Category: blaze media

Buckley Carlson, son of Tucker Carlson, works in Vice President JD Vance’s office as deputy press secretary. There appears to be a campaign underway to have him removed over the perceived sin of having Tucker Carlson as a blood relation.

Amid mounting pressure on the young man to disavow his father or at least denounce some of his father’s remarks, Vance and other conservatives have made abundantly clear that they will not throw Buckley Carlson to the wolves.

‘You don’t assign your hate for his Dad to him, and you don’t ask sons to disavow their fathers or mothers.’

Vance stressed in a multipart defense of his staffer on Sunday, “I have an extraordinary tolerance for disagreements and criticisms from the various people in our coalition. But I am a very loyal person, and I have zero tolerance for scumbags attacking my staff.”

“And yes, *everyone* who I’ve seen attack Buckley with lies is a scumbag,” added Vance.

While Laura Loomer and others have concern-mongered in recent months over the presence of a Carlson in the vice president’s office, Vance was responding to comments by Jennifer Sloan Rachmuth.

Rachmuth, a Republican operative and journalist who was arrested last year on a cyberstalking charge that was quickly dismissed, stated in a viral Saturday post on X that “racism and antisemitism is a Carlson family trait.”

“Is Tucker’s son Buckley, who serves as JD Vance’s top aide also a vile bigot?” Rachmuth asked, after claiming that Tucker Carlson’s brother idolized Nick Fuentes. “America deserves to know how deep the Carlson’s family ethnic and religious hatred runs.”

RELATED: Tucker Carlson, Nick Fuentes, and the war for the conservative soul

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Rachmuth, who previously suggested that Vance’s ties to the Carlson family are “indefensible,” hinted on Monday that this pressure campaign might have less to do with Vance’s staffer and more to do with the front-runner for the 2028 Republican nomination.

After accusing Tucker Carlson of being “America’s most prolific antisemite,” Rachmuth noted, “The vice president is close friends with Tucker and yet, he hasn’t weighed in on his targeting against Christians and Jews.”

Rachmuth noted further that “when senior aides like Carlson contribute to national policy discussions, clarity regarding his stance on equality and minority protections will maintain public trust in Vance’s policymaking.”

Rachmuth, Tucker Carlson, and the vice president’s office did not respond to Blaze News’ request for comment.

Vance did not mince words when responding to Rachmuth, writing, “Sloan Rachmuth is a ‘journalist’ who has decided to obsessively attack a staffer in his 20s because she doesn’t like the views of his father. Every time I see a public attack on Buckley it’s a complete lie. And yes, I notice ever [sic] person with an agenda who unfairly attacks a good guy who does a great job for me.”

“Sloan describes herself as a defender of ‘Judeo-Christian Values.’ Is it a ‘Judeo-Christian value’ to lie about someone you don’t know?” continued Vance. “Not in any church I ever spent time in!”

Republican Sen. Jim Banks of Indiana similarly defended Buckley Carlson, noting that the young man had worked for him for years and was “one of the smartest, most trustworthy and loyal staffers I’ve ever had.”

“These personal attacks are disgusting and don’t serve your cause well,” added Banks.

Some critics of Rachmuth’s attack characterized it as a spillover of venom intended for Tucker Carlson.

Normalcy advocate Robby Starbuck, for instance, noted, “Attacking Buckley is really messed up. Even if you don’t like Tucker, you don’t assign your hate for his Dad to him and you don’t ask sons to disavow their fathers or mothers. Come on.”

“They can’t bring down Tucker so they’re going after his son,” wrote conservative commentator Megyn Kelly.

Christina Pushaw, an aide to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), noted, “If us political staffers are accountable for everything our uncles might post online, we’re all in trouble,” adding in a separate post that it’s a “good thing blood-lines don’t predetermine our views, and good thing we live in America where we reject the concept of blood-guilt.”

Tucker Carlson has been the target of intense criticism in recent weeks over his interview with Nick Fuentes, a rightist provocateur who routinely attacks both Vance and Israel.

When asked about Tucker Carlson on Sunday, President Donald Trump said, “You can’t tell him who to interview and if he wants to interview Nick Fuentes — I don’t know much about him — but if he wants to do it, get the word out. … People have to decide. Ultimately, people have to decide.”

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Concerned fathers of female athletes are taking matters into their own hands.

After two bills failed to pass through the Maine state legislature, parents are taking to the streets to collect signatures in hopes of getting their own set of rules passed.

‘We will effect change across the entire state all at once.’

The group of fathers, called Maine Girl Dads, is asking the general public of Maine to sign a petition for the initiative titled “An Act to Designate School Sports Participation and Facilities by Sex.”

The act would require schools in the state to designate “athletic teams and private facilities,” including bathrooms and locker rooms, on the basis of biological sex.

“This is important, as we will effect change across the entire state all at once, while providing a private right of action for enforcement, clarifying statutory cross-references, and ensuring severability,” the group wrote on its website.

The dads are hoping to garner the 68,000 signatures required to get the initiative on the ballot in the 2026 midterms next November.

Weathering a cold November day in the Northeast, the group recently held a signature drive that saw overwhelmingly positive results.

RELATED: Maine Democrat says transgender athletes make women better

“We collected over 53K signatures! In just one day, we’re over halfway to our goal of 100K,” the group recently wrote on X. “When this gets on the 2026 ballot, we win and girls’ sports are protected. Let’s keep going, Maine!”

WMTW-TV caught up with Steven Scharf, one of the men taking roadside signatures over the weekend, to see what the reactions were like from the general public.

“Everybody who’s stopped by has been very eager to sign and can’t understand why this is not just automatic and why this needs to go through a process of being voted on, and why the state legislature has not passed this as is,” Scharf told the outlet.

Sending the question of banning boys from girls’ sports directly to the voter circumvents the state. Not only has Maine defied President Trump’s early February executive order on this matter, but the state Senate has shot down two different bills that would have achieved the same end.

RELATED: Liberal state gives ridiculous reason to justify refusal to ban men from women’s sports

Two bills passed the Maine House, which has a virtual split between Democrats (74) and Republicans (73), with three independents. However, neither passed in the state Senate, which is composed of 20 Democrats, 14 Republicans, and one independent.

Proposal LD 1134 was rejected by the Senate on June 13, while LD 233 was rejected just days later on June 16.

If the Maine Girl Dads get their way and their proposal is passed, it would become effective on Jan. 1, 2027.

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Social media comments attributed to Thomas Matthew Crooks, the dead man who attempted to assassinate President Donald Trump last year, suggest that he may have been yet another shooter captive to gender ideology and other genres of sexual perversion.

Crooks fired eight shots at Trump during a campaign rally on July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania. While he managed to strike only the ear of the man whom Democrats characterized as a “clear and present danger,” the failed assassin killed heroic former fire chief Corey Comperatore and severely injured David Dutch and James Copenhaver, who were seated behind the president.

‘The threat wasn’t hidden.’

The FBI has long suggested that Crooks’ motives were unclear.

Days after former FBI Director Christopher Wray testified to Congress that “a lot of the usual repositories of information have not yielded anything notable in terms of motive or ideology,” then-FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate revealed that hundreds of comments had been found on one social media account believed to be associated with the dead shooter in the 2019 to 2020 timeframe.

“There were over 700 comments posted from this account. Some of these comments, if ultimately attributable to the shooter, appear to reflect anti-Semitic and anti-immigration themes, espouse political violence, and are extreme in nature,” said Abbate.

Days after Tucker Carlson shared various screencaps of posts allegedly made by Crooks, the New York Post’s Miranda Devine suggested on Monday that Abbate neglected to inform Congress that a significant portion of Crooks’ online interactions from January to August 2020 signaled that “he did an ideological backflip and went from rabidly pro-Trump to rabidly anti-Trump and then went dark, never seeming to post again.”

RELATED: Groomed for violence? The dark world of furries and transgenderism in America’s classrooms

Blaze Media illustration

“The danger Crooks posed was visible for years in public online spaces,” a source who apparently uncovered the shooter’s hidden footprint told the New York Post. “His radicalization, violent rhetoric and obsession with political violence were all documented under his real name. The threat wasn’t hidden.”

After reviewing Crooks’ interactions across various platforms and pages including YouTube, Snapchat, Discord, GooglePlay, and Quora, the source concluded that the official narrative claiming that Crooks operated alone without a clear motive or ideology was bogus.

