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The Department of Defense’s All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office was established in 2022 for the purpose of investigating unidentified anomalous phenomena, better known as unidentified flying objects.

In the wake of high-profile allegations by former U.S. Air Force intelligence officer David Grusch and other Pentagon officials suggesting the U.S. government secretly obtained and reverse-engineered alien technology, the AARO reviewed — as required by the National Defense Authorization Act — all official government investigations into UAP conducted since 1945, researching both classified and unclassified archives and conducting numerous interviews.

The AARO claimed in a report last year that it “found no evidence that any [U.S. government] investigation, academic-sponsored research, or official review panel has confirmed that any sighting of a UAP represented extraterrestrial technology.”

The report noted further that the AARO found no evidence for claims that the government and private companies have been reverse-engineering alien technology.

According to the Wall Street Journal, this report constituted a cover-up of sorts, as it omitted a number of interesting discoveries the Pentagon investigators made over the course of their review, namely those regarding alien-themed psyops conducted by the military.

It turns out that in a handful of cases dating all the way back to the 1950s, the Pentagon apparently created and/or nurtured false narratives concerning alien technology in order to protect man-made secret weapons projects, to put America’s adversaries off the trail of potential national security vulnerabilities, and, in some cases, just to mess with newly assigned officers.

RELATED: Scientists studying ‘artificial’ aerial sphere claim it came with a social justice message

Supposed mummified ‘non-human’ being presented to Mexican Congress in 2023. Photo by Daniel Cardenas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Hazing the new guys

Sean Kirkpatrick, the first director of the AARO from July 2022 until December 2023, reportedly discovered that some military officials’ deeply held conviction that the military had special alien projects was the result of a “bizarre hazing ritual.”

Over the course of decades, certain new commanders of one of the Air Force’s classified programs were provided with a picture of what appeared to be a flying saucer during their induction briefings. The officers were reportedly told the aircraft was an “antigravity maneuvering vehicle” and that the program they were joining was part of a broader effort to reverse-engineer the technology on the aircraft.

‘We know it went on for decades.’

After being confronted with what appeared to be evidence of alien technology, the commanders were told never to speak a word of it again.

Many officers told about the alien technology never learned that what they were told was apparently bogus — that is, until former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s office handed down the order to end the hazing ritual immediately.

Despite the ritual’s retirement, former officers interviewed by Kirkpatrick’s investigators apparently maintained the belief that the briefing and the claims therein were legitimate.

RELATED: DOD has captured alien craft? Bombshell report from congressional whistleblower alleges decades-long cover-up

Bettman/Getty Images

When former President Joe Biden’s director of national intelligence, Avril Haines, asked an official about the ritual, the official reportedly told her, “We know it went on for decades. We are talking about hundreds and hundreds of people. These men signed NDAs. They thought it was real.”

A DOD spokeswoman told the Journal that the AARO had in fact found evidence of fake alien-themed classified program materials.

UFOs, not Nighthawks

Investigators at the AARO discovered that in the 1980s, an Air Force colonel disseminated fake photos of flying saucers at a bar near Area 51, the famous Air Force facility 83 miles north-northwest of Las Vegas.

The photos, which the colonel strategically provided to the bar’s owner, reportedly went up on the walls, simultaneously feeding the local imagination about what kinds of activities were executed at the mysterious base and discrediting legitimate insights.

‘He was screaming in the phone, terrified.’

The now-retired officer told the AARO investigators in 2023 that the purpose of the counter-information campaign was to mislead the world — particularly the Soviet Union — about what was actually being developed and tested at Area 51: the Lockheed F-117A stealth attack aircraft.

According to Lockheed Martin, the first flight of the F-117A took place in 1981. While it achieved operational capacity two years later, the craft and its development were not publicly acknowledged until 1988. It saw combat for the first time during Operation Just Cause on Dec. 19, 1989, participating in military strikes in Panama.

A terrestrial explanation

Kirkpatrick reportedly came across the tale of an Air Force captain’s 1967 encounter with a glowing reddish-orange oval at a nuclear missile base in Montana.

One evening, Robert Salas, now 84, was parked at the controls for 10 nuclear missiles in a bunker, ready to lob weapons of mass destruction Moscow’s way. However, he received a panicked call from the guard station topside. Apparently a red oval was glowing just above the installation’s front gate.

Salas previously told the Calgary Herald that the non-commissioned security officer up above said the object “was making unusual, controlled maneuvers, such as flying very fast, coming to a dead stop, then reversing course and making 90-degree turns.”

“He was screaming in the phone, terrified. … I told him to secure the facility at all costs,” said Salas.

Shortly thereafter, the control system for the missiles was disabled.

RELATED: Are UFOs real or a government psyop? Either way, it’s extremely alarming

Photo by: Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

It wasn’t at all clear to Salas what had happened, and he wouldn’t soon find out. Salas, later told never to discuss the incident, could only speculate — and of course, he and his comrades did just that.

Kirkpatrick and his team discovered that the American government, not Martians, had disabled the missile system as part of an experiment to determine whether the missiles’ concrete and steel containment was sufficiently thick to protect them against the electromagnetic waves created by a nearby nuclear detonation.

‘The Air Force shut us out of any information.’

To find out, the Air Force reportedly developed a special electromagnetic pulse generator and activated it on a portable platform 60 feet above the nuclear installation. Once activated and powered up, it apparently glowed. The electromagnetic pulses were fired down cables connected to the bunker, disabling the weapons systems.

It seems there were no aliens — just Uncle Sam making sure it could answer one nuclear strike with another. However, Salas remains convinced that travelers from a galaxy far, far away attempted to intervene to prevent a nuclear war.

“We were never briefed on the activities that were going on,” Salas told the Journal. “The Air Force shut us out of any information.”

Salas told the Calgary Herald that his Feb. 15, 2023, phone call with an AARO official regarding his 1967 experience was “a milestone” because he had never previously told his story to a government office.

The Journal indicated that interviews with 24 current and former American officials, scientists, and military contractors and a small mountain of relevant documents served as the basis for the account of these counter-information efforts.

Elements of the military, particularly at the Air Force, reportedly sought to hide some details about these counter-information efforts, believing they could hurt careers and expose secret programs. That would explain why they were omitted from the 2024 AARO report.

While there might yet be proof of aliens, it appears that what Salas saw, what was shown in photos at a bar near Area 51, and what was described to generations of new commanders in the USAF wasn’t it.

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​Pentagon, Military, Aliens, Weapons, Coverup, Psyop, Unidentified anomalous phenomena, Uap, Ufo, Kirkpatrick, Aaro, All-domain anomaly resolution office, Politics 

He didn’t just build a business. He rewired a culture.

Fabian Thylmann, a German tech bro with a knack for algorithms and a nose for profit, quietly stitched together the Franken-monster we now call mainstream porn. Through sites like Pornhub, YouPorn, and RedTube, he industrialized arousal, stripped sex of intimacy, and flooded the internet with content so extreme it would once have sparked criminal trials — not subscriptions.

Zuckerberg rewired friendship. Thylmann rewired arousal. Same operating logic. Different limbic system.

And he didn’t need to lobby Congress or march in the streets to do it. He just made it seamless, instant, and free. In doing so, he planted the seeds of a crisis that most still refuse to name: spiritual, psychological, and deeply human.

Porn used to be something you paid for. You had to seek it out, sneak around, find a booth, a VHS, a magazine. Shame was built into the transaction. And that shame — though mocked today — acted as a kind of firewall. A crude one, maybe, but it kept excess in check.

What Thylmann did was blow that firewall to pieces.

He made porn frictionless. No age checks. No barriers. No cost. Just one click, and a bottomless stream of fantasy opened up. This wasn’t the first major shift, of course. The sexual revolution of the 1960s had already begun loosening the cultural restraints around sex. Playboy glamorized it. VHS commercialized it.

But the internet weaponized it. And when broadband arrived, everything changed. Suddenly, porn wasn’t just available — it was in your pocket, in your home, on demand. What was once scarce became infinite. What was once taboo became trend.

But this wasn’t just some sleazy revolution. It was digital engineering. Thylmann didn’t create porn. He optimized it. Aggregated it. SEOed it. Data-mined it. His genius was in realizing that porn wasn’t about quality, but quantity, velocity, and accessibility. He gamified libido. Every refresh brought novelty. Every novelty promised more. Your brain lit up. Your dopamine spiked. Then it crashed. So you clicked again.

Sound familiar?

In social media circles, Mark Zuckerberg is the man who flattened privacy and turned connection into a data stream. If Zuckerberg digitized the social graph, Thylmann did the same to human desire. He made sex transactional, algorithmic, on demand. Zuckerberg rewired friendship. Thylmann rewired arousal. Same operating logic. Different limbic system.

