted access due to the shooting; by Thursday morning, the hospital was operating normally.

“The emergency department is open for walk-ins, but the waiting room remains closed due to a police investigation,” the statement reads, according to KIRO. “Ambulances are still being diverted.”

RELATED: Biological male who identifies as female crushes competition in HS girls’ 400m dash state championship

No hospital workers were hurt in the shooting, police told the Times.

Detectives and crime scene technicians were actively investigating the shooting as a homicide, police told the station, adding that no arrests have been made as of early Thursday morning.

Police on Thursday didn’t immediately reply to Blaze News’ questions regarding the shooter’s physical description, if the couple knew the shooter, what sparked the altercation before the shooting, or what kind of gun the shooter used.

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The Trump administration has been moving full steam ahead, delivering on its promises in almost every sector. It’s hard to believe that it’s been only 200 days since Trump was sworn in to office in January. As Trump and his team move forward into the next three and a half years in office, it’s worth pausing to consider what he has accomplished in just the first 14% of his historic second presidency.

‘The Trump effect’

1. NVIDIA moves to invest $500 billion to build AI factories in Houston and Dallas.

2. Apple announces $500 billion investment in U.S. manufacturing.

3. TSMC commits $100 billion for U.S. chip manufacturing.

4. Project Stargate (SoftBank, OpenAI, Oracle, MGX) $500 billion venture targets expansion in the U.S. by 2029.

5. IBM commits $150 billion over five years to expand U.S. manufacturing.

6. Micron Technology invests $200 billion in U.S. memory chip manufacturing.

7. Intel commits to investing more than $100 billion to increase domestic chip manufacturing infrastructure.

8. Johnson & Johnson announces manufacturing, research and development, and technology investments totaling more than $55 billion over the next four years.

9. Roche commits to invest $50 billion in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics over the next five years.

10. Bristol Myers Squibb promises to invest $40 billion in the U.S. over the next five years.

11. Eli Lilly and Company commits to raising its domestic investment by an additional $27 billion, adding greater manufacturing capacity.

12. The UAE’s ADQ and the U.S.’s Energy Capital Partners are set to invest $25 billion in power generation to keep up with data center needs.

13. Novartis, a Swiss drug manufacturer, expands its U.S. footprint with an investment of $23 billion over the next five years, creating an estimated 4,000 U.S. jobs.

14. Hyundai announces a total investment of $21 billion, including funding for a new Louisiana steel manufacturing mill.

15. John Deere pledges to invest $20 billion in the United States over the next decade to build and improve manufacturing facilities.

16. DAMAC Properties pledges a $20 billion investment focusing on developing data center infrastructure.

17. French company CMA CGM announces $20 billion in shipping and logistics investment in the U.S., creating an estimated 10,000 jobs.

18. Sanofi announces an intention to invest at least $20 billion in manufacturing and R&D.

19. Amazon invests $10 billion in building a new data center in North Carolina.

20. Amazon also invests $20 billion in expanding its cloud computing infrastructure in Pennsylvania, creating an estimated 1,250 jobs.

21. Venture Global LNG expands its investment with additional $18 billion in Louisiana.

22. Global Foundries announces an intention to spend $16 billion to expand U.S. chip production.

DOGE and bureaucracy reform

23. The Trump administration halts operations of Elizabeth Warren’s Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

24. According to a July 14, 2025, CNN analysis, at least 51,224 federal workers have been fired or targeted for firing. This includes:

