Category: blaze media

A California motorist suffered a broken back and rib after a bicycle-riding mob beat him up on a Santa Clara street amid an accident dispute Saturday, KGO-TV reported.

“On my left side, I have fractured rib number 12,” John Hidalgo recounted to the station. “And my number two lumbar vertebrae was fractured. You know, might not look like I’m severely injured, but, you know, I am in pain.”

‘The next time it happens, are they going to kill someone? Is somebody going to be tired of what they’re doing and run them over?’

Hidalgo told KGO an e-bike rider who ran a red light hit his car — and then a larger group on bikes arrived shortly after and blamed him for the accident.

Video shows the group brutally beating, kicking, and jumping on Hidalgo and destroying his car, the station said. You can view clips of the physical attack in KGO’s video report.

“I was just fighting for my life, you know?” Hidalgo added to the station. “I mean, you don’t really have time to think. It is unbelievable. But it’s starting to become kind of the norm now.”

Hidalgo told KGO he believes this group was part of a “ride out” — an informal gathering of bike riders who take over streets and sometimes perform dangerous stunts.

More from the station:

Our cameras captured video of another “ride out” on Highway 101 in San Jose, where bike riders were slowing traffic behind them.

We’ve also recently reported on other “ride outs” that turned violent, including one where a man was attacked near San Francisco’s Aquatic Park.

“It’s disheartening when you think about innocent people who are getting affected by this,” Hidalgo also told KGO. “The next time it happens, are they going to kill someone? Is somebody going to be tired of what they’re doing and run them over?”

The Santa Clara Police Department told the station they are aware of the video and are investigating the incident.

RELATED: Blaze News original: A dozen times gangs on motorcycles, ATVs, and bikes harassed, attacked, and killed others

Image source: Santa Clara (Ca.) Police Department

“We see these kids all the time swerving into traffic, swerving on the sidewalks, trying to hit people, we got to put a stop to it,” Hidalgo also told KGO. “When people are getting injured and violent crimes are happening, I don’t think that’s too much to ask for.”

Blaze News has covered similar incidents involving bike-riding mobs.

About a year ago, Los Angeles Police said a group of bike riders — ranging in age between 16 and 18 years old — physically attacked a lone male victim at an intersection in broad daylight. The attack was captured on cellphone video, which shows the mob of at least a dozen repeatedly punch, kick, and stomp on the victim, who winds up flat on his back and barely moving in the middle of the busy street.

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​Physical attack, Bicycle riders, California, Santa clara, Injured victim, Beaten up, Crime 

Tech is the future of the American economy. This is why President Trump is investing so heavily in chip manufacturing, AI infrastructure, and nuclear power. Against all odds, he even managed to coax the tech elite to fall in line and invest in the MAGA agenda. But the more Big Tech gave to Trump and his administration, the more they took in return. Left-wing media thinks Big Tech now runs the president, but the truth is that lefty intellectuals don’t understand Trump’s Big Tech strategy at all.

Inauguration Day

The world was stunned when Big Tech CEOs gathered together in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C., to watch the 47th president of the United States be sworn in. The guest list was a who’s who of tech elite, including Apple CEO Tim Cook, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg.

Does President Trump own Big Tech, or does Big Tech own him?

The left painted the event as a national disgrace — proof that Big Tech was kissing up to Trump in order to save itself from the mass censorship and misinformation campaigns these companies collectively pushed onto the American people throughout the pandemic.

The right saw the union as a glimmer of hope that freedom was finally returning to the United States. Our constitutional rights were back in style, as Big Tech released its iron grip on “truth,” no longer colluding with the Biden administration to suppress dissenting voices but allowing them to speak openly, just as the founding fathers intended.

It was a great day.

Who’s playing whom?

The winning didn’t stop there, either. The Big Tech companies quickly fell in line with the Trump administration, as Mark Zuckerberg openly reduced censorship on Facebook, Apple decided to make some of its device components in America, and practically all of them donated to Trump’s White House ballroom renovation project. Trump had Big Tech in the palm of his hand.

But then the Big Tech companies rebounded, as they started to take advantage of Trump themselves. They benefited from reduced regulation on AI. They’ll get a huge data center and power infrastructure boost from Stargate. Thanks to the tax cuts outlined in the Big Beautiful Bill Act, they’ll also get to keep more of their money to reinvest into their companies.

So who’s playing whom exactly? Does President Trump own Big Tech, or does Big Tech own him?

The art of the deal

Trump is a businessman. To make a great deal, you have to negotiate — give a little to get a little — and the best deals are the ones where everybody benefits on both sides. The left’s biggest faux pas is that, even after everything Trump has accomplished in the last decade, they still believe him to be a fool instead of the business phenom that he is. Leftists have made a habit of underestimating the president, and they have lost nearly every time.

Case in point: The left’s latest tirade swears that Big Tech has Trump exactly where it wants him, even calling into question whether or not his America First agenda caters to the American people or the H-1B workers the administration supports. To get a better view of the situation, you have to zoom out to the full picture.

RELATED: How to stop Microsoft from letting the government see everything on your computer

Thomas Fuller/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Retaking the levers of power

The future of the American economy — and by default, the entire world — revolves around tech and AI. We have to be able to create it, maintain it, and control it, or we will lose vital ground to China and possibly forfeit our sovereignty on the world stage. To do that, we have to retake the levers of power that we have lost to foreign nations over the years.

Chip manufacturing

First and foremost, that means we need to be able to manufacture our own chips. While most of our computer chips — the ones that go into our phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches, and even our data centers — are designed by companies here in the U.S., most of the manufacturing takes place overseas. The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is the biggest chip manufacturer on the planet, providing hardware for Apple, Nvidia, Tesla, Amazon, Google, and many more. This is why a simple Taiwan invasion from China could bring the entire tech industry to Xi Jinping’s feet, giving him total control over the production and distribution of these vital computer components.

To make sure this doesn’t happen, the United States would either need to prevent a Chinese invasion of Taiwan — a risky venture that could spark an all-out war — or bring those manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. Trump has chosen the latter, sparking companies like Intel to fire up their factories in the name of American manufacturing. While it will take time to reshore even half of our chip needs, the goal is to ensure that we always have access to the best hardware, regardless of China’s war games in the Eastern Hemisphere.

Power production

It’s no secret that generative AI has a huge impact on power — not just political power, but energy. Our current power grid isn’t enough to meet the needs of every company in the U.S. building AI products and services, and renewable energy sources like wind and solar hardly help the growing energy deficit. To bolster the grid, President Trump is investing bigly in an AI infrastructure driven by nuclear power. When compared to other energy sources, nuclear power is cleaner with zero carbon emissions (leftists should love that, but they’re programmed to hate it), more reliable, and easily sustainable. It’s everything we need, not just for AI, but for the American people, too.

Research and development

Once we have the means to manufacture chips that power AI and the energy to sustain our data centers, the only thing we need is top-tier talent to build platforms that support the most advanced AI models available. Lucky for us, the United States is home to the biggest AI companies on the planet. While China has DeepSeek, we have ChatGPT by OpenAI, Gemini by Google, Claude by Anthropic, and Grok from xAI, and there are plenty more below that.

The United States is already home to the best AI platforms, and Trump is trying to keep it that way with his H-1B visa program. While it is true that there are many Americans working at these companies in pursuit of smarter AI, Big Tech often employs top talent from other nations as well, including India, Canada, the U.K., and all around the globe.

Trump wants to bring the best talent to our country, and more than that, he needs to ensure that those intelligent workers don’t go elsewhere to help China — or any other foreign nation — overtake the West.

