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Seven females — five of them teenagers, two of them adults — are facing charges in the wake of a brawl caught on video outside the Maryland State Fair, Baltimore County police told WJZ-TV.

Charged in connection with the assault and public disturbance were four 14-year-olds, a 15-year-old, and two adults — Melika Gamble-Thomas, 33, and Tiera Gamble, 37 — police told the station.

‘These children come out in groups, and they try to cause havoc or whatever. It’s a shame.’

Both Gamble-Thomas and Gamble were taken into custody on open warrants, WBFF-TV reported.

Police launched an investigation after video of the brawl began circulating on social media in late August, WJZ reported.

The video shows one teen girl being dragged by her hair. Police told WJZ the brawl involved at least a dozen other teens.

Officers at the fair said several arrests were made, but some suspects fled the scene in a car, WJZ said, adding that some officers suffered minor injuries while responding to the brawl.

The group of teens may have been denied entry to the fair over its unaccompanied minor policy, Maryland State Fair General Manager Andy Cashman told WJZ.

The fair’s unaccompanied minor policy, instituted in 2024, stipulates that minors can’t enter the fair without an adult, WJZ said, adding that one adult can chaperone up to six minors.

“It’s been a problem,” Cashman told WJZ. “These children come out in groups, and they try to cause havoc or whatever. It’s a shame.”

WBFF said officers responded around 8:30 p.m. Aug. 30 to the 2200 block of York Road in Timonium for reports of an assault.

Authorities told WBFF the brawl reportedly began at the fairgrounds and ended in a nearby parking lot.

The mother of the girl dragged by her hair told WBFF that “she had drag marks all up her body; she had bruises on her face” and added, “I wanted to talk to the parents to see, like, why, what was going on? Why did you allow this to happen, to find some reasoning in it …”

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​Brawl, Video, Dragged, Hair, Maryland state fair, Charges, Teen females charged, Adult females arrested, Open warrants, Crime 

On Monday, October 6, Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James teased a big announcement. Pitching it as “the Second Decision” — a parody of his infamous 2010 ESPN special where he revealed leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami Heat — NBA fans held their breath in anticipation that the 40-year-old basketball veteran would either announce his retirement or a change in teams.

But no.

It turns out the big reveal has nothing to do with basketball at all. LeBron’s big announcement turned out to be a promotional campaign for a limited-edition Hennessy V.S.O.P cognac bottle collaboration, which will feature his signature “crowning” gesture.

Needless to say, basketball fans are infuriated. The manipulative clickbait marketing left them feeling emotionally exploited, especially considering LeBron’s recent hints at an impending end to his NBA career.

But Jason Whitlock is frustrated by something else: LeBron is yet again leaning deliberately into black stereotypes for marketing gain.

“If he was going to lean into a stereotype, at least he didn’t lean into watermelon,” he scoffs.

“This is maddening,” says “Fearless” contributor Steve Kim, who was excited at the prospect of LeBron finally retiring or leaving the Lakers.

“He just won’t go away, Whitlock. We’re stuck with this guy,” he sighs.

Jason is ready for the LeBron mania to fizzle out, too, but for him, it’s less about basketball and more about LBJ’s impact on culture. He’s tired of the “Bronsexuals” — James’ most ardent, overly defensive fans who exhibit an intense, almost obsessive loyalty to him — “[pretending] like LeBron is some genius, that LeBron is some influencer that’s ahead of the conversation.”

“I’m not sure if this dude can read, write, comprehend,” says Jason.

“This guy’s got one of the biggest brands in all of America and he’s … [using] it to promote Hennessy” — the most “ghetto liquor in the world?” he asks.

The marketing ploy also proves that LeBron has learned nothing from his past mistakes. The original “Decision,” during which he announced his transition to Miami, was not received well by fans.

“He got ripped and destroyed from that, and you would think that he would learn a lesson from that and that 15 years later, he wouldn’t be doing something to draw comparisons to [‘the Decision’] and then to do something equally as small,” says Jason.

He can only assume that LeBron’s handlers — Adam Mendelsohn, Rich Paul, and Maverick Carter — are just as cognitively stunted as the drama king himself.

“They can’t talk LeBron out of leaning into brown liquor stereotypes?” asks Jason, baffled.

He assumes that LeBron’s Hennessy collab will be defended by the usual tactic of playing the race card: “Anyone that criticizes this will be either an Uncle Tom or sellout like me, or they’ll be a racist.”

Now that LeBron’s retirement is no longer on the table, Jason and Steve fear that the aging athlete will play until he’s 50 years old.

“He’s certainly going to play until he can force his other son into the NBA,” says Jason.

“That might drive me to Hennessy,” Steve laughs.

To hear more of the conversation, watch the video above.

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David Harsanyi recently sounded the alarm in the New York Post that “Gen Z’s casual anti-Semitism is growing.” His warning has some merit, but it also reveals blind spots about the political context he prefers not to acknowledge.

Harsanyi isn’t wrong that ugly anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic rhetoric has surfaced in parts of the populist right. Plenty of very online commentators have insinuated — and in some instances insisted — that Charlie Kirk’s assassination was tied to Israel. Conspiracy theory claims circulate online that Jewish billionaires control conservative media, bribing or blackmailing Republicans into supporting Benjamin Netanyahu in Gaza no matter the cost.

Gen Z has broken old taboos. That’s healthy. But if Zoomers want to be taken seriously, they must separate legitimate criticism of US policy from adolescent conspiracy theories.

This is an “ugly turn,” but it didn’t appear out of thin air. Once the neoconservative gatekeepers lost their grip, a wider debate on the right was inevitable.

For decades, particular outlets and movement foundations policed what conservatives were allowed to say. That censorship has collapsed in the internet era, for better and worse.

I welcome the broader discussion on the right. It was overdue. But the opening comes with a price: young voices saying stupid and reckless things. Then again, establishment conservatives have spent years saying reckless things of their own. My own anthology of commentaries catalogs four decades of such elite nonsense — much of which never saw daylight in “respectable” venues such as National Review, Commentary, or the Wall Street Journal.