The shooter “was not simply some unknowable lone actor,” said the source. “He left a digital trail of violent threats, extremist ideology and admiration for mass violence. He spoke openly of political assassination, posted under his real name, and was even flagged by other users who mentioned law enforcement in their replies. Despite this, his account remained active for more than five years — and was only removed the day after the shooting.”

In 2019, Crooks allegedly made a number of pro-Trump, anti-Democrat remarks online, suggesting, for instance, that the president was “the literal definition of Patriotism” and stating, “MURDER THE DEMOCRATS.”

In early 2020, Crooks apparently changed his tune and began deriding Trump and his supporters, defending draconian COVID-19 lockdowns, and lambasting Republicans over voter-fraud concerns, while in some instances being cheered on by an apparent member of a Norwegian neo-Nazi group.

Crooks allegedly suggested in a Feb. 26, 2020, post that Trump supporters were too “brainwashed to realize how dumb you are” and accused Trump of being a “racist” in a separate post the same day.

‘This is a five alarm fire.’

Within months of his political about-face, Crooks was reportedly advocating for “terrorism style attacks” and political assassinations. At some point, Crooks also reportedly began associating with furries online.

According to the Post, Crooks reportedly began referring to himself using “they/them” pronouns on DeviantArt, an “online social network for artists and art enthusiasts” that teems with “furry” imagery depicting sexualized and anthropomorphized animals.

RELATED: Trans-identifying teen agrees to plead guilty to plotting Valentine’s Day massacre at high school

A demonstrator holding an image of Crooks. Photo by Jim Vondruska/Getty Images.

The histories of two DeviantArt accounts linked to Crooks’ primary email address indicate he possibly had a furry fetish, obsessing over cartoon characters with male anatomies and female heads.

Trump’s failed assassin would hardly be the first radical in recent years who was immersed in trans and/or furry subcultures.

Charlie Kirk’s suspected assassin was reportedly not only in a homosexual relationship with a transvestite, who on at least one occasion dressed up in a furry outfit, but was himself possibly active on a furry fetish website.

An engraving on a bullet casing linked to Kirk’s assassination made reference to gay furries.

There was also the:

trans-identifying man who shot up a Catholic church full of children in Minneapolis on Aug. 27, killing two children and injuring 30;male-identifying woman who planned to shoot up an elementary school and a high school in Maryland in April 2024 but was stopped in time by police — then later convicted;trans-identifying teen who stalked the halls of a school in Perry, Iowa, on Jan. 4, 2024, ultimately murdering a child and an adult and wounding several others; and thetrans-identifying woman who stormed into a Presbyterian school in Nashville on March 27, 2023, murdering three children and three adults.

Turning Point USA spokesman Andrew Kolvet said of the news of Crooks’ possible trans-identification and furry fetish, “This is beyond correlation, this is a five alarm fire.”

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The use of celebrity likeness for AI videos is spiraling out of control, and one of Hollywood’s biggest stars is not having it.

Despite the use of AI in online videos being fairly new, it has already become a trope to use an artificial version of a celebrity’s voice for content relating to news, violence, or history.

‘I don’t appreciate it, and I get paid for doing stuff like that.’

This is particularly true when it comes to satirical videos that are meant to sound like documentaries. Creators love to use recognizable voices, like David Attenborough’s and, of course, Morgan Freeman’s, whose voice has become so recognizable that others have labeled him as “the voice of God.”

However, the 88-year-old Freeman is not pleased about his voice being replicated. In an interview with the Guardian, he said that while some actors like James Earl Jones (who played Darth Vader) have consented to his voice being imitated with computers, he has not.

“I’m a little PO’d, you know,” Freeman told the outlet. “I’m like any other actor: Don’t mimic me with falseness. I don’t appreciate it, and I get paid for doing stuff like that, so if you’re gonna do it without me, you’re robbing me.”

Freeman explained that his lawyers have been “very, very busy” in pursuing “many … quite a few” cases in which his voice was replicated without his consent.

In the same interview, the Memphis native was also not shy about criticizing the concept of AI actors.

RELATED: Hollywood’s newest star isn’t human — and why that’s ‘disturbing’

Photo by Chris Haston/WBTV via Getty Images

Freeman was asked about Tilly Norwood, the AI character introduced by Dutch actress Eline Van der Velden in 2025. The pretend-world character is meant to be an avatar mimicking celebrity status, while also cutting costs in the casting room.

“Nobody likes her because she’s not real and that takes the part of a real person,” Freeman jabbed. “So it’s not going to work out very well in the movies or in television. … The union’s job is to keep actors acting, so there’s going to be that conflict.”

Freeman spoke out about the use of his voice in 2024, as well. According to a report by 4 News Now, a TikTok creator posted a video claiming to be Freeman’s niece and used an artificial version of his voice to narrate the video.

In response, Freeman wrote on X, “Thank you to my incredible fans for your vigilance and support in calling out the unauthorized use of an A.I. voice imitating me.”

He added, “Your dedication helps authenticity and integrity remain paramount. Grateful.”

RELATED: Meet AI ‘actress’ Tilly Norwood. Is she really the future of entertainment?

Norwood is not the first attempt at taking an avatar mainstream. In 2022, Capitol Records flirted with an AI rapper named FN Meka; the very idea that the rapper was even signed to a label was historic in the first place.

The rapper, or more likely its representatives, were later dropped from the label after activists claimed the character reinforced racial stereotypes.

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President Trump recently made a comment on H-1B visas during an interview in the Oval Office with Laura Ingraham on Fox News — and his base is not happy.

“There’s never going to be a country like what we have right now,” Trump told Ingraham, who asked, “And does that mean the H-1B visa thing will not be a big priority for your administration? Because if you want to raise wages for American workers, you can’t flood the country with tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of foreign workers.”

“Well, I agree, but you also do have to bring in talent,” Trump responded.

“We have plenty of talented people here,” Ingraham argued, to which Trump shockingly replied, “No, you don’t. No, you don’t.”

“You don’t have talented people here?” Ingraham asked.

“No, you don’t … you don’t have certain talents and … people have to learn,” he replied, before digging his heels in further.

“President Trump received and is continuing to receive a tremendous amount of blowback from this, including from people in his own base,” says BlazeTV host Liz Wheeler, who is shocked by Trump’s comments and points out that one of Charlie Kirk’s last messages to the American people was on the same topic.

However, Kirk had a much different take than the president.

“This is the social compact breaking down,” Kirk wrote in a post on X, adding, “We need urgency to restore it:

1 – Mass deportations

2 – Stop the H-1B scam

3 – Dramatically reduce LEGAL Immigration

4 – End chain migration and the Visa Lottery

5 – Build 10 million homes for Americans

6 – Crush the College Cartel.”

The post was accompanied by a graph depicting the percentage of 30-year-olds who are both married and homeowners between 1950 to 2025. The number dropped from over 50% to below 15%.

The post went viral, because according to Wheeler, “President Trump’s base understands and feels very betrayed by the government officials who have, for a generation now, imported foreigners and given those foreigners our jobs, given those foreigners our welfare benefits, given those foreigners our homes, given those foreigners access to our food and our education and our health care system.”

“No one, I think, is arguing against certain genius visas. If there are certain positions that are incredibly hard to fill, that take incredibly talented, exceptional people, and we need to recruit from all around the world for that, OK, we can make exceptions to that,” Wheeler says.

“But it should be the exception, not the rule,” she continues. “The H-1B visa scam is a scam because it’s become the rule. Companies across the country first look for H-1B visa applicants to hire because they can take advantage of them. They can pay them less. They can demand more.”

“When our resources are used by foreigners,” she adds, “Well, American citizens suffer.”

Want more from Liz Wheeler?

To enjoy more of Liz’s based commentary, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

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A criminal illegal alien is expected to be deported more than a decade after his deportation order, but CNN’s coverage of the case buries the violent details of his past. The Department of Homeland Security set the record straight as the criminal illegal alien is set to finally be removed Monday.

According to the DHS, Russian-born Roman Antatolevich Surovtsev was arrested on August 1 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

‘It’s alarming that CNN can ALWAYS be counted on to run cover for VIOLENT FELONS. Imagine if they showed the same care for American citizens.’

He is expected to be deported Monday in compliance with a final order of removal issued by an immigration judge in November 2014.

CNN described Surovtsev as a “stateless person” given the fact that he fled the USSR and surrendered his citizenship. The 2014 deportation order also revoked his green card, the sole condition for his remaining in the United States.

