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This Yale professor thinks patriotism is some kind of hate crime
Timothy Snyder has built a career trying to convince Americans that Donald Trump is a latter-day Adolf Hitler — a fascist demagogue hell-bent on dismantling America’s institutions to seize power. Last week, the Yale historian and author of the bestselling resistance pamphlet “On Tyranny,” briefly changed course. Now, apparently, Trump is Jefferson Davis.
In a recent Substack post, Snyder claimed Trump’s speech at Fort Bragg amounted to a call for civil war. He argued that the president’s praise for the military and his rejection of the left’s historical revisionism signaled not patriotism but treason — and the rise of a “paramilitary” regime.
Trump doesn’t want a second civil war. He wants the first one to mean something.
No, seriously. That’s what he thinks.
Renaming Fort Bragg
Trump’s first alleged Confederate offense, Snyder said, was to reinstate the military base’s original name: Fort Bragg. The Biden administration had renamed it Fort Liberty, repudiating General Braxton Bragg’s Confederate ties. Trump reversed the change.
The Biden administration had renamed the base Fort Liberty, citing General Braxton Bragg’s service to the Confederacy. Trump reversed the change. But he didn’t do it to honor a Confederate general. He did it to honor World War II paratrooper Roland L. Bragg, as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth explained.
Snyder wasn’t buying it. He accused the administration of fabricating a “dishonest pretense” that glorifies “oathbreakers and traitors.”
That charge hits close to home.
My grandfather Martin Spohn was a German Jewish refugee who fled Nazi Berlin in 1936. He proudly served in the U.S. Army. He trained with the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Bragg before deploying to Normandy. Like thousands of others, he saw the base not as a Confederate monument but as a launchpad for defeating actual fascism.
Restoring the name Fort Bragg doesn’t rewrite history. It honors the Americans who made history — men who trained there to liberate Europe from tyranny.
That’s not fascism. That’s victory over it.
Deploying the National Guard
For Snyder, though, Trump’s real crime was calling up the National Guard to restore order in riot-torn Los Angeles. That, he claimed, puts Trump in the same category as Robert E. Lee.
According to Snyder, the president is “preparing American soldiers to see themselves as heroes when they undertake operations inside the United States against unarmed people, including their fellow citizens.”
Let’s set aside the hysteria.
Trump didn’t glorify the Confederacy. He called for law and order in the face of spiraling violence. He pushed back against the left’s crusade to erase American history — not to rewrite it but to preserve its complexity.
He didn’t tell soldiers to defy the Constitution. He reminded them of their oath: to defend the nation, not serve the ideological demands of woke officials.
Snyder’s claims are as reckless as they are false.
He smears anyone who supports border enforcement or takes pride in military service as a threat to democracy. Want secure borders? You’re a fascist. Call out the collapse of Democrat-run cities? You’re a Confederate.
This isn’t analysis. It’s slander masquerading as scholarship.
The real division
But this debate isn’t really about Trump. It’s about power.
The left has spent years reshaping the military into a political project — prioritizing diversity seminars over combat readiness, purging dissenters, and enforcing ideological loyalty. When Trump pushes back, it’s not authoritarianism. It’s restoration.
The left wants a military that fights climate change, checks pronouns, and marches for “equity.” Trump wants a military that defends the nation. That’s the real divide.
Over and over, Snyder accuses Trump of “trivializing” the military by invoking its heroism while discussing immigration enforcement. But what trivializes military service more — linking it to national defense or turning soldiers into props for progressive social experiments?
RELATED: The real tyranny? Institutional groupthink disguised as truth
Photo by Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
And Trump isn’t breaking precedent by deploying the National Guard when local leaders fail. Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson used federal troops during desegregation. Johnson federalized the Alabama National Guard to protect civil rights marchers. The Guard responded during the 1967 Detroit riots, the 1992 Los Angeles riots, and the Black Lives Matter and Antifa upheavals of 2020.
Trump acted within his authority — and fulfilled his duty — to restore order when Democrat-run cities descended into chaos.
A House divided?
Snyder’s rhetoric about “protecting democracy” rings hollow. Trump won the 2024 election decisively. Voters across party lines gave him a clear mandate: Secure the border and remove violent criminals. Pew Research found that 97% of Americans support more vigorous enforcement of immigration laws.
Yet Snyder, who constantly warns of creeping authoritarianism, closed his post by urging fellow academics to join No Kings protests.
Nobody appointed Timothy Snyder king, either.
If he respected democratic institutions, he’d spend less time fearmongering — and more time listening to the Americans, including many in uniform, who are tired of being demonized for loving their country. They’re tired of being called bigots for wanting secure borders. They’re tired of watching history weaponized to silence dissent.
Snyder invokes Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address to condemn Trump. But it was Lincoln who paraphrased scripture when he said, “A house divided cannot stand.”
Americans united behind Trump in 2024. Snyder’s effort to cast half the country as fascists or Confederates embodies the division Lincoln warned against.
Here’s the truth: Trump doesn’t want a second civil war. He wants the first one to mean something.
He wants a Union preserved in more than name — a Union defined by secure borders, equal justice, and unapologetic national pride.
If that scares Timothy Snyder, maybe the problem isn’t Trump.
Perhaps, the problem lies in the man staring back at him in the mirror.
Opinion & analysis, Donald trump, Authoritarian, Timothy snyder, Tyranny, Yale university, History, Abraham lincoln, Dwight d. eisenhower, Lyndon johnson, John f. kennedy, National guard, Confederate, Fort bragg, Pete hegseth, Riots, Robert e. lee, Jefferson davis, No kings protest, Immigration and customs enforcement, Mass deportations, California, Los angeles, Union, Fascism, World war ii, Traitor
Stephen Jackson AFFIRMS Karmelo Anthony and DESTROYS BIG3
BIG3 opening weekend has come and gone, but not without a tense — and memorable — altercation between players Stephen Jackson and Dwight Howard.
“This is BIG3 opening weekend. No one’s going to be surprised when we hear, ‘Hey, shots fired at a BIG3 basketball game.’ No one’s going to be surprised, no one. This is the culture, the atmosphere. This is what the BIG3 is producing,” BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock says.
“A bunch of solid to good former NBA players that are in their late 30s, early 40s, that are still little babies and children who can’t play a basketball game without getting into a fight that spills into the stands,” he adds.
And Whitlock believes this attitude is not just reflected on the basketball court.
“Stephen Jackson’s 47 years old. He’s the host of the “All The Smoke” podcast. He came to increased fame because he was friends with George Floyd. Stephen Jackson loves to lean into the victimhood mentality, into the rap, anger, gangster rapper mentality. He’s not evolving,” Whitlock says.
“This is a plague, a mental plague,” he continues. “This has been going on now for 30-plus years. Affirm any and everything. Hey, Karmelo Anthony with a ‘K,’ you just stabbed another teenager, because he asked you to get up out of a seat in an area that you weren’t supposed to be in. Let’s affirm that. Let’s make up a fake narrative. Let’s all pretend, ‘Well, this kid feared for his life.’”
“He had no choice but to stab him,” he mocks. “Let’s start a GoFundMe or a GiveSendGo, and let’s send a million dollars, half-million dollars, to Karmelo Anthony and his family. Let’s affirm Karmelo Anthony’s behavior because everything has to be affirmed.”
“You can’t just affirm any and everything, and that’s what we’ve been doing in this society,” he adds.
Want more from Jason Whitlock?
To enjoy more fearless conversations at the crossroads of culture, faith, sports, and comedy with Jason Whitlock, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.
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‘Weak, emasculated leader’: Ex-Vikings player blames Tim Walz for Minnesota killings
A former NFL player blamed Democrat Minnesota Governor Tim Walz for the “chaos” that has engulfed the state in recent years.
Jack Brewer, who played for the Minnesota Vikings and the University of Minnesota, said Walz and Minn. Attorney General Keith Ellison have put the state in a spiral, turning it into a place that does not reflect the people of Minnesota.
‘Whenever you give Satan power, he shows his face.’
“We need to start calling this what it is. These people have lost their minds,” Brewer told Fox News. “I am heartbroken to see one of the most amazing states in America completely turned around under Gov. Tim Walz. Minnesota is confused.”