Why? Because I was “unreliable on Israel.” Never mind that I never attacked the Jewish state. My real offense was questioning whether American conservatives should be compelled to parrot Likud talking points. Harsanyi may not see it this way, but the reality is obvious: Conservatives should be free to criticize Israeli policy without fearing cancellation from their own establishment.

That establishment has demanded iron discipline on Israel, sometimes even backing Democrats AIPAC preferred over those judged insufficiently loyal to Jerusalem. Yet the same institutions shy away from clear stands on basic civilizational issues like marriage. The imbalance speaks for itself.

And Charlie Kirk himself, before his death, reportedly raised doubts about Netanyahu’s ongoing Gaza campaign — only to spark frantic denials from conservative influencers who insisted he hadn’t meant it. Harsanyi frets about Gen Z’s “abnormal fixation” on Jews and Israel. He should also notice the establishment’s fixation, which is every bit as abnormal.

The movement Harsanyi defends is a relic. I’m old enough to remember its birth in the 1980s, and I remember how eagerly it purged dissenters. (Full disclosure: I was one of them.) Forgive me if I feel some schadenfreude watching Gen Z give that same establishment fits, even if I wince at the crudity of their attacks.

RELATED: Netanyahu takes aim at the so-called ‘woke right,’ Tucker Carlson

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

What really troubles me is the lack of reflection among Gen Z’s loudest voices. Nick Fuentes, for example, is a sharp communicator, but he throws away credibility by ranting about international Jewish conspiracies. That style is unserious, self-defeating, and easily exploited by enemies.

Even on substance, the Gen Z case collapses under scrutiny. They cite the Adelsons, but that’s one family. They point to Bill Ackman, a hedge-fund billionaire, but ignore his politics: Ackman is firmly on the left at home, even if he backs Israel abroad. Meanwhile, non-Jewish moguls like the Murdochs wield far more influence over conservative institutions and their loyalty to Israel.

And one final irony: As a Jewish dissenter on the right, expelled long ago, I know from experience that many of my opponents were not Jewish at all. More often than not, they were well-heeled gentiles writing checks.

Gen Z has broken the old taboos and raised questions the establishment tried to bury. That’s healthy. But if Zoomers want to be taken seriously, they must separate legitimate criticism of U.S. policy toward Israel from adolescent conspiracy theories. Otherwise, the real lessons will be lost in the noise.

​Opinion & analysis, Opinion, Netanyahu, Israel, Aipac, Antisemitism, Zionism, Antisemite, Zionist, Trump and netanyahu, Anti-semitism, Benjamin netanyahu, David harsanyi, Tucker carlson, Gen z, Bill ackman 

Ever since “Human Forever” came out in 2021, people have asked me when the real-life Butlerian Jihad was coming. Some assumed I supported a real-life Butlerian Jihad. A few even coined the phrase Poulosian Jihad …

Well, no. Now that we are deep into the still-unfinished movie adaptations of Frank Herbert’s immensely influential “Dune” novels, and jihad-like options like calling in the airstrikes on the data centers have become influential in their own right through the effective altruist crowd, I feel the need to let the good times pause and underscore my strong opposition to any Butlerian or Butlerian-inspired Jihad.

For those unaware, the basic outline of the Butlerian Jihad (Herbert borrowed heavily from Arabic and Muslim signifiers in world-building his desert planet Iraq, I mean Arrakis) is this:

As mankind spread throughout the known universe, technology advanced and eventually machines were made that would make decisions for people. This propelled the creators of these machines into a new technocratic class, effectively controlling the worlds of the common people.Mankind eventually rebelled against these machines and their creators in a nigh-religious war that sought to retake the thinking soul of mankind from the gods of machine logic. After two generations of violence … their gods and rituals were looked upon in a different, perhaps even jaded, light. Both were largely seen to be guilty of using fear as a means of control. Hesitantly, the leaders of religions began meeting to exchange views, and a new, central religious precept was defined, that man may never be replaced by a machine.

Blah blah blah, long story short, probably the most important detail in the Butlerian Jihad lore is this: “Planet Earth was completely irradiated and turned into a burnt husk and the machines on the planet were no more.” Yes, humanity had to nuke its own home to beat its own machines.

But even beyond that, there are important reasons to look away from the Butlerian Jihad as any kind of metaphorical or inspirational model for dealing with even very out-of-control AI.

The failure cycle of Western religious wars would seem to have led us to exactly the point at which technology of superhuman potency has emerged in the minds of many as the last tool in the box to finally free us from that accursed cycle.

One of them would surely have to do with the problems of jihad itself. “Holy war” as Muslims have practiced it does, by now, have a very bad reputation. From a theological standpoint, it is easy to see why this might be so in the case of a militant, conquering religion that entails the worship of one single, undifferentiated, unitary, monotheistic deity. Such a God is, to be sure, lord and master of the universe and all creation. But such a God is not in a position that enables us humans to enter into a familial relationship (re)joining the human and the divine. Such a God does not seek above all the reciprocation of His boundless and unimaginably great love for us, His creations. Worship of such a deity must not hinge on the spiritual experience and pursuit of repentance and forgiveness, but rather solely on submission and obedience, which at least invites the imposition of submission and obedience on others as itself a holy or sacred practice.

But wait, there’s more. The West itself has a long if uneven tradition of holy war, or “crusaderism,” a tradition that leaves its own reputation in tatters. In fact, the failure cycle of Western religious wars would seem to have led us to exactly the point at which technology of superhuman potency has emerged in the minds of many as the last tool in the box to finally free us from that accursed cycle. So it is particularly disturbing to see technology accelerate at a speed so intense that more and more people are suggesting the only tool left in the box to stop mass human slavery or death by the machines is holy or sacred war.

I really think we have seen this movie before, so to speak. Look at the track record of all-out conflict led by a rebel alliance in a fight seen as so existential that the ends sacralize any means necessary. For the past 500 years or so, the West has struggled in the grip of this pattern, which had led to the routine slaughter of millions upon millions of souls — and the invention of ever-more-powerful weapons technologies to execute on the perceived necessity of slaughtering so many “enemy souls.”