America First forever

Trump’s policies have paved the way for America to be a tech leader both around the globe and within the borders of our own nation. Manufacturing, energy creation, and top talent are all poised to fuel the next generation of AI development. To the credit of left-wing media, they’re right: Big Tech companies are taking advantage of President Trump and his policies, but they’re so preoccupied with their vitriol for MAGA that they don’t realize that’s the point.

While leftist government stifles private industry, the right embraces it, because it knows that when businesses succeed, the economy grows and Americans thrive. Trump wants our companies to benefit from his policies. He wants them to use the resources afforded to them to grow domestic jobs, build onshore products, and create services used by people all around the world. He wants the U.S. to build the future of what will become the AI Revolution.

Trump’s Big Tech strategy is the epitome of capitalism, the free market, and American leadership. If that’s not America First, I’m not sure what is.

​Tech 

In the comic books, Galactus devours worlds without discrimination. In real life, that role belongs to the Democratic Party.

You can see it play out in Minneapolis right now. Colorado offers its own case study. That’s where Rich Guggenheim is under attack inside the Colorado Department of Agriculture because he thought being a plant health programs manager meant focusing on — stay with me — plants, not pronouns.

Most people choose comfort. They tell themselves they agree with freedom, but they live like they don’t. They fear conflict more than they fear losing the country.

Last November, Guggenheim logged into a virtual meeting with roughly a dozen department heads. One agenda item covered a grant report tied to pest surveys, “inclusive leadership,” and employee participation in a program called “Colorado for All.”

Because when I think about protecting America’s food supply from pests, my first concern always involves the state’s ideological diversity metrics.

Guggenheim wanted to keep plants healthy. He didn’t have patience for the ritual. He typed a short comment into the group chat: “DEI on steroids.”

That was enough to trigger a full-blown response from Plant Industry Division Director Wondirad Gebru. Gebru paused the meeting and labeled the comment “inappropriate” in front of colleagues. Gebru told Guggenheim to mute his microphone.

Guggenheim did something better. He turned on his camera and accused Gebru, on the record, of viewpoint discrimination.

See, that’s how it’s done, folks. No excuses. Just a jawbone of an ass wielded without apology. Take stupid out to the woodshed and bludgeon it.

“They are trying to frame me as disruptive,” Guggenheim said. “But how can they do that when the topic is actually on the agenda?”

Next, Guggenheim told Gebru via private chat that he would file a formal whistleblower disclosure with U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi at the U.S. Department of Justice. The letter he sent that same day alleged First Amendment violations through viewpoint discrimination and compelled speech, retaliation, and disregard for President Donald Trump’s executive order directing federal agencies to stop promoting, requiring, or funding diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives that impose ideological preferencing.

He filed additional complaints with the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the Office of Special Counsel whistleblower channel; an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission inquiry; a Colorado Civil Rights Division/State Personnel Board consolidated appeal; and a state whistleblower complaint.

A month later, Guggenheim received notice of a workplace investigation. The notice offered no specifics about the allegations, the complainant, or the policy at issue. The state hired an outside group to conduct the investigation.

That process is under way as Guggenheim pursues a federal lawsuit against a state whose political class has built a reputation for using institutions as weapons.

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold tried to keep Trump off the presidential primary ballot before investigators examined her office’s election-security failures. Last year, lawmakers also advanced a regime of pronoun policing and gender ideology that reaches into schools and families and invites the state to play commissar.

RELATED: The taboo conservatives refuse to confront

Blaze Media illustration

Colorado’s leadership class doesn’t merely govern. It disciplines.

“Destruction of Western civilization is what queer theory is all about,” Guggenheim said.

Guggenheim is 46. He doesn’t sound demoralized. He sounds ready. He believes Colorado has boxed itself in legally, which left him with a choice: comply, stay quiet, and keep his head down — or put the issue on the record and force a confrontation.

Most people choose comfort. They tell themselves they agree with freedom, but they live like they don’t. They fear conflict more than they fear losing the country.

Guggenheim’s refusal to be emotionally bullied by the pronoun police should shame the rest of us. He didn’t beg for approval. He didn’t bargain. He didn’t self-censor to keep the peace. He documented the coercion and escalated through the proper channels.

One detail makes the story even harder for the usual activists to process: Guggenheim is openly gay.

He still drew the line. He still confronted ideological coercion in the workplace. He still chose risk over submission.

That’s the right standard. What’s your excuse?

​Opinion & analysis, Diversity equity inclusion, Gays against groomers, Rich guggenheim, Dei, Colorado, Department of agriculture, Censorship, Human resources, Freedom of speech, Queer theory, Justice department, Civil rights, Complaint, Whistleblower 

Following the discovery that Chinese communist agents were coordinating intimidation, espionage, and coercion campaigns out of illegal police stations in the United States, officials found something potentially more threatening in Reedley, California: a Chinese biolab containing deadly pathogens including Ebola.

The secret Chinese lab apparently was not one of a kind.

‘These items, importantly, were consistent in appearance to the items found and described in the Reedley, California, lab investigation.’

SWAT officers with the Las Vegas Metro Police Department raided a home in the city’s northeast end on Jan. 31, discovering a suspected illegal biolab apparently linked to the Chinese national who owned the Reedley site.

Footage shows local and federal agents massing outside a Sugar Springs Drive residence near Washington Avenue and Hollywood early Saturday morning while drones patrolled overhead.

A tactical robot dog explored the interior and conducted air sampling before members of the LVMPD’s All-Hazard Regional Multi-agency Operations and Response team made entry.

The main house was home to three renters who were safely removed and are apparently not targets of the investigation. The locked garage was home to “refrigerators, a freezer, laboratory-type equipment, and numerous containers holding unknown liquid substances,” according to police.

The apparent biological materials, which were carefully collected over the course of the weekend along with other evidence, were initially transported to a Southern Nevada Health District facility for safe storage, then taken to an FBI lab for testing.

LVMPD Sheriff Kevin McMahill indicated on Monday that “these items, importantly, were consistent in appearance to the items found and described in the Reedley, California, lab investigation.”

RELATED: How Americans can prepare for the worst — before it’s too late

Photo by ARUN SANKAR/AFP via Getty Images

McMahill noted further that “the home was owned by the same individual connected to a prior, illegal bio-lab investigation in Reedley, California, that occurred in 2023.”

That individual is Jia Bei Zhu.

The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party noted in its report on the Reedley biolab that the California lab operated under the direction and control of Zhu, a Chinese citizen associated with communist regime-linked companies as well with Chinese military-civil fusion entities.

‘This can’t keep happening.’

Zhu, a wanted fugitive from Canada, where he is the subject of a $330 million judgment for stealing American intellectual property, illegally entered the United States under the false identity of “David He,” said the report.

While unlawfully in the U.S., Zhu set up a network of companies and accumulated a vast supply of potential pathogens including including Ebola, COVID-19, HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis, which he is accused of keeping and poorly storing at one or more unlicensed and unregistered labs.

In addition to thousands of samples of potentially dangerous diseases and hundreds of boxes of medical devices subject to a U.S. Food and Drug embargo, the Reedley lab was home to roughly 1,000 mice that were genetically engineered to mimic the human immune system.

One lab worker reportedly told local officials that the transgenic mice were altered “to catch and carry the COVID-19 virus.” Dead mice were apparently disposed of “without the use of a licensed medical waste hauler.”

According to the congressional report, the Reedley biolab received millions of dollars in unexplained payments from Chinese communist banks.

Zhu was arrested by federal agents on Oct. 19, 2023, and indicted the following month for allegedly distributing adulterated and misbranded COVID-19 test kits and making false statements to authorities about his identity. He was slapped with additional charges in 2024 for alleged conspiracy and wire fraud.