Pornhub became the Facebook of adult content, driven by likes, shares, autoplay, endless scroll. But instead of poking your crush, you watched her digitally morph to perform acts she never consented to. Instead of a timeline, you got a torrent. A ceaseless glut of extreme material that, over time, pushed boundaries farther and farther from anything resembling love or connection.

The results are showing. More people are shunning relationships altogether. Birth rates are collapsing across the developed world. Marriage is seen by many as outdated, even oppressive. Loneliness has quietly become an epidemic.

And yet we’re consuming more porn than ever before. This isn’t coincidence. It’s correlation, maybe even causation. Because once you normalize stimulation without intimacy, the real thing starts to feel like too much effort. Or worse, irrelevant.

And here’s the part I find most concerning.

RELATED: Mark Zuckerberg is lying to you

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

The average users aren’t just bored teenagers or lonely office workers. They’re addicts. Casualties of an attention war they never volunteered for. Brains flooded with stimulus, bodies disconnected from meaning. It’s not just that they can’t feel pleasure without porn. It’s that they don’t even know what they’re looking for any more.

Because Thylmann didn’t just give people porn. He changed what porn meant. He shifted the baseline. What was once hard-core became soft-core. What was once shocking became normal. What was once illegal became monetized. And in the process, he helped raise a generation that sees intimacy as cringe.

And yet — unlike Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, or Jeff Bezos — Thylmann is far from a household name. He’s not invited to testify before Congress. He isn’t asked about ethics, mental health, or the bodies left in the wreckage. He made hundreds of millions, sold off MindGeek, and vanished into obscurity. No lawsuits. No reckonings. No Netflix docudrama. Just silence.

Meanwhile, the machine he built keeps running. Now with AI. Now with deepfakes. Now with models who don’t exist but still get millions of views. The line between fantasy and reality isn’t blurred any more. It’s erased.

The next frontier? Porn that responds to your face. To your eye movements. To your breath. Porn that learns from you in real time, as any good algorithm does. And before long, porn that no longer needs human performers at all. Just prompts. Just code. Just you and the machine. Alone, but overstimulated. No wonder Thylmann slipped away.

Don’t kid yourself: This isn’t a sideshow. This is the main event. Porn is one of the internet’s biggest industries. Bigger than Netflix. Bigger than Twitter. It’s more embedded in the culture than anyone wants to admit. And it runs on the same logic as every other platform: Feed the algorithm, numb the user, profit off the wreckage.

And in a culture where people are increasingly skeptical of connection — where ghosting is easier than loving and self-gratification more efficient than vulnerability — this model isn’t just profitable. It’s invincible. You don’t need to destroy intimacy. Just replace it with something faster, cheaper, and easier to control.

The irony is as obvious as it is alarming. In a world that’s never been more “connected,” people are starving for connection. Drenched in sex, but untouched by intimacy. Constantly stimulated, but rarely satisfied.

And if you trace that back to a single point of failure — to the moment when arousal became automated and sex became content — it leads to a quiet little office in Germany and a man named Fabian Thylmann.

​Pornography, Facebook, Online porn, Fabian thylmann, Pornhub, Return 

We were told to follow the science. We were told to trust the media. We were told the “adults” were back in charge.

Now, after years of narratives that often disguised more than they revealed, two prominent figures — CNN anchor Jake Tapper and former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre — have released books that strategically admit what much of the public already knew: The full truth wasn’t offered when it mattered most.

Redemption begins with humility, not a hardcover release date.

Tapper’s new book, “Original Sin,” co-authored with Axios’ Alex Thompson, presents itself as a political thriller. But its real value lies in what it reveals — consciously or not — about the political and media class’ calculated suppression of uncomfortable truths.

According to Tapper’s reporting, President Joe Biden’s inner circle was “rattled” by his apparent mental and physical decline — yet worked to shield it from being seen by the public. The book describes a White House where denial wasn’t just a strategy — it was a requirement.

‘Truth’ grifters

The Wall Street Journal described “Original Sin” as capturing “a conspiracy in plain view” — a culture in which aides and allies chose silence over honesty, spin over transparency, and, ultimately, their own job security over the voters’ right to know.

This admission, coming now in 2025, would land differently had Tapper not been one of the very voices leading the national chorus of “nothing to see here!” In fact, many of the same journalists now embracing post hoc honesty were the ones who derided and dismissed concerns about the president’s cognitive health as partisan smear or conspiracy theory.

And the American people noticed.

Despite extensive promotion across CNN and various media platforms, “The Lead with Jake Tapper” experienced its lowest ratings since August 2015. According to Nielsen data, the program averaged only 525,000 total viewers between April 28 and May 25, marking a 25% decline from the same period last year. This significant drop occurred despite the high-profile release of “Original Sin” and an accompanying media tour, the New York Post reported.

The book is following a similar trajectory, having only sold just over 54,000 copies in its first week of release. Compare that to Bob Woodward’s “Fear: Trump in the White House,” which sold over 1 million copies its first week.

Cue Ronald Reagan’s famous line, “There you go again,” as Jean-Pierre’s forthcoming memoir, “Independent,” also seeks to reframe her time in the public eye. From her position behind the White House lectern, Jean-Pierre frequently repeated talking points that proved to be misleading or outright false. She insisted the border was secure, the economy was strong, and the president was sharp — all while video clips, inflation rates, and rising crime told another story.

In fairness, press secretaries are paid to spin. But spin becomes something more troubling when it is used to insulate a president from basic scrutiny — or when it misleads the public during moments of national consequence. If Jean-Pierre is now prepared to acknowledge the strain of carrying water for bad policies, that would be welcome. But the timing — conveniently aligned with a book launch — raises an unavoidable question: Why didn’t the truth matter until it could be monetized?

I believe in second chances. I believe in forgiveness. But as someone who also believes in responsibility and truth-telling, I have little patience for public figures who withhold candor until the book advance clears. Redemption begins with humility, not a hardcover release date.

If Tapper and Jean-Pierre had come forward years ago — if they had endured the risk of telling the truth in real time — they might be worth celebrating. But this isn’t courage. It’s career rehab.

An actual truth-teller

Now consider someone like Tulsi Gabbard.

As a sitting Democratic congresswoman and presidential candidate in 2020, Gabbard called out her own party for embracing censorship, racial essentialism, and permanent war. She stood on a debate stage and denounced what she called “an elitist cabal of warmongers,” earning the scorn of her colleagues and the legacy media. Hillary Clinton even baselessly smeared her as a Russian asset. Gabbard didn’t wait for the polling to shift or a book contract to come through — she risked her future in real time.

Eventually, she left the Democratic Party, but not before paying a price for telling some highly inconvenient truths. That’s what integrity looks like. You don’t wait for the winds to change — you stand firm when they blow hardest.

Contrast Gabbard with Tapper and Jean-Pierre. Their books reveal what many Americans suspected: that much of what we were told during the Biden years — from the state of the president’s health to the “success” of his policies — was concocted more for optics than accuracy.

RELATED: Who ran the White House? Ask Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson under oath

Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

But their revelations come not from principle, but from convenience. It’s safe to speak out now. The public mood has shifted. Their platforms are shrinking. The political protection is gone.

America continues to suffer the consequences of schools closed, churches locked, speech silenced, borders breached, and families squeezed by inflation. These outcomes weren’t accidental. Leaders defended them at the time, then later pretended they had known better all along. They chose opportunism over accountability.

The darker concern runs even deeper: This cycle has become routine. Politicians and pundits lie or mislead while the incentives favor silence. They play along when it pays. Then, when the polls shift and the public turns sour, they rebrand — posing as truth-tellers who claim they always had doubts, always saw what others missed.

Next come the book deals, podcast tours, and cushy contributor gigs.

We now live in a country where consequences get outsourced and apologies turn into revenue. Lie when it’s profitable. Confess when it sells. And hope the public forgets who helped dig the hole in the first place.

But many of us do remember. We, the people, remember.

If Tapper and Jean-Pierre want to make amends, they should start with a simple, unqualified apology — not to their publishers or media friends, but to the American people. The public paid the price for the misinformation they amplified and defended. That’s who deserves the truth now.

​Opinion & analysis, Jake tapper, Karine jean-pierre, Lies, Joe biden, Dementia, Cover up, Media bias, Original sin book, Broken, Alex thompson, Truth, Grift 

The United States Army will celebrate its 250th anniversary with a Grand Military Parade in Washington, D.C., on June 14, 2025. The anniversary lands on President Donald J. Trump’s 79th birthday, as well. The U.S. Army, formed first as the Continental Army, was founded June 14, 1775.

