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As tech summits go, the only thing like last week’s Reindustrialize conference — the name speaks for itself — is last year’s Reindustrialize conference. It debuted in Detroit, a symbolic statement so powerful the event doubled down and returned to Motor City for its second run. With strategic, technological, and business interests flowing with speed and urgency toward hard tech and heavy industry, Reindustrialize — co-founded by the New American Industrial Alliance — is a most well-timed beast.

I got NAIA CEO Austin Bishop and Board Chairman Julius Krein on the phone to chat about the origins of Reindustrialize, the moment for action, and the possibilities of the future. (Our interview below has been edited for length and clarity.)

James Poulos: Why reindustrialize now? Some say it’s too late!

Austin Bishop: It’s definitely not too late. We should have done something like this many years ago, but I think only now is it possible to have a coalition of companies, institutional investors, builders, policy and government leaders who actually care about this stuff because things have gotten to the point where you can’t really ignore the realities of the decisions that we made over the last few decades.

I’m from Cleveland, Ohio. The impacts of some of the trade and industrial policy decisions that were made were obvious to anyone in Cleveland. But I don’t think the broader country has really felt the real costs of moving our production overseas. A lot of places have done great as we’ve moved into a peer services economy — look at Silicon Valley; look at Wall Street.

Photo courtesy Reindustrialize

COVID really accelerated what was going to be an inevitability. COVID hit, and everyone in America felt the supply chain crisis for the first time. There’s been plenty of white papers battling in the marketplace of ideas, but for the first time people actually felt it in the literal marketplace where moms in the Midwest couldn’t get baby formula because the Suez Canal was blocked. No white paper is going to be nearly as persuasive as when people feel it in their pocketbooks.

Folks where I’m from felt this trend long ago when, for example, LTV Steel laid off tons of people back in the late 90s. Those people felt it, for sure. But I don’t think the country as a whole was acutely impacted by these decisions. It’s been slow.

On our end, we think this is the best time, and I think both sides of the aisle are seeing this too. This is the time for us to really push for a change in our posture on the world stage and how we think about our economy and the downstream civic effects of offshoring our jobs.

Julius Krein: Is it too late? It would have been great if we could have done this earlier, but I think things happen because it’s the right time.

I’ve noticed a real shift in the investor world over the last several months of, you know, “this is the most interesting game in town,” and a lot of these deficiencies that Austin mentioned are hitting in other ways. The AI boom is very interesting for a number of reasons, but one reason is that all these companies are more capital-intensive now, whether it’s energy or other industries. I think if you want to make AI more than just making dumb videos on the internet, you’ve got to think about AI-enabled, advanced manufacturing in the physical space.

So, for all those reasons, it is the right time, and I think the opportunities look bigger than they have in my lifetime. But there are also big challenges out there.

JP: You talk about timing, and the iron logic here is that you can’t reindustrialize unless you first deindustrialize. So let’s talk a little bit about deindustrializing. The blame game can be lame, but do you see some real villains here? Who is responsible for getting us into this situation? At a macro level, why is it that the U.S. was put on the path of seeing deindustrialization as the future?

AB: I’ll give the Trump answer. The Chinese are, with a lot of their industrial policy, forcibly deindustrializing us, but I don’t blame them. This is the game theory of it. It’s smart, and I wish we had leaders who were that smart. Not to the point where we’re going to forcibly deindustrialize other countries. Our group does not exist to deindustrialize any other country.

I just want our country to not be deindustrialized anymore. Our pushing for policies that incentivize or allow offshoring implicitly created the situation that we’re in now, and I don’t want to point too many fingers, but I was in hedge funds for a long time. Look at the valuations of these businesses. And really the multiples that you see on them only make sense when you’re in the world that we’re in now, where so much of the labor costs, for example, are overseas.

JK: There are certain individuals, organizations, companies one could name that were perhaps more enthusiastic about deindustrialization than would ever be warranted, but I think it’s probably less about villains per se than just the mindset that originated after the Cold War or even the second half of the 20th century.

I don’t think U.S. policymakers ever really imagined that a country could pursue economic development with the goal not to make individual consumers or individual stock market investors wealthy, but to actually build industrial and technological capacity and skills with the goal of geopolitical dominance and not merely financial enrichment.

On a related note, there’s been this view that free markets are when the U.S. government does nothing, but maybe what’s happening is that the absence of U.S. involvement just meant greater Chinese Communist Party intervention in the shaping of our markets. I think a lot of the free-market stuff obscured what was a pretty coordinated, almost unprecedented campaign of market manipulation in the U.S. by the Chinese Communist Party. So a lot of people, particularly on the right, perhaps dropped the ball.

AB: These are not McKinley respecters. Even with what happened around China joining the WTO, no one was saying that we need to lose these jobs to China because, on net, it’s going to be better for the economy. Most people explicitly said they would not lose jobs due to China’s permanent normalized trade relations and China joining the WTO, and we then went on to lose 10 million jobs over the next decade and a half.

Photo courtesy Reindustrialize

JP: Well, heading into the 70s — and you’ve got this from some of the right as well as parts of the left, was industry is bad for human beings. It destroys the environment, it makes life uglier, it wears people down, it’s dehumanizing — the Christopher Lasch broadside against industrialization.

So, when you look at technology, you look at how tech was built up as a savior or an alternative to industry. And now you have a lot of guys thinking, “Well, wait a minute. We definitely don’t want to get rid of tech, but we don’t want to get rid of industry either.” Yet if we surrender, if we sacrifice humanity at the altar of industry and technology, that’s also bad.

So, how do you identify that middle zone of harmony, and how do you implement that in the world?

JK: First, the environmental movement. Certainly, there was something real there when the rivers were on fire. It wasn’t like nothing needed to be done. But it went off in and, to some extent always contained within it, some very strange directions.

Initially, the environmental movement was the coal guys against nuclear. But what’s interesting now is that the environmentalists realize that they went too far and are now pushing for permitting reform. They can’t build renewable energy because of the systems they themselves created. So I think we’re seeing a healthy correction, perhaps. But on a deeper level, what’s interesting is that we think of tech now as software separated from hardware, and I think that that’s a step back.

Designing and building a steam engine is very high tech, or was at the time. Even today, you have to have your hardware somewhere, or else the software will be worthless, like with your iPhone, for example. It’s only as a financial matter that these things can truly be separated.

The most interesting people in Silicon Valley, the most ambitious and talented people, as far as I can tell, don’t want to build SaaS anymore. It’s boring, it’s flattening, it’s uninteresting.

The idea of coming up with a way to build a ship or aerospace stuff better than anyone’s done it — that’s where I think the excitement is, not just from a national security or business perspective, but from an intellectual and human perspective as well.

AB: On the last point Julius made, the types of businesses, especially at the earlier stage that we’re talking about that are making physical things, rockets, supply chain logistics businesses, tooling, aerospace parts, even all the way to agriculture and food production — these are just way more charismatic businesses to build in the first place, and at the risk of being unserious, I do think that in America, at least in the 20th century going forward, tooling always wins.

Everyone’s getting really excited about these businesses that we’re talking about here, whether it’s in aerospace, defense, manufacturing, all the above, energy. You have 20-year-olds going out and starting nuclear businesses, nuclear power plant businesses. That person will have a way easier time recruiting talent, and we already see it. These people have been massively charismatic and massively successful in building out early teams.

Now, that again is at the very early stage. We have to say not that those guys aren’t serious, but that we have problems we must solve right now.

I’m not completely convinced that most of the problems we face right now are tech problems. China is not ahead of us in manufacturing because they have some space-age technology that we don’t have. In fact, most of the tech they have was stolen from us. Most of the problems we face both on an industrial level and downstream of that are simply just because we can’t make stuff and therefore, we move stuff overseas. But the bigger problem is the policies that we created that have led to the situation where some of these jobs go overseas.

JP: Coming out of a substantial, although not total, swing of support in and around tech toward Trump and the potential of a fundamental effort at reform, it’s always a risk to bite off more than you can chew, but there does seem to be a collective sense that this is the time to take the big swing. Bearing that in mind, where do you want to be in a year from now? What can we expect across the organization in terms of your agenda and ambitions for the new year?

Photo courtesy Reindustrialize

JK: Longer term, we’re focused on everything from deregulation and permitting reform, both for energy and industry, as well as on the investment side. There’s been a bipartisan proposal kicking around for a new development bank that we think could be especially useful in addressing some of these issues across industry sectors. The Biden administration pioneered some models to get more private capital into certain sectors and key areas, but they were not as successful as they could have been.

The new administration can do that much bigger and better. Especially, we have an investment banker at the Department of Commerce and an investor at Treasury. I think they get this very intuitively and could really hit it out of the park. The White House could easily invest in these physical sectors as well, and I think that that could be a huge win.

AB: We’re growing very quickly. We have all these great companies joining, from old industry, new industry, high tech, low tech … all these great folks from the investor world.

A real measure for success a year from now is continuous growth in this coalition that we’ve built. Being able to point to the meaningful impact we had on the regulatory front on policies that incentivize more companies to be more competitive, both on the procurement side as well as incentivizing more investment in this space, is crucial.

On the summit side, we were blessed to have four different states bidding on the summit. We’re building the summit into the premier forum for senior leaders across capital companies and government. We want to have senior people from both sides of the aisle. We have a lot of folks from the admin we’re very friendly with, and then there’s people in the company and investor world as well.

JK: One more thing I’ve noticed in doing this is there’s a divide in mindset or even “branding” across the U.S. hard tech and manufacturing landscape right now where we don’t think of companies in Ohio — your legacy manufacturing — as tech, but they are, or they could be, or they need to be.

Likewise, we have a lot of Silicon Valley stuff that thinks of itself as tech. But now they need to scale up. They need to build those factories in Ohio, Michigan, West Virginia, and elsewhere. They’ve got the technology, they’ve got the IP. Now it’s time to actually build that physical infrastructure, which is the hard part to fundraise for. We need to bring these two sides together.

