Is this just another cycle, or is it the END? Martin Armstrong of Armstrong Economics published an article this week about the so-called Socrates program and how [more…]
Category: blaze media
Candidate arrested for allegedly breaking into GOP rival’s Ohio home — just days before Election Day
Violence prevention was one of the planks on the campaign platform for Cincinnati City Council candidate Kevin Farmer before he was arrested for alleged burglary.
The 39-year-old was arrested on Saturday at the home of Republican congressional candidate Rosemary Oglesby-Henry, after allegedly breaking a garage window to gain entry. Prosecutors said Oglesby-Henry had video footage of Farmer breaking into the home.
‘He is an abuser, and I will not back down. I will use the law, the right way, to protect women and to set my life back on track.’
The arrest was just the latest in a series of alleged criminal interactions between the two.
Farmer told WLWT-TV that he would be dropping out of the race for the Cincinnati City Council. However, he will still appear on the ballot for the Nov. 4 election and is not endorsed by any party.
He is officially listed as nonpartisan, but his donation page includes the image of a raised fist, which is often used by socialists and communists. A post on his official X account complained that the Ohio GOP had not endorsed him despite being a registered Republican.
Oglesby-Henry had previously accused Farmer of squatting at her home before she was arrested in late September for allegedly pointing a gun at Farmer in her home.
“While Mr. Farmer remains squatting in my home today, he used law enforcement to bring a false case against me and had me jailed without cause,” said Oglesby-Henry. “He is an abuser, and I will not back down. I will use the law, the right way, to protect women and to set my life back on track.”
She went on to categorically deny the accusation and pointed out that police did not recover a firearm and she fully cooperated with police. Oglesby-Henry was charged with aggravated menacing over the incident.
In July, Farmer was charged with domestic violence and assault against Oglesby-Henry. She eventually dropped the charges and was given a protective order against Farmer.
The WLWT report pointed out that Farmer had run on violence prevention as well as providing more resources to underserved communities.
Court records indicate that Farmer is charged with violating a protection order in addition to burglary.
He is being held on a $60,000 bond and would need to wear an ankle monitor if released.
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Rosemary oglesby-henry, Kevin farmer, Burglary arrest, Candidate domestic violence, Politics
Democrat-induced shutdown poised to break record as key programs lapse
The Democrat-induced government shutdown is set to break the record for the longest shutdown in history.
Senate Democrats blocked the GOP’s clean funding resolution on September 30, initiating the government shutdown on October 1. Over a month has passed since then, with the shutdown inching toward the 35-day record after over a dozen failed Senate votes.
‘REPUBLICANS, BE TOUGH AND SMART!’
If this streak of failed votes continues through midnight Wednesday as expected, the government shutdown will have surpassed the previous record-holding 35-day shutdown from President Donald Trump’s first term.
Although neither party has indicated that a deal is on the horizon, Trump has urged Republicans to deploy the nuclear option to bring the shutdown to a close.
RELATED: Trump urges Senate to deploy the ‘Nuclear Option’ on filibuster
Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
“TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER, NOT JUST FOR THE SHUTDOWN, BUT FOR EVERYTHING ELSE,” Trump said in a Truth Social post. “WE WILL GET ALL OF OUR COMMON SENSE POLICIES APPROVED (VOTER ID, ANYONE?) AND MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! REMEMBER, THE DEMOCRATS WILL DO IT IMMEDIATELY, AS SOON AS THEY GET THE CHANCE. OUR DOING IT WILL NOT GIVE THEM THE CHANCE.”
“REPUBLICANS, BE TOUGH AND SMART! THE DEMS ARE CRAZED LUNATICS, THEY WILL NOT OPEN UP OUR COUNTRY NO MATTER HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE IRREPARABLY HARMED!”
Trump’s calls to eliminate the filibuster would allow Republicans to pass their funding bill with a simple majority as opposed to the 60-vote threshold currently in place. Only three Democrats have consistently crossed the aisle and voted with Republicans to reopen the government, falling short of the 60 votes needed.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, an institutionalist, has always been against eliminating the filibuster. Despite pressure from the president, Thune maintains that his “position on the importance of the legislative filibuster is unchanged.”
Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
While Congress shows no signs of progress, millions of Americans lost key government benefits like food assistance programs that lapsed over the weekend. Programs like SNAP affect citizens across the country, but Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins is taking the opportunity to clean house, ensuring illegal aliens are not taking advantage of the program.
“I’m glad to see the Trump administration is working to get to the bottom of why 41 million people are on SNAP and why this program exploded on Joe Biden’s watch,” said Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who has repeatedly voted with Democrats against the funding bill, in a post on X. “It’s time to root out the waste, fraud, and abuse.”
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Donald trump, Chuck schumer, John thune, Government shutdown, Rand paul, Brooke rollins, Senate democrats, Senate republicans, Snap benefits, Schumer shutdown, Filibuster, Government programs, Government benefits, Politics
Cop driving patrol car doesn’t mess around when he spots alleged gunman on the run — and reaching for his waistband
Video from police in Fresno, California — newly released Friday — indicates that an officer was on an unrelated call in the area of the River Park Shopping Center on Aug. 20 when he heard gunshots from a restaurant parking lot around 5:30 p.m.
KSEE-TV reported that the restaurant is Ruth’s Chris.
‘He’s reaching!’
Police said surveillance video shows George Ruiz, 18, firing shots at a passing vehicle.
The officer ran toward the sound of gunfire and saw Ruiz running off, police said. The officer then saw the suspect attempting to carjack a vehicle in a shopping center parking lot, police said, adding that the victim was able to drive away.
Police said Ruiz shot once at the vehicle during the attempted carjacking, hitting the car, but those inside the vehicle weren’t hurt.
Police said the officer ran after Ruiz toward the Sam’s Club parking lot and broadcasted over radio the suspect’s description and the direction of the foot pursuit.
After the radio call, two other officers in a marked patrol vehicle spotted Ruiz on the run — and reaching for his waistband, police said.
The officer driving the patrol car struck Ruiz with the vehicle, and the officers arrested Ruiz, police said.
One officer is heard in the below video advising that “he’s reaching!” in reference to the suspect going for his gun just before the arrest, police said. The relevant segment begins around the 4:40 mark:
Police said Ruiz dropped his handgun after getting hit.
Image source: Fresno (Calif.) Police bodycam video screenshot
Here’s a screenshot showing the opposite angle:
Image source: Fresno (Calif.) Police bodycam video screenshot
The following is a close-up image of Ruiz’s loaded gun, police said.
Image source: Fresno (Calif.) Police
Ruiz was taken to a hospital, treated for leg pain, and released, police said, adding that he provided a statement admitting to the shooting.
Ruiz was booked into jail for the shooting, firearm-related charges, and resisting arrest, police said, adding that no officers were hurt during the incident.
Fresno County Jail records indicate Ruiz was still behind bars Monday afternoon; his bail is listed as $575,000.
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Crime thwarted, Fresno, California, Police, Bodycam video, Gunman, Attempted carjacking, Shooting, Arrest, Cop hits suspect with vehicle, Crime
Rapper thanks Trump for defending Nigerian Christians; president threatens to ‘completely wipe out’ their jihadi attackers
Nigeria is a fast-growing country with an estimated population of over 239 million. According to the CIA Worldbook’s 2018 estimate, roughly 53.5% of the Nigerian population is Muslim and roughly 45.9% of the population is Christian.
Despite being over 100 million strong, Nigeria’s Christian population faces brutal persecution at the hands of radical Muslim groups.
President Donald Trump, who vowed ahead of the 2024 election to “protect persecuted Christians,” made abundantly clear over the weekend that those now savaging the followers of Christ in Nigeria may soon reap the whirlwind, courtesy of the U.S. military.
While the Nigerian regime has decried Trump’s efforts to prevent further bloodshed, others have celebrated the American president’s interest in resolving yet another conflict — including Trinidadian rapper Nicki Minaj, who thanked Trump and his team on Saturday.