How to watch the 250th anniversary parade

Army festivities: 9:15 a.m. Eastern Time — U.S. Army livestream at bottom of pageOfficial parade start time: 6:30 p.m. ET — RSBN livestream belowConcert at the Ellipse: 7:30 p.m. ETFireworks: 9:45 ET

The Army will start its coverage of the birthday festival at 9:15 a.m. Eastern Time, while the parade is officially scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. local start time. See the embedded livestreams below.

The parade will involve a march down Constitution Ave. NW in D.C. and is expected to last between 60 and 90 minutes, with fireworks starting at 9:45 p.m. ET. For a map of the parade route, see this graphic from CBS News.

RELATED: Soros-tied No Kings protesters plot to sabotage US Army’s 250th anniversary parade

If you are having trouble viewing the livestream, visit TheBlaze on X for videos and reactions to the parade.

Alternatively, visit the U.S. Army YouTube and Facebook pages for more direct feeds.

As well, CBS News has promised a dedicated stream of the event.

RELATED: Joy Behar’s deep thoughts: ‘What a coincidence’ Trump, Army share birthday

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​How to watch, News, Politics, Us army, Military parade, Trump, Anniversary, Dc, Washington, Army parade 

We hear about family-friendly LGBTQ+ pride events all the time. It’s a sad reality of the times we’re living in. But a family-friendly drag event hosted by a church? Now that is something you don’t hear about every day.

On this episode of “Come and Take It,” Sara Gonzales exposes a Pride festival at a Texas church that will have your jaw on the floor.

The event, which was put on by Carrollton Pride, was hosted at the Horizon Unitarian Universalist Church in Carrollton, Texas, a suburb of Dallas.

“Just something about all of this stuff being on church grounds, I never get used to it,” says Sara, who attended the event and captured footage of some of the activities, including a drag-themed bingo game where children sat looking deeply uncomfortable.

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence — a nonprofit group of queer and trans activists who dress as nuns in drag to promote LGBTQ+ rights — was one group that was present at the event.

“Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence have had, I don’t know, just a few run-ins with the law when it comes to gross things with kids,” Sara reminds, referencing past cases.

However, when Sara explored the actual church, its hosting of the Pride event suddenly made perfect sense. Not only were there “trans-inclusive bathrooms,” “pronoun workshops,” “LGBTQIA+ themed worship services,” and messages about “reproductive justice,” but there were also several informational pamphlets for congregants, such as “Care and Treatment for HIV, Hepatitis-C, and Other Sexually Transmitted Diseases,” “Intersex 101,” “Environmental Justice,” “Let’s Celebrate Non-Binary Parents!” and “A Unitarian Universalist People of Color Ministry.”

The most shocking pamphlet, however, instructed congregants on how to protect illegal immigrants — who were, of course, misleadingly called just “immigrants” — from law enforcement. Titled “How U.S. Citizens Can Protect the Immigrant Community from the Deportation Force,” the document contains a bulleted list explaining how to help illegal immigrants evade “Trump’s deportation force.”

One of the bullet points on the list actually advises congregants to “identify folks who would be interested in risking arrest to support stopping the raid.”

“What I’m reading is that they are saying you should find people willing to break the law and to obstruct a law enforcement official from doing their job,” says Sara.

“This is not a church of God,” she condemns. This is a church of some “fake religion” rooted in “liberalism and leftist ideology.”

To hear Sara’s complete exposé on the Horizon Unitarian Universalist Church, watch the video above.

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.

​Come and take it, Sara gonzales, Sara gonzales unfiltered, Blazetv, Blaze media, Pride month, Pride event, Church pride event, Texas, Lgbtq activism, Unitarian universalism 

Two years after the lifeless body of Oaklee Snow was found in the bottom drawer of a dresser inside an abandoned home, her mother and her mother’s boyfriend have been sentenced to decades in prison for her death.

The child was found on April 21, 2023, in Morgan County in Indiana after she was reported missing from her father’s home in Oklahoma and officials mounted a national search.

‘They were entrusted with the care of a 2-year-old baby and failed miserably, and it resulted in her death.’

Snow had been removed without her father’s permission by her mother, Madison Marshall, along with Snow’s 7-month-old brother.

Marshall took the children and moved to Indiana with her boyfriend, Roan Waters, where they lived in a “trap house,” which is slang for a house used by drug addicts. The couple then reportedly abandoned the 7-month-old boy and moved away without Snow.

Waters was arrested on March 3, 2023, in Greenwood Village, Colorado, while Marshall was arrested in North Carolina as officials continued looking for Snow.

The national search for the girl ended when her body was found on April 21, 2023.

When police questioned Marshall, she described an incident on Feb. 9 where Waters had begun yelling at the toddler to bounce on a bouncy ball. When the mother ran to the living room, she found Waters holding the child’s unresponsive body with blood and saliva dripping from her mouth.

The couple got into their car shortly afterward with the body of the child wrapped up, and drove away.

In June 2023, after police found the child, the Morgan County Coroner’s Office determined that the toddler had died from homicide by “unspecified means.” They also said her leg had been broken.

Waters took a plea deal and agreed to charges of neglect of a dependent resulting in death and two counts of neglect.

He was sentenced to 45 years in prison.

RELATED: Concealed carry holder ends teenager’s brief crime spree in a spray of bullets, police say

Marshall also took a plea deal and pleaded guilty to neglect of a dependent resulting in death. As part of the deal, she agreed to testify against Waters.

Marshall was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

“The fact that two adults who had the care of this child would let these things happen to her and do these things to her is just terrifying. And that’s why they’re going to the Department of Corrections,” said Marion County Prosecutor’s Office chief trial deputy Dan Cicchini after the sentencing.

“That’s why that 45-year number is important; it’s because it is as serious a crime as it gets. They were entrusted with the care of a 2-year-old baby and failed miserably, and it resulted in her death,” he added.

The abandoned boy was returned to his father.

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​Death of oaklee snow, Roan waters sentence, Madison marshall sentence, Mom kills child, Crime 

Florida’s Board of Governors on June 3 rejected Santa Ono for president of its flagship school, the University of Florida. This came just one week after the University of Florida’s Board of Trustees unanimously approved Ono. In what is typically a procedural process, it marked the first time in the 22 years since the Board of Governors was established that it had rejected a candidate in this fashion. It was a blow for not only Ono but also for the board itself.

How did Ono nearly get approved as the University of Florida’s next president? The short answer is the almost childish simplicity of the Board of Trustees — and especially its chairman, Mori Hosseini. They created a situation where only an establishment education administrator like Ono could be selected.

Ono turned out to be a fanatical opportunist who serially abdicates responsibility — a man without honor or integrity.

On October 29, 2024, Hosseini announced the formation of the University of Florida’s presidential search committee. In January 2025, the committee selected SP&A, “a boutique woman- and minority-owned executive search firm,” to lead the search. (SP&A is currently conducting the presidential search at the University of South Florida as well.) Soon thereafter, the search firm created a presidential prospectus that made clear it sought a candidate with “professional and administrative” experience at a “research university or comparable setting,” though others with doctorates or those who had “national or international scholarly and administrative success outside academia” could be considered.

This job description stacked the deck against hiring anyone from the realm of politics or administration, which had been the pool from which Florida selected university presidents in recent memory. Manny Diaz, Florida’s director of the Department of Education, who oversaw Florida’s rise to become the No. 1 state for education, was thus ineligible to serve as the University of Florida’s next president. No one contacted Diaz about the job. Members of Florida’s Board of Governors and Chancellor Ray Rodrigues, head of the State University System of Florida, were ineligible, too. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo? Also out of the running.

We can only speculate about how the deck was stacked. SP&A colluded with campus stakeholders, especially faculty, when the firm was retained. Together, they developed the criteria necessary to hire a Santa Ono. The faculty and search firm won when the search committee approved the job description for the next University of Florida president, either through negligence or prestige envy.

Conservative backlash

The University of Florida’s Board of Trustees named Ono the sole finalist on May 4, and they set May 27 as the date to vote on his candidacy. A flurry of activity followed. Gubernatorial candidate and U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) came out against Ono on May 6. Libs of TikTok and DC_Draino posted viral videos of Ono talking about systemic racism in his previous jobs. A group called @CommiesOnCampus posted what it termed “Eight Hours of Ono” videos on May 16. Floodgates were opened when op-eds from Peter Wood, Maya Sulkin, Karol Marcowicz, and Joy Pullmann appeared. Christopher Rufo hit the issue hard as the board’s vote neared. More videos were unearthed on transgender issues. All hands were on deck.