AB: The main takeaway is there’s something bigger than any of us individually happening, and when you ask that question again, “Why now?” we’re not really asserting this is the right time. There’s a massive wave. It just demonstrably is.

​Tech, Reindustrialize 

Police in Amherst, New York, earlier this month responded to a 911 call for a domestic violence-related incident in the 4800 block of North Bailey Avenue, officials said. Amherst is about 20 minutes northeast of Buffalo.

Police on Thursday released bodycam video showing what happened after officers arrived at the residence in question around 5 p.m. July 12.

Bodycam video also shows the officers attending to the suspect’s wounds and one of the officers bleeding from his left arm.

Video appears to show a male jumping out of a window from the rear of the house:

RELATED: Rescued female charged with stabbing to death 29-year-old paramedic; attack took place in ambulance, officials say

Image source: Amherst (N.Y.) Police Department

Video then shows the male running toward one of the officers armed with a knife in each hand, WIVB-TV reported.

Amherst Police Chief Scott Chamberlin told the station that the suspect was upon the officer “within two seconds.”

Image source: Amherst (N.Y.) Police Department

Police said 26-year-old Rayquell M. Grant stabbed Amherst Police Officer Aidan Vangelov twice — once in the shoulder and once in the arm, WIVB reported.

Image source: Amherst (N.Y.) Police Department

Image source: Amherst (N.Y.) Police Department

Officer Vangelov and another responding officer, Lt. Matthew Lobuglio, opened fire on Grant, police said, adding that a taser was initially deployed but didn’t connect.

RELATED: 54-year-old repeat offender accused of fatally stabbing woman, 25, after first spitting on her in Chicago

Image source: Amherst (N.Y.) Police Department

Image source: Amherst (N.Y.) Police Department

Bodycam video also shows the officers attending to the suspect’s wounds, and one of the officers bleeding from his left arm.

You can view the bodycam video below.

Content warning: Police said in the YouTube description of the bodycam video that it may contain strong language and images that some may find disturbing:

RELATED: Karmelo Anthony spokesman urges fight against ‘white supremacy’ after Anthony’s murder indictment for Austin Metcalf stabbing

Officer Vangelov was treated for stab wounds to his arm at the Erie County Medical Center, and Grant was taken to the same facility for gunshot wounds to his chest and arm, officials told WIVB in a separate story.

“My office conducted a thorough review of the officer-involved shooting,” Erie County District Attorney Mike Keane said in a statement, according to the station. “We have determined that the actions of the police officers were justified. The members of the Amherst Police Department who fired the shots that resulted in injuries to the defendant have been cleared of any criminal wrongdoing.”

Grant was charged Friday with first-degree attempted murder, first-degree attempted assault, and second-degree assault in connection with the incident, officials added to WIVB.

Grant allegedly was wanted for failure to appear in court on a pending domestic violence-related case before the incident unfolded, officials added to the station.

Grant was being held without bail, WIVB said, adding that the charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.

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President Donald Trump said that many top Democrat figures were guilty of “treason” based on new findings from the Dept. of Justice, and he named names to reporters on Tuesday.

Trump cited a report from Tulsi Gabbard, his director of national intelligence, that provided evidence of a plot by former President Barack Obama with former FBI Director James Comey, former DNI James Clapper, and John Brennan, former director of the CIA.

‘The leader of the gang was Barack Hussein Obama. He’s guilty. This was treason.’

The president made the comments Tuesday morning while answering reporters’ questions.

“They caught President Obama absolutely cold,” said Trump. “Tulsi Gabbard. What they did to this country, starting in 2016, but going up all the way, going up to 2020 and the election, they tried to rig the election. And they got caught. And there should be very severe consequences for that.”

Some had noted that the president had posted on his social media in May a meme calling for military tribunals and pointing to Obama.

“You know when we caught Hillary Clinton, I said, ‘You know what? Let’s not go too far here.’ It’s the ex-wife of a president, and I thought it was sort of terrible, and I let her off the hook. And I’m very happy I did. But it’s time to start, after what they did to me, and whether it’s right or wrong, it’s time to go after people,” he continued.

“Obama’s been caught directly,” the president said. “So people say, ‘Oh, you know, a group.’ It’s not a group. It’s Obama. His orders are on the paper. The papers are signed. The papers came right out of their office. They sent everything to be highly classified. Well, the classified’s been released, and what they did in 2016 and in 2020 is very criminal. It’s criminal at the highest level. So that’s really the things you should be talking about.”

RELATED: Election officials rage as Trump administration pushes for election security

When asked who the DOJ should target, the president specifically mentioned top Democratic figures.

“Based on what I read, and I read pretty much what you read, it would be President Obama. He started it. And Biden was there with him, and Comey was there, and Clapper, the whole group was there. Brennan. They were all there. In a room. Right here, this was the room,” he said.

“The leader of the gang was President Obama. Barack Hussein Obama. … He’s guilty. This was treason. This was every word you could think of. They tried to steal the election. They tried to obfuscate the election. They did things that nobody’s ever even imagined, even in other countries.”

RELATED: Glenn Beck explains why it’s a ‘miracle’ Trump was denied a second term in 2020: ‘Donald Trump has a 12-year plan’

He said there was “absolute” proof and tied the scandal to the autopen as well.

“This is proof, irrefutable proof, that Obama was [seditious],” said Trump.

“That Obama was trying to lead a coup. And it was with Hillary Clinton, with all these other people, but Obama headed it up. And you know I get a kick when I hear everyone talks about people I never even heard of, no no,” he added.

RELATED: Attorney for Rudy Giuliani says he’s the target of probe into attempted overturn of 2020 election: ‘We know how to play hardball’

“It was Obama; he headed it up. And it says so right in the papers. … This is the biggest scandal in the history of our country, and it really goes on to even the autopen, because it all relates to the same thing. It all started [with] the same sick minds,” the president said.

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Those who warned that the takeover of Damascus by Turkish-backed Islamic terrorists might bode poorly for Christians and other minorities in Syria have unfortunately been vindicated by the massacres, bombings, rapes, and kidnappings executed by Sunni radicals in recent days and months.

According to the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, as of Sunday, over 1,200 people had been killed in the brutal clashes that broke out on July 13 between Sunni Muslim Bedouin clans, which were aided at times by government forces, and Druze-linked militias in Syria’s southern Druze-majority Suwayda province.

Among those slain in cold blood was Hosam Saraya, an American citizen and Oklahoman who Sens. Markwayne Mullin (R) and James Lankford (R) confirmed was executed alongside several members of his Druze family in Syria. An American relative of the deceased told CNN that Saraya had traveled to Syria to tend to his sick father.

Footage reportedly taken on July 17 shows a group of what appear to be government troops marching eight unarmed men — one of whom was later identified as Saraya by an American relative — to a roundabout, where they lined them up and gunned them down. While slaughtering the captives, the militants shouted, “Allahu Akbar.”

One of the female survivors of the massacre said in a message to Saraya’s American relative, “Pray for us, they kidnapped the boys, they shot the house, they stole stuff.”

An individual claiming to be a relative of Saraya alleged on X that government security forces were responsible for the American citizen’s execution and stressed that “what’s happening is ethnic cleansing — the systematic killing of minorities, with no real intention for dialogue or protection.”

RELATED: New massacre, old problem: How Syria can protect its religious minorities

Photo by BAKR ALKASEM/AFP via Getty Images

Although Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s forces were supposedly sent to restore order, Reuters indicated they effectively teamed up with the Sunni clans and attacked the Druze community.

It was certainly not the first time that al-Sharaa’s men butchered Druze.

The State Department’s Rewards for Justice program previously acknowledged that the al-Nusrah Front, al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, carried out multiple terrorist attacks throughout Syria under the leadership of al-Sharaa — also known as Muhammad al-Jawlani.

“In April 2015, ANF reportedly kidnapped, and later released, approximately 300 Kurdish civilians from a checkpoint in Syria,” reads the bounty page for the Islamic terrorist. “In June 2015, ANF claimed responsibility for the massacre of 20 residents in the Druze village of Qalb Lawzeh in Idlib province, Syria.”

The ANF merged with other radical groups to form Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the terrorist organization that seized the Syrian capital of Damascus in December under al-Sharaa’s leadership and toppled the Assad government — a regime change that the Obama CIA and the Pentagon helped with along the way.

In hopes of “fulfilling President Trump’s vision of a stable, unified, and peaceful Syria,” the U.S. revoked the Foreign Terrorist Organization designation of al-Nusrah Front and HTS on July 8.

‘These are historic, longtime rivalries between different groups in the southwest of Syria.’

When pressed for comment about Saraya’s slaying, a State Department spokesperson told Blaze News the department was “looking into accounts of the death of an individual reported to have been a U.S. citizen in Syria” and that the “U.S. Department of State has no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens.”

The department later confirmed that an American had indeed been killed in Syria.

The spokesperson refrained from commenting on whether government forces were involved in the slayings, whether the Trump administration was presently considering reapplying sanctions on Syria, and whether it may have been premature to drop the terrorism designation for al-Sharaa and his allies.

RELATED: Nigerian Christians face latest massacre by militant Muslims

Syrian President Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa. Photo by AREF TAMMAWI/AFP via Getty Images

The situation was complicated further last week by the entry of another warring party.

Apparently without telegraphing its intentions to the U.S. — which has committed to supporting Damascus and a stable Syria — Israel executed a series of strikes last week against Syrian government troops and armor headed to Suwayda.

Axios reported that a day after after U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack asked his Israel counterparts to stand down on July 15, Israel bombed Syria’s military headquarters in Damascus, just near the presidential palace.

Following the Israeli strikes — the stated purpose of which was to protect the Druze — and amid continued fighting in Suwayda, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in the Oval Office on July 16 that “these are historic, longtime rivalries between different groups in the southwest of Syria — Bedouins, the Druze community — and it led to an unfortunate situation and a misunderstanding, it looks like, between the Israeli side and the Syrian side.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt indicated that President Donald Trump “was caught off guard by [Israel’s] bombing in Syria and also the bombing of the Catholic church in Gaza.”