After a man named Vance Luther Boelter was charged with the murder of a top Minnesota lawmaker and her husband, Brewer said the incident was a direct result of Democrats and Walz’s leadership. The former NFL player said there needs to be a “return to masculinity” in order to turn the state around.
“On this Father’s Day, I wish Minnesota would focus on restoring fatherhood — protecting women, protecting families. Tim Walz is the example of a weak, emasculated leader. That is not what God made fathers to be. It’s pathetic,” Brewer told Fox News.
RELATED: The stuff of nightmares: Boelter allegedly sought to kill 4 lawmakers
A Homeland Security K-9 officer walks around the Warren E. Burger Federal Building, where Vance Boelter had a court appearance on June 16, 2025, in St. Paul, Minnesota. Photo by Steven Garcia/Getty Images
Brewer described Minnesota as the “capital of chaos in America” and said Democrats have gone “so far left” that their party members attack anyone who does not agree with their principles.
“They are forcing everyone in the party to conform,” Brewer’s comments to Fox News continued.
The former defensive back added that the “root cause” of the problem in the state can simply be labeled “evil.”
“Whenever you give Satan power, he shows his face. That’s what we’re witnessing now.”
Brewer has also been a Donald Trump supporter for years and was allegedly a Democrat until he was inspired by the president to change course.
RELATED: Survivors of Minnesota assassination attempt release statement: ‘Incredibly lucky to be alive’
Jack Brewer, #42 of the Minnesota Vikings, is congratulated after intercepting a pass against the Green Bay Packers on November 17, 2002. Photo by Elsa/Getty Images
In early 2020, Brewer declared Trump the “first black president” and said he was “changed” and “inspired” by him to keep doing God’s work by reaching out to inmates in prison, according to the Hill.
In 2019, Brewer predicted that a “black awakening” would give Trump a 20% black vote in the upcoming election, but only 12% was garnered, per the Roper Center.
Brewer was in the NFL for four seasons, playing for the Vikings, New York Giants, and Philadelphia Eagles.
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‘My heart and soul broken’: Parents of 8-month-old boy fatally shot at Utah community festival grieve ‘unimaginable loss’
Anderson Garcia told KSTU-TV that taking his family to the local WestFest celebration Sunday night was not in his plans.
“I didn’t even know the fair was going to be there,” Garcia recounted to the station about the annual four-day event, which took place at Centennial Park in West Valley City, Utah. “I was going to the Walmart, and my baby started crying. … I looked to my right side, and I see the fair. All I wanted was for my babies to be happy there, to have fun.”
‘For three years, I struggled with infertility, and I was finally blessed with two boys. My baby was such a happy baby.’
Sunday was the final day of WestFest, which featured “food, fun, and festivities” such as music and carnival rides about 20 minutes southwest of Salt Lake City.
Garcia added to KUTV-TV that his family was just about to leave WestFest but stopped to look at a ride — and that’s when gunfire broke out.
“I said to my wife, ‘Run, that’s gunfire, run.’ I pushed her out of the way, and all I did was use my body to cover the boys,” he recounted to KUTV. “I thought I rather the gunfire hit me than my children.”
Garcia on this Father’s Day also tried to use his body to cover the stroller, KUTV said.
Tragically, Garcia’s 8-month-old son — Anderson Garcia Cabrera Jr. — was hit by gunfire and died, KSTU reported.
RELATED: Former reality TV contestant shot and killed at No Kings protest by ‘peacekeeper,’ police say
A 16-year-old male opened fire amid an argument between two groups at the festival, police said, and two others also were fatally shot: 18-year-old Hassan Lugundi of West Valley City — a male from one of the arguing groups — and 41-year-old Fnu Reena, a female bystander from West Jordan.
Adding to the heartache, Garcia’s wife — Mehili Cabrera — told KUTV that baby Anderson was a twin born after lengthy infertility obstacles.
“I have my heart and soul broken,” Cabrera said to KUTV. “For three years, I struggled with infertility, and I was finally blessed with two boys. My baby was such a happy baby.”
The devastated mother also said baby Anderson was just learning to crawl, KUTV noted, and that so many people loved him.
Indeed, the family wrote in a GoFundMe message that “what was meant to be a joyful Father’s Day celebration … became the most heartbreaking night of our lives. We are devastated and struggling to process this unimaginable loss.”
Baby Anderson’s family hope to lay him to rest in their home country of Guatemala, KSTU noted, “so he can rest in peace surrounded by our family and loved ones.”
“He was a happy baby. I’ve never seen one like him,” his father added to KSTU. “What I want: He goes where I come from.”
The family’s GoFundMe campaign can be found here; as of late Tuesday afternoon, nearly $54,000 has been raised as part of a $100,000 goal.
Anything else?
Police said gunfire at the festival also wounded two teens — a 17-year-old female and a 15-year-old male — in their arms. Police added that it’s not clear if the two wounded teens were connected to the arguing groups.
The 16-year-old male suspect was taken into custody, police said, adding that an officer fired but didn’t hit the suspect. Police also said the suspect was taken to the police station for questioning.
RELATED: ‘No brainer’: Utah becomes first state to ban rainbow flags in both schools and government buildings
Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill told KSTU-TV in a previous story that it’s too early to determine if the teen suspect will be charged as a juvenile or as an adult.
“We have not yet screened the case. Whether a case is filed in a juvenile or district court is a decision that is made at time of filing,” Gill said in a statement, according to KSTU. “It would be premature for us to talk about these matters at this time.”
A shocked employee of a business located next to the park told Blaze News that he feels “bad for what happened” and added that it was completely out of the ordinary for the area.
“I’d definitely say it was a one-off,” the worker noted to Blaze News before acknowledging the “dark” nature of the crime.
A pregnant woman also was injured while trying to climb a fence to flee the scene, KUTV-TV reported in a previous story.
RELATED: LGBT activists find devious way to hoist their colors despite flag bans in Salt Lake City, Boise
Roxeanne Vainuku, public information officer for West Valley City police, told KUTV that “it’s heartbreaking, I think for all of us, to see something like this happen at something that is just a real treasure, something that we really enjoy in our community.”
Vainuku added to the station that it’s not clear if the shooting was gang-related. KUTV also said police won’t release the name of the suspect since he’s a juvenile.
“I don’t even know how to explain this night,” one witness told KSTU. “I am traumatized. I don’t think I would ever go to a fair, especially if they’re not checking the people that walk in.”
Another witness added to KSTU: “I was very scared because I’m not used to hearing gunshots, and I almost had a panic attack because that was scary.”
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Utah, West valley city, Westfest, Fatal shooting, Infant victim of shooting, Arrest, Teen accused of shooting, Infant killed, Grieving parents, Grieving family, Crime
Watch: Schwarzenegger shuts down Joy Behar’s attempt to ignite anti-ICE sentiment on ‘The View,’ says immigrants must behave
Arnold Schwarzenegger shut down Joy Behar when the co-host of “The View” attempted to goad him into projecting anti-ICE sentiment with a loaded question. Instead, Schwarzenegger redirected the conversation to how incredible the United States is for immigrants and how those coming to the country must “behave like a guest.”
Schwarzenegger appeared on “The View” on Tuesday, where Behar asked the former Republican governor of California if he had a “visceral reaction” to raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement attempting to detain illegal aliens.
‘And those people that are doing illegal things in America, they’re the foreigners. They are not smart because when you come to America, you’re a guest, and you have to behave like a guest.’
Rather than taking the divisive bait from Behar, Schwarzenegger waxed poetically about how thankful and lucky he is to be a citizen of the United States.
“I’m so proud and happy that I was embraced by the American people like that,” Schwarzenegger stated.
The bodybuilder turned Hollywood action movie star explained, “I mean, imagine: I came over here at the age of 21 with absolutely nothing. And then to create a career like that, I mean, in no other country in the world could you do that.”
Schwarzenegger legally immigrated to the United States from Austria in 1968 and then became a U.S. citizen in 1983.
Schwarzenegger said the incredible achievements in his life are “all because of America.”
“So this is why I am so, so happy to see firsthand that this is the greatest country in the world, and this is the land of opportunity,” he continued.
Schwarzenegger proclaimed that he is a “proud American” and a “proud immigrant.”