— (@)

The University of Florida’s Board of Trustees could not ignore what was unearthed. Instead, the board scripted a portrayal of Ono as a recent convert to the Florida way. They conducted a carefully orchestrated “interview” on May 27, where members threw questions at Ono like a circus performer would throw peanuts at an elephant about to perform.

The board’s members embarrassingly nodded as they asked prepared questions about Ono’s volte-face and extracted implausible pledges of future good behavior. His evolution was a marketing scheme for the willingly duped. When asked if he thought universities were inherently racist, Ono admitted that his thinking “evolved over time:” “I think it’s actually counterproductive to call any group of people or institutions with some sort of blanket definition or label.” When asked if he still believes in implicit bias, Ono confessed he “would not make those kinds of statements or label different groups of people in that way.” Before, he wanted to cultivate activists; now, he wanted institutional neutrality. Such meager pledges were good enough for the board, and they voted unanimously to approve him as the University of Florida’s 14th president.

By this point, only Mori Hosseini and his board seemed to favor of Ono. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Rep. Jimmy Patronis (R-Fla.), Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), and Rep. Greg Stuebe (R-Fla.), along with Charlie Kirk and Donald Trump Jr., all criticized the pick.

— (@)

The meeting that roasted Ono

Not since Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) grilled Ivy League presidents has there been a more effective questioning of leftist academic leaders than at the Florida Board of Governors. Florida’s former speaker of the House, Paul Renner, developed a casebook against Santa Ono and shared it on X before the hearing. Others had their own approaches. All were serious, sustained, and impressive.

— (@)

A leftist sat in a chair and could not evade tough questions. Unlike the University of Florida’s Board of Trustees, the Florida Board of Governors used the time to question Ono — not simply about his flip-flopping, but also about how he understands wokeness. Rarely has a suit been this empty.

The Board of Governors consistently showed how Ono’s conversion of convenience raised deep questions about his judgment and leadership.

Board member Carson Good asked Ono a series of simple, devastating questions. Ono had established an anti-racism task force when president at the University of Michigan. “What do they mean when they say anti-racism?” Good asked. Ono’s answer: “I’m an immunologist, so that’s not my specific area.” Good asked about decolonization, whiteness, the original sin of racism, and inclusive history.

With each question, Ono retreated with apologies, disclaiming any expertise — or even knowledge — of what he was advocating. His entire career stood for promoting radical diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, but now — apparently — he did not know what they meant! His excuse was that he had simply parroted the words of campus leftists.

Good even asked about Ono requiring that students at the University of Michigan get COVID-19 booster shots as late as 2023. Again, Ono retreated behind leftist campus committees. His chief health officer and a committee made the decision. “I’m a scientist,” Ono said, but they are “actually doctors” who made the recommendation.

Good had laid the trap. “You’re an immunologist, and wouldn’t an immunologist know better than an M.D.?” Ono’s answer: “I’m basically a mouse doctor.” Good’s point was powerfully put. What kind of an academic leader governs according to an ideology he does not understand — or farms out policy questions to committees while forswearing responsibility?

Opponents of DEI have long suspected that the embrace of DEI among university leaders is more opportunistic than fanatical. Ono turned out to be a fanatical opportunist who serially abdicates responsibility — a man without honor or integrity. The board of governors voted 6-10 to reject his candidacy.

Shame and worse should fall on those who supported him after this deeply humiliating questioning. Shame and disqualification for other offices should fall on the University of Florida’s Board of Trustees for failing to ask questions about Ono’s leadership failures and poor judgment.

Toward a sustainable offense

All honor goes to Florida’s Board of Governors, who acted to stop a dishonorable man from becoming president of Florida’s flagship university — and the highest-paid public university president in the nation. The University of Florida can still undertake necessary reforms. Its future president can still select deans and other academic leaders who are instinctively aligned with higher education reform, remove corrupt programs, and reimagine schools and colleges for serious purposes.

Defeating Ono at the board of governors level was a successful Hail Mary — but that is not an argument for designing higher education reform around such drastic measures. Florida needs a sustainable offense.

RELATED: DEI is on its last legs, but the right risks keeping it alive

Photo by JEFF KOWALSKY / AFP) (Photo by JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images

The University of Florida’s Board of Trustees has proven unequal to the task. Perhaps its leaders think they could drive reform through a lukewarm president from the board level. Perhaps its leaders are embarrassed by conservative efforts at higher education reform. Perhaps they cannot imagine what serious reform would even mean. Whatever the reason, some changes in personnel are necessary at the board.

Did the Board of Trustees Vice Chair Patel, who chaired the search committee, know about Ono’s radical record? Did he inform his fellow trustees about it before selecting Ono as the sole finalist? If the answer to either of these questions is no, then Patel should be removed from the board for cause, either for incompetence, misfeasance, or failure to disclose essential information.

Many more Onos

We welcome converts to the anti-DEI crusade, but those converts must have demonstrated skin in the game. They must have burned the boats or made enemies for their new stance. Converts must go to accreditation meetings and disavow DEI principles in front of those who hold them. Ono only disavowed DEI in front of supposed critics, with a handsome salary as a reward. “Never mind” — that’s not close to being good enough to show a change of mind.

Yet the biggest error lay in the search firm and its collusion with faculty about the job description. The Board of Trustees was either childishly naïve or in on it when it approved a job description requiring the hiring of a conventional academic leader. Conservative academic leaders will often lack experience, since they are critics of our corrupt and corrupting modern higher education system. We should seek aligned, ambitious, and competent people, not “experienced” leaders. Be not impressed with presidents from prestigious universities.

Preventing the bad is not the same as getting the good. Nowhere is the deep state more of a reality than at modern universities. Board of trustees members simply cannot be hometown boosters if they want reform and a good president. They must be suspicious and determined from start to finish. Florida’s Board of Governors displayed these virtues and acted accordingly.

Ono is out. But there are plenty of Ono clones looking for the job — and next time they will disguise themselves better.

Editor’s note: This article was published originally at the American Mind.

​Opinion & analysis, Santa ono, Claremont institute, University of florida, Diversity equity inclusion, Dei, Trustees, Board of governors, Ron desantis 

Former NFL wide receiver Antonio Brown is still posting on his social media account, despite police announcing that there’s a warrant out for his arrest on attempted murder charges.

Brown is a Super Bowl champion, but his behavior has become erratic in recent years since leaving the league.

‘What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger. Wanna play? Then play hard.’

The 36-year-old is accused of shooting at a man outside of an amateur boxing event in Miami. Brown had gotten into a fistfight with Zul-Qarnain Kwame Nantambu before grabbing a handgun from a security staffer, according to investigators.

Brown has posted three times on the X social media platform. In one post, he added a video of himself riding a bicycle. In another post, he wrote, “This cracker did it wasn’t me.” A third post shows him in boxing gloves with the message, “What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger. Wanna play? Then play hard.”

Brown ended his career when he stripped off his Tampa Bay Buccaneers uniform halfway through a football game against the New York Jets and defiantly walked off the field in 2022. The Jets went on to beat the Buccaneers.

He was later celebrated on the right for enthusiastically supporting President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election.

RELATED: Images of Biden allegedly sniffing women and girls gets ex-NFL star Antonio Brown a ‘hateful content’ warning on X

Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images

“Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, they want to put tampons in the boys’ bathroom. That’s really insane, right? By the way, Tampon Tim Walz, he isn’t a real football coach,” said Brown at a rally to loud applause from the Trump supporters.

“He could never guard me,” Brown joked.

If convicted, he could face 15 years in prison for the second-degree attempted murder charge.

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The conservative firebrand warned of Iran’s growing nuclear threat just earlier this month.

For decades, Iran has insisted its nuclear program is peaceful, aimed at energy production and medical advancements. But reports from the International Atomic Energy Agency revealed a troubling reality: Iran has been stockpiling near weapons-grade uranium and conducting secret nuclear activities.

Mark Levin has long been sounding the alarm, warning that Iran’s actions point to a dangerous ambition — one that could threaten global stability.

Earlier this month, he warned that Iran would soon be “ready to roll.”

Early Friday morning, Israel took action against Iran’s growing power when it launched a large-scale military operation, code-named Operation Rising Lion, targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities, military infrastructure, and senior leadership. The strikes hit key sites — including the Natanz nuclear enrichment facility, military bases, and residences of top officials — and killed several high-ranking Iranian military commanders, including Revolutionary Guard Commander Hossein Salami, and nuclear scientists.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu framed the operation as a last resort against Iran’s growing nuclear power that he claimed was getting dangerously near to culminating in a nuclear weapon. President Trump has asserted that the U.S. was notified but did not participate in the strike. In a phone interview with CNN, he praised the operation as “a very successful attack.”

