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Law enforcement in Alexandria, Louisiana, responded to the 1800 block of Henry Street just after 7:30 a.m. Saturday for a reported home invasion, the Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office said. Alexandria is about 200 miles northwest of New Orleans.

Officials said a black male identified as 33-year-old Davante Deundra Thomas of Alexandria allegedly kicked down the door of the residence armed with a handgun and fired at the homeowner.

‘People have a right to protect themselves.’

But the homeowner also had a gun — and wasted no time using it.

Officials said the homeowner returned fire, striking Thomas.

After deputies arrived, Thomas was found dead inside the home with the gun still in his hand, officials said.

Sheriff’s detectives and the Crime Scene Unit responded and began their investigation and processed the scene for evidence, officials said.

The sheriff’s office said no arrests have been made.

Officials said the investigation is still active and ongoing, and all those with any information about the incident should contact detectives at 318-473-6727 or the sheriff’s office at 318-473-6700.

Commenters reacting to the shooting were a bit mixed in their opinions. Most seemed completely behind the homeowner who returned fire — but others believed there was more to the story:

“Turns out the more you F around the more you find out,” one commenter said.”Welp, he won’t do that again!!!” another user noted.”This is a good opportunity to teach your kids about what happens if you go breaking into houses,” another commenter wrote.”People have a right to protect themselves,” another user said.”Crazy thing is people don’t realize how many homeowners actually have weapons in their homes just for this reason,” another commenter observed.”Naw, we aren’t getting the entire story here,” another user countered. “Don’t pass judgement without all the facts.””This just doesn’t sound right to me, either,” another commenter stated. “Something [is] not adding up.”

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​2nd amend., Alexandria, Armed intruder, Break-in, Crime thwarted, Door kicked down, Fatal shooting, Gun rights, Guns, Home invasion, Homeowner shoots intruder, Intruder opens fire, Louisiana, Rapides parish sheriff’s office, Self-defense, Crime 

The Alternative for Germany party has spent over a decade sounding the alarm about the fallout of mass migration in Europe. For its efforts, the German political establishment has sought to ban, vilify, disarm, debank, and criminalize the party and its members.

Now that imported crime has become too much to bear — such that Berlin is once again a dangerous place for Jews and homosexuals — and the AFD has become too popular to ignore, a leading German official has joined the chorus of those seeking to repatriate so-called asylum seekers from Syria.

‘41.8% of all people suspected of crimes in Germany last year — a year that saw a nearly 6% increase in year-over-year violent crimes — were foreign nationals.’

Chancellor Friedrich Merz — whose center-right coalition consisting of the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union parties is neck and neck in the polls with the AFD — struck a new tone last week, suggesting that the bulk of the over one million Syrians who flooded into the country over the past decade should hit the road.

Merz suggested further that he’ll work with Syria’s terrorist president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, to help facilitate the return, reported Politico.

“The civil war in Syria is over,” said Merz. “There are now no longer any grounds for asylum in Germany, which means we can begin repatriating people.”

The chancellor noted further that the Syrians temporarily dwelling in Europe have a responsibility to rebuild their war-torn nation.

“Without these people, reconstruction will not be possible,” said Merz. “Those in Germany who then refuse to return to the country can, of course, be deported in the near future.”

RELATED: Orbán emphasizes to Trump that Hungary survives today as Christian ‘island of difference in a liberal ocean’

Photo by Wagner Meier/Getty Images

Marc Bernhard, an AFD lawmaker, recently told PBS’ “Frontline” that of the 1 to 1.2 million Syrians now in Germany, “Most of them don’t have jobs. Most of them are not well integrated. That’s exactly the issue.”

Fewer than 290,000 Syrian nationals were reportedly employed in Germany last year.

So-called asylum seekers from Syria receive over $500 a month under the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act as well as other benefits, including housing support, dental care, and health insurance.

‘These people must return to their homeland.’

In addition to draining citizen resources, Syrians in Germany are also grossly over-represented in crime statistics.

Mass migration to Germany from the Middle East has coincided in recent years with a massive spike in rape and other violent crimes.

A government-commissioned study revealed in early 2018 that there was a 10.4% increase in violent crime at the height of the immigration crisis. Deutsche Welle reported that 90% of this violent crime increase was attributable to immigrants, predominantly males between the ages of 14 and 30.

Foreign nationals have continued to commit an alarming number of crimes in the years since. Federal police crime statistics indicate that 41.8% of all people suspected of crimes in Germany last year — a year that saw a nearly 6% increase in year-over-year violent crimes — were foreign nationals.

The top five nationalities of non-German suspects in 2024 were: Syrian, 114,889 suspects; Turkish, 93,253 suspects; Ukrainian, 55,669 suspects; Romanian, 65,041 suspects; and Afghani, 49,427 suspects.

The imported crime problem became so bad last year that Olaf Scholz, the former German chancellor who long championed predecessor Angela Merkel’s open-borders policies, acknowledged that criminal noncitizens should be deported.

Speaking a month after an Afghan migrant butchered a police officer at an anti-jihad demonstration in Mannheim, Germany, Scholz said, “It outrages me when someone who has found protection here commits the most serious of crimes.”

“Such criminals should be deported, even if they come from Syria or Afghanistan,” added Scholz.

Just weeks after Scholz dared upset the open-borders leftists in the Bundestag, a 26-year-old Syrian migrant butchered three people — two men ages 56 and 67 and a 56-year-old woman — and left another six grievously wounded at a Christian music festival in Solingen.

The situation has deteriorated further in the months since, prompting Scholz’s successor and other German establishmentarians to echo the AFD’s calls for action; however, they appear unwilling to fully embrace mass deportations. Instead, they are reportedly entertaining the prospect of deportation of criminal Syrian nationals.

Merz indicated last week that he would speak to al-Sharaa about deporting Syrians convicted of crimes back to their homeland.

The AFD clearly isn’t interested in such half-measures.

“We say quite clearly: Syrians must now have their protected status revoked because the reason for their fleeing no longer applies,” AFD co-leader Alice Weidel said two days after German authorities arrested a Syrian man suspected of preparing a jihadist attack in Berlin. “These people must return to their homeland.”

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​Friedrich merz, Afd, Germany, German, Berlin, Syrian, Migrants, Migrant, Terrorism, Europe, Leftism, Merkel, Deportation, Remigration, Repatriation, Politics 

When Washington shuts down, it doesn’t just stall politics — it shakes the lives of America’s veterans. At the outset of the government shutdown last month, a veteran named James called VetComm in tears. His question was simple but heartbreaking: “Will I still get paid next week? Because I can’t afford groceries if I don’t.”

James served his country with honor. Yet he worried about feeding his family because Democrats in Washington insist on prioritizing illegal immigrants over the very men and women who defended this nation.

Enough is enough. Stop putting illegal immigrants ahead of the heroes who built and defended this country.

I’ve dedicated my life to fighting for veterans like James — those who bled for this country, only to watch so-called representatives in Washington bend over backward for people who entered it illegally. With this latest government shutdown, Democrats have again slammed the door on veterans while rolling out the red carpet for illegal aliens.

A manufactured crisis

For over a month, Democrats held the entire nation hostage, demanding a $1.5 trillion, poison-pill-stuffed funding bill that includes “free health care” for illegal aliens while programs for veterans teeter on the brink. It’s not just reckless — it’s cruel. These are the same priorities that helped drive a 19% spike in veteran homelessness while illegal migrants got luxury hotel rooms on the taxpayer’s dime.

As the shutdown ends, the facts are clear. The House passed a clean continuing resolution to keep the lights on, maintain VA funding, and avoid chaos. But Senate Democrats — led by Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York — rejected it, choosing to plunge the country into an unnecessary shutdown to appease their left-wing base.

The Democrats’ alternative was loaded with giveaways: subsidies for illegal immigrants’ doctor visits, hospital stays, and “health care rights,” while hundreds of thousands of veterans remain stuck on VA wait lists — some dying before they’re seen.

Staggering hypocrisy

Schumer once said avoiding a shutdown “is very good news for the country, for our veterans … all of whom would have felt the sting.” More recently, he warned that “a shutdown would mean chaos and pain and needless heartache for the American people.”