RELATED: Trump’s immigration crackdown works: 1 million illegal aliens reportedly self-deport
Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images
He added that the United States has a “great history” with immigrants but stressed that those seeking opportunities in the U.S. must come here legally.
“But the key thing also, at the same time, you’ve got to do things legal,” he said. “And those people that are doing illegal things in America, they’re the foreigners. They are not smart because when you come to America, you’re a guest, and you have to behave like a guest.”
“Like when I go to someone’s house and I’m a guest, then I will do everything I can — keep things clean and to make my bed and to do everything that is the right thing to do — rather than committing a crime or be abusive or something like that. So that doesn’t really work in this country,” the “Terminator” actor said.
Seemingly not in agreement with his legal immigration sentiment, “The View” co-host Sunny Hostin is seen on video tapping Schwarzenegger’s arm to interrupt him mid-sentence. Hostin then attempted to butt in verbally on multiple occasions.
However, Schwarzenegger ignored Hostin and continued to make his point.
Schwarzenegger noted that legal immigrants who “use America for the great opportunities that America has, in education, jobs, creating a family, all of those things,” have a responsibility.
Schwarzenegger declared that legal immigrants have a “responsibility … to give back to America and to pay back America and to go do something for your community for no money whatsoever.”
Schwarzenegger said it was important for legal immigrants to “make this country a better place.”
After the audience applauded Schwarzenegger, “The View” co-host Whoopi Goldberg attempted to pour cold water on his patriotic speech.
“Right, but, Arnold, don’t forget there’s — 90% of the people who come here are trying to do the right thing,” Goldberg claimed.
Goldberg then attempted to steer the conversation back to the efforts by ICE agents to detain individuals who are in the country illegally.
“And a lot of what’s happening right now is people are getting snatched who shouldn’t be snatched out of the country,” Goldberg opined. “People who have visas, people who have all those things. So, we want all the right people. We don’t want people who are doing bad stuff.”
Hostin blurted, “Immigrants are much less likely to commit crimes in this country than actual American-born citizens.”
Hostin then brought the discussion back to the anti-ICE protests by rehashing how President Donald Trump ordered the National Guard to assist federal immigration agents in Los Angeles earlier this month, despite California Gov. Gavin Newsom not welcoming the troops into the city.
Schwarzenegger noted that the National Guard serves under both state and federal command, and that the president can federalize the National Guard in certain circumstances.
Just Security — an independent, nonpartisan, daily digital law and policy journal — stated, “Once federalized, National Guard troops come under the full command and control of the secretary of defense. In essence, National Guard troops become part of the federal military until and unless they are returned to state status.”
Schwarzenegger emphasized that it is “very important” for the president and governors to “work together” to achieve a common goal.
RELATED: Trump’s rising poll numbers amid LA unrest revealed
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Arnold schwarzenegger, Immigration, The view, Joy behar, Illegal immigration, Anti-ice protests, Illegal aliens, Illegal immigrants, News, Sunny hostin
Sec. Kristi Noem transported to hospital by ambulance: Report
Sec. Kristi Noem of the Department of Homeland Security was reportedly rushed to a hospital in Washington, D.C., via ambulance on Tuesday.
Few details were available about her condition, but she is said to be conscious and speaking to her security detail. A CNN report cited two sources familiar with the matter.
A spokesperson for DHS released a statement saying Noem was alert and recovering from an allergic reaction.
“Secretary Noem had an allergic reaction today. She was transported to the hospital out of an abundance of caution,” reads the statement from Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for the Dept. of Homeland Security.
The development came as top officials of the Trump administration were on high alert due to the war that had broken out between Israel and Iran. Trump has been issuing threats to the Iranian regime via social media and calling on them to stand down and agree to a peace deal.
Iranian officials had previously indicated that they were willing to sign a nuclear deal with the president if all sanctions were dropped.
RELATED: CNN brings in security expert to criticize Padilla incident, but he stuns them with his assessment
Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
In April, Noem was robbed of a purse with $3,000 inside by a masked man as she dined at a Washington restaurant. Police later determined the man to be a Chilean national who did not know whom he was stealing from and was in the country illegally.
Editor’s note: This article has been edited after publication to include a statement from the DHS.
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Kristi noem hospitalized, Dhs sec kristi noem, Noem health issues, Medical emergency, Politics
Kids ‘cosplaying as ICE agents’ and performing raids on ‘illegals’ in Roblox game
Illegal aliens are in the crosshairs of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents — even in the video game world.
Users of the massively popular online game Roblox are not only performing in-game raids on “illegals,” but they are also facing anti-ICE protests in the game’s fictional streets.
‘This is the only thing we can turn to.’
In Roblox, gamers can design virtually anything in a scaled-down, pixelated 3D world, leading to intricate gardens, basketball courts, or, in this case, federal agents sweeping facilities for illegal immigrants.
“Kids are cosplaying as ICE agents in Roblox, staging raids on fellow players who they deem illegal,” reporter Taylor Lorenz wrote on X. “Hundreds of kids are also protesting ICE in rallies across Brookhaven, Roblox’s most popular experience.”
In one staged scenario, ICE agents raid a Roblox version of a chicken restaurant called Los Pollos Hermanos found in the hit TV show “Breaking Bad.”
A firefight ensues, and ICE makes arrests of several employees.
RELATED: Antifa mobilizes in the Pacific Northwest to attack DHS locations and agents
Other videos posted to TikTok show a raid on a character in his bedroom at the hands of just one ICE agent with a baseball bat, while another shows an organized anti-ICE protest, complete with signs that say “F Ice,” likely because curse words are not allowed on the platform.
Lorenz spoke to a 17-year-old who she said “organized the largest anti-ICE protest in Roblox,” which featured burning police cars and Roblox characters holding Mexican flags while battling police.
“A lot of young people really want to protest and put their words and beliefs out there but are unable to,” the child told Lorenz. “So this is the only thing we can turn to.”
At least six more in-game anti-ICE protests were being organized, according to the teen. Most of the action has reportedly happened in “Brookhaven,” the most popular server in Roblox, which has seen upwards of one million users at one time.
RELATED: Is your child being exposed to pedophiles in the metaverse?
Police and National Guard troops take measures as thousands of anti-ICE protesters are gathered outside of the Federal Building in Los Angeles, California, on June 9, 2025, amid protests over immigration raids. Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images
Blaze News previously reported on Roblox’s enormous user base last year, about 58% of which were under the age of 16, equating to around 46 million children on the platform.
However, Roblox has strict safety measures and a history of taking serious precautions to protect children.
Roblox did not respond to a request for comment regarding whether or not in-game scenarios like the protests and raids went against their terms of service.
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The drone racing world just had its John Henry moment. Battlefields will never be the same.
The steel-driving man of American legend, John Henry, attempted to beat the machine — and won, though it cost him his life. At the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League’s (A2RL) Drone Championship in April, man tried to beat the machine and lost — and the technology responsible could soon claim many a life on battlefields the world over.
There were four race formats at the drone competition co-hosted by the Drone Champions League and A2RL this past April in Abu Dhabi: an autonomous drag race where lightweight flyers fired through multiple gates at speeds of over 93 mph; a multi-drone race; an AI grand challenge; and a match pitting elite DCL human pilots against an autonomous drone.
In the fourth type of race, an autonomous quadcopter drone built and trained by a team of scientists and students at Delft University of Technology’s aerospace engineering MAVLab in the Netherlands beat three former DCL world champions, reaching speeds on the winding indoor track of nearly 60 mph.
A2RL concluded in a release that the races demonstrated that “AI, when given the right tools, can make complex, real-time decisions in a dynamic physical world. And it can do so safely, at speed, and at scale.”
‘Autonomous drone racing is an ideal test case for developing and demonstrating highly efficient, robust AI.’
Footage shows the drone whip effortlessly through a series of 22 indoor gates using only a front-facing camera and a motion sensor.
According to the university, the feat — possible because their “efficient and robust AI system [is] capable of split-second, high-performance control” — was historic.
Humans have been losing in games played virtually to supercomputers for decades. However, the university noted that “this achievement happened in the real world.”