Barrack, meanwhile, announced on Friday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and al-Sharaa agreed to an American-backed ceasefire.

RELATED: ‘Blown to bits’: Suicide bomber targets Christian church in jihadist-controlled Syria

Photo by Ali Haj Suleiman/Getty Images

“We call upon Druze, Bedouins, and Sunnis to put down their weapons and together with other minorities build a new and united Syrian identity in peace and prosperity with its neighbors,” Barrack said.

When the Syrian government attempted to implement the ceasefire over the weekend, fighting reportedly escalated.

‘Khaled Mazhar, the pastor of the Good Shepherd Evangelical Church in Suwayda city, was killed along with his wife, his children, and other relatives.’

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights indicated that “violations include the arrival of reinforcement from military forces affiliated with the Damascus government to the north-western outskirts of Al-Suwaidaa province and along Damascus-Suwaidaa highway.”

Dr. Joel Veldkamp, director for public advocacy at Christian Solidarity International, told Blaze News that while the fighting has been momentarily paused in Suwayda, “the conditions for mass killings are all present,” adding that “hundreds of thousands of Druzes and Alawites (and Sunni Muslim Bedouins) have been driven from their homes in the last few months and are living in precarity, a known risk factor for genocide.”

“The Syrian government is determined to take control of Suwayda governorate by force and seems, at best, unable to do that without sending in jihadist shock troops who will kill people on the basis of their religion,” Veldkamp continued. “If talks break down between the government and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in the northeast, we could see a replay of last week’s violence in the northeast Syria as well.”

Veldkamp noted that “what we might call slow-motion ethnic/religious cleansing is under way” elsewhere in the country.

“In Homs, Hama, and on the Syrian coast, Alawites and Druzes are abducted on a weekly or even daily basis, and many are looking for a way to flee the country,” Veldkamp said. “Many Alawites, before and after the March massacres, have been expelled from their villages by government forces, and their lands have been distributed to Sunni Muslims.”

Veldkamp confirmed that Christians in Suwayda were also impacted by the government forces’ latest attacks.

“Khaled Mazhar, the pastor of the Good Shepherd Evangelical Church in Suwayda city, was killed along with his wife, his children, and other relatives — 12 people in all,” Veldkamp said. “The Greek Orthodox Church put out a statement saying that their church members, like everyone in the province, were suffering from the cutoff of medicine, water, electricity, and food to the province during last week’s attack. Mar Mikhael Church in the village of Al-Soura Al-Kabira was set on fire.”

Aid to the Church in Need International reported that 38 homes belonging to Christian families were also torched in Al-Soura. Some of those made homeless by the apparent attacks have taken refuge in the hall of a different church, where they are sitting ducks.

‘Al-Sharaa has concentrated power in his own hands, and his forces have now carried out repeated massacres of religious minorities.’

This latest bout of violence comes just weeks after a jihadist opened fire on Syrian Christians gathered for Mass inside the Greek Orthodox Church of the Prophet Elias in Damascus, then detonated an explosive vest, killing at least 25 Christians and wounding 63 others. A government-linked group claimed responsibility for the attack.

Months earlier, the terrorist regime in Damascus dispatched tens of thousands of security forces and auxiliary fighters to the western coastal region largely populated by Alawites, adherents of an offshoot of Shia Islam, and Christians, where they killed hundreds of perceived Assad loyalists.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, security forces also killed at least 973 civilians in 39 massacres and undertook “executions based on regional and sectarian affiliation.” Women and children were reportedly among the butchered civilians.

The regime denied that it was directly responsible for the massacres on the west coast, but Christian Solidarity indicated that Damascus had called for volunteers to mobilize while Sunni mosques across the country called for a jihad in the coastal region.

RELATED: Pope renews call for immediate ceasefire in Gaza following deadly church bombing

US President Donald Trump meets with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa (L) along with the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud (R) on May 14, 2025. Photo by Bandar Al-Jaloud/Saudi Royal Court/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images

Veldkamp suggeted that it was premature to drop the terrorism designation for al-Sharaa and his allies, noting that “the terrorism designation was well-earned and was an important piece of leverage that the U.S. could have, and should have, used to demand protection for religious minorities in Syria and an inclusive government.”

“Instead, al-Sharaa has concentrated power in his own hands, and his forces have now carried out repeated massacres of religious minorities,” Veldkamp added.

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​Ethnic cleansing, Syria, Damascus, Israel, Terrorism, Jihad, Jihadist, Druze, Christian, Alawite, Ahmed hussein al-sharaa, Jolani, Al qaeda, Al-nusrah, Al-jawlani, Genocide, Murder, Execution, Fighting, War, Donald trump, Marco rubio, Politics 

Conspiracies are real and occur every single day — but their existence has elite political circles and the media that runs cover for them throwing the term “conspiracy theorist” at anyone who tries to expose them.

“This is something that the CIA tried to popularize as a term of ridicule,” journalist Alex Newman tells Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck. “I encourage people to open up their dictionaries. The word ‘conspiracy’ just means two or more people working in secret on some immoral, illegal, or nefarious objective.”

“So there are conspiracies all over the place. Nobody would be surprised to know that two businessmen conspired to fix prices. Nobody would be surprised to know that two politicians conspired to get something through the legislature,” he continues.

“But we’re trained almost like Pavlov’s dogs. We’re conditioned to recoil in horror when somebody says the term conspiracy. Well, we shouldn’t. The Department of Justice charges people with conspiracy virtually every day of the week in this country,” he adds.

And we’re trained like Pavlov’s dogs our entire lives.

“Multiple generations of children have now been conditioned in the schools to respond this way. It’s not that they’re thinking about the evidence or what you’ve stated. They’re just conditioned to respond very emotionally to these trigger words,” Newman explains, noting that the trigger words can be words like “racist” or “conspiracy theorist.”

“Like Pavlov’s dogs were drooling,” he adds, “Well, there’s a racist or a conspiracy theorist without actually thinking about it.”

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Democrats are once again publicly relitigating how they lost the 2024 election and how the party treated former President Joe Biden, thanks to his son Hunter ripping into party leaders and officials.

Hunter Biden was recently interviewed by “Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan,” a popular YouTube channel. Biden went on a lengthy, expletive-ridden rant against people like David Axelrod, George Clooney, Anita Dunn, and former Obama staffers who went on to create the “Pod Save America” media brand.

‘I know you’re angry personally, but you’re not the f**king victim here.’

“F**k him and everybody around him. I don’t have to be f**king nice. George Clooney is not a f**king actor. … He’s a brand. … Why do I have to listen to you?” Biden said about Clooney, who called for Biden to leave the race in a New York Times op-ed in July 2024.

“James Carville hasn’t won a race in 40 f**king years, and David Axelrod … had one success in his political life and that was Barack Obama and that was because of Barack Obama, not because of David f**king Axelrod,” Biden continued. “The ‘Pod Save America’ guys, who were junior f**king speech writers on Barack Obama’s Senate staff, who have been dining out on the relationship with him for years making millions.”

RELATED: ‘F**k you!’ Hunter Biden explodes over deportations in interview about his dad, immigration, and George Clooney

‘F**k you!’ Hunter Biden explodes over deportations in interview about his dad, immigration, and George Clooney Photos by Alon Skuy/Getty Images (L), Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images (R)

Biden maintains his father should not have dropped out of the race because he “got 81 million votes. … The intelligentsia of the Democratic Party, with 20/20 hindsight, believes Joe Biden should consider not running again because of their perception he was too old.”

— (@)

Tommy Vietor, who is part of the “Pod Save America” brand, went on X and gave his initial reaction to Biden’s statements.

“It’s good to see that Hunter has taken some time to process the election, look inward, and hold himself accountable for how his family’s insular, dare I say arrogant at times, approach to politics led to this catastrophic outcome we’re all now living with,” he said.

The “Pod Save America” team continued their response during an episode of their show: “I know you’re angry personally, but you’re not the f**king victim here.”

— (@)

Chris Jackson, a Democrat social media influencer and staunch Biden defender, fired back at “Pod Save America” by saying most Americans agree with Biden’s assessment of how the party treated his father.

“Instead of backing and using your platform to relentlessly promote Biden’s historic record, you trashed him and Kamala from day one. Nothing was ever good enough — because you never liked Biden. It killed you that he won without your blessing,” Jackson said. “You built the circular firing squad. If we’d been united, we’d have won. But you needed to feel important because you once fetched coffee for Obama.”

During the same interview with “Channel 5,” Biden floated a scenario where he would be president to secure the release of criminal illegal immigrants sent to El Salvador.

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​Politics, Hunter biden, Pod save america 

Congress is leading a latest bipartisan effort in Washington, D.C., this time to protect American interests abroad.

Republican Rep. August Pfluger of Texas is leading the charge to protect American property from foreign aggressors and any “unreasonable” or “discriminatory” practices inflicted upon them, according to bill text obtained exclusively by Blaze News. This effort is also being led by Democratic Rep. Terri Sewell of Alabama, Republican Sen. Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, and Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia.

‘No nation should be allowed to bully an American firm without consequences.’

“American companies operating abroad should not have to fear arbitrary government actions that undermine their property rights,” Pfluger told Blaze News. “The Defending American Property Abroad Act will ensure that such actions do not go unchecked and that American businesses are protected from unjust expropriation.”

“The protection of American property rights abroad is essential for fostering economic growth and maintaining our national security,” Pfluger added. “I urge my colleagues in Congress to support this critical legislation and send a clear message that the United States will not tolerate unjust actions against American companies.”

RELATED: Exclusive: House Republicans commend Trump’s efforts to bolster American industries

Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

The specific case that inspired the legislation pertained to the Vulcan Materials Company, one of the largest producers of construction aggregates. Although it is an American company, Vulcan has facilities in both the United States and Mexico, making it a crucial part of the infrastructure in both countries.

