Category: blaze media

President Trump took to Truth Social on Saturday evening to demand action from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Trump’s post comes after attorney Erik Siebert allegedly resigned from his position as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia on Friday. However, the reason Siebert vacated his role depends on who is asked.

“He didn’t quit, I fired him!” Trump said on Truth Social, per ABC News. The outlet cited sources who claimed Trump had pressured Siebert to bring charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James.

‘What we don’t need is a Democrat Endorsed “Republican.”‘

On Saturday, Trump wrote a direct message to Bondi on his Truth Social account saying he had, “reviewed over 30 statements and posts” that were critical of the attorney general.

“Pam: I have reviewed over 30 statements and posts saying that, essentially, ‘same old story as last time, all talk, no action. Nothing is being done. What about Comey, Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff, Leticia [sic]??? They’re all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done,'” Trump wrote.

The president then said disaster was barely avoided when his team appointed a “Woke RINO” who was “never going to do his job,” likely referring to Siebert.

“He even lied to the media and said he quit, and that we had no case. No, I fired him,” Trump went on, before putting a new name forward to replace Siebert in Eastern Virginia.

“Lindsey Halligan is a really good lawyer, and likes you, a lot,” Trump told Bondi. “We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility. They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!”

RELATED: American jobs first: Hefty new H-1B visa fee will likely curb legal immigration, especially from India

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Halligan is a lawyer currently serving as a special assistant and senior associate staff secretary in the White House. She was previously noted in the executive order titled, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.”

The order largely represented a mission to rid American historical and educational landmarks of woke doctrine, such as the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

“Pam Bondi is doing a GREAT job as Attorney General of the United States. She is very careful, very smart, loves our Country, but needs a tough prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia, like my recommendation, Lindsey Halligan, to get things moving,” Trump wrote in a follow-up post on Truth Social.

RELATED: Trump reveals why the US is trying to get back Bagram Air Base

— (@)

“What we don’t need is a Democrat Endorsed ‘Republican.’ I will be nominating Lindsey Halligan to be the United States Attorney in this very important part of our Great Country. She will be Fair, Smart, and will provide, desperately needed, JUSTICE FOR ALL!” the president concluded.

Siebert described his tenure in Eastern Virginia as a “pleasure,” but Trump told reporters on Friday that he has not been keen on the attorney since he saw two Democrat Virginia senators had approved his nomination.

“When I saw that he got approved by those two men [Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner], I said, ‘Pull it because he can’t be any good,'” Trump said, per Fox News.

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​News, Trump, Tim kaine, Virginia, Pam bondi, Letitia james, Adam schiff, Democrats, Eastern virginia, Attorney, Attorney general, Us attorney, Lindsey halligan, Politics 

A military technology entrepreneur warns that artificial intelligence companies are taking advantage of customers by keeping them connected to the internet.

In an exclusive interview with Blaze Media, EdgeRunner CEO Tyler Saltsman said there are clear reasons why there are no popular AI programs that consumers can simply install and use offline.

‘They want to learn more about you.’

Saltsman’s AI program (EdgeRunner AI) is currently in testing with the Department of War and promises to deliver an offline, secure AI assistance tool to deliver real-time data and mission strategy to boots on the ground. The tech expert explained that EdgeRunner AI can be installed on a wide variety of devices and used without an internet connection, just like many other programs.

This allows for a simple rollout while also avoiding data interception by the enemy.

Blaze Media asked the CEO why leading providers of AI programs and chatbots are online only and require a perpetual connection in order to be used.

“They want to spy on you,” Saltsman revealed. He said that by keeping users online, the AI companies can train their models and improve their product.

RELATED: Space Force AI chatbot now capable of operating missile defense systems and satellites for soldiers

EdgeRunner AI is used on a military laptop. Image provided to Blaze News courtesy of EdgeRunner

The CEO was not in short supply of reasons why it benefits the tech sector to keep consumer info streaming into its data centers online.

“They want your data, they want your prompts, they want to learn more about you,” he continued.

Saltsman went on, stating he believes the ongoing fees are part of an effort to “price-gouge” the consumer. He said that while he is not a fan of these perpetual sales, he is, however, a big fan of the idea that language models and programming interfaces “are not products.”

“Keep the data private and bring the product to the people,” he stressed. “We don’t want Big Tech having all of this data and having all this control. It needs to be decentralized.”

Saltsman also told Blaze Media that he strongly believes President Trump’s administration is open to diminishing hurdles and cutting red tape. This can ensure proper advancements in technology for the U.S. military. With that, he hopes “the current administration values offline AI.”

When asked if he plans to bring his AI to market at some point, Saltsman said that while it is a goal, his primary objective in the immediate future is to implement EdgeRunner AI so that U.S. soldiers can harness the advantages while limiting loss of life.

At the same time, Saltsman was adamant that humans are always the key factor in any decision his company makes and that the technology has to be centered around the soldier, first and foremost.

RELATED: AI chatbots share blame for confusion in wake of Charlie Kirk shooting

Photo by Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

EdgeRunner recently wrapped up military exercises in Fort Carson, Colorado, and Fort Riley, Kansas.

In Fort Carson, the company tested they tech with an airborne company, a support battalion, and a special forces unit.

During the exercise in Fort Riley, EdgeRunner AI was used to support the 1st Infantry Division during its “Danger Gauntlet IV” exercise.

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​Return, Ai, Artificial intelligence, Military, Us army, Edgerunner, China, Language models, Chatbot, Tech 

Corporate America must answer for its part in the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

Years of platforming and promotion of the woke cancers of trans ideology, critical race theory, cultural Marxism, abortion, and many others through America’s largest corporations have done more damage than many realize. Cases like Bud Light and Target illustrate the harm companies have done to themselves by embracing these ideas. But also consider the damage they have done not just to their brands, but to society.

The cultural battle we are fighting is not just right versus left — it is good versus evil.

How might the world be different if instead of promoting LGBT propaganda in their storefronts and advertising, big businesses promoted traditional marriage and family values?

What if companies ditched mandatory trainings on “gender-affirming HR policy” and instead celebrated men of integrity and women of honor uniting in holy marriages and giving birth to lots and lots of children?

What if companies redirected the millions of dollars they donate to the abortion mafia every year toward Christian adoption agencies and pro-life clinics?

What if companies rewarded hard work and merit instead of skin color and sexual preferences?

That world is such a far cry from where we are today that it seems almost unimaginable. It underscores just how insidious is the cultural impact our corporations have had on American society.

A single crack of an assassin’s rifle shattered any remaining illusions about the moment we are in right now in our nation. Charlie Kirk’s martyrdom was the first to be witnessed by tens of millions of people around planet earth. The ensuing revival has been stunning and inspiring. The ghoulish celebration by those with darkened spirits has been disgusting.

Such contrast surrounding the atrocity of Charlie’s murder has put into sharp focus for me that the cultural battle we are fighting is not just right versus left — it is good versus evil. Medusa has taken off her hat and we can see the naked evil for what it is: hatred, pure and simple.

I only spoke with Charlie once. I was a big fan of his work. As I have reflected on the truly miraculous work he accomplished to activate the youth of our country toward conservative, Christian political engagement — a feat many told him was hopeless — I am put to shame that we have not done more in our sphere of influence among Christian investors to combat the evil emanating from the stocks in our portfolios.

According to Kingdom Advisor’s 2025 Report on the Christian financial industry, Christian church members in the United States own $22.4 trillion of investment assets, or roughly 49.7% of all investments in this country. That means 49.7% of all the votes for board members who appoint CEOs, set major corporate policy, and direct the corporation’s engagement on cultural issues.

If Christians have that sort of influence, why do the boardrooms of corporate America so often resound with anti-Christian sentiment?

RELATED: Prove Charlie right

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

It pains me to say that it is because these assets have been, in large measure, handed over to leftist corporations, mutual fund companies, and financial advisory firms to do with them what they will.

We as Christians, and conservatives more broadly, have given our power, influence, wealth, and shareholder votes to the enemies of our way of life. This must change.

The leftist ideology spewed by many corporate institutions and that animates the murderous hatred of Charlie Kirk is not simply a political viewpoint; it is an evil. Like all lies, it cannot stand before the truth. And like all darkness, it cannot stand against the light. But it howls and gnashes its teeth all the same.

Will we stand idly by as the demons run wild with our money? Or will we take back our wealth, influence, and shareholder votes from the big Wall Street firms and make sure our dollars are advocating for biblical values?

Together we can speak $22.4 trillion of biblical truth to corporate power — and there is no telling what God will do with that.

​Christianity, Christians, Woke, Lgbt ideology, Abortion, Investing, Finances, Charlie kirk, Charlie kirk assassination, Faith 

A man who claimed to be a member of a law enforcement agency was arrested at State Farm Stadium on Saturday.

The memorial for Charlie Kirk is being held at the football stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on Sunday. The stadium is already buzzing with security, as the event is said to be dealing with a Super Bowl level of media interest and attendance.

‘The individual is not a member of authorized law enforcement …’

While local officials have said that security teams have had to be pulled together in record time, law enforcement on the ground appears to be effective so far.

One man has already been arrested after he was reportedly exhibiting strange behavior at the stadium.

“The U.S. Secret Service, in coordination with local law enforcement in Glendale, Arizona, is investigating an individual who was observed exhibiting suspicious behavior at State Farm Stadium,” a Secret Service spokesperson said, per MSNBC.