RELATED: ‘Climbing into the ceiling tiles’: DHS immigration raids hit Charlotte, where 1 in 6 residents are foreign-born

Photo by Ryan Murphy/Getty Images

He has since routinely checked in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement until his arrest in August.

CNN, however, added a very different spin to the story, touting Surovtsev as a “loving dad” and a different person after a life of crime.

Only after more than a dozen paragraphs and a long litany of heart-wrenching familial anecdotes does CNN hint at Surovtsev’s violent past: “In 2003, at 19 years old, Surovtsev began serving a 13-year sentence after helping some friends commit an armed carjacking of a motorcycle.”

And this is only the tip of the iceberg.

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin noted that Surovtsev has a “history of violence” with a rap sheet including “assault with a deadly weapon, multiple counts of burglary, multiple counts of carjacking, carjacking with a firearm, trespassing onto private property, multiple counts of taking a vehicle without owner consent, possession of a hypodermic needle/syringe, receiving stolen property, multiple counts of conspiracy to commit a crime.”

In a statement on X, the Department of Homeland Security added that Surovtsev committed many of those offenses as an adult and accused CNN of covering for criminals: “It’s alarming that CNN can ALWAYS be counted on to run cover for VIOLENT FELONS. Imagine if they showed the same care for American citizens.”

Surovtsev will reportedly be boarding a plane Monday to Ukraine along with 82 other deportees, according to a statement obtained by CNN.

“On Monday, the U.S. government plans to deport 83 people to Ukraine, where they will be conscripted into the army and likely killed. Ukraine is a police state where the population lives under martial law,” Surovtsev’s attorneys, Eric Lee and Chris Godshall-Bennett, said in an emailed statement.

“Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, if you break the law, you will face the consequences. Criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the U.S.,” the Department of Homeland Security added.

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President Donald Trump appeared to change his mind about the Epstein files and told Republicans he supported their release after hinting at opposing it.

He expressed his wishes in a post on Truth Social Sunday where he repeated his claim that the controversy regarding the files was a “hoax” perpetrated by the Democrats to distract the public from Trump’s victories.

‘Let’s start talking about the Republican Party’s Record Setting Achievements, and not fall into the Epstein “TRAP,” which is actually a curse on the Democrats, not us.’

“House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide, and it’s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics in order to deflect from the Great Success of the Republican Party, including our recent Victory on the Democrat ‘Shutdown,'” he posted.

He pointed out that the Justice Dept. had already turned over documents related to Epstein and made them publicly available.

“The House Oversight Committee can have whatever they are legally entitled to, I DON’T CARE!” he added.

The vote to release the files in the U.S. House may take place on Tuesday after Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva of Arizona was finally seated and became the last name necessary to pass the congressional motion.

Democrats had suggested that the president was opposed to the release because of some kind of complicity or knowledge of Epstein’s crimes, which Trump has denied.

“Donald Trump keeps crying ‘hoax’ when pressed on releasing the Epstein files,” wrote Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California. “But the American people deserve to know what evidence a convicted child sex trafficker had that he said could ‘take down’ Trump.”

RELATED: CNN anchor visibly upset when analyst says outrage over Epstein files has not hurt Trump at all

“Some ‘members’ of the Republican Party are being ‘used,’ and we can’t let that happen,” the president concluded. “Let’s start talking about the Republican Party’s Record Setting Achievements, and not fall into the Epstein ‘TRAP,’ which is actually a curse on the Democrats, not us.”

A judge had previously said there were names in the files that would change the lives of well-known people if they were released to the public. Many of those have been allowed to fight the release of their identities through the legal process.

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The Illinois Senate president’s office was subject to an armed robbery last week after a long history of leading efforts to crack down on police in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests and the death of George Floyd.

Democrat Senate President Don Harmon’s office was robbed at knifepoint on Friday, NBC 5 Chicago reported.

‘The Senate president … remains dedicated to ensuring that the laws in Illinois reflect that Black Lives Matter.’

According to reports, Scott Loeffler, 35, is suspected to have entered Harmon’s Constituent Service Office in Oak Park. After a brief exchange, a staffer found herself being held at knifepoint, with her phone in the suspect’s hand.

Loeffler allegedly entered the office at 11:11 a.m. and was arrested at approximately 12:51 p.m., almost two hours later. The staffer’s husband was able to track her phone after the suspect fled the scene.

RELATED: Video: Masked smash-and-grab robbers don’t look so scary when jewelry store owner pulls his gun and opens fire

John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

Loeffler has been charged with felony armed robbery by the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office.

In a statement, Harmon thanked the local police department and expressed his relief that his staff members were unharmed.

“I want to thank the Oak Park Police Department for a quick response, and I want to thank my staff for their bravery and unwavering commitment to public service. Their safety is my top priority,” Harmon said in his statement.

The Democrat added that there was no evidence that the robbery was “politically motivated.”

Harmon, for his part, has spent several years pushing legislation that has been criticized as “soft on crime.” For example, Harmon “worked closely with the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus to advance a reform agenda founded on four pillars: criminal justice reform; education and workforce development; economic access, equity and opportunity; and health care and human services.”

Harmon’s website adds, “The Senate president understands the importance of these changes and remains dedicated to ensuring that the laws in Illinois reflect that Black Lives Matter.”

The law, known as Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today Act, was the subject of heated debate since it abolished cash bail and reformed several policing policies.

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Hunter Biden emphasized in a recent interview that his allies on the “leaderless” left should not tone down their extreme rhetoric in the wake of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk’s assassination — but rather ramp it up against the MAGA movement.

After Biden suggested to “Wide Awake Podcast” host Joshua Rubin that Kirk was a representative of hate and should not be posthumously honored, the former president’s son was asked whether it was time for the left and right to tone down their rhetoric.

‘We need people to see … it for what it is.’

“Do you think the conversation should be about turning the temperature down completely on both sides?” asked Rubin.

“What I haven’t seen is people going, ‘We need to look at extremism in general and turn down the temperature.'”

“Yeah, no,” said Biden. “That’s not going to happen, Josh.”

Biden — whose father let him off the hook last year for his felony conviction on gun charges, his felony tax offenses, and whatever else he may have been involved in between January 2014 and December 2024 — prefaced his accelerationist proposal with, “I’m going to get myself in trouble for saying this.”

“We need to turn the temperature up,” continued Biden. “We need to turn the temperature up, and we need people to see … it for what it is.”

RELATED: The Antifa mob at Berkeley showed us what evil looks like

Leftists staged mock executions of an effigy of the president at a No Kings rally in Chicago. Photo by Jim Vondruska/Getty Images

Recent polling suggests the temperature is sufficiently high on the left, where Democrat politicians such as Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett seem to freely recommend and/or downplay violence against their opponents.

A survey conducted by the Network Contagion Research Institute and Rutgers University’s Social Perception Lab revealed in April that 55% of respondents who identified as left of center said that assassinating Trump would be at least somewhat justified.

When asked by pollsters about the September 2024 attempt on the president’s life at his golf course in Florida, 28% of Democrats told RMG Research it would have been better if Trump had been gunned down.

A recent Marist Poll found that 28% agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “Americans may have to resort to violence in order to get the country back on track.”

“I do not believe that we are going to get to the bottom until we get to the bottom,” said Biden, whose father smeared his political opponents as “extremists” and dubbed President Donald Trump’s supporters “garbage.”

Hunter Biden added, “I want to get to the bottom faster rather than through this slow kind of process of just being picked apart, a death by a thousand cuts here.”

After clarifying that he was “100% not saying that it needs to be violence,” Biden castigated liberal talking heads such as CNN’s Jake Tapper for supposedly not being antagonistic enough to the Trump administration.

Biden appeared desperate to suggest that political extremism is predominantly a right-wing issue, casting doubt on whether Charlie Kirk was assassinated because of his beliefs and and whether the assassin was a leftist and suggesting that Kirk’s killer was a disciple of right-wing commentator Nick Fuentes.

A recent Center for Strategic and International Studies report indicated that the first half of this year was marked by a significant increase in left-wing terrorist attacks and plots in the United States — and that those attacks are set to hit 30-year highs. While leftist terrorism is on the rise, right-wing incidents have dropped precipitously.

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Texas state laws ban doctors from giving guidance on transgender medicine and procedures on minors — but the Texas Medical Association is still doing it.