Zhaoyan Wang, Zhu’s supposed lover and business partner, was charged with helping facilitate the alleged fraud through Universal Meditech Inc. and Prestige Biotech Inc. — biolabs she operated in Reedley and Fresno. Wang is also a Chinese national.

McMahill indicated that Zhu, who has a trial hearing scheduled for Feb. 23, remains in federal custody.

The LVMPD also arrested the property manager of the Vegas residence, 55-year-old Ori Solomon, on a charge of disposing and discharging hazardous waste. Solomon was booked into the Clark County Detention Center.

On Saturday, the FBI searched a second Vegas home on Temple View Drive but found no threat at the location. The FBI also revisited the Reedley lab on Sunday, reported KFSN-TV.

Republican Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) said in response to the latest lab discovery, “This can’t keep happening.”

“The federal government must do more to stop illegal labs from operating in our communities,” added Kiley.

Kiley and fellow California Reps. Jim Costa (D) and David Valadao (R) have called for a hearing on their Preventing Illegal Laboratories and Protecting Public Health Act of 2025.

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​China, Secret lab, Biolab, California, Las vegas, Nevada, Police, Raid, Communist, Ccp, Mcmahill, Bioweapons, Politics 

Many young Christian men are familiar with the advice, “Just find your wife at church.”

However, BlazeTV host John Doyle points out that it’s just “an applause line.”

“They are saying that because it feels good to counter modern degenerate dating app culture by saying, ‘You know what you need to do? You need to be trad and you need to go to church. That’s where you’re going to find a good woman, is at church,’” Doyle says on “The John Doyle Show.”

Doyle believes that equality has shown that women “do not come to family as naturally as a lot of people would like to think,” and now those women who do want a family are fewer and farther between.

And too many conservatives make excuses for them.

According to Doyle, those conservatives will say things like, “Well, women actually are obviously desiring to have a family, and … if [society] would only stop tricking them, then they could go be happy.”

“All of the rhetoric surrounding this issue places women on this pedestal and says, ‘You are not an agent. We cannot hold you accountable. It is only society that has tricked you, and you would be an angel were it not for these people tricking you into making bad decisions,’” Doyle explains.

“I’m not, like, dogging on Christian women. There are plenty of wonderful Christian women. I’m just talking about this kind of online discourse that tends to want to give this advice to these young guys, which I just don’t think is productive,” he says.

“Now, to be clear, I totally understand why people would view church as the best of all options. It seems to be the safest,” he continues, though he points out that there are plenty of churches these days run by “trans lesbian priests” that might not have the best women in attendance.

“Of course, there are plenty of conservative girls who go to church. You would be an idiot to say that’s not the case. Yet that doesn’t mean that every girl or even most girls who go to church are conservative in any meaningful sense,” he says.

“Church attendance really doesn’t tell you that much,” he continues. “It’s literally a meme on Instagram.”

Want more from John Doyle?

To enjoy more of the truth about America and join the fight to restore a country that has been betrayed by its own leaders, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Upload, Camera phone, Free, Video phone, Video, Sharing, Youtube.com, The john doyle show, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, John doyle, Christianity, Dating advice, Men and women, Christian men and women, Church, Religion, Religious 

As 2026 begins, fuel taxes are shifting across the country — and many drivers won’t notice until they fill up. Some states are adjusting rates by a cent or less, while others are imposing major increases or overhauling how fuel is taxed altogether. Much of it is happening quietly through automatic systems that rarely make headlines.

Fuel taxes rarely dominate headlines, but they remain one of the most direct ways government policy intersects with everyday life. Unlike income or property taxes, fuel taxes are paid in small increments, embedded into a necessity for most Americans. That makes them politically sensitive, economically significant, and easy to overlook — until prices jump.

The broader question is whether fuel taxes remain a sustainable way to fund transportation in an era of increasing vehicle efficiency.

Over the past year, more than a dozen states adjusted their fuel tax systems. Some increased rates to shore up transportation budgets strained by inflation and aging infrastructure. Others reduced taxes to ease costs for consumers and commercial operators. As 2026 begins, another wave of changes is rolling out, driven largely by automatic formulas rather than new legislative votes.

The result is a patchwork of increases, decreases, pauses, and structural overhauls that reflect broader debates about infrastructure, accountability, and the future of road funding.

Small changes — for now

Several states are seeing modest adjustments as of January 1. Florida, Georgia, Minnesota, and North Carolina are implementing small increases of about 1 cent or less per gallon. New York, Utah, and Vermont are seeing slight decreases, also under a penny.

These changes are not the product of last-minute political deals. Instead, they stem from automatic adjustment mechanisms written into state law, often tied to inflation, fuel prices, or construction costs.

Nebraska, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia also allow automatic adjustments, but their fuel tax rates remain unchanged at the start of 2026. That stability does not mean those states are immune from future increases — only that the formulas did not trigger a change this cycle.

Automatic adjustments are becoming more common because they provide predictable revenue without forcing lawmakers to cast politically risky votes. Critics argue they reduce accountability and disconnect tax increases from voter oversight. Supporters counter that they keep transportation funding aligned with real-world costs, especially as materials and labor become more expensive.

While these small changes may barely register for individual drivers, larger shifts in several states deserve closer attention.

Michigan’s major overhaul

Michigan is implementing the most significant fuel tax change taking effect this year. Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D) signed a nearly $2 billion transportation funding package into law that fundamentally changes how fuel is taxed in the state.

Currently, Michigan drivers pay a 31-cent-per-gallon state excise tax on fuel, along with a 6% state sales tax on gasoline and diesel. The problem with that structure is where the money goes. Much of the sales tax revenue flows into the state’s general fund rather than being dedicated to roads and bridges.

Under the new law, the sales tax on fuel is eliminated and replaced with a higher fuel excise tax. The goal is to ensure that all fuel tax revenue is dedicated to transportation projects, aligning with Michigan’s constitutional requirement that fuel taxes be used for infrastructure.

The tradeoff is cost. As of January 1, the fuel excise tax jumps from 31 cents to 52.4 cents per gallon. For drivers, that represents a substantial increase at the pump, even as state leaders argue the new system is more transparent and constitutionally sound.

Supporters say the change corrects a long-standing mismatch between how fuel is taxed and how the money is spent. Critics counter that drivers are still paying significantly more, regardless of how the tax is labeled, at a time when vehicle ownership costs are already rising.

RELATED: America First energy policy is paying off at the pump

New Jersey’s variable approach

New Jersey is also raising fuel taxes under a law passed in 2024 that allows annual increases through 2029 to meet transportation funding targets. The state uses a layered tax structure that combines a petroleum products gross receipts tax with a fixed motor fuels excise tax.

As of January 1, the petroleum tax on gasoline rises by 4.2 cents, from 34.4 cents to 38.6 cents per gallon. When combined with the fixed 10.5-cent motor fuels tax, the total state gasoline tax reaches 49.1 cents per gallon. Diesel taxes rise by the same amount on the petroleum side, bringing the total diesel tax to 56.1 cents per gallon when paired with its fixed excise tax.

New Jersey’s approach reflects a broader trend toward variable fuel taxes designed to stabilize transportation funding. By tying part of the tax to revenue targets or fuel prices, the state aims to avoid sudden funding shortfalls. The downside, particularly for commuters and commercial operators, is reduced predictability at the pump.

Oregon hits pause

Oregon tells a different story. A scheduled 6-cent gas tax increase set to take effect January 1 has been put on hold.