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Mark Levin’s warnings have been proven right, as Israel’s decisive strike underscores the urgent threat he foresaw in Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

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Jonathan Granados — a 16-year-old from Lakeland, Florida — is not an unfamiliar face to law enforcement in the area.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office said the youngster has a carjacking conviction under his belt and was on a conditional release when he recently perpetrated a number of new felonies.

‘If he’s Superman, then my detectives are his kryptonite.’

The sheriff’s office said it got a call on April 2 from a roofing business indicating that employees found spent shell casings on the ground.

Officials said a review of the company’s security video showed a silver Chevrolet Malibu arriving and parking, after which an unidentified male approached the car on foot and shot at it multiple times until the driver fled in the vehicle. The suspect then ran away, officials said.

Detectives were able to identify the driver of the Malibu as a 19-year-old from Lakeland, officials said.

On April 9, deputies stopped the Malibu, and detectives responded to the traffic stop to interview the 19-year-old, who lied and said his car was shot when it was parked at his home while he was sleeping, authorities said.

The 19-year-old made several inconsistent statements regarding why his car was hit with so many gunshots, until he was told about the roofing business’ security video, officials said, adding that he admitted to being at the roofing business when the shooting occurred.

He told detectives that he arrived in the area to fight with someone but wouldn’t divulge the name of the individual, officials said.

RELATED: Thug with long rap sheet attacks 64-year-old ex-girlfriend in convenience store; when good Samaritan tries to intervene, attacker beats him unconscious: Authorities

Image source: Polk County (Fla.) Sheriff’s Office

Investigating detectives obtained search warrants for the Malibu and the 19-year-old’s cell phone and social media accounts, officials said, adding that authorities determined that on the date of the shooting, the victim was headed to Granados’ house before diverting due to a law enforcement presence. Instead, the victim went to the roofing company and told Granados to meet him there, officials said.

Granados also was identified as being part of an Instagram chat that law enforcement said was related to meeting up for the fight.

The sheriff’s office said an affidavit indicates Granados used “ambush tactics” while approaching the victim’s car and firing a gun “in an attempt to kill” the victim; in addition, the affidavit adds that Granados’ shots hit the silver Chevrolet Malibu which the victim “occupied,” according to authorities.

With that, detectives went to Granados’ home to take him into custody on a warrant and during a search found a loaded Glock model 19 9mm handgun with an extended magazine containing 28 rounds — and modified with a “switch” that illegally gives it a fully automatic firing capability, officials said.

Granados admitted to owning the gun, ordering the switch online, and installing it himself, authorities noted, adding that the affidavit also says Granados told detectives he “felt like Superman” when he fired the gun.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd had the following to say about the teen’s “Superman” reference: “If he’s Superman, then my detectives are his kryptonite.”

RELATED: Florida Sheriff Grady Judd blasts squatters as ‘dopers and freeloaders,’ warns they’re in for a ‘one-way ride to the county jail’

Polk County (Fla.) Sheriff Grady JuddImage source: Polk County (Fla.) Sheriff’s Office

Officials said Granados was charged with the following felonies:

Attempted first-degree murderShooting into an occupied vehicleShooting into a buildingPossession of a machine gunPossession of a firearm/ammunition by an adjudicated juvenileGiving false information to law enforcement

Authorities added that Granados also was charged with two misdemeanors: discharging a firearm in public and violation of probation.

The sheriff’s office on Friday told Blaze News that Granados is being housed in a section of Polk County Jail reserved for juveniles — or “pre-adjudicated youth.”

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In April, Blaze News reported about a helpless suburban Chicago couple recorded by Ring camera in front of their own home obediently handing over their valuables — and even their clothing — to three armed robbers who rushed them.

Well, almost two months later, one suspect connected to the incident has been arrested and charged with armed robbery with a firearm, WFLD-TV reported.

‘You just kind of become numb to the situation.’

Angelo Hatter — a 26-year-old from Chicago — was being held in custody by the Cook County Sheriff’s Department, the station said, adding that police haven’t identified the other two individuals involved in the headline-grabbing heist or how they linked Hatter to the case. Jail records show no bail for Hatter; his next court date is July 2.

RELATED: Road rage suspect opens fire on fellow motorist in Chicago, cops say. But victim is a concealed carrier — and wins shootout.

Greg Poulos and Angie Beltsos were walking to their front porch in Glenview around 10 p.m. April 21 after dinner in Chicago when a car pulled up, WBBM-TV reported.

Police said three males approached them, pulled out guns, and demanded their belongings, WBBM said, adding that Beltsos said she saw one male “running at us pointing a gun, screaming at us to give him everything.”

The couple did just that.

Video shows one of the robbers telling them to “give me all that s**t,” and Poulos and Beltsos immediately tossed their cell phones and keys to the ground; Beltsos also gave up her purse, the station said.

“You got it. You got it. Here, take it. Take it. Take everything. Take everything. Take everything. Take everything. Take everything. Here, you can have it. Honest to God, guys,” Poulos was heard on the clip telling the robbers, WBBM reported.

“I started throwing shoes and coats,” Beltsos noted to the station in the aftermath. Video shows them both removing their jackets for the crooks.

Poulos told WBBM, “I was always taught by my father just give whatever they want, give what they want, and your life is far more valuable.”

The nightmare didn’t end there, however.

RELATED: ‘Chunk of hair’ allegedly found on smashed windshield; cops say it resembles fatal hit-and-run victim’s hair — and case turns

Video doesn’t show that the crooks soon “had us lie down on our stomachs, and pointing guns at us, and I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, is this how it’s going to end today?'” Beltsos recounted to WBBM, adding that “for a moment, they were standing there, and they ran off.”

Police told WBBM the robbers sped out of the neighborhood in a Jaguar SUV, which was later found abandoned and empty in Chicago.

The village of Glenview is about 40 minutes northwest of Chicago and is “one of the best places to live in Illinois,” according to Niche. It’s also a haven for retirees and boasts “a lot of restaurants, coffee shops, and parks” as well as “highly rated” public schools, Niche adds.

Poulos added to WBBM that people nowadays have “to be vigilant and keep their head on a swivel.”

Blaze News on Friday spoke to employees of two businesses located less than a mile from where the robbery took place, and strangely, both workers used the same word in the aftermath of the harrowing encounter: “numb.”

One employee confessed to Blaze News, “I’m numb to it.”

The worker from the second business — even upon hearing that a suspect had been arrested — told Blaze News that “you just kind of become numb to the situation.”

“It’s unfortunate,” she added to Blaze News about the robbery itself. “It’s just the way of the world.”

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An MSNBC columnist and former FBI counterintelligence officer made a “maliciously false and defamatory statement” against Kash Patel, according to a lawsuit the FBI director filed.

Frank Figliuzzi was lambasting President Donald Trump’s choice to head up the Federal Bureau of Investigation when he made a bizarre accusation meant to portray Patel as unfocused and unwilling to fulfill the obligations of the job.

‘Defendant made up the story out of whole cloth, and by using the word “reportedly,” attempts to distance himself from what is a maliciously false and defamatory statement.’

“Well, reportedly he’s been visible at nightclubs far more than he has been on the seventh floor of the Hoover Building,” Figliuzzi had said about Patel in a segment on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” in May.

“So this is both a blessing and a curse because if he’s really trying to run things without his experience, without any experience level, things could be bad,” he added. “If he’s not plugged in, things could be bad. But he’s allowing agents to run things, so we don’t know where this is going.”

He added of the FBI, “The one word that keeps coming back at me from inside is that the building is ‘chaos.’”

Days later, a co-host on the show retracted the claim from Figliuzzi.

“This was a misstatement. We have not verified that claim,” said Jonathan Lemire at the time.

That was not enough for Patel, who filed a defamation lawsuit against Figliuzzi, pointing out that he implied some report had made the claim against Patel, but no report existed.

“Defendant did not rely on reporting by any other person,” read the filing. “Defendant made up the story out of whole cloth, and by using the word ‘reportedly,’ attempts to distance himself from what is a maliciously false and defamatory statement.”

RELATED: Kash Patel, Dan Bongino say Jeffrey Epstein DID commit suicide: ‘I’ve seen the whole file’

Photo by Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

The lawsuit argued, “As a partisan commentator, [Figliuzzi] was motivated to sensationalize, and in this case, fabricate a story to self-promotingly advance his own name recognition, at the expense of Director Patel.”

It also affirmed that Patel had not spent a single minute inside of a nightclub since becoming the director of the FBI.

Neither Figliuzzi nor a spokesperson for Patel responded to a request for comment from the New York Post.

