Category: blaze media

Deportations and border security have been a crucial part of the second Trump administration, and nine months in, the government has started to release some results. Despite seemingly constant obstruction from Democrats, the administration has begun to deliver on its promises of mass deportations.

“The president is all about results, … and what President Trump, Secretary Noem, and our law enforcement have been able to do in the past 270 days, despite the injunctions, despite the obstruction from sanctuary city politicians and these activist judges, is really nothing short of extraordinary,” Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a Fox News interview on Monday.

‘While ICE actions targeting criminal illegal aliens have captured most of the attention, the phenomenon of large-scale self-deportation is probably even more significant.’

She went on to report that over 2 million illegal aliens have left the country since the beginning of Trump’s term, citing an October 27 press release.

McLaughlin claimed in the press release that the majority of the deportations have been voluntary: “More than 2 million illegal aliens have left the U.S. including 1.6 million who have voluntarily self-deported and over 527,000 deportations.”

RELATED: Trump reportedly sends 300 National Guard members to Portland from California — and Democrats are seething

Photo by Jamie Kelter Davis/Getty Images

According to a March 2025 study by the Federation for American Immigration Reform, there are an estimated 18.6 million illegal aliens in the United States.

“While ICE actions targeting criminal illegal aliens have captured most of the attention, the phenomenon of large-scale self-deportation is probably even more significant,” Ira Mehlman, media director at the Federation for American Immigration Reform, told Blaze News.

Mehlman emphasized that illegal aliens are “rational” actors. If the perceived benefits of coming to the United States are unavailable to them because of their illegal status, they will likely leave voluntarily or not immigrate at all.

“If we … make it difficult to enter, difficult to find employment or access benefits and services, and that there is a reasonable chance that you might be apprehended and removed, illegal aliens will make similarly rational decisions: Many fewer come here illegally, and many of those who are here decide that they should leave on their own,” Melhman told Blaze News.

The government is also offering illegal aliens $1,000 and a free flight to self-deport, according to the press release.

Deterrence and shifting incentive structures for illegal immigrants have been key to turning the tide on the Biden border crisis, but more work needs to be done, as DHS admits.

“This is just the beginning. … DHS, ICE, and CBP have not just closed the border, but made historic strides to carry out President Trump’s promise of arresting and deporting illegal aliens who have invaded our country,” the DHS press release continued. “Illegal aliens are hearing our message to leave now or face the consequence: Migrants are now turning back before they even reach our borders.”

“Migration through Panama’s Darien Gap is down 99.99%,” McLaughlin added, referring to the dangerous route connecting South and Central America that many immigrants use on their way to America.

In the interview, McLaughlin also added that 10,000 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers will soon be hired to assist with immigration operations.

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​Politics, Ice, Dhs, Tricia mclaughlin, Kristi noem, Fair, Federation for american immigration reform, Illegal aliens, Immigration, Cbp, Self-deportation 

The U.S. Department of Justice released a criminal complaint detailing the stunning accusations related to an alleged ISIS-related Jihadi terror plot thwarted in Michigan.

Federal Bureau of Investigation officials searched several locations Friday and arrested three suspects before FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau had prevented a major terror attack planned for Halloween weekend.

Prosecutors say that messages between the co-conspirators show references to other terror attacks that they wanted to emulate.

On Monday, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi posted the unsealed criminal complaint against two individuals, though as many as five were allegedly involved.

“Our newly unsealed complaint reveals a major ISIS-linked terror plot with multiple subjects arrested in the Eastern District of Michigan targeting the United States,” wrote Bondi. “According to the complaint, subjects had multiple AR-15 rifles, tactical gear, and a detailed plan to carry out an attack on American soil.”

Mohmed Ali and Majed Mahmoud allegedly purchased a shotgun and an AR-15 and practiced shooting with three other co-conspirators, according to the complaint.

They are both U.S. citizens.

The FBI found over 1,600 rounds of ammunition during a search of their homes, as well as multiple AR-15-style rifles, shotguns, handguns, and tactical vests, the complaint said.

RELATED: AP gets annihilated online for sympathetic report on terrorists injured in Israeli pager attack

Photo by Andrew Leyden/Getty Images

The investigation began when an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official found alarming terror-related images and searches on a phone of one of the co-conspirators after they returned to the U.S. from traveling abroad.

Prosecutors say that messages between the co-conspirators show references to other terror attacks that they wanted to emulate. The alleged plot was targeting innocents in the Ferndale suburb of Detroit.

“Many of the clubs and bars in this area intentionally attract members of the LGBTQ+ community,” read the complaint.

One of the co-conspirators also allegedly wanted to go to Syria to join ISIS and was trying to persuade the others to follow.

Five men were questioned by law enforcement, and two were released.

RELATED: 10 members of terror cell charged with attempted murder over ‘ambush’ attack on ICE facility, feds say

On Sunday, Amir Makled, an attorney for one of the suspects, said he had reviewed the matter and claimed there had been no plot, just a group of young gamers.

“I don’t know where this hysteria and this fearmongering came from,” said Makled.

“If these young men were on forums that they should not have been on or things of that nature, then we’ll have to wait and see,” he added. “But I don’t believe that there’s anything illegal about any of the activity they were doing.”

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​Halloween terror plot, Thwarted terror plot, Michigan terror scheme, Ferndale attack, Politics 

A mother and activist who criticized a “social justice coordinator” was able to overcome a defamation lawsuit by a former English teacher.

Mary MacCudden accused Scarlett Johnson of harming her reputation when Johnson wrote critical messages in Oct. 2022 about MacCudden’s job at the Mequon-Thiensville School District in Wisconsin.

‘I felt I had to fight back in this case. … I had to stand up because this would never stop.’

“Why the hell am I paying for a ‘Social Justice Coordinator’ in my school district?” Johnson wrote with a screenshot of MacCudden’s LinkedIn profile. “This is just what @mtschools needs; more woke, White women w/ a god complex. Thank you, White savior.”

Johnson went on to describe diversity, equity, and inclusion practitioners as “woke lunatics” who “bully” parents “into silence and compliance.”

Attorneys for the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty argued that Johnson’s criticisms were merely “run-of-the-mill social media posts” that were protected under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday on Johnson’s side.

“We conclude that Johnson’s statements do not constitute defamation. Thus, we reverse and remand for the circuit court to enter summary judgment in Johnson’s favor,” the court said.

The ruling found some of the terms she used were subjective, while others were “vague and do not have a clear meaning or definition.”

Johnson told Fox News Digital that the lawsuit was intended to silence parents from criticizing DEI policies.

“I felt I had to fight back in this case. It couldn’t be like the other. I had to stand up because this would never stop,” she said. “They’d keep going after parents like me.”

RELATED: Equity activists are outraged that ‘white guilt’ has run out after corporations force out DEI chiefs

Luke Berg, the deputy counsel for WILL, praised the ruling.

“Scarlett, like all of us, has the right to question and criticize her government,” read the statement. “The defamation lawsuit against her was meritless and should have been promptly dismissed. We are pleased that the Court agreed, and that Scarlett can put this distraction behind her.”

MacCudden’s attorney, James McAlister, did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

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​Dei lawsuit, Mary maccudden, Scarlett johnson, Dei woke lawsuit, Politics 

I recently read a new book so steeped in self-righteousness that I contemplated watching a few Barack Obama speeches as a palate cleanser.

“The Myth of Good Christian Parenting,” by Marissa Franks Burt and Kelsey Kramer McGinnis, is less a work of theology than a sermon for soft parents — a long sigh bound in paperback. Every page drips with condescension, assuring readers that discipline is outdated, obedience is oppressive, and spanking is somewhere between a sin and a war crime.