RELATED: Ukraine drone strikes just changed EVERYTHING about warfare
An FPV drone controlled via a fiber-optic cable flies during Ukrainian military training on January 29, 2025 in Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. Photo by Dan Bashakov/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
Team lead Christophe De Wagter said in a statement, “I always wondered when AI would be able to compete with human drone racing pilots in real competitions. I’m extremely proud of the team that we were able to make it happen already this year.”
“I hope that this achievement and this type of competition in general forms a springboard for real-world robot applications,” added De Wagter. “Robot AI is limited by the required computational and energy resources. Autonomous drone racing is an ideal test case for developing and demonstrating highly efficient, robust AI.”
The efficacy of autonomous drones on the raceway certainly has implications for the future of warfare.
Already in Ukraine, drones — which Kyiv is on track to produce 2.5 million of annually — have blunted the competitive edge of state-of-the-art bomber aircraft and armor and now reportedly cause an estimated 70% of deaths and injuries. The vast majority of drones in the war are, however, human-operated.
A special report published earlier this month by the Institute for the Study of War noted that “Russia and Ukraine are engaged in an active technological race to develop and deploy drones with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) capabilities” as doing so would reduce their reliance on human drone operators and defenders, overcome human limitations in target identification, and accelerate decision-making processes involved in drone warfare.
The warring nations have reportedly demonstrated some integration of AI capabilities into drones as of last month but have not deployed them on scale in the battlefield.
In one instance, a Ukrainian electronic and radio warfare expert observed Russian forces field a swarm of six drones, each of which carry a 6.6 pound warhead and have a range of up to 50 miles.
RELATED: A brutal wake-up call from America’s most powerful banker
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
ISW noted that Ukrainian forces, on the other hand, deployed a new AI-powered “mother drone” on the frontlines in late May — a drone that can reportedly deploy two first-person-view drones and launch a strike at a range of 186 miles.
The mothership was created by the Ukrainian startup Strategy Force Solutions.
The CTO of the company, who identified himself only as Andrii, told Forbes, “A $10,000 mission replaces what previously required $3-$5 million missile systems.”
“By pairing them [small FPV type drones] with AI mothership drones, we can guarantee precision strikes,” added Andrii.
The TU Delft drone evidences a technological leap that if utilized in the warring nation’s UAVs could mean greater effectiveness when attacking in dynamic combat zones as greater difficulty on the part of targets to evade or shoot them down.
The Dutch university indicated that one of the novel aspects of the racer drone’s AI is its use of a deep neural network originally developed by the Advanced Concepts Team at the European Space Agency, which enables the system to bypass a traditional human controller and direct commands straight to the motors.
“Traditional, human-engineered algorithms for optimal control were computationally so expensive that they would never be able to run onboard resource-constrained systems such as drones or satellites,” said the university. “ESA found that deep neural networks were able to mimic the outcomes of traditional algorithms, while requiring orders of magnitude less processing time.”
“We now train the deep neural networks with reinforcement learning, a form of learning by trial and error,” said De Wagter. “This allows the drone to more closely approach the physical limits of the system. To get there, though, we had to redesign not only the training procedure for the control but also how we can learn about the drone’s dynamics from its own onboard sensory data.”
According to a MarketDigits 2023 projection, the autonomous drone market will reach $53.4 billion by 2030, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 18.9% during the forecast period.
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Florida sheriff shuts down Lizzo over claim he threatened peaceful protesters: ‘What she thinks means exactly zero to me’
A Florida sheriff issued a fiery statement against singer Lizzo over accusations on social media that he threatened to kill peaceful protesters.
Lizzo, whose real name is Melissa Viviane Jefferson, posted the accusations and said she was appalled that law enforcement officials would threaten to stamp out the constitutional right to free speech in the U.S.
‘Until earlier tonight, I had never heard of her.’
“I just watched a video of law enforcement saying they would kill — kill anyone who exercises their First Amendment rights to protest. And I’ve never seen anything more unconstitutional in my life. It was actually appalling,” she said in the video on Instagram.
She said that people have to get louder to combat officials acting illegally.
“I want to encourage everybody to remember their constitutional rights,” she added. “I want to encourage everybody to also protect each other. Because the people that we put in position to protect us are not doing that. Know your rights and stand on ’em.”
Jefferson was likely referring to a viral video of Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey, who warned protesters ahead of the No Kings demonstrations to avoid criminal behavior or face the consequences.
“If you spit on us, you’re going to the hospital and then jail. If you hit one of us, you’re going to the hospital and then jail and most likely get bitten by one of our big, beautiful dogs that we have here,” said Ivey in the viral video.
Ivey did threaten to use lethal force against protesters, but he specifically said that about anyone who uses extreme violence during a protest.
“Throw a brick, firebomb, or point a gun at one of our deputies, we will be notifying your family where to collect your remains at,” he added. “Because we will kill you graveyard dead. We’re not going to play.”
After hearing about her post, Ivey responded to Jefferson’s post and excoriated her for misconstruing his comments while confirming that he’s not a fan of her music.
“Lizzo who?” he said to Fox News Digital. “Until earlier tonight, I had never heard of her. So what she thinks matters exactly zero to me! She clearly didn’t listen to what was actually said during the press conference, as is evidenced by how inaccurate her quote is.”
The post from Lizzo to her 11 million followers on Instagram had garnered nearly 75,000 likes.
“At no time were people peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights [ever] threatened, as what was actually said was that peaceful protests are part of our democracy, and we will provide a safe environment for peaceful protest to take place!” Ivey added.
“My warnings were directed at violent protesters whose actions would put citizens and law enforcement officers’ lives at risk!” he concluded.
Photo by RINGO CHIU/AFP via Getty Images
Fox News Digital said it reached out to Lizzo’s management company but did not get a response.
Millions of people participated in the No Kings protests, and some violence was reported at a number of demonstrations. Statistically, between 1% and 1.5% of the total population joined the protests against the Trump administration.
Lizzo also made headlines when some fat-positivity activists expressed outrage that she had betrayed the movement by seeking to lose weight after initially pushing for more fat acceptance.
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Sanctuary cities beware: Mass deportations ahead
Democrats are up in arms after President Donald Trump has threatened to send ICE into sanctuary cities and start deporting illegal aliens en masse — which he explained on Truth Social in signature Trump fashion.
“Our Nation’s ICE Officers have shown incredible strength, determination, and courage as they facilitate a very important mission, the largest Mass Deportation Operation of Illegal Aliens in History …” Trump began in a post on Truth Social.
“ICE Officers are herewith ordered, by notice of this TRUTH, to do all in their power to achieve the very important goal of delivering the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History,” he continued.
“In order to achieve this, we must expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America’s largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside,” he added, before calling these cities the “core of the Democrat Power Center.”
While Republicans are on board, Democrats continue to push the idea that illegal immigrants are at the heart of America, which they say would not be what it is without them.
“It seems like we have this big lie that’s being told in our country that our economy cannot function without the participation of these people in it,” Texas Rep. Mitch Little (R) tells BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales on “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered.”
“And to that, I just say, let’s find out,” he adds.
But it’s not just the illegal immigrants whom Little takes issue with.
“I’m also very concerned about the ongoing participation of China in our higher education,” he explains. “This is not really a place for us to be making exceptions.”
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The plot thickens: No Kings flyers found in Minnesota suspect’s car
The Minnesota man who is suspected of killing a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband was caught by police hiding in a rural field, but who he is and possible motives only get murkier as more information is revealed.
Vance Boelter also allegedly took the life of the Hortmans’ golden retriever, Gilbert; shot Democratic state Senator John Hoffman and his wife in their home; and had stacks of No Kings flyers that were recovered in his car. While some have claimed that Boelter was a Trump supporter, the discovered flyers, which simply said “No Kings,” in reference to the nationwide anti-Trump protests, have caused some confusion.
“I mean, none of this makes any sense,” BlazeTV host Pat Gray of “Pat Gray Unleashed” comments. “Nobody knows necessarily his motivation. They are calling it political.”
The last time Boelter is known to have been a registered Republican was over 20 years ago in Oklahoma.
But it gets weirder, as Boelter is married, but he has a roommate.
“How is he married, and he has a roommate? I don’t understand this situation. His roommate says he was a big Trump supporter,” Gray explains, noting that his wife was found with passports, food, cash and a loaded-up car.
