Category: blaze media

Allegations that COVID-19 was the result of a lab leak were strongly and swiftly denied by the former Biden administration and some prominent health officials, despite dissenting opinions within the medical field, including from Jay Bhattacharya, who now serves as President Donald Trump’s National Institutes of Health director.

‘I’m convinced that research agenda led to this pandemic through a lab leak in China, in Wuhan.’

A page on the NIH’s website, last reviewed by the agency on March 16, 2022, has not yet been updated by the new administration, still claiming that the leak theory is “misleading and false.”

The NIH webpage reads:

Unfortunately, because the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 have not yet been identified, misleading and false allegations have been made about NIAID-supported research on naturally occurring bat coronaviruses. Specifically, these allegations have targeted research conducted at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China, funded through a subaward from NIAID grantee EcoHealth Alliance. The naturally occurring bat coronaviruses studied through this subaward were significantly, genetically different from SARS-CoV-2 and, therefore, could not have caused the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bhattacharya was one of the voices amid the COVID-era insisting that there was a cover-up of the virus’ origins.

In a May interview with Politico, Bhattacharya stated that he believes the U.S. should do more to reveal the origins of the virus, but noted that China has not been cooperating with those investigations.

“There’s enough evidence that I’ve seen from the outside that suggests that there was at the very least a cover-up of dangerous experiments that were done in China with — by the way — the help of the U.S. and also Germany and the U.K.,” Bhattacharya told the news outlet.

RELATED: NIH staffers storm out as Bhattacharya delivers reality bombshell about COVID origin

Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images

He referred to the experiments as “a very, very dangerous kind of utopian research agenda.”

“I’m convinced that research agenda led to this pandemic through a lab leak in China, in Wuhan,” Bhattacharya continued. “But that was a global effort.”

RELATED: How a ‘lovers’ spat’ nearly sparked a second pandemic in Biden-era high-security virus lab

Photo by ALLISON BAILEY/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

He called it “absolutely striking” that then-Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci and other leaders would invest so much effort into suppressing the theory and “denigrating scientists who very legitimately raised this possibility.”

Blaze News contacted the NIH to determine whether it is aware of the webpage dismissing lab leak claims and if it plans to update its website. The agency did not immediately 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, Covid-19, Covid, Coronavirus, Lab leak, Lab leak theory, Jay bhattacharya, Donald trump, Trump, Trump administration, Biden, Joe biden, Biden administration, Biden admin, Trump admin, China, Wuhan china, Wuhan, National institutes of health, Nih, National institute of allergy and infectious diseases, Niaid, Anthony fauci, Politics 

The Republican Party has enjoyed massive gains among young Americans over the span of about 21 months, according to recent polling conducted by Pew Research.

According to surveys of registered voters in August 2023, men and women in categories ranging from 18 years old all the way up to 49 years old favored Democrats.

In fact, the only two categories that leaned Republican at that time were 50-to-64-year-old males (57%) and over-65-year-old males (59%).

As of June 2025, however, young American adults have swung in the other direction en masse.

‘Interesting to see the “you get more conservative as you get older” trope dying.’

The 2025 polling by Pew Research of U.S. adults, which cited the 2023 data directly below it, showed massive gains for the Republican Party, specifically among younger demographics.

For example, males ages 18-29 went from 62% in favor of Democrats to 52% in favor of Republicans.

For women of that same age group, seven more percentage points went to the Republicans, whose support rose from 30% in 2023 to 37% in 2025.

Democrats did widen a gap when it comes to women ages 30-49, though, but not through their own doing. Support for Republicans in that category dropped from 42% in 2023 to 39% in 2025.

RELATED: Democrat offers bizarre spin on imploding support for his party — and he’s getting amazing backlash

An interesting figure included in the polling is the percentage of respondents who said they had no political leanings or refused to answer.

For the youngest demographic, that number was 13%. The other demographics averaged between 7% and 8%.

Looking at party affiliation categorized by the decade in which Americans were born, those born between 1940 and 1980 have remained in a near 50-50 split of support for Democrats and Republicans from 2021 to 2025.

For those born after 1980, the changes have been significant.

In 2021, while 57% of those born in the 1980s identified as Democrats, that number is now 47% in 2025.

For those born in the 1990s, 59% identified as Democrat in 2021, but that number is now down to 46%.

RELATED: No country for angry young men

Photo by Probal Rashid/LightRocket via Getty Images

In response to the data, users on X shared interesting perspectives, like, “Interesting to see the ‘you get more conservative as you get older’ trope dying.”

Another account posted, “18-29 year old men are more right wing than male Boomers[.] Did NOT expect to see that.”

A tech and financial account with over 40,000 followers added that he felt it was “sad” that a younger generation is being relied on to “clean things up” after the Boomer generation “completely destroyed their birthright.”

Popular conservative commentator John Doyle offered a unique explanation as to why young Americans have shifted away from Democratic politics.

Doyle told Blaze News, “We just wanted to play our video games. This is for raping the Joker and killing Hulk Hogan.”

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

​News, Polling, Democrats, Republicans, Young voters, 2020, 2024, 2025, Politics 

When American pastor and Christian musician Sean Feucht returned home this weekend after the start of a short Canadian tour, he did something he’s never done before: fell to the ground to kiss American soil.

That’s how shocked he was by hostility toward Christianity in Canada.

In today’s Canada, anything can be called ‘divisive’ or ‘hateful’ if it offends the regime.

Selected freedom

Freedom of religion and freedom of speech may be enshrined in Canada’s constitution, but in practice the government no longer indulges these liberties — especially when exercised by Christians and conservatives.

While President Donald Trump is laying out plans to protect the religious rights of federal employees, Canadian authorities are targeting Christian worship — and doing it with pride.

Feucht was denied access to public spaces in Quebec City, Moncton, Charlottetown, and Gatineau, a city just across the Quebec border from Ottawa.

RELATED: Our churches are sitting ducks. Here’s how to fight back

Blaze Media Illustration

Police state

In Montreal, police actually occupied a Spanish Catholic church where Feucht was performing before finally backing off and telling the church that it would be fined for not having a permit. The next day the city fined the church $2,500 for hosting the American preacher. Is this the Canada of 2025, where churches have to seek the approval of the local Soviet council to invite a guest speaker?

The outrage did not go unnoticed.

What was the justification for these shutdowns? Politicians across Canada, from mayors to federal MPs, smeared Feucht as “MAGA-affiliated,” “controversial,” and “divisive.” Apparently, being a conservative Christian who opposes abortion, same-sex marriage, the LGBTQ agenda, and critical race theory is enough to get you canceled north of the border.

‘Pride’ exemption

Meanwhile, Pride parades across Canada — from Halifax to Vancouver — continue without restriction. Police stand by while fully nude men march in front of children. No arrests. No permits pulled. No fines. That’s “inclusion.”

In contrast, a preacher with a guitar singing worship music is treated like a national security threat.

Pastor Henry Hildebrandt — himself jailed during COVID for holding church services — highlighted the hypocrisy after a smoke bomb was thrown into the Montreal church where Feucht performed. Neither police nor protesters faced charges.

— (@)

The conditioning is clear: During COVID, churches learned to comply with illegal mandates, police intimidation, and government overreach. Now, even in a post-pandemic world, those tactics persist. And they’re aimed almost exclusively at Christians.

Ideological lawfare

Feucht’s ordeal unfolded the same week that crown prosecutors in Ontario pushed for eight- and seven-year prison sentences for Chris Barber and Tamara Lich, the leaders of the 2022 Freedom Convoy, for organizing a peaceful protest against vaccine mandates. The government even wants to seize Barber’s truck, “Big Red,” for good measure.

This isn’t just overreach — it’s ideological lawfare.

Because in today’s Canada, anything can be called “divisive” or “hateful” if it offends the regime. Meanwhile, genuinely obscene or radical events — like public nudity at Pride marches or anti-Israel protests that block roads — are tolerated, even celebrated.

So let’s ask the obvious: Is a Liberal Party convention not “divisive”? Is a gay Pride parade not both “divisive” and explicitly hedonistic? Are police going to start laying hate crimes charges against mayors who permit these events?

Of course not.

But host a Christian event? Preach Jesus? Support Trump? Suddenly your free speech evaporates — and your bank account might, too.

God’s not dead

Canadian Christians — especially evangelicals — have become third-class citizens. And not a word of protest from Prime Minister Mark Carney or Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre. Why the silence? Are they afraid of being seen as supportive of Christians? Or secretly pleased to see MAGA-linked faith groups punished?

