Category: blaze media

Mark Zuckerberg has spent over 20 years building the Facebook brand, but it could all come to an end in one fell swoop.

Parent company Meta used words like “outlandish” and argued there was no historical precedent for its proposed punishment in recent legal filings for a lawsuit that could completely wipe out the company.

‘A sanction of that size has no analog in the history of consumer protection enforcement.’

Twenty-nine states are currently engaged in a lawsuit against Meta that accuses the company of violating child privacy laws that bar the collection of data from underage users.

The online company is facing court battles from almost every cardinal direction, but four particular states are threatening Meta with penalties of $1.4 trillion, which nearly equals its entire valuation; according to Yahoo Finance, Meta’s market cap is $1.48 trillion.

Meta responded to the sum in documents from the case in California, saying the “sheer magnitude” of the demands from the attorneys general “offends constitutional and ethical limits.”

“In just a single one of their ‘Remedy Chart’ calculations, the AGs seek over one trillion dollars in penalties and disgorgement, and they then layer on various other double-counting charts,” Meta wrote.

The massive sum comes from the AGs in California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey, who reportedly came up with the figure by estimating every under-13 user in each state that could have been affected by Meta’s policies.

“Each of these charts applies the maximum statutory penalty to every teen and purported under-13 user and every monthly instance of time spent at certain arbitrarily-selected thresholds,” Meta claimed.

Meta argued, “A sanction of that size has no analog in the history of consumer protection enforcement. Indeed, the Federal Trade Commission recently described a ‘$1 billion penalty’ as ‘the largest ever in a case involving an FTC rule violation.”

RELATED: New Senate bill punishes chilling of online speech — if it passes

HECTOR GUERRERO/AFP/GettyImages

Meta further argued that the demands made were in “gross disproportion” to the alleged violations, and are “unsubstantiated” and “outlandish.”

The defense went on, calling the trillion-dollar figure a “construct of lawyers” that counts the same individuals “many times over.”

The aforementioned jurisdictions are also looking to pin claims of misleading the public on Meta, which they say “prioritized profits over the safety of kids.”

A spokesperson for the California attorney general’s office told the New York Post that Meta helped fuel the mental health crisis that is “impacting a generation of American children.”

“The California Department of Justice looks forward to holding Meta fully accountable at trial in August,” the spokesperson added. The two sides will meet in court on August 18 in Oakland, California.

RELATED: Meta had 17-STRIKE policy for sex traffickers, ex-employee says

Christian Ender/Getty Images

Another parallel claim Meta is battling accuses the company of being aware of the harm its platforms can cause.

A former employee alleged that Meta stopped internal research that would have shown that ceasing use of Facebook saw users become less depressed or anxious. Blaze News reported on this portion of the lawsuit in November, which allegedly included a study called Project Mercury.

Project Mercury was allegedly initiated in 2019 to “explore the impact” of Meta apps and how they can affect “polarization, news consumption, well-being, and daily social interactions.”

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​Meta, Facebook, News, Mark zuckerberg, Social media, California, Tech 

Taylor Sheridan is the undisputed king of modern TV.

“Yellowstone.” “Tulsa King.” “Landman.” “Dutton Ranch.” “The Madison.” “1923.”

What, is Willy gender fluid this time around?

He’s prolific and popular, drawing the biggest names to his shows. Think Billy Bob Thornton, Michelle Pfeiffer, Kurt Russell, and Kevin Costner.

He just can’t buy himself an Emmy. The mega-producer got shut out, again, this week while Stephen Colbert’s canceled “Late Show” earned a record nine nominations. Could it have something to do with Sheridan’s embrace of heartland stories and Colbert’s failed war against a certain president?

Forget about it, Taylor. It’s Hollywood town …

‘Moana’ lost at sea

Let’s give Dwayne Johnson credit. He’s no Rachel Zegler (or Milly Alcock, for that matter). Those stars hurt their respective films (“Snow White” and “Supergirl”) with their disastrous press interviews.

Johnson knows better. He’s generally positive, and after he stepped on a banana peel by endorsing Joe Biden, Johnson announced he’s steering clear of politics.

Smart.

Yet his newest Disney venture, a live-action “Moana,” looks like another blockbuster dud. The film could earn as little as $40 million in its opening weekend, a fine haul for most movies but not an expensive Disney romp.

We can smell what the Rock is cooking, and it might be another “Baywatch” …

#OscarsSoWhat?

Are we heading toward #OscarsSoWhite: the sequel? A new report reveals interesting data points regarding “representation” within the industry. Never mind that said diversity measures never include Christians, conservatives, or gasp, Christian conservatives.

We’ll set that on a shelf for now.

Those Emmy nominations indicate diminishing DEI. TheWrap.com reports that “representation for actors of color at the 2026 Emmys continued to decline sharply, with only 18 performers from Asian, black. and Latino communities represented among the 91 nominees.”

That’s down from last year, when 24 of the 92 nominees were “POCs.”

How do we even know this? It’s simple: Entertainment news outlets like far-left TheWrap.com pore over every award nomination list looking for the slightest insinuation of bias.

Kevin Sorbo, canceled by the industry for being a Christian conservative, couldn’t be reached for comment …

RELATED: ‘Landman’: Is Taylor Sheridan’s gritty oil drama the last honest show about America?

Taylor Hill/Getty Images

Save the whale

What’s the one word that sets a movie lover’s teeth on edge? “Reimagining.” Yes, it’s happening, again, and the victim this time is a poor, innocent whale.

“Free Willy,” the 1993 charmer, is heading back to captivity. And naturally, the folks behind the project aren’t settling for a mere “remake” … or even “reboot.”

No, they used the other “R” word, or at least the Hollywood Reporter used it twice in the story tied to the new version of the classic, feel-good flick. What, is Willy gender fluid this time around?

Why change what isn’t broken? The original film spawned two sequels and an animated series. Now, this.

Keiko the whale deserves better.

‘Ghostbusters’ helmer gets ‘Detention’

“Bridesmaids” director Paul Feig is directing his first horror movie.

Or second, if you count his “Ghostbusters” reboot. That high-profile flop may have been light on scares — or laughs, for that matter — but it was certainly a nightmare for Sony. As well as for anyone who managed to sit through it.

Should we expect another cinematic atrocity?

His recent action-comedy “Jackpot” would seem to suggest we should. That Prime Video original went bust as one of the worst movies of 2024.

Or any year, really.

But let’s not forget that Feig has fought his way out of director’s jail before — by helming “A Simple Favor” and its 2025 straight-to-video sequel, plus last year’s surprise hit “The Housemaid” with Sydney Sweeney.

Now, Feig is teaming with horror maven Jason Blum to direct “Detention.” Literally nothing is known about the project for now — except that Feig expects to go “darker” than ever before.

Let’s hope that refers to the story — and the mood of innocent moviegoers after wasting two hours …

Sheen settles

We wouldn’t call this “winning.” Not even close.

Troubled actor Charlie Sheen has agreed to pay ex-wife Brooke Mueller $500,000 in back child support. The move means the former couple won’t have to litigate the matter in court. That’s probably wise, but skimping out on child support is terrible, period.

Sheen has seemingly cleaned up his life, apologized for his manic “tiger blood” phase, and opened up via his 2025 autobiography “The Book of Sheen.”

Let’s hope this ends up being one of the last vestiges of his chaotic bad-boy phase.