“Was he going to abandon the roommate and take off with his wife?” Gray asks, dumbfounded, though he does know one thing. “I think we have an idea what kind of guy he is: a psycho murdering kind of guy.”
“Man, what a weird situation,” he adds.
Keith Malinak notes that even stranger, Hortman recently cast a vote that caused issues between her and her own party.
“She’s the one that crossed party lines to go and vote and stop this health care for illegals in Minnesota, which is strange because she’s really extreme left on many issues,” Malinak says.
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NYC comptroller locks arms with man to prevent ICE arrest: ‘Show me your warrant!’
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander was arrested by federal agents after locking arms with a man who was in court for potential deportation.
Lander is also a candidate for New York City mayor in the upcoming primary election. His policy proposals include ending homelessness for the mentally ill, standing up to Donald Trump, preparing for the “climate crisis,” and standing up for “our immigrant neighbors.”
Lander was apparently attempting to do just that when he was filmed near a courtroom at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan following immigration hearings.
‘You don’t have the authority to arrest US citizens!’
In the hallway outside of the courtroom, Lander latched onto a man as federal agents approached him. The agents represented ICE, the FBI, and the Treasury Department, according to amNY.
As video of the confrontation shows, Lander refused to let go of the alleged illegal immigrant who was reportedly just seen by a judge for possible deportation. AmNY claimed the man’s case was dismissed but provided no specifics.
Agents attempted to separate Lander from the man, as the comptroller yelled, “Show me your warrant! Show me your badge!”
RELATED: Trump’s immigration crackdown works: 1 million illegal aliens reportedly self-deport
Still holding on, Lander took a calmer approach and said, “I will let go if you show me a judicial warrant,” and, “I would like to see the warrant, and then I will let go.”
The agents forcibly separated the two men and took both into custody as Lander yelled, “You don’t have the authority to arrest U.S. citizens!”
Lander claimed he was “not obstructing” and was simply “standing right here in the hallway,” before again telling agents they did not have the authority to arrest him.
RELATED: Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass to California: ‘Look what you made us do!’
In a statement to Blaze News, Dept. of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Lander was arrested for “impeding a federal officer.”
“Our heroic ICE law enforcement officers face a 413% increase in assaults against them — it is wrong that politicians seeking higher office undermine law enforcement safety to get a viral moment,” McLaughlin continued. “No one is above the law, and if you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will face consequences.”
A spokesperson for Lander told amNY that the comptroller was “taken by masked agents and detained by ICE.”
Meanwhile, Lander’s wife, Meg Barnette, posted on his X page on his behalf, saying, “Brad is still in ICE custody.”
“We are grateful to the many friends, supporters, and allies who have gathered in Federal Plaza,” Barnette wrote. “Together we are standing up for those with no voice.”
DHS did not confirm the name or status of the man Lander latched himself to.
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Trump order leads to investigation of 33 potential incidents of noncitizen voting, AG Paxton says
An executive order from President Donald Trump opened up records that led to the identification of more than two dozen incidents where noncitizens may have illegally voted in the 2024 election.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement Tuesday that 33 cases of potential illegal voting were referred to his office by Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson.
‘Noncitizens must not be allowed to influence American elections, and I will use the full weight of my office to investigate all voter fraud.’
Paxton said that the data was discovered as a result of Trump opening up access to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service’s SAVE Database to the states. Nelson used the database to identify the 33 cases.
She said that having access to the database was a “game changer” for the mission of her office.
“Not only have we been able to identify individuals who should not have voted in the last election, we have also been able to confirm naturalization of dozens more,” Nelson explained.
The database is compiled by the federal government to confirm the citizenship status of those who are applying for benefits or licenses.
“Noncitizens must not be allowed to influence American elections, and I will use the full weight of my office to investigate all voter fraud,” said Attorney General Paxton in a written statement.
“In order to be able to trust the integrity of our elections, the results must be determined by our own citizens — not foreign nationals breaking the law to illegally vote,” he added. “These potential instances of unlawful voting will be thoroughly investigated, and I will continue to stand with President Trump in fighting to ensure that our state’s elections are safe and secure.”
Photo by Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Trump’s executive order in February directed state officials to improve their policies in order to ensure illegal aliens are not abusing the social safety net.
“We are stewards of taxpayer dollars, and it is our duty to ensure states confirm the identity and verify the immigration status of SNAP applicants,” wrote Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins in a statement at the time. “USDA’s nutrition programs are intended to support the most vulnerable Americans. To allow those who broke our laws by entering the United States illegally to receive these benefits is outrageous.”
Paxton is running to unseat Republican Sen. John Cornyn (Texas) in the Republican primary. Cornyn has been in the U.S. Senate for 23 years and is 73 years old.
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Vindicated? Patel’s FBI uncovers apparent Chinese communist plot to rig 2020 mail-in vote for Biden
In a New York Times magazine interview published on June 1, 2020, then-Attorney General Bill Barr acknowledged that the Department of Justice was concerned that “there are a number of foreign countries that could easily make counterfeit ballots, put names on them, send them in.”
Weeks later, President Donald Trump tweeted: “RIGGED 2020 ELECTION: MILLIONS OF MAIL-IN BALLOTS WILL BE PRINTED BY FOREIGN COUNTRIES, AND OTHERS. IT WILL BE THE SCANDAL OF OUR TIMES!”
Election officials, Democrats, and the liberal media were quick to suggest that such claims weren’t just “unfounded” — they were “preposterous.”
Like the American liberal establishment, these strategic dismissals have not aged well.
FBI Director Kash Patel announced Monday that the bureau located intelligence reports from August 2020 that detail “alarming allegations” regarding an apparent Chinese communist plot to interfere in the presidential election for the benefit of then-candidate Joe Biden.
Nearly as damning as the allegations was their alleged cover-up by elements of the intelligence community ahead of the election.
Patel told Just the News that the newly declassified documents “include allegations of plans from the [Chinese Communist Party] to manufacture fake driver’s licenses and ship them into the United States for the purpose of facilitating fraudulent mail-in ballots — allegations which, while substantiated, were abruptly recalled and never disclosed to the public.”
Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced on July 27, 2020, that between Jan. 1 and June 30 of that election year, CBP officers at the International Mail Facility at Chicago O’Hare International Airport had seized 1,513 shipments containing fraudulent documents, including 19,888 counterfeit U.S. drivers’ licenses.
“The majority of these shipments were arriving from China and Hong Kong, with other seized shipments arriving from Great Britain and South Korea,” noted CBP.
The licenses were mostly intended for college-age students across various states. In many cases, the barcode attached to the licenses actually worked. It’s unclear whether some of the hundreds of thousands of Chinese students at universities across the country or some of the nearly 400,000 Chinese illegal aliens were the intended recipients.
“These fraudulent identity documents can lead to identity theft, worksite enforcement, critical infrastructure protection, fraud linked to immigration-related crimes such as human smuggling and human trafficking, and these documents can be used by those individuals associated with terrorism to minimize scrutiny from travel screening measures,” added CBP.
Officials who have seen the newly declassified documents told Just the News that a confidential source provided the FBI with information in summer 2020 indicating that the Chinese communist regime was mass-producing fake American drivers’ licenses in order to create voter identities for Chinese nationals so that they could vote with fake mail-in ballots.
The goal was apparently to help Biden beat Trump.
An intelligence official indicated that despite the gravity of the allegations, the intel report was recalled after just a few weeks and the allegations never fully explored.
‘It was a deliberate effort by the Intelligence Community to hide these facts from the public.’
The reason given was that the confidential source needed to be re-interviewed. However, it appears politics may have informed the decision.
The intelligence community’s then-analytic ombudsman Barry Zulauf indicated in a report on a number of election security intelligence issues that “China analysts appeared hesitant to assess Chinese actions as undue influence or interference. These analysts appeared reluctant to have their analysis on China brought forward because they tended to disagree with the [Trump] Administration’s policies, saying in effect, ‘I don’t want our intelligence used to support those policies.'”