Figliuzzi had previously suggested in 2022 that Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson might somehow be responsible for the heinous attack on Club Q, an LGBT nightclub in Colorado Springs. Law enforcement officials later reported that the club had been chosen as a last-minute target.

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​Kash patel vs figliuzzi, Kash patel nightclubs, Defamation lawsuit, Msnbc contributor defamed, Politics 

Four leading tech executives have joined the United States Army Reserve with a special officer status that will see them work a little more than two weeks per year.

The recruits were sworn in just in time for the Army’s 250th birthday as part of a 2024 initiative by the U.S. military to find tech experts for short-term projects in cybersecurity, data analytics, and other areas.

The newly commissioned officers will be ranked as lieutenant colonels, the sixth-highest officer rank among Army personnel. However, they will still need to complete a fitness test and marksmanship training.

‘There’s a lot of patriotism that has been under the covers that I think is coming to light in the Valley.’

Chief Technology Officers Shyam Sankar and Andrew “Boz” Bosworth from Palantir and Meta, respectively, will be joined by Kevin Weil, chief product officer from OpenAI, and Bob McGrew, OpenAI’s former chief research officer.

According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, the executives will bring sorely needed tech upgrades to the armed forces. Back in October 2024, the outlet reported on the Defense Department’s desire to bring on tech experts in part-time roles to help the federal government get up to speed on cybersecurity and data, sectors in which talent and skill have largely been siphoned off by the private sector in recent years.

The new program name will also be an ode to tech with the name Detachment 201, a reference to the hypertext transfer protocol status code 201 — computer speak referring to a successful server resource being created.

RELATED: OpenAI sabotaged commands to prevent itself from being shut off

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The new reservists will also be tasked with acquiring more commercial technology, according to the WSJ, but will be limited in their work hours — 120 per year — and will not be allowed to share any information with their civilian employers.

Bosworth said Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg supported his decision to join the Army Reserve, claiming, “There’s a lot of patriotism that has been under the covers that I think is coming to light in the Valley.”

Whatever his true intentions, Zuckerberg has presented himself as a more patriotic individual in the last year, including wooing UFC President Dana White with a giant American flag in Lake Tahoe.

Anduril founder Palmer Luckey has also spoke positively about how the Trump administration in particular has worked with the tech sector. In fact, Luckey said Meta had rid itself of any “insane radical leftists,” which has likely helped Zuckerberg become one of the darlings of the newly found marriage of tech CEOs and the right wing.

RELATED: Who’s stealing your data, the left or the right?

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“I have always believed that America is a force for good in the world, and in order for America to accomplish that, we need a strong military,” McGrew said about his choice, per the WSJ.

Sankar reportedly said his reason for giving back to the country was because if it were “not for the grace of this nation,” his family would be “dead in a ditch” in Lagos, Nigeria.

Bosworth has allegedly enhanced his workouts in preparation for the service, but it is unclear whether he draws inspiration from legendary NFL agitator Brian “the Boz” Bosworth.

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President Donald J. Trump has authority under the U.S. Constitution and federal law to call the National Guard into service for defined purposes that include putting down rebellion, defending against invasion, and ensuring execution of the laws of the United States.

When rioting broke out in and around Los Angeles on June 6 and federal employees and facilities were attacked, President Trump used his constitutional and statutory powers to call 2,000 and later 4,000 members of the California National Guard into federal service.

The DOJ called Gov. Newsom’s court action ‘a crass political stunt.’

Democrat California Gov. Gavin Newsom on June 9 asked a federal district court judge to force the commander in chief to relinquish control of the National Guard, complaining that President Trump had not adequately consulted him.

United States District Judge Charles Breyer, appointee of President Bill Clinton and brother of retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, sided with Newsom in a ruling that was quickly stayed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. A hearing is set for June 17.

“In a crass political stunt endangering American lives, the Governor of California seeks to use this court to stop the President of the United States from exercising his lawful statutory and constitutional power to ensure that federal personnel and facilities are protected,” wrote Christopher Edelman, senior counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice.

“But, under the Constitution, the president is the commander in chief of the armed forces, and the president is responsible for ensuring the protection of federal personnel and federal facilities,” Edelman wrote in a federal court filing on June 11.

The fight that Newsom started in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California is shaping up to be more about partisan politics, policy, and lawfare than presidential authority. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit quickly stayed a district judge’s ruling that President Trump exceeded his authority. The case will almost certainly end up before the U.S. Supreme Court.

States line up for, against Trump

Attorneys general from Iowa, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Guam, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah petitioned to file an amici curiae brief in opposition to Newsom’s attempt to wrestle control of the Guard back from the president.

The states of Washington, Delaware, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Kansas, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Rhode Island moved to file a brief supporting Gov. Newsom.

Newsom complained bitterly in California’s application for a federal temporary restraining order that President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are using a “warrior culture” that targets “the streets of cities and towns where Americans work, go to school, and raise families.”

‘There is no rioters’ veto to enforcement of federal law.’

In his application seeking judicial fiat to regain control of the Guard, Newsom denied the existence of any rebellion or invasion, instead describing the fiery rioting and assaults on federal agents and buildings by supporters of illegal aliens as “civil unrest that is no different from episodes that regularly occur in communities throughout the country that is capable of being contained by state and local authorities working together.”

“Absent immediate injunctive relief, defendants’ use of the military and the federalized National Guard to patrol communities or otherwise engage in general law enforcement activities creates imminent harm to state sovereignty, deprives the state of vital resources, escalates tensions and promotes (rather than quells) civil unrest,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta wrote in the state’s motion for a restraining order.

Corporate media ran interference for Newsom, describing the riots as either “mostly peaceful” or nonexistent. Written and photographic news coverage described President Trump as “hard right” and his immigration policies as “harsh.”

The “working together” cited in Newsom’s court petition was nowhere evident during the more than five days and nights of Los Angeles rioting.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) demanded that federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents rounding up illegal aliens for deportation stop their operations. She reportedly ordered the Los Angeles Police Department to stand down during some of the rioting. Democrat politicians encouraged activists to take to the streets, leading to more violence against federal agents and damage to ICE facilities.

In calling up the National Guard and ordering 700 active-duty U.S. Marines to Los Angeles, President Trump judged that Newsom and Bass were unwilling to support the rule of law and protect federal employees, vehicles, facilities, and the general public.

RELATED: Man caught on video passing out face shields to rioters has been arrested, feds say

Self-driving Waymo vehicles are torched by rioters in Los Angeles on June 8, 2025.Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images

Attorneys for the DOJ insist that the authority to use the military to protect federal agents rests solely with the president, and it is his job alone to determine the measures needed to keep federal employees, facilities, and interests safe from mob rule.

“There is no rioters’ veto to enforcement of federal law,” DOJ Attorney Edelman wrote. “And the President has every right under the Constitution and by statute to call forth the National Guard and Marines to quell lawless violence directed against enforcement of federal law.

“Yet instead of working to bring order to Los Angeles, California and its governor filed a lawsuit in San Francisco seeking a court order limiting the federal government’s ability to protect its property and officials,” Edelman wrote.

Under Section 10 U.S. Code § 12406, the president has authority to use the National Guard to suppress rebellion, repel an invasion, or execute federal laws.

“Plaintiffs admit that Los Angeles has experienced ‘unrest,’ but ask this court to second-guess the president’s judgment that federal reinforcements were necessary,” Edelman wrote. “That is precisely the type of sensitive judgment that is committed to the president’s discretion by law, and to which courts owe the highest deference. The statute empowers the President to determine what forces ‘he considers necessary’ to ‘suppress’ a ‘rebellion’ or to ‘execute’ federal ‘laws’ — not the governor, and not a federal court.”

Judge Breyer’s issuance of a temporary restraining order, quickly stayed by the U.S. Court of Appeals, was a “dangerous” overreach of judicial authority, Edelman suggested.

“The extraordinary relief plaintiffs request would judicially countermand the Commander in Chief’s military directives — and would do so in the posture of a temporary restraining order, no less,” Edelman wrote. “That would be unprecedented. It would be constitutionally anathema. And it would be dangerous.”

Protecting federal agents, facilities

The president’s authority under Section 10 was tailored in this case to protect those engaged in law enforcement functions, such as ICE agents and Department of Homeland Security officers. Neither Guard troops nor Marines were assigned law enforcement duties, so President Trump’s actions do not run afoul of the Posse Comitatus Act, which generally prohibits U.S. military personnel from performing domestic law enforcement functions.

“Plaintiffs offer no contrary evidence, only a speculative assertion that the National Guard and Marines will be used for unlawful purposes in the future,” Edelman wrote.