Children don’t need friends with car keys. They need moral architects. The parents who fear offending their children will soon be ruled by them.

Their thesis is that corporal punishment has no biblical or moral grounding. Modern parenting should replace the rod with reasoning, the command with conversation. It’s the kind of argument that sounds enlightened until you remember what actual children are like.

RELATED: Blue state punishes Christian parents — but progressive lie crumbles in the process

D-Keine/iStock/Getty Images

Swat analysis

Children, bless them, are beautiful little anarchists. Left to their own devices, they’d eat cookies for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, go to bed once a month, and discover that the toilet doubles nicely as a Jacuzzi for Legos. They’re not wicked, but they are wild. Civilization begins at the moment a parent says no — and means it. A gentle talk about “boundaries” might work on a golden retriever, but toddlers are not guided missiles of rational thought. They’re tiny tyrants with juice boxes.

That’s why spanking, properly understood, isn’t cruelty but calibration. It reminds a child that choices have consequences, that freedom comes with form. Scripture puts it bluntly: He who spares the rod hates his son. That’s not an endorsement of violence but a defense of reality. Actions have outcomes. Cause meets effect. Love, in its purest form, isn’t permissive; it’s corrective.

Of course, the definition of “violence” has never been more expansive than it is today. Everything is violence now — words, glances, even silence. The modern parent can wound a child simply by saying “no.”

When language is warped like that, meaning vanishes. A light swat becomes indistinguishable from abuse, and firmness becomes indistinguishable from fascism. The result is a generation of parents too frightened of headlines to raise human beings.

What we’ve bred instead are families where authority is on paternity leave and discipline forgot to clock in. Many parents seem desperate to be liked by their children, as if approval were the same as affection. But children don’t need friends with car keys. They need moral architects. The parents who fear offending their children will soon be ruled by them.

The discipline of faith

I was spanked as a boy — not beaten, but spanked. There’s a world of difference. I hated it at the time, naturally. But I can see now that it taught something far bigger than compliance. It taught that love sometimes hurts, that boundaries aren’t barriers but guardrails. My father didn’t enjoy it, but he did it because he believed my soul mattered more than my sulking. And years later, I thank him for it.

Contrast that with the new model — the “gentle parenting” gospel that treats structure as sadism and guidance as grievance. It produces parents negotiating with toddlers like diplomats in Geneva. “Would you like to stop screaming now, sweetheart, or in five minutes?” Meanwhile, the child is scaling the curtains, painting the dog, and testing Newton’s patience.

Spanking, done calmly and rarely, is not about pain but proportion. It communicates that wrong choices carry a cost and that the world won’t rearrange itself to spare your feelings. A child who learns that lesson young grows into an adult who doesn’t need therapy to survive a stern email.

Built on boundaries

The irony is that those now crusading against corporal discipline owe their manners to generations who believed in it. The men and women who built the schools, churches, and laws of the modern West were, without exception, raised in homes where clear boundaries existed. They understood that mercy means nothing without justice and love means little without limits.

None of this means children should live in fear. The Christian view of discipline is inseparable from affection. The same hand that corrects should comfort. The difference between abuse and authority lies in motive. The abuser strikes to dominate; the parent disciplines to direct. The point isn’t punishment but perspective, to shape the will without breaking the spirit.

But today, even perspective is suspect. To say a child is wrong is to commit ideological heresy. Every tantrum is “performance art,” every shriek “a statement.” The modern household has become a democracy of one, and its ruler is 4 years old.

When people hear “spanking,” they imagine red faces and raised voices. But in most Christian homes, it’s quieter — a moment of consequence followed by conversation and reconciliation. It’s the living metaphor of moral cause and effect. Pain passes; lessons remain.

Theology of the tap

A society that forgets that truth doesn’t raise children. If anything, it raises dependents. Kids who mistake correction for cruelty will grow into adults allergic to accountability. They won’t admire their parents’ wisdom; they’ll diagnose it.

There’s nothing barbaric about a well-timed swat on the backside. What’s barbaric is a generation raised without consequences, now stunned to learn that the world still has them.

So no, spanking isn’t the enemy of Christian parenting — it’s one of its oldest allies. It has absolutely nothing to do with humiliation and everything to do with humility.

I read “The Myth of Good Christian Parenting” and discovered the real myth: that you can raise grown-ups without ever acting like one. I hated being spanked when I was six. But watching parents haggle over chores like diplomats and negotiate bedtime like hostage situations, I now consider it an early rescue mission — and, in many ways, an act of mercy.

​Spanking, Christian parenting, Abide, Corporal punishment, Lifestyle, Books, Faith 

President Donald Trump’s administration will partially foot the bill for the food assistance program SNAP as the government shutdown rages on.

Key government programs like SNAP officially lapsed over the weekend after Democrats voted over a dozen times throughout October against reopening the government. As the shutdown inches toward a record-breaking length, the Trump administration has agreed to partially fund SNAP benefits.

‘There’s a new sheriff in town.’

Two federal judges ruled on Friday that the Trump administration needs to spend a $5.25 billion emergency fund before officially cutting off SNAP. This will only cover about half of the $9 billion spent per month on SNAP benefits.

The judges also said the Department of Agriculture could move around its funds to supplement SNAP for the month of November, but the Trump administration will likely refrain, calling it an “unacceptable risk.”

RELATED: Democrat-induced shutdown poised to break record as key programs lapse

Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

“Section 32 Child Nutrition Program funds are not a contingency fund for SNAP,” Patrick Penn, who oversees the SNAP program at the USDA, wrote Monday.

“Using billions of dollars from Child Nutrition for SNAP would leave an unprecedented gap in Child Nutrition funding that Congress has never had to fill with annual appropriations, and USDA cannot predict what Congress will do under these circumstances,” Penn added.

Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins is also seizing the opportunity to comb through SNAP recipients to ensure that only Americans and not illegal aliens are receiving the taxpayer-funded benefits.

RELATED: Trump urges Senate to deploy the ‘Nuclear Option’ on filibuster

Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

“On my first day [at USDA,] we told every state to send us their SNAP data so we could make sure illegal immigrants aren’t getting benefits meant for American families,” Rollins said. “29 states stepped up. 21 blue states refused — and two SUED US FOR ASKING! And guess what? In just the states that cooperated, we’ve already uncovered massive fraud.”

“The Democrat Party has turned its back on working Americans and built its entire strategy around protecting illegal aliens,” Rollins added. “They know if the handouts stop, those illegals will go back home, and Democrats will lose 20+ seats after the next census. There’s a new sheriff in town. [President Trump] will not tolerate waste, fraud, or abuse while hardworking Americans go hungry.”

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​Donald trump, Brooke rollins, Snap, Snap benefits, Food assistance programs, Food stamps, Democrat shutdown, Government shutdown, White house, Trump administration, Department of agriculture, Politics 

Recent history suggests that the liberal media will go to great lengths to amplify a story if it appears beneficial to the left even if the story lacks any basis in fact.

Among the many cases that conform to this apparent pattern were liberal outlets’ hysterical coverage of the Russian collusion hoax, Joe Biden’s supposed competence as president, Jussie Smollett’s apparent hate hoax, the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, and Covington Catholic students’ harassment by radicals during the 2019 March for Life in the national capital.

On the flip side, factual stories that pose a political threat to the liberal powers that be tend to get little to no mainstream coverage. This is especially true of the latest revelations about the Biden FBI’s Arctic Frost operation.

According to recent analysis conducted by the media watchdog outfit NewsBusters, ABC, CBS, and NBC News avoided the story in their television broadcasts in recent days.

‘Not one single broadcast network aired one solitary second.’