In spite of this atmosphere of repression, Feucht found enthusiastic audiences for his shows. He nailed it in a post: “God is not dead in Canada.”

Feucht plans to return to Canada in late August for dates in Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Kelowna, and Abbotsford. The City of Winnipeg, however, just pulled Feucht’s permit to perform in its Central Park

When I spoke to my own church about what happened in Montreal, the congregation was divided. Some saw it as a moment to push back, to reclaim public faith. Others saw it as confirmation that we are living in the last days — that the Second Coming is near.

Either way, one thing is undeniable: The Canada many of us once knew is fading fast. And in its place is something colder, crueler, and far more hostile to anyone who dares speak the name of Jesus Christ in public.

​Sean feucht, Christianity, Faith, Canada, Lifestyle, Christian music, Letter from canada 

A Maine state representative made a confusing claim about transgender athletes and men competing in women’s sports.

The state has had a tumultuous 2025 during President Donald Trump’s second term, as state representatives have battled the president over his executive order to keep men out of women’s sports.

Although Maine’s university system eventually fell in line with the order to protect its federal funding, irreversible damage had already been done by letting boys compete in girls’ sports, particularly in February, when a boy won a girls’ pole vaulting competition.

‘It takes a lot of guts for someone to say, “I’m not going to accept male privilege.”‘

Democratic state Rep. Rafael Macias from Maine’s District 51 appeared on the “Muddy Waters Podcast” to discuss that very incident. Macias started by claiming that fellow state Rep. Laurel Libby (R) had “doxxed a young man” who simply “wanted to play sports” when she posted a picture of the transgender athlete competing against boys first, then girls.

It was soon after when Macias made a bizarre claim about how men competing in women’s sports actually makes women better.

“It’s an individual sport, so if you’re worried about who you’re competing [against], particularly if they’re stronger and they can jump higher, I think that makes everybody in the field better, you know, jumping higher, running faster,” he claimed.

Macias then cited the fact that while many men cannot complete a “four-minute mile,” there are female athletes who can come close.

“They can run faster than me. They can run faster than you and probably most men that I know who can’t run the four-minute mile,” Macias claimed. “There are women that are doing that. So, you know, you can compare men and female and say men are stronger, men can jump higher, run faster, longer, all that good stuff, and that women shouldn’t play in men’s sports.”

Confusingly, Macias then stated that women not being allowed in men’s sports is “the whole reason behind Title IX.”

RELATED: University of Maine System falls in line with Trump’s prohibition on men in women’s sports

Host Chuck Ellis immediately retorted, “Let’s be clear about a couple things. Nobody on our side in any way is saying that we have any problem with women trying to compete in men’s sports. That’s not — nobody’s saying that at all,” he began. “The reason for Title IX wasn’t that people didn’t want to allow women to compete in male sports but that they couldn’t.”

Ellis noted the obvious truth that “men are stronger” and “faster” than women on average, and national stories of transgender athletes breaking women’s records have highlighted this.

Macias himself admitted in the interview that the pole vaulting athlete in question came in first when competing as a girl, but when the height he jumped against females is compared to the male athletes’ results, his height would have landed him in 10th place against boys, as Blaze News previously reported.

Still, Macias expressed that he had an issue with Rep. Libby posting a photo of the teen, who was in 10th grade at the time.

RELATED: ‘A lot of people say it’s not happening!’ Blaze News investigates: A definitive list of men who have dominated women’s sports

Field hockey players run on the track at Greely High School in Cumberland, Maine. Photo by Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images

“She posted a picture of him when he was competing with boys and then a picture of her when she was competing with girls. And I’m using the pronouns out of respect for this person,” Macias explained. “It takes a lot of guts for someone to say, ‘I’m not going to accept male privilege.’ And I’m using that term ‘male privilege.'”

Macias and the host briefly debated what male privilege is, and Macias cited the example of a woman feeling afraid while walking through a parking lot at night while a man may not feel afraid.

Ellis replied that this was simply more evidence that men are more likely to be stronger or larger and, as such, less likely to be afraid in a similar situation.

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

​Fearless, Transgender athletes, Track and field, Democrat, Title ix, Maine, Women’s sports, Woke, Lgbt, Sports 

A Cincinnati council member is drawing intense backlash over a comment she made about the victims of last weekend’s viral mob attack.

Victoria Parks — the city council’s president pro tem — said “they begged for that beat down!” the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.

‘Disgusting comment! Victim shaming! NO ONE deserves that type of assault! You need to be removed from public office!’

Parks’ comment went up at 4:50 a.m. Sunday under another Facebook user’s post that includes video of the physical attack. Her comment — in which she added, “I am grateful for the whole story” — was still visible Thursday morning within the post.

Those reacting underneath her comment didn’t hold back:

“A city council member condoning violence in her city is not a good look,” one commenter wrote.”As someone who supports the majority of your positions, this comment is absolutely unbecoming of a city councilperson, disgraceful, and beyond the pale. You need to resign. Step aside and let someone with tact handle the job,” another user said.”Clown,” another commenter replied.”Racist,” another user declared.

Others visited Parks’ own Facebook page and flooded one of her posts — unrelated to the mob attack — with angry words:

“A well-deserved beat down is waiting for you,” one commenter told Parks.”What a despicable human being!!” another user told her.”If that post is verified, and all signs suggest that it is, Victoria Parks was clearly condoning violence, specifically racially charged violence, with her public comment,” another commenter wrote. “If this wasn’t just a one-off but part of a broader pattern of bias that influenced her decisions as a public servant, it could open the door to civil lawsuits. If her prejudice affected anything related to public safety, city resources, or law enforcement, the City of Cincinnati could face serious legal consequences.””Try running your mouth in the state just to your west and see what comes your way,” another user said.”Mm-mm, the Lord is exposing folks left and right, and baby, He’s showing the world exactly who you are,” another commenter observed. “That mouth ain’t fit for public office, or the pulpit. Jesus don’t bless no mess like this.””You are so gross,” another user told Parks.”Disgusting comment! Victim shaming! NO ONE deserves that type of assault! You need to be removed from public office!” another commenter exclaimed.”I would sure like to know why in the world a city councilwoman would make remarks like this. These people that are hitting, kicking and stomping the head of one person as a mob are nothing more than thugs with animalistic behaviors. Prosecute, prosecute, prosecute them,” another user said before adding, “Kick Miss Stupidmouth off the city council!!!!!!”

Blaze News on Wednesday emailed Parks and asked her if she posted the comment and would care to explain it; Parks as of Thursday afternoon has not yet replied to Blaze News’ inquiry.

Same deal with the Enquirer. The paper said Parks “did not respond to multiple messages Wednesday seeking comment. Parks’ office in Cincinnati City Hall was dark and the door was locked on Wednesday afternoon when an Enquirer reporter knocked. There was no answer.”

However, WLWT-TV said Parks confirmed that she did post the comment and stands by it.

Fellow council member Meeka Owens noted to WLWT in reference to Parks’ words that “making comments that inflame a violent incident is never acceptable” and that “endorsing violence is neither effective nor responsible.” Owens added to the station that “it is not beneficial to the city nor the region when [Parks] advocates for violence as a means of retribution” and that “the comments of one lame-duck member of Cincinnati City Council do not represent the opinions or perspectives of the Council as a whole, and certainly not mine.”

Parks announced in January that she isn’t running for re-election.

‘The level of attack on this man? Completely unjustified.’

In one widely shared cellphone video of the early Saturday morning beatdown, a man dressed in a white shirt and black pants is chased into the street and knocked down before multiple attackers repeatedly punch and kick and stomp him over the course of nearly a minute amid hooting and hollering. Soon a woman in a blue dress is seen apparently trying to intervene on behalf of the beaten-up man, but she’s punched in the back of her head by another female — and seconds later, a male punches her in the face, knocking her flat on her back on the street. A disturbing close-up of the woman’s face shows her eyes wide open and body motionless before a few people try to help her up.

A second clip shows three other men knocked to the surface of the same street. Then one attacker leaps and lands his body atop one of the male victims — pro-wrestling-style — while the victim is still lying on the street surface. Afterward, a laughing, smiling male pulls the attacker away.

A third video shows what appears to be the same victim from the previous clip getting pummeled from behind and knocked to the ground as a voice is heard saying, “Sleep him again!” The victim is then dragged by his foot into the middle of the street.