“The individual was approached by Secret Service and stated during the encounter that he was a member of law enforcement and that he was armed,” the spokesperson continued.

RELATED: Here’s how to watch BlazeTV coverage of the memorial for Charlie Kirk

Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images

“The individual is not a member of authorized law enforcement working the event and is currently in custody. The U.S. Secret Service and local law enforcement are investigating the circumstance as to why he was at the location,” the spokesperson added.

While NBC correspondent Jay Gray stated that the man remained in custody, The Hill reported that authorities “suggested” that the man was charged by the Arizona Department of Public Safety but that it is unclear whether he is still in custody.

Gray went on to confirm that security around the stadium is indeed comparable to that of a Super Bowl and is, “at that level already” ahead of the 2 p.m. ET start time on Sunday.

MSNBC reported that security consists of a mix of local and federal law enforcement, with drones and hundreds of cameras — approximately 300 — positioned around the stadium.

RELATED: Why Charlie Kirk’s murder is ‘about me’ — and anyone else they dehumanize as a ‘Nazi’

Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images

Kirk’s murder has sent shock waves across the world, drawing heaps of praise and, unfortunately, criticisms as well.

Earlier this week, talk show host Jimmy Kimmel had his late-night program suspended by ABC over remarks he made about Kirk’s alleged killer. Sinclair Broadcast Group was set to replace ABC programming with an hour-long documentary about Kirk’s life. However, Sinclair, the largest owner of ABC-affiliated television stations, backed out of airing the tribute on Friday.

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​News, Charlie kirk, Charlie kirk memorial, Secret service, Police, Arizona, Glendale, State farm stadium, Politics 

A congresswoman reversed course to condemn Charlie Kirk just hours after voting to honor him.

Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.) was one of 95 Democrats who voted in favor of honoring Kirk’s “life and legacy” on Friday in a House resolution. The vote came just over a week after Kirk was assassinated, allegedly by a young male who was dating a transgender person.

‘… Kirk’s racist, anti-American views.’

In total, the resolution received support from both Democrats and Republicans with a 310-58 vote. While 58 Democrats voted against and another 22 did not vote at all, Sherrill’s about-face afterward was all the more confusing considering that she voted in support of the resolution.

In statement posted to her X account, Sherril wrote that while she supports free speech, she still thinks Kirk has “vile” views.

“I take my oath to the Constitution seriously. I believe in free speech. And that the First Amendment wouldn’t be necessary if it were only meant to cover language we agreed with,” Sherrill stated. “It is meant to protect people like Charlie Kirk who present vile dissenting views. But it is also meant to protect teachers, doctors, and TV comedians who may express views the president doesn’t like.”

Then the New Jersey Democrat claimed that Kirk supported restricting the rights of women and black people.

RELATED: Sinclair backs out of airing Charlie Kirk on its ABC stations — here’s what it did instead

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“Charlie Kirk was advocating for a Christian nationalist government and to roll back the rights of women and Black people — this flies in the face of every value I hold dear and that I fight for,” Sherril continued. “But the Constitution protects free speech, even for those I vehemently oppose.”

Sherrill then stated that President Trump “defines hypocrisy at every turn” and is “instigating a witch hunt worthy of Joseph McCarthy to shut down the free speech rights of anyone who disagrees with Kirk’s racist, anti-American views.”

The 53-year-old noted in her final paragraph that she considers Kirk’s murder to be “horrific” and said it is “up to all of us to stand against political violence.”

“In these times, I will continue to condemn political violence, racism, attacks on women, and the hypocrisy coming from Trump and his acolytes,” she concluded.

RELATED: Why Charlie Kirk’s murder is ‘about me’ — and anyone else they dehumanize as a ‘Nazi’

Representative Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.). Photographer: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Sherrill is running for governor of New Jersey in November as the Democratic Party candidate. She will run against Republican Jack Ciattarelli.

Ciattarelli responded to Sherrill’s comments, writing on X, “Mikie Sherrill’s hypocrisy knows no bounds.”

He also described her comments about Kirk as “inexcusable and disqualifying.”

Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) responded to Sherrill’s remarks directly in her comments section with, “You can’t just say crap like that — especially when it’s not true.”

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​News, Utah, New jersey, Governor, Charlie kirk, Congress, Mike lee, Trump, Republican, Democrat, Politics 

If you find yourself hardening your heart and turning from God over all of the horrifying news and events you’re seeing, I beg you to turn back to Him.

All of this only makes sense if there’s justice in the end. That justice can only come from Him.

Saving faith is not just a moment of belief, a moment of repentance. It is a lifetime of faithful choices to live like Jesus.

This world and all of us are dust in waiting. We are here to seek God, believe in Him, repent of our sins, and give our tiny, fleeting, sin-infused lives to Him.

The “god” of this age wants you to turn away from eternity in heaven and toward eternal death because of temporary anger, fear, and frustration.

But don’t let your heart be hardened. Give your anger, your hatred, your pain, anxiety, sadness, doubts, regrets, your fleeting hope — give it to Jesus. Step in faith and draw near to Him, and He will draw near to you.

If you feel even the smallest desire to have God in your life, pray to Him now. Tell Him you want to give your life to Him. Repent of your sins to Him. He will forgive you. It is infinitely worth it. You are worth it. Jesus loves you.

To be clear, I’m not asking you to make a momentary commitment.

Saving faith is not just a moment of belief, a moment of repentance. It is a lifetime of faithful choices to live like Jesus and of repentance when you fail to do so.

It is a lifetime of prayer, studying the Bible, prayer, worshipping Him with others in communion together, prayer, sharing the gospel with others, and prayer. It is a lifetime of seeking to be obedient to Him and repenting to Him when you aren’t.

RELATED: Faith and doubt: The journey of a struggling Christian

sedmak/iStock/Getty Images Plus

You will never do it perfectly. You will often fall short. Sometimes you may even wonder if any of this is real. But keep doing it.

In your moments of weakest faith, turn to Him in faith. Ask Him to help your unbelief (Mark 9:24). In your moments of sin and failure, turn to Him in repentance. Ask Him to forgive you your sins, and He will. In your moments of hopelessness, sadness, anger, and fear, turn to Him in prayer. Thank Him for His grace and mercy toward you, and ask Him to help you to be more like Him.

When you are joyful, or even when you’re not, turn to Him in praise and worship. Thank Him for creating you, for forgiving you, for loving you, for offering you eternal paradise in heaven with Him.

Whatever you feel, wherever you are, turn to Him — for life. I promise you, it’s worth it.

A version of this essay originally appeared on Spike Cohen’s X account.

​God, Christianity, Prayer, Jesus, Christian, Faith 

On the first weekend of September, I saw Charlie Kirk speak at the Build Up Korea conference in Seoul. It was his first trip to Asia and sadly destined to be his last; five days later, he was assassinated at Utah Valley University.

The conference is an annual gathering of young Korean conservatives, with whom Kirk had become quite popular. Even after having taught university here for seven years, I still did not feel like I had a good handle on the current political scene.

When Kirk spoke of how the most pressing problems were those that came from within South Korea, a hush settled over the mostly young audience.

The issues that are divisive can appear puzzling and petty to the outsider unfamiliar with the parties involved. And the terms of debate seem to have remained the same even as the values and outlooks of people have changed, even dramatically, over the past decade.

While conservatism in South Korea was on the same page as the Republican Party in the past, the rise of the MAGA movement has complicated matters. Its slogan of “America First,” which portends the reduction of U.S. military commitments across the globe and the drawing down of U.S. forces across the globe, stands at odds with the priorities of South Korean conservatives, for whom maintaining alliance with the U.S. is a cornerstone of their politics.

Indeed, until recently, one of the major dividing lines between left and right in South Korea was that the right, as the party of business, was more outwardly directed, favoring international trade and supporting the activities of the major South Korean corporations, while the left was more inward-looking and nationalist.

A South Korean today who would be willing to declare “Korea First” is likely to belong to the shrinking number of aging leftists who want to unite the two Koreas under a social democratic system.

But the enthusiastic cheers that greeted Kirk when he took to the stage seemed to dispel any such apprehension about the future of the alliance. Kirk’s engaging presence on social media had created an eager cohort of followers among young Christians in South Korea.

The affection shown by the audience was reciprocated by Charlie, who had clearly taken the time to study contemporary South Korean society so that he could speak knowledgeably about the most serious problems it faces.

He praised how well things work in Korea and spoke of how the country had come such a long way from the poverty caused by total war. Kirk spoke of how peaceful and friendly the people are and of how wonderful it felt to be able to take public transportation without the fear of crime or walk in a park and not be menaced by violent drug addicts. This is how things should be in every modern country, and his tone took a wistful turn, as he indicated that life was no longer like this in the U.S.

To be sure, his speech contained some familiar and predictable warnings about the dangers of communism and the threat to South Korea posed by the Chinese Communist Party and by the dictatorship in the North. Invoking the times that Americans and South Koreans had fought side by side, Kirk reaffirmed the alliance as the fruit of shared sacrifice and common values.

These boilerplate remarks were met with applause from the audience, but when Kirk spoke of how the most pressing problems were those that came from within South Korea, a hush settled over the mostly young audience.

After praising South Korea for its remarkable rise from the ashes of a devastating war and the dire poverty it caused, Kirk warned that the country currently faces an existential threat of its own making. The collapsing rates of marriages and births pose the gravest threats to the nation’s future. Of course, this issue has long ago become an everyday topic of conversation, but the way Kirk approached the topic grabbed the attention of the crowd.