​Hollywood, Charlie sheen, Paul feig, Movies, Dwayne johnson, Stephen colbert, Yellowstone, Emmys, Toto recall, Donald trump, Taylor sheridan 

More than 75 years after Joseph McCarthy delivered one of his most controversial warnings, BlazeTV host Steve Deace believes history is proving him right.

In a 1950 speech, McCarthy drew a distinction between everyday Democratic voters and what he described as a small faction of communist-influenced operatives steering the party from within.

“There are definitely two groups of Democrats as of today,” McCarthy began. “Number one, there are the millions of loyal Americans who have voted the Democrat tickets. Individuals who are just as loyal, who hate communism just as much and love America just as much as the average Republican.”

“On the other hand, there is that small, closely knit group of administration Democrats who are now the complete prisoners and under the complete domination of the bureaucratic communistic Frankenstein, which they themselves have created,” he continued.

“To call them Democrats is an insult to the millions of loyal American Democrats. They shouldn’t be called Democrats.They should be referred to properly as the Commie-crat Party,” he added.

“Joseph McCarthy wasn’t wrong. He was just early,” Deace says after listening to McCarthy’s warning.

“Absolutely, he was right. And essentially what he’s saying in that clip is that not all Democrats are communists, but all communists are Democrats, which is something that for the last 15, 20 years that you’ve been on the air, Steve, you could have said every day that ends in ‘y’ and twice on Sundays,” Aaron McIntire agrees.

“I don’t really know how much clearer it could be at this point, because … not only are they out of the shadows, they are loud and proud about it at this point,” he says, pointing out that they call themselves “socialists” to soften what they stand for.

“They want to call themselves ‘those who stand in solidarity’ like that moron from New York said, ‘Solidarity means abolishing ICE,’” he continues, adding, “They want to cloak themselves in a lot of euphemisms, but at the heart of it, they are communists. So he was right on the money, just ahead of his time.”

Want more from Steve Deace?

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​Communists, Joseph mccarthy, Socialists, Steve deace, Aaron mcintire, Steve deace show 

Singer Olivia Rodrigo says her upcoming all-female music festival is dedicated to “advancing and advocating for women and girls.”

Strangely, this seems to mostly translate to donating money to pro-abortion and race-based advocacy groups.

‘I’ve had a dream of doing this festival for years.’

Dream theater

Rodrigo made headlines more than two years ago when she partnered with a national abortion network to give out emergency contraceptives — the morning-after pill — to concert attendees on her tour. After the story made the rounds, Rodrigo’s publicity team put a stop to it and asked the group to cease handing out its packages that included two boxes of the pills and promotional codes that linked to an abortion fund.

Now, the 23-year-old has taken things a step further by hosting her own music festival to promote “meaningful change.”

“Truly never felt more excited to share a piece of news with you all,” Rodrigo wrote on X. “I’ve had a dream of doing this festival for years and i am so ecstatic its finally coming true!!”

The singer noted that “100 percent of the net proceeds will go to charities dedicated to advancing and advocating for women and girls.”

These organizations include abortion clinic Planned Parenthood as well as several other abortion advocacy groups.

Other partners featured are the Center for Reproductive Rights and the National Institute for Reproductive Health, which says it is invested in the “fight” to “expand access to abortion and contraception and advance health equity.”

RELATED: Abortion promoters told to stop handing out morning-after pills at Olivia Rodrigo concerts due to the presence of children

Immigrant song

Race-centric advocacy groups are also getting support, including the Black Mamas Matter Alliance and the Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health.

Another partner, the National Domestic Workers Alliance, notes that while it supports domestic workers, the women they back are “mostly women of color [and] immigrants” as well as “mothers and low-wage workers.”

The company also has a directive dedicated to “black domestic workers,” with the title “We Dream in Black.”

The upcoming music festival takes place in August in Irvine, California, featuring artists like Doechii, Chappell Roan, and Sarah McLachlan and Stevie Nicks as special guests.

Outlet Young Hollywood described the festival as a way to “bring women together,” while creating a “safe and welcoming space” that will support “queer and female communities by donating profits to charities focused on social justice and helping women.”

RELATED: ‘I’m really excited’: Pop star Olivia Rodrigo gives out morning-after pills at concerts for ‘reproductive health freedom’

Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

Vaxxin’ and relaxin’

In 2021, Rodrigo visited President Joe Biden at the White House to promote COVID-19 vaccination among American youth, with the president claiming it was of the utmost importance for those ages 16 to 25 to get vaccinated.

At the time, Rodrigo said she was “beyond honored and humbled” to “help spread the message about the importance of youth vaccinations.”

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​News, Olivia rodrigo, Planned parenthood, Entertainment 

Eight months after federal officials destroyed more than 300 ostriches at Universal Ostrich Farms in Edgewood, British Columbia, the property remains under quarantine, with owners saying they still have no clear timeline for when they’ll be allowed to reopen.

Katie Pasitney, daughter of farm co-owner Karen Espersen, says the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has prevented the family from cleaning up the property while citing an ongoing “fallow period,” intended to allow any remaining H5N1 virus in the environment to naturally become inactive, as the reason the quarantine remains in place.

‘They continue down this anti-science avenue, which is destroying the credibility of the CFIA internationally.’

No reprieve

The ongoing restrictions come months after the CFIA ordered the destruction of the farm’s ostriches following an outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza. The owners fought the order through the courts, ultimately losing their final appeal when the Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear the case. The CFIA has maintained that culling infected poultry is required under Canada’s disease-control protocols to limit the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza.

Pasitney recently joined former Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz for an interview to discuss the continuing fallout from the cull and what she says are unanswered questions about the government’s handling of the farm.

‘The Ostrich Con’

Following the cull, CBC news program “The Fifth Estate” approached Pasitney about participating in a documentary on the controversy surrounding Universal Ostrich Farms. She says she and her mother initially declined but ultimately agreed after producers indicated the program would proceed with or without them.

“We have nothing to hide,” Pasitney says she thought at the time. “We have everything to show, and we’re going to answer the hard questions.”

It wasn’t until the documentary aired that Pasitney learned the CBC had titled it “The Ostrich Con.” She says the title immediately told her how the broadcaster had chosen to frame the story.

“The only con that was happening here was the Canadian Food Inspection Agency … trying to blindfold the public, saying, ‘This is a virus, this is a virus,'” she said. “We were not the con.”

Pasitney says she was also disappointed that key portions of her interview did not appear in the finished program.

She says CBC reporter Mark Kelley asked whether she was embarrassed to seek support from Americans, including U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“I said, ‘If our country would have listened, and we would have had any true leadership that would have taken the time to understand what we were trying to fight for, I wouldn’t have had to go out of country,'” she said.

Her response, she says, did not make the final cut.

Ongoing damage

Pasitney says the most frustrating aspect of the ordeal is that the CFIA has not returned to conduct further testing while continuing to prevent the family from restoring the property.

“They have not been on our farm since [the cull],” she said. “There has been no more testing.”

If the agency believes the virus remains a concern, she argues, it should be testing the soil, water, and surrounding environment rather than simply extending the quarantine.

Pasitney says the impact extends far beyond the financial loss of the birds.

“When your animals are destroyed and the damage is done, it doesn’t just end in our fields, and it doesn’t end in our barns, and it doesn’t end in our pastures. It follows into our homes,” she said, calling it “generational trauma.”

