Category: blaze media

Chinese elites are reportedly building “mega-families” by commissioning U.S. surrogates to produce for them scores of American-born children. This practice, which has apparently encouraged the growth of a secondary industry of accommodation, has prompted concerns about underregulation of the surrogacy industry as well as about birthright citizenship.

A recent Wall Street Journal report detailed multiple cases where affluent individuals in communist China — where surrogacy is illegal — have shelled out millions for U.S.-based surrogates to “help them build families of jaw-dropping size.”

At a cost of up to $200,000 per child, they can reportedly send their genetic material abroad, have their babies carried to term, delivered, cared for, and ultimately shipped back.

Xu Bo, an anti-feminist billionaire in the gaming industry, reportedly told an American family court judge in 2023 that he hoped to have 20 boys born in the U.S. through surrogacy, with the hope that they could one day take over his business. At the time, several of his surrogate-born children — whom he had yet to meet — were being raised by nannies in California.

A social media account operated by Xu noted in a message reviewed by the Journal that he hoped to have “50 high-quality sons,” and Xu’s company has since bragged that Xu has supposedly paid to sire over 100 children through surrogacy in the United States.

Wang Huiwu, the CEO of Sichuan-based education group XJ International Holdings, has fathered 10 girls through American surrogates using the eggs he purchased for at least $6,000 a pop from models, a musician, and others, the Journal reported. Wang apparently wants girls, as he figures they could one day marry world leaders.

Xu, Wang, and other elites in the adversarial nation who are similarly motivated to commission armies of children with American citizenship apparently don’t have to step foot in the United States to start or complete the process.

At a cost of up to $200,000 per child, they can reportedly send their genetic material abroad, have their babies carried to term, delivered, cared for, and ultimately shipped back. Agencies, law firms, and nanny services have emerged to help accommodate the growing foreign demand.

RELATED: Buying fatherhood: The devastating toll of our rent-a-womb society

Photo by: BSIP/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Nathan Zhang, the CEO of IVF USA, told the Journal that whereas his clientele were historically parents trying to bypass China’s one-child policy, he has begun to see an increasing number of “crazy rich” clients who are paying for dozens or even hundreds of U.S.-born babies with the aim of “forging an unstoppable family dynasty.”

Zhang indicated that he rejected one Chinese businessman as a client who sought over 200 children via surrogates after he proved unable to account for how he might raise them all. Not all such requests, however, are turned down.

The Journal cited, for instance, the case of a California surrogacy agency whose owner confirmed the fulfillment of an order for a Chinese individual seeking 100 children in recent years.

While industry groups apparently recommend that agencies and IVF clinics refrain from working with parents seeking more than two simultaneous surrogacies, such recommendations often go unheeded, fueling concerns among critics over the industry’s lack of oversight.

A study published last year in the peer-reviewed journal Fertility and Sterility noted that international gestational surrogacy has grown greatly over the past two decades — of the 40,177 embryo transfers to a prospective mother in the U.S. from 2014 to 2020, 32% were for foreigners.

Foreign intended parents “were more likely to be male sex (41.3% vs. 19.6%), older than 42 years (33.9% vs. 26.2%), and identify as Asian race (65.6% vs. 16.5%),” the study said.

Of all the international parents siring children in the U.S. through surrogacy during the six-year window, 41.7% were from China.

The study stressed that “given that individuals are increasingly traveling to the U.S. for this care, it is imperative to understand the trends and outcomes of international gestational surrogacy in the U.S.”

According to Emma Waters, a policy analyst for the Center for Technology and the Human Person at the Heritage Foundation, international commercial surrogacy is a “situation of immigration fraud as well as a national security risk.”

After all, Chinese men — the cohort most commonly exploiting the system — can deploy their U.S.-born, China-raised, and Chinese Communist Party-influenced children to advance Beijing’s interests in the United States.

Last month, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) introduced the Stopping Adversarial Foreign Exploitation of Kids in Domestic Surrogacy Act with the aim of preventing adversarial nations, including China, from using American surrogates to obtain U.S. citizenship for their children.

“America’s surrogacy system is meant to help individuals build families — it should never be the avenue to allow abuse, neglect, or deceit of innocent women and babies,” Scott said. “And it’s terrifying that this might be at the hands of foreign adversaries with the sole intent of having a child that is a U.S. citizen.”

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed earlier this month to hear arguments for and against President Donald Trump’s order to end birthright citizenship. Success on the part of the president may serve to devalue Chinese elites’ breeding scheme.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​China, Communist china, Ivf, Surrogacy, Surrogate, Pregnancy, Breeding, Undermine, Population, Fertility, Politics 

False narratives have a way of being taken as fact in popular understanding. After years of repetition, these statements calcify into articles of faith, not only going unchallenged, but having any counterarguments met with incredulity, as though the person making the alternative case must be uninformed or unaware of the established consensus. Many people simply accept these narratives and form worldviews based on them, denying the reality that, if the underlying assumption is wrong, then so are the decisions that flow from it.

One narrative that has taken hold among many since the humiliating end to the war in Afghanistan is that the U.S. military doesn’t win wars, or that it hasn’t since the end of World War II. This critique of the armed forces, foreign policy, or use of force has become an ironclad truth among many who use it as a starting point to advocate their own preferred change.

The United States military has had plenty of successes since World War II and, in fact, has suffered only a small handful of definitive losses in that time.

Advocates of War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s vision for the military have echoed it: “The military had grown weak and woke, so we need to change the culture, ignore or at least diminish adherence to legal restraints, and remake the composition of the military.” Restrainers, isolationists, and America Firsters have joined the chorus: “America has given up blood and treasure on stupid wars in which we were failures.”

There is only one problem with this understanding, and more importantly, its use as a baseline from which to derive policy prescriptions — it isn’t true at all.

Ignorance of war

It reflects a misunderstanding of how America has used force and what we have and haven’t achieved. And unlike many misunderstandings about American defense, this one isn’t solely by those with little familiarity with what the military does; the view has taken hold among many who should know better. There are several reasons for belief in the fallacy.

First, there is ignorance of what a war is, or at least not having a common definition of it.

For the pedants, one could point out that the United States has not been at war, by strict definition, since 1945. However, this isn’t relevant to the topic at hand because if the United States has not fought a war since 1945, then by this definition, we also haven’t lost one. In fact, the United States has declared war many times: the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, the Spanish-American War, and the World Wars, yet we have engaged in armed conflict significantly more often than that.

So for the purposes of this debate, we can reflect upon the United States using force to achieve foreign policy objectives. With this more expansive definition, then Grenada is just as much of a war as World War II (although the latter certainly is a source of more pride than the former).