Lawmakers approved the increase during a special session, raising the gas tax from 40 cents to 46 cents per gallon as part of a broader transportation funding package. After Governor Tina Kotek (D) signed the bill into law, opponents launched a statewide petition drive to delay the increase until voters could weigh in.

Organizers gathered nearly 200,000 signatures — enough to force the state to pause the tax hike until the November 2026 election. As a result, the gas tax increase is suspended, along with planned hikes to passenger vehicle registration and title fees. Other elements of the transportation package will still move forward, including a change that applies the motor vehicle fuel tax to diesel.

Oregon’s situation highlights the growing tension between legislative action and direct democracy when it comes to fuel taxes. Even when increases are framed as infrastructure investments, fuel costs remain politically sensitive, and voters are increasingly willing to push back.

The rise of automatic fuel taxes

Behind these headline changes lies a complex web of automatic adjustment systems that now shape fuel taxes in roughly half the country. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 25 states use some form of variable fuel tax rate.

These systems vary widely. Some states set fuel taxes as a percentage of the wholesale price. Others combine a flat excise tax with a price-based component. Many tie adjustments to inflation, using measures such as the Consumer Price Index or highway construction cost indexes.

Timing also varies. Indiana updates its fuel sales tax monthly. Vermont adjusts quarterly. Nebraska recalculates every six months. Several states, including Alabama and Rhode Island, make changes every two years.

Annual updates are the most common and occur in states such as California, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Washington.

For policymakers, these mechanisms offer a way to keep transportation funding solvent without reopening contentious debates year after year. For drivers, they can feel like stealth tax increases — predictable, recurring, and largely disconnected from economic conditions at the household level.

Are fuel taxes still sustainable?

The broader question is whether fuel taxes remain a sustainable way to fund transportation in an era of increasing vehicle efficiency. As cars travel farther on less fuel, states collect less revenue per mile driven, even as infrastructure costs continue to rise.

That gap is driving experimentation with mileage-based user fees, higher registration costs, and targeted fees for specific vehicle types. Despite those efforts, fuel taxes remain the backbone of transportation funding — and recent changes suggest states are not ready to let go of them.

For consumers, the short-term impact is straightforward. In some states, filling up will cost a bit more. In others, it may cost slightly less or stay the same. Over time, however, the cumulative effect of these policies reaches far beyond individual drivers, influencing shipping costs, retail prices, and household budgets.

Fuel taxes may be collected a few cents at a time, but they represent billions of dollars and fundamental choices about how roads are built, maintained, and paid for. As 2026 begins, drivers would be wise to pay attention. What looks like a small adjustment today often signals a much larger shift tomorrow.

​Fuel tax, Gas tax, Lifestyle, Auto industry, State taxes, Government funding, Michigan, Gretchen whitmer, New jersey, Align cars 

The brutal murder of a family by a teenager in 1988 led to his being sentenced to die in prison, but new Democratic policies have led to the murderer being set free.

David Francis Brom, now 54 years old, used an axe to kill his 41-year-old mother, 41-year-old father, 13-year-old sister, and 11-year-old brother when he was only 16 years old.

‘Some crimes are so horrific that real accountability, serving the entire sentence, should be the only option. Early release after four brutal murders is not justice.’

Although Brom was given three consecutive life sentences in 1989, he has been paroled after serving only 36 years.

Republican Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth excoriated Democrats for passing legislation in 2023 that led to Brom’s early release. The law signed by Democratic Gov. Tim Walz eased sentences for those convicted of crimes committed while they were minors.

“The parole of a convicted murderer, who committed a crime so brutal that he received three consecutive life sentences as punishment, is absolutely unacceptable, and it is the direct result of a law passed by Democrats and signed by Governor Walz in 2023,” she wrote.

“The early release of violent offenders makes our communities less safe, and insults the memory of their victims,” Demuth added. “Some crimes are so horrific that real accountability, serving the entire sentence, should be the only option. Early release after four brutal murders is not justice.”

The Minnesota Supervised Release Board voted 5 to 1 to grant him parole on Tuesday, but he has been on work release since last year.

“This case is especially painful for our community, which still remembers the trauma of those horrific events. I’ve heard from constituents who are shocked that such a brutal act no longer warrants permanent removal from society under current law,” Republican state Rep. Duane Quam said.

“Minnesota must revisit this misguided policy. Public safety and justice for victims must remain the foundation of our legal system,” he continued.

RELATED: 23-year-old stripper decapitated 55-year-old boyfriend and immediately fled to Mexico, police say

Police said they found the bodies at the Rochester home with gashes to their heads and upper bodies, and they found a bloody axe in the basement of the home. They initially believed David Brom had been abducted before learning from a witness that he had confessed to killing his family over an argument with his father.

Brom told a parole board that he had a job waiting for him once released from prison.

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​Teen kills family with an axe, David brom murderer, Axe murderer paroled, Tim walz releases ax murderer, Politics 

The America First movement and its realignment of the Republican Party around common-sense governance hangs in the balance. The organized left — politicians, media, and militia-style street actors — has now gone public with an alliance with lukewarm, establishment Republicans, especially in the U.S. Senate.

Their goal is obvious: Preserve the gains of mass illegal and legal immigration by shutting down deportations at any meaningful scale.

This coordinated campaign has now expanded into a political operation designed to force Donald Trump and his team into a public humiliation ritual.

The left wants that outcome because its political future depends on it. Establishment Republicans want it to protect their corporate donors’ access to cheap labor and, to some extent, to keep their standing with the New York Times cocktail-party set and similar elite networks.

To advance those aims, this alliance has seized on the shooting of Alex Pretti by United States Border Patrol officers in Minneapolis. Reports describe Pretti as part of an online group involved in doxxing, harassment, and physical obstruction of immigration enforcement operations. Officers shot him after he interfered with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations while armed and carrying two extra 21-round extended magazines.

News reports also indicate Pretti physically engaged federal law enforcement in a separate incident a week before his fatal encounter. If those reports hold — the FBI is investigating — they reinforce the threat posed by anti-ICE activists willing to escalate from propaganda to physical obstruction and violence.

The left’s framing collapses under the publicly available evidence. Our team of seasoned, independent law enforcement experts at the Oversight Project released an analysis clearing Border Patrol in the shooting based on that record. We expect the announced federal investigation to reach the same conclusion and to focus on the illegal conduct that led to Pretti’s death.

Our team also uncovered Signal chat messages that shed light on the riots in Minneapolis and appear to include Pretti.

First, those chats bolster federal warnings that violence against immigration enforcement has taken on the characteristics of domestic terrorism. One agitator urged fellow rioters to don “suicide vests.” That language speaks for itself.

Second, we located what may be Pretti’s final Signal messages. They show an active participant in a militarized, organized group engaged in unlawful activity, including doxxing and obstruction. That record shreds the propaganda portraying Pretti as a peaceful observer rather than someone who joined a broader effort to disrupt federal law enforcement and died as a result.

This coordinated campaign has now expanded into a political operation designed to force Donald Trump and his team into a public humiliation ritual.

At first, the president offered token separation from the actions of his own officials — either as a cautious gesture or a fig leaf meant to highlight the opposition’s radicalism. He pulled back some federal presence in Minneapolis, and some reports indicate officials were told to narrow operations temporarily to a limited subset of illegal aliens who have committed violent crimes in addition to immigration violations.

Establishment Republicans have moved in parallel. Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) has launched a major amnesty push, announced — predictably — in the New York Times. Senate Democrats caused a partial government shutdown over ICE funding and say they won’t relent unless Republicans accept permanent de facto amnesty by crippling enforcement. They want new barriers, including judicial warrants for each operation, even for millions who have already exhausted years of due process they did not deserve in the first place.

That plan relies on narrative, not facts.

