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Once upon a time, science fiction was a brand-new, chrome-shiny phenomenon rocketing across the sky of the American pulp fiction scene.

As the borderlines of the Industrial Age were just beginning to blur against those of the incoming Information Age, early sci-fi envisioned societies, worlds, and even whole universes filled with possibilities. Action and adventure, intrigue and mystery, horror, romance, humor … you could get it all within the pages of the latest edition of your favorite science fiction magazine.

The science fiction I read today — and I do read a ton of it — is mostly bleak and drab and too often just really sad.

Rockets, robots, ray guns

The magazine titles themselves – Amazing Stories, Fantastic Mysteries, Astounding Stories, If: Worlds of Science Fiction — were a good clue. And if ever there was a time to judge a book by its cover, you could feast your eyes on plenty of rockets, ray-gun-wielding cheesecake girls, and delightfully clunky robots (pronounced ROW-BUTTS, for you science fiction radio neophytes out there).

Fantastical machines driven by atomics and imagination whirred and ground within the frameworks of massive Earth-built spaceships — said ships filled with men bent on surviving each harrowing encounter with alien monsters so as to be there for the next one. Often as not, there’d be one woman aboard, as well, to be the love interest for the main character (she was usually the captain’s daughter, too, and thus forbidden fruit).

But hey, maybe early military sci-fi wasn’t your thing. That was okay, because you could flip through a few pages, pass an ad telling you why your doctor probably recommended Camel cigarettes above all others, and step into some post-atomic-war scenario where the mutants are on our hero’s tail. Or perhaps you’d seek out the story where a band of intrepid big-game hunters time-travel back to go on a dinosaur safari.

This was the golden age of science fiction, and depending on who you ask, it lasted until maybe the 1980s, when it began to be subsumed in popular media by new forms such as the techno thriller (con grazie, Michael Crichton) and when most of the remaining energy from this multimedia juggernaut filtered upward into giant television and movie vehicles — most notably “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and “Star Wars.”

Stardate: 1966

Now, if you’ve read this far, you’re clearly just fine with a gross amount of oversimplification. That’s good — I like you. So let’s keep it going as we round the third corner into my actual point.

Somewhere along the line, things in science fiction started getting sociopolitical. And at first, that wasn’t so bad. “Star Trek: The Original Series” (the 60s-era “Trek” upon which later installments of the franchise was based) tackled issues like racism, sexism, and the futility of war. By the time its successor show came around, writers and producers were tackling sticky issues of the day like racism, sexism, the futility of war, and (kind of) the then-nascent sociopolitical honey trap of transsexualism.

Meet the future

Centuries changed.

In the wake of Y2K’s sputtering burp of a soliloquy on mankind’s technological Tower of Babel not coming down after all — and, of course, a couple of real towers coming down in horrifying and history-altering fashion — Americans moved into a new age without really realizing it. It was (and still is) an age of realized technology, where internet reached far more functional speeds, supercomputers began fitting in our pockets, electric cars became a real thing, rockets started going into space for fun again, and social media introduced a whole new way for humanity to wage war against itself.

In short, we finally had almost everything the golden age of science fiction dared us to dream about.

Planet Pronoun

And then, along came wokeness.

Far be it from me to lay before you here a comprehensive history of what that has meant for society so far. I am unqualified to do so, and my guess is you’re aware of most of it. But perhaps one of the lesser-known zones of infection for the aptly named woke mind virus is almost the entire world of science fiction.

Woke got “Star Wars.” Woke got “Star Trek.” Woke got other movies and television series. And hey, remember all those words ago when we were talking about science fiction magazines? Many of them are still around … and woke got them too. If you check out Asimov’s, or Clarkesworld, or Escape Pod, or any of the dozens of sci-fi magazines still extant out in the pulp literary world, I’m going to give you about an 85%-90% chance of primarily encountering tales tied directly to identity politics. It has very nearly completely captured the industry.

RELATED: All good sci-fi is religious

CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images

And let me be clear: It’s not my intention to suggest that the pronoun folk shouldn’t have a seat at the sci-fi table — if anything, many of the things they have to say in their stories probably belong in that genre more than just about any other.

But I also think that — particularly on the conservative end of the sociopolitical spectrum and increasingly on the liberal end — we have to face the fact that “intersectional” thinking at large and wokeism in particular are breeding grounds for many of the darker things humanity is capable of creating. The science fiction I read today — and I do read a ton of it — is mostly bleak and drab and too often just really sad. This is not to say there aren’t some phenomenal woke writers — I encounter them frequently. But you can be a great writer and still depress your reader to no end. Just ask John Steinbeck.

Author Josh Jennings and his book, ‘Space Tractor.” Getty Images/Josh Jennings

‘Tractor’ beam

A few years ago I found — at random — a science fiction masterpiece called “The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast.” It’s a professional recapturing of the golden age of science fiction, and it’s been delighting me ever since by taking me back to when science fiction wasn’t just well written; it was well intentioned, in most cases. As a reader and listener, I can feel it feeding the fertile ground of my imagination, while also often inspiring me to have hope for the future of humanity … and spurring me to do my part in creating that future.

As a writer, I am inspired to make sure that we Americans can experience a new golden age of science fiction. To that end, I’ve made a modest contribution in the form of my new book: “Space Tractor and Other Science Fiction Short Stories.” It came out October 16, on my birthday. If you’re like me and you miss that bygone era — but you’d also like something with modern flavor to it — well … I would humbly submit that my book might be just what you’re looking for.

From space battles to alien abductions, from blasted post-apocalyptic wastelands to colonized asteroids with farmers running drugs (as in the title story), from alien villagers’ concept of the afterlife coming true to planets that can fit inside your pocket … this book truly has something for everyone.

Except maybe the pronoun people — although I hope you can find something you like, too.

Read an excerpt of “Space Tractor” here.

​Culture, Excerpt, Science fiction, Wokeness, Space tractor, Pulp, Entertainment, Books 

Last month, the Trump administration issued a proclamation targeting the abuse of the H-1B visa program. Though some confusion about the order ensued, the effects of this first attempt at reform are beginning to be felt at some major companies that have historically used H-1B workers, who hail primarily from India.

The proclamation, signed on September 19, 2025, was the first of what many hope to be multiple reforms of the H-1B visa program.

‘No current or future sponsorship is available.’

The proclamation introduced a $100,000 fee for the sponsorship of new H-1B applications for those outside the United States. According to a White House fact sheet, the primary goals of the proclamation are to protect American jobs, combat H-1B abuses, and prioritize American workers.

This high price to pay for foreigners has caused some companies to rethink their hiring practices.

RELATED: Supreme Court rejects case that would reconsider H-1B-related visas

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that major companies such as Walmart, Deloitte, and Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation have shied away from extending sponsorships for new H-1B applicants.

Recent job postings dated after the proclamation in mid-September confirm that companies have changed their policies. Deloitte says in one post that qualified applicants for a software automation developer must not need employer sponsorship “now or at any time in the future.”

Deloitte did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

Recent Walmart job postings also have an advisory to the same effect: “No current or future sponsorship is available,” an October 2 job posting for a software engineer reads.