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) published damning documents on Oct. 6 detailing how the Biden FBI sought private cellphone records from at least nine Republican lawmakers during Operation Arctic Frost — an operation that set the stage for at least one case brought against President Donald Trump by former Attorney General Merrick Garland’s dubiously appointed special counsel, Jack Smith.

Grassley released additional documents last week showing that Smith and his team subpoenaed records for over 400 Republican individuals and entities as part of what the Iowa senator called a “fishing expedition.”

Blaze News previously noted that as of midday Thursday, liberal news outfits such as ABC News, the Atlantic, CBS News, the New York Times, and the Washington Post had yet to cover the latest tranche of documents exposing how the Biden lawfare regime hounded American conservatives across the country in their print coverage.

RELATED: Damning new docs reveal who’s on Biden admin’s ‘enemies list,’ expose extent of FBI’s Arctic Frost

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The media blackout was apparently just as bad when it came to television coverage.

ABC, CBS, and NBC News not only neglected to cover the Arctic Frost bombshells on their flagship Wednesday night, Thursday morning, and Friday morning shows but apparently dodged over the weekend as well, reported NewsBusters.

“There was no discussion, at any time and on any of the Sunday shows, about the use of the extraordinary powers of federal law enforcement against those perceived to be in support of President Donald Trump ahead of a potential 2024 presidential run,” wrote NewsBusters analyst Jorge Bonilla.

“There was no discussion about the subpoenas, obtained in secret, against 197 individuals — including multiple Members of Congress. There was no mention of the slew of subpoenas against nonpartisan organizations perceived to be in support of the former president,” continued Bonilla. “There was no mention of the secretive nature of the subpoenas issued to banks and Big Tech organizations, which came with their own gag order, which may well constitute an impeachable offense for the judges that issued such orders.”

“Had any of this happened under a Trump administration, you’d have everyone across the dial howling bloody murder,” added Bonilla.

“Not one single broadcast network aired one solitary second,” Media Research Center President David Bozell noted on Friday. “Normally they’ll mention it in the most innocuous way so they can later say, ‘We covered it,’ but this time they didn’t even bother.”

Blaze News confirmed that, except for one sympathetic NBC News article about Jack Smith on Wednesday, news outlets ABC, CBS, and NBC did not report on the Arctic Frost allegations made last week.

Rather than address the historic weaponization of the FBI against sitting senators and conservative groups, talking heads on the liberal networks instead exhausted airtime yammering about the construction of the White House ballroom, the potential expiration of SNAP benefits, Prince Andrew’s loss of title, and talk of the weather.

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​Media, Liberal media, Arctic frost, Weaponization, Joe biden, Biden, Merrick garland, Jack smith, Cnn, Abc, Cbs, Nbc, Fake news, Politics 

American politics once revolved around ideas — tax reform, national defense, energy independence, health care. But one side of the aisle has abandoned the work of persuasion for the theater of grievance. The modern left no longer campaigns on what it can build but on what has supposedly been done to it.

Victimhood has become the left’s organizing principle. The emotional currency of grievance has replaced the intellectual currency of ideas. That shift isn’t just cynical; it’s corrosive. It undermines the American spirit of self-reliance, accountability, and perseverance — the virtues that built this country in the first place.

Let others compete for who has suffered most. America’s story has never been written by its victims — only by its victors.

Consider New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. Last month, he delivered a tearful campaign speech recalling how his “aunt stopped taking the subway after 9/11 because she didn’t feel safe in her hijab.” The story went viral. Media outlets rushed to elevate it as another morality play about post-9/11 Islamophobia.

Within days, however, fact-checkers discovered that the “aunt” didn’t live in New York City — and wasn’t his aunt at all but his father’s cousin. The story collapsed, but the damage was done.

Even if the tale were true, Mamdani’s framing was an insult to truth. His version turned the “victim” of 9/11 into someone who merely felt uncomfortable. The real victims were the firefighters who ran into burning towers, the police who breathed toxic dust for months, the passengers of Flight 93 who fought back knowing they would die, the families who never saw their loved ones again. To recast that national tragedy as a story about personal unease is moral inversion.

Privilege posing as persecution

Mamdani is no symbol of oppression. He was born in Uganda to two global elites: filmmaker Mira Nair and Columbia University professor Mahmood Mamdani. Educated at elite institutions, including Bowdoin College in Maine, he embodies privilege — not persecution.

He’s not alone. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has built her career on the same inversion. A graduate of Boston University, raised in a comfortable Westchester suburb, AOC is a product of the meritocracy she derides. Her father was an architect; her family owned a home. Yet her political persona depends on playing the perpetual underdog — the marginalized woman of color silenced by “the patriarchy.”

When criticized, she doesn’t answer with arguments but with emotion. Dissent becomes “hate.” Opposition becomes “bigotry.” As Newsweek once put it, “AOC’s weaponized victimhood undermines women.”

Grievance as status

This inversion — privilege masquerading as oppression — reveals something deeper about the left’s political psychology. Victimhood now confers moral authority. The more wounded you appear, the more virtuous you become. Pain is power.

But grievance politics reshapes the citizen’s role in democracy. Instead of the proud American who builds and contributes, we get the dependent petitioner, perpetually wronged and perpetually in need of government rescue. The state becomes therapist and provider, not guardian of liberty.

That’s why so many progressive campaigns sound like group therapy sessions. The message isn’t, “Here’s how we’ll improve schools or secure the border.” It’s, “Here’s who hurt us, and here’s who must atone.” The goal isn’t reform — it’s retribution.

The vanishing of virtue

When politics becomes a contest of feelings, truth and accountability vanish. Success is no longer measured by safer streets, better jobs, or stronger families, but by how “seen” or “unsafe” someone feels. Emotional satisfaction replaces objective progress.

But the American promise was never about comfort. It was about courage — the willingness to build, to sacrifice, to endure. This nation doesn’t owe its strength to grievance but to grit.

Think back to 9/11. The real victims weren’t the politically convenient ones. They were the firefighters who ran toward the towers, the police who never came home, the husbands and wives who never got to say goodbye, the children who grew up without parents. To twist their sacrifice into a sermon on discomfort dishonors them.

RELATED: The left’s new religion has no logic — and AOC is its perfect preacher

Photo by Bloomberg / Getty Images

From grievance to gratitude

The contrast couldn’t be clearer. One version of politics says, “I was wronged, therefore I deserve.” The other says, “I was blessed, therefore I will serve.” The left has built a moral economy where pain is currency. Conservatives must offer a different creed — one grounded in purpose, gratitude, and resilience.

Freedom, not fairness, defines America’s promise. Adversity refines character; it doesn’t define it. As the nation nears its 250th birthday, we should remember who we are — a people forged by hardship and lifted by hope.

Let others compete for who has suffered most. We’ll compete for who can spread the most good. America’s story has never been written by its victims — only by its victors.

​Zohran mamdani, Alexandria ocasio-cortez, Democrats, Nyc, Opinion & analysis 

Violence prevention was one of the planks on the campaign platform for Cincinnati City Council candidate Kevin Farmer before he was arrested for alleged burglary.

The 39-year-old was arrested on Saturday at the home of Republican congressional candidate Rosemary Oglesby-Henry, after allegedly breaking a garage window to gain entry. Prosecutors said Oglesby-Henry had video footage of Farmer breaking into the home.

‘He is an abuser, and I will not back down. I will use the law, the right way, to protect women and to set my life back on track.’

The arrest was just the latest in a series of alleged criminal interactions between the two.

Farmer told WLWT-TV that he would be dropping out of the race for the Cincinnati City Council. However, he will still appear on the ballot for the Nov. 4 election and is not endorsed by any party.