Every major leap forward in communications technology has occasioned another round of sacralized slaughter, which today has led at least a few leading technologists (like Meta’s chief AI scientist) to justify the slaughter, or at least wave it away, on the basis of the ostensibly locked-in gains made to knowledge and enlightenment: “The Catholic clergy worried very much about the ‘safety problems’ of the printing press. They were right: it reduced their grip on European society. It caused a bunch of religious rifts and conflicts. But society made progress because of it.” This is a terrible argument for a broadly permissive approach to AI innovation! And obviously, it contributes to people feeling suspicious of trusting technologists to authoritatively guide us on the topic of their own inventions.

RELATED: Arizona’s AI policing tool threatens civil liberties

Photo by Bloomberg / Contributor via Getty Images

But this is happening in the first place — and people are so susceptible to caving in to its inhuman logic — because of the deep failure of faith that has sunk into the bones of the West. The belief that Christ and His church are inadequate to the threat of total Borg slavery leads now, as it has in similar past crises, to two rival alternatives: militant return to a “pre-Christian” state or conquest unto a post-Christian one. The saints speak eloquently to the importance of trusting God enough to let Him focus on dealing with evil and evildoers — so that we can focus, as we must, on purifying our hearts to the needed degree to reunite fully and reciprocally with God. Or if you would rather get it straight from the Lord Himself:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40).

Few dare accept this! It is so much more reassuring, in a false and perverse way, to bet our fortunes on the pagan hero’s journey where, with enough courage, violence, and sacred license, we can slaughter evil and save the world. And how’s that working out for us? Many reply: well, not great, but surely better than if we let ourselves get wiped out by bad guys like a bunch of pathetic, dumb sheep.

To this one might reply by busting out Ivan Ilyin’s “On Resistance to Evil by Force.” This classic text, written by an anti-communist Russian exiled from the Soviet Union, does not take a juridical approach to questions of “just war” but rather emphasizes the arduous and painful effort of internal spiritual probity and discernment incumbent upon every person who is confronted with the necessity of defending the innocent from organized attack.

But as we all know, well-written and well-argued books are not really the way to move masses of people toward a deeper and richer understanding of the gospel (or much else). And so we have to work in simpler, larger themes and questions. Such as:

Can a fictionalized jihad waged by a rebel alliance in a mythical universe where Christ did not, does not, and will not exist possibly indicate a spiritually authoritative response to technological acceleration that we can trust?

Can limiting our spiritual identity with regard to technology to a militarized oppositional one possibly free us from the pattern of spiritually “consecrated” total war against the total other that has defined the trajectory of the West toward this new peak of crisis?

Just as an immeasurably loving God asks of us that we reciprocate His love freely and willingly — because automatons created without free will cannot possibly be said to love or to be created out of boundless love — so, too, must any “resistance” to technological acceleration in violent or oppressive directions manifest through freely and willingly pressing the “off” button rather than pressing the nuclear “on” button out of a sense of hideous necessity.

Of course, pressing the “off” button isn’t quite “resistance” at all, properly understood. Rather than being against the machine, we ought to content ourselves with the higher authority of being for our given humanity, God’s capstone and completion of creation. Take that spirit, and we might just find ourselves capable — and worthy — of having nice things after all.

​Butlerian jihad, Tech, Ai, Dune 

Chicago, Portland, and other American cities are showing us what happens when the rule of law breaks down. These cities have become openly lawless — and that’s not hyperbole.

When a governor declares she doesn’t believe federal agents about a credible threat to their lives, when Chicago orders its police not to assist federal officers, and when cartels print wanted posters offering bounties for the deaths of U.S. immigration agents, you’re looking at a country flirting with anarchy.

Two dangers face us now: the intimidation of federal officers and the normalization of soldiers as street police. Accept either, and we lose the republic.

This isn’t a matter of partisan politics. The struggle we’re watching now is not between Democrats and Republicans. It’s between good and evil, right and wrong, self‑government and chaos.

Moral erosion

For generations, Americans have inherited a republic based on law, liberty, and moral responsibility. That legacy is now under assault by extremists who openly seek to collapse the system and replace it with something darker.

Antifa, well‑financed by the left, isn’t an isolated fringe any more than Occupy Wall Street was. As with Occupy, big money and global interests are quietly aligned with “anti‑establishment” radicals. The goal is disruption, not reform.

And they’ve learned how to condition us. Twenty‑five years ago, few Americans would have supported drag shows in elementary schools, biological males in women’s sports, forced vaccinations, or government partnerships with mega‑corporations to decide which businesses live or die. Few would have tolerated cartels threatening federal agents or tolerated mobs doxxing political opponents. Yet today, many shrug — or cheer.

How did we get here? What evidence convinced so many people to reverse themselves on fundamental questions of morality, liberty, and law? Those long laboring to disrupt our republic have sought to condition people to believe that the ends justify the means.

Promoting “tolerance” justifies women losing to biological men in sports. “Compassion” justifies harboring illegal immigrants, even violent criminals. Whatever deluded ideals Antifa espouses is supposed to somehow justify targeting federal agents and overturning the rule of law. Our culture has been conditioned for this moment.

The buck stops with us

That’s why the debate over using troops to restore order in American cities matters so much. I’ve never supported soldiers executing civilian law, and I still don’t. But we need to speak honestly about what the Constitution allows and why. The Posse Comitatus Act sharply limits the use of the military for domestic policing. The Insurrection Act, however, exists for rare emergencies — when federal law truly can’t be enforced by ordinary means and when mobs, cartels, or coordinated violence block the courts.

Even then, the Constitution demands limits: a public proclamation ordering offenders to disperse, transparency about the mission, a narrow scope, temporary duration, and judicial oversight.

Soldiers fight wars. Cops enforce laws. We blur that line at our peril.

But we also cannot allow intimidation of federal officers or tolerate local officials who openly obstruct federal enforcement. Both extremes — lawlessness on one side and militarization on the other — endanger the republic.

The only way out is the Constitution itself. Protect civil liberty. Enforce the rule of law. Demand transparency. Reject the temptation to justify any tactic because “our side” is winning. We’ve already seen how fear after 9/11 led to the Patriot Act and years of surveillance.