She worries the episode has permanently damaged public confidence in government institutions.

“The generations that are watching this are learning not to trust our government,” she said. “They’re learning not to trust our RCMP.”

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

Universal Ostrich Farms

‘The antithesis of science’

Ritz, who served as Canada’s agriculture minister under former Prime Minister Stephen Harper from 2007 to 2015, said he finds the continuing quarantine difficult to justify.

“The whole mandate of CFIA is one based on science. It is to support food safety and trade corridors,” he said.

He argued that the agency has moved well beyond that mission in its handling of Universal Ostrich Farms, later describing what he called the “egregious behavior” of CFIA “thugs.”

“I can’t, for the life of me, understand the powers that be allowing this to happen,” he said. “We’ve got a rogue element within CFIA. There’s still some really good people there.”

Ritz said he knows current CFIA President Dr. Harpreet Kochhar from his time in government and pledged to contact him regarding the ongoing quarantine.

He also questioned the agency’s use of a “fallow period” while simultaneously preventing the farm from cleaning the property.

“What you guys wanted to do was clean up … and actually extend that containment,” Ritz told Pasitney during the interview.

“They’re not allowing you to do that. That, to me, is the … antithesis of science.”

‘No containment’

Ritz also questioned the agency’s public statements regarding the disposal of the birds.

“There’s no containment,” he said. “We saw that when they hauled the birds away. There was no containment. They sat in yards in Surrey and rotted on the spot. It was just heartbreaking to see that go on. And they continue down this anti-science avenue, which is destroying the credibility of CFIA internationally.”

The CFIA did not respond to written questions asking when the quarantine will be lifted, what scientific criteria must be met before it ends, and why the agency did not remove spent cartridges, blood-soaked hay, and other debris that remained on the property following the cull.

For Pasitney, however, the central question remains unanswered.

Eight months after the cull, she says her family members are still waiting to learn when they will be allowed to begin putting the farm — and their lives — back together.

​Canada, Canadian food inspection agency, Cbc news program, Cfia, H5n1 avian influenza, Interview, Ostrich farm quarantine, Universal ostrich farms, Letter from canada 

Rupert Lowe, the Restore Britain leader who unveiled the stomach-churning “Rape Gang Inquiry Report” last month, spoke to podcaster Joe Rogan in an interview released on Wednesday about the mass rape of young white girls in the United Kingdom by predominantly Muslim Pakistani gangs.

Lowe also highlighted the U.K.’s problem with parallel Islamic legal systems operating in the U.K. and their apparent tolerance by British authorities who are sensitive to the “Muslim bloc vote.”

‘They will all be banned on day one.’

Afzal Khan, a Pakistan-born Labour member of parliament who previously served as parliamentary chair for the Labour Muslim Network, melted down publicly over this illuminating interview.

Rather than engage with Lowe’s commentary, Khan sought the regulation and possible punishment of his colleague’s free speech by submitting a complaint to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, which is responsible for investigating alleged breaches of House of Commons Code of Conduct and Registers.

Khan wrote in a Thursday letter to Commissioner Daniel Greenberg that “on 8th July, Rupert Lowe MP appeared on ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ podcast, in which he claimed that parallel Sharia courts are tolerated within the U.K. judicial system. This is not only a flagrant lie but is deeply inflammatory and fuels Islamophobia.”

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

L-R: Mary Turner/Bloomberg/Getty Images; Carmen Mandato/Getty Images (R)

While the British government officially rejects the idea that Sharia law and Sharia councils have any legal authority in the isles, lawmakers have for years expressed concerns that the councils are forming a parallel legal system.

According to a 2019 parliamentary brief, Sharia courts have existed in the United Kingdom since the 1980s. By 2012, there were at least 30 major Sharia courts in England. According to a 2018 independent review commissioned by the Home Office, the number of Sharia courts in England and Wales is as high as 85.

The 2018 review found that many Muslims couples were not civilly registering their marriages with the appropriate authorities and were therefore reliant on this parallel legal system for resolving marital disputes and securing religious divorces.

The report also found that these Islamic courts engaged in discriminatory practices and that some of the councils inappropriately questioned women, pressured individuals into making financial concessions to obtain a divorce, and in some cases failed to refer domestic violence or child abuse to the police or real courts.

Despite identifying various problems with the parallel legal system, the report effectively recommended tolerance, stating, “We consider the closure of Sharia councils is not a viable option.”

Khan — who recognized in his letter that Sharia councils exist in the U.K. and that they adjudicate religious divorces and “may also give verdicts on other aspects of day-to-day life for Muslims” — made clear that he resents more than just Lowe’s remarks about the Sharia court system.

The Pakistani native complained to the commissioner that the “Rape Gang Inquiry Report” commissioned by Lowe claimed “that ‘Muslim’ gangs are to blame for child sexual abuse in Britain” and “that ‘at the very least, 250,000 young white girls have been subjected to repeated rape, gang rape, trafficking, torture’ primarily by Pakistani Muslim men since mass immigration began in the 1950s.”

Khan suggested that such claims were unfounded and were “Islamophobic.”

RELATED: ‘Beyond evil’: Nightmarish report reveals full scale of mass Islamic rapes of ‘250,000’ white British girls

L-R: OLI SCARFF/AFP/Getty Images; Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images

After leaning on an Al Jazeera commentator’s characterization of Lowe as a neo-Nazi, Khan returned to the matter at hand, claiming that Lowe’s appearance on Rogan’s podcast was “extremely problematic” — especially since Rogan previously “failed to counter [Vice President JD] Vance’s ‘sort of joke’ that the U.K. is heading towards being ‘the first Islamist country with nuclear weapons.'”

‘These are barbaric, medieval and backward Islamic practices that have no place in our country.’

Khan closed his complaint by suggesting his Oxford-born colleague’s “words and actions create a hostile working environment, particularly for Muslim MPs,” and that Lowe’s supposed “rampant racism” warrants an investigation.

Lowe responded to Khan on Friday by sardonically thanking Khan for reporting him to the parliamentary authorities over his appearance on Rogan’s show, the rape gang inquiry, and his criticism of Sharia courts, the burqa, and halal slaughter.

The Englishman claimed that “these are barbaric, medieval and backward Islamic practices that have no place in our country. When Restore Britain gains power, they will all be banned on day one. It will be glorious.”

In addition to forwarding the report and Restore Britain’s mass deportation plan to Khan, Lowe told the Pakistani native, “If you have an issue with my politics — please come directly to me for an adult discussion, rather than running to the authorities in an attempt to censor my views which are held by a large majority of the British complaint.”

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​Afzal khan, Britain, Islam, Joe rogan, Manchester, Muslim, Pakistan, Parliament, Rape, Rape crisis, Rape gang inquiry, Rupert lowe, Uk, United kingdom, Politics 

A former high school counselor in North Carolina is facing serious charges after she allegedly sent sexual content to multiple teens, police said.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that 37-year-old Lesli Bryant turned herself in to authorities at the magistrate’s office on July 2, one day after she was charged with two counts of indecent liberties with students and one count of sexual exploitation of a minor.

‘It is a felony under NC law for a school employee to engage in sexual activities with a student.’