He spoke with great sympathy of the harsh and stressful lives endured by Korean children, who from an early age are forced to spend day and night studying for the college entrance examination. He was also familiar with the lingo used by South Koreans to describe their despair, referring to the “en-po generation,” which is used to describe the things that Koreans feel forced to give up. For example, “sam-po,” which means “three renunciations,” refers to giving up on dating, marriage, and children. “O-po,” which means five renunciations, adds “homeownership” and “friendships” to the list of the previous three. “Sip-po” refers to giving up everything, including life itself.

The care that Kirk took in learning about the most pressing crises in South Korean society did not just flatter his audience — as a people might feel warmth and reassurance when an outsider speaks both sympathetically and knowledgeably about their troubles. He also challenged the young people at the conference in a way that sparked in them hope and confidence.

Kirk reminded them of the thousands of years of history on the Korean peninsula and the terrible ordeals that Koreans had suffered in the past — wars, invasions, and famines. What would the ancestors of today’s Koreans say, he asked, if they were to learn that their descendants, living in a wealthy and prosperous nation, had stopped reproducing out of economic worries?

Kirk emphasized not only that is it morally wrong not to have children, but also that children bring joy into the lives of their parents. Koreans, he continued, need to look at every aspect of their society — law, policy, culture — to create an environment that promotes child-bearing and healthy child-rearing.

The recent impeachment of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, a conservative Catholic, and the subsequent election of liberal Lee Jae-myung has left local Christians feeling embattled. The country has also felt increasing pressure from global allies to allow mass migration.

In these matters, Kirk affirmed that the struggles of Koreans were also those of Americans, who had thrown off the tyranny of the Biden administration and are at present undoing the damage caused by the regime’s policy of open borders. He ended his message by declaring that he would never forget South Korea and that he would be there for young Koreans in the future.

It is grieves my heart to note that in retrospect, he will be there in spirit. Yet, a man who planted so many seeds that bore much fruit in life will also in death become even more fruitful in renewing the lives of those who remember him.

​Charlie kirk, South korea 

Franklin Graham recently reminded us of something I’ve always admired about Charlie Kirk: He stood firmly on biblical truth, but he did it with compassion. He debated boldly, yet never with malice. He modeled what it looks like to stand on God’s word while still loving those who disagreed.

That’s what struck me most about Charlie’s ministry.

Standing on God’s word is the most loving thing we can do.

When culture calls biblical truth hate speech, Christians must remember that speaking God’s word is the highest form of love.

Charlie Kirk’s legacy of truth with compassion

Charlie never treated debates like a chance to humiliate others. He approached them as opportunities to present God’s truth. Franklin Graham said it best: Charlie stood unapologetically on scripture, but he did it in a way that reflected Christ’s compassion. That’s rare today.

I’ve seen unbelievers circulate memes and half-quotes trying to paint him as harsh or hateful. But when you look at the full conversations, the truth is clear: Charlie’s goal wasn’t to win arguments at all costs — it was to point people back to God’s word.

That’s the real lesson for us. The world will twist, clip, and distort, but what matters is faithfulness before the Lord.

When biblical truth is branded hate

We’ve reached a point in culture where entire sections of scripture are now considered “hate speech.” If you affirm God’s design for marriage, gender, or life in the womb, you risk being censored, mocked, or even punished.

Isaiah warned us: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil” (Isaiah 5:20). That’s exactly what’s happening. The world has inverted God’s standards — light is called darkness, and darkness is celebrated as light.

And let’s be clear: Speaking the Bible is not hate. The Bible itself says, “Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth” (1 Corinthians 13:6). True love tells the truth, even when it’s unpopular.

As Desiring God on speaking truth in love explains, love without truth isn’t love at all — it’s indifference. And indifference leads people straight into destruction.

Culture’s shifting morality vs. God’s unchanging word

Here’s the problem with cultural morality: It shifts constantly. What’s praised today is condemned tomorrow. It’s built on feelings, not on facts.

I’ve seen it myself — murder excused in some cases but denounced in others, sexual ethics redefined with each generation, and “compassion” used as an excuse to break laws. But morality without scripture is just a moving target.

RELATED: Don’t fall victim to the biggest lie being told in American churches today

pamela_d_mcadams/iStock/Getty Images Plus

God’s word doesn’t shift with feelings or politics. Jesus said in Matthew 24:35, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” That’s why Charlie’s stand mattered — he anchored everything in the Bible, not in popular opinion.

Out of context: The attack strategy

One thing that frustrates me most is how often Charlie’s critics ripped his words out of context.

Take his comment on the Civil Rights Act. Critics spun it as racist, when his point was about federal government overreach — not opposing equal rights. Or his remarks on the Second Amendment, where he said liberty comes with a cost. Opponents twisted that into indifference about human life, even though he also called those deaths tragic.

Even scripture itself has been twisted this way for centuries. Satan quoted Psalm 91 out of context when tempting Jesus (Matthew 4:6). Why should we expect the world to treat modern truth-tellers any differently?

That’s the real playbook: Rip words from their setting, slap on a label of “hate,” and dismiss the speaker entirely.

Why truth is love — not hate

Jesus didn’t say, “Stay quiet so you don’t offend.” He said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32).

The world says truth is “hate.” But in reality, the absence of truth is the cruelest hate of all.

The apostle Paul reminds us that love rejoices in truth (1 Corinthians 13:6) and that we must speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). To stay silent while people remain in sin is not love — it’s indifference.

Even this week, a Reuters report on a law professor suspended over posts about Kirk shows how fiercely culture now polices speech around controversial public figures. That should wake us up. If even scripture is branded as hate, then we must be prepared to face the same hostility.

Standing firm in a world turned upside down

The culture may label us “haters,” but the truth is this: Standing on God’s word is the most loving thing we can do.

Charlie Kirk lived this out boldly. And Franklin Graham’s defense of him reminds us that true Christianity is not about silencing sin or watering down truth. It’s about proclaiming Christ with courage and compassion.

Like Charlie, we are called to hold fast to biblical truth — no matter the cost.

This article is adapted from an essay originally published at Arch Kennedy’s blog.

​Bible, Christian, Charlie kirk, God, Jesus, Charlie kirk assassination, Christianity, Faith 

A profound mental health crisis lies at the heart of violence in America. Decarlos Brown Jr., the suspect in the brutal stabbing death of the Ukrainian woman Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte, North Carolina, was in a mental hospital earlier this year and was diagnosed with schizophrenia. But doctors wouldn’t have released him if they had viewed him as a danger to himself or others.

Similarly, the killers at Minneapolis’ Annunciation Catholic School and Nashville’s Covenant School both struggled with mental illness. Nearly all mass shooters also battled suicidal thoughts.

Our mental health system cannot serve as the last line of defense — too many mistakes slip through.

“We will never arrest our way out of issues such as homelessness and mental health,” Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles warned after the stabbing death. “Mental health disease is just that — a disease. It needs to be treated with the same compassion.” After the Minneapolis attack, House Speaker Mike Johnson underscored the issue: “The problem is the human heart. It’s mental health. There are things that we can do.”

Yet despite the fact that more than half of mass public shooters over the past 25 years were already under the care of mental health professionals, not a single one was identified as a danger to themselves or others. An entire body of academic research now explores why mental health experts so often fail to predict these attacks.

What’s the plan?

When professionals cannot identify threats before atrocities are committed, society must ask: What is the backup plan?

The Minneapolis school murderer admitted: “I am severely depressed and have been suicidal for years.” After the Nashville school shooting, police concluded the killer was “highly depressed and highly suicidal throughout her life.” Yet even with regular psychiatric care, experts found no signs of homicidal or suicidal intent.

The 2022 Buffalo supermarket killer showed the same pattern. In June 2021, when asked about his future plans, he answered that he wanted to attend summer school, murder people there, and then commit suicide. Alarmed, his teacher sent him for evaluation by two mental health professionals. He told them it was a joke, and they let him go.

Later he admitted: “I got out of it because I stuck with the story that I was getting out of class, and I just stupidly wrote that down. It was not a joke; I wrote that down because that’s what I was planning to do.”

Many well-known mass killers saw psychiatrists before their attacks. U.S. Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who murdered 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009, was himself an Army psychiatrist. Elliot Rodger, the UC Santa Barbara “incel” shooter, had received years of high-level counseling, but like the Buffalo killer, Rodger simply knew not to reveal his true intentions. The Army psychiatrist who last saw Ivan Lopez (the second Fort Hood shooter) concluded there was no “sign of likely violence, either to himself or to others.”

Aurora movie theater shooter James Holmes’ psychiatrist did warn University of Colorado officials about Holmes’ violent fantasies shortly before his attack, but even she dismissed the threat as insufficient for custody. And both a court-appointed psychologist and a hospital psychiatrist found Virginia Tech shooter Seung-Hui Cho posed no danger to himself or others.

Psychiatrists have every incentive to get these diagnoses right. Beyond professional pride and the desire to help, they face legal obligations to report threats. Families of victims have even sued psychiatrists for failing to recommend confinement. Despite this, psychiatrists consistently underestimate the danger.

The problem runs deep enough to generate a whole academic literature. Some experts suggest psychiatrists try to prove their fearlessness or become desensitized to risk. Additional training in unusual cases may help, but predicting such rare outcomes will always remain extremely difficult.

Hindsight makes the warning signs look obvious. Before the attack, even to experts, they rarely do. And while addressing mental illness, we should not stigmatize it. Mentally ill people are far more likely to become victims of violence than perpetrators. Only a tiny fraction ever commit murder.