RELATED: 8 things Chicago has done to put illegal immigrants first

Photo by IPGGutenbergUKLtd via Getty Images

Two dangers face us now: the intimidation of federal officers and the normalization of soldiers as street police. Accept either, and we lose the republic. The left cannot be allowed to shut down enforcement, and the right cannot be allowed to abandon constitutional restraint.

The real threat to the republic isn’t just the mobs or the cartels. It’s us — citizens who stop caring about truth and constitutional limits. Anything can be justified when fear takes over. Everything collapses when enough people decide “the ends justify the means.”

We must choose differently. Uphold the rule of law. Guard civil liberties. And remember that the only way to preserve a government of, by, and for the people is to act like the people still want it.

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​Opinion & analysis, Opinion, Ice, Immigration and customs enforcement, Ice raid, Ice raids, Ice raid chicago, Ice raid portland, Portland, Chicago, Sanctuary cities, Law and order, Donald trump, Rule of law 

The LGBTQ community is reeling after an art deco Pride crosswalk was uprooted by order of Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis from the streets of Miami Beach.

A number of drag queens assembled to watch work crews dismantle the rainbow crosswalk on Sunday morning and told WPLG-TV they were shocked and heartbroken.

‘I think the street art got out of hand. I think it’s much better that we use crosswalks and streets for their intended purpose.’

“Our pride is getting erased just like that,” said CC Glitzer, a drag queen. “It’s very painful.”

“This represents blood, sweat, and tears. It tears my heart to see it go,” said TP Lourdes, another drag queen. “They might take this away, but they didn’t take the love and memories we’ve built here.”

The WPLG report said the crosswalk was destroyed by the Florida Department of Transportation without any notice from the state, despite DeSantis ordering the removal of street art in August.

“Why waste taxpayer dollars to remove something safe, beautiful, iconic, and embraced by everyone?” Miami Beach Commissioner Alex Fernandez said.

Additionally, an Associated Press report indicated that the city lost an appeal against the state order just a few days before the crosswalk was dismantled.

Fernandez said the bricks from the crosswalk were collected to be repurposed.

“This represented decades of people who endured housing discrimination, expulsion from the military,” Fernandez said, “workplace discrimination, the stigma of HIV and AIDS, the fight for marriage equality, all the hard-won battles that took the LGBTQ community from being marginalized to now being a visible, celebrated part of the community.”

RELATED: Florida teen hit with felony charges over ‘doughnut-burnouts’ on Pride flag crosswalk

DeSantis threatened to suspend state transportation funding from those communities that refused his order on street art.

“I think the street art got out of hand. I think it’s much better that we use crosswalks and streets for their intended purpose,” DeSantis previously said.

The AP noted that other street art had been dismantled under the order, including a “Back the Blue” mural outside of the Tampa police headquarters.

City officials cut the ribbon on the crosswalk in Nov. 2018.

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​Pride crosswalk, Miami beach, Desantis vs pride crosswalks, Drag queens, Politics 

A federal judge has just sentenced Nicholas Roske — who now goes by Sophie — to only eight years in prison for his attempt to murder Justice Brett Kavanaugh in June 2022, right before the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision.

Roske had armed himself with a pistol, knife, lock-picking set, duct tape, hammer, crowbar, and tactical gear after flying from California to Virginia and before taking a taxi to Kavanaugh’s address.

The Department of Justice sought a much longer sentence for Roske, but Judge Deborah Boardman, a Biden appointee, said during the sentencing hearing that Roske “spontaneously confessed to and cooperated with police.”

“I believe Ms. Roske understands that what she did was terribly wrong. I find her remorse sincere,” Boardman said, using Roske’s new “she/her” pronouns.

“Nicholas Roske, deliberately and in a premeditated manner, targeted for assassination a Supreme Court justice, Brett Kavanaugh, because of Brett Kavanaugh’s pro-life views. And yet, eight years is the entirety of the sentence that Nicholas Roske has to serve in prison with a lifetime of supervised release,” BlazeTV host Liz Wheeler comments, disturbed.

“Why? Why is that? Well, I’ll tell you why that is. It’s because Nicholas Roske now identifies as a woman. … Nicholas Roske, a biological man, has requested to be called Sophie. We on ‘The Liz Wheeler Show’ will not be honoring that request,” she continues.

Boardman referred to Roske as a transgender woman throughout the hearing, and Roske’s attorneys told the court that Roske goes by the name Sophie and uses female pronouns.

Boardman also claimed that she factored Trump’s executive order requiring transgender inmates to be detained in prisons that correspond to their sex at birth into her decision.

“The judge is worried about his safety if he, as a man, is in a male prison. No worry, though, about the women in the women’s prisons if a biological man is incarcerated with them. Don’t worry about their vulnerability to assault, especially sexual assault. She’s worried about his safety. So she reduced his sentence because she doesn’t like President Trump,” Wheeler explains.

“What she did is she legalized left-wing terrorism,” she continues. “So now, people on the left who are committing acts of violence against us, which is happening on a daily basis right now, now she has signaled to them that as long as you have openly embraced a communist ideology, the neo-Marxist ideology of queer theory, as long as you identify as transgender, then you will be held to a different standard.”

“You will be actually rewarded by our justice system if you commit violence in the name of radical leftist ideology as long as you have put on the mantle of transgenderism,” she adds.

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A man who performed as a drag queen was pulled from a Pride parade after he allegedly confessed to having sex with a 13-year-old child he met on a dating app.

Aubrey Ghalichi, whose real name is Michael Browder, was arrested in September and charged with two counts of sexual conduct with a minor according to court records reviewed by KNXV-TV.

‘The crime alleged is one that we find reprehensible and entirely contrary to what Phoenix Pride stands for.’

The 13-year-old told Phoenix police that he pretended to be 18 years old and sought out two men to have sex with on two different occasions, according to the documents.

He did not know the identities of the men, but police were able to recover one conversation from his laptop. That conversation led to Browder, who was described by police as a “known Phoenix drag queen.”

In a Sept. 16 interview, Browder allegedly admitted to police that he had sex with the boy, but he claimed to have believed he was of legal age. He added that it was so dark in his apartment that it was difficult to ascertain the boy’s age.