25. Close to 10,000 (100%) employees were fired from USAID.

26. Close to 84.8% of the Agency for Global Media’s employees were fired, dismantling the agency.

27. Close to 3,500 employees (16.7%) of the FDA were fired.

28. Trump raises awareness with the DOGE’s mandate to root out the federal government’s waste, fraud, and abuse.

29. The Trump administration fires the head of Bureau of Labor Statistics.

30. Termination of the Federal Executive Institute.

31. Trump eliminates remote work option for federal employees.

32. Trump bans ESG policies to be considered in federal contracts in an executive order.

33. The Trump administration kills Corporation for Public Broadcasting funding.

34. National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service have been put on ice as a result.

DEI initiatives

35. Goldman Sachs ends its DEI policy.

36. IBM to eliminate DEI department.

37. Verizon shuts down DEI policies.

38. BlackRock drops its DEI goals.

39. State Department cuts DEI-based performance evaluations, returns to merit.

40. The Trump DOJ rescinds a Carter-era federal mandate focused on DEI hiring practices on August 1.

41. Trump roots out DEI initiatives from Foreign Service requirements.

42. Trump administration pushes for a national civics education program in his education executive order.

RELATED: New York Times makes big admission about Trump’s tariffs

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Immigration

43. Trump signs the Laken Riley Act.

44. Militarization of the southern border.

45. Alligator Alcatraz in Florida.

46. Speedway Slammer plans in Indiana.

47. ICE Nationwide crackdown, January 26.

48. ICE Colony Ridge operation.

49. ICE Operation Apex Predator.

50. ICE arrests 72 illegal aliens, including a suspected terrorist, in a major bust in Charleston, South Carolina.

51. ICE carries out a huge raid resulting in 361 illegal alien arrests and 14 children rescued in a Ventura County, California, cannabis farm bust.

52. ICE arrests a Tren de Aragua ringleader in one of the first New York City raids.

53. Requiring truckers to have English-language literacy.

54. ICE has deported over 300,000 illegal aliens, per Tom Homan.

55. Illegal aliens self-deport as part of Trump admin’s “Project Homecoming.”

Environment/climate

56. Proposal to end the Endangerment Finding regulation.

57. Withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement.

58. EPA issues proposal to scrap Biden-era $1 trillion EV mandate.

59. Trump administration lays waste to environmental justice offices within government agencies.

60. EPA eliminates 455 DEI and environmental justice positions, ending Biden-era initiatives.

61. Trump issues executive order ending the forced federal purchase and use of paper straws.

62. EPA eases off on methane regulations as it considers scrapping them entirely.

63. Trump fast-tracks Hurricane Helene relief.

Energy

64. Trump ends liquefied natural gas export ban, approves two LNG projects in the U.S.

65. Trump establishes the National Energy Dominance Council to secure U.S. energy supremacy.

66. Trump issues executive order to help America to “drill, baby, drill.”

67. Trump signs an executive order called “Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential” to develop the state’s natural resources for the benefit of the nation.

68. Trump revamps the coal industry with a new designation of coal as a mineral, thus unleashing the benefits of increased coal production in the United States.

69. Trump streamlines the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in order to pursue greater nuclear energy production.

70. Trump administration expands opportunities for offshore drilling, potentially including in the Arctic.

71. Trump calls for the revival of the Keystone XL pipeline, bringing it back into the public discourse.

RELATED: Sanctuary cities on DOJ’s list set to reap the whirlwind

Photo by SERGIO FLORES/AFP via Getty Images

Technology

72. The Trump administration announces America’s AI Action Plan.

73. The United States commits to supporting the export of U.S. AI models in order to promote American dominance in the industry.

74. Trump issues an executive order strengthening U.S. commitment to cybersecurity.

Education

75. Trump slashes the Department of Education.

76. The Supreme Court affirms Trump’s executive order cutting the Department of Education down to size.

77. Columbia and Brown are set to disclose admissions and race data in a groundbreaking deal with the president.

78. End of COVID-19 mandates in schools.

79. The Trump administration expands school choice for American families.

80. Trump issues executive order attacking the teaching of critical race theory in schools.

81. In the same order, Trump mandates that the funding be pulled from any public schools teaching radical gender ideologies.

Gender issues

82. NCAA changes its policy to allow only women to compete in women’s sports following Trump’s February 5 executive order.

83. Trump makes it the U.S. government’s official policy that there are only two sexes.

84. U.S. government restricts sports visas for transgenders, reaffirming strict policy.

85. The U.S. Olympic Committee bans men from women’s sports.

Justice

86. Trump grants unconditional pardons to virtually all January 6 protesters.

87. Trump issues executive order restricting birthright citizenship.

88. Supreme Court upholds Tennessee ban on transgender surgeries for minors.

89. Supreme Court upholds Texas law requiring age verification for pornographic websites.

90. Supreme Court blocks nationwide injunctions against birthright citizenship executive order.

91. Supreme Court affirms right of South Carolina to exclude Planned Parenthood from Medicaid program.

92. Executive order restricting transgender procedures for minors.

Economy

The Department of Commerce released the first GDP report at the end of April, which signaled strong economic momentum building under Trump’s leadership.