RELATED: China is winning the Cold War 2.0 … and we’re letting it happen
Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
In a Jan. 7, 2021, memo, then-DNI and current CIA Director John Ratcliffe directed the attention of senators on the Select Committee on Intelligence to how the ombudsman found that “CIA Management took actions ‘pressuring [analysts] to withdraw their support’ from the alternative viewpoint on China ‘in an attempt to suppress it. This was seen by National Intelligence Officers as politicization,’ and I agree.”
Ratcliffe went on to defend Christopher Porter — the former national intelligence officer for cyber at the National Intelligence Council, who led the U.S. intelligence community’s analysis of threats to American elections — for refusing to back down from flagging the threat of Chinese election interference. Contrary to the supposed majority view, Porter apparently maintained that “China took at least some steps to undermine former President Trump’s reelection chances.”
Porter, who expressed his gratitude on Tuesday that Patel “is standing up for the truth senior Intelligence Community leaders conspired to hide,” claimed that the CIA and senior leadership at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence harassed him and drove him out of the building when he said that China had interfered in 2020.
“Just remember, this wasn’t an oversight: it was a deliberate effort by the Intelligence Community to hide these facts from the public so President Trump couldn’t defend his campaign for reelection,” added Porter.
The ombudsman took pains to explain that “due to varying collection and insight into hostile state actors’ leadership intentions and domestic election influence campaigns, the definitional use of the terms ‘influence’ and ‘interference’ and associated confidence levels are applied differently by the China and Russia analytic communities.”
RELATED: Chinese official avows Beijing is behind cyberattacks on US, identifies motive: Report
Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
Zulauf suggested further that the difference in application of these analytic terms led to “differences in the volume, frequency, and confidence levels of the intelligence coming from the China and Russia analytic communities,” though they were “very similar in their potential effects.”
In his report, Zulauf found that “there were attempts to politicize intelligence.”
Zulauf referred to several examples, “the most egregious” of which was delivered by National Counterintelligence and Security Center Director Bill Evanina on March 10, 2020. Evanina delivered remarks that were construed as the opinion of the IC, yet analysts called the introductory statement and talking points a “gross misinterpretation” of the IC’s views.
The ombudsman also highlighted “what appears to be politically motivated editing” of a May 2020 National Intelligence Council Memo in what he described as one example of “the overall pattern of perceived politicization.”
Then-National Intelligence Chair Christopher Kojm, who later ended up on Biden’s presidential transition Agency Review Team, “crafted the language” of the memo, which reportedly “led with intelligence gaps and ‘buried the lead’ regarding what the IC does know about election security threats.”
“The result was a final product whose delayed publication meant it diverged sharply from the up-to-date IC view communicated in other product lines,” wrote Zulauf. “I have e-mail exchanges to document this delay, allusions to political repercussions, and frustration from intelligence professionals with the delay.”
“NIC officials pointed to ODNI senior officials as intervening in the changes to conclusions, saying that they were overly sensitive to political customers who saw the dissonance between China and Russia reporting and the inconsistent application of definitions,” added Zulauf.
The alleged cover-up of the Chinese election fraud plot appears to be par for the course within what the ombudsman referred to as this “hyper partisan state” of play.
It appears this narrative curation ultimately proved successful.
In March 2021, the National Intelligence Council released an assessment report stating with high confidence that “China did not deploy interference efforts and considered but did not deploy influence efforts intended to change the outcome of the US Presidential election.”
‘They should be investigating and getting this ready for prosecution.’
The report noted further that the intelligence community had “no indications that any foreign actor attempted to alter any technical aspect of the voting process in the 2020 US elections, including voter registration, casting ballots, vote tabulation, or reporting results.”
Patel told Just the News he declassified the intel documents pertaining to the August 2020 intel report and provided them to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) for further review.
The news of the documents’ location and declassification was well received by a number of Republican lawmakers, including Rep. Ana Paulina Luna (Fla.), who stated, “America needs to wake up. Trump is NOT the enemy, it’s the CCP.”
Mike Howell, president of the Oversight Project, suggested to Blaze News that “a limited disclosure to Congress is not sufficient.”
“They’re the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” continued Howell. “They should be investigating and getting this ready for prosecution.”
Blaze News reached out to the ODNI and the White House but did not immediately receive responses. When pressed for comment, the FBI referred Blaze News to Patel’s post on X.
Mike Howell is a contributor to Blaze News.
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Cardinal Burke calls for an end to ‘persecution from within the Church’
The change in popes earlier this year has enlivened the international debate about the Catholic liturgy and tradition, especially about the traditional Latin Mass. With Vatican deadlines approaching later this year, everyone is anxious to see what Pope Leo XIV’s legacy will be.
Cardinal Leo Burke recently announced his hope that the new pope would “reconsider” the recent teachings of Pope Francis, which led to “persecution from within the Church” regarding the discontinuation of the Latin Mass.
‘Unfortunately, the current restrictions put in place by the recently deceased Pope Francis have caused confusion and hurt to the faithful who are seeking to worship the holy Trinity with the ancient liturgy and rituals.’
During a conference with the Latin Mass Society, Cardinal Burke was asked what he hopes the new pope, Leo XIV, will do regarding the late Pope Francis’ restrictions on the Latin Mass.
“It is my hope that he will put an end to the persecution of the faithful in the Church who desire to worship God according to the more ancient usage of the Roman right,” Burke, over video, told the conference.
Cardinal Burke signaled that he had already expressed his hopes for the future of the Latin Mass to Pope Leo XIV: “I certainly have already had occasion to express that to the Holy Father. … It is my hope that he will restore the situation as it was after ‘Summorum Pontificum’ and even to continue to develop what Pope Benedict had so wisely and lovingly legislated for the Church.”
RELATED: Not Francis 2.0: Why Pope Leo XIV is a problem for the ‘woke’ agenda
“Summorum Pontificum” (2007) was Pope Benedict XVI’s affirmation of the traditional celebration of the holy Mass in Latin. It was later restricted by Pope Francis’ own motu proprio, “Traditionis Custodes” (2021).
Benedict’s letter emphasized that the traditional Latin Mass and Novus Ordo were a “twofold use of one and the same rite,” while Francis called for liturgical unity, limiting the extent to which the Latin Mass could be used.
Pope Francis’ restrictions on the Latin Mass have been met with a great deal of resistance from the faithful, yet some dioceses have insisted on obedience to this order.
Many Catholics have argued against the legitimacy of “Traditionis Custodes,” including liturgical scholar Dr. Peter Kwasniewski, who said in a 2021 speech at a Catholic Identity Conference, “The traditional Mass belongs to the most intimate part of the common good in the Church. Restricting it, pushing it into ghettos, and ultimately planning its demise can have no legitimacy. This law is not a law of the Church because, as St. Thomas Aquinas says, a law against the common good is no valid law.”
Charlotte, North Carolina, however, has become a focal point in this controversy because Bishop Michael Martin recently announced that he would expedite the change in his diocese.
On May 23, Bishop Martin announced that the Latin Mass would cease to be offered by the four parishes in his diocese that celebrate it. He said the transition would be completed by the deadline of July 8, 2025.
That deadline, however, is three months ahead of an existing October 2025 deadline for the transition.
But in an unlikely turn of events, Bishop Martin announced on June 3 that he would push back the deadline to the Vatican’s original October deadline. He cited pastoral concerns, both from parishioners and priests.
“It made sense to start these changes in July when dozens of our priests will be moving to their new parishes and other assignments,” Bishop Martin told local Catholic News Herald. “That said, I want to listen to the concerns of these parishioners and their priests, and I am willing to give them more time to absorb these changes.”
RELATED: Truth bomb: How Pope Leo XIV is exposing the left’s greatest fear
Photo by Grzegorz Galazka/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images
“I support the letter of His Eminence, Cardinal Burke, and his attempt to bring about Catholic unity under the peaceful provisions established by Pope Benedict XVI for the traditional Latin Mass. Unfortunately, the current restrictions put in place by the recently deceased Pope Francis have caused confusion and hurt to the faithful who are seeking to worship the holy Trinity with the ancient liturgy and rituals,” Dr. Taylor R. Marshall, president of the New Saint Thomas Institute, told Blaze News.
“I recently met with another cardinal in Rome who agrees with Cardinal Burke. We hope that the new pontiff, Pope Leo XIV, restores the generosity of Pope Benedict XVI by allowing the traditional Latin Mass to Catholics,” Dr. Marshall continued.