He was given a $10,000 bond and would have to satisfy certain conditions if released.

The organizers of the Phoenix Pride Parade announced later that Browder was no longer to appear at the event.

“Out of respect for our community and in alignment with our values, Phoenix Pride has removed Aubrey Ghalichi from this year’s event lineup,” the statement reads. “We are working diligently to update all promotional materials to reflect this change. Some items have already been updated while others distributed by outside advertisers have already gone to print and may still display their name, but please know that they will not be appearing at the Phoenix Pride Festival.”

RELATED: Drag queen performer defends shows for children, says drag shows teach kids that ‘there are no boundaries’

The statement went on to deny “misinformation” that was circulating online.

“It is important to emphasize that this individual has not been convicted of a crime,” they added. “Their removal is based solely on the information currently available to us and our responsibility to ensure a safe and affirming environment for our community. The crime alleged is one that we find reprehensible and entirely contrary to what Phoenix Pride stands for.”

The Phoenix Pride Festival is scheduled for October 18 and 19.

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​Drag queen arrest, Drag queen child sex, Phoenix pride parade, Lgbtq crimes, Politics 

One would think a federal judge trying to block the president from deploying the National Guard to protect federal agents would mark the breaking point for judicial supremacism. Yet the Trump administration still behaves as if the Supreme Court can rescue it from judicial overreach. It cannot. You can’t comply your way out of judicial tyranny, appoint your way past it, or count on the high court to stop it. The judiciary must be delegitimized completely.

Congress passed by overwhelming margins a law banning Chinese-owned TikTok in the United States. President Trump ignored it. He ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to keep the app online, and no one in Washington blinked. The president defied a duly enacted law, extended TikTok’s life beyond the 90-day limit, and still allows just under 20% Chinese ownership. Yet the same Washington class insists that any judge can command the president on immigration, national security, or even his use of the National Guard — and that such rulings are the word of God.

The proper response is not to plead for Supreme Court review — it’s to ignore such rulings outright.

Late Saturday night, U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, ruled that the president lacked authority to deploy the Oregon National Guard to Portland to protect ICE facilities. The same judiciary that called a few hours of chaos on Jan. 6, 2021, an “insurrection” now dismisses eight months of rioting, doxxing, and targeted attacks on ICE agents as “lawful protest.”

On Sunday, Immergut extended her injunction to every state’s National Guard units, even those like Texas, whose governors had granted Trump permission to federalize.

The merits of her decision aren’t the core issue. The problem is structural: Federal courts claim abstract standing to decide national-security questions that belong to elected branches. Judicial power was never meant to work this way.

If a citizen suffers injury, he can seek damages in court. But no judge has constitutional authority to referee political disputes as if she were deciding some sort of civil case between Microsoft and Amazon. The proper response is not to plead for Supreme Court review — it’s to ignore such rulings outright.

If the judiciary holds the final say in every political or constitutional conflict, checks and balances collapse. When judges alone define their own powers and the limits of the other branches, we cease to be a republic and become an unelected oligarchy. Abraham Lincoln, citing Thomas Jefferson, warned that once a free people submits absolutely to any department of government, liberty is lost.

When one branch violates the Constitution, the others — and the people — must push back. The founders never vested final authority in any single branch, least of all the one insulated from elections. Presidents come and go; judges remain for decades, accountable to no voter.

I don’t like that Trump sets tariff rates and hands out exemptions by executive order. He even granted Qatar de facto NATO protection without Senate approval. Those moves deserve political resistance — but not judicial vetoes. Questions of national policy belong to voters and legislators, not to courts hunting for imaginary plaintiffs.

Immergut granted standing to Oregon and Portland to challenge Trump’s finding of a “violent domestic insurrection,” claiming there were only four clashes with federal officers in the prior month. Even if that number were correct, no judge has the power to second-guess an executive’s determination of an uprising. Governments cannot sue one another over political facts. We are either a constitutional republic or a dictatorship of robes.

The founders understood this. James Madison originally proposed that the Supreme Court share a “council of revision” with the president to veto legislation. Once the Constitution created an independent executive with its own veto, no serious thinker imagined adding a judicial one. In 1789, Madison made clear that while courts interpret law in specific cases, no branch “draws from the Constitution greater powers than another in marking out the limits of the several departments.”

RELATED: Americans didn’t elect a Boston judge president

Cemile Bingol via iStock/Getty Images

When branches clash, each uses its own powers to persuade the public. Madison wrote that differences between the legislative and executive “may be an inconvenience not entirely to be avoided.” That friction, he said, reflects the “concurrent right to expound the Constitution.” In other words, conflict is not a crisis — it’s republican government at work.

Today’s judicial supremacy replaces that rough balance with North Korean-style obedience to unelected authority. What’s next? Will judges write the 2026 federal budget while the president and Senate argue?

Waiting for the Supreme Court to reverse rogue lower-court rulings is a fool’s errand. As Justice Samuel Alito warned in Trump v. CASA, class-action suits and nationwide injunctions make such limits meaningless. Even if the high court eventually reverses Immergut, the administration will have wasted precious time and capital — while worse precedents, like birthright citizenship rulings, remain untouched.

How far must this usurpation go before the executive reasserts its authority? Until the presidency and Congress together reject the judiciary’s false supremacy, the United States will remain trapped in a system unworthy of a free people.

​Opinion & analysis, Opinion, Lawfare, Unaccountable judges, Rogue judges, Judicial tyranny, Oregon, Portland, Antifa, Chicago, National guard, Donald trump, Karin immergut, Federal judges, Federal courts, Supreme court, Samuel alito, Trump v. casa 

Shocking texts have sent the Virginia Attorney General election into chaos, after it was revealed that candidate Jay Jones wished harm on rival Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert (R).

“Three people, two bullets,” Jones wrote in a text to House Delegate Carrie Coyner (R).

“Gilbert, hitler, and pol pot,” Jones wrote. “Gilbert gets two bullets to the head.”

“Spoiler: put Gilbert in the crew with the two worst people you know and he receives both bullets every time,” he added.

In response, Coyner asked Jones to stop and said, “It really bothers me when you talk about hurting people or wishing death upon them.”