Background
The Christian persecution watchdog Open Doors now ranks Nigeria as the seventh-worst place for Christians in the world, noting that “Christians are particularly at risk from targeted attacks by Islamist militants, including Fulani fighters, Boko Haram and ISWAP (Islamic State West Africa Province).”
According to the watchdog, over 4,100 Christians were killed for their faith between October 2022 and September 2023 alone — an average of 11 Christians slaughtered every day. During that same period studied by Open Doors, over 3,300 Nigerian Christians were abducted. The situation appears to have grown more dire in the years since.
RELATED: Nigerian Christians are being murdered by Islamic radicals. This congressman has had enough.
Photo by OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT/AFP via Getty Images
A report issued in August by the International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law indicated that Fulani fighters and other jihadists massacred over 7,000 Christians in the first seven months of this year.
While some academics have warned against grouping the mass-killing Fulani herder-militant groups with other Islamist outfits targeting Christians — claiming their attacks are instead driven by economics or climate — the Fulani attacks appear to have a religious motive as well.
Jeff King, president of International Christian Concern and a leading expert on religious persecution, told Blaze News earlier this year that like Boko Haram, the Fulani militants, a group of traditionally nomadic cattle herders seeking greater grazing lands for their livestock, “are also driven by Islam’s practice of using violence to subjugate territories to Islam. In fact, the Fulanis are the driving force behind radical Islam’s massive land-grab of a huge swath of Africa known as the Sahel. They are motivated by a desire to rebuild a caliphate they had built in the 1700s and 1800s.”
The persecution of Christians by the Fulani militants and other radical Muslim groups has reportedly worsened since Bola Ahmed Tinubu became Nigeria’s president in 2023.
Taking action
Rep. Riley Moore (R-W.Va.) and other lawmakers, confronted with indications that the situation is worsening for Nigeria’s Christians, have called on the Trump administration to take action.
“Since Boko Haram’s insurgency in 2009, more than 50,000 Christians have been murdered and more than 5 million have been displaced. Just this year, a priest was kidnapped and murdered on Ash Wednesday. 54 Christians were martyred on Palm Sunday,” Moore noted early last month. “At least 250 priests have been attacked or killed in the last decade. More than 19,000 churches have been attacked or destroyed since 2009 — averaging three per day.”
Moore, who indicated that elements of the Nigerian regime have reportedly been involved in recent anti-Christian attacks, asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio to designate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern. Evidently the administration similarly feels strongly about the matter.
‘If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet.’
President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he was applying the designation and asked Reps. Moore and Tom Cole (R-Okla.) along with the House Appropriations Committee to immediately look into the matter.
“Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria. Thousands of Christians are being killed. Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter,” wrote Trump. “I am hereby making Nigeria a ‘COUNTRY OF PARTICULAR CONCERN’ — But that is the least of it. When Christians, or any such group, is slaughtered like is happening in Nigeria (3,100 versus 4,476 Worldwide), something must be done!”
The CPC designation is applied under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to nations engaged in severe violations of religious freedom. The designation can carry with it significant economic and diplomatic consequences.
Nigeria was previously slapped with the designation by the first Trump administration in 2020, but this was subsequently lifted by the Biden administration.
RELATED: Bill Maher’s shocking defense of Christians — and what it reveals
Aftermath of a terrorist attack on a Catholic Church in southwest Nigeria. AFP/Getty Images
Nicki Minaj was among those who celebrated Trump’s decision, stating, “Reading this made me feel a deep sense of gratitude. We live in a country where we can freely worship God.”
“No group should ever be persecuted for practicing their religion,” said the rapper.
“Numerous countries all around the world are being affected by this horror & it’s dangerous to pretend we don’t notice. Thank you to The President & his team for taking this seriously. God bless every persecuted Christian. Let’s remember to lift them up in prayer.”
Republican Reps. Moore, Cole, and Mario Díaz-Balart (Fla.) noted in a joint statement, “With President Trump announcing he will be redesignating Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern, the United States is making clear in one resolute voice: religious persecution will not be tolerated. The scourge of anti-Christian violence and oppression of other religious minorities by radical Islamic terrorists is an affront to religious freedom. This is a critical step in mobilizing leadership and attention to confront evil extremism.”
Just in case the designation wasn’t enough, Trump threatened a military intervention in the event that the Nigerian regime fails to protect Christians.
“If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities,” Trump said in a Truth Social post on Saturday evening.
“I am hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action. If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians! WARNING: THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT BETTER MOVE FAST!” added the president.
Fresh off blowing an apparent narco-trafficking vessel to smithereens, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth confirmed the Department of War was “preparing for action.”
The promise of a reckoning clearly made officials over in the Nigerian capital of Abuja nervous.
President Tinubu rushed out a statement on Saturday claiming that his nation “stands firmly as a democracy governed by constitutional guarantees of religious liberty.
“The characterization of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality, nor does it take into consideration the consistent and sincere efforts of the government to safeguard freedom of religion and beliefs for all Nigerians,” wrote Tinubu. “Religious freedom and tolerance have been a core tenet of our collective identity and shall always remain so. Nigeria opposes religious persecution and does not encourage it.”
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Jihadists, Nigeria, Nigerian, Christians, Persecution, Islam, Islamists, Muslims, Africa, Boko haram, Fulanii, Politics
Vibe shift: No rap in the Top 40 for the first time since 1989
Kendrick Lamar’s song “Luther” has just dropped out of the Billboard Top 40, making it the first time in 35 years hip-hop is not represented on the coveted list of music.
And BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock could not be happier.
“I just want to praise Jesus for that miracle, I just want to thank God for making this happen, and I hope that hip-hop music, the current form of it, never reappears in the top 40. I think it’s an indication once again that there is a cultural shift, a vibe shift, going on in America,” Whitlock explains.
“Are we reading too much into it, or this an indication that the world is healing and people are coming out of the demonic cult of hip-hop music?” Whitlock asks his panel.
“It’s an excellent sign,” BlazeTV contributor Chad O. Jackson says.
“And I think it’s high time that something like this occurs,” he adds.
However, BlazeTV contributors Shemeka Michelle and Virgil Walker are admittedly “cynical” when it comes to it being a good sign.
“I’m happy to see that, you know, hip-hop is taking a nose dive, especially in its current iteration. You know, we grew up, Jason, in the ’80s and understood kind of the old school hip-hop, kind of the golden era of hip-hop. Then soon after that, the ‘90s came along, and we got gangster rap, and that became the new cool,” Walker says.
“If you didn’t have enough profane words in your content, if you didn’t have enough sexualizing of women in your content, you weren’t going to be a hit. And that’s only amplified over the course of the last 20 years since 2000,” he continues.
“I think it’s wonderful that for at least a moment, at least a minute, at least a point in time, we’re not going to be bombarded with that kind of crash chaos … but my thought process, kind of like Shemeka said, is that, you know, we’re gonna have to give this a few weeks or so to see if it doesn’t show up again,” he says.
“So I anticipate it’ll make a rise again,” he adds.
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Free, Sharing, Video phone, Upload, Video, Camera phone, Youtube.com, Fearless with jason whitlock, Jason whitlock, Fearless, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Rap, Hip hop music, Kendrick lamar, Luther, Shemeka michelle, Chad o jackson, Virgil walker
Mississippi Delta sheriffs and officers arrested over alleged Mexican drug cartel bribery scheme
More than a dozen law enforcement officials in the Mississippi Delta area were charged by the Department of Justice for allegedly accepting bribes from what they believed to be members of a Mexican drug cartel.
U.S. Attorney Clay Joyner said at a news conference Thursday that the DOJ secured indictments against 20 people, including two elected sheriffs as well as 14 current or former law enforcement officers. The investigation was conducted over several years.
‘The law must apply equally to everyone regardless of the title or position they hold. Know that if you betray the people’s trust in Mississippi, you will face consequences.’