North Carolina law states that indecent liberties with students is a felony charge:

If a defendant, who is a teacher, school administrator, student teacher, school safety officer, or coach, at any age, or who is other school personnel and is at least four years older than the victim, takes indecent liberties with a victim who is a student, at any time during or after the time the defendant and victim were present together in the same school but before the victim ceases to be a student, the defendant is guilty of a Class G felony, unless the conduct is covered under some other provision of law providing for greater punishment.

A Class G felony is punishable by 10 to 31 months in prison.

Bryant posted a $50,000 secured bond.

WRAL-TV reported that a judge ordered her to have no contact with two alleged victims and to be restricted from entering Orange County Schools property.

The sheriff’s office noted that Bryant resigned from her counselor job at Orange High School on June 12.

A school system spokesperson told the Raleigh News & Observer that Bryant resigned after the district suspended her with pay.

Bryant is not listed in the staff directory for Orange High School or on the website for Orange County Schools.

Police said, “After school administrators notified a school resource officer of allegations of misconduct by Bryant with multiple students, deputies opened an investigation.”

The Raleigh News & Observer obtained the police report that said a teacher notified school administrators about “a possible student-teacher relationship” after a student informed them that Bryant was sending nude photos to another student.

The assistant principal of Orange High School alerted a school resource officer of the allegations on June 4, according to police.

WRAL obtained the arrest warrant stating that Bryant was using the Snapchat app to send nude photos and videos with sexual content.

Bryant, of Hillsborough, asked three teens to send her nude photos of themselves, court documents stated.

The Raleigh News & Observer reported that Bryant at least once allegedly convinced a minor student to send her a nude photo of himself.

A sheriff’s deputy wrote in a supplemental report obtained by the Raleigh News & Observer, “During the process of examining the Snapchat search warrants, it was observed that Lesli had distributed illicit material to at least three different males outside of the victims discussed in this case.”

The officer added, “It should be noted that of these males in question, they appeared to be younger adult males.”

“The situation created by these events brought to light that Lesli was abusing her position within the school to create inappropriate relationships with both current and former students,” according to the supplemental report.

Prosecutors said the alleged incidents began in November 2025 and were as recent as April 2026, and the involved teens were ages 17 and 18 at the time.

RELATED: Video allegedly shows female HS teacher wearing ‘Jesus Loves You’ shirt while having sex with student: Warrants

The North Carolina School Boards Association previously released a guide titled: “Boundary Invasions and Sexual Grooming: What Every School Employee Must Know About Avoiding Inappropriate Staff-Student Relationships.”

“It is a felony under N.C. law for a school employee to engage in sexual activities with a student,” the guide warns. “Consent is not a defense.”

“Sexual misconduct/sexual harassment is a violation of the Code of Ethics and the Standards of Professional Conduct for North Carolina Educators,” the guide reads.

The guide also points out that federal law forbids school systems from assisting any school employee who is convicted of sexual misconduct with a minor in finding another job.

The New York Post reported that Bryant is married with two children.

Police said the investigation is ongoing.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Orange County Sheriff’s Office investigator C. Tapp at 919-245-2964.

Bryant is scheduled to appear in court on July 20.

Neither the Orange County Sheriff’s Office nor Orange County Schools immediately responded to Blaze News‘ requests for comment.

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​Lesli bryant, Teacher student sex scandal, North carolina, Child sex crimes, High school counselor, Crime 

The battle over digital money is one of the most important financial fights happening in Washington today — and chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Michael Selig is sounding the alarm.

“We saw the crackdown under the Biden administration, all the de-banking and the attacks really on the crypto industry, and Bitcoin’s continued to survive and thrive. And of course, it’s been volatile, but it’s held up as a decentralized currency,” Selig tells Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck.

“It’s something that is censorship-resistant, something that the government can’t confiscate,” he adds.

“Are we passing anything that’s saying that cryptocurrency can never become a central bank digital currency? Are you concerned about that at all?” Glenn asks.

“I’m very concerned about central bank digital currencies, and we in the Trump administration have been very clear that that’s not going to happen under our watch,” Selig answers, noting that the president even put out an executive order in January of last year that prohibits central bank digital currencies.

“We put out a report that I was part of on the president’s working group on digital assets that specifically states that it is a policy of this administration to prevent a central bank digital currency from coming to fruition,” he explains.

“But of course, the prior administration was pushing that, and we had to withdraw some of their actions on them,” he adds.

“Is there anybody in Congress — I mean, is there any way to get this passed before this president leaves office?” Glenn asks.

“Well, that’s our concern,” Selig says. “We want things to be future-proof. We need to make sure that a central bank digital currency is never possible, and legislation is the most important and future-proof thing in Washington.”

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​The glenn beck program 

Over the Fourth of July weekend, a soccer coach was killed in Minneapolis, a young man was shot and left fighting for his life, and a 300-person gathering broke into gunfire in northeast Minneapolis two hours after police had already broken it up once, according to police.

Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher says it all traces back to a Somali gang problem that barely existed three years ago and now spans the metro.

‘Great kids.’

The numbers are stark. According to Fletcher, there have been 14 Somali homicides and more than 100 gang-related shootings in the last two years, across roughly a dozen gangs. One Minneapolis officer told Fletcher 20% of Minneapolis homicides are now tied to Somali gangs.

Fletcher is careful to scope it though: Out of roughly 100,000 Somalis in Minnesota, only about 300 young people are actually involved in gangs, and 97% of Somali youth are, in his words, “great kids.” But he warns that 300 could grow to 900 without intervention.

Investigators say it isn’t drug turf or cash driving the gang growth — the gangs haven’t moved into heavy trafficking. It’s status, flexed for an audience — stunts at graduations and the State Fair, posted on social media, with weapons increasingly fitted with switches that make them fully automatic. Kids as young as 12 are reportedly out until 1 or 2 a.m. with no one tracking where they are.

“It’s all about showboating. It’s all about ego for 99% of it,” said Benjamin Seidl, an investigator with the sheriff’s office.

RELATED: JD Vance calls for CRIMINAL investigation into Tim Walz and Keith Ellison over fraud

Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

The July 4 weekend itself, which police call their busiest weekend of the year, was unusually violent even by Minneapolis standards — one dead, four injured overnight Saturday into Sunday. Alpha News counted a half-dozen more shootings and assaults within hours, plus fatal violence in the suburbs.

Minneapolis City Council Member Jamal Osman — “the first Somali-American council vice president in Minneapolis history,” according to his bio — said he was “dismayed and deeply disappointed” by Fletcher’s remarks, arguing Somali youth deserve investment and dignity, not a talking point. Fletcher, who’s worked in the Somali community since 2010, has stood by the message.

A community meeting is scheduled for July 21 at the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office patrol station in Arden Hills.

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​Fourth of july, Gang activity, Minneapolis, Somali, Tim walz, Immigrants, Politics 

The case of flight attendants Marli Brown and Lacey Smith is a cautionary tale for corporate America about what happens when ideological conformity takes precedence over religious liberty.

In February 2021, Alaska Airlines announced its support for the Equality Act on the company’s internal communications platform, Alaska’s World. The airline invited employees to comment, promoting the forum as a place where “our differences make us better when we support and respect each other, allowing each of us to be who we are.”

Companies have a legitimate interest in maintaining productive workplaces. They do not have the right to demand ideological uniformity on disputed questions.

Brown and Smith took the company at its word.