A fourth video, however, appears to show what preceded the beatdown as depicted in the first video. It shows the man dressed in the white shirt and black pants — who was beaten up in the first video — squaring off with a male in a red shirt and black shorts who would soon take part in the mob attack. It appears to show the man dressed in the white shirt and black pants making physical contact with the male in the red shirt and black shorts — and then it’s on.

An additional Facebook video appears to show even more of what occurred prior to the mob attack. It depicts what seems to be a verbal argument and minor scuffle that was on its way to calming down, and the man dressed in the white shirt and black pants seems to lightly slap the face of the male in the red shirt and black shorts, which — as noted above — leads to the beatdown.

However, BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock on Monday stated on “Jason Whitlock Harmony” that he’s heard the argument that the man dressed in the white shirt and black pants — a white man — “started it” by making physical contact with the male in the red shirt and black shorts — a black man — and that was justification for the mob attack.

“That’s ridiculous to me,” Whitlock said. “The level of attack on this man? Completely unjustified.”

RELATED: Victim brutally beaten by gang of bike-riding thugs speaks out: ‘I’m thankful to God that it was only as bad as it was’

Police have arrested three of the five charged suspects in connection with the mob attack — and one of the arrestees reportedly was out on bond for weapons charges when the street beatdown took place.

The arrestees so far are: 39-year-old Jermaine Matthews, 24-year-old Dekyra Vernon, and 34-year-old Montianez Merriweather, WXIX-TV reported. The two other charged suspects have not been named.

Merriweather and Vernon were booked Tuesday afternoon into the Hamilton County Justice Center on charges of felonious assault and aggravated riot, WXIX said, citing jail and court records. Matthews was booked into the county jail just after 1 a.m. Wednesday on charges of aggravated riot and assault, the station reported.

Merriweather was “identified on video punching [the] victim while co-defendants are stomping the victim in the head,” while Vernon “struck [the] victim in the face with a closed fist prior to the victim becoming unconscious from the attack,” WXIX reported, citing criminal complaints. Details on Matthews’ case had not yet been filed in the court record, the station said.

RELATED: Street takeover thugs beat up 7-Eleven worker who tries to keep them from looting store. But he’s no match for mob of 50.

The Cincinnati Enquirer said Vernon’s bond was set at $200,000. Hamilton County court records show she has no prior criminal convictions in the county, the paper reported in a separate story.

Merriweather’s situation is a bit more complicated, shall we say.

It turns out he was indicted July 10 on four felony charges after investigators said he was found in possession of a stolen firearm, the Enquirer reported. Court records indicate he was charged with carrying concealed weapons, receiving stolen property, improper handling of firearms in a vehicle, and weapons under disability, the paper noted. The weapons under disability charge stems from a 2009 felony conviction for aggravated robbery, the Enquirer said, citing documents.

But after his indictment just two weeks ago, Merriweather was released upon posting 10% of a $4,000 bond, the paper said.

“He never should have been out,” Ken Kober, Cincinnati police union president, told the Enquirer.

Merriweather’s bond in connection with the mob attack charges against him was set at $500,000, the Enquirer reported.

As for Matthews, his bond was set at $100,000, the paper said — although he later was charged with felony assault, as well, and a bond for that charge will be discussed at a Thursday hearing.

Matthews apparently is no stranger to law enforcement, either. More from WXIX:

Matthews is a convicted felon who pleaded guilty in 2009 to two counts of cocaine possession and a single count of cocaine trafficking, court records show.

He was sentenced to three years in prison.

During each of his two separate arrests in those cases — in December 2008 and February 2009 — police said Matthews tried to swallow a bag of crack cocaine but spit it out after being shocked with a Taser stun gun.

The FBI on Monday opened an investigation into the mob attack, WXIX reported. Fox News said the incident is under investigation as a potential hate crime.

Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa A. Theetge told NewsNation Monday she anticipates more people will be charged over the mob attack and said, “Anyone who put their hands on another individual during this incident in an attempt to cause harm will face consequences.”

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

​Cincinnati, City council, Mob violence, Beatdown, Physical attack, Arrests, Support, Race, Racism, Victoria parks, President pro tem, Crime, City councilmember, Resign, Backlash, Facebook comment, Politics 

A terrifying video from out of Cincinnati shows a mob of black people stomping on the head of a white man on a street downtown, before a white woman is cold-cocked and knocked out. The haunting footage shows her lying face up on the ground, staring up at the sky, unmoving.

When questioned about the incident, instead of condemning the perpetrators, Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge condemned social media users for taking it out of context.

“Another topic I want to cover real quick, social media and journalism and the role it plays in this incident. And yes, guys, that’s you. That is you. Social media, the post that we’ve seen does not depict the entire incident. That is one version of what occurred,” the Cincinnati police chief said.

She went on to claim that social media posts have “distorted the content of what actually happened.”

One reporter then asked “what exactly was distorted” by those posting about the incident on social media.

“So I think by the irresponsibility with social media, it just shows one side of the equation quite frequently without context, without factual context, and then people run with that and then it grows legs and it becomes something bigger that we have to try to manage was part of the investigation,” she responded.

“The woman had no answer,” BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock comments. “She was asked a follow-up question to clarify her comments, and she had no answer. She just repeated herself and tried to distract.”

“We’ve seen the shove that sparked this, and we’ve seen the overreaction to the shove by people that were uninvolved other than they’re black KKK members, and one of the KKK members got shoved, and so the rest of the KKK members used it as justification,” he continues.

“‘Hey, we get to wild out and beat up and stomp and curb stomp a white man and a white woman,’” he adds, mocking those involved. “This is the black KKK and everybody knows it.”

Whitlock blames the brainwashing of the black community by the mainstream media and the education system.

“We’re developing young black KKK members with this victimhood mentality, with what’s being taught in schools all the way from Harvard all the way down to grade school. It’s being taught. ‘You’re a victim, white people have mistreated you, white people owe you a debt, white people are the most evil thing on the planet,’” he says.

“You’re being programmed to be a KKK member, to blame everything on white people,” he continues, adding, “It’s no different than the white people from 100 years ago that were brainwashed and programmed into believing all of their problems were the result of black people.”

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.

​Camera phone, Free, Video, Video phone, Upload, Sharing, Youtube.com, Fearless with jason whitlock, Fearless, The blaze, Jason whitlock, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blazetv, Cincinnati festival brawl, Black on white crime, Victim mentality, Cincinnati police chief 

SANTIAGO, Chile — Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem signed an agreement with Chilean ministers on Wednesday to continue the Latin American country’s full integration into the Biometric Identification Transnational Migration Alert Program.

BITMAP is a program being used to enhance information-sharing between Chile and the United States when it comes to hardened criminals attempting to enter the United States. This is significant not only because it will help combat the sophisticated Chilean theft rings within the United States, but it will also help prevent Venezuelans who are part of Tren de Aragua from gaining access to North America.

‘America, Chile, and the entire Western Hemisphere will be safer because of these efforts.’

There are over 1 million Venezuelans in Chile, and the nation has had problems with Tren de Aragua since prior to the Biden-Harris border crisis.

“Data-sharing benefits everyone — except bad actors who wish to do us and our people harm,” Noem said about the agreement in a statement given to Blaze News. “Today, we kick-started a Biometric Identification Transnational Migration Alert Program to help both nations better track criminals, terrorists, other dangerous individuals who try to cross our borders and do us harm. America, Chile, and the entire Western Hemisphere will be safer because of these efforts.”

The agreement between the United States and Chile is even more significant considering that President Gabriel Boric is far to the left and has recently criticized President Donald Trump’s move to have better trade agreements for the United States.

RELATED: Javier Milei, Noem strike big agreement as White House builds anti-left alliance

Department of Homeland Security/X

When Blaze Media asked about other disagreements between the two countries that have nevertheless worked together on security, Noem said Chile has been a great partner on this issue.

“The governments have worked really well together. … We can make sure we can share our wisdom and insight as far as the challenges that they face, but also it helps us because those criminals, as we see, if they’re allowed to come through Chile, could impact the United States as well,” Noem explained.

The DHS said the letter of intent that was signed will serve as a “bridge” for the two countries to work toward a full partnership. Once BITMAP is fully operational, both countries will have increased cooperation in identifying and tracking transnational criminals, terrorists, and other high-risk individuals who are attempting to cross American borders.

During a test run of BITMAP, the Investigations Police of Chile were able to intercept an MS-13 gang member at the airport in Santiago. It was discovered that the subject was admitted to Chile as a legal resident. With the ongoing investigation, the man was nominated to the Transnational Organized Criminal Watchlist.