A Walmart spokesperson told Blaze News, “Walmart is committed to hiring and investing in the best talent to serve our customers, while remaining thoughtful about our H-1B hiring approach.”

In a post from October 22, a Cognizant job opening has a similar message: “Cognizant will consider applicants for this position who are legally authorized to work in the United States without the need of employer sponsorship.”

In a statement to Blaze News, a Cognizant spokesperson said, “Cognizant has built a resilient business model that attracts top talent locally and globally. Over the past several years, we have significantly reduced our reliance on visas, using them only for select technology roles that supplement our U.S. workforce. We employ thousands of American citizens nationwide and have invested heavily in creating a robust local talent pipeline.

“The recently announced proclamation is expected to have limited near-term impact on our operations. Cognizant’s scale and global footprint provide multiple levers to continue to serve our clients in the U.S. and globally,” the Cognizant spokesperson continued.

According to its website, Cognizant employs over 300,000 people around the globe, many of whom are employed in the United States through visa programs, particularly the H-1B visa.

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America again stands on the edge of betrayal, watching mobs assault federal officers while judges call it “restraint.”

This is not new. Between 1876 and 1878, the same script played out as those sworn to uphold the law were branded as tyrants and those undermining it claimed the mantle of freedom. When the federal government lost the will to enforce its own laws, violence filled the vacuum.

How the first ‘Redemption’ worked

After the Civil War, Republican coalitions in the South — freedmen, poor whites, and Northern reformers — were crushed by white Democrats who called themselves “Redeemers.” They promised “home rule” but delivered a racial caste system enforced by terror and political exclusion.

The Redeemers invoked ‘home rule’ to dismantle Reconstruction. Today’s Democratic left invokes ‘human rights’ to paralyze national defense.

The last obstacle to that counterrevolution was federal protection of black voters. During the disputed 1876 election, President Ulysses S. Grant stationed troops at polling sites across the South to deter fraud and Ku Klux Klan violence. Democrats in South Carolina vowed to “wade in blood knee-deep” if necessary to reclaim power.

Those troops were the only shield between freedmen and their former masters. But in the Compromise of 1877, federal forces were withdrawn to buy political peace. Reconstruction governments collapsed, schools for freedmen closed, and voting rights vanished. As W.E.B. Du Bois wrote, “The slave went free; stood a brief moment in the sun; then moved back again toward slavery.”

Southern Democrats soon made that withdrawal permanent. Wrapping themselves in the rhetoric of liberty and “local control,” they pushed the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, criminalizing use of the Army for domestic law enforcement except when Congress expressly authorized it.

The narrative was set: Federal troops at the polls meant “tyranny”; “home rule” meant “harmony.” In truth, the act cemented the collapse of Reconstruction and led to the birth of Jim Crow, which paralyzed federal defense of civil rights for nearly a century.

RELATED: Stop pretending Posse Comitatus neuters the president

Photo by Interim Archives/Getty Images

The rhetoric of reversal

Debates over the Posse Comitatus Act dripped with moral inversion. Southern Democrats like Rep. John Atkins of Tennessee and William Kimmel of Maryland denounced President Rutherford B. Hayes as a “monarch” who preferred bullets to ballots. Federal soldiers protecting black voters were smeared as bloodthirsty brutes and “tools of despotism.”

In that twisted language, enforcing the law became tyranny, while mob rule became freedom.

It was early information warfare: delegitimize the protectors, vindicate the aggressors, and freeze lawful authority into submission.

Photo by Transcendental Graphics/Getty Images

The new paralysis

A century and a half later, the pattern repeats. Democrats, left-wing activists, and their media allies now use essentially the same language to delegitimize immigration enforcement. ICE and Border Patrol agents, upholding laws passed by Congress, are branded as “fascists.” Federal defense of government facilities is denounced as “militarization.”

Judges cite the Posse Comitatus Act to block National Guard deployments meant to protect ICE offices from violent assaults. In Illinois, U.S. District Judge April Perry ruled that deploying the Guard could “add fuel to the fire that they started,” claiming no evidence of impending “rebellion.” The ruling came days before No Kings Day demonstrations.

The Department of Homeland Security had extended fencing around its Broadview facility after earlier attacks — rioters hurling fireworks, bottles, and tear gas while local officials looked away. When the DHS finally reinforced its defenses, the courts ordered them torn down.

Since June, ICE and Border Patrol have endured shootings, arson attempts, and coordinated ambushes. In Dallas, a sniper targeted an ICE field office. In suburban Chicago, federal agents were rammed and pinned by cartel-linked drivers before returning fire. Local police en route to assist were told to stand down.

Within hours, left-wing outlets and activist networks declared the clash proof of “authoritarianism.” The strategy is deliberate: manufacture chaos, provoke a lawful response, then cite that response as evidence of tyranny.

This is a textbook reflexive control operation — using perception to paralyze power. The Redeemers of 1878 called federal troops “despots” and “usurpers.” Their descendants call federal agents “fascists.” The aim is identical: Erode public trust in lawful authority and make enforcement politically impossible.

Citizenship as the battlefield

Then, as now, the real fight centers on citizenship itself.

In the 19th century, freed black Americans embodied the principle that allegiance and equality before the law, not race or birth, define membership in the republic. That ideal shattered the old Southern order, so Redeemers destroyed it.

Today, citizenship threatens a different order — the globalist one. Citizenship implies borders, duties, and distinctions. So progressives seek to redefine it as exclusionary or immoral. Illegal aliens become “newcomers.” Enforcing the law becomes oppression. The federal obligation to protect citizens morphs into a liability.

What began as Redeemer propaganda has evolved into a post-national orthodoxy: Sovereignty is shameful, and the citizen must yield to the “world citizen.” The result is the same — federal paralysis, selective law enforcement, and mobs empowered by moral cover.

RELATED: A president’s job is to stop the burning if governors won’t

Photo by Minh Connors/Anadolu via Getty Images

Lessons from the first betrayal

The parallels are precise. The Redeemers invoked “home rule” to dismantle Reconstruction; today’s left invokes “human rights” and “de-militarization” to paralyze national defense.

The Posse Comitatus Act was never a sacred constitutional barrier — it was a political tool of retreat. Then it left freedmen defenseless; now it hinders protection of federal agents, citizens, and borders. By turning law into spectacle and restraint into virtue, it leaves our republic unguarded.

History teaches a blunt lesson: Retreat invites terror. When the state retreats, mobs rule. When courts mistake optics for justice, defenders become defendants. The same moral inversion that once enslaved men through “home rule” now threatens to enslave the republic through lawfare.

To survive, America must recover what it lost in 1877 — the courage to act as a nation. Withdrawal is not peace. Compromise, in this instance, is not order. The freedman of this century is the American citizen himself — and the question, once again, is whether the nation that freed him will defend him.