Vulcan has been operating a limestone quarry in Mexico since 1986, but was unlawfully invaded and shut down by the Mexican government in May 2022. This act of aggression greatly affected the supply and distribution to the United States, and it put American jobs at risk.

“I strongly condemn the Mexican government’s threats against Vulcan Materials Company, and I am pleased to see this bipartisan and bicameral rebuke from the United States Senate,” Hagerty told Blaze News. “Under the leadership of Mexico’s previous president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and now the current president, Claudia Sheinbaum, the Mexican government is committing a blatant theft against a major American company and, by extension, the United States itself.”

“No nation should be allowed to bully an American firm without consequences,” Hagerty added. “Our legislation will counter any attempt by the Mexican government to profit from illegal moves to expropriate, nationalize, or otherwise seize U.S. assets.”

RELATED: Democrats vote overwhelmingly to allow illegal aliens to continue voting in key district

Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Pfluger and Hagerty’s Democratic counterparts expressed similar concerns, saying the Mexican government’s actions were harmful to both business and diplomacy.

“The Mexican government’s unfair targeting of Vulcan Materials Company, a U.S.-based company that employs over 1,000 people in Virginia, is harmful to the relationship between our two countries and severely undermines investor confidence,” Kaine told Blaze News. “That’s why I’m joining my colleagues in introducing this bipartisan legislation to deter the illegal seizure of U.S. assets.”

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​August pfluger, Tim kaine, Bill hagerty, Terri sewell, House republicans, House democrats, Senate republicans, Senate democrats, Congress, Defending american property abroad act, Mexico, Claudia sheinbaum, Vulcan building materials, American property, Foreign aggression, Politics 

A Nike ad featuring the world’s No.1 golfer, Scottie Scheffler, is being praised by sports fans for its focus on family.

Scheffler is not only the best golfer in the world, but he has proven himself to be a proud American and all-around decent human and family man.

Following yet another win at the Open Championship last weekend, Scheffler’s sponsor, Nike, surprisingly celebrated the 29-year-old’s family with a heartwarming ad.

‘Finally you guys unwoke the marketing.’

Scheffler’s 1-year-old son, Bennett, stole the show at Royal Portrush Golf Club; the crowd cheered as the baby tried to run up the green toward his father as he accepted the tournament trophy. A few tumbles made the moment more endearing.

This led to the father and son becoming the focus of Nike’s subsequent promo, showing the family on the golf course.

“Priorities unchanged. Another major secured. The wins keep coming on and off the course for Scottie Scheffler,” Nike wrote on X.

A photo of Scheffler and son playing with a golf club read, “You’ve already won,” followed by Scheffler taking a swing with the caption, “But another major never hurt.”

Sports fans were elated with the ad and immediately poured praise on Nike for straying away from progressive politics.

RELATED: ‘They can’t speak up’: Caitlin Clark headlines latest woke Nike ad that claims women are told they can’t succeed

“More of this and less of the woke BS,” a golf page replied.

“More of this, please!” the American Principles Project cried out.

Another golf fan replied on X, “Finally you guys unwoke the marketing.”

The fans have correctly noticed the shift in tone from the company, as Nike is just months removed from multiple marketing disasters that completely misread the room.

One campaign featuring WNBA star Caitlin Clark received criticism for its gross exaggeration about the treatment female athletes receive.

The campaign from February promoted the idea that prominent female athletes are berated and constantly told “how they should act.”

The ad went on to claim that women are told not to be ambitious and that they should not have fun.

But that commercial was nothing compared to a tone-deaf ad Nike put out in the U.K. in April.

RELATED: Nike is getting hammered for ‘tone-deaf’ ad at London Marathon: ‘Heads need to roll’

Nike issued an apology for its ad at the London Marathon after it used a red-colored sign that read, “Never again. Until next year.”

The ad was intended to refer to the feeling of being exhausted at the end of the race but returning to try again the following year. However, many felt the ad was downplaying the Holocaust, which has often been referenced with the phrase “never again.”

If the latest golf ad is any indication of what resonates with sports fans, Nike should certainly continue its straightforward approach to win back the hearts and minds of those who buy its products.

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​Fearless, Golf, Nike, Woke, Progressive, Scottie scheffler, Caitlin clark, Sports 

Former President Barack Obama isn’t doing his reputation any favors, as during a recent appearance on his wife’s podcast, he took the opportunity to explain why young men need to have gay friends in their life.

“That’s one of the things that I think a lot of times boys need, is not just exposure to one guy, one dad. No matter how good the dad is, he can’t be everything,” Obama told Michelle. “And that boy may need somebody to give the boy some perspective on the dad, right?”

“One of the most valuable things I learned as a guy, was I had a gay professor in college at a time when openly gay folks still weren’t out, who became one of my favorite professors and was a great guy and would call me out when I started saying stuff that was ignorant,” he continued.

“You need that. To show empathy and kindness. And by the way, you need that person in your friend group,” he said, adding, “So that if you then have a boy who’s gay or nonbinary or what have you, they have somebody that they can go, ‘OK, I’m not alone in this.’”

BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock couldn’t disagree with the former president more.

“You need grandfathers, you need uncles, you need cousins, you need male teachers, you need deacons and elders in a church, you need a heavenly father,” Whitlock explains, “that’s the real village.”

And BlazeTV contributor Virgil Walker is on Whitlock’s side.

“I was disgusted with what former President Obama said. It was disgusting on a number of different levels,” Walker says, noting that for him to insinuate that young men in the black community need gay guidance rather than a father — which many are lacking — made no sense.

“To state that what we, what males need, particularly men who don’t have a lot of father figures in their lives, is a gay man to provide oversight. I have no understanding of how the manner in which you choose to have sex has any kind of impact on the kind of intellectual value that you’re providing for a young man,” he says.

“His comments minimize the fact that we are image-bearers of God, and it really minimizes us to where we are only identified by our sexual activity in a bedroom, and particularly deviant sexual activity in a bedroom. And so, this is disgusting,” he adds.

Want more from Jason Whitlock?

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

​Sharing, Video phone, Video, Free, Upload, Camera phone, Youtube.com, Jason whitlock harmony, The blaze, Jason whitlock, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Blaze news, Barack obama, Michelle obama, Barack obama gay, Lgbtqia agenda, Black community, Fatherlessness epidemic, Virgil walker, Shemeka michelle, Anthony walker 

Chaos erupted at an illegal “fight club” in New York, which resulted in teens being shot and 13 people arrested, police stated.

Officers from the Suffolk County Police Department’s Seventh Precinct responded to a report of possible gunshots fired around 6 p.m. Sunday at the Brookhaven Aquatic Center parking lot in the hamlet of Shirley in Long Island.

‘An example needs to be set.’

Once police officers arrived, they discovered that a “scuffle had broken out among several people who were attending an unauthorized fight club event,” the Suffolk County Police Department told Blaze News.

RELATED: South Carolina daycare employees accused of running child fight club, encouraging 14 toddlers to assault each other

Photo by Denys Yelmanov via iStock / Getty Images Plus

The Suffolk County Police Department said one of the participants in the alleged fight club “brandished and discharged a blank-firing gun during the scuffle, which injured a 17-year-old male and a 19-year-old male.”

The two teens were rushed to a local hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

Suffolk Police Chief of Detectives William Doherty noted to WABC-TV that “the gun was designed to fire blanks. It wasn’t a firearm that expelled the projectile, but the blanks were fired close enough to two individuals to injure them.”

Detectives with the Suffolk County Police Department charged 25-year-old Devine Brown of Mastic Beach with assault in the second degree, menacing in the second degree, prohibitive use of a weapon, and unlawful assembly. Brown was held at the Sixth Precinct jail.

The other 12 suspects, all from Suffolk County, were arrested and charged with unlawful assembly and were issued field or desk appearance tickets. They include:

Jehsiah Williams, 23, of Mastic Devin Black, 20, of Mastic BeachTariq Nix, 20, of Mastic Alejandro Hightower, 20, of HolbrookMalachi Leftenant, 19, of ShirleyHonest Thompson, 19, of Middle IslandJason Alvarez, 18, of RiverheadHenry Thompson, 18, of MorichesLorenzo Whyte, 18, of ShirleyKyron Deer, 18, of CoramThomas Zuzierla, 18, of Mastic A 16-year-old boy; police did not name him because of his age

Brookhaven Town Supervisor Dan Panico told News 12 Long Island that he’s seeking tougher laws to penalize those who profit from criminal activity.

“An example needs to be set because the good people of Mastic, Shirley, Mastic Beach, and elsewhere have had it with all this stupidity,” Panico stated.

The investigation into the alleged fight club incident is ongoing. Detectives with the Suffolk County Police Department are urging anyone with information on the incident to contact the Seventh Squad at 631-852-8752.

RELATED: Students from prestigious high school caught running MMA-style fight club — then one gets charged by cops for something even dumber

This is actually the second time an unauthorized “fight club” was recently exposed in Suffolk County.

Last month, approximately 70 people attended an illegal “fight club” at Walt Whitman Park in Melville, according to Newsday.

Police said they were tipped off about the brawl at the park after the melee was publicized on Instagram.

The spectators watching the rumble — mostly young adults in their early 20s — scattered when cops arrived. However, police arrested two combatants.

Finley McCloskey and Jake Zimilies — both 19-year-old Northport residents — were issued appearance tickets and charged with unlawful assembly, according to the Suffolk County Police Department.

Police noted that the Instagram account that promoted the “fight club” was deactivated after the bust.

The premise of a “fight club” was first popularized by the 1996 novel “Fight Club” by Chuck Palahniuk, which was based on his own experiences participating in secret brawl rings.

The book was adapted into the 1999 Oscar-nominated movie of the same name, which starred Edward Norton and Brad Pitt.

The most popular quote from the “Fight Club” film is regarding the secrecy of the underground fight club: “Gentlemen, welcome to Fight Club. The first rule of Fight Club is: You do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is: You DO NOT talk about Fight Club!”