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez declared, “It is not normal to shut down the government when we don’t get what we want.” Jeffries said shutdowns are “about the harm.”

Those very same politicians ended up leading one — weaponizing activist wish lists and pet projects against the GOP and the nation.

RELATED: Disabled vets denied dignity as VA claim backlog becomes unbearable

Johnrob via iStock/Getty Images

This pattern of betrayal isn’t new. Under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the VA was caught reimbursing health care for illegal immigrants and their families, draining resources from veterans. I’ve seen it firsthand in San Diego — hotels packed with migrants while homeless veterans sleep on sidewalks, dodging needles and despair.

Over 10 million illegal crossings have occurred under the Biden administration’s watch. The result: big money for migrants, broken promises for veterans. The audacity to continue putting invaders ahead of patriots is shocking — and unforgivable.

The real human cost

Everyone knows a shutdown hurts troops, veterans, and families. Yet Democrats embraced it anyway, in service to radical ideology over national duty. Americans overwhelmingly oppose this madness.

Enough is enough. Stop putting illegal immigrants ahead of the heroes who built and defended this country. It’s time to restore sanity and start prioritizing America again.

At VetComm, we see the toll every day. The sleepless nights. The panic over missed paychecks. The spiraling PTSD and anxiety triggered by uncertainty. Veterans have already given everything; they shouldn’t have to fight their own government for stability and dignity.

Our mission is simple: Stand in the gap for those who stood for us. We help veterans understand their rights, claim the benefits they earned, and remember that their service still matters. A shutdown tests that mission — but it also steels our resolve.

Because while Washington bickers, we will keep fighting for every veteran, every day, not just Veterans Day.

​Opinion & analysis, Veterans, Veterans day, Shutdown, Democrats, Illegal immigration, Illegal aliens, Healthcare, Health insurance, Benefits for illegal aliens, Benefits, Congress, Budget, Continuing resolution, Chuck schumer, Hakeem jeffries, Alexandria ocasio-cortez 

For years, Americans have been told a comforting lie: Anyone can do anything, be anything, and succeed at anything, regardless of limits or differences. But ideological fantasies collapse on the battlefield, where physics, endurance, and human limits matter more than slogans.

After years of social experimentation, the military is rediscovering a basic truth: Equality of opportunity makes the force stronger, while equality of outcome weakens it. The return to gender-neutral standards announced last month by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth marks a long-overdue step toward restoring merit, discipline, and respect across the ranks.

Pretending that men and women have identical physical capabilities doesn’t empower women; it endangers them.

For most of our history, the armed forces held one clear principle: Anyone, male or female, could serve in any position if they met the same standard. The promise was simple and fair — the uniform didn’t care about sex or gender, only performance.

That began to change in 2015, when the Army opened all-male combat units to women. At the time, the Pentagon promised no dilution of standards. But in 2018, when the new gender-neutral Army Combat Fitness Test was introduced, 84% of female soldiers failed. Instead of maintaining expectations, the Army rewrote them.

By 2022, the ACFT 4.0 came with gender-based scoring — a quiet admission that standards had become negotiable. The result: Combat units staffed with soldiers unable to meet the physical requirements of their jobs. That puts missions, morale, and lives at risk.

Worse, it undermines respect for women who do meet the standard. When the bar moves, doubt replaces trust. Hardworking female soldiers — the ones who earned their places — are forced to prove themselves twice: once in training and again in the eyes of their peers.

Diversity by design, weakness by consequence

In 2021, U.S. Special Operations Command declared that “diversity is an operational imperative.” But this new “imperative” wasn’t about the real diversity already found across the military — people from every background, race, and income level serving side by side. It was about engineering statistical parity, even in elite combat units where performance alone must decide who stays and who goes.

That mindset has consequences. Combat units can’t afford ideological experiments. The job is to close with and destroy the enemy — not to serve as laboratories for social theory. Lowering standards in the name of inclusion doesn’t just weaken readiness; it puts soldiers in unnecessary danger.

And no woman who trains to fight wants pity disguised as progress. The women who seek out elite units don’t ask for special treatment — they ask for the same chance to prove themselves by the same rules. When standards drop, those women lose too.

Strength in truth

Gender-neutral standards don’t discriminate. They recognize that men and women are different and that most people — men included — simply can’t meet the demands of combat. That’s not “oppression.” It’s just reality.

Women who pass those standards have demonstrated extraordinary strength, skill, and resolve. They deserve admiration, not suspicion. And those who don’t — along with the vast majority of men who don’t — can still serve honorably in the hundreds of vital roles that keep America’s military functioning.

RELATED: How America lost its warrior spirit when it feminized its academies

Photo by Kevin Carter

A sex-neutral standard is an act of fairness, not exclusion. It’s a recognition that excellence demands truth, not ideology — that merit, not identity, keeps soldiers alive and wins wars.

Restoring purpose

The military’s duty is national defense, not social engineering. Pretending that men and women have identical physical capabilities doesn’t empower women; it endangers them.

Reaffirming one standard for all isn’t an attack on women — it’s a defense of every soldier’s dignity. It calls each person to rise to the challenge, to serve according to one’s God-given abilities, and to be judged by results.

If we want a stronger force — and a stronger nation — we must stop confusing fairness with fantasy. Let’s demand standards worthy of the uniform, and let every soldier, male or female, earn respect the same way: by meeting them.

​Military, Women, Recruits, Fitness, Opinion & analysis, Woke military, Pete hegseth, Standards, Department of war, Gender-neutral, Women in combat, Army combat fitness test 

I have been church-hopping since the summer of 2020. This means that a lot of “concerned evangelicals” have felt justified in asking, “What are you searching for?”

That first summer, I claimed to be searching for holy ground. However, I already knew that this was wherever a saint steps — wherever God speaks to us and we listen in prayer.

We had spent a wonderful evening with an elderly Latter-day Saints couple who found us hitchhiking, then brought us home to ‘show us some literature.’

I have never been searching for anything as much as I have been interested to see what it is that others claim to have found. It thrills me to see that it is all pretty much the same, in minor degrees. Some pastors are more boring than others. Everyone makes claims about the “other” churches in town. Everyone has their rituals, their deeds, the words that are not works. And very few are curious about the others.

“Seek and ye shall find,” they murmur among themselves in the territory of their home church, patting one another on the back because they somehow found truth without seeking it. Why aren’t the others seeking it? They’d be here among them if they sought — if they loved the truth as they loved the Bible.

Not all. Only the majority. Maybe not even that many — only a few loud ones.

I, too, among them, also vocal, a little charismatic, a little opinionated, forgetting what it means to seek before you find.

The world is not our home

Now I have dragged my husband in on the game of flirting with the appearance of universalism. And yet we are no more universalist than Paul or St. Francis of Assisi or C.S. Lewis. We are curious, alive, and nonplussed by the promissory comforts of the world. This world is not our home, and neither is a single building.

And yet, if you seek, ye shall find. It matters not that my intentions were no different from those of an atheist — to attend, to observe, to write. I am relating to the woman at the front of the church who is not Catholic but is hired to sign the sermon and songs for the deaf attendees, thus hearing every word of the priest and chorus more thoroughly than any of the parishioners and finding that her job has morphed into a spiritual awakening.

I am finding community, kindred spirits, truth outside my understanding of it, and a narrow path. I am becoming less curious as a larger passion consumes my heart and soul.

We intended to attend Mass while on our honeymoon — something difficult to do when you have no agency over where you will be day to day, as hitchhikers reliant upon the goodwill of strangers and public transit. We joked about putting up a cardboard sign, our thumbs in the air, “TAKE US TO CHURCH.” Maybe someday.

Instead we went where we could.

RELATED: The USA Rail Pass: Across America by train

A.M. Hickman

A church for widows

The first place was an Anglican church in Newfoundland that seemed to be run by little old ladies — 30 of them, to be precise, scattered in the pews, in the choir, and at the altar. There were only five men, all of them seated. This did not bode well, we thought.

But it was truly a church for widows, a church that was doing its very best to remain active, putting on plays and picnics even though there were no young people or children. The Spirit was there with those little old ladies. It was comforting them, pushing them forward even though they had lost much. It was reminding them of all that awaited them in paradise. And they were ready.