“We’re here today to talk about some incredibly serious allegations that mark a very — it’s just a monumental betrayal of public trust,” said Joyner. Law enforcement officers and their accomplices allegedly provided safe passage to people they believed were drug traffickers in exchange for money. They were allegedly led to believe they were helping transport 25 kilograms of cocaine. “They are also indicted for related firearms offenses and, of course, individual counts related to specific runs throughout the Mississippi Delta,” he added.
Washington County Sheriff Milton Gaston and Humphreys County Sheriff Bruce Williams were among those arrested.
“Law enforcement is only effective when the community they protect can trust the law enforcement officers are honestly serving the community’s interests,” said FBI Special Agent Robert Eikhoff. “This type of corruption strikes at the heart of the community.”
Some of the alleged bribes ranged between $20,000 and $37,000, according to prosecutors.
RELATED: Four Toledo City Council members, all Democrats, arrested by FBI on bribery charges
Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves released a statement about the indictments.
“The law must apply equally to everyone regardless of the title or position they hold,” Reeves wrote. “Know that if you betray the people’s trust in Mississippi, you will face consequences.”
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Mississippi delta, Sheriffs arrested, Police arrested, Fbi investigation, Politics
Tylenol manufacturer bought despite lawsuit, months of scrutiny by Trump administration
Kenvue, which has been under increased scrutiny recently after the Trump administration alleged a link between Tylenol and autism, is being acquired by Kimberly-Clark in a multibillion-dollar deal.
According to a Monday press release, Kimberly-Clark will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Kenvue common stock in a cash and stock transaction that values Kenvue at approximately $48.7 billion.
Just last week, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Kenvue and its former parent company, Johnson & Johnson.
“We are excited to bring together two iconic companies to create a global health and wellness leader,” said Mike Hsu, Kimberly-Clark chairman and chief executive officer.
“We look forward to working with the Kenvue team to bring these companies together and are confident that we will drive significant value for our combined shareholders,” Hsu continued.
“Our combination with Kimberly-Clark unites two highly complementary portfolios filled with iconic, beloved brands and everyday essentials that people trust and count on throughout their lives,” said Kirk Perry, chief executive officer of Kenvue.
RELATED: Headaches continue for Tylenol brand as Texas AG files lawsuit over alleged autism link
Photo by Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for Kenvue
Kenvue, however, has increasingly been viewed as a liability as allegations of a link between prenatal use of Tylenol and autism have been leveled by members of the Trump administration and other leaders.
Just last week, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Kenvue and its former parent company, Johnson & Johnson.
Paxton said, “Johnson & Johnson attempted to escape responsibility by illegally offloading their liability onto a different company,” apparently referring to Kenvue.
Kimberly-Clark’s current portfolio — which includes well-known brands such as Huggies, Kleenex, Scott, Kotex, Cottonelle, Poise, Depend, Andrex, Pull-Ups, and Goodnites — will combine with Kenvue, which produces brands including Aveeno, Band-Aid, Johnson’s, Listerine, Neutrogena, and, of course, Tylenol.
The Associated Press reported that Kimberly-Clark shares dropped 15% before the market open and Kenvue’s stock rose more than 20%.
Blaze News reached out to Kimberly-Clark for comment but did not receive a response.
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Politics, Trump administration, Tylenol, Kenvue, Kimberly-clark, Autism link, Mike hsu, Johnson & johnson, Ken paxton
2 more staffers ditch Graham Platner’s troubled Senate campaign amid Nazi, communism scandals
Graham Platner, a 41-year-old oyster farmer and Marine veteran, announced on Aug. 19 that he was running as a Democrat for the U.S. Senate in Maine. His stated objective was to challenge the “oligarchy,” meaning both the Democrat establishment and the Republican incumbent, Sen. Susan Collins.
At the outset, Platner’s campaign appeared to have incredible momentum. The leftist candidate raised several million dollars in a matter of weeks, managed to land endorsements from current lawmakers including Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M), and struck a chord with locals, as reflected in early polls indicating that he had a sizeable lead over Democrat Gov. Janet Mills.
Platner’s campaign has, however, encountered a massive and potentially insurmountable obstacle: his radical past.
‘Platner is not a victim of opposition research. … Accountability does not exist in playing the victim of your own behavior.’
In the wake of damning revelations about the leftist candidate’s social media posts and his newly concealed tattoo of a skull image similar to that popularized by Adolf Hitler’s SS elite Nazi guard, at least four key staffers have jumped ship.
The latest individuals to call it quits are the campaign’s national finance director, Ronald Holmes, and its treasurer, Victoria Perrone.
Holmes, a Democrat operative who previously served as finance director on New York Democrat Rep. Josh Riley’s congressional campaign, resigned on Friday, suggesting that Platner’s campaign no longer met his “standards.”
RELATED: Here are the 4 Republicans who betrayed Trump AGAIN, joining Democrats to undermine the MAGA agenda
Graham Platner. Photo by Sophie Park/Getty Images
“I joined this campaign because I believed in building something different — a campaign of fresh energy, integrity, and reform-minded thinking in a political system that often resists exactly those things,” Holmes wrote in a post on LinkedIn. “Somewhere along the way, I began to feel that my professional standards as a campaign professional no longer fully aligned with those of the campaign.”
A campaign spokesperson told Politico, “Ron helped the campaign reach out to big-dollar donors, and we appreciated his efforts. But the reality is our campaign’s fundraising success has come largely from small-dollar donors.”
“Nearly 90% of what we’ve raised has come from small-dollar donations and online donors, which has been and [continues] to be run by our digital fundraising director,” added the spokesperson.
Timothy Facciola of the Judge Street Journal on Substack revealed on Sunday that Holmes wasn’t the only Platner staffer to pack it in last week.
Citing a Federal Election Commission form that was filed on Friday as well as an unnamed source said to be familiar with the matter, Facciola reported that Perrone, the president and founder of the consulting firm Spruce Street Compliance, resigned as treasurer on Tuesday.
Ben Martello — a political strategist who served as an adviser to former Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-Mass.) — appears to have stepped into the role.
Blaze News has reached out to Perrone and the Platner campaign for comment.
Perrone, who has been closely involved with Zohran Mamdani’s New York City mayoral campaign, was apparently hired last month to help Platner’s campaign deal with its various scandals.
According to Politico, Perrone was the individual who pressed members of Platner’s campaign team to sign non-disclosure agreements after his Reddit posts came to light — including posts in which he apparently identified as a communist, branded rural white Americans as racists, suggested service members worried about being raped should buy “Kevlar underwear,” and smeared all police officers as “bastards.”
Former state Rep. Genevieve McDonald (D) resigned as political director of Platner’s campaign last month over the posts, noting, “These statements were not known to me when I agreed to join the campaign, and they are not words or values I can stand behind in a candidate for the United States Senate.”
Within days of McDonald’s resignation, footage went viral revealing that Platner had an apparent “totenkopf” tattoo on his chest — the symbol of the SS-Totenkopfverbande, the branch that guarded the Nazi concentration camps.
Amid the fallout over the apparent Nazi tattoo, the Democrat candidate’s longtime friend Kevin Brown similarly jumped ship.
Brown, who took over as Platner’s campaign manager on Oct. 21, announced days later that he was leaving, suggesting that the move was the result of new familial demands on his time.
Brown said in a statement obtained by WGME-TV, “Graham is a dear friend. I started this campaign Tuesday but found out Friday we have a baby on the way.”
“Graham deserves someone who is 100% in on his race, and we want to lean into this new experience as a family, so it was best we step back sooner than later so Graham can get the manager he deserves,” Brown added.
Platner reportedly suggested during a town hall last week that the Democratic Party was the cause of his recent run of bad luck, stating, “I’m running as a Democrat still, despite the fact my party is destroying my life.”
“Platner is not a victim of opposition research. This is what happens when you run for federal office,” Genevieve McDonald said in a recent statement. “People scrutinize everything you’ve ever done. Every word and every action. Accountability does not exist in playing the victim of your own behavior.”