He is officially listed as nonpartisan, but his donation page includes the image of a raised fist, which is often used by socialists and communists. A post on his official X account complained that the Ohio GOP had not endorsed him despite being a registered Republican.

Oglesby-Henry had previously accused Farmer of squatting at her home before she was arrested in late September for allegedly pointing a gun at Farmer in her home.

“While Mr. Farmer remains squatting in my home today, he used law enforcement to bring a false case against me and had me jailed without cause,” said Oglesby-Henry. “He is an abuser, and I will not back down. I will use the law, the right way, to protect women and to set my life back on track.”

She went on to categorically deny the accusation and pointed out that police did not recover a firearm and she fully cooperated with police. Oglesby-Henry was charged with aggravated menacing over the incident.

In July, Farmer was charged with domestic violence and assault against Oglesby-Henry. She eventually dropped the charges and was given a protective order against Farmer.

RELATED: Furious liberals blame Bari Weiss takeover at CBS after Democrat leader fumbles tough question on ‘Face the Nation’

The WLWT report pointed out that Farmer had run on violence prevention as well as providing more resources to underserved communities.

Court records indicate that Farmer is charged with violating a protection order in addition to burglary.

He is being held on a $60,000 bond and would need to wear an ankle monitor if released.

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​Rosemary oglesby-henry, Kevin farmer, Burglary arrest, Candidate domestic violence, Politics 

The Democrat-induced government shutdown is set to break the record for the longest shutdown in history.

Senate Democrats blocked the GOP’s clean funding resolution on September 30, initiating the government shutdown on October 1. Over a month has passed since then, with the shutdown inching toward the 35-day record after over a dozen failed Senate votes.

‘REPUBLICANS, BE TOUGH AND SMART!’

If this streak of failed votes continues through midnight Wednesday as expected, the government shutdown will have surpassed the previous record-holding 35-day shutdown from President Donald Trump’s first term.

Although neither party has indicated that a deal is on the horizon, Trump has urged Republicans to deploy the nuclear option to bring the shutdown to a close.

RELATED: Trump urges Senate to deploy the ‘Nuclear Option’ on filibuster

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

“TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER, NOT JUST FOR THE SHUTDOWN, BUT FOR EVERYTHING ELSE,” Trump said in a Truth Social post. “WE WILL GET ALL OF OUR COMMON SENSE POLICIES APPROVED (VOTER ID, ANYONE?) AND MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! REMEMBER, THE DEMOCRATS WILL DO IT IMMEDIATELY, AS SOON AS THEY GET THE CHANCE. OUR DOING IT WILL NOT GIVE THEM THE CHANCE.”

“REPUBLICANS, BE TOUGH AND SMART! THE DEMS ARE CRAZED LUNATICS, THEY WILL NOT OPEN UP OUR COUNTRY NO MATTER HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE IRREPARABLY HARMED!”

Trump’s calls to eliminate the filibuster would allow Republicans to pass their funding bill with a simple majority as opposed to the 60-vote threshold currently in place. Only three Democrats have consistently crossed the aisle and voted with Republicans to reopen the government, falling short of the 60 votes needed.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, an institutionalist, has always been against eliminating the filibuster. Despite pressure from the president, Thune maintains that his “position on the importance of the legislative filibuster is unchanged.”

RELATED: ‘Unfit for the gavel’: House GOPs sound off on Judge Boasberg, stand with senators in calling for impeachment

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

While Congress shows no signs of progress, millions of Americans lost key government benefits like food assistance programs that lapsed over the weekend. Programs like SNAP affect citizens across the country, but Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins is taking the opportunity to clean house, ensuring illegal aliens are not taking advantage of the program.

“I’m glad to see the Trump administration is working to get to the bottom of why 41 million people are on SNAP and why this program exploded on Joe Biden’s watch,” said Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who has repeatedly voted with Democrats against the funding bill, in a post on X. “It’s time to root out the waste, fraud, and abuse.”

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​Donald trump, Chuck schumer, John thune, Government shutdown, Rand paul, Brooke rollins, Senate democrats, Senate republicans, Snap benefits, Schumer shutdown, Filibuster, Government programs, Government benefits, Politics 

Video from police in Fresno, California — newly released Friday — indicates that an officer was on an unrelated call in the area of the River Park Shopping Center on Aug. 20 when he heard gunshots from a restaurant parking lot around 5:30 p.m.

KSEE-TV reported that the restaurant is Ruth’s Chris.

‘He’s reaching!’

Police said surveillance video shows George Ruiz, 18, firing shots at a passing vehicle.

The officer ran toward the sound of gunfire and saw Ruiz running off, police said. The officer then saw the suspect attempting to carjack a vehicle in a shopping center parking lot, police said, adding that the victim was able to drive away.

Police said Ruiz shot once at the vehicle during the attempted carjacking, hitting the car, but those inside the vehicle weren’t hurt.

Police said the officer ran after Ruiz toward the Sam’s Club parking lot and broadcasted over radio the suspect’s description and the direction of the foot pursuit.

After the radio call, two other officers in a marked patrol vehicle spotted Ruiz on the run — and reaching for his waistband, police said.

The officer driving the patrol car struck Ruiz with the vehicle, and the officers arrested Ruiz, police said.

One officer is heard in the below video advising that “he’s reaching!” in reference to the suspect going for his gun just before the arrest, police said. The relevant segment begins around the 4:40 mark:

RELATED: Wild police video: Cops ram car driven by female armed robbery suspect — who actually tries to run away after freeway crash

Police said Ruiz dropped his handgun after getting hit.

RELATED: Crazy video: Unhinged driver hits teen, crashes through Dollar Tree wall — with teen still on hood. The end is even wilder.

Image source: Fresno (Calif.) Police bodycam video screenshot

Here’s a screenshot showing the opposite angle:

RELATED: Long Island police commissioner defends officer’s use of SUV to neutralize gun-toting woman who threatened to shoot herself and others

Image source: Fresno (Calif.) Police bodycam video screenshot

The following is a close-up image of Ruiz’s loaded gun, police said.

RELATED: VIDEO: Florida trooper crashes head-on into accused drunk driver to stop her car from plowing into runners of 10k race

Image source: Fresno (Calif.) Police

Ruiz was taken to a hospital, treated for leg pain, and released, police said, adding that he provided a statement admitting to the shooting.

Ruiz was booked into jail for the shooting, firearm-related charges, and resisting arrest, police said, adding that no officers were hurt during the incident.

Fresno County Jail records indicate Ruiz was still behind bars Monday afternoon; his bail is listed as $575,000.

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Nigeria is a fast-growing country with an estimated population of over 239 million. According to the CIA Worldbook’s 2018 estimate, roughly 53.5% of the Nigerian population is Muslim and roughly 45.9% of the population is Christian.

Despite being over 100 million strong, Nigeria’s Christian population faces brutal persecution at the hands of radical Muslim groups.

President Donald Trump, who vowed ahead of the 2024 election to “protect persecuted Christians,” made abundantly clear over the weekend that those now savaging the followers of Christ in Nigeria may soon reap the whirlwind, courtesy of the U.S. military.

While the Nigerian regime has decried Trump’s efforts to prevent further bloodshed, others have celebrated the American president’s interest in resolving yet another conflict — including Trinidadian rapper Nicki Minaj, who thanked Trump and his team on Saturday.

Background

The Christian persecution watchdog Open Doors now ranks Nigeria as the seventh-worst place for Christians in the world, noting that “Christians are particularly at risk from targeted attacks by Islamist militants, including Fulani fighters, Boko Haram and ISWAP (Islamic State West Africa Province).”