“Sometimes I even think, ‘Well, that’s behind us now.’ It’s actually not. Even here in the state of Texas because despite the fact that Texas outlawed this awful, brutal practice mutilating healthy body parts of children … there still seem to be doctors and associations that are trying to carry out this disgusting, brutal torture ritual,” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales says on “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered.”

Gonzales pulls out a recent “lesson” from Texas Medical Association doctors where they claim that as primary care physicians, they “play a vital role in transgender and gender diverse … health care.”

“With a significant increase in TGD individuals seeking care, staying informed about best practices is essential. By understanding gender identity development and offering tailored support, you can improve outcomes and build trust,” the lesson states.

“They even make sure to highlight that this is for adolescent and adult care,” Gonzales says, noting that the lesson is $199.

“Wow, what a bargain to create a patient for life. Incredible,” she says.

Senate Bill 14 took effect in September 2023 and prohibits “gender transition” medical interventions, such as surgeries, puberty blockers, and cross sex hormones for minors — and Texas state Rep. Steve Toth (R) is trying to raise awareness that the law is being ignored.

“Has the Texas Medical Association responded to any of this?” Gonzales asks Toth, who responds, “Not a word.”

One mom from Florida, January Littlejohn, has become an activist in helping parents across the country get justice for their children.

“She said, ‘President Trump is trying to shut all this stuff down,’ but she said, ‘I’m getting swarmed now all across the United States with moms and dads calling me, telling me that their kids are being transitioned primarily in red states like Texas where we’ve banned it,’” Toth tells Gonzales.

“How is this happening?” Gonzales asks.

“The big mistake, the big failure from the 88th legislative session is we didn’t ban social transitioning. We banned the chemical and surgical transitioning, but we did not ban the social transitioning,” Toth explains.

“And so what you’re seeing happen now in the Texas Medical Association is they’re teaching doctors at like Texas Children’s and Methodists that here’s what you do, you just say that you’re going to put this little girl on Lupron, which is a puberty blocker, and you say that it’s for precocious puberty,” he continues.

“It’s not to transition her, it’s for precocious puberty. And then once she goes through … puberty, once she goes through that, then she’s going to be put on a cross sex hormone like testosterone and that’s really easy to get. You just get someone, a doctor from, you know, New Mexico or Arizona, to send that to you and now all of a sudden, she’s good to go,” he adds.

While those administering these treatments claim they’re “reversible,” Toth explains that they’re “not reversible at all.”

“You can’t just try and go through puberty at age 20. It doesn’t work that way,” he adds.

Want more from Sara Gonzales?

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​Free, Video, Sharing, Camera phone, Upload, Video phone, Youtube.com, Sara gonzales unfiltered, Sara gonzales, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Texas child gender transition, Gender transition, Texas, Child transition, Lgbtq propaganda, Texas medical association 

Masked robbers clad in dark clothing quickly took over a California jewelry store last week, as surveillance video shows them fanning out and smashing display cases in a brazen heist.

This is, until the owner of the store came into the camera frame with his gun and opened fire.

‘It’s shocking to the conscience. It’s scary to the family because it is a mom-and-pop store with family being your own employees, it’s your own business and your livelihood.’

The imposing crew suddenly looked quite overmatched as they stumbled and sprinted out the store.

The incident at Olivia’s Fine Jewelry in Madera took place around 7 p.m. Thursday, KFSN-TV reported. Madera is about a half hour northwest of Fresno.

Four of the crooks took part in the smash-and-grab while one stayed by the door as a lookout, KFSN said. Video shows the lookout holding the door open for the rest of the crew as they ran out of the store to get clear of the gunfire.

After the robbers ran into the parking lot, video shows the owner on the sidewalk in front of the store still shooting at the fleeing crooks.

RELATED: Video: Over 20 thugs try breaking into jewelry store. But gun-toting store owner isn’t about to let them get away with it.

“It’s shocking to the conscience. It’s scary to the family because it is a mom-and-pop store with family being your own employees, it’s your own business and your livelihood,” Madera Police Sgt. Blake Short told KFSN.

The robbers took with them an estimated $170,000 in jewelry, the station said, and authorities added that no one was hit by gunfire.

“I believe the store owner did what he felt was necessary at the time. We don’t always recommend that in this field. Fortunately, no one was harmed in this situation,” Short added to KFSN.

The station said authorities were able to recover the getaway car, described as a dark gray Audi, and that the suspects ditched it just outside of the Madera city limits.

Police also called the robbery sophisticated, KFSN said, adding that the suspects had a clear plan.

Short noted to the station that a “preliminary investigation shows that they were kind of in the area for a little while … we would say in our field ‘casing the business.’ This was definitely meticulous. It was thought out. It did not appear to be a first time for these individuals.”

Veronica Casillas, an employee of a nearby store, told KFSN that “it was very scary. We heard just a loud noise, and I told the manager ‘I think those gunshots.'”

The investigation is ongoing, the station said, and no additional descriptions of the suspects have been released.

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​California, Self-defense, Protecting property, Jewelry store, Robbery, Store owner shoots at robbers, Surveillance video, Guns, Gun rights, Madera, Fighting back, Crime 

On November 12, Joe Rogan made a comment on an episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience” that gained significant national attention. Referencing the sadistic celebrations of left-wingers after the death of Charlie Kirk, Rogan asked, “Where are we right now on the scale of one to civil war? … I thought we were like four or five. But after the Charlie Kirk thing, I’m like, ‘Oh, we might be like seven.’ This might be like step seven on the way to a bona fide civil war.”

Glenn Beck says Rogan’s words ring true. We are indeed inching closer to civil war, but just how close are we?

On this episode of “The Glenn Beck Program,” Glenn breaks down the nine steps of civil war and explains exactly where America is.

Step 1: Loss of civic trust

“Every civil conflict begins when people stop believing that the system is fair,” says Glenn, calling America “so far past the doorway” on this one.

Recent Gallup and Pew polls reveal that faith in Congress, media, judicial courts, the FBI, and government are “at record lows.” The most recent report from the Edelman Trust Barometer classifies the United States as “severely polarized.” Republicans at large distrust federal elections, while Democrats at large distrust the Supreme Court.

“Americans are really united on one thing, and that is the other side is corrupt,” says Glenn.

Step 2: Polarization hardens into identity

“Political disagreement is normal; identity conflict is fatal. But that’s what Marxists push – identity politics,” says Glenn. “This is when politics stop being about policy and start being about who you are as a person.”

The more people adopt the oppressed vs. oppressor mindset, the more society fragments into “incompatible tribes.” Now “opponents aren’t wrong anymore; the opponent is dangerous,” says Glenn.

Sadly, “We’re neck deep in this.” The fact that the Public Religion Research Institute found that nearly a quarter of the population believes political violence may be necessary to save the country proves it.

Step 3: Breakdown of the gatekeepers

“The gatekeepers are kind of like the referees of society. It’s the media, political parties, churches, civic leaders. When they fail, extremism fills the vacuum,” says Glenn.

When you consider how the media has turned into “team coaches,” how tech platforms made rage its most lucrative commodity, how universities became Marxist indoctrination mills, and how churches have been utterly “useless,” it’s clear the nation has moved beyond step three.

Step 4: Parallel information realities

“Civil wars don’t require different opinions; they require different realities,” says Glenn.

Conservatism and progressivism are undoubtedly rooted in antithetical worldviews. One sees gender as immutable; the other sees it as a social construct. One believes experimenting on children is evil; the other calls it “care.” One says crime rates are surging in blue cities; the other blames spikes in violence on poverty, guns, and systemic inequities. One sees secure borders as a critical protection for citizens; the other calls it inhumane and xenophobic.

Then social media platforms capitalize on this divide by curating “customized political universes” that only cement the partisan factions. Dialogue, not to mention resolution, becomes impossible, as the paradigms of each camp are so radically opposed, they can no longer co-exist.

“Step four is complete,” says Glenn.

Step 5: Loss of natural rule of law

Glenn calls step five “the pivot point.” It’s the moment when civil war starts to look not just possible but promising. Once people at large begin believing that “the law is no longer neutral,” “the republic stands on borrowed time.”

Based on recent polling, America has ticked this box. A YouGov poll found that “67% of Americans believe the judicial system is used for political purposes.”

Glenn lists several examples that explain the loss of faith in the country’s justice system: “January 6 defendants given years in prison. 2020 rioters were released. High-profile political figures prosecuted or shielded based on party. FBI whistleblowers alleging pressure to inflate domestic extremism numbers. States like Texas directly defying federal directives on border enforcement and now leading the way with the federal government.”