ICE received a considerable funding boost in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The funding bill headed for passage this week funds the rest of the DHS, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is responding to a major storm affecting large swaths of the country. Democrats and some Senate Republicans won’t let facts interfere with a useful storyline, and the corporate left-wing media will amplify it.

RELATED: The left is at war in Minnesota. America is watching football.

Blaze Media Illustration

The squeeze continues. They want Trump trapped in a corner. Under pressure in the streets and in the press — and on Capitol Hill — Trump sent border czar Tom Homan to Minneapolis to negotiate some sort of settlement with local and state authorities.

The response came fast. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) and Gov. Tim Walz (D) made clear they would not change anything material about how their governments shield illegal aliens. They won’t even allow ICE into jails to pick up criminal illegal aliens. They understand their leverage against this White House: friendly media and weak Republicans. They plan to keep playing that hand instead of bargaining with Homan.

That leaves one prudent course for the president: Deport more illegal aliens.

The country decided this question through law when it barred illegal entry and unlawful presence in the first place. Voters decided it again in 2024 when Trump campaigned on the largest deportation operation in American history. That mandate matters more than any cable-news frenzy.

This fight won’t stay confined to Minneapolis. It forms part of a coordinated attempt by people who never supported Trump to cut his knees out from under him — through intimidation, propaganda, and political sabotage. He should treat them as adversaries, not good-faith partners. He can break out of this trap by enforcing the mandate.

​Trump, Minneapolis, Ice, Border patrol, Alex pretti, Gop, Democrats, Media narrative, Tom homan, Opinion & analysis 

Investigative journalist Peter Schweizer, author of “The Invisible Coup: How American Elites and Foreign Powers Use Immigration as a Weapon,” knows the real cost of immigration — and just how China and other world powers are using it to subvert the United States.

“We’ve had this great debate in our country — an important one — about immigration as it relates to jobs, violence in our streets, American culture — hugely important, but I think we’re missing the larger picture, which is the weaponization of immigration,” Schweizer tells BlazeTV host Liz Wheeler on “The Liz Wheeler Show.”

“And what do I mean by that? Foreign actors — that includes the government of China, the government of Mexico, the Muslim Brotherhood — see immigration as a weapon that they can deploy against the United States,” he says.

“And so when people come from overseas, they certainly bring themselves, their family, they bring their culture, but they also often bring political networks. And these are political networks that are antithetical to the United States. So these foreign powers view immigration very differently than we do,” he continues.

While China, Mexico, and the Muslim Brotherhood are all vastly different in their beliefs and culture, Schweizer explains that they all have one thing in common.

“They’re all united in this sense that immigration is a means to subvert the United States. Those are not my words. I actually quote these people as saying that themselves,” Schweizer tells Wheeler.

And China’s plan to subvert the United States is one of the most insidious.

“The Chinese government says that every year for the past 13 years, every single year, roughly 100,000 Chinese babies have been born in the United States. That’s the Chinese government estimate,” he explains.

“So do the math. That’s 1 million Chinese babies that were born in the United States, who are taken back to China by their parents, raised in the CCP system. And by the way, when they turn 18, they’re going to be able to vote in our elections. They’re U.S. citizens. They’re going to be able to donate to political campaigns. They’re going to be able to apply for sensitive government jobs,” he continues.

“And let’s remember that 2016 presidential election — Trump, Hillary Clinton — it was settled by like 72,000 votes,” he says. “So this is a massive … vulnerability.”

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Barack Obama used the same U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement tactics as Donald Trump. During his eight years in the White House, his administration deported more illegal aliens than Trump has.

Yet the Obama years did not feature mass protests over deportations. No governors or mayors compared ICE to the Gestapo, a comparison so obscene it should end careers. No district attorneys vowed to “hunt down” ICE agents for doing their jobs. No late-night comedians insisted that ICE agents ranked “worse than Nazis.”

Democrats once drove the country into a civil war to protect slavery. Today they court conflict to protect power.

That backlash became routine only after Trump. Two factors explain why.

First, the left hates Trump to the core. Not as a political rival, but as a personal and moral affront. This visceral, uncontrolled hatred has swallowed identities and replaced judgment. It fuels social media tantrums, office politics, family feuds, and the constant need to punish dissent. Among allies, people congratulate each other for hating the right man. For everyone else, they virtue-signal.

This hatred will not fade with time. It will persist after Trump leaves office, and it may even outlive him. Ronald Reagan hate still lingers decades after his death. Trump hate runs hotter, deeper, and more irrational. It will not burn out on schedule.

Second, the immigration fight has turned strategic.

During the Obama years, the left had not yet internalized two tactics that now help it hold power.

Once Democrats win office, many push policy as far left as state and federal constitutions allow: higher taxes, soft-on-crime governance, heavier regulation, and soaring costs that punish families. That agenda drives productive citizens out of blue cities and blue states and into red states. Conservatives hold few truly red cities now; the activist class has captured many local institutions.

Red states gain taxpayers and workers. Blue states lose them.

Democrat leaders have chosen to replace the citizens who leave, but not with similarly productive citizens. They replace them with illegal aliens.

That strategy helps explain Joe Biden’s first-day border reversals and the torrent of executive actions that followed. The signal was plain: Enforcement would relax, entry would rise, and the federal government would look away. Millions came, many without legal status. Many settled in blue jurisdictions that offer sanctuary policies and advertise benefits.

Politicians sell those benefits as “free”: child care, health care, schooling, housing programs. Taxpayers pay the bills. Debt fills the rest.

California offers the clearest example. The state has lost large numbers of residents to Texas and Florida. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) does not treat the exodus as a crisis. He treats it as ideological sorting. If taxpayers leave, he can replace the head count with people who will not challenge his machine at the ballot box.

Illegal aliens are not allowed to vote. They still count. Biden made sure of that.

The census counts residents, and those numbers drive seats in the United States House of Representatives and votes in the Electoral College. Add population, gain power. Lose population, lose power. Democrats understand the arithmetic, which is why they fight enforcement as fiercely as they fight elections.

RELATED: ‘This isn’t organic’: Joe Rogan says Minnesota’s anti-ICE protests are ‘coordinated’ to induce chaos

Photo by Geoff Stellfox/Getty Images

Then comes the long game. Children born here can vote. Democrats assume those children will vote Democrat for life. They are building a future electorate while padding current representation.

Trump’s deportation strategy threatens that structure. Democrats have already watched citizens flee Illinois, New York, California, and other strongholds. If deportations also shrink the illegal-alien population those states have absorbed, Democrats lose House seats, Electoral College strength, and national leverage.

So they raise the temperature. They smear ICE as “secret police” and dare Trump to enforce the law anyway. They bait confrontation because chaos can create a veto: If streets burn long enough, Washington may flinch.

If Trump refuses to flinch, they reach for the next weapon: the camera. A clash becomes a “crackdown.” An arrest becomes “political persecution.” A dead protester becomes a martyr, and the headlines write themselves. The moral damage does not scare them; it serves them.

Democrats once drove the country into a civil war to protect slavery. Today they court conflict to protect power. They do not need tanks to do it. They need prosecutors, mayors, and media partners willing to treat law enforcement as evil and disorder as virtue.

​Civil war, Ice, Dhs, Gop, Democrats, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Voter fraud, Biden, Obama, Opinion & analysis 

Former President Bill Clinton and his failed presidential candidate wife, Hillary Clinton, have agreed to testify before Congress after being threatened with contempt charges.

The Clintons previously issued a defiant statement accusing the administration of using the apparatus of government to punish their political enemies, but they changed their tune Monday.