McDonald added, “We should not be having a debate about Nazi symbolism tattooed on the potentially top-ticket Democrat in Maine. The fact we are even willing to entertain it shows desperation within the party, not dedication, and how far we have fallen from rational thought.”
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Graham platner, Reddit, Maine, Senate, Candidate, Democrat, Democratic, Radical, Leftism, Janet mills, Susan collins, Politics
‘It’s all my fault’: Father’s chilling confession leads deputies to car trunk with his 4 dead children inside, police say
A North Carolina father was charged with the murders of his four children after authorities said he called 911 to make a chilling confession to police.
Wellington Delano Dickens III, 38, was arrested at his home in Zebulon — roughly 20 miles northeast of Raleigh — on Tuesday.
‘It’s a lot to explain, but in a nutshell, it’s all my fault. This is my fault. This is bad.’
Dickens was charged with four counts of murder. Dickens faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole or the death penalty if he is convicted of murder.
Dickens is being held without bond in the Johnston County Jail.
Just after 10 p.m. Monday, the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office said it received a call from Dickens that “he had killed his children.”
Dickens was heard saying in the 911 phone call, “I killed my stepson. It’s a lot to explain, but in a nutshell, it’s all my fault. This is my fault. This is bad.”
Dickens said he didn’t “cut” or “shoot” anyone but admitted to “beating on them sometimes” and that he “over-disciplined” his stepson. He added that the situation “spiraled,” and “it got worse and worse and worse.” Dickens also said he was a “coward” and admitted to using marijuana and consuming alcohol.
Dickens said he was attempting to “do the right thing” and revealed that he was “trying to turn himself” in to law enforcement. The suspect said he was “willing to do whatever” officers request of him when confronted by police. Deputies were soon dispatched to Dickens’ property.
The Johnston County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement, “Mr. Dickens stated to deputies that his 3-year-old son was inside the house alive and four of his other children were deceased inside the trunk of a vehicle in the garage of the residence. Mr. Dickens’ 3-year-old son was located and found unharmed in the residence.”
Police also said a “preliminary investigation discovered what were believed to be multiple bodies in the trunk of a vehicle in the garage.”
Investigators determined that the human remains in the vehicle “had been there for a long period of time.”
Deputies accused Dickens of killing his three biological children, aged 6, 9, and 10, as well as his 18-year-old stepchild.
The sheriff’s office did not specify how the children died or identify a possible motive.
In a Wednesday press conference, Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell accused Dickens of beginning to murder his children months ago.
Bizzell said 6-year-old Leah Dickens likely was killed in May, 9-year-old Zoe Dickens was estimated to have been killed in August, 10-year-old Wellington Dickens was killed in either late August or early September, and 18-year-old stepchild Sean Brassfield probably was killed in September.
Don Pate, captain of the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office’s Criminal Investigations Division, said at the news conference that officers noticed an odor of “decay” as soon as they entered the residence.
Pate said there was “evidence of criminal activity,” including alleged attempts to clean up crime scenes within the house.
Sheriff Bizzell noted that social services took the one surviving child for a medical evaluation and is now “safe.”
During the news conference, Bizzell revealed that Dickens’ wife, 37-year-old Stephanie Rae Jones Dickens, died at her home on April 21, 2024. Jones was three months pregnant at the time of her death and had suffered from “excessive bleeding the night prior, but refused to go for medical treatment,” Bizzell stated.
Sheriff Bizzell said investigators previously determined that Jones died from complications from a miscarriage, and doctors ruled that her death was “natural.”
Bizzell said there are currently no plans to exhume the remains of Jones following the murder accusations against her husband.
A neighbor told WRAL-TV that she “never saw a child outside playing” at Dickens’ home.
Neighbor Fran Majkowski continued, “I never saw him mowing a lawn. … The only time I ever saw them was the day they moved in, and like I said … it was very … you just get the feeling someone is to themselves.”
Debra Riley, who lives next door to Dickens, said he “became more of a recluse” after his wife died.
Charles Moore, Dickens’ great uncle, told WRAL that the father was an Iraq War veteran.
Moore noted, “He was in the service, and he had a problem ever since he came back, I think.”
Moore claimed he last saw Dickens about a year ago, and he “seemed fine.”
Neither the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office nor the Johnston County Public Defender’s Office, which was appointed to represent Dickens in court, immediately responded to Blaze News’ request for comment.
Dickens is scheduled to attend a probable cause hearing on Nov. 13, according to court records.
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North carolina, North carolina crime, Murder, Confession, Murder confession, Crime
‘Horror story’: RFK Jr. reveals chilling organ harvesting scandal
A shocking revelation from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has exposed what he calls a “horror story” inside America’s organ donation system.
On a recent segment of Newsmax, RFK Jr. detailed a case in which a woman allegedly awoke while her organs were being harvested and did not live to tell the tale.
“It’s a horror story, and part of it is because of the capture of the agency that was regulating ORR, had a — the board that was actually regulating organ harvesting was overlapping with the contractor that was actually harvesting the organs,” he began.
“I had one instance where a family was waiting at the hospital for the body of their deceased relative. The relative was brought to one of these private organ harvesting centers, awoke while they were harvesting her organs, and then was brought back to the hospital … where she died eventually,” he continued.
“But the family, you know, brought litigation, and that’s the only reason that we learned of this story. We’ve done a complete investigation of that company. We’ve taken the contract away from that company, and we’re reorganizing it so that we will be regulating it and running it directly at HHS and this will never happen again,” he added.
BlazeTV host Pat Gray is astonished.
“That is bizarre. And they did a thorough investigation. Turns out it’s true?” Gray says. “That’s weird.”
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Gavin Newsom slams lying politicians — then defends Biden’s mental acuity in stunning flip
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) irony detector may have been running low during a recent interview when he attacked lying politicians, then defended former President Joe Biden’s mental fitness.
Newsom told NBC’s Kristen Welker about his disdain for dishonest politicians. In the next breath, Newsom insisted that Biden was perfectly fit to run for a second term despite the obvious decline that Democrats tried to cover up.
‘There was no interaction I had that suggested otherwise.’
“There is nothing I dislike more than the politician that sits there and lies to you,” Newsom said. “We all just sit rolling our eyes, going, ‘Give me a break.'”
Welker followed up, asking whether Newsom felt Biden was fit to serve in office through January 2029, to which he said his priority was preventing Trump from serving a second term.
RELATED: Jon Stewart shuts down liberal journalist’s Joe Rogan complaints
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“My focus was frankly situational,” Newsom said. “It was making sure Donald Trump didn’t get back into office to experience everything that we’re experiencing today.”
“There was no interaction I had that suggested otherwise,” Newsom added.
Welker pushed back on Newsom, asking him if he regrets not “sounding the alarm” on Biden’s health earlier to pave a path for a stronger candidate going into November 2024.
“I’m not going to substitute myself for someone else or for popular opinion,” Newsom replied. “I’m going to express my relationship to my truth with the former president of the United States, including at the end of his term, quite literally in December.”
RELATED: Reporter humiliates Kamala Harris over Biden health cover-up: ‘That is a world-class pivot’
Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
“There was nothing to suggest what you just said, or others have suggested, in terms of my interaction,” Newsom added. “That’s all I can be accountable for.”
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VIDEO: Sisters’ theft of lobsters, ribeyes, and truffle butter explodes into checkout chaos and racial-slur rampage, cops say
Two sisters attempted to steal luxury food items from a grocery store in Massachusetts last weekend — but the pair exploded when store employees confronted them about the stolen goods, according to police.
The West Bridgewater Police Department said in a statement that officers were deployed to the Market Basket grocery store around 5 p.m. Saturday over reports of two customers “fighting with store employees.”
‘They screamed and directed racial and demeaning words at [a store employee]. Those words included “p***y and [the N-word],” which were loud enough for everyone in the front of the store to hear, causing an offensive condition without a legitimate purpose.’