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​Fight club, Long island, Long island fight club, Fight, Shooting, New york crime, Crime, New york, Arrests 

Stephen Colbert has been vaporized, canceled by CBS. Donald Trump is celebrating. Liberal Hollywood is outraged! Regular folks don’t care.

Goodnight, everybody!

New ownership at CBS is looming, and Skydance Media evidently doesn’t want a leftist pep rally every night.

But not so fast. This is a fascinating story when you examine the power angle. The once-dominant network television media is completely falling apart. According to the Nielsen folks, fewer than 20% of Americans now watch any network programming. Why? Because it’s largely boring, and traditional Americans resent the liberal culture the networks embrace all day and all night. Woke on parade. Political correctness run amok.

I have a unique vantage point here. Because of my bestselling books and controversial demeanor in general, I have appeared on late-night shows an astonishing 75 times. I know all these guys and the world they inhabit.

Colbert basically committed performance suicide. When he took over for David Letterman 10 years ago, he was coming off the red-hot satire of Jon Stewart’s “Daily Show” and his own “Colbert Report.” Yes, the boys were left-handed pitchers, but they tamped down the malice — at least somewhat. I had a lot of laughs debating Stewart.

Over the past five years, Stephen Colbert has lost more than one million viewers; his numbers descended to just above two million households daily. Profits crashed.

The primary reason for this runaway train is Colbert’s hatred for Trump and the MAGA brigades. Eighty million Americans voted for the president. Few of them can stomach Colbert’s schtick. Ideological zealotry at midnight can be tedious. The all-time king of late night, Johnny Carson, understood that. Old Johnny got his zingers in, but he rarely tried to demean anyone.

All the late-night hosts have talent. It’s impossible to do the job if you don’t. Letterman was very quick and edgy. My debates with him are legendary, especially the one where he called me a thug but couldn’t back it up when I challenged him.

On my final appearance with Dave, his audience gave me a standing ovation.

Letterman was cranky but rarely displayed overt hatred. He invited me on 16 times and wrote me a gracious note after every appearance.

Jay Leno was essentially a stand-up comedian, not deeply invested in promoting politics. Same with Jimmy Fallon, although he understands the far-left culture at NBC. Remember the heat Fallon took when he good-naturedly messed up Donald Trump’s hair?

RELATED: Farewell to Stephen Colbert, fake laughs, and lame late-night bias

Photo by Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty Images

Jimmy Kimmel has drifted into the political swamp mostly because he despises the president. I like Kimmel personally. But he’d be wise to spread the satire around. ABC will be the next place to purge extremists.

My old adversary, Stewart, a brilliant talent, has also succumbed somewhat to strident presentations. Although when I sparred with him last August, the mischievous glimmer was back, at least for a night.

So Stephen Colbert leaves the CBS stage. New ownership is looming, and Skydance Media evidently doesn’t want a leftist pep rally every night. Hollywood will take care of Colbert, so we will see him again.

I bet Donald Trump can’t wait.

Editor’s note: A version of this article appeared originally at billoreilly.com.

​Opinion & analysis, Woke hollywood, Cbs, The late show with stephen colbert, The late show, Late night, Comedy, Stephen colbert, Jimmy kimmel, Johnny carson, Maga, Donald trump, Skydance, Jon stewart, David letterman, The daily show, The colbert report, Jay leno, Politics, Liberal bias, Funny, Ratings, Wokeness, Woke, Political correctness 

The FBI has launched a criminal investigation into former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey for perjury and potentially other crimes related to the Trump-Russia hoax. This comes shortly after a CIA tradecraft review revealed their manipulation of a December 30, 2016, intelligence community assessment that Russian President Vladimir Putin favored Donald Trump in the 2016 election. And on Friday, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard reported that former President Barack Obama, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, Brennan, and others participated in the deception.

Gabbard said:

The information we are releasing today clearly shows there was a treasonous conspiracy in 2016 committed by officials at the highest level of our government. Their goal was to subvert the will of the American people and enact what was essentially a years-long coup with the objective of trying to usurp the president from fulfilling the mandate bestowed upon him by the American people. … As such, I am providing all documents to the Department of Justice to deliver the accountability that President Trump, his family, and the American people deserve.

In the words of President Obama’s pastor, Jeremiah Wright, the chickens may be finally coming home to roost.

The report and documents issued by Gabbard demonstrate that the intelligence community consistently assessed that Russia probably was not using cyber means to influence the election.

On December 9, 2016, Obama’s National Security Council principals, including Clapper, Brennan, Susan Rice, John Kerry, Loretta Lynch, Andrew McCabe, and others, met to discuss Russia. After the meeting, Clapper directed an email to intelligence agency leaders, instructing them to work up an intelligence community assessment “per the president’s request” that detailed the “tools Moscow used and actions it took to influence the 2016 election.”

The tradecraft review and the information released by Gabbard on Friday show a systematic breach of oath, duty, and honor by Barack Obama and the nation’s highest-ranking intelligence officials.

Even before the assessment began, Obama officials leaked false statements to media outlets that the IC had “definitively concluded” that Russia had used cyber means to intervene in the election, specifically to help Trump win.

Responding to Gabbard, Sen. Mark Warner (Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, issued the following statement:

The years-long Russia investigation carried out by the Senate Intelligence Committee reaffirmed that the ‘Russian government directed extensive activity against US election infrastructure’ ahead of the 2016 election, and that it ‘used social media to conduct an information warfare campaign’ in order to benefit Donald Trump. This conclusion was supported on a unanimous basis by every single Democrat and Republican on the committee.

The rushed preparation of the intelligence community assessment ordered by Obama, conclusions reversing six months of intelligence analysis, and reliance on the discredited Steele dossier all suggest that Gabbard likely has the better of this argument, though calling the former Obama administration’s actions a “treasonous conspiracy” may be a step too far.

Setting the stage

John Brennan served as Barack Obama’s CIA director from March 2013 until just before Trump took office in January 2017. Since leaving office, he has been an outspoken Trump critic. In October 2020, he was one of 51 intelligence analysts who signed the intentionally misleading letter that Hunter Biden’s laptop “has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”

Brennan and the other intelligence analysts used their training in deception to trick American voters just before the 2020 presidential election. As many signatories were aware at the time, the FBI had already vetted the legitimacy of the laptop and its contents. The oblique allegation was intended to convey that its content was fake, while preserving the analysts’ ability to deny that was their conclusion.

The letter also gave the FBI cover to deny knowledge of the laptop, allowing it and other federal agencies to influence and coerce the media into suppressing coverage. Numerous surveys suggest that wider knowledge of Hunter’s laptop could have changed the outcome of the 2020 election, sparing America the Biden-Harris administration.

Three years later, when the FBI introduced the laptop into evidence in the Hunter Biden prosecution, it publicly confirmed that its contents were authentic. Asked how that squared with the analysts’ letter, Brennan disingenuously asserted they had never suggested the content was false, but merely observed there were similarities to a Russian intelligence operation.

Mirrors within mirrors. Just days after again taking office, Trump revoked Brennan’s security clearance.

Brennan was just the beginning

Brennan wasn’t the only high-profile Obama appointee targeting Trump. Obama’s FBI director Comey and Director of National Intelligence Clapper were integral to the effort.

In mid-2016, Comey opened an FBI criminal investigation of the Trump campaign, at least partially motivated by the Steele dossier. No later than January 2017, the FBI knew that much of the information in the dossier was false. Shortly after, it learned the dossier was disinformation funded by the Clinton campaign using the law firm Perkins Coie and Fusion GPS as cutouts to engage the putative author, erstwhile British spy Christopher Steele.

At the start of the first Trump administration, Comey apparently lied to Trump and then misled congressional committees by denying he was under investigation. On March 20, 2017, he finally revealed the FBI investigation to the House Intelligence Committee. The Justice Department’s inspector general and special counsel John Durham criticized Comey’s handling of these matters, and, as a result of Durham’s investigation, former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith pled guilty to falsifying information in a surveillance warrant request targeting Trump campaign advisor Carter Page.

They quickly learned the dossier was disinformation funded by the Clinton campaign to engage the putative author, erstwhile British spy Christopher Steele.

When Trump fired Comey on May 9, 2017, Comey retaliated by disclosing confidential information, depicting Trump in an unfavorable light, to Columbia Law professor Daniel Richman for delivery to the press. Comey became a Trump critic only somewhat less vitriolic than Brennan. Trump then revoked Comey’s security clearance.

Though Democrats and the media have savaged the criminal investigation of Brennan and Comey as political retribution, it’s evident — while in their Obama-appointed positions atop the world’s premier law enforcement and espionage agencies — they broke their oaths, exceeded their authority, ignored the Constitution, and investigated, harassed, and sought to prosecute Trump and his campaign team for their opposition to the deep state. Both lied in testimony to congressional committees about the status, origins, process, and findings of the FBI investigation and related intelligence community activities.

Shattering norms

When, just six weeks before the end of his term, Obama ordered the intelligence community to prepare a predetermined assessment of Russia’s attempts to influence the 2016 campaign, the CIA completed the effort in just one week, over the Christmas holiday. The IC assessment concluded with “high confidence” that Russia sought to undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic process and damage Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Analysts buckled to pressure and included the claim that Putin “aspired” to help then-candidate Trump win the election but applied the reduced “moderate confidence” standard to that inference.

The CIA’s Directorate of Analysis routinely conducts internal after-action reviews of its work on controversial and high-profile intelligence topics, but no review was conducted after the intelligence community assessment’s publication, because it was considered “too politically sensitive,” according to analysts involved in the process.

Current Trump-appointed CIA Director John Ratcliffe rectified that failure two months ago, ordering the Directorate of Analysis to undertake a tradecraft review of the ICA. The review shed considerable light on the politicization of the intelligence community at the behest of Obama, Clapper, and Brennen — and the likelihood that agency heads repeatedly perjured themselves in congressional testimony. It also provides a view into the tortured abuse of facts that undergirds the lawfare waged against Trump by the Biden-Harris administration and Democratic prosecutors.