Second, there is ignorance of the number of conflicts in which the United States has been involved. Americans tend to have short memories and often pay less attention to events beyond the water’s edge. Many are largely ignorant of ongoing, smaller operations being conducted in their name. (Remember the shocked response to the Niger incident when many people, including congressional leaders, announced their ignorance of U.S. presence there?)

This phenomenon is exacerbated by the passage of time. How many Americans are aware of our involvement in the Dominican Civil War in 1965? Or the various conflicts that made up the Banana Wars?

RELATED: Turns out that Hegseth’s ‘kill them all’ line was another media invention

Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP via Getty Images

Third, there is ignorance or misunderstanding of the outcome of those wars. Our perspective has been skewed, likely due to the recent history of the embarrassing and self-inflicted defeat in Afghanistan, the messy and confusing nature of the war in Iraq, and the historic examples of very clearly defined wars with obviously complete victories.

There was no ambiguity in the World Wars. The United States went to war with an adversary nation state (or coalition of them), fought their uniformed militaries, and ended these with a formal surrender ceremony abroad and victory parades at home. But this is not the norm, neither for American military intervention nor for conflict in general.

Most of American military history does not look like these examples — conflicts that are large in scale, discrete in time, and definitive in outcome. Some of our previous interventions have been short in duration and were clear victories but smaller in scale (e.g., Grenada and Panama). Some have been clear victories but incremental, fought sporadically with fits and starts and over the course of years, if not decades (e.g., the several smaller conflicts that are often lumped together under the umbrella of the Indian Wars).

Win, lose, draw

But then there is another category — one in which the conflict results in a seemingly less satisfying but mostly successful result, sometimes after a series of stupid and costly errors and sometimes after years of grinding conflict that ends gradually rather than with a dramatic ceremony.

The Korean War, often described as a “draw” because the border between North and South Korea remains today where it was before the beginning of the war, had moments of highs and lows, periods where it seemed nothing could prevent a U.S.-led total victory — only to see the multinational force squander its advantage (e.g., reaching the Yalu River) and moments where all seemed lost, only to escape from the jaws of defeat through audacity and courage (e.g., Chosin Reservoir, Pusan, Inchon).

When President Truman committed U.S. forces as part of the U.N. mission to respond to communist aggression, the stated intent was to assist the Republic of Korea in repelling the invasion and to maintain its independence. South Korea still exists to this day. The combined communist forces of the PRK and CCP were prevented from achieving their aims by American military power.

We have a much more recent (and undoubtedly more controversial) example of a misunderstood success. Many of those who ballyhoo about America not winning wars point not only to the failure in Afghanistan but also to the recent war in Iraq. The Iraq War was many things — initially fought with great tactical and operational brilliance, then sinking into lethargic and incompetent counterinsurgency, then adapting to local power structures, and of course, initiated under pretenses we now know to be incorrect. But it was not, despite the ironclad popular perception, a military failure.

The military set out, with the invasion of 2003, to defeat the combined forces of the Iraqi Army and Republican Guard and remove the Ba’athist government from power. We achieved that goal. Once in control of Baghdad, the U.S. faced a new threat — one of a growing and complex insurgency that we had failed to anticipate. American forces under Ricardo Sanchez, and continuing under George Casey, seemed perplexed and frustrated by a conflict they had not come prepared to fight, nor that they adapted to. For years, despite the insistence of many military and political leaders, the war was not going our way as American casualties increased month after month.

But by 2008, the Sahwa — the movement of Sunni tribal militias aligning with the U.S.-led coalition and the government in Baghdad — and the American efforts to adapt to a more effective counterinsurgency strategy were turning the tide, to the point that by 2010, the violence in Iraq had largely subsided.

The government the United States helped bring about in Baghdad to replace Saddam Hussein endures to this day but not without difficulties. In his 2005 “National Strategy for Victory in Iraq,” George W. Bush defined victory in the long term as an Iraq that is “peaceful, united, stable, and secure, well-integrated into the international community, and a full partner in the global war on terrorism.” By continuing to maintain a relationship with Iraq, we are helping shape this long-term result, just as we did as we helped postwar Germany and Korea maintain security and political stability.

Due to the oppressive steps of a flawed prime minister, American desire to recede from presence and oversight in Iraq, and a compounding effect of spillover from the Syrian Civil War, there was the need for further American assistance in defeating the threat from ISIS, but defeat them we did — another success for the American military.

The Iraqi government also has close relationships with our Iranian regional rivals, as many of the local Arab countries do based on proximity. But just as the need for the 2nd and 3rd Punic Wars does not change the fact the 1st Punic War was a Roman victory, the war against ISIS does not change the fact that the United States accomplished the goal of deposing and replacing Saddam Hussein. Likewise the fact that the Soviet Union gained influence over Eastern Europe does not change the fact that World War II ended in a definitive defeat of the Nazis.

What does victory look like?

None of that changes a separate question, however — whether the war was worth it. But that was a political decision and one that does not negate the truth that the U.S. military first defeated the Iraqi military in a decisive win and then quelled a grinding insurgency in a less decisive way.

Just because a victory isn’t total doesn’t mean that the military fighting it lost. The War of 1812 was a victory, despite the fact the U.S. failed to achieve its maximalist goals of incorporating Canada but did achieve the goal for which the war was fought — rejecting British attempts to deny American sovereignty. World War II was a victory, despite the fact it set conditions for the Cold War and communist oppression. Korea was a victory, despite the fact we did not unify the Koreas under the democratic South. And Iraq was a victory — a poorly decided, stupidly managed, and possibly counterproductive long-term victory.

RELATED: Trump forced allies to pay up — and it worked

Photo by Pier Marco Tacca/Getty Images

When viewed in this way, the United States military has had plenty of successes since World War II and, in fact, has suffered only a small handful of definitive losses in that time — Vietnam, Iran (Operation Eagle Claw), Somalia (1993), and Afghanistan — with the temporal proximity of the latter and the fact that two of these were also America’s longest conflicts, helping to warp the public’s understanding of our military effectiveness.

None of this is to say that America should not take a harsh look at our recent military efforts and seek continuous improvement. Grenada, as I have mentioned, was a victory but an incredibly embarrassing one that was likely only successful because we fought a backwater Caribbean country with a population of less than 100,000. The hard lessons learned by examining the disasters, mistakes, and close calls from Operation Urgent Fury helped reform the military into the globally dominant force that defeated the world’s fourth largest army in 100 hours less than a decade later.