And in a follow-up conversation with Coyner, she claimed that Jones suggested that if only Gilbert’s wife would be faced with her children dying, her husband might change his political views on gun violence.

“That’s really where it gets dark here, because again, as I said this before, you might have a friend in your group chat that makes inappropriate comments or makes comments that are kind of dark, not always well received by the group. Maybe they think they’re being edgy and funny, that’s one thing to double down on,” BlazeTV host Stu Burguiere says.

“It is another to keep going and talking about that anyway, but then to come up with a logical rationale as to why you think this would be good. When you say, ‘Hey, I want his children to die,’ and then you say, ‘Well, the reason I want that, it’s not just because I’m being mean. It’s because they won’t change their policies unless they feel real personal pain,’” he continues.

“That’s quite the tell. That tells me you’re just a horrible human being,” he adds.

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First lady Melania Trump posted evidence of her victory over a book publisher that apologized for “unverified claims” made in a recent book.

HarperCollins UK Publishers released a statement saying the publishing company removed passages from the book and removed copies of the book with the passages from circulation, according to a post on the first lady’s official social media account.

‘We have, in consultation with the author, removed several passages of the book that referenced unverified claims about the First Lady.’

“Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York” is a biography of Prince Andrew written by Andrew Lownie and was released on Aug. 14.

“We have, in consultation with the author, removed several passages of the book that referenced unverified claims about the First Lady of the United States Melania Trump,” the statement reads. “Copies of the book that include those references are being permanently removed from distribution. HarperCollins UK apologizes to the First Lady.”

The book appeared to make the claim that convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein had first introduced Donald Trump, then a private citizen, to Melania, his future wife.

The claim was repeated by Hunter Biden, the son of former President Joe Biden, in a YouTube video and led to a threat of a lawsuit from the first lady.

“These false, disparaging, defamatory, and inflammatory statements are extremely salacious and have been widely disseminated throughout various digital mediums,” the letter from her attorney reads. “Indeed, the video has since been re-published by various media outlets, journalists, and political commentators with millions of social media followers that have disseminated the false and defamatory statements therein to tens of millions of people worldwide.”

RELATED: Bronze statue of Melania Trump stolen after being sawed off at the ankles

The letter gave Biden a deadline of Aug. 7 for him to meet their requests or face a $1 billion lawsuit. A source close to the matter told Fox News Digital that he did not meet the deadline.

He later offered a flippant response via an interview on a YouTube show.

“F**k that, that’s not going to happen!” he said.

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The city of Portland, Oregon, is allegedly being taken over again by blue-haired Antifa leftists — but of course, officials are claiming that everything is fine.

“Portland is not war-ravaged. There’s no insurrection. There’s no threat to national security, and there’s no need for military troops. Military service members should be dedicated to real emergencies,” Oregon Governor Tina Kotek (D) said in a promotional video.

“It’s like, this is the meme,” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales jokes. “This is literally the ‘everything is fine’ meme. We’re seeing the fire, the fireworks, the Molotov cocktails, the tear gas dispersed, and governor of Oregon says, ‘Everything’s fine.’”

Meanwhile, Antifa has been leading the state through months of unrest — and tax-paying American citizens have had enough of the gaslighting from their local government.

“When you see that Democrat-run cities will not actually handle things, will not actually address things, patriots in this country decided, you know what, we’re going to show up instead,” Gonzales explains, referring to a clip of young men who tried to drown out Antifa by chanting “USA.”

“And you’ve got even more patriots showing up saying, ‘You know what? We’re going to challenge the city of Portland, but we’re going to do it in a respectful, constitutional way. You want to allow Antifa to take over the sidewalks with their medic tents? What happens when we do the same thing?’” she continues.

The host of the “Speak the Truth” podcast, Matt Tardio, is among the patriots standing up to the Oregon government — and he recorded a clip of himself pointing out the “medic tents” that Antifa has set up all over the streets.

“Here’s what we’re going to do, because the Portland police, I don’t think it matters if you want to walk down the street. Antifa is allowed to own this side of the street over here. These are alleged medic tents. So, this is what we’re going to do tomorrow,” Tardio said in the clip.

“This side of the street is going to belong to us because apparently you can just claim sidewalks in Portland as your own and prevent anybody from moving down them. So, my curiosity is simply whether or not we are going to be held to the same standard as Antifa,” he continued.

“Obviously, this should never happen in an American city,” Gonzales comments. “Unfortunately, that is Portland, Oregon, in 2025.”

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The conservative journalist who was arrested over a fight with Antifa protesters in Portland is threatening legal action against the police department and other local officials.

The portion of the scuffle that was recorded on video showed Antifa thugs attacking Sortor before he threw a punch in defense. Police arrested three people, including Sortor, but a district attorney later dropped the charge against the journalist.

‘The arrest was made without probable cause and was clearly in retaliation for his efforts to expose the truth.’

On Monday, Sortor released a letter sent to the police department demanding an investigation into his arrest and also an apology.

“The arrest was made without probable cause and was clearly in retaliation for his efforts to expose the truth about conditions and activity in Portland to the broader public,” reads the letter from Sortor’s attorney.

“The decision to make this arrest does not appear to have been made by a line officer, but rather by or at the direction of a member of the command staff and/or a supervising officer,” the letter continues. “Such an arrest is unconstitutional and deeply troubling.”

The letter goes on to demand an apology within seven days and also the initiation of an internal investigation into his arrest.

“Even more concerning, this incident appears to be part of a larger pattern and practice within the Portland Police Bureau of suppressing and silencing conservative media and political activity,” the letter reads.

The letter concludes by threatening that Sortor would “proceed accordingly” if the demands were not met.

He also posted a filing demanding “all records relating to selective enforcement and COORDINATION with Antifa.”

RELATED: Karoline Leavitt suggests cutting funds to Portland after arrest of conservative journalist during anti-ICE riot

Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images

The district attorney indicated in a press release Monday that his office did not believe there was enough evidence to prove Sortor was guilty of disorderly conduct.

The district attorney did not drop the charges against the other two people arrested. They were identified as 49-year-old Angela Davis and 43-year-old Son Mi Yi.