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

​Politics 

More Americans than ever begin to question the recommended vaccine schedule for children, and at the American Academy of Pediatrics, their skepticism hasn’t gone unnoticed.

“The American Academy of Pediatrics … is coming after the anti-vaxxers. They have just released an official statement saying that they advocate ‘for the elimination of non-medical exemptions from immunizations as contrary to optimal individual and public health,’” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales says.

“So they actually don’t want anyone to be allowed to exempt themselves from vaccines for religious reasons, for conscientious reasons — just for medical reasons, which I’m sure they will then very quickly tamp down on as well, because they don’t want you to be able to choose what goes into your body,” she continues.

“Now, they would tell you, ‘Well, I mean, you have the right to choose. You just can’t go to public school.’ … I mean, we saw what happened and how far that extended with COVID. ‘You just can’t go to work. I mean, you just can’t feed your family. You just can’t keep your house,’” she adds.

However, on the same day that the American Academy of Pediatrics started going after the anti-vaxxers, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy gave them some good news.

“RFK Jr. posted that he plans to overhaul the vaccine injury compensation program, which is such a long time coming. This makes me so happy,” Gonzales says. “I know so many families who have been personally affected by this big bloated government bureaucracy.”

“The 1986 Vaccine Act gave vaccine makers immunity against lawsuits by children who suffer vaccine injuries,” RFK wrote in a post on X.

“The statute, and numerous subsequent court decisions, recognized that vaccines, like all medicines, are, in the words of the American Academy of Pediatrics case, ‘unavoidably unsafe,’ and that a percentage of vaccinated children will suffer injuries or death.

“Congress, therefore, simultaneously created the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP), which obliged HHS to compensate injured children,” he added.

While the VICP allows victims to attempt to be compensated, RFK wrote that it “no longer functions to achieve its Congressional intent” and has instead “devolved into a morass of inefficiency, favoritism, and outright corruption.”

He then concluded that he “will not allow the VICP to continue to ignore its mandate and fail its mission of quickly and fairly compensating vaccine-injured individuals.”

Gonzales couldn’t be more pleased with the HHS secretary, adding, “I love this man.”

Want more from Sara Gonzales?

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

​Camera phone, Free, Video, Video phone, Upload, Sharing, Youtube.com, Sara gonzales unfiltered, Sara gonzales, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Vaccine exemptions, Vaccine manufacturers, Rfk jr, The american academy of pediatrics, Vaccine injuries 

As promised, CIA Director John Ratcliffe has declassified the appendix from the 2023 Durham report and provided the documents to Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). The contents are damning.

The Department of Justice authorized federal prosecutor John Durham in 2019 to explore the origins of Crossfire Hurricane, the FBI’s investigation into whether President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign conspired with Russia to win the presidential election — which the intelligence community knew full well did not occur.

The result was a 306-page unclassified report that exposed the bureau’s investigation as an Obama administration hatchet job launched on the basis of “raw, unanalyzed, and uncorroborated intelligence,” willfully blind to contradictory information, and conducted without basic due diligence.

In addition to exposing misconduct — how an FBI attorney apparently altered an email in support of a FISA renewal request targeting a Trump campaign adviser — and highlighting how the bureau took a far different approach when tackling failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s alleged pay-to-play scheme, Durham detailed the FBI’s outsized reliance on a foreign-sourced political opposition research report paid for in part by the Clinton campaign, the contents of which the bureau knew to be unreliable.

There was more to Durham’s report than what was originally made publicly available: namely a 29-page classified appendix that provided insights into the genesis of the Russia collusion hoax.

That appendix, released on Thursday by Grassley, provides additional insights into the FBI’s willful failure under former Director James Comey to investigate intelligence indicating that the Clinton campaign manufactured the Russia collusion hoax out of whole cloth.

The so-called Durham annex also provides strong indications that when confronted with evidence of the Clinton campaign plan, the FBI ultimately decided not only to play along but to weaponize the false narrative against Trump.

— (@)

According to the Durham annex, the Obama administration received intelligence from a source via two separate memos — one in January 2016 and the other in March 2016 — describing confidential conversations between then-Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz and two individuals at George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, Leonard Benardo and Jeffrey Goldstein.

‘The FBI will put more oil into the fire.’

Both memos referred to former President Barack Obama’s intention and alleged efforts to torpedo the FBI’s probe into Clinton’s use of a private email server and mishandling of highly classified information while secretary of state.

RELATED: Ex-CIA counterintelligence chief Susan Miller’s Russia hoax denials reek of desperation

Photo by Pete Souza/The White House via Getty Images

The March memo revealed, however, that Democrats weren’t just circling the wagons but going on offense, noting that the Democratic Party’s “opposition is focused on discrediting Trump through debates and propaganda activities” and that “the Clinton staff, with support from special services, is preparing scandalous revelations of business relations between Trump and the ‘Russian Mafia.'”

The annex indicated that FBI analysts suspected that “special services” was a reference “to the FBI and the CIA or more broadly to the intelligence and law enforcement communities” and/or to “Trump dossier author Christopher Steele.”

The Durham annex noted further that in the summer of 2016, the FBI received additional information regarding the alleged Clinton campaign plan to smear Trump, falsely link him to Russia, then have the deep state carry the ball down the field.

Among the information received was an email purportedly written by Leonard Benardo on July 27, 2016, which stated in part:

[Hillary Rodham Clinton] approved [Campaign Advisor Julie’s] idea about Trump and Russian hackers hampering U.S. elections. That should distract people from her own missing email, especially if the affair goes to the Olympic level. The point is making the Russian play a U.S. domestic issue. Say something like a critical infrastructure threat for the election to feel menace since bout POTUS and VPOTUS have acknowledged the fact IC would speed up searching for evidence that is regrettable still unavailable.

In a separate email attributed to Benardo, the author suggested that with regard to the “long-term affair to demonize Putin and Trump,” “the FBI will put more oil into the fire.”

‘History will show that the Obama and Biden administration’s law enforcement and intelligence agencies were weaponized against President Trump.’

The officers and analysts whom Durham interviewed informed the special counsel that their best assessment was that this and other emails were likely authentic.

In 2017, the CIA “prepared a written assessment of the authenticity and veracity of the above-referenced intelligence. The CIA stated that it did not assess that the above [redacted] memoranda, or [redacted] hacked U.S. communications, to be the product of Russian fabrications,” according to the annex.

RELATED: Declassified report: Obama’s FBI failed to search key evidence in Clinton email probe

Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Despite the apparent authenticity of these letters and credibility of the corresponding intelligence, the Durham report indicated that there was no evidence that the FBI disclosed the contents of the Clinton plan intelligence to the attorneys working on the FISA matters related to Crossfire Hurricane, to the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, or to numerous individuals working on the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.

Although parties directly relevant to the investigation were kept in the dark, the Durham annex indicated that then-CIA Director John Brennan briefed Obama, VP Joe Biden, then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, Comey, and other top Obama officials on the matter.

“Based on the Durham annex, the Obama FBI failed to adequately review and investigate intelligence reports showing the Clinton campaign may have been ginning up the fake Trump-Russia narrative for Clinton’s political gain, which was ultimately done through the Steele dossier and other means,” stated Grassley.

“These intelligence reports and related records, whether true or false, were buried for years. History will show that the Obama and Biden administration’s law enforcement and intelligence agencies were weaponized against President Trump,” continued Grassley. “This political weaponization has caused critical damage to our institutions and is one of the biggest political scandals and cover-ups in American history. The new Trump administration has a tremendous responsibility to the American people to fix the damage done and do so with maximum speed and transparency.”

This story may be updated with additional insights from the Durham annex.

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

​Russia, Russian collusion, Ratcliffe, Gabbard, Donald trump, Hillary clinton, Barack obama, Clapper, Brennan, Russian collusion hoax, Russia hoax, Politics 

As the Senate continues to chip away at the backlog of nominees, President Donald Trump’s allies are one by one getting confirmed.

Most recently, the Senate confirmed former congressional candidate Joe Kent to serve as director of the National Counterterrorism Center, an office overseen by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.

‘Joe has hunted down terrorists and criminals his entire adult life.’

The Senate confirmed Kent in a 52-44 vote Wednesday night, with Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina voting against the nominee and four Democrats missing the vote altogether.