Both raised concerns about the proposed legislation rooted in their Christian faith. Brown warned that the Equality Act would “endanger the Church” and “eliminate conscience protections.” Smith asked: “As a company, do you think it’s possible to regulate morality?”

Alaska Airlines investigated and fired both women on the same day, citing violations of its anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies.

In other words, the airline treated modest and widely held religious concerns about pending federal legislation as fireable harassment — in a forum the company itself created for open discussion.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently rejected that reasoning.

The court noted that Brown’s post “on its face reflected the expression of religious belief” and that both Alaska Airlines and the flight attendants’ union understood it that way.

Internal company emails revealed the attitude behind the terminations. One employee in Alaska Airlines’ legal department wrote, “Employees actually do not have the right to believe that LGBTQ rights are ‘immoral.’” A vice president replied, “I 100% agree.”

That exchange goes to the heart of the case.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers from discriminating against employees because of religion. The law defines religion broadly to include “all aspects of religious observance and practice, as well as belief.”

Employers cannot escape that command by relabeling disfavored religious beliefs as harassment.

RELATED: MLB’s Pride police strike out against Christian players

Blaze Media Illustration

Yet some corporations increasingly treat religious objections to progressive social policies as inherently discriminatory. That turns civil rights law on its head. Protections meant to guard employees against religious discrimination become tools for punishing the religious convictions themselves.

The facts here are especially striking because Alaska Airlines created the very forum in which Brown and Smith spoke.

The company encouraged employees to share their views and promised a “safe space culture where employees feel empowered to have open and critical dialogue.” Alaska Airlines also acknowledged internally that the issue raised religious freedom concerns.

The company knew religious objections were likely. Then it fired the employees who expressed them.

Judge Daniel Bress, writing for the Ninth Circuit majority, put the problem plainly: “Alaska created a forum for employee discussion on controversial issues, then fired Brown after she made religious objections of the kind Alaska anticipated.”

The court concluded that a reasonable jury could find Alaska Airlines’ stated reasons for the firing pretextual and determine that the company “used the cover of its employee policies to fire Brown because of her religious beliefs.”

The union’s conduct adds another troubling layer.

The Association of Flight Attendants was supposed to represent Brown and Smith. Instead, union officials criticized and mocked their religious concerns.

The union president texted Alaska Airlines executives, “I wish fewer people would struggle so much with unifying their faith with inclusivity.” The court found that remark could reasonably be interpreted as disparaging religious belief.

Another union representative suggested that someone should “put Marli and Lacey in a burlap bag and drop them in a well.”

Those are not the words of neutral representatives. They reveal contempt for religious belief — precisely the kind of animus Title VII forbids.

The Ninth Circuit’s decision draws an important line.

Employers may protect employees from genuine harassment. But they must distinguish between expression intended to demean co-workers and an employee’s opposition to company policy or advocacy on a contested public issue.

RELATED: Trump 2.0 puts religious liberty back on offense

Joebelanger/Getty Images

Brown and Smith did not threaten or demean anyone. They raised concerns about legislation affecting religious liberty.

Companies have a legitimate interest in maintaining productive workplaces. They do not have the right to demand ideological uniformity on disputed questions of law, morality, and public policy.

When employers invite diverse views and then punish employees for expressing religious ones, they betray their own promises and risk violating federal law.

Religious freedom is not a privilege granted at an employer’s discretion. It is a fundamental civil right.

That protection is especially important in the workplace, where most Americans spend much of their waking lives.

Employers that genuinely value diversity and inclusion must make room for religious employees.

The Ninth Circuit has now held that Brown and Smith presented enough evidence for a jury to conclude that Alaska Airlines and the union discriminated against them because of their faith.

When this case goes to trial, we are confident that is exactly what the jury will find.

​Alaska airlines, Christian faith, Civil rights act, Inclusivity, Religious liberty, Diversity and inclusion, Dei, Pride, Lgbtq agenda, Opinion & analysis 

I do not believe the actual deportation and self-deportation numbers are anywhere near the roughly 3 million claimed in Department of Homeland Security press releases.

This is more than a hunch. The published figures appear mathematically impossible.

If a population roughly equal to that of New Mexico left the United States, there should be visible statistical evidence.

That is a serious problem, which is why the Oversight Project has announced a lawsuit to force the DHS to release the underlying data.

Some people will be surprised that a Trump-aligned legal and investigative organization, best known for exposing the autopen scandal, is suing the administration’s Department of Homeland Security.

Here is why.

Trump’s central promise

Immigration enforcement has been the central thesis of President Trump’s political career.

It began with “build the wall” after he descended the golden escalator in 2015. He returned to office with 77 million votes after promising mass deportation.

Agenda 47 contained only 20 major promises. The first was to secure the border, and the administration deserves enormous credit for doing so — even as House Republicans refuse to codify those gains without attaching amnesty for illegal farmworkers.

The second promise was to conduct the largest deportation operation in American history.

Trump repeatedly indicated that this meant surpassing President Dwight Eisenhower’s 1954 operation, which some estimates say reduced the illegal population by 31% in a single year.

With two and a half years remaining in office, Trump is entering the period when presidents begin thinking seriously about legacy.

If “promises made, promises kept” is to mean anything, the deportation machinery must begin operating at full capacity now. Only then can removals reach the millions during the administration’s final years and surpass Eisenhower’s record.

Trump has the resources to do it. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is better funded and equipped than ever.

The administration should direct ICE toward high-density workplaces where illegal labor is concentrated — factories, farms, hotels, restaurants, warehouses, and meatpacking facilities — while imposing serious penalties on employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens.

That is how the numbers begin rising rapidly.

Surpassing Eisenhower would be the natural culmination of Trump’s political career. It would fulfill the promise at the center of his movement and provide the necessary answer to the Biden years, when roughly 10 million illegal aliens were allowed into the country and dispersed throughout American communities.

Those illegal aliens are still here. Trump can still remove them.

RELATED: The birthright ruling leaves Trump one clear move

Samuel Corum/Sipa/Bloomberg/Getty Images

The amnesty lobby needs inflated numbers

The second reason for demanding transparency is that the amnesty lobby does not care what Trump promised.

Many Republicans rolled their eyes when he pledged mass deportation. They quickly began trying to narrow enforcement to a small category of the “worst of the worst” criminals.

The reason is obvious: The amnesty lobby, especially its Republican wing, is in love with cheap illegal labor. Its members fiercely oppose worksite enforcement, even though worksite enforcement is the only realistic way to generate removals on the scale Trump promised.

They are already preparing their next push for what they will call “comprehensive immigration reform,” the familiar euphemism for mass amnesty.

The Dignidad Act has roughly 20 Republican co-sponsors. The Securing Agriculture’s Workforce Act of 2026, another amnesty proposal for illegal farm laborers, has attracted more than 40.

Congress is also considering reauthorization of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. Over time, that law has encouraged migration from noncontiguous countries and fed migrants into labor- and sex-trafficking networks.

It has also created a funding stream for left-wing nongovernmental organizations now suing the Trump administration, undermining both the war on fraud and the work once associated with the DOGE.

The House and Senate are full of pro-amnesty Republicans financed by industries that profit from cheap labor. Most are not going anywhere soon.

Their preferred argument is predictable: Enough people have already been deported. Now it is time to make a deal.

We will not allow them to make that case using inflated numbers.