Take schizophrenia: More than 3.5 million Americans live with the disorder, yet only one schizophrenic has committed a mass attack since 2019. That makes the odds of such a crime less than 1 in 3.5 million — extremely rare.

Victims left defenseless

No one wants dangerous individuals to access weapons. Are we going to disarm all mentally ill people, even though they themselves are at increased risk of violent crime? One woman we know saw her husband murdered in front of her by her stalker. She was very depressed but feared that in seeking mental help she would be denied the right to own a gun (which she needed to protect herself).

Another factor that makes these attacks difficult to stop is that they are planned long in advance, with six months being about the shortest. The Sandy Hook massacre was planned for over two and a half years, allowing the perpetrator plenty of time to obtain weapons.

RELATED: If ‘words are violence,’ why won’t the left own theirs?

Photo by wildpixel via Getty Images

These killers, like the recent attacker in Minneapolis, often state outright in their manifestos and diaries that they target “gun-free zones.” They may be crazy, but they aren’t stupid. They expect to die, but they want attention when they do. They know that the higher the body count, the more media coverage they’ll receive. That’s why they choose places where no one can fight back.

Weapons bans won’t work

The attack in Charlotte happened in a gun-free zone. The woman had no chance to defend herself when the attacker struck from behind, and no one on the train intervened. Bystanders may have hesitated out of fear — after all, the killer was a large man armed with a knife, even though knives are also banned on public transportation. Someone with a firearm possibly could have stopped the assault, just as a Marine veteran in July did in a Michigan Walmart, where at gunpoint he forced a knife-wielding attacker to drop his weapon. Others who tried to stop the attacker without a gun were stabbed.

Our mental health system cannot serve as the last line of defense — too many mistakes slip through. If mental health professionals can’t reliably stop these attackers before they strike, we must ask: What’s the backup plan? Leaving targets unprotected isn’t the best option.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published by RealClearPolitics and made available via RealClearWire.

​Opinion & analysis, Opinion, Mass shooting, Mass shooting threat, Gun violence, Iryna zarutska, Charlie kirk, Charlie kirk assassination, Decarlos brown jr, Crime, Mental health crisis, Mental illness, Schizophrenia, Annunciation catholic school, Covenant school 

When I started “The Perfume Nationalist” in February 2019, it was out of rage and helplessness at the ideological, authoritarian evil I saw taking over my country.

At that time it was de facto illegal to publicly support Trump. Left-wing media demanded that employers fire Trump supporters, and there was always the risk of deplatforming and having one’s bank account or payment services canceled. People would be unpersoned for something as minor as liking an image of Pepe the Frog, viewed as part of a vast and objectively nonexistent “Nazi” subculture lurking just beneath the surface of America.

I made my show look as frightening as possible, discussing every possible unspeakable topic right up front, including platforming people with views I didn’t agree with.

The words “Nazi” and “fascist” were stripped of all objective meaning and used to ruin the reputations and Google results of anyone who questioned the Democrat Party’s escalating authoritarianism.

A deliberate provocation

What was then called the “alt-right” had a strong, edgy, and aesthetically forward presence. It comprised all sorts of different people from liberal, normal Republicans to unstable, viscerally repellent, and hateful people protected by the culture of mandatory anonymity. Its unifying values were spreading information suppressed by liberals and extreme transgressive humor.

My show emerged from this scene out of necessity and found its first audience there. Its title was a deliberate provocation and commentary on the fact that anyone who stood for freedom and basic liberal American values was now called a Nazi.

I’m also a nationalist. You should be a nationalist too.

Dirtbag cowardice

At the time, dirtbag leftism and Bernie Sanders acted as a cover for public figures who dared to lightly criticize the Democrat Party. You could mock liberal piety and wokeness in safe, surface-level ways and maintain a degree of protection from your promotion of socialism. Shows would begin as left-presenting and gradually incorporate laundered RW content after a safe delay.

I took the opposite approach and made my show look as frightening as possible, discussing every possible unspeakable topic right up front, including platforming people with views I didn’t agree with. I had to start like this and confront these topics to gain the trust of my audience.

Letting people speak

The joke is that it was also all about perfume. The unspeakable bogeymen of society — alienated young white men who dared to defend themselves against a culture that demonized and hated them — would also be listening to a gay culture show about perfume.

My belief is that if you let people speak and don’t censor it, extreme and antisocial views hold less mystique and can be examined for what they actually are. If they’re presented as a forbidden treasure chest of secret knowledge, it gives everything suppressed an aura of glittering truth.

As the years have gone by, those antisocial views have become what mainstream liberals say and think every day. Extreme anti-Semitism is a dominant value on the far left and the anti-Trump far right today. They find roundabout ways to excuse it or say that isn’t what’s happening. It is exactly what’s happening, and this is what it looks like.

Who is the ‘Nazi’?

The mainstream lib of today is more ideologically a “Nazi” than I have ever been. But does the word lose its power? No. It persists in its 2010s witch-hunt meaning, being used to dehumanize anyone who stands up for free speech, American values, and the right to live a safe life where criminals and murderers are punished and decent citizens protected.

The cultural atmosphere has changed for the better thanks to the bravery of people who used their faces and names and took the consequences. It wasn’t “the RW anons” who accomplished any of this, though this myth persists to this day, with conservative talking heads falling over themselves to pay lip service to this subculture that has proven to be rotten, nebulous, and ideologically aligned with Democrats in every important way.

Shut up and suffer

“TPN” continued and gained a much wider audience. When online leftists became aware of me due to more high-profile people coming on my show, the fatwa was put out on me. I have been crucified and canceled over and over again to a degree that would make your head spin. I have been stalked and harassed in the most personal and disturbing ways.

The worst of it has come from people ostensibly on the right, who agree with my views in many ways. You don’t just get it from liberals; you get it from everyone. When it’s happening to you, you’re expected not to talk about it. It’s described as “undignified” and “beneath you” to give it attention or explain what’s happening. It makes everyone uncomfortable, and any public figure viewed as provocative or controversial is thought by most people to be deserving of whatever happens to him, especially if he’s successful or admired.

People who have had it happen to them understand how bad it gets and the loneliness of being stuck with it. Most people quit after their first taste of it. I didn’t and kept going because my life had led me here, and for all the negativity, kind, beautiful, smart people would tell me my work had changed their lives. The show became simply an extension of my life, to talk about whatever I wanted with whoever I wanted.

Lots of people I thought of as friends have disavowed and stabbed me in the back over the years. It doesn’t matter; the story keeps going, and the pain is part of it, just as the joy is. “TPN” has influenced mainstream culture in some pretty undeniable ways. I’m copied a lot but rarely given credit, because even to those close to me, my name carries a certain stigma. The Perfume Nazi.

RELATED: Charlie Kirk: Loving father, fearless communicator, happy warrior — 1993-2025

Rebecca Noble / Stringer via Getty Images

‘I’m not reading all that’

Still that word, Nazi. I suppose it’s cool in some ways to be a cult thing that still has an edge, but the hypocrisy is frustrating and never-ending.

As President Trump said, Charlie Kirk’s assassination was the result of years of ideological conditioning by the left to view anyone critical of it as a Nazi. The word dehumanizes sane, liberal, accepting people — liberal not in the sense of woke Democrat but liberal in its actual meaning — people who oppose censorship, promote freedom, and want the highest quality of life for everyone around them.

It’s viewed as distasteful for anyone to tell his story when something atrocious happens. “Way to make it about yourself.” “I’m not reading all that.” “He’s whining,” etc. The responses write themselves, and if you’ve seen them before, you know what they’ll be.

The thing is that I don’t care any more. I’ve been proven right about things over and over. I have a body of work to be proud of, and those who listen to it know it goes so far beyond politics and wokeness and news stories. I don’t care about appearing above it all and unfazed. What these people do and the evil they’re capable of has to be described, and it has to stop. They’re terrorists and murderers. Everything they’ve said about us is true about themselves.

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On Wednesday, September 18, ABC announced the network’s decision to indefinitely suspend “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” following host Jimmy Kimmel’s controversial comments about Charlie Kirk’s assassination on September 10.

“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” he said on the show’s September 16 episode.

The hateful and inaccurate comment drew sharp criticism from FCC Chair Brendan Carr and led major affiliates Nexstar and Sinclair to pre-empt the show.

Of course, the left is crying government overreach, claiming Carr forced the show’s suspension through coercion and threats, but Glenn Beck, who knows Carr personally, says he highly doubts that’s true.

“I want you to know I am not for government involvement in any of this. Government should not be involved in this at all,” he clarifies.

And yet he can’t dismiss the glaring irony of liberals’ cries of government censorship when they ignored and even supported Democrat administrations, specifically Biden’s and Obama’s, quietly pressuring social media companies like Facebook and Twitter to censor conservative voices.

These Democrat administrations were “flexing their muscles all the time, making quiet threats to companies all the time, but yeah, apparently [liberals] don’t see that,” he scoffs.

The left didn’t care about protecting free speech when it was Tucker Carlson’s show — rated number two in all of cable news at the time — that was ripped off air at the behest of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who accused the Fox News anchor of “incitement of violence” in the lead-up to the January 6 Capitol events. The socialist Democrat even bragged that it was her pressure campaign that influenced Fox’s decision to part ways with Carlson. “Deplatforming works and it is important. Good things can happen,” she boasted.