​Opinion & analysis, Posse comitatus, Reconstruction, Civil war, Redeemers, Ku klux klan, Jim crow, Tyranny, Despotism, Home rule, Retribution, Rule of law, Immigration and customs enforcement, Anti-ice protests, Riots, Law and order, Democrats, Leftists, The left, Political violence, W.e.b. dubois, Civil rights, Elections, Rutherford b. hayes, Congress, Department of homeland security, Authoritarianism, Globalists, Citizenship 

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) continued his attacks on the inexperience of his leftist opponent, Zohran Mamdani, in the second and final New York City mayoral debate.

The far-left candidate was blaming Cuomo for the housing crisis under his watch as governor and received loud applause from the audience. Then Cuomo fired back and leveled Mamdani over his record as a New York state assemblyman.

‘You had the worst attendance record in the Assembly, and you gave yourselves the highest raise in the United States of America … and then you never showed up for work!’

“He says that taking five years to build affordable housing is the sign of an incompetent government — by his own words, that means he must have led an incompetent government. That is what we are seeing because that is the record that is actually on offer!” said Mamdani.

“I understand my friend doesn’t really understand government,” Cuomo responded.

“The governor doesn’t build housing in New York City,” said Cuomo.

“Not if it’s you!” Mamdani interrupted.

“No!” Cuomo yelled back. “Legally there are jurisdictions. The governor doesn’t pick up trash. He doesn’t run the fire department. That’s what the mayor does. The mayor builds housing. The state allocates funding for localities, and I allocated more funding for housing than any governor in the history of the state of New York!”

Cuomo also got loud applause from his supporters in the audience.

“All right? I did things! You have never had a job. You’ve never accomplished anything,” he continued.

“There is no reason to believe you have any merit or qualification for eight and a half million lives! You don’t know how to run a government, you don’t know how to handle an emergency, and you’ve literally never proposed a bill on anything that you’re now talking about in your campaign!” Cuomo said.

“You had the worst attendance record in the Assembly, and you gave yourselves the highest raise in the United States of America. You went from $110,000 to $140,000, and then you never showed up for work, and you missed 80% of the votes!” he said empathically. “Shame on you! Shame on you!”

“It is always a pleasure to hear Andrew Cuomo create his own facts at every debate stage,” Mamdani replied.

He did not dispute Cuomo’s characterization of his time in the Assembly and instead counterattacked on Cuomo’s housing record. Mamdani and Cuomo argued and talked over each other before they were quieted by a moderator to let Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa respond to both.

RELATED: Cuomo strikes at Mamdani while Sliwa goes on the attack in fiery NYC mayoral debate

Photo by Hiroko Masuike-Pool/Getty Images

“I heard the both of them, again fighting like kids in the schoolyard,” said Sliwa. “Zohran, your resume could fit on a cocktail napkin, and Andrew, your failures could fill a public school library in New York City!”

One of Mamdani’s most popular policies among New York City voters is his promise to freeze rents in an attempt to ease the high cost of living in the city. Housing experts say that rent freezes almost always backfire by leading to fewer housing units by making them unprofitable.

Most polling has Mamdani ahead of Cuomo, which has caused some to call on Sliwa to drop out of the race in hopes of swinging the advantage to Cuomo.

The mayoral election is less than two weeks away.

The entire debate can be viewed on the YouTube channel for Spectrum News.

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When victims’ advocates push for mandatory minimum sentences, the leniency lobby instantly howls about “judicial discretion.” In theory, that’s right: In a just society, judges should have the freedom to weigh every case, tailoring sentences to fit the crimes.

But America doesn’t live in that society. We live in an era when violent crime floods major cities and leftist judges treat predators like misunderstood poets. In this environment, mandatory minimums aren’t cruel — they’re the only remaining safeguard for victims and the public.

It’s not enough to share viral videos of street mayhem. Lawmakers must change the laws.

Recent headlines show what happens when liberal judges turn mercy into malpractice.

Charlotte’s revolving door: North Carolina Magistrate Judge Teresa Stokes released Decarlos Brown Jr., the alleged murderer of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, despite his long arrest record. Her supervisor, Judge Roy Wiggins, then released Paulette Gibson, accused of stabbing two people, on just $20,000 bail — despite 15 prior arrests.Fifty arrests and counting: Herbert Jordan of Charlotte, arrested Oct. 16 for assaulting a woman, had 50 prior arrests, including 10 attacks on women since 2020. He had been released just weeks earlier on $3,000 bond for another violent assault. The judge’s response this time? Raise the bond to $5,000.A juvenile menace: A 15-year-old in Charlotte was reportedly arrested 111 times since 2023 — 55 vehicle thefts, 45 break-ins, multiple gun charges — and yet was released again. Police say his phone contained searches like “what is the charge for killing an officer?” and “what is capital murder?”D.C.’s “rehabilitate, not punish” justice: In the District of Columbia, two teens who beat a man nearly to death during a carjacking spree were sentenced to probation. Judge Kendra D. Briggs, a Biden appointee, said her job was “to rehabilitate, not to punish.” D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced Monday that she would bring federal assault charges.Florida’s near-fatal leniency: In Orange County, 23-year-old Jacoby Vontrell Tillman allegedly choked a jogger unconscious because he “wanted to know what it was like to choke someone out.” He had prior arrests for attempted murder and sexual assault, yet Judge Elaine Barbour released him on a $9,500 bond — over objections from even a left-wing prosecutor.Las Vegas, 2023: Jonathan Lewis Jr., a white 17-year-old, was stomped to death by a mob of black juveniles outside Rancho High School. Prosecutors later downgraded second-degree murder charges to voluntary manslaughter and moved the case to juvenile court. The killers could be free within a few years.

These cases represent thousands of similar stories nationwide: repeat violent offenders cycling through the system, juvenile thugs shielded from real punishment, and judges who treat consequences as optional.

From ‘over-incarceration’ to under-protection

For more than a decade, both parties have joined the bipartisan delusion that America’s problem is “over-incarceration.” The result? A generation of politicians dismantled the tough-on-crime gains of the 1990s and early 2000s under the false promise of “criminal justice reform.”

Yes, some defendants have received unjustly harsh sentences. Yes, political prosecutions and overzealous prosecutors exist. But for every offender punished too severely, dozens walk free after attacking, raping, or killing. The imbalance grows worse each year.

RELATED: The city that chose crime and chaos over courage

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This “leniency-industrial complex” has replaced accountability with excuses. Its apostles treat crime as a symptom of social failure, not individual evil. Meanwhile, victims — especially women and the poor — pay the price for their moral vanity.

Time to rewrite the rules

America doesn’t need another debate about “equity” in sentencing. It needs a crime-control revolution that restores deterrence and puts fear back where it belongs — in the hearts of criminals.

That means tightening judicial discretion, strengthening mandatory minimums for repeat and violent offenders, and ending the revolving door for juvenile predators.

It’s not enough to share viral videos of street mayhem. Lawmakers must change the laws. The public’s patience — and the nation’s safety — won’t survive another decade of judicial compassion for the cruel.

​Opinion & analysis, Crime, Punishment, Mandatory minimum, Leniency, No bail, Rape, Murder, Assault, Prison, Early release, Jail, Soros prosecutor 

​Culture, Humor, Quick draw, Ivf, Ivf ethics, Donald trump 

Lifelong Democrat and popular talk show host Bill Maher has long been known to be one of the few voices of reason speaking out on the left, but one recent monologue of his might take the cake for the most reasonable in “Real Time with Bill Maher” history.