RELATED: Bombshell documents referred to DOJ expose Obama’s direct role in Russia hoax

Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images

The tradecraft review concluded that the intelligence community generally — and the CIA specifically — violated norms for the development, drafting, and issuance of similar assessments. Work that usually occurs over many months was compressed into one holiday week, during which the agency heads were unusually and intensely involved in drafting the IC assessment in a “chaotic,” “atypical,” and “markedly unconventional” process. Strict compartmentalization prevented team members from accessing the information required to evaluate the proposed findings.

The conclusion that Putin “aspired” to help Trump win was largely based on one classified CIA report that Brennan refused to share with most team members. From the outset, Brennan and Clapper excluded the National Intelligence Council. In his book “Undaunted,” Brennan acknowledges that the agency heads and Obama White House agreed on this process prior to initiating the assessment.

The tradecraft review noted:

The decision by agency heads to include the Steele dossier in the ICA ran counter to fundamental tradecraft principles and ultimately undermined the credibility of a key judgment. … FBI leadership made it clear that their participation in the ICA hinged on the dossier’s inclusion and, over the next few days, repeatedly pushed to weave references to it throughout the main body of the ICA.

The IC assessment authors and multiple senior CIA managers — including the two senior leaders of the CIA mission center responsible for Russia — strongly opposed including the dossier, asserting that it did not meet even the most basic tradecraft standards. The CIA’s deputy director for analysis warned in an email to Brennan that including it in any form risked “the credibility of the entire paper.”

The review shed considerable light on the politicization of the intelligence community at the behest of Obama, Clapper, and Brennan.

Brennan overruled their objections, insisting that narrative consistency was more important than accuracy. As the tradecraft review explained:

Brennan showed a preference for narrative consistency over analytical soundness. When confronted with specific flaws in the dossier by the two mission center leaders — one with extensive operational experience and the other with a strong analytic background — he appeared more swayed by the dossier’s general conformity with existing theories than by legitimate tradecraft concerns.

Brennan issued written instructions to include the Steele dossier in the report. A summary was attached as an appendix, though it was expressly referenced in the main body of the intelligence community only once.

The tradecraft review determined that the intelligence community assessment not only relied on information from the problematic Steele dossier, but excluded “credibly sourced” differing reports.

Brennan’s perjury?

Contrary to the intelligence community’s assessment and Brennan’s written instructions to its authors, Brennan claimed in congressional testimony under oath on May 23, 2017, that the Steele dossier “wasn’t part of the corpus of intelligence information that we had. It was not in any way used as a basis for the intelligence community assessment that was done.”

In January 2017, the Office of National Intelligence issued a statement from Clapper that “we did not rely upon [the dossier] in any way for our conclusions.” Several months later, Clapper assured Congress the dossier was “not a formal part of the intelligence community assessment.”

More recently, during a May 2023 House Judiciary Committee interview, Brennan asserted that “the CIA was very much opposed to having any reference or inclusion of the Steele dossier in the intelligence community assessment.” Though Brennan was apparently the intelligence community assessment’s architect and gave specific instructions to use the Steele dossier, he testified he was “not involved in analyzing the dossier at all.”

Paul Sperry of RealClearInvestigations reported that Clapper swore in the same May 2023 House Judiciary Committee interview that the Steele dossier was not used “in” the intelligence community assessment or “for” the intelligence community assessment, and the team “didn’t draw on it.”

The tradecraft review and the information released by Gabbard on Friday show a systematic breach of oath, duty, and honor by Barack Obama and the nation’s highest-ranking intelligence officials.

The statute of limitations has likely run out on the initial wrongdoing and most efforts to cover it up, though not the 2023 testimony. A congressional investigation should bring clarity to the American public, while the FBI focuses on prosecutable crimes.

The standards for perjury should be those applied to former White House strategy chief Steve Bannon and White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, both of whom were prosecuted and imprisoned for their testimony before congressional committees. To the extent other wrongdoing can be prosecuted, the standards should be those applied to senior government officials who betrayed their oaths in an effort to subvert the country.

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

​Opinion & analysis, Russia, Russiagate, Russia collusion hoax, Donald trump, Barack obama, James clapper, John brennan, James comey, John kerry, National intelligence, Odni, Department of justice, Cia, Fbi, Steele dossier, Tulsi gabbard, Criminal referral, Congress, Perjury, Senate intelligence committee, Intelligence community, Intelligence community assessment, Fusion gps, House intelligence committee, Christopher steele, American mind, Carter page, Surveillance, John ratcliffe, Vladimir putin, Sources and methods 

The Trump administration faced significant backlash over the Justice Department’s July 6 conclusion that Jeffrey Epstein did not have a client list — a list that Attorney General Pam Bondi claimed in a Feb. 21 interview to have sitting on her desk.

While President Donald Trump has indicated he does not personally share the public’s continued fascination with the Epstein case, he told reporters on July 15 that he would instruct his administration to release any “credible information.”

‘The FBI and the DOJ will hear what she has to say.’

The DOJ, acting on Trump’s instruction, is working to check off some items that appeared on Turning Point USA President Charlie Kirk’s list of “10 immediate credible action items” Bondi could take that might satisfy Americans’ hunger for answers, namely pressing Epstein’s former lover and co-conspirator for answers.

Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced in 2022 to 20 years in prison for her role in a scheme to sexually exploit and abuse minor girls as young as 14 with Epstein, going all the way back to the early 1990s.

According to evidence presented at her trial and allegations in court documents, Maxwell “assisted, facilitated, and participated in Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse of minor girls by, among other things, helping Epstein to recruit, groom, and ultimately abuse victims known to Maxwell and Epstein to be under the age of 18.”

In addition to grooming minors for abuse, Maxwell — whose father the Telegraph indicated was a newspaper baron who had “known links with MI6, the KGB, and the Israeli intelligence service Mossad” — apparently did her best to normalize the abuse, allegedly discussing sexual topics with the victims, undressing in front of them, hanging around when the victims were being stripped, and encouraging the victims to massage Epstein.

RELATED: Charlie Kirk outlines ’10 immediate credible action items’ Pam Bondi can take on Epstein case

Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Besides Epstein, it is unlikely there is anybody more familiar with the monstrous operation than Maxwell.

A source close to Maxwell recently told the Daily Mail that the convicted groomer “would be more than happy to sit before Congress and tell her story.”

“No one from the government has ever asked her to share what she knows,” said the unnamed source. “She remains the only person to be jailed in connection to Epstein, and she would welcome the chance to tell the American public the truth.”

‘No lead is off-limits.’

Charlie Kirk recommended that all of Maxwell’s grand jury testimony should be unsealed and that the administration should “green-light Maxwell to speak freely and learn what she knows.”

“President Trump has told us to release all credible evidence,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in statement on Tuesday. “If Ghislane [sic] Maxwell has information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims, the FBI and the DOJ will hear what she has to say.”

Blanche indicated that he reached out to Maxwell’s counsel at Bondi’s direction “to determine whether she would be willing to speak with prosecutors from the Department.”

RELATED: Why the Epstein story cannot be buried

Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images

“I anticipate meeting with Ms. Maxwell in the coming days,” continued Blanche. “Until now, no administration on behalf of the Department had inquired about her willingness to meet with the government. That changes now.”

“No one is above the law,” Blanche added in a separate message, “and no lead is off-limits.”

While the convicted sex offender might volunteer some satisfactory insights, it’s clear that the DOJ is not budging in the meantime on its conclusion regarding the existence of the Epstein list.

Blanche noted that the DOJ and FBI’s controversial conclusion “remains as accurate today as it was when it was written. Namely, that in the recent thorough review of the files maintained by the FBI in the Epstein case, no evidence was uncovered that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.”

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​Department of justice, Doj, Fbi, Pam bondi, Bondi, Jeffrey epstein, Elites, Pedophile, Sex trafficking, Sex offender, Ghislaine maxwell, Maxwell, Blanche, Politics 

Comedian Shane Gillis is not one to hold back, and he made no exceptions as the host of the ESPY awards last week. As he took the stage, he fired shots at just about everyone … that you’re not allowed to fire shots at.

“Four-time WNBA all-star Brittany Hicks is here. Give it up for Brittany, everybody,” Gillis said, pausing to let the crowd clap. “I’m joking around. That’s my friend’s wife. I know none of you knew WNBA players. That’s crazy. You clap for that.”

Gillis also joked that when Caitlin Clark retires from the WNBA, she’ll work at a Waffle House to “continue doing what she loves most, fighting black women.”

The comedian even took aim at the audience and event, saying, “There was supposed to be an Epstein joke here, but I guess it got deleted. Must have probably deleted itself, right? Probably never existed actually. Let’s move on.”

BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock was a fan of Gillis’ performance, calling it a “healing process.”

“The woke crowd has raised the white flag of surrender,” he says. “Any time you have someone like Shane Gillis hosting the ESPY awards, cracking the jokes that Shane Gillis cracked — wow, there’s been a culture shift.”

“I’m not sure if you recognize the significance of perhaps the most politically incorrect comedian being able to host the ESPYs and being allowed to crack these jokes. You’ve got to remember what the ESPYs are. Caitlyn Jenner, Bruce Jenner, got a courage award for changing his gender,” he continues.

“And I hope that you will be inspired by the progress, the obvious progress that Disney, a grooming institution, the headquarters for the alphabet mafia, they had to wave the white flag,” he adds.

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​Camera phone, Video phone, Upload, Free, Video, Sharing, Youtube.com, Fearless, Jason whitlock, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Shane gillis, Espy awards, Shane gillis comedian, Epstein, Shane gillis epstein joke, Shane gillis wnba joke 

The Supreme Court’s recent ruling greenlighting mass layoffs at the Department of Education sends a clear message: The courts no longer belong to the Democrats.

For decades, Democrats relied on judges to impose policies they couldn’t pass through Congress. But that strategy has collapsed. With a conservative majority now on the bench, the judicial workaround has given way to constitutional limits — and the left is losing.