Step 6: Normalization of political violence

“This is where violence stops shocking the system,” says Glenn. He points to Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones, who was elected after it came out that in 2022, he sent text messages fantasizing about Republican House Speaker Todd Gilbert getting “two bullets to the head” and expressing hope that his wife would have to “watch her own child die in her arms.”

Couple that with the dismissal of 2020 BLM rioters and the widespread celebrations of political violence, and it’s clear: We’re beyond step six.

Step 7: The rise of militias and parallel forces

This happens “when a state loses its monopoly on force” and political factions “start forming their own police forces,” says Glenn.

We’re seeing the beginnings of this with the organized groups that target ICE, but we haven’t moved past step seven quite yet, he says, confirming that Rogan’s estimation was dead on.

Step 8: The trigger event

“Civil wars don’t begin with a plan; they begin with a spark,” says Glenn. “We’re not here yet either, but the conditions are right.”

A “disputed election,” a “political assassination or a major attack,” a “Supreme Court decision that ignites mass unrest,” a “financial crisis or dollar crisis,” or a violent “state federal standoff” are all things that could light the match, he warns.

“Nothing is ignited yet, but the room is soaked in gasoline.”

Step 9: The point of no return

Once “police, military, or federal agencies split,” the war is on, says Glenn.

While this hasn’t happened yet, we can certainly hear foreboding rumblings. In New York City, police officers are leaving the force or relocating after socialist and defund-the-police advocate Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor. Glenn also points to the “tension between the state National Guard and the federal directives.”

“States openly defying federal rules on immigration, drug laws, sanctuary policies, whistleblower claims of internal politicization — all of these things are in play,” says Glenn.

He pulls it all together with a stark verdict on where America stands: “Steps one through four: completed. Step five: happening. Step six: happening. Step seven: beginning. Step eight: just waiting for it. And step nine: avoidable only if step eight never happens.”

“I’m not telling you for doom purposes. This is diagnosis,” says Glenn.

“The nation that refuses to look and wake up and stop calling their neighbors enemies is the nation that fails.”

To hear more of Glenn’s analysis, watch the video above.

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​The glenn beck program, Glenn beck, Joe rogan, Civil war, Blazetv, Blaze media, Charlie kirk 

The Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations have expanded to Charlotte, North Carolina.

Operation Charlotte’s Web launched on Saturday, as federal agents aimed to arrest criminal illegal aliens.

‘An illegal alien from Mexico gets deported 4 times, strolls back to Charlotte, then racks up a hit & run AND a DUI/DWI?’

Of the 900,000 residents in Charlotte, 150,000 are foreign-born, according to CBS News.

The Department of Homeland Security blamed “sanctuary politicians” for the state’s failure to honor 1,400 detainer requests, choosing instead to release offenders back onto the streets.

“Americans should be able to live without fear of violent criminal illegal aliens hurting them, their families, or their neighbors,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated. “We are surging DHS law enforcement to Charlotte to ensure Americans are safe and public safety threats are removed. There have been too many victims of criminal illegal aliens. President Trump and Secretary Noem will step up to protect Americans when sanctuary politicians won’t.”

Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino stated that, on the first day alone, federal agents arrested over 80 individuals. He noted that most of those arrested have “significant criminal and immigration history.”

RELATED: Anti-ICE mob turns hostile, breaching barriers outside detention facility — several officers injured

Photo by Peter Zay/Anadolu via Getty Images

A leftist activist confronted Bovino over the weekend while federal agents were arresting an alleged illegal alien, according to a video uploaded to social media.

“Are you doing nice things?” the activist asked Bovino.

“Absolutely, making the community safer for you,” Bovino responded.

The Border Patrol commander highlighted some of the recent Charlotte arrests on X.

“Let’s paint this picture for you. An illegal alien from Mexico gets deported 4 times, strolls back to Charlotte, then racks up a hit & run AND a DUI/DWI?” Bovino wrote. “It’s time to go back home.”

RELATED: VIDEO: Leotarded liberals protest ICE facility with ’80s-themed aerobics class

Gregory Bovino. Photo by Peter Zay/Anadolu via Getty Images

“Who’s at the same grocery store as you?” he wrote in a separate post. “This illegal alien from Honduras with a criminal history. He has arrests for aggravated assault, assault with a dangerous weapon & DUI. He has also been removed from the U.S. twice, so now that he’s here AGAIN, he committed a felony by re-entering the U.S.”

Reports surfaced on Sunday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents shot an individual amid the ongoing operations; however, those claims were debunked by McLaughlin.

“This criminal illegal alien from Mexico had a panic attack and was taken to the hospital where he attempted to escape by climbing into the ceiling tiles from the hospital bathroom. He was unsuccessful and was apprehended inside the ceiling by law enforcement,” McLaughlin stated. “He has a prior arrest for assault.”

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President Trump’s recent warning to Nigeria over the mass killing of Christians was both overdue and necessary.

At long last, Washington acknowledged what much of the West preferred to ignore — that believers are being butchered for their faith while bureaucrats issue statements and move on to the next photo op. Trump’s threat to strike Nigeria if the slaughter continues signaled a rare thing in modern politics: moral clarity.

Every church burned in India is a warning: Faith without freedom becomes folklore.

Now it’s time for that same clarity to be turned toward another nation, one that calls itself the world’s largest democracy and one that America counts among its closest allies — India.

New data from the United Christian Forum reveals a troubling trend. Attacks on Christians in India have surged by more than 500% since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in 2014. Over the course of a single decade, reported incidents climbed from 139 to 834. Nearly 5,000 individuals, families, and churches have been caught in the crossfire.

Yet these grim numbers tell only part of the story.

Behind the statistics are pastors dragged from pulpits and beaten, churches reduced to ash, and people hunted like animals simply for choosing the Lord Almighty over the golden idols of their tormentors. What was once unthinkable — open persecution of Christians in the land of Mother Teresa — has now become routine.

Twelve of India’s 28 states now enforce so-called “anti-conversion” laws that criminalize anyone accused of bringing others to Christ.

In practice, these laws are less about conversion than coercion. They empower mobs and police alike to harass Christian minorities on suspicion alone. A man caught carrying a Bible can be accused of proselytizing. A prayer meeting can be framed as a plot.

The cruelty is not confined to law but seeps into everyday life.

In the heartland states of Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Christian villagers have been driven out of their homes, denied burial rights, and told to renounce their faith or face starvation. Dalit and tribal Christians — the poorest of India’s poor — endure the worst of it. They are excluded from government welfare programs, denied housing, and forced into reconversion ceremonies designed to humiliate.

The Hindu nationalists behind these acts are not the flag-waving patriots America knows. They are absolute savages who have more in common with Islamist extremists than with any conservative movement in the West. No evil is too depraved for these fanatics in saffron robes. These are men capable of gang-raping elderly nuns in the name of purity. Their mouths recite prayers even as their hands commit sin.

Yet through all this, Washington has remained curiously quiet. India, after all, is an ally — a key counterweight to China, a trading partner, a member of the Quad alliance. And allies, we’re told, must not be offended. India receives tens of millions in U.S. foreign assistance each year, yet continues to slide deeper into majoritarian extremism.

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

Debajyoti Chakraborty/NurPhoto via Getty Images

The relationship has become a study in contradiction: America exports democracy while subsidizing the suppression of it.

Trump’s stance toward Nigeria was bold because it rejected the idea that diplomacy must always defer to decorum. He recognized that moral authority is not something declared but something earned and easily lost. The same logic applies to India. If America’s partnership with New Delhi is to mean anything, it must rest on shared principles — not selective blindness.

There is a tragic irony in watching the world’s oldest democracy bankroll the world’s largest, while both ignore their founding creeds. Trump is uniquely positioned to change that. The president has shown a willingness to name the unnameable and confront regimes that others tiptoe around. His threat to Nigeria rattled the corridors of Abuja and forced the international community to pay attention.

A similar message to New Delhi — that America’s friendship cannot be a blank check for intolerance — would carry enormous weight.

To speak out would not be an act of hostility but of honesty. True allies do not flatter; they challenge. India’s leaders must be reminded that religious freedom is not a Western import but a universal right, and any nation that denies it will pay the heaviest of prices. If India wishes to stand shoulder to shoulder with the free world, it must first show it belongs there.