Bishop Martin also told the local outlet that the diocese would abide by any formal instruction from the Vatican in the interim.
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Video shows angry parents confronting male school bus driver in ‘school girl’ dress who allegedly gave route ‘disturbing’ name
Parents of students at a private school in Canada were able to get results after they confronted a bus driver about his creepy behavior.
The video shows the male driver in pink and white “school girl” garb brazenly defying the parents who question him on why he’s wearing the get-up in front of children. The driver reportedly bused students at St. Michael the Archangel Elementary in Woodbridge, Ontario.
‘Our children deserve to be transported by someone who maintains professional boundaries. The optics of this situation were disturbing.’
“I do this every day, and I don’t think … there is an issue,” the driver says.
“So you picked up the kids dressed up like that?” asks one person.
“Yep!” he replies.
“Why do you call your bus the Lolita Line?” asks another male. “Why is it called the Lolita Line?”
The driver does not respond, closes the doors to the bus, and drives away.
The video was posted to social media, where it garnered millions of views.
One social media user noticed that in the video a sign is visible referring to the “Lolita” name. That name could be a reference to the controversial book “Lolita” and movie where a pedophile professor victimizes and sexually abuses a 12-year-old girl. Jeffrey Epstein referred to the book, according to one of his accusers, and called his plane to his infamous pedophile island the “Lolita Express.”
One parent voiced concerns anonymously in a statement published by CAA Magazine.
“The issue is not about personal expression — it’s about judgment and context,” said the parent. “Our children deserve to be transported by someone who maintains professional boundaries. The optics of this situation were disturbing.”
The York Catholic District School Board confirmed that the driver would not be assigned to the routes of the elementary school. However, the board merely requested a reassignment, and CAA noted that it’s unclear if the man is still allowed access to children as a bus driver.
RELATED: MAGA dad silenced by Maine school board chair after speaking out against boys in girls’ sports
Photo by Cole Burston/Bloomberg via Getty Images
“Third-party companies provide school busing in Ontario. YCDSB staff immediately brought this matter to the bus driver’s employer. The company acted quickly to address this situation with its employee and assured the YCDSB that this will not be an issue going forward,” read a statement from the Catholic school board to Rebel News.
“All bus drivers in Ontario are required to pass a Vulnerable Sector Screening with their local police department, and they receive extensive training before transporting students,” the statement continued. “The YCDSB followed all of its child protection procedures after this incident.”
Scenes from the school can be viewed on the news video from Rebel News on YouTube.
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Canada’s solution to reliance on US? Increasing commitments in Europe
If Donald Trump’s “51st state” cracks have gotten under Mark Carney’s skin, he wasn’t showing it when he kicked off the G7 summit Monday.
Sitting next to the American president, Canada’s prime minister played the consummate host, with conciliatory remarks stressing how much the participant nations have in common.
‘We are actively seeking to strengthen transatlantic security, particularly by becoming a participant in rearming Europe.’
“All of us around this table are reinforcing our militaries and security services for the new world,” he said. “But we all know that there can be no security without economic prosperity, and no prosperity without resilience. And … that resilience comes from cooperation, cooperation that starts around this table.”
Two-percenter
Still, Carney has lately made it clear that he’d like to place some distance between him and his tablemate. Last week, he pledged that the country would boost defense spending to the tune of an additional $9.3 billion this year in order to be less “reliant” on the protection of its big brother to the south.
Carney’s increase would bring Canada’s defense spending in line with NATO’s benchmark of 2% of GDP for the first time since NATO established the benchmark in 2006. In the last two decades, Canada has rarely exceeded 1.5% and has usually hovered around 1%.
The last time Canada’s defense spending met the 2% threshold was in 1987, when former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney sought to rebuild Canada’s military. At the height of the Cold War in the 1950s and 1960s, Canada was spending well over 4% of its GDP on national defense.
But will Canadians actually benefit from Carney’s spending spree?
RELATED: Listen up, America: Everything you’ve been told about Canada is a lie
Lillian Suwanrumpha/Dave Chan/Toronto Star/NurPhoto/Bloomberg/André Ringuette/Douglas Elbinger/Getty Images
‘Deep decline’
In his announcement last Monday, Carney was typically vague about where the money will go, while hinting that Canada is on the market for new military allies and relationships:
Canada can work towards a new international set of partnerships that are more secure, prosperous, just, and free. We can pursue deeper alliances with stable democracies who share our interests, values, principles, and history, and we can help create a new era of integration between like-minded partners that maximizes mutual support over mutual dependency.
On one point, Carney was blunt: The Canadian Armed Forces are a military in deep decline. “Our military infrastructure and equipment have aged, hindering our military preparedness,” he said. “I’ll give an example or two: Only one of our four submarines is seaworthy. Less than half our maritime fleet and land vehicles are operational.”
Continental affair
So where are these “like-minded partners” who will help Canada get back into fighting shape? Not on this side of the Atlantic. Carney has openly mused about Canada becoming a member of the European Union and contributing to its defense force, and this looks like a big step in that direction.
Does this mean that Carney will join European leaders like U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron in providing missiles to Ukraine for its war with Russia? Is that how he plans to spend Canadian tax dollars? It might not seem like a good deal to Canadians.
Last month, however, Carney expressed his intention for Canada to join ReArm Europe, a major European defense buildup. He has also continued his predecessor Justin Trudeau’s policy of sending billions of dollars in military and civil aid to Ukraine, even though the country is on the brink of defeat.
Carney said:
We are actively seeking to strengthen transatlantic security, particularly by becoming a participant in ReArm Europe. This will help diversify our military suppliers with reliable European partners and integrate the Canadian defense industry as full participants in 150 billion euros of Europe’s rearmament program.
To these ends, the Canada EU summit later this month will be more important than ever, and Canada will arrive at this summit with a plan to lead with new investments to build our strength in service of our values. This will include our support for new NATO defense industrial pledge, which will be negotiated at the NATO summit.
‘Blank check’ from Pierre
At a news conference on Monday, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre essentially gave Carney a blank check and promised his support to help the liberals achieve the military spending target.
“After a decade of liberal cuts, mismanagement, and back-office bureaucracy of boondoggles and wasted money on bungled projects, our military has never been weaker,” said Poilievre.
“Now, more than ever, we need a strong military that will reassert our sovereignty in the north, take back control of our Arctic waters,” Poilevre added, noting that he wanted to fight the increasingly woke policies that have infected Canada’s military and bring back the “warrior culture.”
But he stood shoulder to shoulder with Carney on spending. “We support getting back to the 2% target as soon as possible, and we will support additional money for our military,” Poilievre said, even as he promised to ferret out “waste in bureaucracy, consultants, foreign aid, corporate welfare, and other areas.”
Despite his tough talk, Poilievre admitted he had yet to see the Liberal government’s budget for the increased spending.
G7 summit, Canada, Mark carney, Donald trump, Pierre poilievre, Emmanuel macron, Kier starmer, European union, Ukraine, Russia, Culture, Letter from canada
Glenn Beck asked AI to investigate Biden’s shadow presidency — you won’t believe who it named
Jake Tapper’s new book, “Original Sin,” and the ongoing investigations into the Biden autopen scandal continue to fuel the growing conviction that President Biden was just the puppet behind a cabal of operatives who ran the country. At this point, even the legacy media, which was complicit in the cover-up of Biden’s cognitive decline, is admitting it.
So who then was in charge of the nation?
Glenn Beck did a little experiment and asked artificial intelligence to “analyze every single claim, speculation, insider report, congressional hearing” related to who was making the decisions in the Biden White House. He also asked it to “speculate on how a deep state president would be set as a cutout”: “What would it take to run the country, and how would you keep it from the American public?”
Its answer was shocking.
The AI platform “said there were two groups of people within the White House that would be needed” to pull off such a scandal — the decision-makers and the cover-up artists.
For the former group, it named Jeff Zients and Ron Klain — both Biden’s White House chief of staff at one point — as likely culprits. It also listed Annie Tomasini, former White House deputy chief of staff and director of Oval Office operations; Neera Tanden, White House domestic policy adviser; and Jake Sullivan, Biden’s U.S. national security adviser, as probable players.