RELATED: Kamala, Newsom, AOC outed: Leaked DHS memo claims they back violent illegal aliens over Americans

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies fire a nonlethal weapon at a man after he threw a can at them during a protest against federal immigration operations near Los Angeles City Hall on June 11, 2025.Photo by Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP via Getty Images

“Courts did not interfere when President Eisenhower deployed the military to protect school desegregation,” he said. “Courts did not interfere when President Nixon deployed the military to deliver the mail in the midst of a postal strike. And courts should not interfere here either.”

Given the rioting involved, President Trump could have federalized the National Guard by enabling the Insurrection Act. But he chose to work through federal statute in Section 10.

“The statutory lineage of [sub] Section 12406 begins with the First Militia Act of 1792, which, among other things, was used by George Washington to respond to the Whiskey Rebellion,” Edelman wrote.

Farmers in Pennsylvania attacked federal revenue officers when they tried to collect a tax on liquor. A mob of 500 burned down the home of a tax inspector in July 1794, prompting President Washington to call up 13,000 soldiers from four states to put down the rebellion.

The Insurrection Act has been legally invoked 30 times by 17 presidents, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, a New York-based law and policy center.

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Last night, in a pre-emptive military operation dubbed Operation Rising Lion, Israeli defense forces struck Iran’s nuclear and military sites, including a key uranium enrichment facility, killing senior military commanders and nuclear scientists.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Iran was dangerously close to developing a nuclear weapon, stating, “If not stopped, Iran could develop a nuclear weapon in a very short time — it could be a year, or even just months. This is a clear and present danger to Israel’s survival.”

The idea of a nuclear weapon in the hands of the Iranian regime is a terrifying notion. In the wake of Israel’s strike, many are wondering: Just how close was Iran to developing a nuclear bomb?

To get insight, Glenn Beck invited former IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus to “The Glenn Beck Program.”

“Iran has been dashing for the bomb for a long period of time,” says Conricus.

Citing a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency, he adds, “Iran is not only enriching uranium to weapons-grade and has enough fissile material for at least 10 bombs, but that Iran is also in noncompliance when it comes to their obligations to allow international supervision of their sites.”

The IAEA report, along with other currently classified intelligence, was the “tipping point” that set Operation Rising Lion in motion.

“Iran has an open goal to annihilate the state of Israel. … We know that they mean business, and we also know that if we allow them to develop the tools to do so, they might be tempted to use them, and that is what Israel has today started to unravel in terms of those Iranian capabilities,” Conricus told Glenn.

Glenn brings up a recent Axios article claiming that two Israeli officials said President Trump and Netanyahu deceived Iran about the Israeli strike on its nuclear facilities. The article suggests Trump publicly opposed the strike but privately supported it to mislead Iran, ensuring key targets remained in place.

“The president [said], ‘You have 60 days to negotiate, and you don’t want to see what happens on day 61.’ I don’t think that’s deceptive to make plans to go in on day 61,” says Glenn.

Conricus believes it “is deception” but in a “good way,” in that it allowed Israel to catch their enemy “unaware” and “unprepared.” President Trump, he says, has “been very straightforward telling the Iranians time and time again this is the best deal that you’re going to get.”

It was made perfectly clear to Iran that it “should relinquish all attempts to enrich material … [and] allow full comprehensive inspection of all of [its] sites, nuclear as well as weapons development,” and yet the regime “didn’t do it,” he explains.

“We are today on day 61 of the presidential ultimatum, and this is what happens.”

To hear more of the conversation, watch the clip above.

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The U.S. is offering assistance to Israel against hundreds of missiles launched in a retaliatory attack from Iran, according to an email from a U.S. official to Blaze News.

Iran issued the attack after Israel launched Operation Rising Lion that successfully targeted Iran’s nuclear development capabilities as well as its military leadership. The U.S. admitted prior knowledge of the Israeli plan but denied any direct involvement.

‘There are hundreds of thousands of American citizens and other American assets in Israel.’

In a statement to Fox News, a senior U.S. official confirmed that the U.S. is aiding Israel against the missile attacks.

“There are hundreds of thousands of American citizens and other American assets in Israel, and the U.S. is working to protect them,” the official said.

An email from a U.S. official to Blaze News confirmed the report.

That email said the U.S. is assisting Israel with shooting down the Iranian missiles but offered no other details.

As Blaze News reported on Wednesday, suspicions of a military operation in the Middle East were raised after the Pentagon ordered some personnel and their families to depart from embassies and other facilities within the reach of Iran’s military capabilities.

Some pointed to a threat from Iran’s defense minister for the evacuation order.

“If war is imposed on Iran, the U.S. would undoubtedly suffer more losses than we do,” said Brig. Gen. Aziz Nasirzadeh in a statement to reporters.

He added that Iran was prepared to attack “host countries” of U.S. military bases “without hesitation.”

RELATED: Iran willing to sign nuclear deal with Trump if sanctions are lifted

Photo by Saeed Qaq/Anadolu via Getty Images

Video from Israel showed the Iron Dome defense system in operation to intercept as many of the incoming missiles as possible.

A former Israel Defense Forces spokesperson said to Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck that the attack from Israel was just the beginning.

“No. No. This is not even the end of the beginning,” said Jonathan Conricus.

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A decade-long fraud and bribery scheme involving the United States Agency for International Development further reinforced the Trump administration’s case for restructuring the fraud-plagued agency.

On Thursday, Trump’s Department of Justice published a press release announcing that a former USAID official and three senior leaders from three private companies pleaded guilty to a massive plot to defraud American taxpayers dating back to 2013.

The scheme involved at least 14 contracts totaling over $550 million in taxpayer funds.

‘A former USAID employee and three others were using funds to pay for things like a lavish country club wedding and a Martha’s Vineyard estate, all on the taxpayer’s dime.’

Roderick Watson, who previously worked as a USAID contracting officer, agreed to receive bribes from Darryl Britt, then owner and president of Apprio Inc., to influence contracts awarded to the company.

Early in the scheme, PM Consulting Group LLC, doing business as Vistant, was a subcontractor to Apprio on one of the awarded contracts.

RELATED: USAID program contractor defrauds taxpayers of $100,000 in latest agency scandal

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Between 2018 and 2022, Apprio lost its eligibility to be a prime contractor for new USAID contracts under the SBA 8(a) contracting program. Apprio and Vistant responded by switching around their scheme, allowing Vistant to act as the prime contractor and Apprio its subcontractor.

Britt and Walter Barnes, Vistant’s then-owner and president, bribed Watson, often funneling money through Paul Young, then president of a subcontractor to the two companies. Britt and Barnes also hid their illegal activities through fake invoices and falsely listed Watson and shell companies on electronic bank transfers.

Their bribes also included electronics, suite tickets to an NBA game, two residential mortgage down payments, and employment for relatives.

Watson allegedly received $1 million in bribes.

The DOJ explained how Watson used his influence to ensure that Apprio and Vistant received the USAID awards.

“In exchange for the bribe payments, Watson influenced the award of contracts to Apprio and Vistant by manipulating the procurement process at USAID through various means, including recommending their companies to other USAID decisionmakers for non-competitive contract awards, disclosing sensitive procurement information during the competitive bidding process, providing positive performance evaluations to a government agency, and approving decisions on the contracts, such as increased funding and a security clearance,” the press release read.

In connection with the fraud scheme, Apprio and Vistant agreed to admit criminal liability and engage in deferred prosecution agreements for three years, which require the companies to submit disclosures to the DOJ.

“As part of these resolutions, both Apprio and Vistant admitted to engaging in a conspiracy to commit bribery of a public official and securities fraud,” the department stated.

The DOJ noted Apprio’s and Vistant’s cooperation in its investigation and credited the companies for their “timely remedial measures.”

RELATED: Republicans to watch when Trump’s $9.4 billion cut comes to the Senate

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Watson pleaded guilty to bribery by a public official and faces up to 15 years in prison. His sentencing is scheduled for October 6.

Barnes pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery of a public official and securities fraud. His sentencing is slated for October 14, and he faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

Britt pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery of a public official and faces up to five years in prison. His sentencing is scheduled for July 28.

Young pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery of a public official. He is looking at a maximum penalty of five years in prison and faces sentencing on September 3.

A senior State Department official told Blaze News, “These guilty pleas further underscore the need for State Department oversight over U.S. foreign aid. A former USAID employee and three others were using funds to pay for things like a lavish country club wedding and a Martha’s Vineyard estate, all on the taxpayer’s dime. The Trump administration remains relentless in defending American taxpayers’ dollars and weeding out waste, fraud, and abuse from our federal government.”