They gave us cookies and greeted us with forgetful, motherly smiles, as if we were not mere strangers but apparitions of heavenly promises. We were their reminder to keep hoping, and they were our nudge toward charity. We sat, we witnessed, and we listened.

Seventh-day supper

After that we found different Catholic churches to pray in, which somehow always seemed to be far away when Sunday came around. There was a large one — a shrine — on the border of Quebec, Labrador, and Newfoundland, then another a little farther into Quebec, in an Inuit village. This one hearkened to the traditions of these people, too. How beautiful, I remember thinking, the way the Church uses each people’s specific culture and history to express the truth.

Then we walked by a window that sported “Seventh-day Adventist” in a French-Canadian Maine town. It was a Thursday, and we had already determined to stay in town for a French-Acadian Mass on Sunday.

“Let’s go there,” I told my husband. “It might be a little frustrating, but it’ll be a good experience for you.”

He agreed, and so we brought ourselves and our backpacks there Saturday morning. The church was new — it looked more like a Main Street business because of its location and the large windows. There were only six or so people inside.

“Can we join you all?” I asked. “No, I am not Seventh-day Adventist, but I’ve attended many services because my family keeps Sabbath on Saturday.”

We put our bags in front of a pile of unopened boxes of “The Great Controversy,” and they handed us a booklet on Romans and two pens. The room was ugly, like a warehouse, except for the lace curtains in the windows.

For the next two hours, we “studied the Bible,” mostly discussing how wonderful Jesus is and what it means to pray — how often we should pray and what makes prayer sincere — and how all Protestant churches are basically Catholic because they acknowledge the authority of Rome and the pope to change the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday.

The church service was bland, hard to follow. I tatted a lace bookmark to try to keep awake. The speaker was likeable, but he droned on about a Bible story, not really recounting it accurately. I don’t think that was the point of his speaking, though — they were simply allowing him a moment to speak, because he was a man and the church had few members and needed participation from everyone in order to keep the spirit alive.

They did not give us cookies, but something better — a meal of various bean and rice dishes. There was fresh homemade hummus, too.

Nine out of Ten

As we ate, everyone continued to ramble on about how awful it was that other churches didn’t care to follow all of the Ten Commandments.

“Evangelicals want the Ten Commandments in schools, and yet they do not want them in their churches.”

“If children came home from school and refused to do their homework on Saturday, most Christian parents would not be happy.”

“There’s a church in town that has the Ten Commandments hanging on the outside of their building,” the pastor began.

So I talked to them about it and asked them why they don’t care about the fourth commandment. Oh, boy! The pastor said he’d get back to me, and let me tell you, oh boy, oh boy, that he finally decided that he could piecemeal a bunch of verses today and how he thinks he can prove that Jesus wants us to keep all the commandments now except that one.

That night the pastor let us stay in his house, and as he showed us all his proof for Saturday Sabbath and how the Catholic Church has duped nearly all mainstream churches, Andy finally confessed, “I am a Roman Catholic, and I believe the Church had the authority to change the Sabbath to distinguish us from the Jewish faith.”

The man started. Then he said, “Well, I think Jesus will save Catholics, too, even though they are only keeping nine of 10 of God’s commandments. But they will be judged for disregarding the Sabbath Day.”

We were friends now.

Answered prayers

In the middle of Maine, we attended one other church. All the days leading up to it were edifying. We had spent a wonderful evening with an elderly Latter-day Saints couple who found us hitchhiking, then brought us home to “show us some literature.” It was not the “Book of Mormon.” They handed us a glass of orange juice and a box of raisins and played old 1960s and 1970s love songs for us, then told us their love story — of how they had a temple wedding in Switzerland; of their 14 children, 88 grandchildren, and 17 great-grandchildren.

After we played a game of cards, they brought us to our destination, where we stayed with a Quaker-esque hippie Christian family. This family brought us to their church the next day.

It was as if God was answering our longing for Mass. Although the church was small and non-denominational, it felt how an early church might feel or how a Catholic service might feel if it were in someone’s home. They prayed and sang some of the songs you’d hear in a Catholic church, along with songs from an Assemblies of God or Baptist-type non-denominational church. They said the Apostles’ Creed together and took communion as a Catholic church does, with everyone coming up front and receiving it in long lines from the pastor.

The sermon was sound — like a homily — and did not feel as scattered with pieces of scripture as many non-denominational church services are. We were spellbound. If it weren’t for how modern everyone seemed to be dressed, I would have thought we had been transported to an era before the Reformation.

Shared roots

After it was over, I asked the pastor if their church had any Catholic influence.

He laughed and said no, that if there were ex-Catholic members, they would probably oppose these traditional Orthodox inclusions. No, these were things he had included because from his studies and experiences, he had come to believe that there was a lot that Protestantism lost when it spurned tradition and ritualism, and he was slowly trying to incorporate it back into church. “It’s in our roots, too.”

I talked to his wife and told her about my Living Room Academy (she had heard of it) and how it was partially inspired by my travels in woke circles when I realized that many lesbians and liberal women were doing a better job of being women and passing on beauty and skills than Christian women. Her eyes opened wide. “You’re right.” I’ve heard that since we left, she has decided to open her own iteration of the Living Room Academy for the girls in their church.

What I loved about their church was that they didn’t seem to be stuck in their bubble. Their church wasn’t really their “home” as much as it was them trying to find out what home means by looking to the past and looking to paradise. They seem to be doing a very good job at making it work — their church was filled with children, happy-looking teenagers, and a diversity of fashion from very beautiful dresses to jeans with frilly purses. There seemed to be room for expression of faith.

Coming home

After that we finally made it to a Mass in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. And I must admit, it kind of felt like coming home.

I hadn’t realized how much I had come to love attending Catholic churches with my husband. There are still many questions I have had to sort through about the Church and whether or not I can in good conscience submit myself to its authority. However, being there, surrounded by the beauty of the type that God requested when He detailed the temple He wanted from the Jews, feels like being at home … in paradise.

Everything else feels so earth-like, so business-minded and corporate and mechanical. Even though the “music” of mainstream churches claims to have more life in the show, there’s nothing quite like the chorus in a cathedral. And while you might get a good sermon in a Protestant church, you’re not going to hear near as much scripture read as is read at Mass.

Most Protestants would complain if they had to sit through half of what is read — they want a Bible verse that corroborates a sermon. Meanwhile, you might get about 15 minutes of rich preaching at a Mass — the rest is pure scripture.

It’s almost a hobby now — I will certainly never stop church-hopping, comparing and pondering. I want our children to have these experiences. So many wonderful conversations have sprung up between my husband and me because of these visits, and we are finding ourselves growing more spiritually aligned because of it.

And so I will continue to exhort anyone of any faith: Visit the churches around you, no matter their denomination. Every church has something to offer you and will give you an opportunity to practice humility and charity.

Editor’s note: A version of this essay earlier appeared on the Polite Company Substack.

​Faith, Abide, Seventh-day adventist, Christianity, Catholicism, Evangelicals, Lifestyle, Hitchhiking, Marriage, Church hopping, Culture, Church-hopping 

Imagine spending four years studying to become an engineer or computer scientist, believing a STEM degree would guarantee success, only to graduate jobless.

That isn’t a hypothetical. It’s the reality facing thousands of young Americans. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, graduates in physics, computer engineering, and computer science now face some of the highest unemployment rates of any field.

American workers have lost out on jobs given to visa holders and have been forced to work for lower wages, creating a race to the bottom for companies to treat workers as widgets.

America’s flawed H-1B visa system is a major reason why. Established under the Immigration Act of 1990, the H-1B program was intended to let companies hire exceptional foreign specialists only when no qualified Americans were available.

It no longer serves that purpose. Today the H-1B has become the nation’s largest temporary work visa program, with nearly 600,000 foreign workers and 50,000 participating companies. In 2022, the 30 biggest H-1B employers hired more than 34,000 new visa workers while cutting roughly 85,000 existing jobs.

Companies claim they can’t find American STEM talent, yet the numbers tell a different story. In 2023, roughly 134,000 Americans and green card holders earned computer science degrees. That same year, the federal government issued work permits to 110,000 foreign guest workers in computer-related jobs.