“The investigation revealed that an employee had observed two women concealing high-priced items, including lobster meat, prime ribeye steaks, and truffle butter, in a bag while shopping,” the statement reads. “The women did not pay for those items at checkout and were confronted by an employee.”
Police identified the shoplifting suspects as 37-year-old Olivia L. Byrd of Quincy and 28-year-old Rahjane J. Byrd of Hyde Park.
Police said the pair were “argumentative, screamed obscenities, and assaulted two store employees.”
Alexander Oseas — a Market Basket employee — told investigators he grew suspicious of the sisters because most of the items in their cart were not bagged except for goods in a blue bag, the Boston Globe reported.
“He tried to take the blue bag from them, and Rahjane tried to get it back, causing her to fall to the floor,” the paper noted, citing a police report.
In addition, Oseas and co-worker Wesley Kimbrel “pleaded with” the sisters to leave the store, but they allegedly “continued both their verbal and physical attacks” against the employees, the Globe reported..
“Rahjane struck Oseas with the blue bag filled with groceries,” the paper added, citing the report, and “Olivia then struck Kimbrel with her purse several times and slapped him across the face.”
The Globe, citing the report, also said Rahjane Byrd “struck Oseas several more times with the bag filled with groceries,” and he suffered a small cut on his face.
The violent incident was caught on video, and it shows one of the sisters smashing a worker in the face with her cell phone.
Oseas said the sisters “became argumentative and belligerent and began to direct racial slurs and other demeaning terms at him,” the paper noted.
“Both Rahjane’s and Olivia’s actions annoyed and inconvenienced the shopping public with their fighting and tumultuous behavior,” the West Bridgewater police report read, according to Boston.com. “They screamed and directed racial and demeaning words at [a store employee]. Those words included ‘p***y and [the N-word],’ which were loud enough for everyone in the front of the store to hear, causing an offensive condition without a legitimate purpose.”
The police report also said that “both females continued to scream obscenities and directed threats at both Oseas and Kimbrel as they made their way out of the store,” according to the Globe.
The sisters exited the grocery store, but police confronted the pair in the parking lot.
The siblings informed officers that they were working for Instacart and that they were shopping for a customer, Boston.com noted.
Olivia said she confronted an employee who she felt suspected her of shoplifting, the Globe said, citing the police report. Boston.com indicated Olivia alleged a store employee watched them closely as they paid for the groceries and tried to take their shopping cart when they were confronted.
When the sisters were questioned about the expensive items in the blue bag, Olivia said the “bag was hers and that the items in it were an Instacart order canceled by one of her customers,” the report stated, according to Boston.com.
The Globe said Olivia claimed the proof of the Instacart cancellation had disappeared from her phone.
Police noted in the report that the sisters’ account of what happened in the grocery store was plagued by “inconsistencies,” and the pair “were evasive, providing only the bare minimum to prove that the high-priced items in their shopping cart had been paid for,” according to the paper.
Olivia said her sister fell as she was pushed by an employee trying to take their shopping cart away, the report said.
“Olivia reacted and admitted to pushing and hitting the employee on the face with her phone,” the report stated, according to the Globe. “Olivia told me she should not have struck the employee but felt she needed to defend her sister.”
Police said the sisters were arrested and charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery, shoplifting by asportation, and disorderly conduct.
A judge ordered the sisters not to enter Market Basket and to have no contact with employees of the grocery store.
The suspects were arraigned Monday in Brockton District Court.
The sisters pleaded not guilty to the charges and were released on personal recognizance.
The Byrd sisters are scheduled to return to court on Dec. 17, according to records.
The West Bridgewater Police Department and Market Basket did not immediately respond to Blaze News‘ request for comment.
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Riot, repeat: How America’s unrest became a bad rerun
History doesn’t just move forward — it echoes. Karl Marx once said history repeats itself, “first as tragedy, second as farce.” He meant it as a jab at 19th-century France, where Napoleon’s nephew attempted to replicate his uncle’s revolutionary drama not on the battlefield but rather through bureaucratic spectacle. Nevertheless, Marx’s insight fits modern America. Our cycles of unrest and outrage have become predictable theater — each act beginning with moral panic and ending in absurdity.
The summer of 2020 was a national trauma. The killing of George Floyd was a tragedy that radicals turned into revolution. Riots swept through more than 2,000 cities, torching businesses, destroying neighborhoods, and leaving dozens dead. Egged on by the race-baiting activists at Black Lives Matter, mobs looted stores, assaulted police, and terrorized communities.
The line between tragedy and farce is thinner than ever — and this time, we can’t afford to play the fool.
Media outlets downplayed the carnage as “fiery but mostly peaceful.” Political leaders joined the chorus, afraid to confront the mob. Corporate America rushed to signal its virtue by taking the knee, pouring billions into “racial equity” schemes that enriched activists but divided the country.
The real tragedy wasn’t just the damage — it was the betrayal. Spineless mayors and governors surrendered their cities. Police were handcuffed, budgets gutted, and criminals emboldened. The riots hollowed out public trust, replacing civic order with cultural resentment. America’s guardians became scapegoats, and justice itself became negotiable.
From riot to parody
Five years on, the rebellion has devolved into a pathetic sideshow. Antifa’s latest “resistance” — a handful of masked agitators harassing Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as they carry out long-overdue deportations — feels less like revolution and more like performance art.
Their vandalism is designed for TikTok, not for change: laser pointers at officers, graffiti on walls, choreographed scuffles for social media. It’s a boutique insurgency — staged in deep-blue enclaves, broadcast for dopamine hits, and forgotten the next day.
The chaos of 2020 burned cities. The tantrums of 2025 barely dent a precinct wall. The tragedy has become farce.
Still, both movements spring from the same poisoned root: a left-wing ideology that despises America’s foundations. BLM targeted police as enforcers of “white supremacy.” Antifa brands border agents as fascists for upholding immigration law.
Both rely on the same tactics — decentralized mobs, anonymous online organizing, and emotional manipulation amplified by social media. Both seek power through grievance, not through persuasion. And both reveal how progressive rage, unmoored from reality, becomes self-parody.
In 2020, rioters burned precincts and seized city blocks. They demanded “defund the police” and got it — along with record crime rates and broken neighborhoods. In 2025, their heirs spray-paint slogans and livestream tantrums. Their only victory is visibility.
The digital theater of rage
Social media turned riots into content. In 2020, doctored clips of “police brutality” fueled nationwide hysteria, empowered anti-cop lunatics, and enriched grifters. Today, the same algorithms push Antifa’s posturing, turning vandalism into viral spectacle.
These platforms profit from outrage. They amplify emotion, suppress context, and reward hysteria. The result is a feedback loop of performative politics — activism as cosplay.
After years of indulgence, government crackdowns have finally returned. ICE operates under firm executive backing. Local police departments no longer hesitate to enforce the law. The radicals, once protected, now find themselves exposed and outmatched.
But even as law enforcement regains its footing, the left’s playbook remains unchanged. The grievances are repackaged, the slogans recycled, the media coverage predictable. It’s cultural Marxism with a TikTok filter — ideology as entertainment.
Farce doesn’t mean harmless. Every protest turned stunt still corrodes civic life. Each viral act of defiance feeds distrust in law, borders, and the rule of order itself.
The radicals thrive on illusion: fake oppression, fake urgency, fake rebellion. Meanwhile, real Americans bear the cost — higher crime, divided communities, and institutions too timid to defend themselves.
RELATED: The left’s costume party: Virtue signaling as performance art
Photo by serazetdinov via Getty Images
The lesson we refuse to learn
The tragedy of 2020 proved that surrendering to the mob invites ruin. The farce of 2025 shows that ridicule alone isn’t enough to defeat it. Both demand resolve — the courage to confront lies, restore order, and defend the institutions that safeguard freedom.