But now that there’s suspicion that a Trump administration might have played a role in a show’s suspension, liberals are suddenly fretting over government overreach?

“Now, you could say that maybe these companies are afraid of Donald Trump. Well, I will tell you that ABC should be afraid,” says Glenn, citing the $16 million defamation settlement that Trump won against ABC News over George Stephanopoulos falsely claiming Trump was found “liable for rape” in the E. Jean Carroll case — a costly lesson that likely drove ABC to suspend Kimmel’s show to avoid another legal blow.

Lawsuits like this, Glenn argues, are how broadcasters like Kimmel should be held accountable — not through government censorship, but through courts.

But there’s no doubt Kimmel has earned his current predicament.

Not only was his comment about Kirk’s alleged killer, Tyler Robinson, being MAGA “not comedy,” it was a “lie,” says Glenn, adding that the blame isn’t just on Kimmel but on ABC as a whole, since surely the show’s script was seen by many eyes prior to airing.

More than ever, it’s clear that ABC is “agenda-driven,” he says.

But even so, “the FCC should not be involved in this,” he reiterates. “Let the grassroots market work itself out, not these giant organizations that are funded with our tax dollars.”

To hear more of Glenn’s commentary, watch the episode above.

Want more from Glenn Beck?

To enjoy more of Glenn’s masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis, and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, 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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Alex Lee Moyer is a filmmaker, director, and editor, but unlike most cinematic creatives, she isn’t defined by Hollywood capture.

Her edge? Telling the stories nobody wants to touch. “TFW No GF” (2020) dives headfirst into the isolation and alienation of young men in digital subcultures, like incels and Frogtwitter, while “Alex’s War” (2022) explores the rise and impact of controversial media figure Alex Jones.

But neither of these films aims to sway the viewer in any specific direction.

“I’m not trying to make propaganda films. I’m just trying to get to the heart of things … that people, including myself, have anxiety about,” she told BlazeTV host Nicole Shanahan on a recent episode of “Back to the People.”

Moyer isn’t interested in portraying someone like Alex Jones, for example, as the good guy or the bad guy. “More importantly, he’s a guy. He’s a real person. … Demystifying some of those [controversial] topics can actually kind of bring people together in conversation,” she says.

Ironically, Moyer’s pursuit of facts would have been considered “a liberal cause” just a few years ago. But after the COVID-19 pandemic, things changed. The hyper politicization of today’s culture has caused her work, which is intentionally apolitical, to be falsely labeled as “right wing.”

“The Hollywood narrative is so narrow right now that if you’re outside of it, you’re somehow unworthy or irresponsible or unethical,” says Nicole.

The reason we see so many films driven by left-wing political agendas is because high-up executives in the industry have an incredible amount of sway. “In order for something to get made, it has to go through so many different filters,” says Moyer, “and it’s not just about whether somebody perceives offense themselves. It has a lot to do with whether they think their boss, or you know, somebody at the streaming platform is going to take offense.”

“Hollywood is not going to be taking any risks — not when you have threats from AI, not when you have threats from appeasing people in other countries like China or … not wanting to run afoul of the homogeny of liberalism in Hollywood. There’s a lot of things that keep them locked in place,” she explains.

While many are tempted to relegate Hollywood to an irredeemable ash heap, both Moyer and Nicole argue it plays a critical role in society.

“We should care about what happens there because it’s one of the great sources of soft power for the United States, and it helps forge our identity here and in the rest of the world,” says Moyer.

Nicole agrees, stating, “A failure of Hollywood is a big deal, and a Hollywood that doesn’t represent America and American culture and ideals is scary.”

Instead of crossing her fingers hoping for a Hollywood revolution, Moyer is taking matters into her own hands. In late 2023, she founded her own production company called Onset Creative.

The company’s aim, she says, is “to focus first and foremost on developing projects that [cannot] be made anywhere else that reflect the cultural moment, namely the present and the recent past.”

To hear about Moyer’s next documentary “The Technologists” — an honest look into the rapidly advancing world of artificial intelligence and its cultural impacts — watch the full interview above.

Want more from Nicole Shanahan?

To enjoy more of Nicole’s compelling blend of empathy, curiosity, and enlightenment, 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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The great outbreak of evil in these past days stirred a memory of something I used to tell my freshman students on the first day of their introduction to politics class: Politics is about what is good.

We would read together the first sentence of Aristotle’s “Nicomachean Ethics” — an unrivaled introduction to politics:

Every art and every inquiry, and likewise every action and choice, seems to aim at some good, and hence it has been beautifully said that the good is that at which all things aim.

Aristotle goes on quickly to observe in his usual empirical way that many goods exist along with many arts developed to achieve the different goods. The medical art aims at the good of health. The art of shipbuilding aims at building good ships. The military art aims at victory in war. The art of managing the household, which the Greeks called economics, aims at the good of wealth.

Virtue is the end or aim of political life.

Some arts are subordinated to other arts, because the good at which the art aims is subordinate to a larger good, the way the art of the cavalryman is subordinate to the art of the general.

Aristotle then introduces the subject of politics with a great hypothesis: If there exists some good, some end, that we seek for its own sake, and we seek all the rest for the sake of or on account of this one good — if, in other words, we don’t choose everything for the sake of something else, which would make all of our desires empty and pointless — this would be the good itself, in fact the highest good.

He asks: Would not an awareness of this highest good have great weight in a man’s life? Wouldn’t the art of attaining that good be the sovereign or master art encompassing all the ends or goods of the other arts? And isn’t this what we call the art of politics?

The good that the art of politics aims at, he says, is “the human good.” What name do people give to the human good that encompasses all others and lacks nothing? The Greek word, Aristotle says, is eudaimonia, which we usually translate as “happiness” in English. The art of politics is the art of happiness. But it gets even better.

The art of politics is a practical art. It aims not just at knowing what happiness is but at being happy. Thinking happiness through, Aristotle finds that it does not have primarily to do with the body. It is an activity of the soul in accordance with virtue — in fact, in accordance with complete virtue. You can’t be a happy man without being a good or virtuous man. And in this sense, virtue is the end or aim of political life.

Aristotle goes on to distinguish between virtues of character and virtues of intellect, or what we usually call moral and intellectual virtues. He argues that the specific virtue or excellence of the statesman — the political man par excellence — is the intellectual virtue of practical wisdom, what he would call “phronesis.” Phronesis is the only intellectual virtue that is inseparable from moral virtue. According to Aristotle, a man cannot possess phronesis without possessing all the moral virtues actively and in their fullness. He is a man in full.

I would tell students that to make progress in their study of politics — this practical art — they would have to make progress in virtue; they would have to make progress toward the human good; they would have to make progress toward happiness. This is what our semester would be about.

Happiness and politics go together?

If I were lucky, at least one hesitatingly confident realist among the students — they were still too young to be cynics — would be brave enough on this first day of class to raise a hand and say deferentially and politely something like: “What! Have you read a newspaper lately?” (They had newspapers back then.) “Every page is filled with violence, crime, corruption, and somebody grasping for power! To call someone a politician is an insult.”

And so the semester would be off and running.

I would admit that though Aristotle in his “Politics” defines man as a “political animal” because man is a “rational animal” — an animal possessing logos, or reason — he makes an empirical observation at the end of his “Ethics” that will be familiar to anyone who has read a newspaper: Rational creatures though they are, men sometimes do not listen to reason and are carried away by their passions.

Aristotle would agree with Alexander Hamilton, or rather Hamilton agreed with Aristotle, when he wrote in Federalist 15:

“Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice, without constraint.” And with James Madison’s even more famous saying, “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.”

In addition, working on our non-angelic human fallibility and culpability, bad education causes us to make mistakes about what is good. For these reasons, Aristotle argues that both education and coercion are central to the art of politics and, alas, that practicing the art of politics is not a leisurely activity. It is the burdensome art of inducing others to do what they ought to do for their own good and happiness, even when they don’t want to.

These days, our children learn in school and online that it is good to shoplift or try to change themselves from a boy to a girl or from a girl to a boy. A shockingly large percentage of them have learned that it is good to kill those who disagree with you.

From his first day in office in 2021, Joe Biden — our then-educator in chief — made it the central point of American politics that being trans was being good and questioning the goodness of being trans was evil. He thrust this bad education into the face of his country — marching trans heroes before the cameras to model the “goodness” that all Americans should admire and publicly praise if they wanted to avoid ostracism, public shaming and canceling, expulsion from school, losing their jobs, being put in jail, or being murdered in cold blood.

Politics requires goodness

Knowing what is good is not easy. A man in ancient Athens with the greatest reputation for wisdom knew only that he did not know what was good. To have what was good, to be good, was so crucial to Socrates — the one thing needful — that it made no sense to do anything else with his life than to try to find out what it was.

RELATED: We all knew political murder was coming home

Photo by Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Images

But we do not need to be philosophers to know that boys cannot become girls, that biological males should not be competing against biological females in sports or sharing their bathrooms, and that killing those who disagree with us is evil. Glenn Ellmers, Salvatori Research Fellow at the Claremont Institute and an old friend, published a short essay on the urgent need, in this increasingly deranged world, to hold on to our common sense.

Machiavelli — the infamous teacher of “realist” politics — seeing unflinchingly what we all could read in the newspaper, taught that in a world where so many are so bad, it is merely common sense that it is necessary for those who would succeed in the art of politics to enter into evil. I would suggest an alternative lesson to students, one that I think is in the spirit of Aristotle: In a world where so many are so bad, it is merely common sense that it is necessary for the good to be great.