In some STEM fields, up to half of new American graduates can’t find work. Tens of thousands of qualified workers remain unemployed while their government floods the market with cheaper, compliant labor.

How companies game the system

The law requires H-1B workers to be paid the same as Americans, but reality tells another story. In 2019, 60% of H-1B positions paid below the median wage for comparable U.S. workers. The visa lottery treats low-paying jobs and high-paying jobs the same, incentivizing companies to pursue cheap labor.

Even the statutory cap on H-1B visas doesn’t stop abuse. A loophole known as Optional Practical Training lets foreign students work in the United States for up to a year after graduation, or three years if they hold a STEM degree.

OPT isn’t authorized by law. It has no cap, no wage floor, and no accountability. Worse, it acts as a corporate subsidy because employers don’t pay payroll taxes on any of the half million foreign workers now in the country under this program.

Time for a real fix

Even the architects of the H-1B system admit it’s broken. Former Connecticut Rep. Bruce Morrison, a Democrat who helped design the visa in 1990, told “60 Minutes” in 2017 that “the H-1B has been hijacked as the main highway to bring people from abroad and displace Americans.”

To build on that effort, I’ve reintroduced the American Tech Workforce Act, which attacks the problem on three fronts.

RELATED: Trump admin announces major H-1B visa abuse investigation, but critics want more

Photo by Andrew Harnik / Contributor via Getty Images

First, it raises the wage floor. Companies that truly need foreign specialists should pay them the same as top American workers, ending the incentive to undercut domestic wages.

Second, it closes the OPT loophole. Foreign students shouldn’t have a back door to replace American graduates. The jobs belong to the people who earned them here.

Finally, my bill would shut down staffing scams. Third-party agencies flood the H-1B lottery with low-quality applications to drive down wages. My bill blocks those schemes and creates a true marketplace where visas go to the highest bidders — boosting both fairness and economic value.

According to the Institute for Progress, these reforms would strengthen the economy by $1.1 trillion over the next decade.

Putting Americans first

The current system rewards corporate exploitation and punishes American ambition. Workers lose jobs, wages stagnate, and graduates who followed every rule are told to wait in line behind foreign contractors. Discrimination based on national origin is already illegal, yet Washington’s visa policies effectively endorse it.

President Trump’s executive order, combined with the American Tech Workforce Act, offers a rare opportunity to restore sanity to the system. We can defend innovation while defending American workers — the people who built this country and still drive its future.

The next generation deserves more than broken promises and outsourced dreams. They deserve a fair shot to work, build, and thrive in the nation they call home.

​H-1b visas, India, Tech workers, Opinion & analysis, Immigration, Congress, Maga, America first, Jim banks, Scams, Bruce morrison, Stem, Temporary worker, Federal reserve, Economy, American students, Immigration act of 1990, Unemployment, Jobs, American tech workforce act 

Young men are inheriting a spiritually starving society, where they’re being sold a future of cheap pleasures, hollow heroes, and never-ending screen time.

It’s a lot of noise, and it will rob the youth of all purpose.

But Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck has some advice.

“If there is anything virtuous, lovely, of good report, or praiseworthy, seek those things. Don’t admire them. Don’t nod at them. Seek them. Hunt them. Chase them. Build your life around those things,” Glenn explains.

“A man who will do that, a boy, a young man who will do that, will become different, noticeably different. He will stop letting the culture feed him garbage. He stops applauding the trivial. He stops laughing at the obscene or cheering for the cruel. He will become a curator of real, lasting beauty in an age that has forgotten what beauty even looks like.”

“When other men are chasing down or holding up cynicism, this man holds up hope. When everyone around him is chasing dopamine, he chooses discipline. When others will blame their circumstance, he’ll take responsibility for his own action. When the world worships the shallow, he goes and searches for the deep.”

“You become what you seek. If you seek trash, you become trash. You seek virtue, you become a man of virtue. You seek excellence, and your life will begin to shine, not loudly, but steadily like the steel glow of a blade being forged.”

The world, Glenn says, already has a never-ending supply of “angry,” “addicted,” and “distracted” boys.

What it needs now, he explains, are men.

“Whole men. Clear-eyed men. Men whose souls are anchored to something higher than the algorithms trying to own them,” he says. “Build a life worthy of admiration. Forget about the applause. Fill your mind with words that make you wiser.”

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America suffers from more than political unrest. We are in a spiritual drought — a values famine so deep that even the conservative movement, once grounded in virtue, now splinters under the weight of ego and bitterness. Too many voices compete for authority on the right, but too few echo the one voice that matters: God’s.

This isn’t about pundits or personalities. It’s about the soul of our movement and the substance of our faith. Somewhere along the way, many conservatives forgot a truth written plainly in Scripture: It is Christian to love and support the Jewish people.

If we can’t love our spiritual cousins — the people through whom our faith was born — what are we even defending? What good is a ‘Christian’ movement that forgets the Christian part?

When Jesus was asked which commandment was greatest, He didn’t hedge: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37–40).

Two commandments. No asterisks, no exemptions for those who worship differently or descend from another people. Jesus didn’t love selectively. He loved sacrificially.

The roots of the faith — and the movement

Conservatism, at its best, has always drawn strength from virtue — faith, family, freedom, and responsibility. Yet we’re watching parts of the movement trade virtue for venom. Courage has been confused with cruelty, boldness with bitterness, and orthodoxy with outrage.

That confusion has allowed an old poison to re-emerge: open hostility toward Jews and Israel. It comes disguised in respectable terms like “nationalism,” “authentic Christianity,” or “anti-globalism.” But strip away the labels and you find something that bears no resemblance to Christ.

Scripture leaves no doubt: “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse” (Genesis 12:3). That was God’s covenant with Abraham — the father of Israel and of faith itself. You cannot claim to follow the God of Abraham while despising Abraham’s descendants.

Christian Zionism isn’t a modern political fad. It’s the natural outflow of biblical belief. The early church didn’t view itself apart from Israel; it saw itself grafted into the same vine. “Do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches,” Paul wrote. “If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you” (Romans 11:18).

Jesus was born a Jew, lived as a Jew, and died under a sign that read “King of the Jews.” The apostles were Jewish. The first believers were Jewish. The Old Testament — the foundation of Christian morality — was written by Jews. To despise the Jewish people is to despise the very tree that bore the Savior.

Love commands courage

Christ’s command in John 13:34 is unmistakable: “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” If we can’t love our spiritual cousins — the people through whom our faith was born — what are we even defending? What good is a “Christian” movement that forgets the Christian part?

The world starves for grace. Our culture feasts on outrage, cynicism, and suspicion. The church’s mission — and the conservative movement’s moral responsibility — is not to mirror that chaos but to model something better.

We talk about “saving America,” but no nation can be saved if it forgets how to love its neighbor. America’s founders drew moral strength from Scripture because they understood that the deepest revolutions begin not in politics but in the human heart.

Jesus didn’t build walls between people — He built bridges to their hearts. He dined with tax collectors, healed Roman soldiers, and forgave His executioners. He chose compassion over contempt.

When He met the Samaritan woman at the well, He didn’t belittle her faith — He offered her living water. When Christ told the parable of the Good Samaritan, He made the hero an outsider despised by His own people. Love, He showed us, knows no boundary.

If Jesus could forgive the people who nailed Him to a cross, surely we can love the people through whom God gave us His Son.

Truth without love is just noise

Love does not mean silence. The same Jesus who preached mercy also overturned the tables of corruption. Scripture commands believers to “have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them” (Ephesians 5:11).

Today a dangerous strain cloaks hatred in holiness. It mistakes cruelty for conviction and turns “truth-telling” into a license to dehumanize. But righteousness without love is rebellion, not faith.

Standing against that spirit isn’t weakness. It’s obedience. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for pride and hypocrisy, warning that “many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord,’ … Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you’” (Matthew 7:22–23). Faith without love is empty. Theology without mercy is just noise.

A call back to first principles

We are not only in a culture war; we are in a crisis of the soul. Civility has been replaced by performance. Grace by grudges. Authenticity by algorithms. Too many of our debates aim to win arguments rather than save souls.

Differences are inevitable. Divisions are a choice. We can disagree passionately and still love deeply. That is the mark of maturity — and the essence of Christianity. “If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?” Jesus asked in Matthew 5:46. Real love begins where comfort ends.