“It’s an honor to serve our nation again & to be back in the fight against terrorism,” Kent said in a post on X. “Thank you President Trump & DNI Gabbard for your confidence in my leadership. NCTC will relentlessly pursue & defeat our nation’s enemies. In honor of our fallen, we fight on.”

RELATED: Senate narrowly confirms Trump lawyer despite Republican defectors

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

Prior to his nomination in February, Kent twice ran for Congress in the state of Washington but failed to defeat his Democratic opponents. Kent also enlisted in the Army and eventually rose through the ranks into the Ranger Regiment and the Special Forces, serving for 20 years and 11 combat deployments.

RELATED: Cory Booker lashes out against colleagues during Senate floor freak-out: ‘It’s time for Democrats to have backbone’

Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

“As a Soldier, Green Beret, and CIA Officer, Joe has hunted down terrorists and criminals his entire adult life,” Trump said in his Truth Social post nominating Kent. “Above all, Joe knows the terrible cost of terrorism, losing his wonderful wife, Shannon, a Great American Hero, who was killed in the fight against ISIS.”

“Joe continues to honor her legacy by staying in the fight,” Trump added. “Joe will help us keep America safe by eradicating all terrorism, from the jihadists around the World, to the cartels in our backyard.”

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

​Joe kent, Tulsi gabbard, Donald trump, Trump administration, Director of national intelligence, National intelligence, Director of national counterterrorism center, Dni, Special forces, Terrorism, Green beret, Congress, Senate republicans, Thom tillis, Senate democrats, Washington, Nctc, Cia, Isis, Politics 

The mourning continues.

This week, actress Sandra Oh stopped by the technically canceled “Late Show with Stephen Colbert” and wished a plague on both Paramount and CBS for ending the talk show.

Late-night TV cannot die fast enough, but at this rate, the post-mortem will read “suicide.”

Now, she was just kidding (we think), but it won’t be the last maudlin moment on the CBS sound stage.

The left can’t process losing their favorite DNC platform. The silver lining for Team Colbert? The show’s ratings perked up following the news.

Maybe CBS will only lose only $39 million this year instead of $40 million …

‘Spinal’ tapped out?

This sequel may not make it to 11.

We got our first peek at “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues,” a sequel 51 years in the making. The original trio returns — Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, and Christopher Guest — along with director and on-screen journalist Rob Reiner from the 1984 mockumentary classic.

The trailer arrives less than two months before its Sept. 12 release date. Not a promising sign.

Nor is the actual trailer, which includes a reference to Stormy Daniels. Was this shot in 2018?

That’s also a hint that Reiner, arguably the celebrity with the worst case of Trump derangement syndrome, might bring his affliction to the screen. We’ll see, but for now, try to find a laugh in the trailer. A smile or two, sure, but a comedy classic deserves a killer sequel — not the “Caddyshack II” treatment …

RELATED: Colbert gets canceled — by CBS, not conservatives

Photo by Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty Images

Brain drain

Like their peers in the news biz, late-night TV hosts looked the other way as President Joe Biden stumbled and bumbled his way through his sole term in the White House.

So many jokes left on the table. Not one “Weekend at Bernie’s” gag in four excruciating years?

Now, one of these chattering cheeseballs wants to flip the script. How? By convincing us that it’s Trump who’s been out to lunch this whole time.

Really.

Charlamagne tha God, using his “Daily Show” bully pulpit, argued that Trump’s dementia is real and deserves to be addressed.

His proof? A crush of selectively edited videos, some of which literally debunk his silly narrative.

Late-night TV cannot die fast enough, but at this rate, the post-mortem will read “suicide” …

Throne home

Maybe they’ll get the privacy they crave after all.

Harry and Meghan (do we really need to speak their last names) won’t be doing the Netflix-and-chill thing much longer. The streamer says it won’t renew the $100 million deal it originally signed with the quasi-royal couple.

Recent projects tied to the duo fizzled with viewers, making an extension impractical. The downside for humanity? “South Park” has less material to work with …

Hollywood handout

Pass the hat for Terry Gilliam.

The Monty Python alum turned celebrated auteur (“Brazil”) can’t get his next project off the ground. Will work for food, he says, but no one is picking up the check.

And he’s not alone.

Other former A-list directors like Kathryn Bigelow, John Waters, and Francis Ford Coppola have struggled to get their newest projects made. Coppola figured out an expensive solution — he poured his massive vineyard cash into “Megalopolis,” one of 2024’s biggest duds.

Hollywood is more risk-averse than ever, and even “name” directors can’t guarantee their projects will get funded. Perhaps if Gilliam pitched a gender- and race-swapped “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” reboot, he’d have better luck …

‘Hitler,’ hisses hack

At this rate, we’ll be begging for Jimmy Kimmel to return from his annual summer retreat. Late night’s favorite crybaby is taking a knee this month, but he brought in guest hosts who, somehow, are even worse.

Take actor Alan Cumming. The veteran star, best known in geek circles for playing Nightcrawler in the “X-Men” saga, hosted “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” earlier this week and did Kimmel proud.

He compared the Trump administration to Nazi Germany by evoking images of concentration camps.

America, how are you doing? No, really, how are you doing? I mean, how are you doing aside from being a country that has just reintroduced concentration camps, taken health care away from 17 million people to give billionaires a tax cut, and also to finance an armed militia of masked men that commits heinous assorted kidnapping and crimes against humanity on a daily basis? Aside from all that, are you okay? I wouldn’t have thought so.

Squint all you want. You won’t find a joke nestled in that “View”-worthy rant. Nor the truth, for that matter. Say what you will about Kimmel and co., but you have to admire their consistency.

​Hollywood, Celebrities, Entertainment, Culture, Donald trump, Stephen colbert, Jimmy kimmel, Toto recall 

Numerous members of Congress have gotten fabulously rich making well-timed investments.

Multiple bills have been introduced in recent years that would ban congressional stock trading, including Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley’s Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments Act — the PELOSI Act.

Despite the opposition from his Republican peers — Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), for instance, warned of possible “unintended consequences” — Hawley successfully got the bill through through the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

President Trump was none too pleased with his longtime Republican ally in the Senate, suggesting in a strongly worded Truth Social post that Hawley was a “second-tier Senator” being used by Democrats to undermine him in an apparent act of “sabotage.”

Hawley reintroduced the PELOSI Act in April, noting, “Americans have seen politician after politician turn a profit using information not available to the general public. It’s time we ban all members of Congress from trading and holding stocks and restore Americans’ trust in our nation’s legislative body.”

The name of the bill is a not-so-subtle jab at one of the most brazen alleged insider traders in Congress, California Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D), whose annual salary is now around $174,000 but who has a net worth of $263.39 million, according to Quiver Quantitative.

RELATED: Cory Mills vs. the truth: Top 10 times the GOP wunderkind played fast and loose with the facts

Photographer: Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Last year, President Donald Trump demanded that Pelosi be prosecuted for alleged insider trading after her husband dumped 2,000 of his shares in Visa — valued at roughly $500,000 — two months before the company was sued by the Department of Justice for allegedly monopolizing the debit markets. Visa stock dropped by 5% following the announcement of the DOJ’s civil antitrust suit.

Pelosi is certainly not alone.

In his Blaze Originals documentary, “Bought and Paid For: How Politicians Get Filthy Rich,” James Poulos, the host of BlazeTV’s “Zero Hour” and the editor at large of Blaze Media, highlighted some of the “most egregious transactions” members of Congress have directly or indirectly pulled off in recent years — like making big investments in defense contractors on the eve of the war in Ukraine — without remorse or consequence.

Around the time of its reintroduction, Trump indicated that he would support such a ban.

However, the bill debated in committee on Wednesday would not just bar lawmakers in Congress and their spouses from buying, selling, or holding individual stocks while in office — it would apply to the American president and vice president as well.

‘Members of Congress should be focused on delivering results for their constituents, not returns on investments.’

Trump told reporters on Wednesday that he likes the legislation “conceptually,” adding that “Nancy Pelosi became rich by having inside information. She made a fortune with her husband, and I think that’s disgraceful. So in that sense, I’d like it, but I’d have to really see — you know I study these things very carefully, and this just happened, so I’ll take a look at it.”

A White House official speaking to the New York Times on the condition of anonymity claimed that Hawley blindsided the president’s team with the bill, the original version of which would have reportedly required Trump and Vance to sell off their investments starting in 2027.

Hawley changed the bill so that officeholders would not have to divest until the beginning of their next terms, meaning Trump would be exempt.