Every time Democrats sue to block Trump’s orders, they hand him another opportunity — and this court is more than ready to lock in conservative victories for a generation.

In the final week of its 2024-2025 term, the high court:

Curbed federal courts’ ability to issue sweeping nationwide injunctions.Affirmed the right of parents to opt their children out of school lessons that violate their religious beliefs.Allowed South Carolina to deny Planned Parenthood Medicaid funding for non-abortion services.Approved mass layoffs across the government — at least temporarily.

In high-stakes emergency cases, Trump keeps winning — notching victories in nearly all 18 Supreme Court petitions. That includes greenlights to deport migrants to third countries and enforce the transgender military ban.

Short-term gains, long-term pains

Democrats thought they could run out the clock with courtroom delay tactics. Instead, they handed Trump a fast pass to the one branch he dominates.

Only one branch of government speaks with a single, constitutionally defined voice — the executive. And right now, that voice belongs to the president, no matter how loudly the deep state screams.

Unlike the executive, Congress isn’t built for speed. It’s a fractured, slow-moving body by design — hundreds of voices split by region, party, and ego. The judiciary can splinter, too, with power scattered across lower courts nationwide.

But the Supreme Court? That’s a different story.

With a 6-3 conservative majority, Trump holds a 2-to-1 advantage. Imagine if Republicans had that kind of dominance in Congress.

Trump wouldn’t be scraping by with a razor-thin 220-212 majority in the House. His agenda would cruise through. In the Senate, forget the 60-vote filibuster firewall — Trump’s bills would pass outright.

Reconciliation wouldn’t be a high-wire act. It would be routine. No more watching the Senate parliamentarian gut key provisions from his One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Granted, the Supreme Court can’t launch policy offensives like Congress or the White House. It waits for cases to land.

But thanks to Democrats, those cases keep coming. Every time they sue to block Trump’s executive orders, they hand him another opportunity — and this court is more than ready to lock in conservative victories for a generation.

Dems’ Achilles’ heel

For decades, Democrats treated the courts as a shortcut to power. When they couldn’t pass laws, they let judges do the work. Roe v. Wade was the crown jewel — a sweeping federal abortion mandate they never could have gotten through Congress. Even Ruth Bader Ginsburg admitted the legal reasoning was flimsy.

They used the same playbook to expand the welfare state and rewrite social policy from the bench. Judicial activism became the norm, and both sides played the game. But Democrats played it harder — and now the rules are turning against them.

What once looked like a string of permanent victories has turned into a pipeline of defeats. Every lawsuit they file hands Trump’s Supreme Court another shot at affirming his agenda. Even when he technically loses, the rulings often leave behind a roadmap showing exactly how to win the next round.

RELATED: Supreme Court grants massive victory to Trump administration on cutting down Department of Education

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Democrats’ Supreme Court problem could get a lot worse. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the court’s oldest liberal at 71, has Type 1 diabetes and a history of health problems. If she steps down during Trump’s term, he could lock in a 7-2 conservative majority.

And if either Clarence Thomas, 77, or Samuel Alito, 75, decides to retire, Trump could replace them with younger conservatives — extending the court’s rightward tilt for decades.

Securing a conservative legacy

Trump has every incentive to issue bold executive orders. Each lawsuit the left files creates another opening for the Court to back him — and turn temporary wins into permanent precedent.

By chasing headlines and placating the base with short-term court fights, Democrats are handing Trump the long game. Their decades of judicial overreach have backfired. The courts they once controlled now serve as Trump’s most powerful weapon.

​Opinion & analysis, Donald trump, Supreme court, Clarence thomas, Samuel alito, Ruth bader ginsburg, Sonia sotomayor, Majority, Precedent, Congress, One big beautiful bill, Department of education, Layoffs, Doge, Judicial activism, Liberals, Democrats, Executive orders, Roe v. wade, Legislation, Judicial supremacy, Conservative, Victory, Nationwide injunctions, Unconstitutional 

Why does the story of Jeffrey Epstein matter so deeply to the American right? Why does it persist, years after his death, as a source of outrage, fascination, and dread? Why is the call to “move on” met with such visceral resistance?

The answer lies in what Epstein’s case reveals. It is not merely the record of one man’s depravity or even the scale of the crimes committed. It is a window into a concealed architecture of unaccountable power, intelligence protection, institutional rot, and elite impunity. For many on the right, it confirms long-standing fears about how power in the United States is really organized and who it is designed to serve.

These questions strike at the heart of an older conservative concern: Who governs? And who is permitted to ask?

These concerns are hardly new. They are the very ones that helped elect Donald Trump, and they have shaped conservative criticism of the American regime since the New Deal. The Epstein affair provides a rare glimpse into the soft underbelly of the administrative state. At some point, moral clarity demands that we stop parsing and start acting. This is a time to strike, to “fire for effect.”

From the expansion of the federal bureaucracy under Franklin D. Roosevelt to the postwar rise of the national security state, conservatives have warned about the merger of government power with private influence. The most dangerous feature of that merger is not the bureaucracy itself, but the consolidation of authority among entrenched intelligence services, elite financial networks, and foreign-aligned interests. These actors operate in close coordination, beyond democratic oversight, and with the consistent protection of institutional power.

Epstein is valuable because he exposes that structure in plain sight. He had no obvious source of legitimate wealth. His hedge fund, insofar as it existed, had only one known client. Yet, he moved in elite circles, befriended presidents and princes, and maintained access to corporate titans and scientific institutions.

Most disturbingly, Epstein appears to have operated a long-standing sexual blackmail network. The question is not merely how he got away with it, but who allowed him to do so.

Staggering implications

The answers are deeply unsettling. The FBI curtailed its investigations. The CIA has remained silent. The media showed little interest and declined to pursue the story in any depth. Meanwhile, the possible involvement of foreign intelligence services (especially those operating through figures like Leslie Wexner) has been treated as politically untouchable. This refusal to investigate is not born of ignorance or oversight. It is protective behavior. It signals that the wrong people are implicated.

Even if one adopts the minimalist position, that Epstein was not a formal intelligence asset, the implications remain staggering. Why would a known predator be permitted to operate so openly, with so many connections to power? Is the American state unable or unwilling to act when the guilty hold the right kinds of passports or relationships? Have we reached a point where elite networks are simply beyond reach, shielded by layers of shared interest and mutual compromise?

These questions strike at the heart of an older conservative concern: Who governs? And who is permitted to ask?

RELATED: The White House will need to do plenty more to get past Epstein

Photo by ALEX WROBLEWSKI/AFP via Getty Images

Epstein’s case offers a rare and ugly answer. What it uncovers is not a fever dream of conspiracy but an observable mode of governance that relies on secrecy, compromise, and shared immunity. It appears that intelligence actors have conducted operations not only abroad but also inside the United States, targeting the American elite itself. An immoral country condones sexual blackmail as a mechanism of influence and protection, integrated into a broader system of control … ironically an indication of a country spinning out of control.

A complicated inquiry

One can find instructive parallels in the operations of Israeli intelligence during the 1980s and 1990s. Under the direction of Mossad officials such as Efraim Halevy, Israel conducted systematic surveillance and developed personal leverage over Syrian elites. These methods included financial inducements, covert recordings, and exposure of private behavior. Such tactics are common in international espionage and are recognized tools of statecraft.

What makes Epstein so alarming is the apparent use of similar techniques within the United States, directed inward rather than outward. The uncomfortable possibility is that foreign intelligence services (including Israeli cutouts operating through figures like Wexner) were not merely bystanders, but active participants or beneficiaries of the Epstein operation. That possibility remains largely uninvestigated, not because it lacks merit, but because it threatens established political alignments.

Wexner’s history as a major donor to Republican candidates is one example of how these relationships complicate any honest inquiry. For a sitting senator or rising intelligence officer, confronting these questions comes at great cost.

This story is not important only because of the criminal sexual behavior it contains. That abuse, particularly of underage girls, is monstrous and demands full exposure and justice. But Epstein’s operation mattered at a higher level because those crimes were used to build networks of control. They were not incidental. They were instrumental. This is the cold logic of espionage deployed inside a supposedly self-governing republic.

RELATED: The conspiracy theorist is the last honest man

Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images

For the political right, Epstein represents a grim vindication. The warnings about politicized intelligence services, compromised elites, and foreign impunity were long dismissed as paranoia or fringe thinking. Yet, the details of this case suggest those warnings were not only plausible, but understated.

Consider the unequal application of the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Consider the way domestic allies are hounded while foreign-aligned actors operate with impunity. Consider the cultural message that those with the right credentials and connections will never face consequences. Epstein’s story reveals the inner wiring of a regime that no longer pretends to serve the citizen, only itself.

Denial becomes confirmation

Was Epstein a direct employee of a domestic or foreign intelligence apparatus? I highly doubt it. My best guess is he was a very well-connected money launderer with a psychopathic lack of empathy who was therefore the perfect tool for intelligence gathering and manipulation. He operated in the open, however, and was criminally harmful to some of the most vulnerable U.S. citizens. But we have seen how little citizenship means in the modern internationalist cosmopolitan soup.

Efforts to bury this story are morally callous and institutionally suicidal. Each attempt to suppress, ignore, or discredit the legitimate questions raised by the Epstein case erodes the remaining credibility of the agencies involved. The denial becomes confirmation. The silence becomes testimony. The cover-up increases the criminality, the offense to the American people.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower (R) warned in his farewell address of a rising military-industrial complex. But the deeper danger he identified was the fusion of state power, private capital, and unaccountable influence. Epstein should be understood as a grotesque product of that fusion. Refusing to confront it will not preserve institutional authority. It will ensure its collapse.

In the end, the Epstein story is not simply salacious. It is foundational. It forces a reckoning with how the American regime truly operates and what moral and political compromises have become routine. That is why so many are eager to see it buried.

And that is precisely why it must not be.