RELATED: This crisis in churches is real. Will Christians fight back?

Photo by John Greim/Contributor via Getty Images

The conservative movement must decide: Will we reflect Christ or merely invoke His name when it’s convenient? Will we unite around truth or fracture around pride? Anti-Jewish rhetoric isn’t just politically foolish — it’s spiritually corrosive.

It isn’t “based.” It’s blasphemous.

Winston Churchill once said, “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.” What we need now are not louder voices but larger hearts. Not more outrage, but more grace. Not more warriors in the comments section, but more witnesses in the world.

It’s time to return to first principles: Love God. Love your neighbor. Those two commandments are enough to heal a movement — and maybe even a nation.

The next time someone claims to speak for Christianity while spewing hate, open your Bible. The truth is written in red.

Jesus didn’t call us to divide. He called us to love. And love, real love, always points back to the cross — and to the people through whom God brought the Savior of the world.

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The public feud between the president of the United States and late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel led to Kimmel’s wife distancing from pro-Trump family members.

Molly McNearney is a writer on the show and is Kimmel’s wife. She made the comments while a guest on the “We Can Do Hard Things” podcast.

‘It hurts me so much because of the personal relationship I now have where my husband is out there fighting this man.’

McNearney said that she felt family members who supported Trump were a personal insult to her.

“I personalize everything now. When I see these terrible stories every day, I’m immediately mad at certain aunts, uncles, cousins who put him in power. And it’s really hard,” she said.

She also said she had “sympathy” for relatives who are “deliberately being misinformed every day,” but added that “it hurts me so much because of the personal relationship I now have where my husband is out there fighting this man.”

McNearney said she had tried to persuade her relatives against voting for Trump.

“I’ve definitely pulled in closer with the family that I feel more aligned with. And I hate that this has happened,” she said.

“Part of me goes, ‘Don’t let politics get in the way.’ But to me, this isn’t politics. It’s truly values. And we just were not aligned anymore,” she continued.

She added, “To me, them voting for Trump is them not voting for my husband and me and our family.”

RELATED: Warren faces continuing backlash over outlandish response to Kimmel controversy

She also recalled the moment she and her husband went home to tell their children that Kimmel’s show had been canceled.

“Our daughter immediately burst into tears. And she said, ‘I’ll sell my Labubus,'” McNearney recalled.

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A progressive talk radio show host posted a photograph of herself kissing the sneakers of Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas, and the online response was not very supportive.

Stephanie Miller posted the photographs on social media Sunday.

‘If you’re a human being who kisses the feet of another human being, you are an embarrassment to the human race.’

“Why, yes I DID kiss the sneakers of @JasmineForUS and I DO worship the ground she walks on! And she was LOVELY about it!” she added with a laughing emoji.

Many saw the bizarre interaction as an analogy for Democrats worshipping their politicians.

“If you’re a human being who kisses the feet of another human being, you are an embarrassment to the human race. Radio host Stephanie Miller, you’re disgusting. Y’all know Jasmine Crockett’s feet STANK!!” another account said.

“Politicians represent us. They are not to be ‘worshipped.’ And the fact that she allowed it, tells you a lot,” another detractor wrote.

“This is the type of thing only boomer liberal white women think is cool. Everyone else thinks you’re weird as s**t,” another response reads.

The images went viral after being highlighted by the popular “Libs of TikTok” account.

“CRINGE: Leftist radio host Stephanie Miller kissed the feet of Democrat Rep. Jasmine Crockett. These people are mental,” the account wrote.

RELATED: Jasmine Crockett calls Trump a ‘piece of s**t’ during rant at left-wing rally

Crockett has recently said that she is thinking about seeking an even higher office because it would be “karma” against Republicans redistricting in Texas.

“Because if you want to take my seat of 766,000 away, I feel like there has to be some karma in that to where I take your seat that is for 30 million away,” she said. “So we are, you know, the primary is the primary. That’s cool, but you got to win the general. So we are doing some testing here shortly to see if I can expand the electorate.”

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The mainstream media has yet again been caught in a lie about an illegal immigrant, this time by falsely accusing ICE of targeting a day care and traumatizing children.

“Parents want answers after feds arrest day care teacher — ‘It has destroyed us,’ one headline from the Chicago Sun-Times reads. Another reads, “Chicago mayor condemns ICE arrest of daycare teacher in front of children: ‘shocked the conscience.’”

“Was that dramatic enough?” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales asks. “I mean, that sounds really, really dramatic. That sounds terrible,” she continues, before playing a clip of the arrest — which showed the day care teacher resisting while being led outside of the day care and then calming down.

“It turns out,” Gonzales explains, “this woman — not such a good person. … An illegal alien from Colombia, Diana Patricia Santillana Galeano.”

“So, she was here because the Biden administration released her into the United States. And last month, apparently, she reportedly paid for human smugglers to illegally bring her 17-year-old and 16-year-old children into the United States via the southern border,” she continues.

“Not sure if she knew this before — certainly she knows it now — that facilitating human smuggling is actually a crime. It’s not a good thing to enrich the coyotes’ pockets to bring a 16- and 17-year-old on a dangerous journey where there are lots of rapes and crimes that occur along the way,” she adds.

However, while the mainstream media has claimed that ICE targeted the day care specifically to drag the illegal immigrant out, the Department of Homeland Security is telling a much different story.

“ICE law enforcement did NOT target a day care. Officers attempted to conduct a targeted traffic stop of this female illegal alien from Colombia. Officers attempted to pull over this vehicle, which was registered to a female illegal alien, with sirens and emergency lights, but the male driver refused to pull the vehicle over,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

“Law enforcement pursued the vehicle before the assailant sped into a shopping plaza where he and the female passenger fled the vehicle. They ran into a day care and attempted to barricade themselves inside the day care — recklessly endangering the children inside. The illegal alien female was arrested inside a vestibule, not in the school,” she added.

“I personally think that that ire could just be turned onto the illegal and her cohort, who decided to run into the day care to seek refuge when they weren’t already there. They were completely endangering children, bringing all of these children into this situation that they didn’t have to,” Gonzales comments.

“If you want to be mad at someone for that situation,” she continues, “maybe be mad at the illegal who put the day care in that situation in the first place. But that would require critical thinking. The Democrats don’t have that. The mainstream media certainly doesn’t have that.”

“The American people are just done with this,” she adds.

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A Detroit Lions football player was assailed online after doing the “Trump dance” at a game Sunday after he scored a touchdown.

The Washington Commanders were playing the Lions at the stadium in Maryland with President Donald Trump in attendance when wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown appeared to point up to him after his touchdown.

‘Amon-Ra St. Brown did the trump dance? F**k his b***h a** too, hope the city turn on his lame a**.’

The receiver then mimed the president’s dance, and two other players joined him in the celebration.

The president later posted a video of St. Brown’s dance on his Truth Social account, where it garnered more than 3,000 ReTruths.

That prompted many to express their hatred and criticism against St. Brown.

“Amon Ra St Brown you are a f**king disgrace,” reads one missive that garnered over 9,000 likes on X.

“Amon-Ra St. Brown did the trump dance? F**k his bitch ass too, hope the city turn on his lame ass @amonra_stbrown Yousa hoe ass n***a, Detroit dont rock with that s**t,” another post reads.

“Hey @amonra_stbrown f**k you, stop supporting an orange racist, sexist, felon currently stopping people from receiving food, illegally arresting with ICE, & holding government hostage. Hear the crowd boo him out of the building? READ THE ROOM, DIPS**T!” another detractor said.

“Doing this to kiss the ass of the man withholding food from 42 million people. How disappointing. How disgraceful,” another account said.

“Lost a lot of respect for @amonra_stbrown today after he acknowledged the pedo in chief. But hey, he makes his millions right? So he forgave to worry about all the people negatively affected by the republican shut down,” said the account for the Montgomery County Warriors Baseball nonprofit.

Others praised St. Brown for ignoring cancel culture.

BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock opined on the incident in a statement to Blaze News.

“Liberals spend all of their time policing the behavior and thoughts of black people. NFL players do not have a problem with Donald Trump or the Republican Party. Black men in general do not have a problem with Donald Trump or the Republican Party. They are forced to pretend they have a problem with Trump to keep peace at home with their wives and mothers and get the financial rewards of the entertainment industry. It’s a charade that needs to stop,” Whitlock said.