Maher went after the left for refusing to disapprove of those among them who are clearly “insane,” explaining that “their cowardice in not marginalizing their own crazies has been their downfall.”

“I couldn’t get Neil deGrasse Tyson — a genius, scientist, and pre-eminent scientific voice in the media — to agree that it was ridiculous for Scientific American and the Atlantic to be claiming that separating sports by sex doesn’t make sense. Yes, it does,” he said. “Actually it makes perfect sense.”

Conservatives, on the other hand, see that it makes sense to separate sports by sex and refuse to “pointlessly” reinvent society.

“They see gender as only a construct and sex is assigned at birth. And they say, ‘We’re not doing that.’ Transing kids by self-diagnosis with no age limit, no parental notification, and no acknowledgment of social contagion. Not doing it,” he explained.

And Maher didn’t stop at the transgender issue — he went after a myriad of left-wing hot-button issues.

“Asylum now covers any reason for anyone to come to America. Not doing it. Homelessness is a lifestyle. Natural immunity doesn’t count anymore. Whiteness is toxic. Penises in women’s prisons. Welcoming the intifada. We’re not doing it,” he said.

“Stop coming up with radically new and often terrible ideas and then in the next breath insist there be no debate about any of it. That if you don’t see it right away and go along, you’re bad, stupid, and deplorable. As if you were saying, ‘Duh, 2 plus 2 equals 5. Isn’t that obvious?’ Yeah, it’s obvious you can’t add,” he continued.

“You can’t just say s**t: Math is racist; queers for Palestine; looting is cool; healthy at any weight; if the men’s football team played the women’s team, it would be a tie. You can’t just say s**t,” he added.

BlazeTV host Pat Gray of “Pat Gray Unleashed” believes Maher isn’t far from saying, “I didn’t leave the Democrat Party; the Democrat Party left me.”

“Everything he just said in that rant has been said on this show for years and years and years,” executive producer Keith Malinak chimes in. “Welcome, Bill.”

“As he’s saying, it’s just common sense,” Gray says. “It’s not even left versus right. It’s just common sense.”

Want more from Pat Gray?

To enjoy more of Pat’s biting analysis and signature wit as he restores common sense to a senseless world, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

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CBS News Chicago released a report in early October claiming that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at the Broadview detention center had repeatedly dialed 911 with fabricated emergencies.

The report stated that, according to Broadview Police Chief Thomas Mills, the police department had received “several questionable 911 calls … from the ICE facility recently,” emphasis added. However, the October 2 article mentioned only one alleged instance and failed to note that the event actually occurred months earlier.

‘Our brave ICE law enforcement should be thanked for risking their lives every day to arrest murderers, pedophiles, rapists, gang members, and terrorists instead of vilified by sanctuary politicians.’

In the report, CBS shared bodycam footage of police responding to a 911 call that someone had reportedly tampered with the gate at the detention center. When police arrived at the scene, they found two individuals with the CBS News crew.

Mills told the news outlet that he believed ICE’s call was bogus. One police officer told CBS that it did not appear anyone had been tampering with the gate.

“The chief said that was just one of several questionable 911 calls his police department has received from the ICE facility recently,” CBS reported.

However, while the CBS News Chicago broadcast showed the incident report and bodycam footage of the alleged false call, revealing that it occurred on June 15, 2025, the article published on the CBS News website made no mention of the June date. CBS News Chicago also failed to cite any other incidents.

Blaze News contacted CBS News, CBS News Chicago, and Mills to inquire whether they could provide any details about other alleged false calls made by ICE agents.

RELATED: When did my local TV news become leftist propaganda?

Image source: Broadview Police Report

The police report obtained by Blaze News confirmed that the gate-tampering call occurred on June 15, over three months before CBS News’ reporting.

“[The responding officer] made contact with the two individuals who identified themselves as members of a CBS News crew. They stated that they had been in the area for approximately 10 minutes and denied witnessing or participating in any criminal activity, including tampering with the gate,” the report reads.

It notes that an ICE agent at the detention center “approached the news crew and advised them that the property was private and that they were not permitted to enter.”

“The news crew acknowledged the warning and, though initially hesitant, complied with the directive,” the report continues.

RELATED: Trump urges SCOTUS to unleash National Guard in Chicago amid protests, increase in violence against ICE

Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

The Department of Homeland Security rejected claims that ICE agents at the facility were making false emergency calls to the local police department.

“After a terrorist attack at an ICE facility in Dallas, Broadview Police Chief Thomas Mills is choosing to smear our brave ICE law enforcement,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Blaze News. “Our ICE officers are facing a more than 1,000% increase in assaults [including] sniper attacks, cars being used as weapons, and assaults from rioters.”

“Our brave ICE law enforcement should be thanked for risking their lives every day to arrest murderers, pedophiles, rapists, gang members, and terrorists instead of vilified by sanctuary politicians,” McLaughlin continued. “[It’s] disheartening that even after the terrorist attack and arrests of rioters with guns outside the Broadview ICE facility these sanctuary politicians chose [to] engage in political theatre to inflame hatred of ICE.”

The CBS article was amplified by those on the left, including California Governor Gavin Newsom’s communications director, Izzy Gardon.

“WOAH. CBS News reports ICE has been making bogus calls to 911 and filing false police reports in Chicago,” he wrote in a post on X on October 6, providing a link to the article in the comments.

Bari Weiss, a journalist and the founder of the Free Press, was named editor in chief of CBS News just days after this article was released. She has vowed to make CBS “the most trusted news organization in America and the world.” To guide the outlet’s changes, she outlined 10 “core journalistic values,” including to “[report] on the world as it actually is;” “tell the truth plainly — wherever it leads;” and “endeavor to present the public with the facts, first and foremost.”

CBS News, CBS News Chicago, Mills, and Gardon did not respond to a request for comment.

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​News, Cbs news, Cbs, Chicago, Illinois, Thomas mills, Broadview ice facility, Broadview police department, Immigration and customs enforcement, Ice, Department of homeland security, Dhs, Bari weiss, Politics 

A man who was found dead on the sidewalk outside of an Albuquerque Dollar Tree was killed by a man riding a tricycle, according to New Mexico police.

The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office said agents were called to the discount store on Goff Blvd. on Sept. 29 at about 7:15 in the morning over a report of a man found unresponsive.

He matched the description of a man caught on surveillance video riding up to the victim on a tricycle and beating him with a rock.

They found that the man was dead, with injuries to his head and face. Police opened a homicide investigation.

On Monday, police arrested Dominic Gabriel Andrade and said he matched the description of a man caught on surveillance video riding up to the victim on a tricycle and beating him with a rock, according to court documents.

The man also appeared to stab the victim in the video.

Andrade had been spotted by U.S. marshals and brought in for questioning. When they searched him, they found a knife in his right pocket. They also found a large cane and a neon green hoodie on his tricycle, both of which matched the surveillance video from the murder scene, according to prosecutors.