93. The core GDP grew 3%.

94. Consumer spending outpaced government spending by 3.2 percentage points, the strongest figure since the second quarter of 2022.

95. Gross domestic investment soared 22% in the first quarter.

96. The Trump administration creates the U.S. Sovereign Wealth Fund.

One Big Beautiful Bill Act

97. Green energy tax credit phase-outs.

98. Repeal of certain Inflation Reduction Act provisions.

99. Rescinding de minimis import tariff exemptions from low-value goods.

100. Medicaid reform.

101. SNAP reform.

102. $50 billion Rural Hospital Fund to buffer Medicaid changes.

103. $150 billion in military infrastructure spending.

104. $170 billion in border enforcement and ICE funding by 2029.

105. Pell Grant revisions starting July 2026.

106. Trump Accounts.

107. “No Tax on Tips” tax reductions.

108. Agriculture provisions add $66 billion to farm programs.

RELATED: Ratcliffe releases damning Durham annex. Here’s what it reveals about Obama-Clinton Russia collusion hoax.

Subpoenas

109. The House Oversight Committee issued subpoenas for several former high-profile federal officials. They will be deposed over the coming months:

110. Former U.S. Attorney General William Barr: August 18.

111. Former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales: August 26.

112. Former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions: August 28.

113. Former FBI Director Robert Mueller: September 2.

114. Former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch: September 9.

115. Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder: September 30.

116. Former U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland: October 2.

117. Former FBI Director James Comey: October 7.

118. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: October 9.

119. Former President Bill Clinton: October 14.

Intelligence releases

120. Trump orders the release of MLK Jr. Files in an “unprecedented” move.

121. The Russiagate hoax is exposed with bombshell evidence.

122. Trump orders the release of a trove of documents in the JFK files.

123. The Trump administration drops 10,000 intelligence files related to the assassination of RFK.

Foreign investment

124. The United Arab Emirates commits to $1.4 trillion investment over the next decade.

125. The U.S. and Qatar sign $1.2 trillion economic exchange agreement.

126. Japan signals its intention to increase investment in the United States to over $1 trillion in the future.

127. Saudi Arabia commits $600 billion in investment in the United States.

128. Taiwan pledges to boost its investments in the United States.

Tariffs and trade deals

129. Trade deal framework with the U.K.

130. 90-day tariff “truce” with China.

131. EU trade deal.

132. Japan trade deal.

133. South Korea trade deal.

134. Taiwan trade deal.

135. Vietnam trade deal.

136. Philippines trade deal.

Pro-life

137. Trump grants unconditional pardons to 23 pro-life protesters convicted under the FACE Act during the Biden administration.

138. Trump enforces the Hyde Amendment, cutting off federal funds for abortions through EO 14182.

139. Vice President JD Vance attends the March for Life in Washington, D.C., and delivers a pro-natalist message to attendees.

International affairs

140. The U.S. plays a crucial role in brokering a ceasefire between India and Pakistan.

141. The U.S. plays a key role in securing peace between Cambodia and Thailand, following the violent conflict that erupted between the two countries.

142. The Gulf of Mexico is renamed to the Gulf of America.

143. Imposition of sanctions on the International Criminal Court, reasserting national sovereignty.

144. Trump announces that the U.S. will be ceasing all funding of and participation with UNESCO.

145. Trump pulls support and membership from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.

146. Trump envoy successfully negotiates release of wrongfully detained Washington man in Venezuela.

147. At least 37 hostages have been rescued from countries including Afghanistan, Israel, Russia, and Kuwait since Trump’s inauguration.

148. Secretary of State Marco Rubio commemorates the massacre at Tiananmen Square on its 36th anniversary.

149. U.S. expands partnership with Panama in securing the Panama Canal.

150. U.S. Army sees a huge increase in military recruitment numbers.

151. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth issues Army Overhaul directive, a forced restructuring of the military.