For too long, the West has treated persecution as someone else’s problem. But every church burned in India is a warning: Faith without freedom becomes folklore. The indifference of powerful nations emboldens tyrants and teaches them that human rights are negotiable.

The question now is whether America still believes in the principles it preaches — and whether Trump will demand that its allies do the same.

Because faith, like freedom, dies in stages — first ignored, then excused, and then erased. The erasure has already begun in India. What’s needed now is not another summit or statement, but a voice loud enough to pierce the silence. President Trump has that voice, the rare kind that can still move mountains. I, for one, hope he uses it.

​India, Donald trump, Christianity, Christians, God, Christian persecution, Faith 

When you find the right new car after a long search, it can be tempting to close as soon as possible. But before you sign, there’s one question that can save — or cost — you thousands.

What should you do with your current car?

Should you trade it in at the dealership or sell it privately? It’s more than a convenience question — it’s a strategy. And with used-car prices still unsettled, the right choice can make a real financial difference.

Let’s break down what actually matters and what the dealership won’t always volunteer.

Financial fork

Most buyers can’t keep their old car when upgrading. They use it as part of the down payment. But there are two very different paths:

Trade it in. Sell it privately for typically more money.

Reality check: Dealerships rarely offer full market value. They need to buy low and sell high — it’s business. Knowing that puts you in control.

If your car is worth $15,000 privately, a dealer may offer $12,000. That’s $3,000 lost — money you could use to lower your loan or upgrade trims.

Why trade-ins win

Sometimes a trade-in is the smarter move — especially in states offering a sales tax credit.

Example: Buy a $40,000 car and trade in a $10,000 vehicle. You’re taxed only on $30,000, which can save you hundreds.

If the tax break closes the gap between your private-sale price and the trade-in offer, taking the trade may be the better move. Plus, there’s no hassle: no listings, no test drives, no strangers.

The timing sweet spot

Timing matters. The best moment to sell or trade is before your factory warranty expires.

3 years / 36,000 miles for basic. 5 years / 60,000 miles for powertrain.

Cars still under warranty are easier to resell and command higher prices. If your car is paid off, clean, and under those mileage limits, you’re in the prime window.

When you owe money

You can trade in a car with an outstanding loan — but be careful. If your car’s value is less than the payoff, that’s negative equity.

Your options: pay the difference Or roll it into your new loan (not ideal).

This is how people end up upside-down for years. Avoid it by calling your lender for your payoff amount and checking your car’s true value on KBB or Edmunds.

If you have positive equity, that difference becomes your down payment.

RELATED: Quick Fix: What’s the safest used car for my teenager?

CBS/Getty Images

Watching the market

Used-car prices have swung wildly since the pandemic. The market is still strong for vehicles that are under five years old; well below 14,500 miles/year; and properly maintained.

If that describes your car, a private sale may be worth it. If not — high miles, cosmetic issues, or a soft local market — a trade-in may be the smarter, calmer choice.

Mileage and condition

Both private buyers and dealers care about the same things: mileage and condition. Before selling or trading, get the car detailed; fix small cosmetic flaws; replace worn tires or weak batteries; and gather maintenance records.

A clean, documented car always sells faster and for more.

The private sale payoff

Selling privately usually brings the highest price. But it has strings attached: writing the listing, taking photos, answering questions, meeting buyers, and handling title and payment. If that sounds like too much, a trade-in may be worth the lower price. But if you have a desirable car and the patience, a private sale can easily beat any dealer offer.

Final decision points

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer. The right move depends on your equity, your time, your state’s tax laws, your loan payoff, and your tolerance for hassle.

What matters is going in informed.

Know your numbers. Know your choices. Don’t let a dealer rush you. Done right, you can upgrade smoothly and walk away financially ahead.

Bottom line: Do your homework, understand the trade-offs, and choose the path that keeps the most money in your pocket.

​Lifestyle, The auto industry, Used cars, Consumer choice, Automakers, Telematics, Repair act, The right to repair, Align cars 

One of the great canards of the post-9/11 world — promoted by theists and nontheists, conservatives and leftists, Democrats and Republicans alike — is that there are three Abrahamic faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

But is that really true? If the three faiths worship the same God and preach His word, then there should be clear and compelling evidence of interconnection and aligned essential doctrines.

God’s sacred lineage

Abraham was God’s first patriarch, his descendants were God’s chosen people, and the Lord God guided them — at great cost and peril — to the promised land.

Why is there the need to graft on to this historically and logically robust faith history the tale of Muhammad, which is supported only by legend and perhaps shards of archeological data?

The Jews, meanwhile, were the people through whom God sent His son, Jesus Christ, the messiah. Jesus was a holy, just, virtuous, believing Jew, and what He taught springs directly from the Old Testament. His ministry was ultimately a futile effort to convince His ethnic brothers to follow Him as their redeemer.

Jesus was betrayed by His own people and crucified by the Romans. His death, in substitutive atonement for the sins of humanity, was followed by His resurrection, and the risen Christ tasked His apostles to spread His word beyond the Jews to the gentiles, thus laying the foundation for Christianity, a descriptive moniker that came into common use around the end of the first century A.D.

Biblical genealogy and history are intricate and logical. Like all genealogy and history of the ancient world, they have gaps (which do not diminish their spiritual authority), and a great deal of both spring from oral tradition, which was eventually codified.

The fact that biblical genealogy and history are written in such painstaking detail in both the Old and New Testaments give them each spiritual and chronological heft, as does the fact that scholars have recovered thousands of manuscript copies and fragments totaling hundreds of thousands of pages.

Legend, not lineage

This brings us to the issue of whether Islam is really an Abrahamic faith.

Abraham was father of Ishmael, by his slave Hagar, who was banished from Abraham’s household by Abraham’s wife, Sarah, even though she facilitated their union. God promised Hagar that Ishmael would be a great man and the father of many nations. Ishmael’s life and sons are detailed in Genesis 25 and then again in 1 Chronicles 1. Then he and his sons are never spoken of again.

The book of Genesis, written by Moses, likely dates to around 1200 B.C., even though its final form was not completed until centuries later. This means that the story of Abram, who becomes Abraham, is even older than that because it would have been told to Moses as oral history. So Abraham may have lived as long ago as 2000 B.C.

Yet Muhammad, the prophet of Islam who is supposedly descended from Ishmael, was not born until 570 A.D., which creates a time gap of more than 2,500 years. And for this span of more than two millennia, there are no documents that directly connect Muhammad to Abraham or Ishmael. There is only Islamic oral tradition or legend (known as Hadith), nearly all of which were produced a century or more after Muhammad’s death in 632 A.D.

Conversely, there is no doubt about the connection of the Old and New Testaments. They tell a continuous, coherent, logical, prophetically rich, and frequently archaeologically confirmed story of the journey of the Israelites to the promised land and the life and death of Jesus.

Why, then, is there the need to graft on to this historically and logically robust faith history the tale of Muhammad, which is supported only by legend and perhaps shards of archeological data?

Biblical appropriation

Even though there is no written genealogy from Ishmael to Muhammad, there is significant biblical appropriation in the Quran. In fact, plagiarism might be a better word.

For example, Allah created the heavens and the earth in six days (Surah 7:54; for the Quranic novitiates, the Quran is organized by the length of each Surah [chapter], from the longest, called the Opener to the shortest 114th, Mankind). Abraham’s name first appears in Surah 2. In total, Abraham’s name appears 69 times in the Quran; Jesus appears 25 times, Mary 34 times, and Moses 136 times. In 3:67, the Quran states that “Abraham was not a Jew, nor was he a Christian, but he was a Muslim hanif (montheist), and he was not one of the idolators.”

RELATED: Why progressives want to destroy Christianity — but spare Islam

ozgurdonmaz/iStock/Getty Images Plus

While Muhammad was quite open to biblical appropriation of names, he was not so keen on Christian doctrine: Muslims deny the Trinity (“do not say Three”; 4:171) and the crucifixion (“they did not kill him nor crucify him”; 4:157). The denial of the crucifixion leads to an implicit denial of the resurrection; if Jesus was not crucified, then He could not have been resurrected, but He was called to heaven by Allah himself (4:158).

The Quran calls Jesus “messiah” and righteous, but simultaneously denies that He is the son of God (“The Messiah, the son of Mary, was no more than a messenger, messengers passed away before him”; 5:75). In fact, in these things, the Muslims have much more in common with Jews than either group has with Christians.