The suspect admitted that he had gotten into an argument with the victim on the night that he died, but he claimed that the argument never “got physical,” according to police.

RELATED: 19-year-old student allegedly stabs and kills homeless man who was breaking into cars near USC

A report from KRQE-TV said that the victim was named Michael Chavez and that the video showed him lying down to go to sleep after speaking with Andrade. Then Andrade hit Chavez with a rock multiple times.

KRQE said the video showed Chavez dying later on the sidewalk.

The 48-year-old suspect was charged with tampering with evidence as well as first-degree murder.

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What really happens at these so-called peaceful No Kings rallies? BlazeTV host Alex Stein went inside a Dallas, Texas, protest to find out — and the footage was anything but peaceful.

In a clip of Stein walking through the protest, he’s swarmed by screaming leftists, calmly talking to the camera, before one protester steals his hat in an attempt to shut him down.

“Someone who was truly anti-fascist would want as much speech as possible, wouldn’t they? Wouldn’t they? I mean, after all, fascism always involves suppression of dissent and censorship of unwanted speech. Those are, like, two key components of fascism. Tyranny always shuts dissenting speech down,” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales says, disturbed by Stein’s experience.

“Isn’t that so crazy how the same people who are screaming about tyranny and fascism and how they’re so oppressed are the same people who literally cannot even handle, they cannot handle anyone verbally, peacefully disagreeing with their point without assaulting them,” she continues.

In another video posted to X, a man wearing a Make America Great Again hat attending the rally was asked by a protester to “come closer.”

As he stepped near the woman, she said, “I will pepper-spray you,” and then sprayed him in the face.

“That’s okay, that’s okay,” the man said after realizing he was pepper-sprayed. “Because God bless Israel, God bless Israel.”

“They’re very, very angry. They’re very, very violent. They’re very mentally unstable,” Gonzales says, adding, “and we cannot allow these people leading the direction of our state.”

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U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced new sanctions against the Russian Federation and called for an “immediate ceasefire” in its war against Ukraine.

The war in Ukraine has been raging for more than three years, but negotiations between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin appear to have come to an impasse on Wednesday.

‘Given President Putin’s refusal to end this senseless war, Treasury is sanctioning Russia’s two largest oil companies that fund the Kremlin’s war machine.’

Bessent posted a statement on social media about the sanctions.

“Now is the time to stop the killing and for an immediate ceasefire. Given President Putin’s refusal to end this senseless war, Treasury is sanctioning Russia’s two largest oil companies that fund the Kremlin’s war machine,” he wrote.

“Treasury is prepared to take further action if necessary to support President Trump’s effort to end yet another war,” he added. “We encourage our allies to join us in and adhere to these sanctions.”

Earlier in the day, Bessent told the Fox Business channel that the sanctions were a response to Putin’s dishonesty in the negotiations.

“President Putin has not come to the table in an honest and forthright manner, as we’d hoped,” Bessent said to host Larry Kudlow.

“There were talks in Alaska. President Trump walked away when he realized that things were not moving forward. There have been behind-the-scenes talk, but I believe that the president is disappointed at where we are in these talks,” he added.

“We are going to be announcing a substantial increase in Russia sanctions,” Bessent concluded. “I’m not gonna give you the exact sanctions, but I can tell you that this will be one of the largest sanctions that we have done against the Russian Federation.”

Also on Wednesday, the president denied a report in the Wall Street Journal claiming that the U.S. had agreed to lift a restriction on Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles against Russia.

“The Wall Street Journal story on the U.S.A.’s approval of Ukraine being allowed to use long range missiles deep into Russia is FAKE NEWS!” he wrote on social media. “The U.S. has nothing to do with those missiles, wherever they may come from, or what Ukraine does with them!”

RELATED: ‘Audacious’ Ukrainian drone attack on Russian bombers stuns ahead of peace talks in Istanbul

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told Fox News that Russia’s economy was suffering and building pressure on Putin to come to the negotiation table on a peace deal.

First lady Melania Trump has been using her platform to secure concessions from Putin on returning Ukrainian children who were taken from the war front. Ukrainians have accused Russia of kidnapping children and trying to indoctrinate them to support Russia.

Some military experts believe Russia has lost between 165,000 and 235,000 service members since the invasion began in Feb. 2022. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last reported casualties of 43,000 Ukrainian military deaths, but that may be an underestimate, according to a BBC report.

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The Federal Emergency Management Agency, while under the leadership of the Biden administration, was accused of skipping homes that displayed campaign signs supporting President Donald Trump in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton.

A whistleblower report surfaced in late 2024 that FEMA relief workers had been ordered not to provide aid to people displaying Trump signs on their property, eventually prompting several firings at the agency.

‘They deliberately avoided houses displaying support for President Trump and the Second Amendment, illegally collected and stored information about survivors’ political beliefs, and failed to report their malicious behavior.’

Then-FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell told Congress that it was an isolated incident, blaming the misstep on a since-terminated employee.

However, a Department of Homeland Security report released Tuesday revealed that the “abuses were widespread, systematic, and occurred during multiple disasters dating back to Hurricane Ida in 2021.”

Further, the probe claimed that the workers also violated the Privacy Act of 1974 by collecting information about the political beliefs of disaster survivors.

The DHS report listed some examples of observed political signs and flags that FEMA relief workers documented.

RELATED: FEMA fires 3 more supervisors tied to home-skipping scandal impacting Trump supporters

Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

“Trump sign, no contact per leadership,” a FEMA worker wrote in 2024 about a Florida home, according to the report.

“A lot of explicit political flags, posters, etc. ‘F**k Joe Biden’ ‘MAGA 2024’ ‘Joe Biden Sucks’ ‘TRUMP 2024,'” another worker allegedly noted in 2021 about a Pennsylvania residence. “We do not recommend anyone visiting this location.”

“Homeowner had sign stated … this is Trump country,” a third reportedly wrote about a Louisiana property in 2021.

RELATED: FEMA investigating stunning report that hurricane relief workers were ordered to skip houses with pro-Trump signs

Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images

“The federal government was withholding aid against Americans in crisis based on their political beliefs — this should horrify every American, regardless of political persuasion,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem stated.

“For years, FEMA employees under the Biden administration intentionally delayed much-needed aid to Americans suffering from natural disasters on purely political grounds,” Noem continued. “They deliberately avoided houses displaying support for President Trump and the Second Amendment, illegally collected and stored information about survivors’ political beliefs, and failed to report their malicious behavior. We will not let this stand.”

The DHS referred the case to the Department of Justice for potential prosecution.

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Left-wing Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas said she is “strongly” looking to run for U.S. Senate after completing only one term in the lower house of Congress.

The controversial politician made the comments while appearing on “The Lurie Daniel Favors Show” on SiriusXM. She said that efforts to run her out of office made her believe that “karma” might help her win an even higher seat to stymie her opponents.

‘The question will be whether or not we believe that we’ve got enough juice to expand the electorate.’

“Every other day, there’s a poll that comes out that makes it clear that I can win the primary for the U.S. Senate race in Texas,” Crockett said.