“Free speech does not include the freedom to commit crimes. It does not matter if an individual is expressing ideology from the left, right, or center,” District Attorney Nathan Vasquez wrote in a statement provided to KOIN-TV.

A Blaze News request for comment to the city attorney’s office was not immediately answered.

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California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) took a shot at a social media post by Senator Jim Banks (R-Ind.) on Monday and implied that Donald Trump was at fault for any “shadiness” with the 2020 census data. However, U.S. Census Bureau data clearly shows that Newsom’s jab is misleading.

“The 2020 Census was a fraud. The Biden admin used a shady ‘privacy’ formula that scrambled the data and miscounted 14 states. It included illegal immigrants and handed Democrats extra seats. Americans deserve a fair count and I’m fighting to fix it,” Banks said in a post on X.

The delivery of apportionment data was ‘shifted 4 months’ from December 28, 2020, to April 26, 2021.

Newsom replied to Banks, saying, “Donald Trump was the President in 2020.”

While Newsom correctly pointed out that Trump was in office in 2020, he misled on who is to blame for faulty calculations in the 2020 census data.

RELATED: Counting on chaos: How census miscounts could decide 2024

— (@)

The census count began in Toksook Bay, Alaska, on January 21, 2020, and generally opened to the public on March 12, 2020. By April 1, 2020, the official Census Day, “most households had received an invitation to participate in the 2020 Census,” according to a government website.

However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, several steps for data collection and reporting to Congress were delayed by months, according to a U.S. Census Bureau schedule fact sheet. For example, the original self-response deadline, July 31, was delayed two and a half months to October 15.

The window for delivering redistricting data, originally scheduled for February 18 to March 31, 2021, was “shifted 6 months” to August 12 to September 16, 2021, the fact sheet said.

Most importantly, however, is the shift of the constitutionally mandated calculation and delivery of census data to Congress. The delivery of apportionment data was “shifted 4 months” from December 28, 2020, to April 26, 2021, the fact sheet noted. By that point, President Trump was no longer in office, and President Joe Biden had taken over.

The Brennan Center for Justice confirmed that then-“Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo delivered the population totals and congressional seat apportionments to President Biden on April 26,” 2021. Biden was then required to “transmit the population totals and seat apportionment to Congress, which will send the governors of each state certificates showing them how many seats their state will have going forward.”

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Attorney General Pam Bondi had a fiery exchange with several Democrats, including Sen. Alex Padilla (D) of California, during her congressional testimony on Tuesday.

Bondi and Padilla sparred when the attorney general called out the Democrat for hypocritically demanding “order” during Tuesday’s hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The two had a tense back-and-forth before Padilla called for order during the hearing despite repeatedly interrupting Bondi whenever she attempted to respond to questions.

‘You stormed the director of Homeland Security.’

Padilla initially asked Bondi whether she thought FBI Director Kash Patel is “doing a good job.”

“I believe Director Patel is doing a great job,” Bondi said.

Bondi then tried to turn the tables, asking, “You know where he is right now, Senator Padilla?” At that point, Padilla tried to interject, but Bondi continued with her thought.

“You asked me a question!” Bondi said after Padilla began talking over her. “Director Patel is in Chicago right now … fighting to keep Chicago safe.”

RELATED: Pam Bondi tears into Democratic senator: ‘I wish you loved Chicago as much as you hate President Trump’

Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Padilla continued talking over the attorney general, yet repeatedly called for “order” before Bondi eventually unloaded on the Democratic senator.

“You know, you want ‘order’ here now, yet you stormed the Director of Homeland Security Kristi Noem,” Bondi said. “You sure didn’t have order that day, did you, Senator?”

Padilla quietly attempted to dismiss Bondi’s claims, despite extensive video evidence depicting his disruptive confrontation with Noem and subsequent detainment back in June.

RELATED: Trump reportedly sends 300 National Guard members to Portland from California — and Democrats are seething

Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images

Padilla originally confronted Noem during a Los Angeles press conference in June about the ongoing protests and riots against Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. Padilla burst into the conference and rushed toward the podium before he was forcefully removed.

Noem claimed she chatted with Padilla after the press conference and even exchanged phone numbers with him, Bill Melugin of Fox News reported at the time. According to Melugin, Noem characterized their conversation as “cordial and beneficial.”

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​Pam bondi, Senate democrats, Dick durbin, Alex padilla, Senate judiciary committee, Donald trump, Trump administration, Kristi noem, Ice raids, Ice, Ice protests, Chicago, Portland, National guard, Migrant crisis, Kash patel, Fbi, Dhs, Politics 

A man was arrested on the steps of St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Washington, D.C., after allegedly refusing to leave when police say they found vials of liquid and possible fireworks in his tent.

Police were on alert because of the upcoming Red Mass, offered for members of the legal profession and where public officials and other prominent attendees receive heightened security. The annual service is scheduled just ahead of the beginning of the U.S. Supreme Court session.

‘The goal is to cause fear. And I’m not afraid. I’m not going to reward threats with their intended reaction.’

Forty-one-year-old Louis Geri of Vineland, New Jersey, was seen loitering outside of the church, so officers approached him at about 6 a.m. on Sunday. They found that he had set up a tent on the steps of the church before police determined that he had been previously banned from the church. When he allegedly refused to leave, he was arrested.

Police then searched the man’s tent and found what were described as vials of liquid and possible fireworks.

The Metropolitan Police Department’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal team and the Arson Task Force responded to the incident as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The entrance to the cathedral was closed while the investigation continued.

Geri was charged with possession of a Molotov cocktail as well as unlawful entry and threats to kidnap or injure a person.

No Supreme Court justices appeared to have attended the Red Mass.

RELATED: Court rules in favor of Catholic school that fired gay drama teacher after he posted about his marriage

Police did not say why Geri had been previously banned from the church.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a devout Catholic, has said the threats made against the Supreme Court would not deter her from her duties.

“You can’t live your life in fear,” she stated. “And I think people who threaten — the goal is to cause fear. And I’m not afraid. I’m not going to reward threats with their intended reaction.”