Americans should not look at our military through rose-colored glasses, chest thumping as we chant “USA” and insisting that no other force can land a glove on us. But neither should we allow the false narrative of failure to take hold. We should be clear-eyed about what our military has accomplished, can accomplish, and the costs, risks, and potential gains in using force. Armed conflict will remain a necessary tool for the United States. We need to adapt our military to meet and defeat the challenges of the future, and we need to balance and incorporate military power into our global strategies appropriately — but that will not happen if we do it based on an incorrect understanding of the past.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published by RealClearDefense and made available via RealClearWire.

​Us military, Iraq war, War in afghanistan, Middle east, Syria, Panama, Grenada, Black hawk down, Korean war, Opinion & analysis, World war ii, Armed forces, National security, National defense, America first 

President Trump addressed the nation this week about his administration’s many accomplishments over its first year — and shockingly, in a move very unlike the president, the speech was only 20 minutes.

“Eleven months ago, I inherited a mess, and I’m fixing it. When I took office, inflation was the worst in 48 years, and some would say in the history of our country, which caused prices to be higher than ever before, making life unaffordable for millions and millions of Americans,” Trump began.

“Over the past 11 months, we have brought more positive change to Washington than any administration in American history. There has never been anything like it. And I think most would agree,” he continued.

Some successes Trump pointed out were that “drugs brought in by ocean and by sea” are down 94% and the “grip of sinister woke radicals in our schools” has been broken.

He also touted that he has “settled eight wars in 10 months, destroyed the Iran nuclear threat, and ended the war in Gaza, bringing for the first time in 3,000 years peace to the Middle East, and secured the release of the hostages, both living and dead.”

Trump recalled the rising inflation under Biden, which he happily reported has declined since he took office.

But one thing the president didn’t say is that we’re going to war with Venezuela — and BlazeTV host Glenn Beck believes he might have tricked the media into covering all his successes.

“Everybody was speculating, ‘He’s going to say we’re going to war.’ … I don’t think we’re going to war with Venezuela. I think he’s making it look like we’re going to war to freak Venezuela out and to get Maduro out, but I don’t think we’re going into war,” Glenn says.

“I saw this as the kickoff of the campaign. I saw this as, okay, this is the message for 2026 for the Republicans. And it was so disciplined and so tight,” he continues, pointing out that sometimes the media won’t cover a speech like that.

“I wonder if the war thing wasn’t a way to get them to cover this,” he adds.

Want more from Glenn Beck?

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

​Video phone, Video, Upload, Camera phone, Sharing, Free, Youtube.com, The glenn beck program, Glenn beck, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, President trump, Venezuela, War with venezuela, Trump speech, Inflation, Biden, President joe biden, Inflation under biden, Inflation under trump, Left wing media 

Students of a high school in Texas are protesting against the district’s actions after a student was killed by another with scissors right outside their science class.

Aundre Matthews, 18, was arrested for allegedly stabbing 16-year-old Andrew Meismer to death at Ross S. Sterling High School in Baytown on Wednesday.

‘We are not safe. We are not safe here.’

Prosecutors said the two were excused to go to the bathroom and got into a fight over a vape pen.

The stabbing happened during a fight between the two at about 10:40 a.m. The victim was airlifted to Texas Medical Center in Houston but was later pronounced dead.

The school said that it went into lockdown briefly after the incident.

“I need to see that surveillance video. I need to see what happened in terms of all the claims that were read in that probable cause affidavit,” said Matthews’ attorney, Gianpaolo Macerola.

The horrendous incident shocked the community and spurred many students to protest against the district for not taking action to protect Meismer. They alleged that signs of the threat from the suspect were ignored.

“This could have been prevented,” said Maria Blanco, a 10th grade student, to the Baytown Sun. “Now somebody’s life is lost, and when they had the time to do something about it, they did not do anything.”

“We are not safe. We are not safe here,” said sophomore Lilly Williams, who described the victim as “very kind.”

RELATED: Police release photos of student who allegedly plotted mass shooting at Christian high school

One of the protest signs read, “How many warnings are enough?” and another read, “Our voices matter.”

Matthews was given a $3.3 million bond in court on Friday.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Aundre matthews suspect, Andrew meismer victim, High school scissor murder, Student kills student with scissors, Crime 

The United States military struck ISIS terrorists on Friday after two U.S. service members were killed along with an interpreter, according to Department of War Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Fox News reported that over 70 targets were struck in the operation that included “ISIS infrastructure and weapons storage sites,” according to a top U.S. official.

‘This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance.’

“Earlier today, U.S. forces commenced OPERATION HAWKEYE STRIKE in Syria to eliminate ISIS fighters, infrastructure, and weapons sites in direct response to the attack on U.S. forces that occurred on December 13th in Palmyra, Syria,” Hegseth wrote on social media.

A lone Islamic State gunman ambushed the U.S. forces in Palmyra, which also left three other U.S. soldiers wounded. President Donald Trump vowed “very serious retaliation” at the time.

There are about 900 U.S. troops currently in Syria.

“This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance,” Hegseth added. “The United States of America, under President Trump’s leadership, will never hesitate and never relent to defend our people.”

The attack had been the first to cause U.S. fatalities since the end of the Assad regime in 2014. Bashar al-Assad and his family fled to Russia after Turkish-backed Islamic militants successfully seized control of the government.

RELATED: ‘Major’ Halloween terror plot thwarted by FBI involved links to ISIS, ‘LGBTQ+ community’

“As we said directly following the savage attack, if you target Americans — anywhere in the world — you will spend the rest of your brief, anxious life knowing the United States will hunt you, find you, and ruthlessly kill you,” Hegseth continued.

“Today, we hunted and we killed our enemies,” he added. “Lots of them. And we will continue.”

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Military strikes on syria, Rebels in syria, Soldiers killed in syria, Isis terrorists in syria, Politics 

Rapper Cardi B criticized “ghetto” America and praised Saudi Arabia for being cleaner and stricter in a streaming video from her overseas tour.

She complained that the U.S. vice president had criticized her, and she told her fans to convince her to move back to the U.S. She also said that Saudi Arabia was very wealthy and clean.

‘America makes me pay taxes. The vice president is talking s**t about me on Twitter. I don’t feel real appreciated in America.’

The rapper made the comments on an Instagram live video.

“I’m in Saudi Arabia and, so far, let me tell y’all about my experience. It’s very strict out here, yeah. They will put you under the jail,” she said in the video. “They ain’t playing around. You will go to prison. Mess around and you’ll find out. Absolutely. However, it’s very easy to follow the rules here.”

She said that the rules were very simple to follow and admonished her followers to stop drinking alcohol and to abstain from sex.

“They treat me like I’m their queen!” she added, saying that everyone was kind and polite, in contrast to Americans.

“I’m starting not to like America,” she continued. “America makes me pay taxes. The vice president is talking s**t about me on Twitter. I don’t feel real appreciated in America. Y’all need to convince me to come back.”