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

Republicans in Texas are pushing to redistrict the state in an effort to convert more seats in the U.S. House from Democratic control to the Republican side.

“And I think the key to winning Texas isn’t about looking at the current electorate. It’s about expanding the electorate. So the question will be whether or not we believe that we’ve got enough juice to expand the electorate and looking at those cross tabs and looking at which demographics are more inclined to come out who normally do not vote,” she continued.

“If we can expand the electorate, then I will strongly be considering hopping into the Senate race,” Crockett concluded.

RELATED: ‘This is a terrible nightmare!’ Jasmine Crockett responds to Trump: ‘Somebody slap me and wake me the f**k up!’

Crockett has become a popular figure on the left for her vitriolic attacks on President Donald Trump, which have also made her a target for her opponents on the right.

“What is happening? Like, this is not America! This is a terrible nightmare! Somebody slap me and wake me the f**k up, ‘cuz I’m ready to get on with it!” she said of the president in March.

The 44-year-old is in her second term after easily defeating a libertarian candidate in 2024.

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Not months ago, Snoop Dogg took aim at the LGBTQ+ messaging littering children’s television and movies — but in an embarrassing show of defeat, he’s now doing a complete 180.

The rapper has now partnered with LGBTQ+ nonprofit GLAAD to create a new song for his animated children’s show “Doggyland” titled “Love Is Love.”

The song features animated dog families, which include same-sex couples and single and elder dogs as parents, with lyrics like, “Our parents are different, no two are the same, but the one thing that’s for certain is the love won’t change.”

“‘Love Is Love’ is a record that my kids’ program ‘Doggyland’ presented me, where it’s the song where it’s teaching love is love. It’s teaching parenthood, it’s teaching the situations that kids and the world is going through right now in a beautiful way through song, dance, melody, and just trying to get more understanding, clarity on how we live and the way we live,” the rapper told Jeremy Beloate — who makes a cameo in the new song — in an interview.

“And I felt like this music is a beautiful, you know, bridge to bringing understanding. This is a program that we’ve been doing for years where we involve kids, and these are things that kids have questions about. So now hopefully we can help answer these questions and, you know, help them to live a happy life and understand that love is love,” he continued.

“When we spoke about this a month ago, we said that he would not stand 10 toes down,” BlazeTV contributor Shemeka Michelle tells BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock on “Jason Whitlock Harmony.”

“Snoop is just showing that he goes wherever the check is. He has no morals. He has no values, and he’s not a gangster. He’s a fake gangster because gangsters stand on their business and they stand 10 toes down. Snoop doesn’t do that. Never has and never will,” she adds.

“These gangsters can bully women and talk crazy with women, but when it comes to the LGBTQ, it’s a Deion Sanders like backpedal, and the next thing you know, you’re coming out with a song ‘Love Is Love,’” Whitlock agrees.

“It’s one of the most demonic songs that’s ever been written,” he adds.

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The commissioner of the National Football League addressed the public outrage over the decision to have Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny perform during the halftime show at the Super Bowl.

Many football fans were furious when the NFL made the announcement, especially after some anti-Trump comments of his resurfaced on social media.

‘He understands the platform that he’s on, and I think it’s going to be exciting and a united moment.’

Commissioner Goodell defended the decision while speaking to reporters on Wednesday after the annual Fall League Meeting.

“It’s carefully thought through,” Goodell said. “I’m not sure we’ve ever selected an artist where we didn’t have some blowback or criticism. It’s pretty hard to do when you have literally hundreds of millions of people that are watching.”

The 31-year-old rapper was born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio and has refused to perform on the mainland of the U.S. out of fear of the mass deportation policies of President Donald Trump. He has instead performed his shows in Puerto Rico, a territory of the U.S.

Many were further antagonized when Ocasio responded to the outrage by joking that anyone who wanted to understand his performance would have to learn Spanish.

“We’re confident it’s going to be a great show,” Goodell continued. “He understands the platform that he’s on, and I think it’s going to be exciting and a united moment.”

He also pointed to Bad Bunny’s popularity as the rationale for the decision.

“He’s one of the leading and most popular entertainers in the world,” Goodell said. “That’s what we try to achieve. It’s an important stage for us. It’s an important element to the entertainment value.”

RELATED: Entire staff at Deadspin fired months after they smeared 9-year-old Chiefs fan as a racist

President Donald Trump weighed in on the decision and said he had never even heard of the rapper.

“I don’t know who he is,” Trump said. “I don’t know why they’re doing it. It’s, like, crazy. And then they blame it on some promoter that they hired to pick up entertainment. I think it’s absolutely ridiculous.”

Goodell also faced criticism in February when he said the NFL would continue supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion policies despite so many companies abandoning them after Trump’s election victory.

The Super Bowl will be held on February 8, 2026, at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.

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The former singer of the Welsh rock band Lostprophets, Ian Watkins, recently was attacked and killed in prison, according to authorities. Watkins was serving a sentence for multiple pedophilia-related offenses, including attempting to rape a baby.

Police in England said Watkins was murdered at His Majesty’s Prison Wakefield in Great Britain on the morning of Oct. 11.

‘Extensive inquiries remain ongoing in relation to the murder of Ian Watkins, and these arrests form part of that.’

Watkins, 48, was pronounced dead at HMP Wakefield despite being given medical treatment for injuries suffered during a “serious assault.”

Last week, British authorities announced the arrest of two men — 25-year-old Rashid Gedel and 43-year-old Samuel Dodsworth. Both suspects were charged with murder in connection with Watkins’ death.

The West Yorkshire Police Department said in a statement Tuesday that two other men — ages 23 and 39 — also were arrested in connection with Watkins’ death and charged with suspicion of conspiracy to murder. Police did not name the two new suspects.

The senior investigating officer in the alleged murder said the investigation is ongoing.

Detective Chief Inspector James Entwistle of the Homicide and Major Enquiry Team with the West Yorkshire Police Department stated, “Extensive inquiries remain ongoing in relation to the murder of Ian Watkins, and these arrests form part of that.”

“Ian Watkins’ family are being updated as the investigation progresses,” Entwistle said. “However, we do not anticipate any immediate developments at this stage.”

A spokesperson for the His Majesty’s Prison Service told the BBC that it was aware of an incident at the prison but was “unable to comment further while the police investigate.”

The West Yorkshire Police Department and HMP Wakefield did not immediately respond to Blaze News‘ request for comment.

RELATED: Pair of convicted pedophiles — one who raped, murdered 3-year-old girl — die on same night in same prison

Photo by Marc Grimwade/WireImage

The Mirror noted that HMP Wakefield is known as “Monster Mansion,” which “houses some of the U.K.’s most infamous and dangerous criminals, ranging from serial killers to terrorists and habitual rapists.”

Watkins appeared in court in 2019 after a mobile phone reportedly was discovered in his prison cell. Watkins told magistrates that he was imprisoned among “murderers, mass murderers, rapists, pedophiles, serial killers — the worst of the worst,” according to the Guardian.

Previously, Watkins was stabbed in prison while serving time for his child sex crimes.