— (@)

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) criticized the change, suggesting that the prohibition “should apply to everybody or nobody.”

Nevertheless, the bill passed committee 8-7 — with all Republicans but Hawley voting in opposition.

After the vote, Hawley said in a statement, “Members of Congress should be focused on delivering results for their constituents, not returns on investments. It’s time to find out where members stand. It’s time we restore trust in Congress and ban all members from trading and holding stocks.”

RELATED: House Ethics clears GOP lawmaker of insider trading, calls for stock divestments anyway

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Trump subsequently attacked Hawley on Truth Social, writing, “The Democrats, because of our tremendous ACHIEVEMENTS and SUCCESS, have been trying to ‘Target’ me for a long period of time, and they’re using Josh Hawley, who I got elected TWICE, as a pawn to help them. I wonder why Hawley would pass a Bill that Nancy Pelosi is in absolute love with.”

Trump suggested further that Hawley “is playing right into the dirty hands of the Democrats. It’s a great Bill for [Pelosi], and her ‘husband,’ but so bad for our Country! I don’t think real Republicans want to see their President, who has had unprecedented success, TARGETED, because of the ‘whims’ of a second-tier Senator named Josh Hawley!”

The president also took issue with Hawley for siding with Democrats against Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott’s attempt to add a report of controversial stock trading by Pelosi and her family to the bill — a possible deal-breaker for Democrats — and to add an exemption for the president and vice president.

When asked for comment on whether Trump’s view changed in light of Hawley’s alteration to the bill, the White House referred Blaze News back to the president’s Truth Social post.

A poll conducted in 2023 by the University of Maryland’s Program for Public Consultation found that 86% of Americans favored barring members of Congress and their family members from trading stocks. When broken down by political affiliation, 87% of Republican respondents, 88% of Democratic respondents, and 81% of independents supported the proposal.

The poll found that 87% of Americans also supported prohibiting the president, the vice president, and Supreme Court justices from trading stocks in individual companies.

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

​Josh hawley, Hawley, Senate, Congressional stock trading, Stock trading, Trading, Stocks, Invesment, Pelosi act, Pelosi, Politics 

Matt Kibbe has remained relentless in his pursuit of the truth about the COVID-19 pandemic. From secretive gain-of-function research to oppressive lockdown policies and aggressive government censorship, Kibbe is diving deep into one of the greatest scandals in our nation’s history — a scandal too many have overlooked.

But the American people deserve clarity on the origins of the virus and why our government responded with lockdowns, coercion, and censorship. Kibbe’s docuseries “The Coverup,” on BlazeTV+, aims to address our long list of unanswered questions.

Episode five — “Muckraker” — drops today. This latest installment follows Kibbe as he teams up with Twitter Files journalist Matt Taibi to discuss how Fauci, Birx, and key health agencies colluded with Big Tech to hide the truth from the public.

“Muckraker” is a plunge into the pandemic industrial complex — an insidious network of health bureaucracies, including the CDC, NIH, FDA, WHO, and several NGOs — that colluded with Big Tech companies to ensure that the COVID-19 narrative, from vaccines to the lab-leak theory and everything in between, was what the government wanted it to be.

In a flagrant violation of the First Amendment, intense pressure coming from both law enforcement and health agencies was directed toward social media companies, which compliantly censored Americans daring to question, theorize, or criticize outside the bounds of what the government deemed appropriate.

This censorship took many different forms. Shadow-banning, for example, was the covert practice used by tech companies to restrict a user’s content visibility or reach on a platform without the user’s knowledge, often through algorithmic suppression or reduced engagement. Health bureaucracies created and pushed frameworks for content moderation, which social media platforms then adopted. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg confessed that Biden administration officials were brutal in their demands to kill certain ideas in the public square.

Often the content that demanded moderation was information that the government, including health agencies, knew was true — like adverse vaccine side effects — but it was squashed nonetheless if it opposed the approved narrative.

“They were trying to re-engineer how people thought,” Taibbi says.

But thought control wasn’t their only aim. The simultaneous rise in censorship and bioterrorism research is no coincidence.

Tune in to “The CoverUp” episode 5, as Kibbe and Taibbi unravel the pandemic industrial complex, exposing how federal health agencies and Big Tech prolonged lockdowns, fueled fear, and hid the government’s role in the creation of the virus.

To watch episode 5 of “The Coverup” or binge the whole series, go to FauciCoverup.com. Use the code ORWELL to get $20 off your first year of BlazeTV+.

​Blazetv, Blaze media, Matt kibbe, Kibbe, The coverup, Covid 19, Pandemic industrial complex, Matt taibbi, Twitter files, Big tech censorship, Shadowbanning, Censorship, Covid censorship 

The censorship industrial complex went to great lengths to stop Americans from questioning the lockdown measures in reaction to COVID-19 as well as the origins of the virus.

On Episode 5 of BlazeTV’s “The Coverup,” host Matt Kibbe and investigative journalist Matt Taibbi reveal how the federal government, technology platforms, and nongovernmental organizations worked together to censor dissent.

‘This is why I was in a panic in 2024, as a global review system didn’t seem far off.’

Taibbi, who reported on the infamous Twitter Files, mentioned how Europe implemented the Digital Services Act, which “essentially forces private companies to engage in censorship.” While he called it “encouraging” that the United States remains the one holdout supporting free speech, he noted that it “will take a prolonged, sustained effort to prevent it from being implemented here.”

He explained that the federal government used “a number of Orwellian mechanisms” to communicate with social media platforms, such as Twitter, regarding content.

Kibbe stated that the revelation that the FBI and other government agencies pressure social media platforms to censor their users’ speech showed that it “wasn’t just cowardly CEOs acting on their own.”

“This was the government clamping down to enforce a narrative in flagrant violation of the First Amendment,” Kibbe remarked.

The federal government placed gag orders on the social media companies so they could not tell their customers, Taibbi added.

RELATED: Patel’s ‘breakthrough’ in COVID origins probe spells trouble for Fauci — especially if his pardon is voided

Matt Taibbi. Image Source: BlazeTV

Kibbe and Taibbi discussed how the Twitter Files revealed that the company had been shadow-banning users, including Jay Bhattacharya, who is now the director of the National Institutes of Health under the Trump administration.

The Twitter Files also revealed that social media companies were pushed to censor not just alleged false information, but also “mal-information, “or information that is “true, but true in a way that doesn’t point in the direction the administration wants you to look,” Kibbe stated.

Taibbi explained that even NGOs had requested Facebook suppress posts that suggested the COVID-19 virus leaked from the Wuhan, China, lab or discourse that detracts from the authority of health leaders at the time, such as Anthony Fauci.

RELATED: Biden admin covered up potentially deadly COVID vaccine side effects for months: Senate report

Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

As far as the government’s end goal for the overreach, Taibbi believes the censorship campaign during the COVID era was an attempt to rewire Americans to be more compliant.

“When we looked at these censorship programs, we tried to figure out, what are they doing here? They’re not going to just continually censor things over and over again. That’s so exhaustive. That’s going to take so much energy,” he told Kibbe. “Gradually, we realized … they were trying to re-engineer how people thought generally. They wanted to create a more timorous, obedient kind of person who would just forget to ask questions, who would stop wondering ‘why.’ And so they’re trying to get us to forget we ever had anything to say.”

When asked what role independent media could play in countering attempts to implement censorship controls like Europe’s DSA in the U.S., Taibbi told Blaze News that “even high-tech efforts to counter such aggressive platform censorship will hit lots of obstacles.”

“This is why I was in a panic in 2024, as a global review system didn’t seem far off. Independent media is great, but it has limited impact if it’s severely deamplified, which is what already happens in Europe and will happen elsewhere,” he continued.

“Very worried.”

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

​News, The coverup, Matt kibbe, Matt taibbi, Covid, Covid-19, Covid-era, Censorship, Twitter files, Digital services act, Jay bhattacharya, Nongovernmental organizations, Ngos, Politics 

Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) repeatedly advocated for the expansion of the U.S. State Department and aid to African nations, but did not get the answers he was looking for.

During a Senate subcommittee hearing called “Critical Minerals: Finding Opportunities for U.S.-Africa Partnerships” on Wednesday, Republicans like Senator Ted Cruz (Texas) warned about the growing control China has over rare-earth minerals in Africa.

While Senator Booker agreed that Chinese expansion is a top issue, his solution was mainly to suggest that the State Department needs more government workers.

‘I’m pleased to report that in the Africa bureau we’ve had zero RIFs.’