She was referring to a post from Vice President JD Vance where he posted support for Nikki Minaj in her longtime feud with Cardi B.

“It’s ghetto over there!” she said of America.

She went on to say that she had previously avoided touring in Saudi Arabia over their restrictions on gays and women. She said it only punished her fans to avoid the country.

RELATED: Cardi B weighs in on inflation, says ‘everything is high’

She also said the food and the shopping in Saudi Arabia were great.

The rapper recently celebrated having a child with Stefon Diggs, the wide receiver on the New England Patriots football team.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Cardi b hates america, Cardi b vs jd vance, Rappers love saudi arabia, America is ghetto, Politics 

Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York suspended her gubernatorial campaign on Friday just weeks after joining the race in November.

Stefanik becomes one of many prospective Republican retirees, clarifying that she will not seek to return to Congress either. Stefanik maintained that she would have won the Republican gubernatorial primary but that her candidacy would draw away crucial resources in an electorally “challenging” state like New York.

This is not the first time Stefanik’s career has taken an abrupt turn.

“I am truly humbled and grateful for the historic and overwhelming support from Republicans, Conservatives, Independents, and Democrats all across the state for our campaign to Save New York,” Stefanik said in a Friday post on X.

“However, as we have seen in past elections, while we would have overwhelmingly won this primary, it is not an effective use of our time or your generous resources to spend the first half of next year in an unnecessary and protracted Republican primary, especially in a challenging state like New York,” Stefanik added.

RELATED: ‘Do I have to stay until I’m assassinated?’ Marjorie Taylor Greene lashes out over calls to finish her term

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

Stefanik said her family was a big part of her political calculus, saying she would regret taking more time away from being with her young son.

“And while many know me as Congresswoman, my most important title is Mom,” Stefanik said. “I believe that being a parent is life’s greatest gift and greatest responsibility. I have thought deeply about this and I know that as a mother, I will feel profound regret if I don’t further focus on my young son’s safety, growth, and happiness — particularly at his tender age.”

This is not the first time Stefanik’s career has taken an abrupt turn.

RELATED: GOP feud breaks out after Elise Stefanik accuses Speaker Johnson of protecting the deep state

Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Stefanik was President Donald Trump’s first pick to serve as ambassador to the United Nations, even forfeiting her leadership position in the House and going through the early stages of Senate confirmation at the beginning of the year. Her nomination was later pulled, with Republican leadership citing the historically narrow House margins. Mike Waltz was instead confirmed to the position.

Stefanik returned to the House and later announced her gubernatorial run in November, before announcing on Friday she would step back from public service altogether.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Elise stefanik, Donald trump, Kathy hochul, Mike johnson, Congress, House republicans, New york, New york governor, Un ambassador, Mike waltz, Senate confirmation, Trump nominee, Trump administration, Politics 

BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock believes that football stars like Deion Sanders and his son Shedeur are spreading the worst of black culture to not only NFL fans but players — but former NFL quarterback Shaun King doesn’t share his sentiment.

“If we’re being honest, the black rap hip-hop culture has permeated every part of America. I mean, go on TikTok. It’s white moms with young white daughters doing the dances. You know, I don’t even know if athletes are who this generation of young Americans idolize,” King argues.

“All they did was looked at what the algorithm says works, and we’re going to use this to build a post-Deion playing career brand, and it’s focused on that energy. But they didn’t create it. They just took what was working and said, ‘We’re gonna use it to bring some more money into the Sanders’ family,’” he continues.

“So that’s why I try not to target them. It’s like they’re the reason that Jaxson Dart is wearing diamond necklaces or that J.J. McCarthy is doing the dance as he runs. … It’s rap, hip-hop took over,” he says, adding, “They had like a 10-15 year stretch where they kind of raised a whole decade of Americans.”

“On that we agree,” Whitlock says.

“Hip-hop has had incredible influence over athletes and young people in general, and for black athletes, my argument is like, ‘Hey man, football, particularly at the quarterback position, but football in general, because of its military-like structure, it’s about submission,’” he explains.

“It’s about submitting to the head coach and the team as greater than yourself. And hip-hop is about individuality and being rebellious to authority,” he adds.

Whitlock also points out that point-wise, white quarterbacks are dominating black quarterbacks in the NFL — and he believes it has a lot to do with this culture.

“White guys are free to submit,” Whitlock explains. “Black guys have all this pressure to be rebellious, mimic hip-hop culture, and that’s why there’s a bit of a struggle, and that’s what I’m saying is going to be a part of Shedeur’s struggle.”

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.

​Video phone, Upload, Camera phone, Video, Free, Sharing, Youtube.com, Fearless with jason whitlock, Fearless, Jason whitlock, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Shaun king, The nfl, Shedeur sanders, Deion sanders, Rap culture, Black culture 

Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming becomes the latest GOP lawmaker to take a step away from politics.

The freshman senator announced her retirement Friday after several “exhausting session weeks” this Congress. Lummis was first elected to the Senate in 2020 but previously represented Wyoming in the House from 2009 to 2017 as well as in state government prior to her career in Washington, D.C.

‘I feel like a sprinter in a marathon.’

“What a blessing to serve with Senators John Barrasso and Mike Enzi when I was in the U.S. House, and with John and Rep. Harriet Hageman while I’ve been in the Senate,” Lummis said in a statement Friday.

“We all put Wyoming first, which has cemented our cohesive working relationship.”

RELATED: ‘Unnecessary and protracted’: Elise Stefanik drops out of New York governor’s race

Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Lummis reiterated her commitment to the state and her constituents but noted that she no longer has the “energy required” for the job.

“Deciding not to run for reelection does represent a change of heart for me, but in the difficult, exhausting session weeks this fall I’ve come to accept that I do not have six more years in me,” Lummis said. “I am a devout legislator, but I feel like a sprinter in a marathon. The energy required doesn’t match up.”

RELATED: Senate confirms more Trump nominees, surpassing Biden-era confirmation pace after deploying nuclear option

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

“I am honored to have earned the support of President Trump and to have the opportunity to work side by side with him to fight for the people of Wyoming. I look forward to continuing this partnership and throwing all my energy into bringing important legislation to his desk in 2026 and into retaining commonsense Republican control of the U.S. Senate. Thank you, Wyoming!”

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Cynthia lummis, Wyoming, Senate republicans, Senate, Congress, Retirement, Donald trump, Trump administration, Politics 

An Arizona sheriff derided protesters who interrupted a drug bust because they had mistaken regular cops for Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

Pinal County Sheriff Ross Teeple said the small group of protesters yelled obscenities and insults at his deputies on Dec. 11 after the police investigation ended up in Phoenix.