As Blaze News reported in August 2023, Watkins was held hostage by three fellow HMP Wakefield prisoners for several hours and stabbed.

The Mirror previously reported, “The prison had to wait until a ‘Tornado Crew’ could be assembled — specialist officers trained in hostage situations. The three prisoners kept Watkins hostage for almost six hours — it is believed the attack took place on B wing, where 70 percent of the prisoners are serving life and 20 percent serving 10 years or more. So serious were his injuries, it is understood that he received emergency treatment from paramedics in an ambulance on the prison estate.”

Watkins was arrested in December 2012 and hit with several child sex crime charges.

“During trial, it was revealed that the password to encrypted files on Watkins’ computer was ‘I F*K KIDZ,'” Rolling Stone previously reported.

In December 2013, Watkins pleaded guilty to 13 charges, including conspiring to rape a child, three counts of sexual assault of children, seven counts involving making or possessing indecent images of children, and one count of possessing an extreme pornographic image involving a sex act on an animal.

The judge during the sentencing hearing described Watkins’ crimes as “plumbing new depths of depravity,” according to the Guardian.

The disgraced singer was sentenced to 29 years in prison.

Watkins’ former band, Lostprophets, was founded in 1997 and topped the U.K. charts in 2006 after the release of its third album, “Liberation Transmission.” Lostprophets broke up in 2013 when Watkins was sentenced to prison.

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President Donald Trump has announced initiatives to expand access to in vitro fertilization and reduce associated costs — as each round of IVF can cost $12,000 to $25,000 — and one round is often not all it takes.

“In the Trump administration, we want to make it easier for all couples to have babies, raise children,” Trump said at the White House on October 16.

“That’s why today I’m pleased to announce that after extensive negotiations, EMD Serrano, the largest fertility drug manufacturer in the world, has agreed to provide massive discounts to all fertility drugs they sell in the United States, including the most popular drug of all, the IVF drug,” he continued.

While many Republicans have cheered Trump’s announcement, BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey is not on the same page.

“Trump says that, you know, he’s unaware of conservative religious objections to IVF, but IVF is inherently pro-life. And I’ll just say it doesn’t surprise me at all that Trump has this position. IVF is extremely popular, even among Republicans, and he represents the position that a lot of people have,” Stuckey says.

“But let me just explain something,” she continues. “The pro-life position is not just ‘more babies.’ We want more babies that are conceived in loving marriages between a man and a woman. Being pro-life doesn’t mean that we are pro every form of conception. Obviously, we can agree, right, that not every form of conception is moral and ethical.”

“There is a cost to IVF. In fact, most babies, most embryos that are made via IVF, the vast majority of those embryos will never be transferred and will never make it to a live birth. In fact, the IVF industry kills more babies every year than the abortion industry does,” she explains.

“If we really believe in our pro-life ethics, that a life is a life no matter how small, that human life starts at conception, then how we treat those embryos that are created in a lab that are frozen indefinitely, that are very often eugenically discarded because they’re the wrong gender or they have Down syndrome or they have some other kind of disability or they were just that unlucky extra guy that was created and their parents don’t want them anymore,” she says.

“All of that really matters. It’s not only about not killing a baby inside the womb. It’s about not discarding and mistreating life that has been created,” she adds.

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Thomas Koch, the mayor of Quincy, Massachusetts, commissioned two 10-foot-tall bronze statues to complement his city’s new public safety headquarters, a 122,000 square-foot facility that will ultimately house both the police department and the fire department’s administration offices.

One of the statues that the city asked renowned sculptor Sergey Eylanbekov to design depicts the winged archangel Michael stepping on the head of a demon. The other statue depicts Florian, a third-century firefighting Roman soldier, dumping water on a burning building.

‘The statues of Michael and Florian honor service — not a creed.’

Despite the broader cultural significance of both figures and their longstanding association with first responders, groups loath to see any public signs of Christianity joined a number of local residents in suing to block the installation of the statues.

While the Norfolk Superior Court granted a preliminary injunction last week blocking the installation of the two statues, the city of Quincy, evidently unwilling to surrender to iconoclastic secularists, has teamed up with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty to file an appeal.

“We respect every citizen’s beliefs, religious or not. But the statues of Michael and Florian honor service — not a creed,” Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch said in a statement to Blaze News. “We’re hopeful that the court will reverse this order and allow our city to pay tribute to the men and women who keep our city safe.”

The lawsuit

The lawsuit filed in May by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Massachusetts, the Freedom from Religion Foundation, and Americans United for Separation of Church and State, names a number of Quincy residents as plaintiffs including

a Unitarian social justice warrior; a self-identified Catholic who finds the “violent imagery” of good triumphing over evil to be “offensive”; a local synagogue member who suggested the images “may exacerbate the current rise in anti-Semitism”; an Episcopalian who believes that walking past such statues would amount to “submission to religious symbols”;several Catholics turned atheists apparently keen to avoid some of the imagery they grew up with; anda lapsed Catholic who suggested the image of Michael stepping on the head of a demon was “reminiscent of how George Floyd was killed.”

The lawsuit states that “affixing religious icons of one particular faith to a government facility — the City’s public safety building, no less — sends an alarming message that those who do not subscribe to the City’s preferred religious beliefs are second-class residents who should not feel safe, welcomed, or equally respected by their government.”

RELATED: Exposing the great lie about ‘MAGA Christianity’ — and the truth elites hate

Quincy City Hall. Photo by Lane Turner/The Boston Globe via Getty Images.

The complaint hammers home the significance of Michael in Catholicism, where he is recognized as the patron saint of police, yet neglects to note that Michael also features prominently in Christian, Jewish, and Islamic religious texts and traditions as well as in the Western literary canon and pop culture.

While the suit hints at possible civic or professional accomplishments on the part of Florian that could be recognized with a statue, it again suggested that as the patron saint of firefighters, a statue of the historical figure would similarly “send a predominantly religious message.”

The plaintiffs alleged in their lawsuit that the city violated Article III of the Massachusetts Declaration Rights, and suggested that the installation of the statues “will not serve a predominantly secular purpose,” but rather to “promote, promulgate, and advance one faith, subordinating other faiths as well as non-religious traditions.”

The allegation of a violation of state law as opposed to a violation of the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution appears to have been strategic. After all, the U.S. Supreme Court has made expressly clear that “simply having religious content or promoting a message consistent with a religious doctrine does not run afoul of the establishment clause.”

Mayor Koch rejected the plaintiffs’ thesis, underscoring in a sworn affidavit that he regarded it as “appropriate to erect statues of two internationally recognized symbols of police and fire service, an act which would also serve to inspire the men and women who work in the building.”

“There was nothing religious about this decision,” continued Koch. “The fact that Michael and Florian each happen to be saints venerated in the Catholic Church is ancillary to their significance in the Police and Fire services, respectively.”

The injunction

Quincy suggested in the suit that the plaintiffs lacked standing because they were “simply offended by the planned statues, and, unwilling to confine themselves to the ordinary means for airing ideological disagreements with the government — the political process — have sought to make a lawsuit out of it.”

Norfolk Superior Court Justice William Sullivan, who was put on the court by former Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick, was evidently not persuaded.