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

​Opinion & analysis, Opinion, Politics, The good, Aristotle, Virtue, Power, Philosophy, Nicomachean ethics, Humanity, Machiavelli, James madison, Federalist papers, Happiness, Glenn ellmers, Alexander hamilton, Common sense, American mind 

In the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, the New York University College Republicans organized a prayer vigil at Washington Square Park on Sunday night.

“All we wanted was some time to mourn the death of a man who meant so much to so many people,” chapter President Ryan Leonard said.

‘You’re in a very, very dark place, but we’ll pray for your salvation.’

Leonard, a senior, told Blaze News that while he’d been part of the College Republicans ever since his start at NYU, he’d been president only since the beginning of the fall semester — and the candlelight vigil would be his first time in charge of a major club event.

It would prove a baptism by fire for the philosophy major.

RELATED: Charlie Kirk hater goes nuclear on supporter of slain activist — then pays price after allegedly unleashing physical attacks

Image source: NYU College Republicans; @nyurepublicans on X; used by permission

Leonard told Blaze News that anywhere from 50 to 100 individuals attended the vigil, and it was looking pretty good — highlighted by an impressive display of Kirk-related images under the park’s legendary Arch.

RELATED: Punk college student blatantly mocks Charlie Kirk assassination during campus vigil for slain TPUSA founder. Big mistake.

Image source: NYU College Republicans; @nyurepublicans on X; used by permission

Unfortunately, about 20 to 30 protesters showed up, too, Leonard told Blaze News.

While vigil attendees sang the national anthem and attempted to pray, protesters openly mocked Kirk and praised his murder; they even sang a song reflective of an engraving on the assassin’s bullet casings. Indeed, it was a continuation of a chilling, unnerving theme that’s been played out at other college campuses following Kirk’s cold-blooded killing — including at Texas Tech University and Texas State University.

But one protester was particularly aggressive, Leonard told Blaze News, noting that he was “one of the most vulgar and disruptive protesters there.”

This guy came with an acoustic guitar and sang some songs with “inappropriate” lyrics, Leonard said, adding that the College Republicans fought back by not giving him attention, even when he was “calling us white supremacists and racists.”

Well, that only fueled the protester’s fire.

The dark-hearted individual ended up getting a “foot away from our members,” Leonard told Blaze News, but still the vigil-goers “did not engage him.”

Leonard told Blaze News that at first “I was just very angry when he was disrupting, and then I saw the wrath in his heart, and I became sad for him and the state he was in.”

In a brief video the College Republicans recorded, Leonard can be heard telling the protester that “you’re in a very, very dark place, but we’ll pray for your salvation.”

With that, the demented busker launched into an apparently improvised song aimed right back at Leonard. As he strummed angry chords, he loudly sang, “I don’t want your salvation! I want you to f**king die! We’re not gonna give you a second chance, even when you beg for it, on your knees, begging and pleading!”

Here’s the clip, which is used with permission from @nyurepublicans on X. Content warning: Language:

— (@)

Leonard told Blaze News that while vigil-goers only returned his hatred with peace, the protester just “got madder and more enraged” and “he started being threatening.”

Worse yet, as the protester continued his verbal assaults, Leonard told Blaze News that “more people gathered around him” and a kind of mob was forming. Soon the vigil-goers started getting literally “pushed around,” Leonard explained.

Finally, New York police officers “escorted us away,” he noted.

Washington Square Park is completely open, so anyone off the street can enter it. Given that kind of access, Blaze News asked Leonard if he was concerned for his safety and that of his fellow club members, given the way Kirk was assassinated out in the open at Utah Valley University just days ago. Leonard told Blaze News that possibility was “definitely going through my mind.”

But as the club’s president said in a previous statement, he and his fellow College Republicans won’t be bullied: “To interrupt a solemn vigil full of grieving young people who were trying to honor the life of an inspiration and mentor they looked up to is pure evil, and we will not let them intimidate us into silence. We will go even harder to honor the life and legacy of Charlie Kirk.”

In fact, Leonard added to Blaze News that Sunday night’s ordeal has resulted in a “boost in our club that I’ve never seen before. People are encouraging us, and they appreciate us standing up for them.”

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The largest owner of ABC-affiliated television stations backed out of broadcasting a tribute to the life of Charlie Kirk on Friday evening.

The Sinclair Broadcast Group objected to the comments Jimmy Kimmel made on his show about the suspect in the assassination of Charlie Kirk. After seeing the outrage from so many, ABC decided to pull the show indefinitely.

‘Viewers can continue to enjoy ABC programming while also providing full access to the special online.’

Sinclair had initially said that it would replace Kimmel’s late show with a tribute to Kirk on Friday.

But when the time came, Sinclair instead published a link to the tribute on YouTube and offered a statement explaining the decision.

“Tonight, Sinclair will continue to air ABC network programming as scheduled in the late-night time period,” read the statement. “The Charlie Kirk special will instead be available on ‘The National News Desk’s’ YouTube channel, ensuring viewers can continue to enjoy ABC programming while also providing full access to the special online.”

The hour-long video from “The National News Desk” documented the life and legacy of Charlie Kirk, as well as the rise of political violence in America.

Sinclair had said that the tribute would also be offered to ABC stations that Sinclair did not own. Many on the left attended protests against ABC demanding that Kimmel’s show be reinstated. Democrats in Congress have opened an investigation into Kimmel’s suspension.

RELATED: Liberal arts college student cites Mao in video calling for more political assassinations after Charlie Kirk

Sinclair Vice Chairman Jason Smith had previously released a statement excoriating Kimmel and explaining the company’s decision.

“Mr. Kimmel’s remarks were inappropriate and deeply insensitive at a critical moment for our country,” read his statement.

“We believe broadcasters have a responsibility to educate and elevate respectful, constructive dialogue in our communities,” he added.

“Regardless of ABC’s plans for the future of the program, Sinclair intends not to return ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ to our air until we are confident that appropriate steps have been taken to uphold the standards expected of a national broadcast platform.”

A memorial service for Charlie Kirk is being prepared State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on Sunday. President Donald Trump will speak at the memorial, as will Erika Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk, and Vice President JD Vance.

BlazeTV will offer exclusive streaming video from the event — here’s where you can watch.

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In 2021, a poll showed that only one-third (36%) of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 were “very” proud to be Americans. Another third stated they were only slightly or not at all proud of their country. Ten years earlier, Pew Research anticipated the trend when it noted that the rate of Millennials who called themselves “very patriotic” fell from 80% in 2003 to 70% in 2011.

Part of a national museum’s job is to prevent that outcome. Preserving the historical truth is a high purpose, but so is instilling the sentiment of gratitude. America’s museums can and should do both.

Visitors to the Smithsonian should leave the building with warm feelings of pride, thankfulness, and patriotism.

Instead, as of this writing, if you visit the home page of the Smithsonian’s Museum of American History, the very first exhibit you see is the Greensboro lunch counter from the famous sit-in of 65 years ago. The text introducing the exhibit gives visitors the first fact they are supposed to learn about the American past: “Racial segregation was still legal in the United States on February 1, 1960.”

The curators could have chosen something else as a first impression — a triumphant fact, not a guilty one. They could have highlighted America’s victory in the Cold War or the religious freedom and economic opportunity that drew the Puritans from England, the Irish during the famine of the 1840s, and Jews from Eastern Europe at the turn of the 20th century. Or they could have showcased the founding documents themselves, which have inspired Democratic reformers worldwide for 250 years. But they didn’t.

Beneath the photo of the lunch counter are three other objects chosen from the Smithsonian’s collections. One is the table on which women at Seneca Falls drafted a declaration of rights in 1848. The second is the 1861 badge of a member of a volunteer African-American firefighting company in Charleston, South Carolina. The third is a sign for a community center in Washington, D.C., founded in 1988 to serve pregnant Latina immigrants. For the needy, the ones battling for rights and freedom, women, and minorities, the theme is that American history is a tale of the identity-oppressed struggling to overcome their oppression.

Again, this is what the curators select as their introduction to the institution — and to America. They have a knack for creating accusatory first impressions.

‘Key concepts’

If you enter the museum building from the Mall side and pass through security, immediately to your right is a huge display window with a red banner behind it: “Fight the Virus, NOT the People.” Two lines of Cantonese script run below it. Above the banner are small signs in red and white that command, “STOP Asian Hate,” “STOP Racism,” “We Want Justice,” and “STOP Asian Bashing.”

The banner comes from a movement in San Francisco’s Chinatown after the COVID-19 outbreak of 2020, which led to the community “being shunned, even targeted,” according to the accompanying text. The curators go on to regret that “Asian Americans have been subject to racist scapegoating and violence so often in the past.”

Visitors from far and wide get the message as they pause in the lobby, often with kids in tow, and orient themselves to the collection: America is a place of racial danger. Even in a city as prosperous and liberal as San Francisco, Asian-Americans are not safe. The story told by the display is that their shaky status in a racist polity has produced a poignant plea we should all remember: “Stop the Hate!”

This is an ongoing trend. The Smithsonian’s National Youth Summit topic for 2020 was “Teen Resistance to Systemic Racism.” For 2021, it was “Gender Equity.” The museum’s education page has a “Becoming Us” resource that offers teachers case studies and lesson plans to foster “a more accurate and inclusive migration and immigration narrative.” Until recently, we are to assume, the narrative of immigration has been narrow and distorted. “Becoming Us” is a correction. Among the “Key concepts” students should absorb are:

“Race is a social construct.”“Arguments about national identity, security, and patriotism have been employed to target different groups at different times in U.S. history.”“Laws and policies are enacted to restrict, encourage, or reform migration in ways that exclude specific populations.”“The cultural diversity of the United States is similar to other nations around the world, particularly post-colonial nations, but also unique in important ways.”