According to the watchdog, over 4,100 Christians were killed for their faith between October 2022 and September 2023 alone — an average of 11 Christians slaughtered every day. During that same period studied by Open Doors, over 3,300 Nigerian Christians were abducted. The situation appears to have grown more dire in the years since.

RELATED: Nigerian Christians are being murdered by Islamic radicals. This congressman has had enough.

Photo by OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT/AFP via Getty Images

A report issued in August by the International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law indicated that Fulani fighters and other jihadists massacred over 7,000 Christians in the first seven months of this year.

While some academics have warned against grouping the mass-killing Fulani herder-militant groups with other Islamist outfits targeting Christians — claiming their attacks are instead driven by economics or climate — the Fulani attacks appear to have a religious motive as well.

Jeff King, president of International Christian Concern and a leading expert on religious persecution, told Blaze News earlier this year that like Boko Haram, the Fulani militants, a group of traditionally nomadic cattle herders seeking greater grazing lands for their livestock, “are also driven by Islam’s practice of using violence to subjugate territories to Islam. In fact, the Fulanis are the driving force behind radical Islam’s massive land-grab of a huge swath of Africa known as the Sahel. They are motivated by a desire to rebuild a caliphate they had built in the 1700s and 1800s.”

The persecution of Christians by the Fulani militants and other radical Muslim groups has reportedly worsened since Bola Ahmed Tinubu became Nigeria’s president in 2023.

Taking action

Rep. Riley Moore (R-W.Va.) and other lawmakers, confronted with indications that the situation is worsening for Nigeria’s Christians, have called on the Trump administration to take action.

“Since Boko Haram’s insurgency in 2009, more than 50,000 Christians have been murdered and more than 5 million have been displaced. Just this year, a priest was kidnapped and murdered on Ash Wednesday. 54 Christians were martyred on Palm Sunday,” Moore noted early last month. “At least 250 priests have been attacked or killed in the last decade. More than 19,000 churches have been attacked or destroyed since 2009 — averaging three per day.”

Moore, who indicated that elements of the Nigerian regime have reportedly been involved in recent anti-Christian attacks, asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio to designate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern. Evidently the administration similarly feels strongly about the matter.

‘If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet.’

President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he was applying the designation and asked Reps. Moore and Tom Cole (R-Okla.) along with the House Appropriations Committee to immediately look into the matter.

“Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria. Thousands of Christians are being killed. Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter,” wrote Trump. “I am hereby making Nigeria a ‘COUNTRY OF PARTICULAR CONCERN’ — But that is the least of it. When Christians, or any such group, is slaughtered like is happening in Nigeria (3,100 versus 4,476 Worldwide), something must be done!”

The CPC designation is applied under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to nations engaged in severe violations of religious freedom. The designation can carry with it significant economic and diplomatic consequences.

Nigeria was previously slapped with the designation by the first Trump administration in 2020, but this was subsequently lifted by the Biden administration.

RELATED: Bill Maher’s shocking defense of Christians — and what it reveals

Aftermath of a terrorist attack on a Catholic Church in southwest Nigeria. AFP/Getty Images

Nicki Minaj was among those who celebrated Trump’s decision, stating, “Reading this made me feel a deep sense of gratitude. We live in a country where we can freely worship God.”

“No group should ever be persecuted for practicing their religion,” said the rapper.

“Numerous countries all around the world are being affected by this horror & it’s dangerous to pretend we don’t notice. Thank you to The President & his team for taking this seriously. God bless every persecuted Christian. Let’s remember to lift them up in prayer.”

Republican Reps. Moore, Cole, and Mario Díaz-Balart (Fla.) noted in a joint statement, “With President Trump announcing he will be redesignating Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern, the United States is making clear in one resolute voice: religious persecution will not be tolerated. The scourge of anti-Christian violence and oppression of other religious minorities by radical Islamic terrorists is an affront to religious freedom. This is a critical step in mobilizing leadership and attention to confront evil extremism.”

Just in case the designation wasn’t enough, Trump threatened a military intervention in the event that the Nigerian regime fails to protect Christians.

“If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities,” Trump said in a Truth Social post on Saturday evening.

“I am hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action. If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians! WARNING: THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT BETTER MOVE FAST!” added the president.

Fresh off blowing an apparent narco-trafficking vessel to smithereens, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth confirmed the Department of War was “preparing for action.”

— (@)

The promise of a reckoning clearly made officials over in the Nigerian capital of Abuja nervous.

President Tinubu rushed out a statement on Saturday claiming that his nation “stands firmly as a democracy governed by constitutional guarantees of religious liberty.

“The characterization of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality, nor does it take into consideration the consistent and sincere efforts of the government to safeguard freedom of religion and beliefs for all Nigerians,” wrote Tinubu. “Religious freedom and tolerance have been a core tenet of our collective identity and shall always remain so. Nigeria opposes religious persecution and does not encourage it.”

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Kendrick Lamar’s song “Luther” has just dropped out of the Billboard Top 40, making it the first time in 35 years hip-hop is not represented on the coveted list of music.

And BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock could not be happier.

“I just want to praise Jesus for that miracle, I just want to thank God for making this happen, and I hope that hip-hop music, the current form of it, never reappears in the top 40. I think it’s an indication once again that there is a cultural shift, a vibe shift, going on in America,” Whitlock explains.

“Are we reading too much into it, or this an indication that the world is healing and people are coming out of the demonic cult of hip-hop music?” Whitlock asks his panel.

“It’s an excellent sign,” BlazeTV contributor Chad O. Jackson says.

“And I think it’s high time that something like this occurs,” he adds.

However, BlazeTV contributors Shemeka Michelle and Virgil Walker are admittedly “cynical” when it comes to it being a good sign.

“I’m happy to see that, you know, hip-hop is taking a nose dive, especially in its current iteration. You know, we grew up, Jason, in the ’80s and understood kind of the old school hip-hop, kind of the golden era of hip-hop. Then soon after that, the ‘90s came along, and we got gangster rap, and that became the new cool,” Walker says.

“If you didn’t have enough profane words in your content, if you didn’t have enough sexualizing of women in your content, you weren’t going to be a hit. And that’s only amplified over the course of the last 20 years since 2000,” he continues.

“I think it’s wonderful that for at least a moment, at least a minute, at least a point in time, we’re not going to be bombarded with that kind of crash chaos … but my thought process, kind of like Shemeka said, is that, you know, we’re gonna have to give this a few weeks or so to see if it doesn’t show up again,” he says.

“So I anticipate it’ll make a rise again,” he adds.

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More than a dozen law enforcement officials in the Mississippi Delta area were charged by the Department of Justice for allegedly accepting bribes from what they believed to be members of a Mexican drug cartel.

U.S. Attorney Clay Joyner said at a news conference Thursday that the DOJ secured indictments against 20 people, including two elected sheriffs as well as 14 current or former law enforcement officers. The investigation was conducted over several years.

‘The law must apply equally to everyone regardless of the title or position they hold. Know that if you betray the people’s trust in Mississippi, you will face consequences.’

“We’re here today to talk about some incredibly serious allegations that mark a very — it’s just a monumental betrayal of public trust,” said Joyner. Law enforcement officers and their accomplices allegedly provided safe passage to people they believed were drug traffickers in exchange for money. They were allegedly led to believe they were helping transport 25 kilograms of cocaine. “They are also indicted for related firearms offenses and, of course, individual counts related to specific runs throughout the Mississippi Delta,” he added.

Washington County Sheriff Milton Gaston and Humphreys County Sheriff Bruce Williams were among those arrested.

“Law enforcement is only effective when the community they protect can trust the law enforcement officers are honestly serving the community’s interests,” said FBI Special Agent Robert Eikhoff. “This type of corruption strikes at the heart of the community.”