152. Trump administration issues ban on transgenders in the military.

153. Trump withdraws the United States from the World Health Organization.

154. Russia releases American Marc Fogel in a one-for-one prisoner exchange.

RELATED: Trump threatens Putin with ‘very severe’ tariffs as peace talks take a turn

Cultural issues

155. Restoring the name of Mount McKinley.

156. Reinstatement of Moses Ezekiel statue at Arlington National Cemetery.

157. Renaming of USS Harvey Milk to Oscar V. Peterson.

158. Renaming of Fort Bragg.

159. Renaming of Fort Hood.

160. The Robert E. Lee monument in Charleston, South Carolina, torn down in 2021, will be reinstalled according to the American Heritage Association’s plans.

161. The statue of Confederate General Albert Pike, torn down during the BLM protests, will be restored and reinstalled in Washington, D.C., per Trump’s executive orders.

162. Trump donates his salary to the White House Historical Association, furthering the beautification efforts of the White House.

163. Mel Gibson, John Voight, Sylvester Stallone named ambassadors to Hollywood.

164. Trump establishes the White House Task Force in preparation for the Unites States hosting the 2028 Summer Olympics.

165. Melania Trump’s Be Best initiative.

166. Melania Trump helps push the Take It Down Act.

167. New White House ballroom.

168. New White House patio.

169. New White House flagpoles beautify the grounds.

Religion

170. Brian Burch appointed U.S. ambassador to the Holy See.

171. FBI exposed for spying on Catholics.

172. Establishment of the Religious Liberty Commission.

173. DOJ helps kill anti-Catholic Washington Senate bill.

174. Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias order.

175. Office of Personnel Management issues order affirming right of federal workers to share Christian faith.

176. Trump delivers his Holy Week message, in sharp contrast to Biden’s Day of Transgender Visibility.

177. Trump establishes the White House Faith Office.

Second Amendment rights

178. Trump issues executive order entitled “Protecting Second Amendment Rights,” reaffirming Americans’ right to keep and bear arms.

179. The ATF replaces Biden-era’s 2021 Enhanced Regulatory Enforcement Policy, also known as the “Zero Tolerance Policy,” with an updated policy.

180. Trump shutters the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention.

181. Trump says, “The gun doesn’t do the shooting, the people do,” following an FSU shooting in April.

182. HHS removes the surgeon general advisory that described gun violence as a public health crisis.

Make America Healthy Again

183. The Make America Healthy Again Commission is created in February 2025.

184. RFK Jr. bans Red Dye No. 3, to take effect in 2027.

185. FDA commits to phasing out six food dyes (FD&C Green No. 3, FD&C Red No. 40, FD&C Yellow No. 5, FD&C Yellow No. 6, FD&C Blue No. 1, and FD&C Blue No. 2) from the food supply by 2026-2027.

186. The Department of Health and Human Services cancels 22 mRNA vaccine research contracts totaling nearly $500 million.

187. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fires all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a politicized panel of Biden appointees affiliated with the CDC.

188. Starbucks plans to replace canola oil with avocado oil in its egg bites.

189. Blue Bell ice cream commits to remove food dyes by the end of 2027.

190. Steak ‘n Shake moves to 100% all-natural beef tallow and begins using 100% Grade A Wisconsin butter, replacing its seed-oil-ridden “buttery blend.”

191. PepsiCo commits to remove artificial ingredients from several products by the end of the year.

192. Mars Wrigley removes titanium dioxide, a food additive, from the Skittles ingredients list.

193. McCormick announced that it will no longer use certain food dyes in its products.

194. In-N-Out announced it will no longer use synthetic food dyes and artificial flavors in its food.

195. Tyson Foods moves away from synthetic dyes in its products.

196. Sam’s Club commits to removing 40 harmful ingredients from its private-label brand, Member’s Mark.

197. Kraft Heinz announced it will remove artificial dyes from its domestic products.

198. Nestle is set to remove all FD&C food dyes from its products by the middle of next year.

199. J.M. Smucker will remove synthetic colors from its food products by the end of 2027.

200. Hershey will no longer use synthetic dyes in its products, planning to phase them out by 2027.

While many people are quick to criticize Trump, it’s impossible to take these accomplishments away from him. The next three years hold so many possibilities for the work left to do, and the world watches as Trump continues to add to his already impressive legacy. Here’s to the next 86% of President Donald Trump’s term.

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The House Oversight Committee issued deposition subpoenas on Tuesday to the Department of Justice as well as to a number of high-profile former government officials “for testimony related to horrific crimes perpetrated by Jeffrey Epstein.”