History doesn’t stop repeating itself; it stops being repeated. Whether America ends this cycle depends on whether its citizens choose firmness over fear, enforcement over appeasement, and truth over spectacle.
Enough with the doctored outrage porn. The burning question is whether we’ll tolerate this clown show recycling into catastrophe or crush it with resolve that honors real American values.
The line between tragedy and farce is thinner than ever — and this time, we can’t afford to play the fool.
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The Robertsons open up about pornography: Childhood exposures and the road to freedom
On a recent episode of “Unashamed,” the Robertson brothers and Zach Dasher dove headfirst into the infamous P-word.
Pornography has become an epidemic that enslaves millions and millions of people, most often boys and men. While it’s technically been around for millennia, the digital age has brought porn into the mainstream and made it nearly impossible to avoid. It’s on our televisions; it’s on our phones; even artificial intelligence has fused with the industry in ways that can only be described as sick and depraved.
Today, many boys are exposed to porn long before they hit puberty.
Al, who grew up in an era where pornography was still confined to magazines, says he first encountered it at a “very young” age — “probably 7 or 8 years old” — while living next door to the bar Phil owned and operated before his radical conversion to Christianity. This early exposure caused Al to struggle for years, even into his marriage.
Zach Dasher has a similar story. When he was just 11 years old, his friend’s older brother put on an adult movie with the intention of introducing the younger boys to pornography. Years later, Zach learned from renowned Christian counselor Dr. Trent Langhofer that exposure to pornography before puberty has “the same effect on you as being sexually molested.”
“It made a lot of sense to me because that was an imprint in me that I dealt with for years. … I think that that early exposure probably set me on a trajectory of sin for many years,” he says.
Jase, who was lucky enough to avoid exposure in his early years, says that he sees pornography as an issue that roots back to creation. God created Adam and said, “It’s not good for the man to be alone,” so out of His kindness, He created Eve and subsequently marriage and sex. Pornography, however, is a perversion of God’s good design.
Not only does it isolate man, which God already said wasn’t good, it also taints his view of reality, and harms his relationships, especially the one with his wife, Jase explains.
Al says something that helped him think differently about pornography was having his own daughters and wrestling with the reality that every girl on a magazine page or a screen is not only someone’s daughter but also an image bearer of God. “You start thinking like Jesus thinks,” he says.
Zach found freedom in not just learning the truth but by taking action. Accountability was key in helping him break the cycle. Confession is the first step, he says, and if you’re married, it needs to be to your wife. “Now you’ve got skin in the game,” he says.
“And then after the confession, you have to find new rhythms … we are what we consume.”
“If you consume something different, then you will become something different. You will worship what you behold. And so if you’re beholding entertainment, then that’s what you will eventually begin to worship,” he warns.
Freedom is “truth coupled with discipline.”
To hear more of the panel’s honest conversation, watch the episode above.
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Coddled Harvard students cry after dean exposes grade inflation, ‘relaxed’ standards
Harvard University’s Office of Undergraduate Education released a 25-page report on Monday revealing that roughly 60% of the grades dished out in undergraduate classes are As. This is apparently not a signal that the students are necessarily better or smarter than past cohorts but rather that Harvard As are now easier to come by.
According to the report, authored by the school’s dean of undergraduate education Amanda Claybaugh and reviewed by the Harvard Crimson, the proportion of students receiving A grades since 2015 has risen by 20 percentage points.
‘If that standard is raised even more, it’s unrealistic to assume that people will enjoy their classes.’
Whereas at the time of graduation, the median grade point average for the class of 2015 was 3.64, it was 3.83 for the class of 2025 — and the Harvard GPA has been an A since the 2016-2017 academic year.
“Nearly all faculty expressed serious concern,” wrote Claybaugh. “They perceive there to be a misalignment between the grades awarded and the quality of student work.”
Citing responses from faculty and students, the report revealed that the specific functions of grading — motivating students, indicating mastery of subject matter, and separating the wheat from the chaff — are not being fulfilled.
RELATED: Harvard posts deficit of over $110 million as funding feud with Trump continues to sting
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“In the view of faculty, grades currently distinguish between work that meets expectations or fails to meet expectations, but beyond that grades don’t distinguish much at all,” said the report. “‘Students know that an ‘A’ can be awarded,’ one faculty member observed, ‘for anything from outstanding work to reasonably satisfactory work. It’s a farce.'”
Claybaugh acknowledged that grades can serve as a useful and transparent way to “distinguish the strongest student work for the purposes of honors, prizes, and applications to professional and graduate schools.” However, since As are now handed out like candy and many students have identical GPAs, prizes and other benefits must now be dispensed on the basis of less objective factors, which “risks introducing bias and inconsistency into the process,” suggested the dean.
The report noted further that Harvard University’s current grading practices “are not only undermining the functions of grading; they are also damaging the academic culture of the College more generally” by constraining student choice, exacerbating stress, and “hollowing out academics.”
Steven McGuire, a fellow at the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, highlighted the admission in the report that Harvard owes much of its current crisis to its coddling of unprepared students.
“For the past decade or so, the College has been exhorting faculty to remember that some students arrive less prepared for college than others, that some are struggling with difficult family situations or other challenges, that many are struggling with imposter syndrome — and nearly all are suffering from stress,” said the report.
“Unsure how best to support their students, many have simply become more lenient. Requirements were relaxed, and grades were raised, particularly in the year of remote instruction,” continued the report. “This leniency, while well-intentioned, has had pernicious effects.”
The new report is hardly the first time the school has suggested that Harvard undergraduate students tend to be coddled, intellectually fragile, ideologically rigid, and slothful.
Citing faculty feedback, Harvard’s Classroom Social Compact Committee indicated in a January report that undergraduate students “have rising expectations for high grades, but falling expectations for effort”; often don’t attend class; frequently don’t do many of the assigned readings; seek out easy courses; and in some cases are “uncomfortable with curricular content that is not aligned with the student’s moral framework.”
The January report noted further that “some teaching fellows grade too easily because they fear negative student feedback.”
Claybaugh’s grade inflation report has reportedly prompted complaints and whining this week from students.
Among the dozens of students who objected to the report and its findings was Sophie Chumburidze, who told the Harvard Crimson, “The whole entire day, I was crying.”
“I skipped classes on Monday, and I was just sobbing in bed because I felt like I try so hard in my classes, and my grades aren’t even the best,” said Chumburidze. “It just felt soul-crushing.”
Kayta Aronson told the Crimson that higher standards could adversely impact students’ health.
“It makes me rethink my decision to come to the school,” said Aronson. “I killed myself all throughout high school to try and get into this school. I was looking forward to being fulfilled by my studies now, rather than being killed by them.”
Zahra Rohaninejad suggested that raising standards might sap the enjoyment out of the Harvard experience.
“I can’t reach my maximum level of enjoyment just learning the material because I’m so anxious about the midterm, so anxious about the papers, and because I know it’s so harshly graded,” said Rohaninejad. “If that standard is raised even more, it’s unrealistic to assume that people will enjoy their classes.”
The student paper indicated the university did not respond to its request for comment.
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AI can fake a face — but not a soul
The New York Times recently profiled Scott Jacqmein, an actor from Dallas who sold his likeness to TikTok for $750 and a free trip to the Bay Area. He hasn’t landed any TV shows, movies, or commercials, but his AI-generated likeness has — a virtual version of Jacqmein is now “acting” in countless ads on TikTok. As the Times put it, Jacqmein “fields one or two texts a week from acquaintances and friends who are pretty sure they have seen him pitching a peculiar range of businesses on TikTok.”
Now, Jacqmein “has regrets.” But why? He consented to sell his likeness. His image isn’t being used illegally. He wanted to act, and now — at least digitally — he’s acting. His regrets seem less about ethics and more about economics.
The more perfect the imitation, the greater the lie. What people crave isn’t flawless illusion — it’s authenticity.
Times reporter Sapna Maheshwari suggests as much. Her story centers on the lack of royalties and legal protections for people like Jacqmein.