‘The former President and former Secretary of State will be there. They look forward to setting a precedent that applies to everyone.’

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform said the Clintons had agreed to testify but made demands the Republicans were refusing to meet. The Democrats on the committee issued an angry reply about the rejection.

“Oversight Democrats have said we want to hear from anyone with information about Jeffrey Epstein — including former President Bill Clinton,” their statement reads.

“Over the weekend, President Clinton and Hillary Clinton agreed to testify in front of Republicans and Democrats in a transcribed interview for four hours each. Republicans rejected the deal. Why? They should allow the Clintons to speak to the committee,” they added.

“If anyone should be held in contempt it should be Pam Bondi who is leading a White House cover-up,” the statement concludes.

The Clintons’ spokesperson Angel Ureña also issued a response on social media.

“They negotiated in good faith. You did not. They told you under oath what they know, but you don’t care,” he wrote.

“But the former President and former Secretary of State will be there,” he added. “They look forward to setting a precedent that applies to everyone.”

RELATED: ‘Completely false’: Bill Gates fires back after Russian prostitute-STD accusation released in Epstein files

Republicans threatened to hold them in contempt of Congress if they continued to refuse the subpoenas.

“Epstein’s survivors deserve justice and answers,” said Republican Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer of Kentucky. “Refusing to comply with a bipartisan, duly authorized congressional subpoena in our Epstein investigation is unacceptable. No one is above the law.”

The feud erupted just as the Department of Justice released millions of pages from the Epstein files to the public.

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​Bill and hillary clinton, Clintons and jeffrey epstein, Epstein files, Contempt of congress clintons, Politics 

Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA will have its own performances that will air during the Super Bowl halftime show.

With artist Bad Bunny set to perform at the Super Bowl LX halftime show — where he may or may not wear a dress — conservative activist group TPUSA will ask viewers to change the channel for the break.

‘Experience a one-of-a-kind halftime event.’

Just a month after Kirk’s assassination, TPUSA announced it would host the All American Halftime Show on its channels. Now, the organization has revealed its musical lineup for February 8, 2026.

Rock, Barrett, Brice

Leading the charge is diamond-selling artist Kid Rock, who recently told Congress his ideas for keeping ticket prices down at concerts and sporting events.

Platinum country artist Brantley Gilbert will also perform. He has more than 10 million followers on social media.

Also featured is Lee Brice. The South Carolina native went platinum as recently as 2020 with his album “Hey World.”

Rounding out the performers is Gabby Barrett. The 25-year-old Pennsylvanian was just a teen when she finished third on the 16th season of “American Idol” in 2018. She went platinum in Canada and the United States with 2020’s “Goldmine.”

RELATED: Trump’s ‘number-one fan,’ Nicki Minaj, praises the president, shreds Gavin ‘Newscum’

Photo by Terry Wyatt/Getty Images for BBR Music Group/BMG Nashville

How to Watch

With Super Bowl LX set for kickoff around 6:30 p.m. ET, halftime will likely be around 8-8:30.

At that point, viewers can escape network coverage by heading to any of Turning Point USA’s social media channels or video platforms. This includes TPUSA’s YouTube page, Rumble channel, and X page.

Charlie Kirk’s YouTube channel and Rumble channel will also feature the stream.

“Experience a one-of-a-kind halftime event celebrating American culture, freedom, and faith,” Turning Point wrote in its promotional materials.

RELATED: ‘All in’: TPUSA’s Andrew Kolvet sets sights on 2028 presidential candidate after AmFest

Photo by Erika Goldring/Getty Images

English speakers welcome

Super Bowl LX is shaping up to be one of the most controversial on record. Although Bad Bunny reportedly will not wear a dress (according to TMZ), he has told viewers to be sure to learn Spanish for his performance.

This has been followed by consistent warnings from the Trump administration to illegal immigrants in the Santa Clara, California, area — where the game is being hosted — that immigration enforcement will be present around Levi’s Stadium.

However, local police have said they will not be assisting federal agents with any immigration enforcement and warned residents that any masked agents would not be local law enforcement.

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​Align, Super bowl, Tpusa, Turning point usa, Charlie kirk, Woke, Nfl, Football, Halftime show, Entertainment 

Former Tarrant County GOP chairman and candidate for Texas railroad commissioner Bo French has been one of the leading voices sounding the alarm on the Islamification of the West — and he’s not stopping any time soon.

“Thank God for what’s going on in Minnesota, because the pictures coming out of there really tell a story of — it’s not just the Somalis, right? They’re all Muslims as well, don’t forget. And so, really just kind of highlights, again, what we’re seeing both in Michigan, like Dearborn and places like that,” French tells BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales on “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered.”

“And then, you know, we have 330 mosques in Texas now. And these imams … there’s plenty of video out there for you to find on social media where they talk about we’re going to … just conquer our society, right?” he continues.

“That’s the whole point,” Gonzales agrees.

“I’m like, ‘Guys, just look in history. Just read their books. Just read their own holy books. It’s clearly the goal. They’re not being quiet about that,” she says, adding that Americans will claim “freedom of religion” in defense of Muslims.

“It’s not a religion,” French says. “It’s a political structure.”

French explains that the Council on American-Islamic Relations came after him because of this.

“I was the, I think, the first person really to just come out and say, in Texas, we need to ban Islam and we need to ban everything related to it. We need to ban the dress. … No more mosques, we need to shut them all down,” he tells Gonzales.

“And it’s not just Islam. … I said that the fraud in Texas was probably going to be bigger than Minnesota. We’re a much larger state. … We have huge immigrant populations here. And if these morons up in Minnesota could figure out all this stuff — I mean, they’re like the lowest-IQ people on the planet,” he continues.

“If they could figure out all this fraud, imagine what, you know, some of these people coming over from India or other places are doing here,” he adds.

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U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb issued a temporary restraining order requested by 12 Democratic lawmakers to stop Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials from blocking surprise oversight visits by members of Congress.

Democrats have claimed the surprise visits are part of the oversight function granted to Congress, but the Trump administration has resisted the claims and tried to restrict their visits.

‘The decision is a victory for accountability, congressional oversight and for the American people.’

The Department of Homeland Security issued policy guidelines that required seven days’ notice before such a visit to detention facilities, but Cobb struck those down.

Cobb previously ordered that specific funds could not be used to shut out the oversight visits, but DHS issued a new policy that depended on funds from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed by Congress. They argued that this allowed them to circumvent the original finding.

The judge disagreed.

Democratic Rep. Joe Neguse of Colorado, who is one of the lawmakers who sued the government, praised the ruling on social media.

“The Court just granted a restraining order against the Trump administration in my lawsuit, Neguse et al. v. ICE et al.,” he wrote. “The decision is a victory for accountability, congressional oversight and for the American people. I’ll keep fighting to ensure the rule of law prevails.”

One such visit to the ICE detention center in Newark, New Jersey, in May led to the arrest of a Democratic mayor who was charged with trespassing. That charge was later dropped, and the mayor is now suing the interim U.S. attorney in New Jersey.

However, federal interference charges against Democrat Rep. LaMonica McIver of New Jersey in the same incident went forward after she was accused of shoving an ICE officer. She faces 17 years in prison if convicted of the charges.

RELATED: ‘State-of-the-art’: GOP congressman pre-empts Crockett’s ‘grandstanding’ with glimpse inside ICE facility in Texas

President Donald Trump weighed in on the charges against McIver on social media and denied allegations that they were politically motivated.

“Give me a break. Did you see her?” Trump wrote. “She was out of control! She was shoving federal agents. The days of that crap are over! We’re going to have law and order!”

Cobb was appointed to the court by former President Joe Biden.