Some of the alleged bribes ranged between $20,000 and $37,000, according to prosecutors.

RELATED: Four Toledo City Council members, all Democrats, arrested by FBI on bribery charges

Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves released a statement about the indictments.

“The law must apply equally to everyone regardless of the title or position they hold,” Reeves wrote. “Know that if you betray the people’s trust in Mississippi, you will face consequences.”

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Kenvue, which has been under increased scrutiny recently after the Trump administration alleged a link between Tylenol and autism, is being acquired by Kimberly-Clark in a multibillion-dollar deal.

According to a Monday press release, Kimberly-Clark will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Kenvue common stock in a cash and stock transaction that values Kenvue at approximately $48.7 billion.

Just last week, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Kenvue and its former parent company, Johnson & Johnson.

“We are excited to bring together two iconic companies to create a global health and wellness leader,” said Mike Hsu, Kimberly-Clark chairman and chief executive officer.

“We look forward to working with the Kenvue team to bring these companies together and are confident that we will drive significant value for our combined shareholders,” Hsu continued.

“Our combination with Kimberly-Clark unites two highly complementary portfolios filled with iconic, beloved brands and everyday essentials that people trust and count on throughout their lives,” said Kirk Perry, chief executive officer of Kenvue.

RELATED: Headaches continue for Tylenol brand as Texas AG files lawsuit over alleged autism link

Photo by Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for Kenvue

Kenvue, however, has increasingly been viewed as a liability as allegations of a link between prenatal use of Tylenol and autism have been leveled by members of the Trump administration and other leaders.

Just last week, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Kenvue and its former parent company, Johnson & Johnson.

Paxton said, “Johnson & Johnson attempted to escape responsibility by illegally offloading their liability onto a different company,” apparently referring to Kenvue.

Kimberly-Clark’s current portfolio — which includes well-known brands such as Huggies, Kleenex, Scott, Kotex, Cottonelle, Poise, Depend, Andrex, Pull-Ups, and Goodnites — will combine with Kenvue, which produces brands including Aveeno, Band-Aid, Johnson’s, Listerine, Neutrogena, and, of course, Tylenol.

The Associated Press reported that Kimberly-Clark shares dropped 15% before the market open and Kenvue’s stock rose more than 20%.

Blaze News reached out to Kimberly-Clark for comment but did not receive a response.

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Graham Platner, a 41-year-old oyster farmer and Marine veteran, announced on Aug. 19 that he was running as a Democrat for the U.S. Senate in Maine. His stated objective was to challenge the “oligarchy,” meaning both the Democrat establishment and the Republican incumbent, Sen. Susan Collins.

At the outset, Platner’s campaign appeared to have incredible momentum. The leftist candidate raised several million dollars in a matter of weeks, managed to land endorsements from current lawmakers including Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M), and struck a chord with locals, as reflected in early polls indicating that he had a sizeable lead over Democrat Gov. Janet Mills.

Platner’s campaign has, however, encountered a massive and potentially insurmountable obstacle: his radical past.

‘Platner is not a victim of opposition research. … Accountability does not exist in playing the victim of your own behavior.’

In the wake of damning revelations about the leftist candidate’s social media posts and his newly concealed tattoo of a skull image similar to that popularized by Adolf Hitler’s SS elite Nazi guard, at least four key staffers have jumped ship.

The latest individuals to call it quits are the campaign’s national finance director, Ronald Holmes, and its treasurer, Victoria Perrone.

Holmes, a Democrat operative who previously served as finance director on New York Democrat Rep. Josh Riley’s congressional campaign, resigned on Friday, suggesting that Platner’s campaign no longer met his “standards.”

RELATED: Here are the 4 Republicans who betrayed Trump AGAIN, joining Democrats to undermine the MAGA agenda

Graham Platner. Photo by Sophie Park/Getty Images

“I joined this campaign because I believed in building something different — a campaign of fresh energy, integrity, and reform-minded thinking in a political system that often resists exactly those things,” Holmes wrote in a post on LinkedIn. “Somewhere along the way, I began to feel that my professional standards as a campaign professional no longer fully aligned with those of the campaign.”

A campaign spokesperson told Politico, “Ron helped the campaign reach out to big-dollar donors, and we appreciated his efforts. But the reality is our campaign’s fundraising success has come largely from small-dollar donors.”

“Nearly 90% of what we’ve raised has come from small-dollar donations and online donors, which has been and [continues] to be run by our digital fundraising director,” added the spokesperson.

Timothy Facciola of the Judge Street Journal on Substack revealed on Sunday that Holmes wasn’t the only Platner staffer to pack it in last week.

Citing a Federal Election Commission form that was filed on Friday as well as an unnamed source said to be familiar with the matter, Facciola reported that Perrone, the president and founder of the consulting firm Spruce Street Compliance, resigned as treasurer on Tuesday.

Ben Martello — a political strategist who served as an adviser to former Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-Mass.) — appears to have stepped into the role.

Blaze News has reached out to Perrone and the Platner campaign for comment.

Perrone, who has been closely involved with Zohran Mamdani’s New York City mayoral campaign, was apparently hired last month to help Platner’s campaign deal with its various scandals.

According to Politico, Perrone was the individual who pressed members of Platner’s campaign team to sign non-disclosure agreements after his Reddit posts came to light — including posts in which he apparently identified as a communist, branded rural white Americans as racists, suggested service members worried about being raped should buy “Kevlar underwear,” and smeared all police officers as “bastards.”

Former state Rep. Genevieve McDonald (D) resigned as political director of Platner’s campaign last month over the posts, noting, “These statements were not known to me when I agreed to join the campaign, and they are not words or values I can stand behind in a candidate for the United States Senate.”

Within days of McDonald’s resignation, footage went viral revealing that Platner had an apparent “totenkopf” tattoo on his chest — the symbol of the SS-Totenkopfverbande, the branch that guarded the Nazi concentration camps.

Amid the fallout over the apparent Nazi tattoo, the Democrat candidate’s longtime friend Kevin Brown similarly jumped ship.

Brown, who took over as Platner’s campaign manager on Oct. 21, announced days later that he was leaving, suggesting that the move was the result of new familial demands on his time.

Brown said in a statement obtained by WGME-TV, “Graham is a dear friend. I started this campaign Tuesday but found out Friday we have a baby on the way.”

“Graham deserves someone who is 100% in on his race, and we want to lean into this new experience as a family, so it was best we step back sooner than later so Graham can get the manager he deserves,” Brown added.

Platner reportedly suggested during a town hall last week that the Democratic Party was the cause of his recent run of bad luck, stating, “I’m running as a Democrat still, despite the fact my party is destroying my life.”

“Platner is not a victim of opposition research. This is what happens when you run for federal office,” Genevieve McDonald said in a recent statement. “People scrutinize everything you’ve ever done. Every word and every action. Accountability does not exist in playing the victim of your own behavior.”

McDonald added, “We should not be having a debate about Nazi symbolism tattooed on the potentially top-ticket Democrat in Maine. The fact we are even willing to entertain it shows desperation within the party, not dedication, and how far we have fallen from rational thought.”

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A North Carolina father was charged with the murders of his four children after authorities said he called 911 to make a chilling confession to police.

Wellington Delano Dickens III, 38, was arrested at his home in Zebulon — roughly 20 miles northeast of Raleigh — on Tuesday.

‘It’s a lot to explain, but in a nutshell, it’s all my fault. This is my fault. This is bad.’

Dickens was charged with four counts of murder. Dickens faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole or the death penalty if he is convicted of murder.

Dickens is being held without bond in the Johnston County Jail.

Just after 10 p.m. Monday, the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office said it received a call from Dickens that “he had killed his children.”