Among those whom Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) subpoenaed was Robert Mueller.

‘I’m not going to mock this man.’

There are mounting doubts over whether Mueller — who was FBI director when child sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein received immunity from federal prosecution through a non-prosecution agreement — will be able to testify before the committee.

If accurate, the basis of these doubts serves to vindicate the second of two diagnoses Blaze Media co-founder Mark Levin accurately made in the same segment six years ago.

Then

Mueller was appointed in May 2017 to oversee the DOJ’s investigation into allegations of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign. His final report, which was released in April 2019, stated that the “investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.”

Following the publication of his report, Mueller testified before the House Judiciary Committee. It was a total disaster.

During the hearing, the former special counsel stuttered, blanked on critical pieces of information about his investigation, and struggled to hear questions.

RELATED: House Republicans subpoena Clintons, ex-DOJ officials in Epstein probe

JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images

After watching the hearing, Levin suggested that the former special counsel might have “onset dementia.”

“Look, I’ve seen people with onset dementia. I’m not going to mock this man,” Levin told “Fox & Friends.” “He obviously shouldn’t have been there. He should’ve never headed this investigation. I’m not making allegations. I’m not trying to be provocative, but the idea that Rod Rosenstein appointed this man to head the office is an outrage.”

In addition to suggesting that Mueller’s disastrous performance was the result of cognitive decline, Levin noted that “this is the greatest political scandal in American history, and it’s still going on, and it was led by Obama, and it was led by Hillary Clinton.”

‘Mueller was used by some very vicious people.’

After noting how the FBI spied on the Trump campaign and made good use out of the bogus Steele dossier, Levin said, “They were trying to kill off the Trump campaign. … This is Obama, Hillary, and their surrogates in law enforcement and in the intelligence agencies.”

In an apparent effort to maximize confidence in Mueller’s statements to Congress — including the former special counsel’s suggestion that his report did not exonerate the president — Newsweek hit Levin on his first claim.

The liberal publication suggested that there was no evidence that Mueller had dementia, that “there are no credible reports of Mueller being unwell in any way,” and that the allegation was part of an effort to “discredit the Mueller probe.”

Now

Both of Levin’s assertions appear to have been right on the money. Newsweek’s doubts, on the other hand, appear to have been misplaced.

Paul Sperry, a senior reporter at RealClearInvestigations, revealed on Tuesday that sources told him that Mueller “has been living in a memory-care facility for the past few years.”

Former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz (R) noted, “It was clear this is where things were heading when we questioned him before congress. Mueller was used by some very vicious people. I’m not sure he really ever knew what was happening in the investigation.”

When asked by the Daily Caller about whether Mueller was indeed in a memory-care facility, a spokesman for the Oversight Committee declined to comment.

‘More than vindication, I am disgusted and appalled by this.’

Levin’s other diagnosis concerning Obama and Clinton’s links to the Russia collusion hoax was also recently bolstered by documents declassified and shared by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe.

The Durham annex, declassified by Ratcliffe then published by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), revealed that the FBI was aware in 2016 of credible intelligence indicating that the Clinton campaign planned to smear Trump, falsely link him to Russia, then have the intelligence community carry the ball down the field.

RELATED: Ratcliffe releases damning Durham annex. Here’s what it reveals about Obama-Clinton Russia collusion hoax.

Photo by Gilbert Carrasquillo/FilmMagic

The House Intelligence Committee majority staff report released last month by Gabbard revealed that the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment regarding imagined Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election was a work of fiction, including comprising misquotes, unreliable reports, lies of omissions, and straight-out falsehoods.

As Levin deduced, Obama was directly involved — ordering the ICA in December — and the Steele dossier played a role, as it was incorporated in the assessment contrary to ex-CIA Director John Brennan’s 2023 statement to Congress.

Levin told Blaze News, “Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are responsible for the greatest attack on our Republic from within our government. And they colluded and conspired with the American media, who worked with them every step of the way.”

“More than vindication, I am disgusted and appalled by this and am thankful the administration is releasing internal government records and evidence and that a grand jury has been empaneled to criminally expose the reprobates who were involved,” continued Levin. “It is also about time that Obama and Clinton will be questioned under oath — or sure as hell better be!”

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