Ironically, this trio of denials of core Christian beliefs puts Muslims in league with Martin Luther King Jr., who denied the virgin birth, which Muslims accept, but they reject Allah’s paternity of Jesus (see 3:45-47, 9:30, 6:100, and 112:3 for examples).

Muhammad writes that man does not have free will (2:6 and 2:7, among many others); Allah decides and animates all things (3:47 and 40:68). Allah will decide what both believers and nonbelievers do (16:93) and what will happen to them (24:40). Even nonbelievers who wish to believe will not be allowed to do so unless permitted by Allah (10:100).

Muslims are commanded to defeat nonbelievers in jihad (8:39 and 9:5); those who fight and die go to paradise, as do those who fight and live (4:74). Nonbelievers are to be treated as second-class citizens and pay tribute unless they convert, or they may be killed (9:29). Jews and Christians are regarded, respectively, as those who have earned Allah’s anger and those who have gone astray (1:6).

In the Bible, acts of sexual immorality are identified as an abomination to the Lord, right from the beginning of the Old Testament. Deuteronomy 22:5 says, “The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth to a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are an abomination unto the Lord thy God”; and Leviticus 18:6-20 describes the Lord’s abhorrence for the sin of incest. Paul’s epistles showcase his scorn for sexual anarchy.

By contrast, Muslim men may marry Jewish or Christian women after the women convert, but sex with a believing slave girl is preferable in the meantime (2:221). Muslim men are also told that they may marry multiple women (i.e., polygamy), and they have no obligation to treat them equally (4:3). The “houris,” or wide-eyed, voluptuous women of paradise, await all believers (Surahs 44, 55, 56, and 78; the much-ballyhooed 72 virgins are not Quranic, they are from a Hadith of Muhammad).

The overall impression of the God of the Bible is that He is a holy and just God, whose moral boundaries and demands set exceedingly high standards of conduct, and Jews of the Old Testament repeatedly fail to hit their marks. Their failures allowed God to show Himself as merciful and loving because He relents in His anger and forgives His people, effectively giving them the chance to start again.

Different gods

It is true that the Quran also refers to Allah in this manner repeatedly. But that is just part and parcel of the appropriation.

The Old Testament’s story of God’s love for, and strife with, His chosen people over their conduct repeats many times because God’s communication through His prophets ultimately proves ineffective at bringing about the lasting behavioral and devotional change that He demands. The God of the Bible never gives up, however, because He loves His children and seeks their betterment only for their own good, a framing of morality that they simply cannot endure because it requires patience, reverence, and discipline.

In the New Testament, God decides to confront His people face-to-face, live among them as a man, and teach them by looking them in the eye. So He sends His son, Jesus Christ, who is eternal and has borne witness to the entire chronology of creation, to live a perfect and sinless life, teach the lessons of the Old Testament, and entreat His people — the first-century Jews — to follow Him in pursuit of salvation and eternal life.

Despite all the travails, challenges, and even violence of the Bible, it is an uplifting story of love, trust, hope, and faith that ends in glory.

The same cannot be said of the Quran, in which an omnipotent god views his people as automatons commanded to do his will. Some verses abrogate others, and there really is no story told but just an endless series of dos and don’ts that end either in hell or paradise with wide-eyed houris.

Ask the people of Minnesota and Michigan and France and the United Kingdom how that’s working out.

Given the lack of a documentary interconnection, the doctrinal discrepancies between the two faiths as expressed in their central holy books raise this critical question: How is it spiritually conceivable that the two books represent the work of the same God?

Would the God who never gives up on His people and venerates marriage and family be the same God who commands men to marry unbelieving women only after they convert and have relations with slave girls while they wait? Would the God who empowers humans with free will and petitions them to follow Him to heaven by living lives of righteousness and virtue be the same God who commands the deaths of nonbelievers, specifically Christians and Jews (4:89), simply because of their unbelief? Would the God who sacrifices His own son on a Roman cross be the same God who appropriates the names, events, and stories of the Bible and relabels them to make them His own in a new book?

The Quran, like a bad Hollywood production, simply takes the biblical plots and characters and changes the name of God from “I AM” to Allah. Adam, Aaron, David, Elijah, Isaac, Job, Jonah, Joseph, Lot, Noah, Solomon, Zechariah, the Psalms, Gabriel, Michael, Noah’s ark, and even the Ark of the Covenant (2:248) all make cameo appearances.

Most importantly, would the God who wants peace and fights wars only against those who seek to eradicate His chosen people (such as the Amorites, Philistines, Canaanites, Hittites, Jebusites, and Perizzites) so that His people can live freely under His law be the same God who commands jihad and the imposition of sharia law, both of which seek to coerce conversion or kill those who will not convert?

Ask the people of Minnesota and Michigan and France and the United Kingdom how that’s working out.

Fruit reveals truth

To say that the God of the Bible is spiritually and doctrinally the same as Allah of the Quran beggars logic, ignores history, and requires that you willfully disregard the written word in each book.

The canard that Islam is an Abrahamic faith is a way of facilitating a connection between evil and goodness for political purposes in order to provide the evil with the fig leaf of acceptance by affiliation rather than by word and deed.

The God of the Bible, and those who follow His word, produced the freest, safest, cleanest, most generous, and most prosperous nations in human history. Islam, on the other hand, has produced — as the late Samuel P. Huntington wrote in his tour de force “Clash of Civilizations” — a cadre of nations that are never simultaneously at peace with all their neighbors and within their own borders.

That was true when he wrote it in 1996, and it is still true today.

Maybe the holy war now being waged between Islam and what remains of a weak-kneed and addle-brained Christendom is why Jesus says in both Matthew and Revelation that He comes with a sword to separate those who deny from those who follow Him.

When you consider whether it is at all likely that Islam is Abrahamic, remember what the redeemer says in Matthew 7:16-20: “Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”

That is all you need to know to stop saying — and believing — that Islam is an Abrahamic faith.

​Christianity, God, Abraham, Christian, Muslim, Muhammad, Quran, Bible, Faith 

Washington’s latest fights make one thing unmistakable: Democrats shift their arguments as needed, but always in service of higher taxes, higher spending, and a bigger federal footprint. When the question earlier this year was whether to keep current tax policy and avoid a massive tax hike, Democrats fought against keeping current policy.

Now, after forcing a government shutdown, they claim they must preserve current — but temporary — Obamacare subsidies. Two opposite stances, one consistent goal: bigger government.

On taxes, ‘current policy’ doesn’t count. On spending, ‘current policy’ functions like holy writ.

Earlier this year, Congress faced a hard deadline. Lawmakers had to choose between extending the 2017 American Job Creation Act tax rates or letting them snap back to pre-2017 levels — a $4 trillion tax increase across income brackets. Republicans pushed to retain the lower rates. Democrats pushed for the tax hike.

Democrats insisted the looming deadline was Republicans’ fault and said the surge in revenue would help slow growth in deficits and debt. Republicans ultimately prevailed and passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Democrats erupted.

We all know what happened next. Less than three months later, Congress approached the September 30 deadline for annual appropriations. With negotiations still incomplete, Republicans advanced a clean, short-term extension to keep the government open. The House passed it. President Trump signaled he would sign it. Senate Democrats filibustered it.

Republicans tried over a dozen times to reopen the government. Senate Democrats blocked them every time — until this week. Their central demand: extend the temporary “emergency” premium subsidies that Democrats expanded during the pandemic. Those subsidies, scheduled to expire, broadened eligibility beyond 400% of the federal poverty line and boosted benefits for those below it. Democrats already extended them once through 2025.

Now, with the pandemic long over — President Biden signed the resolution ending it on April 10, 2023 — Senate Democrats want the emergency expansions made permanent.

The inconsistency could not be clearer.

When expiring tax law meant taxes would rise, Democrats described preventing that increase as a tax cut — even though extending the law simply kept existing policy in place. The fact that the policy had been the law for eight years meant nothing.

But when expiring pandemic-era subsidies would return Obamacare to its original structure, Democrats suddenly insist that current policy must prevail. They now treat temporary emergency expansions — linked explicitly to COVID, extended once already, disproportionately benefiting upper-income households — as untouchable programs that must become permanent.

On taxes, “current policy” doesn’t count. On spending, “current policy” functions like holy writ.