‘While they’re there throwing tantrums, we’re throwing handcuffs on bad guys.’

“PCSO deputies out there doing an amazing job, arresting bad guys, getting dangerous drugs off the street, and you have idiots showing up, protesting and thinking they’re ICE,” he added.

Teeple said in the video posted to Facebook that despite the protesters accosting his officers, they were able to seize a firearm as well as two kilograms of cocaine.

“Two people that were arrested? Both U.S. citizens. How ironic is that?” he added.

“This is ridiculous, guys. You have full uniformed deputies on scene, marked vehicles, and you still want to protest the police doing their job,” Teeple said.

The video included some of the footage showing protesters calling the officers “sellouts” and “motherf**kers” while the police laughed at them.

“While they’re there throwing tantrums, we’re throwing handcuffs on bad guys,” Teeple added. “Deputies did an amazing job putting up with their BS.”

RELATED: Video shows leotarded liberals protest ICE facility with ’80s-themed aerobics class

This was not the first time anti-ICE protesters interrupted a police operation in Pinal County. In June, Teeple said that protesters got in the way of a police action that ended in the seizure of four firearms, five million fentanyl pills, 32 pounds of cocaine, and 22 pounds of meth.

“You can do better,” Teeple concluded. “It’s an honor to serve.”

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Mistaking cops for ice, Idiotic ice protesters, Anti-ice protesters, Pinal county sheriff ross teeple, Politics 

Turning Point USA CEO Erika Kirk announced her endorsement of Vice President JD Vance for president in 2028 during her Thursday speech at the AmericaFest conference.

Vance will speak on Sunday at the conference organized by Turning Point USA, the organization founded by Charlie Kirk in 2012.

‘If JD Vance runs for president, he’s going to be our nominee.’

“We’re gonna ensure that President Trump has Congress for all four years,” she said. “We are going to get my husband’s friend JD Vance elected for 48 in the most resounding way possible!”

The thousands at the conference in Phoenix, Arizona, responded with resounding applause.

Vance has not said if he’s running for president yet, but he’s seen as a prominent front-runner for the nomination.

“My attitude is, the American people elected me to be vice president,” he said in October. “I’m going to work as hard as I can to make the president successful over the next three years and three months, and if we get to a point where something else is in the offer, let’s handle it then.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, also considered a potential presidential candidate, said that he would support Vance if the vice president ran for the Oval Office.

“If JD Vance runs for president, he’s going to be our nominee, and I’ll be one of the first people to support him,” Rubio said to Vanity Fair.

RELATED: JD Vance responds to the possibility of Vance-Rubio presidential ticket

Vance has said Kirk’s organization was pivotal in the re-election of Trump in 2024.

“So much of the success we’ve had in this administration traces directly to Charlie’s ability to organize and convene. He didn’t just help us win in 2024; he helped us staff the entire government,” he said.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Erika vance, Tpusa endorsement, Vance for president, Presidential election 2028, Politics 

Philadelphia Flyers radio play-by-play announcer Tim Saunders may have some explaining to do to his superiors.

Saunders has been suspended for two games by the Flyers, and now the organization is apologizing for comments he made on Thursday night.

‘We take this matter very seriously.’

During a commercial break in the third period of the Flyers and Buffalo Sabres game, Saunders went to a commercial break before he was heard making some non-hockey-related remarks.

“Now, they’re going to take the TV time-out. We’ll take it as well. Seven [minutes] gone in the third [period]. It’s 3-2 Buffalo on the Philadelphia Flyers Broadcast Network,” Saunders said, thinking he would then be off the air.

After a few seconds, the announcer is heard humming a tune to himself before more dead air, as muffled audio of in-arena promotions are heard in the background.

It was nearly 20 seconds after the start of a would-be commercial break when Saunders said, “While you’re down there, would you mind blowing me?”

Following a few more seconds of silence, broadcast partner and former NHL player Todd Fedoruk inserted, “I think we’re still on the air, Tim.”

Saunders then seemingly has a good chuckle before stopping to seriously ask, “No, we’re not, are we?”

RELATED: San Jose Sharks apologize for displaying pro-ICE message on scoreboard during Hispanic celebration

As reported by Crossing Broad, Saunders took another long pause before laughing again and asking, “Are we? Do you have us? Mikey, talk to me.”

On Friday morning, the Flyers issued an official statement on their social media saying they were “aware of the inappropriate comment” made during the TV time-out.

“These remarks do not reflect the standards of conduct or values we expect from anyone associated with our organization,” the team wrote.

The Flyers then announced that, effective immediately, a two-game suspension had been issued while they “address this matter with all parties involved.”

“We take this matter very seriously, and sincerely apologize to our listeners, fans and all those affected by these comments,” the statement concluded.

RELATED: Male players take over women’s hockey in Minnesota — one team has 4 men

— (@)

The majority of Flyers fans on X reacted negatively to the announcement, with one Philly sports fan calling it an “incredible overreaction.”

“A suspension??? World gone soft,” a fan named Ryan said.

Jeff added, “Give him a raise.”

The Flyers would go on to lose the game 5-3.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Fearless, Nhl, Hockey, Announcer, Woke, Cancel culture, Philadelphia, Flyers, Radio, Sports 

An illegal alien from El Salvador allegedly killed a U.S. citizen the day after being released, despite a detainer request from federal immigration officials.

Marvin Fernando Morales-Ortez was released from a Fairfax, Virginia, jail after county officials dropped several violent criminal charges against him in addition to ignoring the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer.

‘The sanctuary politicians of Fairfax County, VA have blood on their hands.’

Morales-Ortez allegedly shot and killed a 40-year-old man, Marvin Ernesto Morales, at a residence in Reston. After he fled, police were able to find and arrest him. He was charged with second-degree murder and use of a firearm in commission of a felony.

A spokesperson for ICE blamed local officials for the preventable death.

“Fairfax County failed the victim by refusing to work with ICE and releasing this criminal alien onto Virginia streets instead of safely into ICE custody,” the spokesperson said. “If Fairfax County would have simply worked to uphold our nation’s laws, then this tragedy may have never happened.”

The Department of Homeland Security went further in a statement on social media.

“The sanctuary politicians of Fairfax County, VA have blood on their hands,” reads a statement from the agency’s official account.

“The day after Fairfax County REFUSED to hand over Marvin Fernando Morales-Ortez, a criminal illegal alien from El Salvador, to ICE he allegedly MURDERED an American citizen,” they added. “He has a prior history of aggravated assault, larceny, assault on a law enforcement officer, weapons charges and other misdemeanor offenses.”