Booker’s opening remarks thanked Republicans for their bipartisan efforts, noting that China consistently “rushes to fill” any gaps in the market related to minerals. However, the senator quickly shifted to complaints about the Trump administration cutting jobs at the State Department that he said were integral to surveying and exploring African nations for minerals.

He also claimed that aid supporting “labor, environmental, and peace-building programs” had been cut by the Trump administration. Booker argued that regional aid protected vulnerable African communities that have been exploited.

The Democrat then sought confirmation from witness Jonathan Pratt, a senior official from the Bureau of African Affairs, asking him, “Couldn’t we use more staff [and] more people focused on this?”

While Pratt said he is always concerned with staffing, he calmly reported to the senator that no one from his department had actually been fired and that in fact, it has actually expanded.

“I’m pleased to report that in the Africa bureau we’ve had zero RIFs,” Pratt explained.

“I’m pleased to say we got a result we were pleased with in terms of the staffing we were able to retain,” Pratt continued, informing Booker that the African bureau had actually “added an office” under the Trump administration, as well.

RELATED: Trump’s mining plan is smart — but China remains in the room

President Joe Biden meets with African leaders at the Lobito Corridor Trans-Africa Summit in Angola on December 4, 2024. Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP

Much of the hearing focused on China’s child- and forced-labor practices, which include trapping African countries into infrastructure loans to keep mineral prices low and undercut American companies.

Senator Steve Daines (R-Mont.) pointed out that Russian dumps of palladium have driven a mine in Montana out of business, while Minnesota’s mining industry was handcuffed by President Biden’s administration canceling lease renewals over environmental concerns in 2022.

Scott Woodard, acting deputy assistant secretary for economic growth, energy, and environment, added that due to Chinese monopolies that overproduce products to lower prices, mines in Idaho cannot compete.

According to Cruz, China is pouring billions into securing mining routes to gain control over cobalt, copper, lithium, and other rare-earth minerals in countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe.

The alternative, according to Cruz and the committee, is to shift control of the Lobito Corridor to Western allies such as the United States and the European Union.

RELATED: Akon’s African ‘Wakanda’ city gets crushed: ‘I take full responsibility’

Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The economic route connects a port in Angola to DR Congo and the “Copperbelt in Zambia,” providing access to minerals and mines.

Investing in the region has been part of the American strategy in Africa for years and was actually the main topic of discussion in 2024 when President Biden infamously fell asleep during a meeting in Angola.

Senator Cruz summarized the U.S. efforts by saying that while shifting the United States’ supply chain away from China is complex and difficult, it is also an “opportunity to reshape U.S.-Africa based relations from aid-based to investment-led engagement.”

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

​News, Africa, Minerals, Mining, Maine, Democrats, Republicans, Senate, Politics 

Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been working tirelessly to enable humanity to explore the moon, Mars, and deep space for years. From reusable rockets to the Starlink satellite infrastructure to its 500-plus completed missions, SpaceX, in partnership with NASA, has brought space exploration within reach like never before.

NASA’s upcoming launch to the International Space Station this week will further these goals.

This will be both Cardman’s and Platonov’s first spaceflight.

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 is preparing to launch its mission to the International Space Station. The crew will be boarding a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft called Endeavour, which has previously flown several missions, including Demo-2, Crew-2, Crew-6, Crew-8, and a private mission called Axiom Mission 1.

Crew-11 will lift off no earlier than 12:09 p.m. ET on Thursday. They will be launching from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. SpaceX’s website notes that there is a backup opportunity for launch on Friday, August 1, at 11:43 a.m. ET.

RELATED: VIDEO: NASA astronauts stranded in space by the Biden admin splash down in SpaceX capsule

Photo by Kevin Carter/Getty Images

Among the four crew members are NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman. Joining them are Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov.

This will be both Cardman’s and Platonov’s first spaceflight.

The four new arrivals will begin a seven-month mission to perform research, technology demonstrations, and maintenance aboard the orbiting laboratory. They will also participate in NASA’s Artemis campaign by performing simulations of lunar landings to contribute to research for future lunar and deep space missions.

Specifically, their contribution appears to further the task of Artemis III, which, according to NASA’s website, “will be one of the most complex undertakings of engineering and human ingenuity in the history of deep space exploration, exploring the lunar South Pole region.” The manned lunar landing is slated to launch mid-year 2027 with a four-man crew over the span of 30 days.

The seven-member team currently aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 73, will welcome Crew-11 to the station. Four of the current crew members who have been working on the ISS since March are expected to disembark shortly after Crew-11’s arrival.

SpaceX is also set to launch 19 Starlink satellites from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Thursday.

SpaceX and NASA did not respond to Blaze News’ request for comment.

Watch the livestream video of the launch on X here.

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

​Politics, Spacex, Nasa, International space station, Artemis iii, Spacex dragon spacecraft, Lunar landing, Kennedy space center, Starlink, News 

I remember going to Blockbuster with my mom and dad. It was down the street in a strip mall that was shaped like a capital L. It was on the very end and the corner.

It felt far away from our house, though I’m sure it wasn’t. Everything feels far away when you’re a kid. I had no idea how we got there either — which streets we took, how many turns were made, how many miles away it was, or even how long it took us to get there. Ten minutes? An hour? They kind of blend together when you’re a kid, and I had no real idea about any of it.

Blockbuster nostalgia isn’t really about the VHS or the strip mall, the warm smell of the tape or the quiet in the room. It’s about a longing for limitation, our secret wish for less.

But I remember riding in the back seat, looking out the window as my parents weaved the car through what seemed like a dizzying labyrinth of concrete, ranch houses, and tall trees on the way to Blockbuster.

Strip mall arcadia

Blockbuster had a distinct smell. Soft, warm, plasticky. The Louisville sun beat down through the big, long windows, coming in over the black parking lot and then falling down onto the rows of VHS tapes and low-pile carpeting.

It’s funny to think, but the chain video store almost had the same feeling as the library. Rows of neat shelves adorned with a variety of titles. A hushed hum over the large carpeted room. Late afternoon in a sun-dappled Blockbuster, searching for the evening’s entertainment.

Now we don’t go to Blockbuster. They’ve been shut down a long time, and that flimsy blue and yellow Blockbuster card was thrown in the trash years ago. Now we don’t go anywhere.

We sit at home, fumbling around with the remote, clicking through seemingly endless options on Netflix. Everything “looks good” and is packaged up real tight, and there is more of it to watch than we have time. But nothing really is that good, or nothing really seems very good. Life’s not like it was at Blockbuster in 1998.

RELATED: ‘All about the experience’: Former Blockbuster and 7-Eleven CEO explains why we can’t let go of the ’90s‘

James Leynse/Corbis via Getty Images

Please rewind

What is my nostalgia — no, our nostalgia! — for Blockbuster? Why go back to the clunky, “be kind, rewind” technology of VHS? Why would it be nicer to be forced to drive down the road and find something to watch rather than streaming whatever we want whenever we want from the comfort of our beds? Why do we want fewer options?

That last one. That’s it. That’s what the itch is. Blockbuster nostalgia isn’t really about the VHS or the strip mall, the warm smell of the tape or the quiet in the room. It’s about a longing for limitation, our secret wish for less.

We have so many choices today, we don’t know what to pick. Decision paralysis. Some of us suffer from it terribly, some of us less so. But we’re all aware of the problem. We understand the term. We all know that it’s easier to pick from three than it is from three hundred.

The problem of decision paralysis isn’t limited to what we are going to watch some Thursday evening. We see the problem with young people and dating apps. There is a sense there is always another one waiting. There are infinite partners out there. Don’t settle down; there might be a better match. Always another match. No one can make the decision to just be happy and just get married.

I’ve seen it when someone has a bunch of money saved. Too much time and nothing to do. They talk about going here or there, doing this or trying that. They hem and haw about it for months, and then years. I ask them, “What are you waiting for?” They tell me, “I’m not sure it’s what I want to do.”

Aisle be seeing you

The world is our oyster. We can do anything we want, we are spoiled rotten, and we can’t make a choice. We should be happier than ever, but we aren’t. Not really. We secretly, deep down, wish something would just take away our choices and make it all simpler for us. We would complain about it, but we would secretly be thankful for it. We can’t really do it on our own. Limiting ourselves voluntarily never feels the same as having reality do it for us.

Our problems today are, in a way, pitiful. I know our ancestors would probably mock us for our so-called decision paralysis. But they didn’t know this world. They only know the limited world. Their struggles were often physical. Ours are psychological.