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​District judge jia cobb, Congress member oversight, Rep joe neguse of colorado, Surprise oversight visits to ice, Politics 

The 2026 Grammys seemed like a political rally at times as the audience screamed and cheered over anti-government sentiments.

Simple statements garnered standing ovations as some award winners specifically condemned Immigration and Customs Enforcement in their remarks.

‘Um, f**k ICE is all I want to say. Sorry.’

After singer Billie Eilish won Song of the Year, she told the crowd that “no one is illegal on stolen land.”

This statement brought the house down, as attendees rose to their feet and nodded along with impassioned fervor.

ICE-capades

“It’s just really hard to know what to say and what to do right now,” the 24-year-old continued. “I feel really hopeful in this room, and I feel like we just need to keep fighting and speaking up and protesting, and our voices really do matter, and the people matter.”

“Um, f**k ICE is all I want to say. Sorry,” she added as the crowd went wild.

The audience similarly cried out like victors of an intergalactic war when Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny accepted the award for Best Urban Album, which was called “Best Música Urbana Album” by the Grammys.

“ICE out,” he began, garnering huge applause. “We’re not savage. We’re not animals. We’re not aliens. We are humans. And we are Americans,” Bad Bunny strangely said, given that ICE works to enforce immigration law.

What did not receive as much raucous applause was when the singer asked the audience to “be different. If we fight, we have to do it with love.”

“We don’t hate them. We love our people. We love our family. And that’s the way to do it, with love. Don’t forget that, please,” he said.

RELATED: ‘This isn’t organic’: Joe Rogan says Minnesota’s anti-ICE protests are ‘coordinated’ to induce chaos

Pop-star punditry

According to Variety, Eilish was joined by singers like Justin Vernon and Jack Antonoff in wearing “ICE Out” pins to the ceremony. Also included in that group were Justin and Hailey Bieber, although the singer looked incredibly unhappy to be at the event while on the red carpet.

Singer Jelly Roll was asked why he has been silent on political issues, to which he replied, “People shouldn’t care to hear my opinion, man. You know, I’m a dumb redneck. I haven’t watched enough. I didn’t have a phone for 18 months. I’ve had one for four months and don’t have social media.”

However, he went on to say that he is going to have “a lot to say” in the next week, and audiences will hear him “in the most loud and clear way I’ve ever spoke in my life.”

RELATED: ‘They can’t take us all down’: Actor Giancarlo Esposito declares it’s ‘time for a revolution’ in unhinged rant

Shut up and sing

Comedian Ricky Gervais made a simple remark on Monday morning, mocking the celebrities for their political speeches.

“They’re still not listening,” he wrote on X, with an attached quote of his remarks from the 2020 Golden Globes, which reads: “If you do win an award tonight, don’t use it as a platform to make a political speech. You’re in no position to lecture the public about anything. You know nothing about the real world.”

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​Align, Grammys, Ice, Dhs, Liberal, Woke, Immigration, Entertainment 

Two more individuals have been arrested in connection with the church-storming incident that occurred at Cities Church in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in January.

A mob of roughly 30 to 40 left-leaning agitators, joined by former CNN anchor Don Lemon, interrupted a Sunday service at the Christian church on January 18. The activists, who assembled to protest against federal immigration enforcement activities, attempted to drown out the worshipping Christians and targeted the church because they claimed one of its pastors was involved with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

‘If you riot in a place of worship, we WILL find you.’

The groups behind the demonstration included Racial Justice Network, Black Lives Matter Minnesota, and BLM Twin Cities.

Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the first arrests on January 22. Homeland Security Investigation and FBI agents arrested Racial Justice Network founder Nekima Levy Armstrong. Bondi claimed Armstrong played “a key role in organizing the coordinated attack.” Chauntyll Louisa Allen, who leads BLM Twin Cities, was also apprehended the same day.

On Friday, Bondi revealed that federal authorities had arrested Lemon, independent journalist Georgia Fort, and two others who allegedly participated in the attack, including Trahern Jeen Crews and Jamael Lydell Lundy.

RELATED: Don Lemon remains defiant after being released over church takeover arrest: ‘I will not stop ever!’

Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

Bondi announced two more arrests on Monday.

“If you riot in a place of worship, we WILL find you,” Bondi wrote in a post on X. “We have made two more arrests in connection with the coordinated attack on Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota: Ian Davis Austin and Jerome Deangelo Richardson.”

The indictment accused Austin of standing “with other agitators in and around the main aisles in the church to intimidate the church members and obstruct and interfere with their freedom of movement,” the Daily Signal reported. He was also accused of approaching the pastor “in a menacing manner” and berating him with questions.

Sarah Gad, Austin’s attorney, did not respond to a request for comment from the Associated Press.

RELATED: Unsealed indictment against Don Lemon cites his own comments on livestream from ‘takeover’ at church

Don Lemon. Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images

Richardson is a 21-year-old Temple University student who claimed he assisted Lemon during his visit to Minnesota by “helping with logistics and connecting him with local contacts to report on ICE-led Minnesota Operation Surge.”

“As a consequence of this support, I am now being targeted by the Trump administration,” he wrote in a post on social media.

He asked for supporters to donate to his legal defense on GoFundMe, requesting $16,000. He has already raised nearly $13,000 as of Monday afternoon. According to his donation page, Richardson turned himself in to authorities at the federal courthouse in Philadelphia on Monday.

Bondi did not reveal the charges against Austin and Richardson; however, the other individuals who were previously arrested are accused of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinics Entrances Act and the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871. Penalties for violating these acts can include fines and prison time.

Nine individuals have been charged in connection with the church invasion.

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​News, St. paul minnesota, St paul, Minnesota, Immigration and customs enforcement, Ice, Anti-ice, Don lemon, Pam bondi, Cities church, Politics 

Audiences rave and critics sneer as the documentary “Melania” exceeds industry expectations in its opening weekend.

The opening gross domestic ticket sales reached $7 million, placing the film third overall at the domestic box office behind two major studio releases.

‘To say that “Melania” is a hagiography would be an insult to hagiographies.’

The film, which chronicles first lady Melania Trump in the weeks leading up to President Donald Trump’s second inauguration, debuted in 1,778 theaters nationwide, an unusually wide release for a documentary.

Prerelease projections published by entertainment outlets such as People magazine estimated the film would earn between $3 million and $5 million.

RELATED: New ‘Melania’ documentary blends unprecedented access with subtle, profound message

Brooks Kraft/Getty Images

While the film did not screen in advance for critics, reviews published after release were largely unfavorable.

Critics from the Guardian, Variety, and the Hollywood Reporter described the documentary as politically one-sided and overly sympathetic.

Xan Brooks of the Guardian compared the film to a “medieval tribute to placate the greedy king on his throne.” Owen Gleiberman of Variety described it as a “cheese ball infomercial of staggering inertia.” Frank Scheck of the Hollywood Reporter wrote, “To say that ‘Melania’ is a hagiography would be an insult to hagiographies.”

Audiences reacted differently.

Opening-night viewers awarded the film an “A” at CinemaScore, a metric based on verified exit polling conducted at theaters nationwide.

RELATED: Melania’s bold AI message to America’s youth: ‘Use AI as a tool, but do not let it replace your personal intelligence’

Photo by Eva Marie Uzcategui/Getty Images

The film was distributed by Amazon MGM Studios, which reportedly paid $40 million for distribution rights and spent an additional $35 million on marketing.

The total investment made the project the most expensive documentary release to date.

Despite the high cost, box-office analysts interviewed by AP noted that political documentaries are often evaluated based on visibility and audience engagement rather than traditional profitability.