​Opinion & analysis, Donald trump, Jeffrey epstein, Deep state, Administrative state, Blackmail, Intelligence community, Intelligence agencies, Elites, Control, Mossad, Cia, Fbi, Cover up, Leslie wexner, Republicans, Democrats, Trafficking, National security, Foreign influence, Regime 

Last week, a video capturing an alleged affair between Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and Chief People Officer Kristin Cabot went mega viral. Byron and Cabot were visibly horrified when they found themselves on the jumbotron “kiss cam” at a Coldplay concert. As soon as they recognized they were on display for thousands to see, Byron, whose arms were clasped around Cabot in a romantic embrace, ducked out of the camera, as Cabot’s hands flew up to cover her face.

It’s a national scandal at this point. The video has amassed over 100 million views on social media, while thousands of articles at various news outlets have covered the story. Byron resigned from his lofty position, and his wife removed the name Byron from her Facebook account. Cabot has been placed on administrative leave pending a formal investigation.

Alex Stein, BlazeTV host of “Prime Time with Alex Stein,” addressed the outrage on his show last week, but to help him dive into the scandal, he accepted the invitation of a very interesting guest: Ashley Madison Chief Strategy Officer Paul Keable.

For those unfamiliar with Ashely Madison, it’s an online dating and social networking service marketed to people seeking extramarital affairs. The company’s tag line is “Life is short. Have an affair.”

According to Keable, Byron and Cabot’s relationship was unwise – but not because it’s a moral and ethical catastrophe. Rather, it’s unwise because “office affairs are not safe for work” due to the risk of job loss.

“That’s why our business exists – so that you can come and have a discrete affair and be, you know, undiscovered,” Keable told Alex.

Perhaps he thought Alex would agree with him, but to his surprise, he was met with a level of roasting only Alex can deliver.

“Do you have no shame? … Having a website that helps people cheat on their spouse – I mean, isn’t that morally repugnant?” Alex fired back.

Keable then tried (and failed) to justify Ashley Madison’s services. “Every single day if we don’t exist, things like this event [Byron and Cabot video] are going to happen more and more because our core competition is not another dating site; it’s the office space because that’s where we spend so much of our time, and so what we’re trying to do …” he blurted out before Alex cut him off.

“Wait, you’re saying if your website didn’t exist, people would cheat anyway? So even though your website facilitates cheating at a level that is much easier … somehow that is morally OK?” Alex quipped. “Where are your moral standards?”

Keable then tried again to justify Ashley Madison. “Our business doesn’t make people have affairs. I can’t convince happily married people to have affairs. What I can do is help people avoid the very situation that’s brought me to your show tonight,” he said. “We’ve built our business on the whole idea of discretion so that like-minded people can connect and have ironically a more honest conversation about the nature of what they’re interested in.”

“Anybody that says they have an affair, that has a negative connotation. So now you’re turning the word affair and you’re giving it a positive spin. For me, that seems, I mean, inconceivable to even think that you could do that and not even feel bad about it,” Alex countered.

Keable tried once again to legitimize the site, arguing that religion, specifically Christianity, is a roadblock to the inevitable reality that “infidelity happens,” but Alex shut him down.

“Well, I think it’s absolutely terrible. I think Ashley Madison really needs to shut down,” he retorted, before asking Keable about his sexual orientation.

Much to Alex’s surprise, Keable revealed that he is a straight, divorced man who left his marriage, which was, according to him, “a wonderful, beautiful” relationship, after 20 years because “that chapter of [his] life is over.”

“Well, listen, Paul, I think you’re a crazy son of a B, and I love you for coming on this show, but I think your website is repulsive, and I’m a repulsive person, so me saying that really, you know, it just shows you how repugnant your website truly is,” Alex said, concluding, “Thank you for coming on. Have a good day. Nobody join that website. Yeah, we don’t love you. All right, kick him off the show.”

To watch the hilarious footage of Alex’s epic takedown, check out the video above.

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​Prime time with alex stein, Alex stein, Ashley madison, Andy byron, Kristin cabot, Coldplay, Blazetv, Blaze media 

An illegal alien from Honduras was caught on video carrying away a screaming woman whom police later identified as a sex trafficking victim.

The woman who was later identified as a 44-year-old immigrant from China told police that she had been brought willingly from New York to Houston before someone took her passport and she was held against her will. She said she had been promised a job in the massage industry with better pay.

‘I’m angry with myself that I didn’t pick up on it sooner or maybe done more, even though, like I said, I had that feeling that something wasn’t right. But who knows, it could have made a bigger difference.’

When she tried to escape, a man identified as 22-year-old Jose Armando Carcamo-Perdomo dragged her back, prosecutors said.

“She tried to leave, but this defendant carried her back inside the residence without her consent,” a Harris County judge said. “He tied her up and then sexually assaulted her.”

The woman was allegedly held for five days without food or water before she tried to escape.

A neighbor who did not want to be identified recorded the video of Carcamo-Perdomo dragging her back to a trailer home. The neighbor said he called the police and reported a child abduction because he wrongly believed the woman to be a child.

“As soon as I drove out of the fence at work, I called 911 to report a possible child abduction,” the neighbor said to KTRK-TV.

Investigators said they found the woman in a closet with her hands bound when they responded to the emergency call.

He has been arrested for kidnapping and was identified by ICE as a Honduran national who had illegally entered into the U.S. in 2020.

Investigators believe he may be a small part of a much larger human trafficking operation. They are looking to identify more possible suspects and victims.

RELATED: Young girls escape molester by kicking him in the groin at Fourth of July celebration, police say

The neighbor expressed frustration at not having done more to prevent the alleged crime.

“Especially being right next door, you know, I’m angry with myself that I didn’t pick up on it sooner or maybe done more, even though, like I said, I had that feeling that something wasn’t right. But who knows, it could have made a bigger difference with other people, maybe, other victims,” he said. “It’s very disheartening.”

An attorney for the suspect released a statement on his behalf.

“Our client, Mr. Jose Carcamo, is shocked by the serious allegations brought forth against him and firmly maintains his complete innocence,” the attorney said to KPRC-TV. “He fully expects that the evidence will ultimately clear his name.”

Carcamo is being held on $150,000 bond and is also being held on an ICE detainer.

The woman is said to be safe now, according to police.

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​Ice detainer crime, Jose carcamo-perdomo, Illegal alien sex trafficking, Man dragging away woman, Politics 

An unidentified 24-year-old man and his friend began arguing with a third male in the 14th Street Subway Station in Manhattan just after 7 p.m. Saturday, the NYPD told the New York Post.

According to amNY, a staring match preceded the dispute.

‘I will never ride the train again. It’s not safe.’

Police told the Post that the third male pulled out a knife and slashed the 24-year-old man in the lower torso and then ran away through the station’s mezzanine level.

With that, the 24-year-old man and his friend — a 20-year-old, amNY noted — chased down the third male who carried out the slashing and grabbed his knife, and one of the two other men stabbed the third male in the chest with that knife, sources told the paper.

RELATED: NYPD reports 2 stabbing subway incidents: 52-year-old man attacked for refusing to stop smoking and woman stabbed in the back

WABC-TV reported that it appears the 24-year-old man who was initially slashed carried out the stabbing against the third male.

The alleged initial assailant and the 24-year-old man were taken to Bellevue Hospital, where the initial slasher was pronounced dead, and the 24-year-old was in stable condition, the Post reported, citing police.

The paper added that two people are in custody but have not been charged. AmNY said the 24-year-old and the 20-year-old are being questioned.

The male who died has not yet been identified, WABC reported.

RELATED: Police arrest thugs suspected of slashing and pummeling uniformed NYPD officer on NYC subway

Commuters enter and exit the 14th Street-Union Square subway station in New York City. Photographer: Craig Warga/Bloomberg via Getty Images

As of Monday evening, 270 comments have been posted under WABC’s YouTube video report about the incident. Here are a handful of them:

“I thought that was a No Knife Zone?” one commenter quipped.”Things should get better once free grocery stores and a [downsize] in police services take effect with a new mayor,” another commenter added sarcastically.”With all these knife crimes I’d think there’d be more calls for more knife control,” another commenter reacted with tongue fully in cheek.”No charges,” another commenter declared. “Self-defense.””There’s truly something wicked going on …” another commenter observed.”It’s just too much violence going on in the subway,” another commenter shared. “I will never ride the train again. It’s not safe.””Should have not pulled the knife out,” another commenter stated before adding that “you get what you ask for.”

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​Stabbing, Fatal stabbing, New york city, Manhattan, 14th street subway station, Turning the tables, Crime, Staring match 

The Trump administration chalked up another victory when the Fourth Circuit Appeals Court ruled that it could implement the end of temporary protective status for migrants from Afghanistan and Cameroon.

The order applies to about 11,700 migrants from Afghanistan and will allow the government to begin deporting them on midnight Monday evening.

‘The Trump administration’s attempt to end TPS for Afghanistan and other countries is a racist, unlawful action that cannot stand.’

The lawsuit was filed by immigrant activist group CASA, which had previously won a temporary ruling from the same appeals court for seven days. They had hoped the court would extend the stay but lost their motion.

“Although temporary, every moment counts when it comes to families figuring out their futures and being protected from ICE’s terror. We will fight for this pause on the termination to continue,” CASA legal director Ama Frimpong said at the time.

“The Trump administration’s attempt to end TPS for Afghanistan and other countries is a racist, unlawful action that cannot stand,” Frimpong continued.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the decision would bring the TPS program back to its original intent.

“Afghanistan has had an improved security situation, and its stabilizing economy no longer prevent them from returning to their home country,” Noem said. “Additionally, the termination furthers the national interest as DHS records indicate that there are recipients who have been under investigation for fraud and threatening our public safety and national security. Reviewing TPS designations is a key part of restoring integrity in our immigration system.”

RELATED: Noem prepares to deport 500,000 immigrants from one long-troubled island

The administration has used the rescissions of TPS to bolster the president’s goal of mass deportations of migrants from the U.S.

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​Trump court victories, Tps status lawsuit, Tps afghanistan, Tps cameroon, Politics