It’s a characteristically tendentious layout. Arguments about security, for instance, are employed for many other reasons besides the persecution of disfavored demographic groups. A large exhibit gives visitors further reminders of American injustice. The entrance to the section on the Revolutionary War features a 1774 quotation from a freed black writer addressed to advocates of independence: “I need not point out the absurdity of your exertions for liberty, while you have slaves in your house.”

A few feet away, we learn that we shouldn’t celebrate the success of the American founding too much since “the Revolutionary promise was unclear. Women had few political rights, and girls’ education, when available, focused on domestic and social skills like needlework and dancing.” From there follows much more material on slavery before we turn to religion in the 19th century.

RELATED: Trump flushes woke programs at Smithsonian museums, orders return of leftist-targeted statues

Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Although the United States had extraordinary religious diversity and freedom relative to other nations in 1850, we fell short again according to a note on “Religious and Utopian Communities on the Mississippi.” It says, “Though the United States promised freedoms, those who practiced different religions and ways of life were not always accepted.”

The examples cited are Mormons and the Icarians, a group of European utopians. Then come the black, Japanese-American, and Mexican veterans, returning from war and “fighting for respect” at home. The Chinese were harassed in Chicago. The Mexicans were attacked in Los Angeles (ironically titled “Los Angeles — City of Promise”). And so on.

Miracle on Pennsylvania Ave.

The Trump administration has good reason to review the Smithsonian’s federal funding, critique its ideological agenda, and put pressure on it to change its ways. The Museum of American History has some wonderful installations, such as those showcasing actual battle conditions for American soldiers and the dresses of first ladies. But the identity tales are far too many, the resentment far too thick.

The curators can’t even report on the stunning success of the Broadway show “Hamilton” without an acerbic, identitarian edge: “Through rap and hip-hop — and non-white casting — ‘Hamilton’ made this history accessible and relatable to audiences of color and gave more people a sense of ownership of American history.”

“Becoming Us” speaks of a better “narrative,” which is clearly a counternarrative to American exceptionalism and American greatness, a story of broken promises, unequal rights, and too many white men. Despite the term “narrative,” the curators clearly consider it the indisputable truth. However, they may protest, they’re not really relativists — they’re realists.

National museums have a noble purpose, one parallel to that of the military. Soldiers maintain our security; curators maintain our patrimony.

The spread of woke historiography in the public sphere is a 21st-century phenomenon, but if you’ve been in academia, you’ve experienced it long before Black Lives Matter came along. I watched the slow occupation of the humanities during the ’80s and ’90s, as the World War II generation of professors retired and young ones took their place with an utterly different conception of what academic labor should be and do.

In a word, they added social change to disciplinary duties.

Officials in the museum and library world did the same, and they guard their positions today with zeal. These people leave no room open for debate. You can’t interact with those who think you’re lying. If you suggest a more positive vision of the American past, they peg you as an apologist, a chauvinist, or worse. They attribute selfish motives to you; they don’t believe you or trust your facts. Disagree with them and you get a condescending sneer.

These are the people who have seized our cultural and educational institutions, and they’re not going to let go just because you have persuasive evidence.

A national obligation

Of course, a national museum can’t operate this way. It has an obligation to represent the country in an honest but appreciative light. Visitors to the Smithsonian should leave the building with warm feelings of pride, thankfulness, and patriotism. Less victimhood, with its unsettling mix of resentment and sentimentality, more heroism and celebration. The overall approach to America should be exactly what President Donald Trump laid out in his July 4, 2020, speech at Mount Rushmore. At the very words “Fourth of July,” he said, “every American heart should swell with pride.”

Trump positioned 1776 as the continuation of “thousands of years of Western civilization” and set his sights on an “unstoppable march of freedom” from that year forward. He cited the violence and vandalism of that dark summer of 2020 and tied it to “years of extreme indoctrination and bias in education, journalism, and other cultural institutions.” He elaborated:

Our children are taught in school to hate their own country and to believe that the men and women who built it were not heroes, but were villains. … All perspective is removed, every virtue is obscured, every motive is twisted, every fact is distorted, and every flaw is magnified.

The president’s response to those trends wasn’t a counter-critique. It was a barrage of counterexamples: the leadership of George Washington, the brilliance of Thomas Jefferson, the convictions of Abraham Lincoln, the courage of Teddy Roosevelt, our religious principles, the uplifting message of Martin Luther King Jr., the Wright brothers, Clara Barton, the Hoover Dam, the Manhattan skyline, Walt Whitman, Mark Twain, Irving Berlin, Ella Fitzgerald, the Ford F-150. These are the proper ingredients of the Smithsonian collections, placed up front where they belong.

Again, parts of the Museum of American History showcase some of those very American idols. But others downplay or dismiss them. The museum’s installations and web pages are a lighter version of the woke lessons that you hear in American Studies classrooms in higher education and find in social studies learning standards in blue states. They aren’t outright anti-American — they are only critical of “greatness” and “exceptionalism.” But that’s enough to justify action.

“Americans must never lose sight of this miraculous story,” Trump concluded at Mount Rushmore. The presentation by the museum is designed to obscure and diminish that miraculous side of things.

RELATED: ‘White people bad’: CNN panel crushed over embarrassing Smithsonian exhibits

Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images

A noble purpose

A nation cannot thrive if its citizens have no civic pride and patriotic devotion. They won’t defend its borders or work for the national interest. A guilty past weakens the present. People want to believe that their home is a joyful, virtuous place. The shadow of a shameful heritage blunts their confidence. They’re in a culture war without sufficient arms. It is not too cynical to think that this is one intention of the curators.

National museums have a noble purpose, one parallel to that of the military. Soldiers maintain our security; curators maintain our patrimony. If the president manages to orient the Smithsonian to American greatness, academics and journalists, as well as scholarly associations, will grumble and condemn. Charges of whitesplaining, bigotry, propaganda, racism, and xenophobia will follow. So what? Just do it — the people will cheer.

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

​Opinion & analysis, Opinion, Smithsonian, Woke, Woke history, Grievance studies, America is racist, National pride, Patriotism 

A woman said that she was sexually assaulted at gunpoint before she was able to retrieve her own gun and shoot the accused rapist, according to Indiana police.

The victim said that she was assaulted at her residence on Meadowlark Drive Tuesday afternoon on the northeast side of Indianapolis, according to court documents.

‘We’re grateful the victim came forward and spoke with detectives, and we were able to get a violent offender off the streets because of that.’

She said that she was forced to have sex at gunpoint with the male, who was also recording the assault on his cell phone.

When the man left the home, she got her gun and shot at him. She appeared to have shot the back window of a blue Toyota that was parked on an adjacent street.

A neighbor called police, and the victim identified the alleged attacker as 23-year-old Trevon Haynes.

“I know this was a very terrifying situation for this victim, but we’re grateful the victim came forward and spoke with detectives, and we were able to get a violent offender off the streets because of that,” said IMPD Sgt. Amanda Hibschman to WTTV-TV.

About an hour later, a Speedway police officer noticed a car on Lynhurst Drive with its hazard lights flashing and saw that the driver had been shot in the leg. Haynes was arrested, and police said they found a firearm in the car.

He was charged with rape, intimidation, and burglary, while being armed with a deadly weapon.

The WTTV report noted that officers did not indicate whether the two people knew each other before the alleged assault.

RELATED: Dad stabbed to death while walking 8-year-old son home from elementary school, police say

The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office will decide ultimately what official charges will be filed against him.

“Our officers couldn’t have done this without the community coming forward,” Hibschman added. “All of that together and the community cooperation was huge in getting the suspect off the streets so quickly.”

Haynes had not been charged with any crime prior to the assault incident.

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​Trevon haynes, Rape recorded on video, Indianapolis rape, Victim shoots rapist, Crime 

The announcement that Charlie Kirk had died was public for all of 10 seconds before the ghouls set in to try to destroy his legacy. It wasn’t enough to label him a racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic white supremacist. They had to make up bald-faced lies about him, twisting his words to paint him as the nazi they believe all conservatives are.

Now, those lies, which are circulating like wildfire, are being used to justify his murder. It’s grotesque to the highest decree because the truth is: Charlie Kirk was above reproach.

On a recent episode of “The Glenn Beck Program,” Glenn debunked the five biggest lies about his dear friend.

Lie #1: Charlie Kirk endorsed the enslavement of black people

One of the lies currently making the rounds is that Charlie Kirk said, “Black people were better off in slavery.”

Charlie, of course, never uttered any such statement endorsing slavery or suggesting that black people are deserving of or suited for it. On the contrary, Charlie made it clear that the enslavement of any man is evil.

What he did say, however, was that the black family was fairing better before the passage of the Civil Rights Act, which ended the Jim Crow era. “And it was!” says Glenn, a history aficionado. In those days, divorce rates were lower, fathers were more present in the home, and the crime rate was lower in the black community. Statistics prove that following the Civil Rights Movement, divorce rates among black couples surged, as did crime rates.