RELATED: Charles Barkley defends sports players who refuse to kneel, and social media is melting down

Photo by Randy Litzinger/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

St. Brown soon afterward was punched by a Commanders player who was then suspended by the league, leading many to believe that the Trump dance had something to do with the incident.

The Commanders went on to lose that game by a score of 22 to 44.

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Leftist activists in Chicago engaged in a series of violent attacks against federal agents who were conducting immigration enforcement operations over the weekend, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Around 9:30 a.m. on Saturday in a neighborhood of Little Village, a “hostile crowd” allegedly boxed Border Patrol agents into a street and alleyway.

‘This incident is not isolated and reflects a growing and dangerous trend of violence and obstruction.’

An individual driving a black Jeep Wrangler fired multiple rounds at the agents while they were apprehending a suspect, the DHS reported. The shooter fled the scene.

Some in the crowd reportedly hurled objects, including bricks, at the officers’ vehicles.

The DHS credited the Chicago Police Department for helping agents evacuate the area.

As agents left the scene, another driver allegedly attempted to ram into the agents’ convoy, but the attack was thwarted when federal officials deployed a controlled tire deflation device.

RELATED: Masked anti-ICE agitators are in for a rude awakening as new DHS policy goes into effect

Image source: Department of Homeland Security

The DHS explained that the convoy proceeded to an FBI facility, where agents encountered two additional drivers who tried to “impede operations.” When agents issued a warning, one of the drivers allegedly attempted to ram the convoy. That driver was arrested.

“Border Patrol reached the FBI facility when rioters attempted to breach security there. Chicago Police responded to help secure the perimeter,” the DHS stated.

Border Patrol agents left the FBI facility but again encountered a group of protesters who were attempting to obstruct traffic by lying in the street. Agents deployed crowd-control measures after the activists began throwing objects, the DHS said.

Once the road was cleared, agents proceeded to a Sam’s Club parking lot where they were allegedly “stalked and followed” by protesters. Another driver allegedly rammed a federal vehicle. Officials arrested three individuals for assault.

A fourth vehicle ramming occurred when agents attempted to leave the grocery store parking lot. The suspect driving the vehicle fled the scene and remains at large.

While no Border Patrol agents were harmed, photographs shared by the DHS show damage to two federal vehicles.

The series of attacks resulted in the arrest of eight U.S. citizens and one illegal alien.

RELATED: DHS crushes Democrat for claiming preschool teacher was detained without warrant in front of children

Photo by Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images

The DHS blamed the incidents on “sanctuary politicians and the media.”

“A criminal illegal alien from Mexico has been arrested in relation to Saturday’s shooting targeting Border Patrol agents in Chicago. The suspect has previously been convicted for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon/vehicle, felony possession of a weapon, and illegal entry,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement provided to Blaze News. “He is currently marked as a violator of the Laken Riley Act, pending charges related to assaulting officers.”

“This incident is not isolated and reflects a growing and dangerous trend of violence and obstruction,” she continued. “Over the past two months, we’ve seen an increase in assaults and obstruction targeting federal law enforcement during operations. These confrontations highlight the dangers our agents face daily and the escalating aggression toward law enforcement.”

The Latin Kings allegedly issued a “shoot on sight” order targeting federal agents, NewsNation reported. It is currently unclear whether Saturday’s shooting is tied to the street gang.

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Over 2,490 autopenned commutations were granted on Jan. 17 in then-President Joe Biden’s name — more in one day than any previous president granted over their entire presidency.

A statement attributed to Biden suggested that the clemency action was “an important step toward righting historic wrongs, correcting sentencing disparities, and providing deserving individuals the opportunity to return to their families and communities after spending far too much time behind bars.”

‘Crime must be met with consequences, not weakness.’

Among the supposedly “deserving individuals” who received commutations — which an associate deputy attorney general indicated at the time were legally flawed — was Khyre Holbert, a thug who pled guilty in 2018 to multiple crimes, including trafficking crack cocaine and knowingly carrying and using a firearm during a drug-trafficking crime. He previously served three years in prison for a separate felony firearm conviction.

Holbert, whom the Biden White House spared from serving the remaining 13 years of his 20-year sentence, was arrested last month in connection with a shooting in downtown Omaha, Nebraska, that sent a 28-year-old man to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

“Holbert should never have been released back into the community. I’m at complete loss as to why this administration continues to honor the directions of the Biden-era autopen,” Oversight Project president Mike Howell told Blaze News. “He should have been re-arrested, as we’ve been calling for many months. Holbert won’t be the last.”

According to the Omaha Police Department, a gunshot rang out in the early hours of Oct. 4 as an officer was investigating a disturbance involving a firearm in the area of 13th and Howard streets. After additional units were called to the scene, police located a man suffering from a gunshot wound as well as a discarded firearm.

RELATED: Bondi has bad news for Fauci, Milley, and other Biden pardonees: DOJ is actively reviewing Biden-era autopen use

Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images

Police caught Holbert and charged him with first-degree assault, using a firearm to commit a felony, and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. He has since also been slapped with a federal firearms charge.

An unsealed complaint alleges that forensic technicians successfully identified Holbert’s fingerprints on the gun and that the gun appears to be the same weapon used in numerous other violent gun offenses in the state, WOWT-TV reported.

The Omaha Police Officers Association commended officers for rushing to the scene “before Holbert could get away or hurt anyone else” and condemned Holbert’s early release by the Biden White House.

“Releasing dangerous criminals before proven rehabilitative efforts, puts our communities, our families, our kids, and our police officers at risk. We’re grateful our members got there fast, before Holbert could get away or hurt anyone else,” the OPOA added.

Attorney General Pam Bondi echoed OPOA’s frustration, noting in a statement, “The Biden administration’s last-minute commutations were not only a cruel blow to victims’ families, but also a fundamental failure to hold criminals accountable.”

“This tragic case proves that crime must be met with consequences, not weakness,” Bondi continued. “Our prosecutors in Nebraska are doing the job that the prior administration refused to do.”

The Biden White House reportedly commuted Holbert’s sentence despite objections from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Nebraska, which cited Holbert’s gang affiliation and multiple criminal convictions.

The Oversight Project obtained damning internal emails from the Justice Department in August revealing that former Associate Deputy Attorney General Bradley Weinsheimer had taken issue with the Biden White House’s apparent efforts to mislead the nation about the violent criminal nature of the individuals who received commutations.

While the Jan. 17 statement attributed to Biden characterizes the recipients of the commutations as felons “convicted of non-violent drug offenses,” many of those who received commutations along with Holbert were violent thugs, including

Russell McIntosh, who gunned down a woman along with her 2-year-old child after the woman threatened to expose his drug enterprise; Adrian Peeler, sentenced for conspiracy to commit murder involving the slaying of an 8-year-old witness and his mother; andPlaze Anderson, a former high-ranking member of the Gangster Disciples who was personally involved in two murders, an attempted murder and kidnapping, and obstruction of justice.

Editor’s note: Mike Howell is a Blaze News contributor.

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The Danville Public Schools district in Virginia appears to have scrubbed the name of a reportedly transgender-identifying teacher at George Washington High School over a controversial meme.

Dr. Sabrina Morris taught government and history at the school before getting placed on leave over a meme that allegedly threatened violence against those opposing pronouns.

Morris’ personal Instagram, which lists female preferred pronouns, was also set to a private account.

The meme showed the image of a hand holding a gun to the back of a person with the text, “PUT THE PRONOUNS BACK IN THE EMAIL.” The hand is rainbow-colored, indicating that it’s a pro-LGBTQ meme. Morris reportedly shared the meme on social media.

The district released a statement that provided few details about the repercussions Morris faces.

“We are aware of a recent social media post involving one of our employees that has caused concern within our school community. We take such matters very seriously, as the content shared does not reflect the values or expectations of professionalism that guide our division,” said a district spokesperson.

“Danville Public Schools remains committed to providing a safe and respectful environment for all students and staff,” the spokesperson added. “Due to this being a personnel matter, no additional information can be shared at this time.”