Most Fairfax County officials, including Sheriff Stacey Kincaid and almost every member of the Board of Supervisors, are Democrats.

After Morales-Ortez was released from jail on Tuesday, a Community Services Board did obtain an emergency order to have police take him into custody, according to the Fairfax County Police. However, the order was valid for only eight hours, and police were unable to find him before it expired.

Prosecutors are accused of ignoring the detainer, not notifying federal officials when Morales-Ortez was being released, and dropping criminal charges against him in numerous cases.

RELATED: New York Times gets absolutely hammered for sympathetic article on criminal illegal alien

The White House also released a statement condemning Fairfax officials.

“This tragic case is a prime example of what happens when Democrats choose to side with criminal illegal aliens over American citizens,” the statement reads. “This monster should’ve never been allowed to roam free in American communities. The Trump administration will continue our efforts to deport all criminal illegal aliens and Make America Safe Again, despite unrelenting Democrat opposition.”

Morales-Ortez is being held at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Marvin morales-ortez, Fairfax virginia prosecutors, Illegal alien murder, Ignored ice detainer, Politics 

A seismic shift is coming for Hollywood’s biggest awards show.

Following a tough decade that has seen the program lose more than 40% of its audience, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has agreed to a multiyear deal that will take it off television airwaves.

In 2021, viewership sank to less than a third of the 2016 audience, with just 10.4 million viewers.

California streaming

Starting in 2029, the 101st Oscars will air in an online format as part of an exclusive deal with YouTube for the global rights to the broadcast. The deal, which runs through 2033, includes the rights to cover the red carpet, behind the scenes, and the Governors Ball.

As reported by Variety, the awards show will leave ABC — where it has been for decades — and will become available on YouTube around the world and to YouTube subscribers in the United States.

Will the show leave extended commercial breaks behind as well? Unlikely. Inside sources revealed to Variety that ads will be a part of the broadcast, and the intent behind the shift was actually to capitalize on YouTube’s captioning and audio translation features.

RELATED: Guillermo del Toro stops awards show music to drop ‘F**k AI’ bomb

Photo by Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage

Falling stars

While the awards telecast has gained some of its viewership back in the last few years, the numbers are still much smaller than they were when President Trump took office the first time.

In 2016, the Oscars saw approximately 34.4 million viewers. That number dropped steadily to 23.6 million by 2020, until a massive free fall in 2021. That year, viewership sank to less than a third of the 2016 audience, with just 10.4 million viewers.

Viewership has climbed back up since and showed decent growth through 2024, when it had 19.5 million viewers. However, the numbers largely stagnated for 2025 with 19.7 million, which is about 57% of what viewership was in 2016.

Still it seems the program will never again reach the peaks it had as recently as 2010, when it garnered over 41 million sets of eyeballs.

RELATED: Can conservatives reclaim pop culture?

Photo by Araya Doheny/Getty Images for YouTube

Global services

Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Lynette Howell Taylor released a joint statement calling the new deal a “multifaceted global partnership with YouTube” that will reach “the largest worldwide audience possible.”

They added, “This collaboration will leverage YouTube’s vast reach and infuse the Oscars and other Academy programming with innovative opportunities for engagement while honoring our legacy. We will be able to celebrate cinema, inspire new generations of filmmakers, and provide access to our film history on an unprecedented global scale.”

YouTube CEO Neal Mohan labeled the Oscars “one of our essential cultural institutions, honoring excellence in storytelling and artistry.”

​Align, Movies, Film, Hollywood, Oscars, Award show, Youtube, Online, Academy, Entertainment 

The United States has paused a visa program after shocking details emerged in the Brown University shooting investigation.

Late Thursday night, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the pause of the DV1 program, a visa lottery system that the Brown University shooter, identified as Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, reportedly used to obtain a green card.

‘At President Trump’s direction, I am immediately directing USCIS to pause the DV1 program to ensure no more Americans are harmed by this disastrous program.’

“The Brown University shooter, Claudio Manuel Neves Valente entered the United States through the diversity lottery immigrant visa program (DV1) in 2017 and was granted a green card. This heinous individual should never have been allowed in our country,” Secretary Noem said on X. “In 2017, President Trump fought to end this program, following the devastating NYC truck ramming by an ISIS terrorist, who entered under the DV1 program, and murdered eight people.”

RELATED: Suspect in deadly Brown University shooting and fatal shooting of MIT professor found dead of self-inflicted gunshot wound

Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

“At President Trump’s direction, I am immediately directing USCIS to pause the DV1 program to ensure no more Americans are harmed by this disastrous program,” Noem added.

Valente, who is also believed to be responsible for the recent slaying of an MIT physics professor, was found dead inside a storage facility Thursday night.

The DV1 program, also known as the Diversity Immigrant Visa program, makes up to 55,000 visas available to immigrants from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. The program is “random and blind to the number of family members who might immigrate with the selectee,” according to the State Department website.

The 2026 visa lottery drew from 20,822,624 applicants from over 170 counties all around the world, according to State Department statistics.

The top 10 countries, from highest volume to lowest are: Egypt, Russia, Algeria, Ukraine, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iran, Kenya, Nepal, and Morocco. Other countries that broke 3,000 are Cameroon, Ethiopia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkey.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Politics, Department of homeland security, State department, Uscis, Visa lottery program, Dv1 program, Visa lottery, Brown university shooter, Legal immigration, United states, Trump, Trump administration 

Actress Jennifer Lawrence says her creativity and politics are inherently intertwined.

Lawrence revealed her thoughts during a discussion with fellow Oscar-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio.

‘Maybe she didn’t know that I was on an Ambien.’

Brain trust

Lawrence, 35, and DiCaprio, 51, appeared on Variety’s “Actors on Actors” segment, with the duo discussing their pasts as child actors, upcoming films, and briefly, politics as it pertains to their art.

DiCaprio was discussing his 2025 political film, “One Battle After Another,” when Lawrence asked about bringing politics into the movie industry.

“I think that the creative part of my brain and the political part of my brain are intrinsically linked,” Lawrence prefaced. “Like, I keep finding, like, every time I come up with, like, a movie or, like, it’s more often than not political.”

“I think it’s ’cause that’s how I’m, like, digesting the world. Are you like that?” she asked DiCaprio.

“No,” DiCaprio plainly replied.

Lawrence attempted to move on to another question, but the “Titanic” star was eager to explain why.

RELATED: Handmaid’s fail: Hillary stumps for Jennifer Lawrence’s new pro-abortion documentary

Photo by Taylor Hill/FilmMagic

Stating that his latest film feels “very topical,” DiCaprio said it is “very difficult to say something about the world we live in” on film.