The amnesty lobby used the same tactic during the Obama administration. It combined border returns with formal removals to portray Barack Obama as the “deporter in chief.”

The goal was to make Obama look tough enough to create political space for amnesty. That strategy produced the Gang of Eight amnesty bill, which collapsed after a national populist revolt, and the unlawful Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

That revolt also helped create the conditions for Trump’s rise.

I was born at night, but not last night.

The amnesty lobby is preparing to run the same play again.

The numbers don’t add up

The third reason for the lawsuit is simple: The public deserves the real figures.

The DHS recently gave several media outlets the following statement:

In President Trump’s first year back in office, more than 3 million illegal aliens have left the U.S. because of the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration, including an estimated 2.2 million self-deportations. As of June 24, we have now deported over 948,000 illegal aliens and arrested over 981,000 illegal aliens.

Consider the first sentence.

It refers specifically to Trump’s first year back in office, from January 20, 2025, through January 20 of this year. The same claim appeared on the DHS website.

If 3 million people left and 2.2 million supposedly self-deported, that leaves approximately 800,000 formal deportations or removals.

But DHS has provided no evidence supporting the claim that 2.2 million people self-deported.

The administration has pointed to the CBP Home app, yet only about 72,000 people reportedly used it to leave as of March. I have reason to believe even that number may be overstated.

That leaves a gulf of more than 2 million people.

RELATED: A real nation knows who is in and who is out

Blaze Media Illustration

If a population roughly equal to that of New Mexico left the United States, there should be visible statistical evidence. School enrollments, rental markets, remittance flows, employment records, border crossings, airline bookings, and foreign-government data should all reflect it.

The DHS should be able to produce that evidence.

Now consider the claimed 800,000 deportations during Trump’s first year.

The department’s fiscal year 2027 Congressional Budget Justification states that the DHS and ICE removed or returned 442,637 illegal aliens during fiscal year 2025, which included several months of the Biden administration.

That figure combines removals, which are closer to formal deportations, with returns, which often occur at the border.

Even with those categories combined, the official budget figure is little more than half the number implied by the press release.

The second sentence creates an even larger problem. If 800,000 people were deported during Trump’s first year, how could the cumulative total be only 948,000 seven months into 2026?

That would mean the administration deported only 148,000 people during those seven months.

The numbers do not add up.

Anyone who travels the country, follows social media, or watches television knows skepticism about these claims is now widespread. That is creating a political problem, especially among young Republican men who rank immigration enforcement and national sovereignty among their highest priorities.

Fortunately, the problem is fixable.

The administration can expand full-scale worksite enforcement and produce real, rapidly increasing removal numbers. It can then release those figures transparently, every month, with the same attention given to the jobs report.

Mass deportation is part of the glue holding Trump’s coalition together.

Regular, verifiable reporting would generate enthusiasm and demonstrate that the administration has not retreated from its defining promise.

The Oversight Project does not want Trump to fail. We want him to succeed.

That begins with knowing the real numbers.

​Dhs, Ice, Immigration, Mass deportations, Trump, Dignity act, Congress, Republicans, Gop, Eisenhower, Opinion & analysis 

A self-described lover of communism has had to face the music after allegedly crowing about canceling a DoorDash food order for the Department of Homeland Security and stealing the meal.

A social media user who indicated that she was a DoorDash driver apparently posted messages about how she took food ordered by a detention center in Buffalo, New York, and instead dropped it off at her local pantry.

‘When our support team attempted to address their report and explain our policies, the individual was abusive toward the agent, which is a separate violation.’

The account posting under the name “nixxslingerland” had a profile photo of the user wearing a “Black Lives Matter” shirt.

“Just dropped off another cancelled nazi DoorDash to my free pantry and was handed this large bag of m&ms in return,” she apparently wrote. “I love communism.”

She apparently added in another post, “For new people who are unaware, there’s unfortunately a detention center right in my town, and every single time I contact support and tell them they need to remove the location completely, I doubt they ever will, but it still feels good getting their orders cancelled and donating their food.”

DoorDash responded after the popular Libs of TikTok account posted images of the alleged messages. The account shared the images on Wednesday afternoon, and they appear to be marked as a couple of days old.

“This Dasher’s account has been deactivated,” the official business account responded to Libs of TikTok within hours.

“Misusing the safety-unassign feature to intentionally cancel orders and redirect the food based on where it’s going is theft and a violation of both our Community Guidelines and Platform Access Policy,” it added. “When our support team attempted to address their report and explain our policies, the individual was abusive toward the agent, which is a separate violation.”

RELATED: Meal service company gets CRUSHED online over very crude sex joke for Pride Month

The user appears to have canceled the account or renamed it. Blaze News reached out for comment to other accounts believed to be associated with the same user but did not receive a response.

The DoorDash delivery company previously faced backlash from anti-Trump liberals after a marketing stunt included a delivery driver dropping off McDonald’s food at the White House.

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​Black lives matter, Department of homeland security, Libs of tiktok, Doordash, Politics 

Dear Mr. Haygood,

My name is Brad Dacus, and I am the founder and president of the Pacific Justice Institute.

Congratulations on your appointment as President and CEO of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

One cannot openly profess devotion to Jesus Christ on Sunday morning while leading an organization that labels fellow believers as hate groups on Monday.

I understand that you are a purported follower of Jesus Christ and that the SPLC Board has publicly praised your religious convictions and concern for human dignity.

I am also a Christian. However, I believe there is a contradiction between the faith we both profess and the institution you now lead.

For nearly 30 years, PJI has defended religious liberty, parental rights, free speech, and other constitutional freedoms. We have represented churches, schools, students, parents, veterans, business owners, and everyday Americans who believed their rights had been violated because of their faith and had nowhere else to turn.

Yet the institution you now lead classifies PJI as a “hate group” and has placed our nonprofit on a “hate map” alongside reputable Christian ministries such as Focus on the Family, Family Research Council, Alliance Defending Freedom, Liberty Counsel, and American Family Association.

PJI and these ministries have spent decades serving others and helping people live according to their convictions. We love God and our neighbors, and we seek to serve our communities faithfully.

Yet the SPLC’s judgments of PJI and these organizations now bear your signature.

Mr. Haygood, how do you reconcile your Christian witness with leading an institution that publicly brands Christian ministries as hateful because of their Bible-based beliefs?

One cannot openly profess devotion to Jesus Christ on Sunday morning while leading an organization that labels fellow believers as hate groups on Monday.

Do you believe adherence to biblical teaching is sufficient grounds to classify a ministry as a hate group?

Let me be clear: PJI categorically rejects the SPLC’s accusations. We do not incite violence, bigotry, or hatred. The SPLC is wrong about who we are and what we do.

Your public profile cites 2 Timothy 1:7: “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” If those words genuinely guide your leadership, then a public examination of the SPLC’s accusations should not be viewed as a threat, but as an opportunity.

That is why I am extending a direct and public invitation to you:

I welcome you to join me for a recorded, in-person conversation. Sit across from me and explain why PJI and these other ministries deserve to be classified as hate groups. Defend the SPLC’s accusations and conclusions.

The issue before us extends far beyond PJI or the SPLC. It concerns whether Americans can still disagree without being publicly vilified and whether deeply held religious convictions can be represented fairly in our national conversation.

The invitation stands, and I truly hope you accept it.