Dickens was heard saying in the 911 phone call, “I killed my stepson. It’s a lot to explain, but in a nutshell, it’s all my fault. This is my fault. This is bad.”

Dickens said he didn’t “cut” or “shoot” anyone but admitted to “beating on them sometimes” and that he “over-disciplined” his stepson. He added that the situation “spiraled,” and “it got worse and worse and worse.” Dickens also said he was a “coward” and admitted to using marijuana and consuming alcohol.

Dickens said he was attempting to “do the right thing” and revealed that he was “trying to turn himself” in to law enforcement. The suspect said he was “willing to do whatever” officers request of him when confronted by police. Deputies were soon dispatched to Dickens’ property.

The Johnston County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement, “Mr. Dickens stated to deputies that his 3-year-old son was inside the house alive and four of his other children were deceased inside the trunk of a vehicle in the garage of the residence. Mr. Dickens’ 3-year-old son was located and found unharmed in the residence.”

Police also said a “preliminary investigation discovered what were believed to be multiple bodies in the trunk of a vehicle in the garage.”

Investigators determined that the human remains in the vehicle “had been there for a long period of time.”

Deputies accused Dickens of killing his three biological children, aged 6, 9, and 10, as well as his 18-year-old stepchild.

The sheriff’s office did not specify how the children died or identify a possible motive.

In a Wednesday press conference, Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell accused Dickens of beginning to murder his children months ago.

Bizzell said 6-year-old Leah Dickens likely was killed in May, 9-year-old Zoe Dickens was estimated to have been killed in August, 10-year-old Wellington Dickens was killed in either late August or early September, and 18-year-old stepchild Sean Brassfield probably was killed in September.

Don Pate, captain of the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office’s Criminal Investigations Division, said at the news conference that officers noticed an odor of “decay” as soon as they entered the residence.

Pate said there was “evidence of criminal activity,” including alleged attempts to clean up crime scenes within the house.

Sheriff Bizzell noted that social services took the one surviving child for a medical evaluation and is now “safe.”

RELATED: ‘Haunt me the rest of my life’: Father reportedly kills family and himself in murder-suicide on same day as son’s graduation

During the news conference, Bizzell revealed that Dickens’ wife, 37-year-old Stephanie Rae Jones Dickens, died at her home on April 21, 2024. Jones was three months pregnant at the time of her death and had suffered from “excessive bleeding the night prior, but refused to go for medical treatment,” Bizzell stated.

Sheriff Bizzell said investigators previously determined that Jones died from complications from a miscarriage, and doctors ruled that her death was “natural.”

Bizzell said there are currently no plans to exhume the remains of Jones following the murder accusations against her husband.

A neighbor told WRAL-TV that she “never saw a child outside playing” at Dickens’ home.

Neighbor Fran Majkowski continued, “I never saw him mowing a lawn. … The only time I ever saw them was the day they moved in, and like I said … it was very … you just get the feeling someone is to themselves.”

Debra Riley, who lives next door to Dickens, said he “became more of a recluse” after his wife died.

Charles Moore, Dickens’ great uncle, told WRAL that the father was an Iraq War veteran.

Moore noted, “He was in the service, and he had a problem ever since he came back, I think.”

Moore claimed he last saw Dickens about a year ago, and he “seemed fine.”

Neither the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office nor the Johnston County Public Defender’s Office, which was appointed to represent Dickens in court, immediately responded to Blaze News’ request for comment.

Dickens is scheduled to attend a probable cause hearing on Nov. 13, according to court records.

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A shocking revelation from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has exposed what he calls a “horror story” inside America’s organ donation system.

On a recent segment of Newsmax, RFK Jr. detailed a case in which a woman allegedly awoke while her organs were being harvested and did not live to tell the tale.

“It’s a horror story, and part of it is because of the capture of the agency that was regulating ORR, had a — the board that was actually regulating organ harvesting was overlapping with the contractor that was actually harvesting the organs,” he began.

“I had one instance where a family was waiting at the hospital for the body of their deceased relative. The relative was brought to one of these private organ harvesting centers, awoke while they were harvesting her organs, and then was brought back to the hospital … where she died eventually,” he continued.

“But the family, you know, brought litigation, and that’s the only reason that we learned of this story. We’ve done a complete investigation of that company. We’ve taken the contract away from that company, and we’re reorganizing it so that we will be regulating it and running it directly at HHS and this will never happen again,” he added.

BlazeTV host Pat Gray is astonished.

“That is bizarre. And they did a thorough investigation. Turns out it’s true?” Gray says. “That’s weird.”

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) irony detector may have been running low during a recent interview when he attacked lying politicians, then defended former President Joe Biden’s mental fitness.

Newsom told NBC’s Kristen Welker about his disdain for dishonest politicians. In the next breath, Newsom insisted that Biden was perfectly fit to run for a second term despite the obvious decline that Democrats tried to cover up.

‘There was no interaction I had that suggested otherwise.’

“There is nothing I dislike more than the politician that sits there and lies to you,” Newsom said. “We all just sit rolling our eyes, going, ‘Give me a break.'”

Welker followed up, asking whether Newsom felt Biden was fit to serve in office through January 2029, to which he said his priority was preventing Trump from serving a second term.

RELATED: Jon Stewart shuts down liberal journalist’s Joe Rogan complaints

Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images

“My focus was frankly situational,” Newsom said. “It was making sure Donald Trump didn’t get back into office to experience everything that we’re experiencing today.”

“There was no interaction I had that suggested otherwise,” Newsom added.

Welker pushed back on Newsom, asking him if he regrets not “sounding the alarm” on Biden’s health earlier to pave a path for a stronger candidate going into November 2024.

“I’m not going to substitute myself for someone else or for popular opinion,” Newsom replied. “I’m going to express my relationship to my truth with the former president of the United States, including at the end of his term, quite literally in December.”

RELATED: Reporter humiliates Kamala Harris over Biden health cover-up: ‘That is a world-class pivot’

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

“There was nothing to suggest what you just said, or others have suggested, in terms of my interaction,” Newsom added. “That’s all I can be accountable for.”

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Two sisters attempted to steal luxury food items from a grocery store in Massachusetts last weekend — but the pair exploded when store employees confronted them about the stolen goods, according to police.

The West Bridgewater Police Department said in a statement that officers were deployed to the Market Basket grocery store around 5 p.m. Saturday over reports of two customers “fighting with store employees.”

‘They screamed and directed racial and demeaning words at [a store employee]. Those words included “p***y and [the N-word],” which were loud enough for everyone in the front of the store to hear, causing an offensive condition without a legitimate purpose.’

“The investigation revealed that an employee had observed two women concealing high-priced items, including lobster meat, prime ribeye steaks, and truffle butter, in a bag while shopping,” the statement reads. “The women did not pay for those items at checkout and were confronted by an employee.”

Police identified the shoplifting suspects as 37-year-old Olivia L. Byrd of Quincy and 28-year-old Rahjane J. Byrd of Hyde Park.

Police said the pair were “argumentative, screamed obscenities, and assaulted two store employees.”

Alexander Oseas — a Market Basket employee — told investigators he grew suspicious of the sisters because most of the items in their cart were not bagged except for goods in a blue bag, the Boston Globe reported.

“He tried to take the blue bag from them, and Rahjane tried to get it back, causing her to fall to the floor,” the paper noted, citing a police report.

In addition, Oseas and co-worker Wesley Kimbrel “pleaded with” the sisters to leave the store, but they allegedly “continued both their verbal and physical attacks” against the employees, the Globe reported..

“Rahjane struck Oseas with the blue bag filled with groceries,” the paper added, citing the report, and “Olivia then struck Kimbrel with her purse several times and slapped him across the face.”