“It has to have an element of irony or comedy to it; otherwise people — they’re not allowed in. … And it feels like, ‘Oh, I’m watching these people’s vocation and, you know, do I relate to them?'” he explained.

DiCaprio tacked on, “There’s all those political films of the ’70s: ‘The Parallax View,’ ‘Three Days of the Condor,’ ‘All the President’s Men.’ And they were taken very seriously. But nowadays, it feels like there’s such polarity and such extremism that if you pick a side, you’re alienating.”

Pillow talk

Later in the interview, Lawrence had more strange anecdotes that seemed to paralyze the veteran actor. She soon brought up the fact that both she and DiCaprio are “obsessive about sleep” when filming a movie, before reciting some of her on-set drug follies.

DiCaprio seemingly played along, smiling and laughing at times, but clearly had nothing to add.

“I took an Adderall instead of a sleeping pill,” Lawrence said, as DiCaprio smirked. “And then I didn’t sleep all night, and I was taking hot showers, panicking, because I am not somebody who can function without sleep. … I also once took an Ambien in the morning, thinking it was something else,” she continued.

“Wow. Those are key screwups,” the leading man laughed in response.

“Elizabeth Banks got really annoyed with me,” Lawrence said about her Ambien usage on the set of “Hunger Games.”

She continued, “Maybe she didn’t know that I was on an Ambien.”

DiCaprio simply put his head down and laughed, without responding.

RELATED: Jennifer Lawrence claims no women were action movie stars before her

Sigourney who?

Lawrence has made interesting claims during sit-downs on the same program before, including in December 2022 when she claimed she was the first female lead of an action movie.

Also on Variety’s “Actors on Actors,” Lawrence told Viola Davis:

“I remember when I was doing ‘Hunger Games,’ nobody had ever put a woman in the lead of an action movie because it wouldn’t work. We were told, girls and boys can both identify with a male lead, but boys cannot identify with a female lead.”

Sigourney Weaver (“Alien”), Uma Thurman (“Kill Bill”), and Milla Jovovich (countless “Resident Evil” films) could not be reached for comment.

​Jennifer lawrence, Align, Movies, Politics, Woke, Leonardo dicaprio, Actresses, Entertainment 

Another effort by liberal activists to shut down America’s first state-run facility for federal immigration detainees has fallen flat on its face.

Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration, empowered by the governor’s 2023 emergency declaration over the border crisis, got to work in June on transforming the virtually abandoned Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport into Alligator Alcatraz.

Within weeks, the airport’s 10,499-foot runway was crowded with tents and unsavory characters set for deportation.

Enraged by the Republican administration’s success in raising and filling the facility, liberal activists filed multiple legal challenges in hopes of shutting down the facility.

One of those challenges was filed in August by the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Florida, Community Justice Project, and National Immigrant Justice Center on behalf of an anonymous plaintiff and a proposed class of foreign nationals who share in common their capture by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and detention at the facility.

The lawsuit claimed that Florida lacked the authority to detain illegal aliens at Alligator Alcatraz and asked the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida for a preliminary injunction barring state officials from detaining the plaintiff, identified only as M.A., and others like him at the site.

‘Plaintiff is essentially asking this Court to close a sizable and expensive detention facility, all before any decision on the merits of its legality.’

“Florida has wasted hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to unlawfully detain people in this abusive immigration detention center,” Amy Godshall, an illegal aliens’ rights attorney with the ACLU of Florida, said at the outset. “Not only have the conditions been abhorrent, but the detention itself is unlawful.”

“The harm being inflicted on our clients is immediate and irreparable, and it underscores why states are not allowed to overstep into federal immigration processes,” added Godshall.

RELATED: ‘I’ll get the heat’: Milwaukee judge is now a convicted felon after violent illegal alien dodged ICE from her courtroom

Blaze Media illustration. Note: This is a Blaze Media illustration, not the actual facility.

U.S. District Judge Kyle Dudek, an appointee of President Donald Trump, delivered the activist groups and their noncitizen client some bad news on Thursday, denying their request to prevent the DeSantis administration from holding illegal aliens at the facility.

Dudek said in his six-page ruling that “preliminary injunctive relief ‘is an extraordinary and drastic remedy’ that is appropriate only in limited circumstances” and that one of the conditions that must be satisfied was that the movant must show “he will suffer an irreparable injury without the injunction.”

The Trump judge underscored that the noncitizen plaintiff has failed to prove irreparable injury.

“To meet his burden, Plaintiff first points to his incarceration at Alligator Alcatraz,” wrote Dudek. “He claims that ‘unlawful detention is a paradigmatic form of irreparable harm.’ But this argument makes little sense here because Plaintiff does not dispute that he (and the proposed class) is subject to confinement by the Attorney General.”

Dudek suggested further that the supposed evidence of systematic problems at Alligator Alcatraz that was given in support of the noncitizen’s claim of “downstream irreparable harms” was not only “months old and largely stale” but particular only to a handful of detainees and contradicted by other evidence.

“Plaintiff is essentially asking this Court to close a sizable and expensive detention facility, all before any decision on the merits of its legality,” wrote Dudek. “While there may indeed be deficiencies at Alligator Alcatraz that ultimately justify its dissolution, Plaintiff has not made the extraordinary showing needed to justify immediate relief of such magnitude.”

This gut punch for the liberal activist groups comes just months after the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta blocked an Obama-appointed federal judge’s order that the facility be shut down.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Donald trump, Alligator alcatraz, Immigration, Deportation, Illegal aliens, Illegal alien, Florida, Ice, Immigration and customs enforcement, Politics 

A woman in the United Kingdom is in trouble with law enforcement yet again for daring to engage in silent prayers.

Isabel Vaughan-Spruce learned in March that she had been under investigation by Midlands Police in the U.K. since January. She has now been criminally charged for praying in her head.

‘You’ve said you’re engaging in prayer, which is the offense.’

More specifically, Vaughan-Spruce was allegedly charged because she “stood outside” an abortion facility in Birmingham, England, to conduct her silent prayers and, therefore, tried to “influence” visitors, which is prohibited.

According to the Alliance Defending Freedom, the charge against Vaughan-Spruce is under Section 9 of the U.K.’s Public Order Act 2023, which outlines “Safe Access Zones” around abortion clinics in England and Wales.

Discretion under the act is left to each individual officer, but all decisions must be made “on a case-by-case basis and must be balanced and proportionate to the circumstances,” the document says.

The law states it is an offense to recklessly or intentionally “do an act” that:

Influences “any person’s decision to access, provide, or facilitate the provision of abortion services at an abortion clinic”;Obstructs or impedes any person “accessing, providing, or facilitating the provision of abortion services at an abortion clinic”; orCauses “harassment, alarm, or distress to any person in connection with a decision to access, provide, or facilitate the provision of abortion services at an abortion clinic.”