That’s why we miss Blockbuster, or at least what Blockbuster represents or reminds us of. Less. Limitation. The life where we can only do so much, or see so much, where our world is a little smaller and we, in turn, feel a little greater.

Back at Blockbuster we would meander through the aisles, looking at cover after cover, occasionally flipping one over to see what else the back might reveal. After a while, we would make our choice, pay the $1.99 at the glossy counter, take the movie home, make some popcorn on the stove, turn on the TV, pop in the tape, press play, and see if what we chose was any good.

We had fewer choices, and it was fine. Actually it was more than fine, it’s really what we want deep down, even if we don’t want to admit it. That’s why we kind of miss Blockbuster in a strange little way.

​Blockbuster, Nostalgia, Choice, 1990s, Entertainment, Culture, Men’s style, Netflix, The root of the matter 

A mystery surrounding the abandonment of a baby and the discovery of four dead bodies shocked law enforcement officials in the small town of Tiptonville.

Tennesee police said that a woman reported finding the baby in front of her home on Tuesday at about 3:11 p.m. The baby was unharmed and in a baby seat.

‘This is a deeply saddening day for our community. We are committed to uncovering the truth and ensuring justice is served.’

Someone driving a “dark-colored minivan or a white mid-size SUV” was said to have dropped the child off, according to investigators.

Police were looking for the baby’s parents when the remains of four people were found Tuesday evening about 40 miles away from where the baby was found.

The deceased were later identified as the child’s mother, 20-year-old Adrianna Williams; her father, 21-year-old Matthew Wilson; her grandmother, 38-year-old Cortney Rose; and her uncle, 15-year-old Braydon Williams.

The girl was determined to be 7 months old.

Officials from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said they are investigating the incident as a homicide and are working to determine the suspects responsible for the deaths of the four family members.

RELATED: Texas man arrested after his 1-year-old daughter is found abandoned in a car seat on the side of the road

“The Dyer County Sheriff’s Office remains dedicated to resolving both the abandoned infant case and the ongoing investigation at the crime scene. We will continue to update the public as more information becomes available. Please remember everyone in your prayers,” reads a statement from the Dyer County Sheriff’s Office.

“This is a deeply saddening day for our community,” Dyer County Sheriff Jeff Box said. “We are committed to uncovering the truth and ensuring justice is served.”

The Dyer County Sheriff’s Office asked the public to call 731-285-2802 with any information about the case.

Tiptonville is a small town of approximately 3,800 residents.

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

​Baby abandoned, Four family members killed, Tiptonville tennessee, Mysterious crime, Crime 

Along with many of his fellow Americans, Missouri Rep. Eric Burlison (R) believes the government is hiding something when it comes to UFOs — but he’s not sure that it’s the UFOs themselves.

“I don’t trust this town,” Burlison tells BlazeTV host Alex Stein on “Prime Time with Alex Stein.”

“I’m very skeptical on this topic, but I think that when you’ve got all these pilots that are encountering vehicles, we have near-miss events happening above our military airspace, something’s wrong,” he explains.

While Burlison is on the House Oversight Committee and is charged with investigating the topic, he tells Stein that the committee members “keep getting blocked by the deep state.”

“I think that at the end of the day, the topic is not something for the United States government to keep a secret. Like, if you happen to be able to film an alien or an aircraft on your iPhone tonight, that is not for the government,” he explains.

“What I’m told is that they’re not going to come in, confiscate your phone, make that a secret. They’re not trying to keep the knowledge of extraterrestrial or nonhuman intelligence secret,” he continues.

However, what the government does seem to be trying to keep secret is the technology they might have that has been able to document UFOs.

“That’s what we’re having a hard time getting access to,” Burlison tells Stein.

And in a recently published Wall Street Journal article, it’s claimed that the Area 51 conspiracy theory was planted in order to hide a classified weapons program.

“It kind of fit my original narrative that this is all hogwash,” Burlison says, “that it’s more likely that it’s our technology, that we’re just creating a psyop or a cover story.”

Want more from Alex Stein?

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

​Upload, Video, Sharing, Camera phone, Free, Video phone, Youtube.com, Prime time with alex stein, Prime time, Alex stein, The blaze, Blaze v, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Area 51, Aliens, Government conspiracy, Ufos, Conspiracy theory, The deep state 

A group of Palantir insiders close to co-founder Peter Thiel are raising funds for a new film studio — one that aims to reawaken the bolder, more unapologetically American spirit of Hollywood classics like “The Searchers” and “First Blood.”

The privately circulated pitch deck for Founders Films — led by Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar, Palantir employee Ryan Podolsky, and investor Christian Garrett — states the problem bluntly. After years of cultural drift, “movies have become ideological, more cautious, and less entertaining.”

First, rebuild what he calls the American Cinematic Universe, a category that includes ‘Red Dawn,’ ‘Rocky IV,’ ‘Top Gun,’ and ‘The Hunt for Red October.’

Couldn’t agree more.

The American Cinematic Universe

So far, those involved are all playing it close to the chest. But we can surmise a few things from Sankar’s public remarks to date.

Founders Films has a twofold strategy: First, rebuild what Sankar calls the American Cinematic Universe, a category that includes “Red Dawn,” “Rocky IV,” “Top Gun,” and “The Hunt for Red October.” Solid list.

Step Two: Take Hollywood back altogether — from foreign influence; from heavy-handed, overtly divisive progressive ideology; and perhaps, if he pulls it off and if we’re lucky, from the sort of suffocating, entirely numbers-driven decision-making that for too long has hamstrung real filmmakers and pushed millions away from cinema altogether.

Very interesting indeed, then, that from the otherwise confidential slides of the circulating pitch deck, we get this bit, which sounds like a promise: “Back artists unconditionally, take risk on novel IP.”

Now you’re talking. America needs to back artists. Period.

The return of fun

Of course, not every last American is going to care deeply about every one of Founders Films’ potential projects, but that’s the case with every movie house and every movie! American filmgoers and cinephiles have for almost two decades lived in an ever-shrinking box populated only with childish drivel, rehashed/remixed IP, and (face it) corporate progressive propaganda.

RELATED: Don Jr., other fans react to Hulk Hogan’s death: ‘A true American patriot!’

Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images

With luck, Founders Films garners investment, takes its shot, and succeeds. And you should want this, even if you don’t find yourself on the so-called tech right or have any interest in Palantirian sorts of worldviews, for the following reason: The pendulum must swing for any real cinema to flourish again. Set aside high-minded cinema for a moment: When was the last time you saw a fun (or funny, for that matter) movie in a theater?

Founders Films, operating like a depth charge, may be just the thing to shake everyone out of their tedium and agitate the medium. Progressive narratives have dominated long enough that the entire exercise, even for progressives, has been emptied of vital spark.

Vision first

Hollywood needs the proverbial shot in the arm, even if it hurts: a genuine quasi-ideological counterweight, placing the director’s or writer’s vision behind the wheel. Lefties have fought for this exact treatment since the 1970s.

That kind of shake-up may be the absolute best thing that can happen to Hollywood, regardless of politics. A plurality of voices apolitical, political, etc., should have a shot at prying open the death grip of progressive control over the arts. That alone may change the entirety of the game.

Milius-pilled

We don’t know much at this point. There are rumors that Elon Musk is the shadows of the project. A variety of military-based or -adjacent projects have been floated, and Sankar, writing at Substack, has hailed the work of legendary director/writer John Milius. If that’s the direction Founders intends, cinema could heat up fast.

Can we assume the incredible technological power running under the Palantir umbrella is reapplied into film? Likely so. If (wisely) they bring in organic, human-oriented leavening agents in the form of true artists (less so the compliant, meek striver) to offset the use of AI, the impact on the industry and creatives nationwide could be powerful.

While there’s a baked-in audience for defiant right-coded material and Founders should serve them, with luck, Founders Films will consider the whole of the American film ecosystem and take a broad, long-term approach — launching propaganda-geared works designed to counter ideological opposites, sure, but also backing art “unconditionally” to open up the whole creative spectrum.

Let everyone take a shot. Allow non-ideological cinema a chance to flourish again: indies, new IP from dangerous artists, edgy comedy, the works. This was the ’80s, the zeitgeist behind all those right-coded classics. Bring it back.

​Return, Palantir, Peter thiel, Hollywood, Culture, John milius, Movies, The movie industry, Red dawn, Top gun, The new hollywood