She also raises moral concerns, citing examples where digital avatars were used to promote objectionable products or deliver offensive messages. In one case, Jacqmein’s AI double pitched a “male performance supplement.” In another, a TikTok employee allegedly unleashed AI avatars reciting passages from Hitler’s “Mein Kampf.” TikTok removed the tool that made the videos possible after CNN brought the story to light.
When faces become property
These incidents blur into a larger problem — the same one raised by deepfakes. In recent months, digital impostors have mimicked public figures from Bishop Robert Barron to the pope. The Vatican itself has had to denounce fake homilies generated in the likeness of Leo XIV. Such fabrications can mislead, defame, or humiliate.
But the deepest problem with digital avatars isn’t that they deceive. It’s that they aren’t real.
Even if Jacqmein were paid handsomely and religious figures embraced synthetic preaching as legitimate evangelism, something about the whole enterprise would remain wrong. Selling one’s likeness is a transaction of the soul. It’s unsettling because it treats what’s uniquely human — voice, gesture, and presence — as property to be cloned and sold.
When a person licenses his “digital twin,” he doesn’t just part with data. He commodifies identity itself. The actor’s expressions, tone, and mannerisms become a bundle of intellectual property. Someone else owns them now.
That’s why audiences instinctively recoil at watching AI puppets masquerade and mimic people. Even if the illusion is technically impressive, it feels hollow. A digital replica can’t evoke the same moral or emotional response as a real human being.
Selling the soul
This isn’t a new theme in art or philosophy. In a classic “Simpsons” episode, Bart sells his soul to his pal Milhouse for $5 and soon feels hollow, haunted by nightmares, convinced he’s lost something essential. The joke carries a metaphysical truth: When we surrender what defines us as human — even symbolically — we suffer a real loss.
For those who believe in an immortal soul, as Jesuit philosopher Robert Spitzer argues in “Science at the Doorstep to God,” this loss is more than psychological. To sell one’s likeness is to treat the image of the divine within as a market commodity. The transaction might seem trivial — a harmless digital contract — but the symbolism runs deep.
Oscar Wilde captured this inversion of morality in “The Picture of Dorian Gray.” His protagonist stays eternally young while his portrait, the mirror of his soul, decays. In our digital age, the roles are reversed: The AI avatar remains young and flawless while the human model ages, forgotten and spiritually diminished.
Jacqmein can’t destroy his portrait. It’s contractually owned by someone else. If he wants to stop his digital self from hawking supplements or energy drinks, he’ll need lawyers — and he’ll probably lose. He’s condemned to watch his AI double enjoy a flourishing career while he struggles to pay rent. The scenario reads like a lost episode of “Black Mirror” — a man trapped in a parody of his own success. (In fact, “The Waldo Moment” and “Hang the DJ” come close to this.)
RELATED: Cybernetics promised a merger of human and computer. Then why do we feel so out of the loop?
Photo by imaginima via Getty Images
The moral exit
The conventional answer to this dilemma is regulation: copyright reforms, consent standards, watermarking requirements. But the real solution begins with refusal. Actors shouldn’t sell their avatars. Consumers shouldn’t support platforms that replace people with synthetic ghosts.
If TikTok and other media giants populate their feeds with digital clones, users should boycott them and demand “fair-trade human content.” Just as conscientious shoppers insist on buying ethically sourced goods, viewers should insist on art and advertising made by living, breathing humans.
Tech evangelists argue that AI avatars will soon become indistinguishable from the people they’re modeled on. But that misses the point. The more perfect the imitation, the greater the lie. What people crave isn’t flawless illusion — it’s authenticity. They want to see imperfection, effort, and presence. They want to see life.
If we surrender that, we’ll lose something far more valuable than any acting career or TikTok deal. We’ll lose the very thing that makes us human.
Opinion & analysis, Opinion, Tiktok, Hollywood, Artificial intelligence, License, Likeness, Actors, Artists, Boycott, Soul, The simpsons, Bart simpson, Scott jacqmein, Adolf hitler, Mein kampf, Entertainment, Pope leo xiv, Robert barron, Robert spitzer, Black mirror, Copyright, Fair-trade human content, Faith
‘Franken-wheat’: The real reason Americans can’t eat bread anymore
Across the country, Americans have begun realizing they have a gluten sensitivity — but other countries don’t have the same issue. And according to Christian homesteader Michelle Visser, it’s not the fault of bread, but rather, how it’s made in America.
“Talking about other countries, back when we were adding into our flour and enriching it, other countries didn’t do that. In fact, in Italy, they had a pellagra outbreak around the same time that we were dealing with it here, but they responded completely different in little towns in Italy,” Visser tells BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey.
“They literally built communal ovens, bread ovens, and they encouraged them to use good grains, which had not gone through the green revolution of our country … and make whole wheat bread,” she explains.
“They knew that it was related to folate, and they knew it was dietary, and they said, ‘What can we do? We have in these small towns a lot of poor people who can’t necessarily afford good food. So one thing is, let’s at least give them the equipment to make the bread,’” she continues.
And the result of this, Visser explains, was wiping out pellagra — which was attributed to spoiled bread and polenta.
“So do you think gluten is unfairly demonized?” Stuckey asks.
“I think it is,” Visser says, using Norman Borlaug, the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970, as an example of being focused on the wrong issue when it comes to gluten.
“He had figured out how to manipulate wheat to give it a higher yield and to just simply grow more wheat for your buck. And while there’s definite advantages to understanding plant science, unfortunately, every time that we genetically change or we breed certain characteristics into any of our food, we are losing some nutrition,” she tells Stuckey.
“When they started milling it with the steel mills, they went from 20 barrels of flour a day to 500 barrels of flour a day with no extra energy, no extra expense. So there’s definitely money involved in the whole story is what I’m saying,” she explains.
“This bread that has been stripped of the good stuff, inserted with the synthetic stuff, that is maybe what’s causing the problems, especially in America,” Stuckey comments, surprised.
“Yeah,” Vasser confirms, noting that we’ve also added more protein into modern-day wheat, which has created a “franken-wheat.”
And then on top of what already is “franken-wheat,” wheat manufacturers have begun using pesticides and herbicides.
“If you are not buying organic flour, glyphosate is in trace amounts in your flour. It’s just, it’s there … if we are exposing our gut to glyphosate, we are killing the good bacteria. We’ve had gut problems in this country for many decades … and I think a lot of it has to do with this glyphosate in our flour.”
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Dad goes absolutely primal on stranger who reportedly opened his home’s front door and told his ‘little daughter’ he’s a cop
A family in Toledo, Ohio, got a most unwelcome visitor Saturday afternoon — a male they didn’t know who allegedly opened their front door and announced to a young daughter that he was a police officer.
“This guy came through the back alley, came to the front door, and he was trying to open the entrance,” Steven Aranda told WTVG-TV of the frightening encounter. “And my little daughter said, ‘What are you doing?’ She said, ‘You don’t belong here,’ and then he said he was a Toledo cop.”
‘I threw him down on the ground — slammed him on the concrete and beat him up.’
Charging documents indicated that Parker Jackson, 33, claimed he was a police officer and needed to check on the children in the home, the station said.
Aranda told WTVG Jackson didn’t look like a police officer, and a Toledo Police report Blaze News obtained indicated that Jackson provided no identification backing up his claim that he was a cop.
The station said Aranda was concerned about protecting his children and took matters into his own hands.
‘I snatched his a*s up, and I threw him down on the ground — slammed him on the concrete and beat him up,” Aranda told WTVG. “I pinned him down until the cops got here.”
Indeed, Jackson’s arrest photo shows him with a bloody, swollen lip and a cut above his eye.
The police report also said Jackson was showing “visible symptoms of intoxication” by the time officers arrived. In fact, the report added that Jackson appeared to have been carrying several opened and unopened cans of Milwaukee’s Best Ice beer at the time of his arrest. The report also said Jackson acknowledged opening the home’s front door and claiming to be a police officer.
Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Jackson pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated trespassing, inducing panic, and impersonating a police officer, WTVG reported, adding that a judge ordered Jackson to stay away from the family and set his bond at $1,500.
Aranda told the station his four children were shaken by the incident.
“The kids were kind of scared a little bit ’cause, you know, they ain’t been playing outside now in the past few days because you can’t trust nobody no more,” he noted to WTVG. “Watch out for your kids where they play at and their surroundings.”
You can watch the video of Aranda’s interview with WTVG here.
Jackson on Friday was still behind bars at Lucas County Jail, officials told Blaze News.
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Crime thwarted, Lucas county sheriff’s office, Ohio, Toledo, Intruder, Father, Physical attack, Self-defense, Protecting family, Home intruder, Impersonating police officer, Crime
The poisoned stream of culture is flowing through our churches
On most days, the creek that runs behind our home in Montana looks like something out of a painting. The water tumbles over slick stones, swirls beneath the wooden bridge, and flashes like glass in the sunlight as it winds through the trees.
On hot afternoons, I take off my boots and stand in it awhile, letting the cold mountain water swirl around my feet. Even in August, it stays clear and shockingly cold — refreshing on hot, dusty feet. It looks so pure and inviting that you’d think you could cup your hands and drink from it.
The world’s water might soothe for a moment, but it can’t sustain. Only Christ, the living water, can cleanse, restore, and refresh a parched heart.
Yet I know better.
While helping a rancher move some cattle across the property, a few of them wandered down into that same creek. They lingered there, swishing tails and doing what cows do. The water still looked clear from a distance, but you certainly wouldn’t drink from it. Even a Supreme Court justice wouldn’t need a biologist to figure that out.
The water in that creek started high in the mountains, clean and cold. It was once pure, but animals do what animals do. People, though, take it further. We pollute on purpose. That’s not instinct; that’s sin.
We talk about free will, and we have it. But left to ourselves, we use it to wreck what was good. The culture isn’t just wandering into the water; it’s content to poison it, and sinners seem to care less about a polluted stream than cows do.
Downstream from belief
We’ve all heard that politics flows downstream from culture. But if you trace that current far enough, you’ll find that culture flows downstream from belief. Whatever people worship, they eventually legislate into law.
Today, we have ceased worshipping God. Instead, we bow before slogans, systems, and grievances that mollify us rather than giving worship to the one to whom it is due. From a distance, it all looks good — flowing with energy, language, and even a sense of virtue. But somewhere upstream, something has wandered into the water — or been poured into it.
Too often, the church is wading downstream, cup in hand, trying to stay “relevant” while drinking what has already been polluted. The poison is sin itself, the moral waste of self-worship that seeps in until it becomes part of the current.
When the church starts drinking downstream, the songs continue, the sermons sound familiar, and the branding shines. But the taste changes. Conviction weakens, holiness becomes optional, and relevance becomes everything. We echo the world’s vocabulary of identity and justice without the foundation of repentance and redemption. The message gets muddied, and we don’t even notice the shift.
And when that happens, the thirstiest suffer first. Those are the ones who come to church desperate for something real.
What really sticks
I’ve spent 40 years as a caregiver, and I’ve learned what real thirst feels like. When you’ve poured yourself out for years, almost any water looks good. You pray for strength, for truth, for something steady, and too often what comes back sounds like marketing. You sit in church and hear, “Claim your victory,” “Speak life,” or, “Step into your blessing,” and you wonder if anyone sees the wreckage you live with. Then, from another pulpit, you hear, “God understands,” “It’s not that bad,” or, “Everyone struggles.”
It sounds compassionate, but it isn’t. It’s corrosion.
The first slick of contamination began with the serpent questioning the Word of God, and all too many pulpits echo that same hiss today. They downplay sin, soften the edges, and serve up messages that keep people comfortable yet captive. They offer sympathy instead of repentance. That’s not grace; that’s decay.
Ornate and large pulpits don’t necessarily mean clean water. Visibility isn’t the same as vision. The purity of the message isn’t measured by the size of the platform of the one delivering it but by how faithfully it points upstream to Christ Himself.
Truth, the real kind, usually starts with one hard word: repent. It’s upstream, and it’s not easy to get there. But that’s where the water runs clean. Downstream, you’ll only find a little contamination, a little compromise, a little manure, and just enough to make you sick.
RELATED: Scripture or slogans — you have to choose
freedom007 via iStock/Getty Images
I’ve tested the various platitudes and slogans in the emergency room, ICU, and dark watches of the night more times than I can count. None of them hold up.
Here’s what does.
Only one water stays pure no matter who steps in it. It’s the same water that met a Samaritan woman at a well. It’s the same water Isaiah promised when he wrote, “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” That’s the invitation — not just to the church, but to every soul that’s dry and staggering: Walk upstream.
Go upstream
When we drink deeply from that pure spring, holiness stops feeling like a burden and starts feeling like oxygen. It gives clarity instead of confusion, courage instead of compromise.
That’s the call to the church and to every weary heart. Don’t drink what the world has trampled. Don’t settle for water that only looks clean from a distance. Polluted streams can’t quench the thirst of thirsty people.
The world’s water might soothe for a moment, even cool our weary feet, but it can’t sustain us. Only Christ, the living water, can cleanse, restore, and refresh a parched heart.
So go upstream. The source is still pure, and it’s still flowing.
Opinion & analysis, Faith, Caregiving, Gospel, Purity, Poison, Culture, Politics, Jesus christ, Living water, Christianity, The church
Mark Levin reveals the leader he says could save Britain
Leftist policies have gutted Europe, with the U.K. and France serving as prime examples — once proud bastions of Western civilization, now barely recognizable as native cultures are systematically eroded under the guise of unchecked mass migration. Free speech is a relic of the past, crushed by tyrannical censors. Sky-high taxes strangle the working man, and suffocating bureaucratic overreach is the hallmark of these failing socialist regimes.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer sits at the helm of Britain’s descent into its dystopian nightmare.
“This is the guy that allowed these gang rapes by Pakistani immigrants of English girls that went on for years,” Mark Levin says, adding that under Starmer, “Crime is through the roof and mostly committed by recent immigrants” who are valued above natives.
England is a picture of what the United States was hurtling toward under Democratic rule. If Donald Trump hadn’t pulled our nation back from the cliff, Levin predicts we would’ve seen “the end” of America.
England needs its own Donald Trump now — a party that can effectively fight tyranny. Levin believes the Tories — the Conservative and Unionist Party — are the answer to Britain’s woes.
The party’s leader, Kemi Badenoch, is a woman Levin deeply respects and admires — a “superstar,” he calls her.
“She is brilliant. She is courageous. She is trying to defend Western culture and principles in Britain — the home of Western culture and principles,” he says.
He then plays a clip from Badenoch’s fiery parliamentary takedown of Keir Starmer’s weak-kneed Israel policy during a Middle East debate on October 14, during which she lambasted Labour’s appeasement of Hamas and vowed unyielding Tory solidarity with Israel’s fight against Islamist terror.
“The response from some in the West — the equivocation, the indulgence in whataboutery, and the drawing of false equivalence — shows how far moral clarity has eroded. And we have got a job to do here at home, Mr. Speaker, to fix this,” she fired.
She went on to praise President Trump for masterminding the Gaza ceasefire and condemned Starmer and his spineless Labour cronies for “rewarding terrorism” by recognizing Palestine sans hostage releases, for making “the wrong decisions time and again” that gutted Britain’s Middle East clout, and for their mealy-mouthed weakness that only emboldens Hamas butchers.
“She is fantastic,” Levin says.
“I hope she becomes prime minister,” he adds.
To hear more of his analysis, watch the clip above.
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Levin, Levintv, Mark levin, Europe, Uk, Britain, England, France, Death of the west, Blazetv, Blaze media, Kemi badenoch, Tory party, Keir starmer