Apprio Inc., and Vistant did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

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Children’s Hospital Los Angeles is shuttering its child sex-change center, which reportedly mutilated the genitals of multitudes of minors and provided confused children with sterilizing puberty blockers.

The hospital claimed in a statement that despite its “deeply held commitment to supporting L.A.’s gender-diverse community,” it has been “left with no viable path forward except to close the Center for Transyouth Health and Development, effective July 22, 2025.”

Breen was allegedly ‘fast-tracked onto the conveyor belt of irreversibly damaging puberty blockers (age 12), cross-sex hormones (age 13), and “gender-affirming” surgery (age 14).’

According to the Stop the Harm Database, which was launched last year by the medical advocacy group Do No Harm, the center boasted patients as old as 25 and as young as 3.

Claims data showed that the center billed millions of dollars for hormone therapy, puberty blockers, and sex-change mutilations for minors. The Los Angeles Times indicated that the center currently has over 3,000 patients.

The center’s medical director is Johanna Olson-Kennedy, a gender ideologue who:

publicly argued against the need for psychological assessments for sex-change mutilations; compared teen girls cutting off their healthy breasts to taking the SATs; allegedly provided sex-change hormones to kids as young as 12 and referred little girls as young as 13 for double mastectomies; and admitted last year to hiding the results of a years-long study concerning the efficacy of puberty blockers for fear they would be “weaponized” by critics. The results, which were finally released last month, found that kids’ depression symptoms and emotional health “did not change significantly over 24 months” of being on puberty blockers.

One of the center’s former patients, Clementine Breen, filed a medical negligence lawsuit in December against the hospital, Olson-Kennedy, and others involved with her “gender-affirming” mutilation, noting that their actions have left her with deep physical and emotional wounds, severe regrets, and distrust of the medical system.

The lawsuit claimed that Olson-Kennedy and her team — who allegedly separated Breen from her parents at the first opportunity — “immediately and unquestioningly ‘affirmed’ Clementine as transgender, and at her very first visit, after mere minutes, Dr. Olson-Kennedy diagnosed Clementine with gender dysphoria and recommended surgical implantation of puberty blockers.”

RELATED: Sacrificing body parts and informed consent to the sex-change regime

Photo by Bob Riha, Jr./Getty Images

According to the complaint, Olson-Kennedy made the gender-dysphoria diagnosis without a mental health assessment, without asking Breen relevant questions about her mental health struggles or diagnoses, and without involving other health care professionals.

Breen was allegedly “fast-tracked onto the conveyor belt of irreversibly damaging puberty blockers (age 12), cross-sex hormones (age 13), and ‘gender-affirming’ surgery (age 14).”

The decision to close the mutilation center apparently “followed a thorough legal and financial assessment of the increasingly severe impacts of recent administrative actions and proposed policies,” said the CHLA, referencing actions taken by the Trump administration.

‘These threats are no longer theoretical.’

President Donald Trump went to war with gender ideology upon retaking office, seeking not only to protect women’s sports and sex-segregated spaces but to shield minors from the kind of unnecessary medicalization that Breen was subjected to at the hands of gender ideologues.

Trump issued an executive order titled “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation” on Jan. 28, directing federal agencies to rescind or amend all policies that rely on guidance from the radical World Professional Association for Transgender Health and to ensure that medical institutions receiving federal funding “end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children.”

RELATED: Transhumanism is coming to destroy the human soul

Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

The president also directed HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to take all appropriate and lawful action to bring about an end to the child sex-change regime.

Hospital executives noted in a Thursday letter to staff obtained by the Los Angeles Times, “There is no doubt that this is a painful and significant change to our organization and a challenge to CHLA’s mission, vision, and values.”

The executives also suggested that the Trump administration means business regarding clamping down on child sex-change mutilations.

“These threats are no longer theoretical,” said the letter. “Taken together, the Attorney General memo, HHS review, and the recent solicitation of tips from the FBI to report hospitals and providers of GAC strongly signal this administration’s intent to take swift and decisive action, both criminal and civil, against any entity it views as being in violation of the executive order.”

Blaze News reached out to the White House and the HHS for comment but did not immediately receive responses.

Jeff Younger, a Texas father who spent years trying to stop his ex-wife from subjecting his son to sex-change procedures, noted in February that his boy was “currently on chemical castration drugs at LA Children’s Hospital.”

Younger responded to news of the center’s closure, noting, “The California judge that allowed my ex-wife to chemically castrate my son is Mark Juhas. [When] I told him in court that I would shut down the LA Children’s Hospital gender clinic, he laughed. So did opposing counsel and my ex-wife. Who’s laughing now, b***h?”

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Texas Representative Jasmine Crockett, a Democrat, has been heavily criticized for switching up the way she talks in order to appeal to a certain audience, and her recent outburst at a government hearing isn’t helping her case.

“They love to cherry-pick. They can find any one person that has been killed, and if they’ve been killed by an immigrant, then God darn it, every single immigrant is going out and they are killers, and that is the problem,” Crockett said in a government hearing.

“But they don’t want to talk about white supremacy. I don’t know how many hearings we going to have about the fact that there’s been this one immigrant that killed this one person. And no, I’m not excusing any killings by them or white supremacists. But they haven’t had these hearings,” she continued.

“It’s interesting that they just pick and choose, because it seems like they love to pal around with the white supremacists, and so they don’t want to talk about certain other things,” she added.

“This woman is just on a loop,” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales says on “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered.” “This is all she knows how to talk about — white supremacy.”

“She’s gradually becoming more and more a stereotype,” BlazeTV contributor Matthew Marsden chimes in. “I’m an actor, so I know when people are playing parts, and she is moving further and further.”

“If you see that original interview with her, she’s totally buttoned down. She’s clearly smart,” he continues. “But this is so offensive, I mean, on so many different levels.”

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An Axios report accusing the U.S. president and the Israeli prime minister of behaving deceptively before the devastating attacks on Iran was dismantled by a former Israeli spokesperson.

The attack on Iran targeted numerous military sites and nuclear facilities while decapitating the military leadership in the operation dubbed “Rising Lion.” Iran promised retaliatory attacks and launched missiles against Tel Aviv hours later.

‘The Iranian leadership heard that, but they didn’t do it. And as you said correctly, we are today on day 61 of the presidential ultimatum, and this is what happens.’

The Axios report claimed that the Trump administration had only pretended to distance itself from Israel and the possibility of a strike on Iran while seeking a nuclear deal with the Muslim country. That and other actions were planned for months in order to drop Iran’s defenses and allow the strike to be more damaging, according to the report.

Axios noted that Trump administration officials admitted knowing about the plans prior to the attack but denied any military involvement.

“We are not involved in strikes against Iran, and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region,” said Secretary of State Marco Rubio. “Israel advised us that they believe this action was necessary for its self-defense.”

Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck spoke to former Israeli Defense Forces spokesperson Jonathan Conricus on his radio show Friday. Beck called the report “disappointing” and asked Conricus to comment on the claims made about Trump’s involvement.

“They said President Trump was instrumental in all this, but he and Benjamin Netanyahu were engaged in deception, and I read this as, ‘I don’t think Israel would have done something this massive without the United States in their corner.’ But I don’t think it’s deceptive when the president says, ‘You have 60 days to negotiate, and you don’t want to see what happens on day 61!'” said Beck.

RELATED: State Dept. orders some evacuations from Middle East embassies after threat from Iran

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“I don’t think that’s deceptive to make plans to go in on day 61,” he added. “He kept giving them the same warning over and over again. Do you read that as deception or a negotiator that is telling you the truth?”

“I think, actually, it’s both. It’s deception in the way of how to wage war and how to capture [the] enemy unaware and unprepared, and that is what Israel did,” replied Conricus.

“Has the U.S. president been deceptive? No, I don’t think so,” he added. “I think he’s been very straightforward, telling the Iranians time and time again, ‘This is the best deal that you’re going to get. You should relinquish all attempts to enrich material in Iran. And you should allow full comprehensive inspection of all of your sites, nuclear as well as weapons development.'”

RELATED: Iran willing to sign nuclear deal with Trump if sanctions are lifted

“‘And if you do that, nothing bad is going to happen, and we will probably freeze sanctions and good things will happen to Iran,'” Conricus continued. “The Iranian leadership heard that, but they didn’t do it. And as you said correctly, we are today on day 61 of the presidential ultimatum, and this is what happens.”

Later in the interview, when Beck asked Conricus if he believed there were more strikes to come, his response was described as “chilling” by the host.

“No. No. This is not even the END of the BEGINNING,” said the former spokesman.

Conricus was the international spokesperson for the IDF from 2017 until 2021.

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