For the suppression squad, AI pinpointed Mike Donilon, a senior Biden adviser, Anthony Bernal, a senior adviser to Jill Biden, Ashley Williams, special assistant to the president and deputy director of Oval Office operations, and Steve Ricchetti, counselor to the president.
Interestingly, when Glenn Beck recently had Congressman James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, on the show to discuss his intentions to expose the corruption that took place, he named Neera Tanden, Annie Tomasini, Anthony Bernal, and Ashley Williams as the top people he wanted to talk to.
When Glenn spoke with Lindy Li, a former DNC finance member and Harris campaign surrogate, she expressed anger at the cover-up, naming Jeff Zients and Annie Tomasini as the two people she was most suspicious of.
In December 2024, the Wall Street journal released a damning piece suggesting that President Biden was so mentally compromised, he wasn’t even communicating with major Cabinet members. The piece named Mike Donalin, Steve Ricchetti, Ron Klain, Annie Tomasini, and Jake Sullivan as likely culprits in the cover-up. Then in January 2025, the New York Times published an article arguing that Biden’s inner circle hid his cognitive decline, highlighting Mike Donalin, Steve Ricchetti, Annie Tomasini, and Anthony Bernal.
And finally, just last month, Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson’s book, “Original Sin,” debuted. In the 200+ interviews the duo conducted, the names Mike Donalin, Steve Ricchetti, and Ron Klain came up the most often.
“Sometimes AI is a little bit spooky,” says Glenn, reacting to how the platform aligned perfectly with other reports. However, “We can’t go off of AI; we can’t go off of hearsay; we can’t go off of anything. We need the DOJ, after the Congress has investigated, to then pick it up and investigate themselves with the FBI and then prosecute if there were crimes committed.”
To hear more, watch the video above.
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The glenn beck program, Glenn beck, Glenn tv, Blazetv, Blaze media, Biden cover up, Biden health decline, Original sin, Jake tapper, Alex thompson, White house, Biden white house, Jeff zients, Ron klain, Annie tomasini, Jake sullivan, Neera tanden, Ashley williams, Anthony bernal, Steve ricchetti, Mike donalin
California Wiener wants to ban masks for cops
Notorious California state Sen. Scott Wiener and a fellow Democrat have introduced legislation that would prevent members of law enforcement — from the lowliest local cops to federal immigration agents — from wearing face coverings.
On Monday, Wiener of San Francisco and Assembly Public Safety Committee Chair Jesse Arreguín of Oakland introduced the No Secret Police Act, which would make wearing a mask a misdemeanor for on-duty officers.
“We’re seeing the rise of secret police — masked, no identifying info, even wearing army fatigues — grabbing & disappearing people. It’s antithetical to democracy & harms communities,” Wiener posted to X. “The No Secret Police Act can help end the fear & chaos this behavior creates in communities.”
‘They’re being doxxed all over the place.’
“What we have been seeing in the last few weeks are law enforcement — some local, some federal — who are wearing masks to completely hide their faces while they are carrying out deportation and other enforcement activities,” added Arreguín, according to KABC-TV.
Border czar Tom Homan has repeatedly insisted that ICE agents must wear masks to guard against doxing. “They’re being doxxed all over the place,” he told Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck last month. “Their pictures are being put on telephone poles in major cities. These officers are under great threat. They identify them. They put their home, they put the phone numbers or home address. It’s just ridiculous.”
Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
The proposed legislation does permit some exceptions for SWAT members and those wearing medical or safety masks to protect themselves against airborne disease and wildfires that regularly rage through the state. Face shields will also be permitted for those combatting riots, so long as their faces are still visible.
The New York Post noted that masked rioters on the streets of Los Angeles were caught on camera committing horrific acts of violence, including against police.
However, as the No Secret Police Act notes, existing California law already prohibits wearing “a mask, false whiskers, or any personal disguise, as specified, with the purpose of evading or escaping discovery, recognition, or identification while committing a public offense, or for concealment, flight, evasion, or escape from arrest or conviction for any public offense.”
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California, Masks, No secret police act, Scott wiener, Jesse arreguin, Tom homan, Border czar, Los angeles, La riots, Politics
MAHA scores major victory as Kraft Heinz vows to stop using artificial food dyes
In a significant victory for the “Make America Healthy Again” movement, food giant Kraft Heinz vowed that it would remove all artificial colors from its products in the coming years.
On Tuesday, Kraft Heinz announced in a statement that it will remove artificial food, drug, and cosmetic colors from products in the United States before the end of 2027.
Kraft Heinz also declared that ‘it will not launch any new products in the US with Food, Drug & Cosmetic (FD&C) colors, effective immediately.’
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration notes that there are seven certified synthetically produced color additives approved for use in foods, drugs, and cosmetics.
“The FDA’s regulations require evidence that a color additive is safe at its intended level of use before it may be added to foods,” according to the FDA.
In order to be an approved additive in foods, the artificial coloring can be added only to certain types of foods and in limited quantities. Companies that use it must also adhere to FDA regulations on how the color additive is presented on the product’s packaging.
As Blaze News reported in January, the FDA announced a ban on the use of Red No. 3 dye because of evidence that laboratory rats exposed to high levels of Red No. 3 developed cancer.
RELATED: Red dye 40 and hidden toxins are fueling the ADD epidemic
Kraft Heinz announced a three-pronged strategy for removing artificial colors from its existing products, including “removing colors where it is not critical to the consumer experience,” “replacing FD&C colors with natural colors,” or “reinventing new colors and shades where matching natural replacements are not available.”
Kraft Heinz pointed out that nearly 90% of its U.S. products are free of FD&C colors.
In addition to removing artificial dyes from its existing products, Kraft Heinz also declared that “it will not launch any new products in the U.S. with Food, Drug & Cosmetic (FD&C) colors, effective immediately.”
Pedro Navio — the North America president of Kraft Heinz — stated, “As a food company with a 150+ year heritage, we are continuously evolving our recipes, products, and portfolio to deliver superiority to consumers and customers. The vast majority of our products use natural or no colors, and we’ve been on a journey to reduce our use of FD&C colors across the remainder of our portfolio.”
Navio stressed that the company eliminated artificial colors, preservatives, and flavors from its extremely popular mac and cheese in 2016.
The Kraft Heinz Company has several notable brands under its umbrella, including Oscar Mayer, Ore-Ida, Capri Sun, Lunchables, Jell-O, and Kool-Aid.
Kraft Heinz is the “third-largest food and beverage company in North America and the fifth-largest food and beverage company in the world, with eight $1 billion+ brands,” according to the food behemoth.
RELATED: Grass-fed steaks, unprocessed salt, and more chemical-free picks from the Solarium
Kraft Heinz is removing all artificial colors from its brands after the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. placed pressure on food manufacturers to eliminate synthetic additives from their food products by the end of President Donald Trump’s term.
In March, Kennedy urged the removal of artificial dyes from food products in a meeting with top food executives from massive companies such as Kraft Heinz, PepsiCo, General Mills, Tyson Foods, and W.K. Kellogg.
As part of his MAHA agenda, Kennedy is pushing food manufacturers to remove potentially dangerous petroleum-based synthetic dyes from food.
“For too long, some food producers have been feeding Americans petroleum-based chemicals without their knowledge or consent,” Kennedy proclaimed in April. “These poisonous compounds offer no nutritional benefit and pose real, measurable dangers to our children’s health and development. That era is coming to an end.”
“We’re restoring gold-standard science, applying common sense, and beginning to earn back the public’s trust,” President Trump’s HHS secretary declared. “And we’re doing it by working with industry to get these toxic dyes out of the foods our families eat every day.”
In addition to removing artificial dyes from the nation’s food supply, the FDA is partnering with the National Institutes of Health to “conduct comprehensive research on how food additives impact children’s health and development.”
Blaze News reached out to the HHS and FDA for a comment on Kraft Heinz eliminating artificial food coloring but did not receive an immediate response.
RELATED: RFK’s highly anticipated MAHA report paints dark picture of America’s health crisis
Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
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Maha, Make america healthy again, Robert f kennedy jr, Rfk, Rfk jr, Food coloring, Food dyes, Artificial food dyes, Artificial food coloring, Health, News