Running the Race,

BRAD DACUS

Founder and President
Pacific Justice Institute

Editor’s note: This letter originally appeared at pacificjustice.org.

​Southern poverty law center, Hate groups, Pacific justice institute, Freedom of religion, Ryan p. haygood, Faith 

The woman who was at the center of the viral fraud investigation by Nick Shirley has pleaded guilty to fraud related to a Minneapolis day care she owned.

Prosecutors say 50-year-old Fahima Mahamud owned the Future Leaders Early Learning Center and charged the federal government $854,000 in reimbursements for the Feeding Our Future scam.

She also fraudulently claimed to have provided up to 60,000 meals for needy children on a monthly basis during the scam.

Rather than use the money to feed needy children, she used the vast majority of the ill-gotten gains to buy real estate. Among those purchases was an autism center that billed the federal government $3.1 million over the last five years.

She billed the federal government for child-care expenses as part of the Child Care Assistance Program and was able to scam $4.6 million from the government.

Mahamud pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, but a sentencing date has not yet been scheduled.

Prosecutors said she booked a flight to London in February immediately after alerting the state that her learning center was shutting down.

News video footage from KARE-TV showed Mahamud walking into the courthouse while wearing full-body Islamic garb that covered her face as well.

Mahamud received the largest amount of reimbursement from the Child Care Assistance Program, which totaled about $4.6 million, after submitting over 13,000 fraudulent claims from 2022 until Dec. 2025.

RELATED: Top scammer of ‘Feeding Our Future’ fraud in Minnesota NAILED with painful sentence

She also fraudulently claimed to have provided up to 60,000 meals for needy children on a monthly basis during the scam.

Mahamud did not respond to requests for comment from a KARE reporter at the courthouse.

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​Autism center, Feeding our future, Nick shirley, Scam, Daycare fraud, Autism fraud, Minnesota, Politics 

The Supreme Court’s ruling in Trump v. Barbara struck down President Trump’s executive order denying automatic citizenship to children born to parents unlawfully or temporarily present in the United States.

Chief Justice John Roberts and the majority found a constitutional violation where none exists.

The court has ruled. Now Congress must answer.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s separate opinion points to the path forward. He agreed that the executive order conflicts with the law’s current language, but he rejected the majority’s interpretation of the 14th Amendment.

“Congress could — consistent with the Fourteenth Amendment — amend §1401(a) or otherwise enact new legislation establishing exceptions to birthright citizenship for children born to foreign citizens unlawfully or temporarily in the country,” Kavanaugh wrote.

Congress now has both the authority and the responsibility to act.

Justice Clarence Thomas’ exhaustive dissent recovered the original public meaning of “subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” That phrase required more than physical presence. It contemplated complete political allegiance and permanent domicile.

The Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the debates surrounding the 14th Amendment distinguished permanent members of the American political community from temporary visitors and people who remained subject to foreign powers.

Justice Samuel Alito also warned of the consequences of the majority’s interpretation. Automatic citizenship for the children of illegal entrants and birth tourists creates opportunities for foreign exploitation and weakens the nation’s control over membership in its political community.

This was not a close call.

The majority conflated temporary subjection to American law with the solemn allegiance, duties, and privileges of citizenship in a constitutional republic.

The American Revolution rejected the relationship between monarch and subject. The United States instead recognizes sovereign citizens with God-given rights who consent to government through a shared political compact.

By erasing the distinction between a person temporarily subject to American law and a citizen belonging permanently to the American political community, the court cheapened citizenship and created a serious vulnerability.

The judiciary has failed. Congress must now correct that failure.

Unfortunately, the current Republican Congress has squandered much of the mandate voters delivered. Election-integrity legislation remains unfinished, while promised efforts to restrain activist courts and restore constitutional government have stalled.

Voters have noticed.

RELATED: The birthright ruling leaves Trump one clear move

Samuel Corum/Sipa/Bloomberg/Getty Images

The legislative solution follows directly from Kavanaugh’s opinion and the historical record presented by the dissenters.

Congress should pass a Birthright Citizenship Reform Act amending 8 U.S.C. § 1401(a). Citizenship at birth should attach only when at least one parent is a United States citizen or a lawful permanent resident domiciled here.

Congress should also define “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” to exclude the children of foreign nationals present unlawfully or admitted only temporarily.

The legislation should apply prospectively and include narrow transition provisions. These changes would respect the original limits of the 14th Amendment, close national security gaps, and restore the integrity of American citizenship.

I am running for Congress in Florida’s 19th District because Washington needs representatives willing to turn constitutional principles into legislation.

I qualified for the ballot through citizen participation rather than by writing a check. As a former January 6 defendant who refused a false plea agreement and endured solitary confinement, I understand the cost of standing on principle.

In Congress, I will introduce the Birthright Citizenship Reform Act and fight for its passage. I will also demand action on election integrity and work to restore American sovereignty.

Justice Alito identified the danger. Justice Thomas supplied the historical case. Justice Kavanaugh identified the legislative remedy. All that remains is for Congress to find the courage to enact it.

The court has ruled. Congress must answer.

This is our republic. We have a duty to keep it.

​Congress, Scotus, Supreme court, Birthright citizenship, 14th amendment, John roberts, Clarence thomas, Civil rights act, American revolution, American citizens, Justice alito, Opinion & analysis 

The Supreme Court delivered a monumentally bad decision last week in Trump v. Barbara, holding that, with limited exceptions, children born on U.S. soil become citizens at birth.

Much of the majority’s reasoning rested on mythology rather than a faithful reading of the law.

The court has closed one path. It has not closed them all.

No one can say with certainty when the United States began treating the U.S.-born children of illegal aliens as citizens. Google and Wikipedia claim the practice dates to the ratification of the 14th Amendment in 1868. Both also assert that the Supreme Court affirmed birthright citizenship for the children of illegal aliens in United States v. Wong Kim Ark.

Both claims are wrong.

After the Civil War, the citizenship provisions of the 14th Amendment and its precursor, the Civil Rights Act of 1866, were understood primarily as securing citizenship for former slaves and their children.

It took seven years after ratification for anyone even to ask whether the Citizenship Clause applied to children born here to foreign nationals. When the question finally arose, Attorney General George Williams concluded that such children were not citizens because they retained allegiance to their parents’ countries and therefore were not subject to the complete jurisdiction of the United States.

Wong Kim Ark addressed a different question: whether a child born in the United States to lawfully present foreign nationals became a citizen at birth.

Nowhere in the court’s 59-page opinion did it decide whether the Citizenship Clause applies to the children of illegal aliens.

Americans are therefore justified in reacting angrily to Trump v. Barbara.

But border hawks and rule-of-law conservatives should stop acting as though the decision ends the fight.

This is not the first dreadful Supreme Court opinion on immigration law. Anyone remember Plyler v. Doe? It will not be the last.

The court could have resolved the problem through a reasonable interpretation of the 14th Amendment. Instead, the majority chose political mythology over persuasive legal argument.

But birthright citizenship never had to be addressed only through the courts.

RELATED: 1776, not 1608: What the Supreme Court got wrong on birthright citizenship

It can also be confronted through diligent enforcement of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Now the Trump administration must do exactly that.

Illegal immigration is not merely a border problem. Once illegal aliens reach the interior, they settle in American communities and form families. Under Barbara, their U.S.-born children become citizens.