RELATED: Trump officially ends ‘pathetic’ Democrats’ record-breaking shutdown

Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The reasoning shifts, but the outcome never does: Democrats always land on whatever argument leads to more government. Their broader shutdown demands confirm it — ending Medicaid reforms and restoring spending levels President Trump and Republicans reduced. Every item points in the same direction: more federal dollars out the door.

Democrats note that Republicans, too, support keeping some expiring policies. True. Which makes the underlying purpose even more important to identify.

Republicans fought to maintain 2017 tax levels so Americans could keep more of what they earn — and keep that income out of Washington’s hands. Democrats want permanent expansion of Obamacare subsidies to preserve and grow benefits for people who were never intended to receive them, locking in a larger federal role.

Future fights will come; today’s climate guarantees them. One more thing is just as guaranteed: Democrats’ arguments will continue to change as needed, and their demands for higher taxes, higher spending, and a larger federal government will not.

​Opinion & analysis, Democrats, Taxes, Spending, Big government, Congress, Government shutdown, Donald trump, 2017 tax cuts, American jobs creation act, Tax increases, Obamacare, Subsidies 

We are born with an intrinsic ability to recognize beauty, be it a sunset, a piece of art, or a fellow human being. The second our eyes behold something beautiful, we can’t help but stop and admire. No one teaches us to react this way; it just happens naturally.

Michelle Obama, however, argues otherwise. On a November 12 podcast episode titled “The Power of Hair: Identity, Legacy & Black Womanhood,” the former first lady posited that the world needs to be taught how to appreciate black beauty in particular.

The episode, which featured Cosmopolitan beauty editor Julee Wilson, actor and producer Marsai Martin, and stylist and founder of Esthetics Salon Yene Damtew, was part of the promotional content for Michelle’s new book, “The Look” — a glossy vanity project that repackages the same grievance-laden identity politics she’s been peddling for years under the guise of empowerment and joy.

After declaring that “there isn’t a standard of beauty” and that what we see featured in magazines is merely “taste” and not beauty, she stressed the need “to start educating people about all kinds of beauty.”

“Our beauty is so powerful and so unique that it is worthy of the conversation and it’s worthy of demanding the respect that we’re owed for who we are and what we offer to the world,” she added.

“I didn’t need an education on [beauty]. I can remember at a very early, early age the ability [to recognize], ‘Oh, that’s a beautiful woman; that’s a handsome man,”’ counters Jason Whitlock, BlazeTV host of “Fearless.”

“Fearless” contributor Shemeka Michelle agrees. “You don’t have to teach about beauty — it just is. Michelle sounds so silly, and every time we turn around, here she comes, just another round in the victim Olympics.”

Contrary to Michelle’s belief, objective beauty is real, but “attitude,” Jason argues, can certainly go a long way in the beauty department. Kindness, confidence, faith in Christ — these are all beautifiers, he says.

Unfortunately, many women, he says, adopt the kind of attitude that detracts from the natural beauty they possess. “That’s this feminism that many black women and girlbosses have attached themselves to,” he says. “It erases a lot of their beauty. That bitterness and anger just is not attractive.”

“When you’re sitting around and you’re a multimillionaire and the world has kissed your butt and … then you’re still angry and whining and complaining and demonizing America, it’s just very unattractive,” he says.

Jason and Shemeka both agree that Melania Trump, with her timeless poise and quiet grace, is a far better example of beauty than Michelle Obama will ever be.

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

Want more from Jason Whitlock?

To enjoy more fearless conversations at the crossroads of culture, faith, sports, and comedy with Jason Whitlock, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Jason whitlock, Fearless, Jason whitlock harmony, Blazetv, Blaze media, Michelle obama, Race politics, Beauty 

The Trump administration has plans to root out fraud in the country’s food stamp program.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program provides benefits to approximately 42 million Americans, costing about $100 billion in the fiscal year 2024.

‘Secretary Rollins wants to ensure the fraud, waste, and incessant abuse of SNAP ends.’

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced Thursday that the administration will require Americans receiving food stamps through SNAP to reapply.

Rollins told Newsmax that this effort would “make sure that everyone that’s taking a taxpayer-funded benefit … that they literally are vulnerable and they can’t survive without it.”

Rollins explained that she sent letters to every state, requesting data on SNAP benefits. She noted that 29 states, primarily those led by Republicans, responded to the request.

She stated that “186,000 deceased men and women and children in this country are receiving a check.”

RELATED: Supreme Court rules in favor of Trump administration to extend pause in SNAP funding

Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

“That is what we’re really going to start clamping down on. Half a million are getting two [payments],” Rollins said, noting that this included data from only 29 states.

“Can you imagine when we get our hands on the blue-state data what we’re gonna find?” she added.

“It’s going to give us a platform and a trajectory to fundamentally rebuild this program,” Rollins continued.

The secretary described one instance in which an individual used the same Social Security number to obtain EBT cards in six states.

RELATED: ‘Absurd’: JD Vance blasts activist Obama judge’s apparent overreach on SNAP handouts amid Democrat shutdown

Photo by Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

She noted that President Donald Trump has made cracking down on SNAP fraud a priority, adding that 120 arrests have already been made.

It is not yet clear when beneficiaries will be required to reapply for the benefits.

“Secretary Rollins wants to ensure the fraud, waste, and incessant abuse of SNAP ends,” a USDA spokesperson told The Hill. “Rates of fraud were only previously assumed, and President Trump is doing something about it. Using standard recertification processes for households is a part of that work. As well as ongoing analysis of State data, further regulatory work, and improved collaboration with States.”

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​News, Donald trump, Trump, Trump administration, Trump admin, Brooke rollins, U.s. department of agriculture, Department of agriculture, Agriculture department, Snap, Snap benefits, Supplemental nutrition assistance program, Food stamps, Waste fraud and abuse, Politics 

Faith is everything to me. I believe in Jesus Christ as my personal Savior, and I’m not shy about saying so. Many Americans feel uncomfortable talking about faith, and many others insist religion should stay out of the public square. I disagree. As a Christian, I want more people to know Jesus, who loves them more than they can imagine.

But I also know that people walk different spiritual paths. Some pray differently. Some worship a different god. Others reject religion altogether. America now holds more faith traditions — and more people with no faith — than at any point in our history. That diversity can spark friction, and as politics fills the void left by declining religious belief, many have turned ideological loyalties into a kind of substitute religion.

America’s diversity guarantees disagreement. It always has. But even in conflict, we can find places to unite.

The risk is obvious: These differences can push us toward a breaking point. The warning signs already surround us. In a moment like this, we need grace.

What grace demands

In Christianity, grace is God’s love poured out freely. Eternal life is His gift — not because we earn it or because we are good, but because God is good.

On Earth, grace takes a more practical form. It means giving each other the benefit of the doubt. It means forgiving mistakes. It means choosing generosity instead of suspicion. And it means approaching someone else’s beliefs with curiosity rather than contempt.

For reasons I still struggle to understand, Americans have stopped trying to understand one another.

Last year, I hosted a meeting of community, business, and faith leaders in my hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan. The agenda was full of topics that normally light a fuse: poverty, economic exclusion, racial tensions. Before we began, I admitted that some of the terms we would use carried heavy baggage and that I might say something imperfectly myself. I asked only one thing: a little grace.

That simple request set the tone for the whole day. People pushed through the hard conversations and started looking for solutions. We found common ground in places no one expected. The debate stayed calm because everyone extended grace before they demanded it.

I wish that spirit were more common today.

Why grace is hard — and necessary

Too many people explode at the first sign of disagreement. They judge others more harshly than they judge themselves. They dismiss someone with a different view as beyond redemption. The unspoken thought is always the same: Why bother? They won’t listen to me, so why should I listen to them?

RELATED: Dear Christian: God didn’t call you to be a ‘beautiful loser’

Photo by Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images

It’s a natural impulse, but grace calls us to something higher. It reminds us that the person across from us carries the same human frailties we do.

Grace does not mean surrendering your convictions. It does not ask you to dilute what you believe or pretend serious disagreements don’t matter. It simply asks you to respect the strength of someone else’s convictions, even when you oppose them. It asks you to accept that everyone is imperfect — including you. And because each of us hopes for forgiveness when we stumble, grace asks that we extend that same forgiveness to others.

America’s diversity guarantees disagreement. It always has. But even in conflict, we can find places to unite. Recovering that unity starts with a simple choice: showing each other a little grace.

​Grace, Christians, Americans, Opinion & analysis, Civil society, Unity, Discourse