The film premiered at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., with attendance from members of Congress, Cabinet officials, and business executives.

Following its theatrical run, “Melania” is scheduled to stream on Prime Video. International theatrical distribution is expected to be limited.

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​Politics, Melania trump, Donald trump, Movies, Theater, Critics 

A recent article from Life News centers on Becca Rea-Tucker, radical feminist and author of the pro-abortion book “The Abortion Companion: An Affirming Handbook for Your Choice and Your Journey,” openly celebrating her abortion — and BlazeTV host Steve Deace warns this is becoming a trend.

“And you can see she’s wearing a T-shirt there. ‘Thank God for abortion,’” he says, reading her shirt. “That’s blaspheming of the Holy Spirit, I would argue, right there, the unforgivable sin with a middle finger up in the air. She wants you to know. She can’t wait to brag about it. She wants to shout her abortion,” Deace says.

“Now I don’t know how many of the women that are killing their babies these days feel the way that Becca Rea-Tucker does. I just know I’m seeing more of Becca Rea-Tuckers than I’ve ever seen before,” he continues.

Which is why Deace believes pro-lifers desperately need to work on their argument.

“Let me walk you through an exercise. Wait a minute. So you think this thing inside of me that I just got pregnant with seven weeks ago, you think that’s a life?” Deace asks.

“Should fully and completely and totally have all the benefits and accouterments and rights of a fully aged man in his prime?” he continues, using his 33-year-old executive producer Aaron McIntire as an example.

“A child at 7 weeks, a zygote, a fetus at 7 weeks of development ought to have the full rights therein of a 33-year-old man in his prime, married with a couple of kids and a mortgage, paying the bills. They’re the exact same being. That’s what you guys think,” he says.

“So if I pull out a gun right now and shoot Aaron, I should be punished. Maybe even given the death penalty. … All right, I go across the street to Planned Parenthood to kill my kid. Nothing,” he adds.

“You’re using that retarded messaging, and Becca Rea-Tucker is just laughing at you right in your face. And by the way, thumbing her nose at God and shaking her fist at God and everything else, right?” he asks.

Deace notes that Tucker is also quite literally “flipping the bird at Christ,” while conservatives argue over whether or not she’s a victim of circumstance.

“And you’re like, ‘Listen lady, were you abused?’ … That looks like a criminal to me. Doesn’t look like much of a victim to me. If she’s a victim, then every criminal is. Marinate on that one. If she’s a victim, every criminal is,” Deace says.

While he doesn’t have a solution to this issue because the right is “completely and totally politically asinine,” he does ask that conservatives ask themselves a question in response to the “shout your abortion” trend.

“Why Becca Rea-Tucker is not the very definition of a murderess by your own admission. What’s the theological case for that?” he asks, adding, “Does one exist?”

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​Camera phone, Video, Free, Sharing, Upload, Video phone, Youtube.com, Steve deace show, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Becca rea-tucker, Life news, Abortion, Holy spirit, Religion, Pro life, Steve deace, Anti-abortion, Pro choice, Anti-christian 

Don Lemon made it clear when he was an anchor on CNN that “nobody is above the law,” but he likely wasn’t considering that neither is he.

“Don, you should have listened to your own warnings,” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales says on “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered.” Lemon was arrested by federal agents over his alleged role in the anti-ICE church protest in Minnesota.

Now, she explains that Don “is playing the victim.”

“It’s all very dramatic,” Gonzales says, reading a statement from Lemon’s lawyer, which claimed, “Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done.”

“A little odd, considering most of his career he sat behind a desk and turned his nose up at everyone. So, I’d say it’s a little different,” Gonzales says.

Don’s lawyer’s statement continues, “The First Amendment exists to protect journalists whose role it is to shine light on the truth and hold those in power accountable. There is no more important time for people like Don to be doing this work.”

“There seems to be so many people, including Don’s lawyer, who doesn’t understand what the First Amendment is,” Gonzales comments.

“What do you think you were doing storming a damn church and terrorizing congregants in the church? Like, are they secretly in power? Do they hold any power?” she asks.

“No, of course not,” she answers herself. “They’re just trying to worship at their church. So, thank you for pointing out once again that this is not a case of First Amendment rights. Now, clearly, they’ve both demonstrated — Don and his lawyer — that they have no clue what the First Amendment is.”

Gonzales notes that Lemon appears to believe that “freedom of the press” is the same thing as “freedom of speech.”

“Maybe, Don, go talk to your friends over at the Committee to Protect Journalists, who literally gives legal advice. They give legal advice. Let me give you some of their quick tips and recommendations,” she says.

“When covering demonstrations, protests, and campaign or political events, make sure you know in advance what restrictions are in place regarding the public’s right to access, and whether there are any curfew or other restrictions in place,” reads the first bullet written by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

“Do not trespass on private property to gather news; do not cross police lines at crime scenes; comply with location restrictions and barriers, absent exigent circumstances,” another bullet reads.

“Maintain neutrality when covering events. For example, do not join crowd chants or wear clothing with slogans related to the events you are covering,” a third point explains.

“You don’t fan the flames or join in on the fun,” Gonzales says. “Does that sound like what Don Lemon did?”

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A South Carolina woman who believed she was meeting someone to buy a puppy walked into a deadly trap, according to authorities. The woman reportedly was lured into an ambush, fatally shot, and set on fire.

The Florence County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that police responded to a call of a “vehicle consumed by fire with a deceased victim inside” in Effingham on Jan. 22.

‘Investigators are exploring the theory that Kinlaw was targeted in retaliation for a separate murder involving a family member in Darlington.’

Around 5:45 p.m., deputies arrived at the scene to find the car still on fire and a body inside the vehicle, WMBF-TV reported.

Florence County Coroner Keith Von Lutcken identified the deceased woman as 40-year-old Dana Marie Kinlaw.

“Investigators allege that Iryanna Jarissa Fleming and Daquinn Taheen Thomas intentionally shot Kinlaw, resulting in her death, and subsequently set her body on fire inside the vehicle,” police stated.

Florence County Sheriff TJ Joye said Fleming lured Kinlaw to a remote area.

“Supposedly they went there together,” Joye said, according to WMBF. “Miss Fleming, she was 19 years of age, a friend of Miss Kinlaw, and they rode there together supposedly to buy a puppy.”

Joye noted that Kinlaw was shot and then set on fire while inside the vehicle.

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Authorities suspect Kinlaw was murdered as an act of retaliation over a prior homicide in Darlington County.

“Investigators are exploring the theory that Kinlaw was targeted in retaliation for a separate murder involving a family member in Darlington,” Joye said.

“We believe there was a murder committed in Darlington County, which we made the arrest in Lake City that connects them to that arrest with Darlington County officials,” Joye added.

Joye said investigators suspect that Kinlaw’s son was involved in “some way, shape, or form, and we feel this is a retaliation to that murder.”

Police arrested Thomas, 31, and Fleming on Jan. 22. They both were charged with murder and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.

Nikko Christopher Carraway, 31, was arrested Jan. 28 in connection with Kinlaw’s killing, according to WPDE-TV.

Carraway was charged with murder, first-degree arson, and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.

All three suspects are being held without bond at the Florence County Detention Center.

The Florence County Sheriff’s Office stated the investigation is ongoing, and the suspects could face additional charges.

Citing court records, the New York Post reported that Thomas and Carraway have a “laundry list of criminal cases in Florence County dating back as far as 2014.”

Thomas was hit with multiple attempted murder charges and violent armed robbery cases, according to the Post, which noted that Thomas was sentenced to nine months in prison last March for possessing a firearm as a convicted criminal.

The Florence County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to Blaze News‘ request for comment.

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