Glenn’s theory is that the Civil Rights Movement was spearheaded by progressives who wanted to oppress the black community, but instead of denying rights, they targeted the family. According to his hypothesis, President Lyndon B. Johnson, who he reminds was “the biggest racist up until he died,” packaged his Great Society — Medicare, Medicaid, the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, and expanded welfare programs — as a means of tackling poverty and racial injustice in order to conceal his true intentions: enslave black people financially.

“The Great Society did more damage to the black family than anybody could have done outside of Margaret Sanger. I think that’s what [Charlie] meant,” says Glenn.

Lie #2: Charlie Kirk said black women are intellectually inferior

Many progressive are falsely claiming that Charlie Kirk said all black women are inferior intellectually. This is a distortion of a comment the Turning Point USA founder said on “The Charlie Kirk Show” in 2023 following the Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and UNC, in which the court declared that affirmative action violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

Kirk called out Joy Reid, Michelle Obama, Sheila Jackson Lee, and Ketanji Brown Jackson — all of whom had admitted that their success was only made possible by affirmative action.

“All of them basically confessed, ‘Yeah, I was an affirmative action person, and I’m proud of it.’ This is how arrogant Joy Reid and Ketanji Brown Jackson and Michelle Obama and Sheila Jackson Lee are. They’re like, ‘Yeah, I took your slot.’ They do not have the brain processing power to otherwise be taken really seriously, but they had to go steal a white person’s slot to go be taken somewhat seriously,” Kirk said.

Never once did he say or even imply that all black women are intellectually inferior. “Criticizing four members of a group does not mean you’re criticizing the group,” says Glenn’s co-host Stu Burguiere.

To suggest that he called all black women dumb is “so incredibly dishonest,” says Glenn.

Lie #3: Charlie Kirk said gun deaths are worth protecting the Second Amendment

Another quote that’s making the rounds is Charlie’s comment following the Nashville school shooting. At a TPUSA event in Salt Lake City, he was asked about defending Second Amendment rights against gun control advocates.

In response, he said, “You will never live in a society when you have an armed citizenry and you won’t have a single gun death. That is nonsense. It’s drivel. But I am — I think it’s worth it. I think it’s worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights. That is a prudent deal. It is rational.”

He then gave the example of deaths related to car accidents. “We have determined as a society that it is worth it to have cars, even though 40,000 people die every single year in car accidents.”

Lefties are using this cogent argument to suggest that Kirk’s death was deserved, but the joke is on them. “Even what occurred last week would not change [Charlie’s] mind on [the Second Amendment],” says Stu.

“The other thing that’s important here to understand is if you did eliminate all guns, you would not eliminate all murders,” he adds.

Lie #4: Charlie Kirk used an Asian slur

Perhaps the most egregious lie circulating among lefties is that Charlie used the racial slur “c***k” to refer to an Asian woman. A deceptively edited video from a 2018 Politicon event shows Charlie using the word repeatedly.

Except the word he was actually saying was “Cenk.” Charlie was engaged in a heated exchange with socialist progressive Cenk Uygur, co-host of “The Young Turks.” The maliciously edited video aimed to paint him as a racist and give progressives justification for celebrating his death.

Stu and Glenn can’t help but laugh at the radical left’s pathetic desperation to defame its political enemy. “I mean, that’s just so bad,” says Stu.

Lie #5: Charlie Kirk advocated for stoning gay people

Following Kirk’s death, renowned horror novelist Stephen King responded to a tweet from Fox News’ Jesse Watters calling Kirk a “patriot,” saying, “He advocated stoning gays to death. Just sayin’.”

However, he quickly deleted the post and issued an apology when the facts surfaced. Kirk never once advocated for killing anyone in the LGBTQ+ community. King’s lie originates from a 2024 episode of “The Charlie Kirk Show” when Kirk called out children’s YouTuber Ms. Rachel for citing “love thy neighbor” as justification for supporting Pride Month and LGBTQ+ inclusion as a Christian.

Kirk argued that true love means telling people the “truth” about sin rather than affirming it, accusing Ms. Rachel of cherry-picking scripture by ignoring the context of God’s laws on sexual morality. To illustrate his point, he pointed to Leviticus, which calls homosexuality an abomination punishable by death.

Kirk’s point was that God clearly sees homosexuality as sin — not that gay people should be killed.

The truth, says Stu, is that if there was any legitimate dirt on Charlie Kirk, progressives wouldn’t have to resort to these distortions.

Charlie was “a guy who worked hard to debate people, who tried to practice politics and civic life the right way, who tried to be a shining light for his faith, which was vitally important to him and his family,” he says, but “if that vision of Charlie Kirk was false, you wouldn’t need to go to these things. You could come up with 50 different things he said that were really offensive. Instead what you come up with are lies because that’s what you’re in the business of.”

To hear more of Glenn and Stu’s conversation, watch the episode above.

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​The glenn beck program, Glenn beck, Charlie kirk, The charlie kirk show, Leftist lies, Debunked lies, Blazetv, Blaze media 

Across the United States, staged crashes, road-rage incidents, and hit-and-run damage are on the rise. Unfortunately, if you get sideswiped, brake-checked, or bumped, you have little legal recourse if you can’t prove what happened.

This is where a dash camera comes in handy. In recent years the category has evolved from a niche gadget to an essential everyday driving tool. The primary value of a dashcam is simple: It provides evidence that both law enforcement and insurance companies can use in deciding your case.

In case you haven’t seen one for a while, modern dashcams have advanced far beyond the single-lens models of the past. One affordable option I recommend is the VIOFO A329S 3CH dashcam.

It features a true 4K front camera, rear camera, and a infrared fish-eye cabin camera with a 210-degree ultra-wide view — sufficient coverage to ensure that everything from road collisions to interior activity is captured in detail.

The Sony STARVIS 2 sensors under the hood allow the A329S to deliver sharp, balanced footage in both bright daylight and low-light conditions. The cabin camera includes four infrared LEDs, enabling clear recording even at night — a feature especially valuable for rideshare drivers or anyone frequently on the road after dark.

Other advanced features include Wi-Fi 6 for fast file transfers, hybrid parking surveillance with impact detection, support for external SSD storage up to 4TB, a built-in GPS logger, CPL filter, and Bluetooth remote.

Taken together, these tools make it more than a camera — they provide a comprehensive security system for your vehicle. .

At under $500, the dashcam provides protection that often outweighs its cost. Minor parking lot dents or fender benders can cost $1,000 or more to repair, and insurance disputes can increase premiums for years. For families, drivers, or businesses, dash cameras offer peace of mind and a financial safeguard.

Check out the video review for more on the VIOFO A329S 3CH:

The company profiles and product recommendations that Align publishes are meant solely to inform and edify our subscribers. Unless explicitly labeled as such, they are neither paid promotions nor endorsements.

​Dash cams, Dashboard cam, Provisions, Road rage, Align cars 

A diabolical sextortion scheme targeting “potentially several hundred” victims has been exposed, according to law enforcement in New York.

The months-long investigation began in February and focused on the Fieldstone Middle School, which is located in the Haverstraw hamlet of Thiells — just a little over 10 miles north of the New Jersey border and about an hour north of Yonkers.

‘Please encourage your children to come forward because there is certainly no shame in coming forward and bringing this to a trusted adult, so please let us know, let a trusted adult know.’

Law enforcement said several alleged victims came forward to report the appalling allegations to school administrators.

The Stony Point Police Department said in a statement, “The investigation was launched after victims at Fieldstone Middle School reported to their school resource officer and school administrators that they were being coerced online.”

Police said “approximately six victims have come forward” but noted that investigators “have reason to believe there are potentially several hundred additional victims who may not yet have reported their experiences.”

Police said the alleged victims — males under the age of 16 — communicated with someone online who claimed to be a female, according to the New York Post.

“They were requested for pictures, videos of themselves, to be sent, and then they were requested that if they didn’t [send] more that the pictures and videos would be sent to their friend groups,” Det. Andrew Kryger of the Stony Point Police Department told WABC-TV.

What’s more, the news outlet reported that the “female” is actually a male who demanded payment in the form of gift cards for “typically less than $100.”

RELATED: Grief-stricken father launches personal crusade to help FBI find suspects whose sextortion plot led to son’s suicide

The alleged suspect of the sinister sextortion scam was out of the country when authorities identified him, but he recently returned to the U.S. — to attend Fieldstone Middle School in the fall, WABC reported.

The suspect — who was not identified because he’s underage — was charged with use of a child in a sexual performance, promoting a sexual performance by a child, and possessing a sexual performance by a child. All the charges are felonies.

“This case highlights both the serious dangers our children face online and the extraordinary bravery of students who came forward,” the Stony Point Police Department stated. “This crime is extremely serious and involves the victimization of students within our community.”

The Stony Point Police Department added that “police officials stress that sextortion is not only a local issue, but a global problem fueled by social media. Many parents may be unaware of the extent of these dangers. It is essential to create safe, judgment-free environments where children feel comfortable reporting concerns.”

The Stony Point Police Department, the Haverstraw Police Department, and the North Rockland School District plan to host a forum to provide parents and students with “resources on sextortion awareness.”

North Rockland Central School District Superintendent Kris Felicello advised parents, “Please encourage your children to come forward because there is certainly no shame in coming forward and bringing this to a trusted adult, so please let us know, let a trusted adult know.”

Police are urging anyone with information on this case to contact Det. Kryger at 845-786-2422.

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​Extortion, Sextortion, Sex extortion, New york crime, Child sex crimes, Crime, Middle school student suspect, Middle school, New york state, Police