The name “Sabrina Morris” was listed among the social studies teachers on the school website as recently as September 6, though as of Monday, that name no longer appears.

Morris’ teacher profile page also appears to have been scrubbed from the school’s website. Morris reportedly claimed on that page to be a member of the LGBTQ+ community.

The meme garnered more attention after the popular Libs of TikTok account posted about the incident, and it was featured on Greg Gutfeld’s show on Fox News.

Morris’ personal Instagram, which lists female preferred pronouns, was also set to a private account.

RELATED: California school sports officials announce change in trans rules after Trump threatens to end federal funding

Former U.S. Attorney John Fishwick commented about the incident.

“I think people need to be cognizant of the fact that anything you post on social media is out there for the world to see,” he said. “If it somehow impacts your job, most important employers are going to say that’s fair game for us to look at and decide if you’re harming our business or if you are harming our brand.”

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When women are told that the biggest issue they face is their self-esteem — not their sin — it doesn’t bring them closer to God or make them more likely to walk through the church doors on Sunday.

Instead, it leaves them feeling like they can find that kind of advice anywhere.

“Why would you go to church and sacrifice your free time if you’re going to hear the same message anywhere?” BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey asks ex-Green Beret and Virginia delegate Nick Freitas, noting that they’re simply being told what “they want to hear.”

And women aren’t the only ones being fooled.

“Do you feel like that also might be happening among the Andrew Tate acolytes of the world who say, ‘Okay, in order to attract these young men, we have to not be like Jesus was. We have to be crass, and we have to be rude, and we have to be arrogant, and we have to be materialistic, and we have to be promiscuous, and we have to talk about women like they’re objects ’cause that’s real masculinity’?” she asks.

Freitas agrees, calling the approach symbolic of the “manosphere.”

“So, I think there’s two things that we have to recognize whenever we talk about what we might call the manosphere — Andrew Tate, Justin Waller, some of these other guys, Fresh and Fit. … The first thing that we need to recognize is the reason why they resonated so much with young men was not simply because all these guys have admirable accomplishments in their own right,” he explains.

“But they tend to be strong. They tend to be wealthy, and they tend to, you know, women tend to be attracted to them, right? So, these are all things that, if you’re a young man without a spiritual basis in your life, you’re looking at these things going, ‘I want that,’” he continues.

“The most important component, though, is a lot of young men felt like those guys were sticking up for them when nobody else would,” he says, noting that “men associate loyalty with love.”

“And so, a lot of young men look at guys like Andrew Tate, and they say, ‘That guy had my back when none of you people in the church were mentioning any of this. And now the first time you want to come up and talk about the problems with masculinity, you want to bash Andrew Tate, the one guy that had my back,’” he explains.

“And so, the way I think we need to approach something like that is certainly not by excusing what I believe is disastrous, sinful, and ultimately not genuinely masculine behavior, but I think we need to recognize the source of the problem and from whence it comes,” he adds.

Freitas also explains that the “masculinity” that the manosphere pushes is “hedonistic masculinity,” which says that “you should dominate for the sake of your own pleasure.”

“Essentially, your will to power is the highest moral standard that you can appeal to. That is not in line with Christianity at all,” he says, adding that in order to be in line with Christianity it would have to be “sacrificial in nature.”

“The thing that I would tell young men is, I can appreciate that Andrew Tate is fit, right? I can appreciate that the man can fight. … But if you really want something that’s going to give you ultimate meaning and purpose, … you get that when you recognize that there is a God,” he explains.

“He has a meaning and purpose for your life,” he continues, adding, “and he requires you to be strong because it is a difficult world.”

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An Illinois mother has been charged with criminal sexual assault and possession of child porn after she allegedly had a baby with her daughter’s teen friend, according to multiple reports.

The Washington Police Department arrested Robyn Polston, 43, on Nov. 3. Polston is being detained without bail while her case is pending, according to the New York Post.

‘Officers were able to get search warrants for the boy’s phone and found several images, allegedly showing him and Polston engaged in sexual activity.’

Polston was charged with two counts of criminal sexual assault with a victim between the ages of 13 and 17 and two counts of possession of child pornography, according to a court filing People magazine obtained. If convicted on all charges, Polston faces up to 60 years in prison.

Local law enforcement said officers launched an investigation in February after Polston gave birth to a baby in January, WMBD-TV reported.

A probable cause affidavit stated that Polston told investigators that the father was a man in his 20s, who she claimed hadn’t seen the baby since the child was born.

However, investigators noticed that the baby’s middle and last name on the birth certificate and other records matched the name of a teen, according to court documents filed last week in Tazewell County Circuit Court.

Investigators said the 14-year-old victim attended a junior high dance with Polston’s daughter in May 2023, according to the affidavit. Polston served as a chaperone at the dance, court documents said.

The probable cause affidavit also said the boy moved out of state but returned to the Central Illinois area for a visit in April 2024 — approximately 40 weeks before Polston gave birth to the baby.

In August 2024, the teen moved back to live with the family of a “friend,” according to the affidavit.

RELATED: Shocking texts allegedly reveal sinister plan by teacher and her boyfriend to groom, sex traffic her student

Citing the affidavit, WKRC-TV reported that law enforcement officers discovered “a large number of sexually explicit images and videos depicting [the alleged victim] and Polston.”

WMBD reported, “Officers were able to get search warrants for the boy’s phone and found several images, allegedly showing him and Polston engaged in sexual activity. Some of the pictures were clearly taken by her, the affidavit stated.”

Citing prosecutors, WEEK-TV reported that Polston and the alleged victim “used burner phones under fake names to protect their identities, and she allegedly tried to get the minor to participate in a cover-up.”

A DNA test confirmed that Polston and the alleged victim are the parents of the newborn baby, according to the affidavit.

Polston is scheduled to appear in court Dec. 4.

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​Illinois, Robyn polston, Child sex crimes, Child sex abuse, Child porn, Child pornography, Child sexual assault, Crime 

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency slaughtered hundreds of ostriches at Edgewood, British Columbia’s Universal Ostrich Farms Thursday night.

Using rifles, at least two “marksmen” believed to be working at the CFIA’s Enforcement Investigation and Services Unit in its Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, branch unloaded hundreds of rounds into the birds beginning on Thursday evening and continuing into the early hours of Friday morning.

While sifting through material filled with the blood and remains of the supposedly infected ostriches, the police wore no protective gear and worked with their bare hands.

To those who raised and cared for them, each ostrich was more than a number. Among the dead were Spike, “tough and protective”; the “feisty” and “full of attitude” Anna; and Kickaroo, so named because of her penchant for kicking when excited.

‘Please stop’

Over 120 supporters stood in the rain and shouted their objections to the killers, including farm spokeswoman Katie Pasitney, who kneeled in front of the iron fence that had separated her from the ostriches since the CFIA and RCMP invaded and occupied the 58-acre spread located in the pastoral Kootenays, close to Valhalla Provincial Park and about two hours east of Kelowna. Sobbing profusely, Pasitney begged the shooters to “stop, please stop.”

— (@)

The “culling” did not appear to be humane, as many ostriches were only injured and spent the night crying in pain as their lives receded. In the morning, CFIA “inspectors” decapitated several of the birds that continued to struggle for their lives.

Many supporters took to social media to describe the ordeal. According to one such post:

They were gunned down in the dark, over hours. I watched the lives from 6:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. and had to log off around 9 because I couldn’t take any more — the gunshots, the agonizing sounds of the birds, the screaming. By the time I muted the sound I think the count was around 600 bullets. It was absolutely f****** sickening. The anger I feel is unreal and I will not be silenced. Those responsible — the shooters, CFIA, and the corrupt cops who look the other way — you will pay in hell.

No protective gear

A source who has been integral to the farm’s response to the ongoing presence of the CFIA and RCMP told Align that aside from identity-concealing “balaclavas,” the shooters wore absolutely no protective clothing, despite the CFIA’s continued claim that the birds posed a “pathogenic” health hazard to other animals and humans.

On Sunday, the CFIA began the task of removing the ostrich carcasses from the farm. Personnel used the RCMP as farm labor to collect all the hay from the “hot zone” or death pen, which the government bureaucrats had used to corral the ostriches.