Violators are subject to a fine.

RELATED: ‘Your arrest is necessary’: Woman arrested for silent prayer, ‘anti-social behavior’ outside abortion clinic

Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images

In 2022, Vaughan-Spruce made headlines for admitting to possibly engaging in silent prayer near an abortion clinic. She was asked by an officer to voluntarily go to a police station, and, upon declining, was informed that she was under arrest for failing to comply and would be charged with “anti-social behavior.”

According to a city of Birmingham website, anti-social behavior “includes behavior which has caused or is likely to cause you harassment, alarm, or distress.”

Vaughan-Spruce was later charged with “protesting and engaging in an act that is intimidating to service users” but was reportedly acquitted because the facility was actually closed at the time she was there.

She was arrested again in 2023 for praying in an excluded zone, this time on the corner of a road.

“You’ve said you’re engaging in prayer, which is the offense,” an officer told her.

Vaughan-Spruce claimed at the time that she assumed her acquittal meant she could now pray outside of the facility without causing offense.

RELATED: Real-life dystopia: Police arrest woman AGAIN after she silently prayed near abortion facility in UK

Similar charges were recently brought upon a retired pastor in Northern Ireland for preaching inside one of the protected zones.

According to the New York Post, the 76-year-old faces two charges and has pleaded not guilty to seeking to “influence” people accessing abortion services and for not immediately vacating the area when asked by police.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Christianity, Abortion, United kingdom, England, Northern ireland, Safe zones, Abortion clinic, Thought crime, Prayer, Faith 

Federal agents charged another Chinese national with allegedly trying to smuggle biological materials into the United States.

On Friday morning, FBI Director Kash Patel announced that the agency had filed charges against Youhuang Xiang, a postdoctoral researcher who is in the country on a J-1 visa.

‘To all universities and their compliance departments: Please be vigilant of this trend.’

These visas are issued to exchange visitors approved to participate in certain programs, such as studying or conducting research, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. J-1 visas are provided to professors, research assistants, and students.

Xiang allegedly smuggled Escherichia coli, commonly referred to as E. coli, into the country. He is also accused of making false statements about the smuggling scheme.

Patel explained that E. coli, when not properly controlled, can “inflict devastating disease to U.S. crops and cause significant financial loss to the U.S. economy.”

Xiang was listed on Indiana University’s website as a postdoctoral fellow. His “research interests” included “recognition specificity in host-pathogen interactions and engineering crop resistance to pathogen,” according to the website. As of Friday afternoon, the university removed Xiang from its Department of Biology webpage.

RELATED: University of Michigan’s bio-smuggling scandal explodes: More Chinese scholars busted in alleged plot

Kash Patel. Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

“This is yet another example of a researcher from China — given the privilege to work at a U.S. university — who then allegedly chose to take part in a scheme to circumvent U.S. laws and receive biological materials hidden in a package originating from China,” Patel wrote in a post on social media.

The FBI director noted that the agency and Customs and Border Protection partners “are committed to enforcing U.S. laws put in place to protect against this global threat to our economy and food supply.”

RELATED: University of Michigan now under fire after Chinese scholars allegedly smuggle bio-weapon

Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images

“The FBI will not tolerate any attempt to exploit our nation’s institutions for illegal activity — as we have seen in this case and the three Chinese nationals charged in Michigan in November for allegedly smuggling biological materials into the U.S. on several occasions,” Patel continued. “The FBI and our partners are committed to defending the homeland and stopping any illegal smuggling into our country.”

Patel was referring to several Chinese scholars from the University of Michigan who were accused earlier this year of being tied to a smuggling conspiracy. Some of the biological materials the individuals allegedly brought into the U.S. were described as potential agricultural terrorism weapons.

“To all universities and their compliance departments: Please be vigilant of this trend. Ensure your researchers know that there is a correct and legal way to obtain a license to import/export approved biological materials, and it must be followed without exception. Our continued partnerships will help to better secure our nation and ensure all parties are held accountable,” Patel wrote.

Indiana University did not respond to a request for comment.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​News, Kash patel, Fbi, Federal bureau of investigation, Chinese nationals, Chinese scholars, Michigan, University of michigan, Indiana university, Iu, J-1 visa, J-1 visas, J-1, Visas, China, Smuggling, Bio-material smuggling, Politics 

As the Trump administration continues to clean up the administrative state, the Department of Justice just landed a potentially significant victory. In a major reversal, the Department of Justice has discarded a decades-old interpretation of a law that essentially allowed illegal aliens to collect welfare benefits.

In a 20-page slip opinion bearing Assistant Attorney General T. Elliot Gaiser’s signature, the Department of Justice reversed its reading of “federal means-tested public benefit” in light of last year’s overturn of Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council Inc.

‘The existence of such reliance on federal welfare contradicts the textually expressed congressional policy that aliens must not rely on taxpayer support or burden the public benefits system.’

The previous interpretation, stemming from the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 under Democratic President Bill Clinton, extended welfare to illegal aliens by splitting hairs between mandatory and discretionary spending. The DOJ previously directed the Departments of Health and Human Services and Housing and Urban Development to interpret this phrase to allow the extension of benefits to illegal aliens under discretionary benefit programs.

RELATED: US Virgin Islands’ gun restrictions violate the Second Amendment, DOJ claims

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

The new opinion rules that the PRWORA includes benefits under both mandatory and discretionary spending programs and withdraws the preceding 1997 opinion, effectively closing this loophole that allowed illegal aliens to collect welfare benefits.

The opinion notes that the PRWORA had many other parts that would seem to resist the old interpretation, particularly since the relevant section of the law was enacted “to address abuse of the welfare system by aliens in the United States.”

The opinion says that despite this clearly stated purpose, the old interpretation led to unrestricted discretionary funds flowing to illegal aliens over the ensuing decades from “many federal agencies.”

“Today, by some estimates, 59% of illegal alien-headed households receive government welfare,” the opinion reads, citing the director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies.

“While some aliens may have come to rely on means-tested public benefits funded through discretionary spending programs, the existence of such reliance on federal welfare contradicts the textually expressed congressional policy that aliens must not rely on taxpayer support or burden the public benefits system,” the opinion continued.

“American taxpayers have interests, too, in ensuring that their tax contributions do not encourage illegal entry into the United States. Americans are entitled to rely on duly enacted legislation crafted by their elected representatives and designed to protect the public fisc from abuse.”

The Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Politics, Chevron, Center for immigration studies, Illegal aliens, Mandatory spending, Discretionary spending, Hud, Hhs, Doj, Department of justice, T. elliot gaiser, Prwora