The Globe, citing the report, also said Rahjane Byrd “struck Oseas several more times with the bag filled with groceries,” and he suffered a small cut on his face.

The violent incident was caught on video, and it shows one of the sisters smashing a worker in the face with her cell phone.

RELATED: Rampage video: Insane moment driver plows SUV into CarMax showroom leaving 8 injured, 2 in critical condition

Oseas said the sisters “became argumentative and belligerent and began to direct racial slurs and other demeaning terms at him,” the paper noted.

“Both Rahjane’s and Olivia’s actions annoyed and inconvenienced the shopping public with their fighting and tumultuous behavior,” the West Bridgewater police report read, according to Boston.com. “They screamed and directed racial and demeaning words at [a store employee]. Those words included ‘p***y and [the N-word],’ which were loud enough for everyone in the front of the store to hear, causing an offensive condition without a legitimate purpose.”

The police report also said that “both females continued to scream obscenities and directed threats at both Oseas and Kimbrel as they made their way out of the store,” according to the Globe.

The sisters exited the grocery store, but police confronted the pair in the parking lot.

The siblings informed officers that they were working for Instacart and that they were shopping for a customer, Boston.com noted.

Olivia said she confronted an employee who she felt suspected her of shoplifting, the Globe said, citing the police report. Boston.com indicated Olivia alleged a store employee watched them closely as they paid for the groceries and tried to take their shopping cart when they were confronted.

When the sisters were questioned about the expensive items in the blue bag, Olivia said the “bag was hers and that the items in it were an Instacart order canceled by one of her customers,” the report stated, according to Boston.com.

The Globe said Olivia claimed the proof of the Instacart cancellation had disappeared from her phone.

Police noted in the report that the sisters’ account of what happened in the grocery store was plagued by “inconsistencies,” and the pair “were evasive, providing only the bare minimum to prove that the high-priced items in their shopping cart had been paid for,” according to the paper.

Olivia said her sister fell as she was pushed by an employee trying to take their shopping cart away, the report said.

“Olivia reacted and admitted to pushing and hitting the employee on the face with her phone,” the report stated, according to the Globe. “Olivia told me she should not have struck the employee but felt she needed to defend her sister.”

Police said the sisters were arrested and charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery, shoplifting by asportation, and disorderly conduct.

A judge ordered the sisters not to enter Market Basket and to have no contact with employees of the grocery store.

The suspects were arraigned Monday in Brockton District Court.

The sisters pleaded not guilty to the charges and were released on personal recognizance.

The Byrd sisters are scheduled to return to court on Dec. 17, according to records.

The West Bridgewater Police Department and Market Basket did not immediately respond to Blaze News‘ request for comment.

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​Caught on video, Viral video, Robbery, Fights, Fight video, Crime, Massachusetts, West bridgewater police department, Market basket, Shoplifting accusation, Assault and battery with a dangerous weapon 

History doesn’t just move forward — it echoes. Karl Marx once said history repeats itself, “first as tragedy, second as farce.” He meant it as a jab at 19th-century France, where Napoleon’s nephew attempted to replicate his uncle’s revolutionary drama not on the battlefield but rather through bureaucratic spectacle. Nevertheless, Marx’s insight fits modern America. Our cycles of unrest and outrage have become predictable theater — each act beginning with moral panic and ending in absurdity.

The summer of 2020 was a national trauma. The killing of George Floyd was a tragedy that radicals turned into revolution. Riots swept through more than 2,000 cities, torching businesses, destroying neighborhoods, and leaving dozens dead. Egged on by the race-baiting activists at Black Lives Matter, mobs looted stores, assaulted police, and terrorized communities.

The line between tragedy and farce is thinner than ever — and this time, we can’t afford to play the fool.

Media outlets downplayed the carnage as “fiery but mostly peaceful.” Political leaders joined the chorus, afraid to confront the mob. Corporate America rushed to signal its virtue by taking the knee, pouring billions into “racial equity” schemes that enriched activists but divided the country.

The real tragedy wasn’t just the damage — it was the betrayal. Spineless mayors and governors surrendered their cities. Police were handcuffed, budgets gutted, and criminals emboldened. The riots hollowed out public trust, replacing civic order with cultural resentment. America’s guardians became scapegoats, and justice itself became negotiable.

From riot to parody

Five years on, the rebellion has devolved into a pathetic sideshow. Antifa’s latest “resistance” — a handful of masked agitators harassing Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as they carry out long-overdue deportations — feels less like revolution and more like performance art.

Their vandalism is designed for TikTok, not for change: laser pointers at officers, graffiti on walls, choreographed scuffles for social media. It’s a boutique insurgency — staged in deep-blue enclaves, broadcast for dopamine hits, and forgotten the next day.

The chaos of 2020 burned cities. The tantrums of 2025 barely dent a precinct wall. The tragedy has become farce.

Still, both movements spring from the same poisoned root: a left-wing ideology that despises America’s foundations. BLM targeted police as enforcers of “white supremacy.” Antifa brands border agents as fascists for upholding immigration law.

Both rely on the same tactics — decentralized mobs, anonymous online organizing, and emotional manipulation amplified by social media. Both seek power through grievance, not through persuasion. And both reveal how progressive rage, unmoored from reality, becomes self-parody.

In 2020, rioters burned precincts and seized city blocks. They demanded “defund the police” and got it — along with record crime rates and broken neighborhoods. In 2025, their heirs spray-paint slogans and livestream tantrums. Their only victory is visibility.

The digital theater of rage

Social media turned riots into content. In 2020, doctored clips of “police brutality” fueled nationwide hysteria, empowered anti-cop lunatics, and enriched grifters. Today, the same algorithms push Antifa’s posturing, turning vandalism into viral spectacle.

These platforms profit from outrage. They amplify emotion, suppress context, and reward hysteria. The result is a feedback loop of performative politics — activism as cosplay.

After years of indulgence, government crackdowns have finally returned. ICE operates under firm executive backing. Local police departments no longer hesitate to enforce the law. The radicals, once protected, now find themselves exposed and outmatched.

But even as law enforcement regains its footing, the left’s playbook remains unchanged. The grievances are repackaged, the slogans recycled, the media coverage predictable. It’s cultural Marxism with a TikTok filter — ideology as entertainment.

Farce doesn’t mean harmless. Every protest turned stunt still corrodes civic life. Each viral act of defiance feeds distrust in law, borders, and the rule of order itself.

The radicals thrive on illusion: fake oppression, fake urgency, fake rebellion. Meanwhile, real Americans bear the cost — higher crime, divided communities, and institutions too timid to defend themselves.

RELATED: The left’s costume party: Virtue signaling as performance art

Photo by serazetdinov via Getty Images

The lesson we refuse to learn

The tragedy of 2020 proved that surrendering to the mob invites ruin. The farce of 2025 shows that ridicule alone isn’t enough to defeat it. Both demand resolve — the courage to confront lies, restore order, and defend the institutions that safeguard freedom.

History doesn’t stop repeating itself; it stops being repeated. Whether America ends this cycle depends on whether its citizens choose firmness over fear, enforcement over appeasement, and truth over spectacle.

Enough with the doctored outrage porn. The burning question is whether we’ll tolerate this clown show recycling into catastrophe or crush it with resolve that honors real American values.

The line between tragedy and farce is thinner than ever — and this time, we can’t afford to play the fool.

​Opinion & analysis, Opinion, Riot, Riots, Antifa, Activism, Antifascism, Revolition, George floyd, George floyd protests, George floyd riots, Karl marx, History, Tragedy, Farce, Leftism, Ice raids, Portland, Black lives matter