But illegal aliens who never enter the country cannot give birth here.

The damage from the court’s decision can therefore be reduced through secure borders and rapid removal of illegal entrants before they establish themselves and have children in the United States.

Birth tourism can also be curtailed through enforcement.

State Department consular officers already presume that pregnant women applying for B-2 visitor visas may be seeking entry for the primary purpose of giving birth to a U.S. citizen child.

After Barbara, the administration should scrutinize such applications more aggressively. Applicants suspected of birth tourism should bear the burden of demonstrating a legitimate temporary purpose for travel.

The problem becomes more complicated with foreign nationals admitted temporarily for work.

H-1B workers, L visa intracompany transferees, and other employment-based nonimmigrants may travel with their families and reside here for extended periods. Preventing every birth to those visa holders would be neither practical nor lawful.

But consular officers already have authority to refuse visas when they believe an applicant is misrepresenting the purpose of entry.

RELATED: The birthright ruling leaves Trump one clear move

Heather Diehl/Getty Images

If officials have credible reason to believe that the primary purpose of an application for H-1B, H-4, or another temporary visa is to secure U.S. citizenship for a child, they should deny it.

The Supreme Court’s absurdly broad interpretation of birthright citizenship proves the adage that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Automatically granting citizenship to every child born on American soil to foreign nationals is terrible policy.

The best way to limit its consequences is to prevent the circumstances that trigger it. That means effective border security, rapid removal, rigorous interior enforcement, and close scrutiny of birth tourism and visa fraud.

The court has closed one path. It has not closed them all.

The Trump administration should now use every lawful enforcement tool available to prevent Trump v. Barbara from taking root and expanding the very incentive that produced the case.

​14th amendment, Birth tourism, Birthright citizenship, Civil rights act, Constitution, Illegal aliens, Opinion & analysis, Plyler v doe, State department, Supreme court, Trump v. barbara, Visa fraud, Deportation 

BlazeTV’s Sara Gonzales has been at the forefront of busting H-1B fraud in Texas. Her on-the-ground investigative reporting has been deeply impactful for the state — triggering state investigations and lawsuits by Attorney General Ken Paxton against dozens of suspect companies and a gubernatorial freeze on new H-1B hires at state agencies and universities.

Now Sara’s H-1B crackdown has escalated to the national level. While Vice President JD Vance has been heading the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud since March, the administration launched its first major H-1B fraud investigation on July 8. The Department of Labor has already issued dozens of subpoenas targeting visa abuse, labor trafficking, worker displacement, and related PERM issues in partnership with the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice to prioritize American workers.

“Uh-oh. Ticktock. The jig is up. … Pack your bags. Hurry up. Get out of sight before they find out all of the fraud that you guys have been achieving,” Sara says with glee.

On this episode of “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered,” she sits down with Dept. of Labor Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito to break down the Trump administration’s aggressive H-1B visa fraud probe.

“What prompted this investigation from the Department of Labor?” Sara asks D’Esposito.

“The fact that we have a president and a vice president that actually supports rooting out fraud here in America,” he replies.

The task force, D’Esposito says, is a dream team — everyone is “working together,” there are ample “resources,” and the team has direct communication lines to the president and vice president.

“We could call the president or the vice president’s team and say, ‘Listen, if we want to conduct this investigation, if we want to broaden the scope of the fraud that we could tackle, these are the resources that we need,’ and they come up with them,” he tells Sara. “They never hang up the phone and say, ‘Sorry, we can’t help.”’

The DOJ’s involvement and support is another factor that makes D’Esposito confident the fraud investigation will produce major results.

“I remember the cases that I worked on in New York City, whether it was homicides or dismantling gangs or gun trafficking. The cases that you always brought to the finish line were the ones that you worked hand in hand with prosecutors, and that’s what we are doing now,” he explains.

While the task force is uprooting all kinds of fraud, D’Esposito is ready for a major crackdown on H-1B fraud, specifically because that’s what’s “holding the American job hostage” right now.

“President Trump made it very clear that he wants to rein the golden age of the American worker in, and he’s been doing that. … But think about how much better we could do when the people who are taking these jobs away from American workers [are held accountable],” he says.

“I say this often on social media, and I mean it. Fraud is a tax that you never voted for, but also fraud is without a doubt fueling and funding both violent crime and criminal enterprises throughout the United States of America,” he continues, referencing how H-1B workers often send their wages back to their home countries to fund illegal activity.

“So, not only are they taking American jobs away, not only are they putting American people out of work, but they’re actually taking the wages of the American dollar and sending it back to criminal enterprises. And after these conversations, we said absolutely no more.”

To hear more, watch the episode above.

Want more from Sara Gonzales?

To enjoy more of Sara’s no-holds-barred takes on news and culture, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Sara gonzales unfiltered, Sara gonzales, H-1b fraud, Anthony d’esposito 

A Democratic Illinois state representative was indicted for an alleged fraudulent scheme that included her county clerk husband and her daughter.

Rep. Carol Ammons allegedly collected fraudulent unemployment benefits from the pandemic era and also orchestrated kickback payments from state funds, according to an indictment from the U.S. Attorney’s office.

‘Leadership means holding your own members accountable, not waiting until political pressure becomes unavoidable.’

The indictment says that Ammons funneled state grant money to three separate nonprofits that employed her daughter Titianna Ammons. From 2017 until 2023, Ammons and her daughter allegedly “received financial benefits in excess of $100,000.”

One of those nonprofits was a prison reform group called Hood Vote Neighborhood Transformation, which received $605,000 in funds. The daughter was also allegedly paid nearly $16,000 from the “Friends of Carol Ammons” campaign fund, which was “out of proportion” with the services she provided.

Rep. Ammons is accused of lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation about those payments to her daughter in May 2024.

Prosecutors say her husband, Champaign County Clerk Aaron Ammons, allegedly instructed a potential witness in the federal investigation to “muddy the waters” in order to obstruct the FBI’s “ability to trace the illegal cash payments to Carol Ammons.”

Titianna Ammons was indicted previously and is not indicted in the newest filing.

Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, a Democrat, said Wednesday that Ammons would be temporarily removed from House committees and meetings and prevented from accessing other resources. However, he stopped short of calling for her resignation.

“The allegations in this indictment are extremely serious,” reads a statement from Welch. “Every person under our system of justice is entitled to the presumption of innocence and due process.”

House Minority Leader Tony McCombie, a Republican, vehemently condemned Ammons and called for her resignation.

“Leadership means holding your own members accountable, not waiting until political pressure becomes unavoidable,” she said.

Ammons was previously accused of stealing a Coach purse at a secondhand store, but the special prosecutor in that case declined to press charges.

RELATED: Gov. Pritzker says he’s one of the good billionaires, not the ones vilified by socialists

Ammons is running for re-election, but she is unopposed in the race. She is an 11-year veteran of the Illinois House.

On her campaign website, Ammons touts her successful effort to end cash bail in Illinois, as well as to ban the use of chokeholds by law enforcement officers.

She also supports reparations, as is documented by the popular Libs of TikTok X account.

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​Fraud charges, Libs of tiktok, Democrat indicted, Government corruption, Kickback scheme, Politics, Illinois 

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

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

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

Garbage in

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Bless this mess

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

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

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

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

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

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Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis/Getty Images

Camp scamp

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jim WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

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

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

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

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