While sifting through material filled with the blood and remains of the supposedly infected ostriches, the police wore no protective gear and worked with their bare hands. The remains were then piled into blue bins and loaded onto trucks for an undisclosed dumping location, although farm supporters have been following the vehicles to discover where the birds are going.

Many believe the carcasses were headed for the port near Surrey, BC, to be loaded onto a ship for disposal at sea.

RELATED: ‘Classic display of punishment’: Canada targets family ostrich farm for destruction

David Krayden

Refusal to test

The CFIA refused to test the ostriches for evidence of avian flu in life or in death. The farm had demonstrated for almost 300 days that the birds were healthy and had developed herd immunity with antibodies that could provide valuable lessons for the natural containment of the H5N1 disease.

In a statement, the CFIA claimed it was “moving forward” with “a disease response” at the farm and noted that it would “complete depopulation and disposal measures as authorized by the Health of Animals Act and guided by the stamping out policy for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI).”

The Supreme Court of Canada on Thursday dismissed an appeal from Universal Ostrich Farms to stop the Canadian Food Inspection Agency from slaughtering hundreds of ostriches of the farm because of an apparent outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza in December 2024.

‘The people have to fight back’

Pasitney said, “Our hearts are empty,” about herself and farm co-owners Karen Espersen and Dave Bilinski. She said, “It doesn’t matter if it’s a chicken or a 35-year-old ostrich; no animal should have to die inhumanely, neglected, tortured.”

The CFIA claimed that shooting the birds over several hours was the “most appropriate and humane option” for them.

But a CFIA manual on culling practice indicates that shooting should only be utilized as a “last resort.”

Pasitney has indicated that she intends to fight for other farms that have been targeted by the CFIA over a “stamping out” policy that is out of step even with the guidelines of the World Health Organization and World Organization for Animal Health.

After months of constant legal wrangling and nonstop media attention, Pasitney told Align Sunday that she needs to “get strong” as she moves ahead. “There has to be change in Canada. This cannot be allowed to continue to happen. The people have to fight back.”

​Universal ostrich farms, Canada, Culling, Avian flu, Government overreach, Lifestyle, Letter from canada 

Graham Platner, the oyster farmer running for the U.S. Senate in Maine, was exposed last month for making a number of damning comments on social media — including posts where he apparently identified as a communist, branded rural white Americans as racists, suggested that service members worried about being raped should buy “Kevlar underwear,” and smeared all police officers as “bastards.”

Although he has since covered it up, Platner was also outed for having a tattoo of a skull image similar to that popularized by Adolf Hitler’s SS elite Nazi guard.

It appears that Platner, who enjoys the continued support from lawmakers including Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), is far from the most radical candidate seeking election as a Democrat in 2026.

The homosexual socialist running as a Democrat to represent Michigan’s 7th district in Congress has engaged in bloodthirsty and inflammatory rhetoric that makes Platner’s remarks seem tame by comparison.

‘Radical far-left lunatics like Samuel Smeltzer expose the liberal brain rot that is now the current state of the Democrat Party.’

Samuel Smeltzer, a 36-year-old IT contractor who calls himself Elyon Badger and dresses up in an anthropomorphic “furry” costume, has not only stated that “America deserved 9/11,” called Jesus “a communist,” recommended killing billionaires, labeled Israel as “an enemy of the United States,” advocated the imprisonment of all U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, and repeatedly celebrated Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk’s assassination, calling him a “massive loser.”

Within an hour of Kirk’s passing, Smeltzer wrote on the liberal X knockoff Bluesky, “Good things can happen.” Days later, he shared an image of the murdered father of two with the caption, “How can we defeat evil, if evil is mourned when it’s defeated?”

RELATED: The left isn’t collapsing — it’s consolidating power

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

To ensure there was no mistaking his antipathy for the murder victim, the Democratic candidate smeared Kirk as a “white supremacist who preached stochastic terrorism” in an official campaign statement, blaming the shooting on “gun loving Conservative Christians.”

The National Republican Congressional Committee called Smeltzer’s remarks about Kirk both “dangerous and disgusting” but noted they were unsurprising when only 38% of Democrats think it’s always unacceptable to feel joy about the death of a public figure they oppose.

Despite his website promising “compassionate leadership for a just future,” Smeltzer vowed in a recent post to “round up EVER [sic] SINGLE red hat wearing MAGA and put them in hard labor camps for the rest of their lives.”

While locking up those with whom he disagrees appears to be one of his key objectives, Smeltzer told the Washington Free Beacon that he is running a “health care and tax-the-rich campaign” and would use a role in Congress to advocate for his fellow “furry” fetishists.

“The furry community is the ultimate form of freedom in America, and that’s why conservatives hate it and the queer community so much,” he told the Beacon.

Smeltzer recently told the LGBT magazine Between the Lines, “The reason I’m leaning into the furry side of things is the Heritage Foundation has targeted the furry community.”

“They’re going after the queer spaces and organizations where we are allowed to express creative freedom,” the self-identified Democratic socialist added.

Smeltzer claimed that other candidates in the Democratic primary like former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink “can only trudge along and drag this broken cart through the mud; they can’t fix it.”

Brink reportedly did not respond to the Beacon’s request for comment.

NRCC spokesman Zach Bannon noted earlier this year, “Radical far-left lunatics like Samuel Smeltzer expose the liberal brain rot that is now the current state of the Democrat Party.”

Blaze News has reached out to the Michigan Democratic Party as well as Rep. Tom Barrett, the Republican who presently represents Michigan’s 7th congressional district and is running for a second term, for comment.

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​Lgbt, Furry, Fetishist, Leftism, Socialist, Michigan, 7th district, Tom barrett, Samuel smeltzer, Republican, Democrat, Charlie kirk, Politics 

A motorist was seriously injured after someone threw a frozen water balloon through his windshield, hitting him in the face Thursday night while he was traveling down a highway in Northern California.

The incident occurred on Highway 20 near Hallwood Boulevard in Marysville in Yuba County, KCRA-TV reported. Marysville is about an hour north of Sacramento.

‘Somebody went through all of that for just a random act of violence.’

“It came through the window and hit me in the face,” the victim, Alex Plant, told the station. “Forced a lot of this glass into my face, in my eyes.”

Plant told KCRA he was driving home from work around 9:30 p.m. and traveling about 45 miles per hour when he said something from a car traveling in the opposite direction was thrown out its window.

“I barely saw it for a quarter of a second before it just came straight through,” Plant told KCRA.

The victim added to the station that while he was able to pull off the two-lane highway, he had to ask Siri to call 911, as he had no idea what hit him after it crashed through his windshield.

“My eyes were already starting to close up, so I couldn’t even look at the phone if I wanted to,” Plant noted to KCRA.

Turns out that a piece of white balloon was stuck in the shattered glass as first responders arrived, the station said.

Plant told KCRA he was taken to a hospital where medical staff spent hours removing shards of glass from his face and eyes.

RELATED: Husband of Woman Severely Injured by Rock Thrown From Highway Overpass Commits Suicide

“I wasn’t even sure I’d be able to see my family, to be honest with you,” he added to the station. “It was really stressful.”

Plant’s eyes were open as he spoke to KCRA, but small cuts were visible on his face — and he told the station his vision has been compromised.

“Out of this right eye, if I were to close the left one right now, you know, everything’s a little bit blurry. It’s hard to focus a little bit. And like I said, just the sensitivity to light,” Plant explained to the station.

In the end, the victim has been left wondering why someone would do such a dangerous and destructive thing to anyone.

“I was a random victim, but somebody didn’t randomly do this act, right?” Plant noted to KCRA. “Somebody went through all that trouble to, like, freeze it, tie it off, you know what I mean? And then throw it through the windshield before it defrosted. That’s just crazy. Somebody went through all of that for just a random act of violence.”

The station said California Highway Patrol is investigating the incident, but officials have limited information and no witnesses. Officers are working to identify the suspect and the suspect vehicle, KCRA reported.

In addition, Plant and his family are asking anyone with information that could assist in the investigation to contact the California Highway Patrol, the station said.

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​California, Motorist, Frozen water balloon, Thrown through windshield, Driver injured, Hospitalization, Eyesight compromised, Yuba county, California highway patrol, Investigation, Highway 20, Marysville, Crime