On Oct.14, Sullivan denied the city’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit and granted a preliminary injunction against the erection of the statues, noting that the plaintiffs had demonstrated “that they are likely to succeed at proving that the permanent display of the oversized overtly religious-looking statutes have a primary effect of advancing religion.”

RELATED: Clinton labor secretary panics after Trump asks the archangel Michael for help fighting evil

Photo by: Claudio Ciabochi/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Speaking to Koch’s suggestion that the statues have secular significance and purpose, Sullivan wrote, “To the extent a statue of Saint Michael provides inspiration or conveys a message of truth, justice, or the triumph of good over evil, it does so in his context as a biblical figure — namely, the archangel of God. It is impossible to strip the statue of its religious meaning to contrive a secular purpose.”

Rachel Davidson, a staff attorney at the ACLU of Massachusetts, celebrated the ruling, stating, “We are grateful to the court for acknowledging the immediate harm that the installation of these statues would cause and for ensuring that Quincy residents can continue to make their case for the proper separation of church and state.”

“Massachusetts citizens are free to practice their personal religious views by placing statues of saints or other religious iconography on private property,” said Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Freedom from Religion Foundation. “But such religious iconography emphatically does not belong on government buildings where all must feel welcome.”

The appeal

Becket, a firm focused on protecting religious liberty, announced on Tuesday that it will join the city of Quincy in appealing Sullivan’s decision.

“If allowed to stand, the decision would push cities across the Commonwealth to strip historic symbols from civic life whenever they carry religious associations,” the firm said in a statement. “But the Supreme Court has upheld the use of symbols with religious roots in public life, including a World War I memorial featuring a cross, when they carry historical, cultural, or commemorative significance.”

Using private funding in the 1920s, the American Legion constructed the 40-foot-tall Peace Cross in Bladensburg, Maryland, to honor soldiers who perished in World War I. The sight of the cross evidently enraged iconoclastic secularists, who sought to have it toppled. While the Fourth Circuit proved more than happy to oblige them, the U.S. Supreme Court determined in its 2019 American Legion v. American Humanist Association ruling that the cross did not violate the Establishment Clause.

The court also rejected the relevance of the test articulated by SCOTUS in its 1971 Lemon v. Kurtzman ruling as a way of guiding the court in identifying Establishment Clause violations, noting that the Lemon test presented “particularly daunting problems” in such cases that “involve the use, for ceremonial, celebratory, or commemorative purpose, of words or symbols with religious associations.”

While the Supreme Court has effectively rejected the Lemon test, Justice Sullivan leaned heavily on it in the Quincy case.

“Everyone is free to have their own opinions about public art, but in America, the fact that something may have religious associations is not a legitimate reason to censor it,” said Joseph Davis, senior counsel at Becket.

“Our nation, like many others, has long drawn on historic symbols — including those with religious roots — to honor courage and sacrifice. The court should reject this lawsuit’s attempt to block these symbols of bravery and courage,” added Davis.

Quincy Police Chief Mark Kennedy’s office indicated the police department will have no comment as the issue remains in the hands of the court.

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At a press conference on October 20, Democrat lawmakers announced their intention to create “a master ICE tracker” to track and document immigration enforcement operations by ICE, CBP, and other law enforcement entities.

House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) said the tracker will be located on the Oversight Committee “website,” though whether he meant the Democrats’ site or the general site is unclear.

‘This is a reckless assault on law enforcement that endangers ICE agents and compromises public safety.’

At the press conference, Garcia lashed out against the Trump administration’s ongoing immigration crackdown, accusing ICE of “misconduct” and “brutality.” He claimed that ICE has been arresting American citizens “because they look like me, because they are of Latino origin.”

Speaking about the upcoming ICE tracker, Garcia said, “We are going to be tracking every single instance that we can verify, that the community will be able to send us information on.” He said the tracker will launch “over the next couple of weeks.”

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) joined Garcia in expressing outrage over the ongoing immigration crackdown: “What is happening to undocumented immigrants is also happening to U.S. citizens, which means that this can happen to anyone, to all of us, at any time.”

Garcia praised Bass for her commitment “to ensuring that every single moment of terror, of injustice that happens here in Los Angeles, and really across the country, is recorded.”

RELATED: Illegal alien shot after allegedly ramming car into federal vehicle was once honored by Democrat

Photo by Octavio Jones/Getty Images

Garcia, along with Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), wrote to the Department of Homeland Security to demand detailed information on the “disturbing and increasingly frequent reports of unconstitutional detentions of U.S. citizens.” The letter went on to say that President Trump “has embraced the use of federal immigration agents to terrorize communities nationwide.”

According to CBS Los Angeles, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement, “The Trump administration is fulfilling the president’s promise to deport criminal illegal aliens, and any individuals who attempt to illegally interfere with operations or assault law enforcement officers will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”

In a statement to Blaze News, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the Oversight Committee chairman, said: “Oversight Committee Democrats are completely unhinged. … They’re doubling down with a so-called ‘master’ ICE tracker designed to target and undermine lawful immigration enforcement. Let’s be clear: This is a reckless assault on law enforcement that endangers ICE agents and compromises public safety.”

Garcia’s office had not responded to a request for comment at time of publication.

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​Ice, Democrats, Politics 

Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki got a brutal slap-down from the White House over comments she made about Usha Vance, the wife of the vice president.

The MSNBC host was mocking the vice president during an interview on the “I’ve Had It” podcast when she implied that his wife needed to be rescued from their marriage.

‘A dumbass who has no comprehension of the truth and has to overcompensate for her lack of talent by saying untrue things.’

“The little Manchurian candidate, JD Vance, wants to be president more than anything else,” Psaki said of the vice president.

“I always wonder what’s going on in the mind of his wife. Like, are you OK? Please blink four times. Come over here; we’ll save you!” she added.

“Agreed! Yes!” replied one of the podcast hosts.

“And that he’s willing to do anything to get there,” Psaki continued. “… He’s scarier [than Trump] in certain ways, in some ways. And he’s young and ambitious and agile in the sense that he is a chameleon who makes himself into whatever he thinks the audience wants to hear from him.”

White House director of communications Steven Cheung slammed Psaki in a post on social media that included a video of the podcast exchange.

“Jen Psuki [sic] must be transferring her own personal issues onto others. @jrpsaki is a dumbass who has no comprehension of the truth and has to overcompensate for her lack of talent by saying untrue things,” he wrote.

“Circle back on that, moron,” Cheung added.

Psaki was mocked by many on the right for overusing the phrase “circle back” during media briefings to avoid answering difficult questions for the Biden administration.

RELATED: Jen Psaki faces online mockery after she tries to blame greedy ‘meat conglomerates’ for rise in prices

Many from the right criticized Psaki for ridiculing the Vance marriage on social media.

Psaki and the liberal podcast hosts went on to opine that the vice president didn’t have the “rizz” to carry the Trump movement on his own. Rizz is a slang term invented by the youths to refer to attractiveness or charisma.

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​White house slaps back, Jen psaki, Jd vance, Usha vance, Politics