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PORTLAND, Ore. — “Do you have any weapons on you?” was the first question I was asked by the Federal Protective Service officer as I walked into the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility Sunday.

“No, sir, just reporting equipment,” I replied.

We walked through the winding hallways that lead to the parking garage, giving me my first glimpse of the driveway from behind the fortified gate where Antifa and other anti-ICE protesters had gathered outside once again.

“Time to start your shift!” one protester yelled as we walked to the front office so my backpack could be scanned. In a way, the protester was right.

The ongoing violent protests at the facility in the southern portion of the city in response to President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts have become a months-long problem. The focus on Portland was renewed after Trump said he wanted to deploy the National Guard there to help protect federal assets and personnel.

‘By all means, voice your opinion, but not to a point where you’re restricting the operation here.’

The day of my visit came after a federal judge put a temporary halt on the deployment of Oregon National Guardsmen. The facility had been prepared to receive the reinforcements, but now it was business as usual.

The previous day saw a large number of protesters attempt to block the movement of federal vehicles from the building, resulting in clashes with federal agents and officers who went outside to clear the roadway.

“No one respects you! You don’t even have authority any more!” one protester exclaimed.

The processing site has the look and feel of an outpost in hostile territory. Windows up to the second floor are boarded up, doors are reinforced, meeting rooms are turned into operation and storage centers, and supplies are brought in in bulk. One whiteboard featured a drawn layout of the street and surrounding buildings. Agents from Border Patrol, ICE, HSI, and the Bureau of Prisons come and go.

RELATED: Federal agents clash with mob of Antifa-fueled, anti-ICE protesters in Portland

Image source: Julio Rosas/Blaze Media

The Federal Protective Service is charged with safeguarding the government’s buildings and installations. A lesser-known agency compared to ICE or Border Patrol, FPS has been on the front lines daily since anti-ICE riots broke out over the summer. From Los Angeles to Portland, FPS officers have been working alongside their partner agencies to prevent rioters from damaging government property.

Chris Hayes, FPS assistant director for field operations, told Blaze News that what has stood out to him the most during the months-long protests and riots has been the resiliency of the officers who have been at the forefront of the taxing rotations.

“If I could say one thing [to the protesters]: ‘We’re here for the protection of the facility and to make sure that the operations can continue for the people here. … By all means, voice your opinion, but not to a point where you’re restricting the operation here. Across the street, protest, but allow this facility to do its day-to-day business,'” Hayes said.

Hayes explained that one of the biggest negative effects of the protests has been the public safety of motorists and protesters, since the crowds often spill out into the road while fighting with officers. Sometimes locals unknowingly drive into the chaotic scene, forcing them to hit their brakes or swerve to avoid collisions.

— (@)

The facility’s rooftop hosts agents armed with pepperballs for crowd control and rifles to counter any would-be copycat of the shooter who attacked the ICE facility in Dallas, Texas. The stakes are much higher, as the ICE building in Portland is surrounded by taller apartment buildings and homes up in the hills.

The crowd on Sunday was generally more peaceful compared to other days, until it was time to leave. Federal agents moved outside to clear a path for a vehicle leaving the premises, when some in the crowd instigated a fight. At least three people were arrested and brought inside the holding area to be processed.

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​Politics 

Over the last few months, Glenn Beck has heard many fed-up conservatives float the idea of a “national divorce.” After the slew of left-wing violence, including the murder of Charlie Kirk and the relentless attacks on ICE officers and facilities, he understands their frustration.

However, a national divorce or, more frankly, a civil war “must never be considered,” he says.

Before such talk gets picked up and circulated by the algorithmic powers that create trends by fueling rage, Glenn wants to ensure that his audience has it straight: A national divorce isn’t some new “season of television.” This is about “your life — your ordinary, miraculous, taken-for-granted life — ending.”

“Everything you grew up knowing, believing in, having, having the opportunity to have, be, do — over. It won’t change; it ends. That’s what civil war means,” Glenn warns.

Birthday parties, backyard barbecues, little league, school plays — all “gone,” he says.

“And it doesn’t come back with an election or a speech or a victory parade. It doesn’t come back at all,” he adds.

Our government is special, Glenn reminds: “A government of, for, and by the people has never been done before.”

The people carelessly throwing around the idea of civil war need to understand the reality of what they’re suggesting, he says. “It’s neighbors. It’s cul-de-sacs. It’s the grocery store and the gas station and the pharmacy. It’s the lights you never think about until they don’t turn on, the water you never worry about until it comes out brown, if it comes out at all.”

It means banks shut down, gas stations run dry, 911 call centers don’t answer, pharmacies board up, and grocery store shelves empty and aren’t restocked.

Too many people think their “side” will protect them, but “here’s the truth,” Glenn says: “Sides protect themselves, and both sides will ask you to prove your loyalty with things you promised yourself you would never, ever do. Good people, just like you, will do them because fear is a sculptor, and it carves away at conscience first.”

And then there are “the guests who arrive when a great house is on fire — the cartels, the opportunists, the foreign intelligence services, the war tourists with passports and GoPros.”

“They don’t choose sides. They just choose opportunities and openings,” Glenn warns. “And they open the opportunities you didn’t even know you had — your grid, your water plants, your data center, your port. And they don’t fly flags. They fly yours and then let you blame one another to fuel the fire.”

While “it is reasonable to ask, ‘What do we have in common anymore?’” our next questions should always be: “How can we find common ground? How can we understand each other?”

“Before you retweet bravado, count the cost of where we could be headed — and not in abstract numbers, but in faces: the old man on your street who needs oxygen, the single mom who works at night, the kid who just made the team, the clerk at the corner store,” Glenn urges.

“These are the times that try men’s souls. … Those who stand today and do the hard work — God’s work of love and peacemaking and uniting and speaking the truth — they will be owed a thanks for generations to come. Turn down the algorithm, and turn up the conversation.”

To hear more of Glenn’s passionate monologue, watch the video above.

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A former Biden administration official working on cyber policy says the United States military would have a problem controlling its soldiers’ use of artificial intelligence.

Mieke Eoyang, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for cyber policy during the Joe Biden administration, said that current AI models are poorly suited for use in the U.S. military and would be dangerous if implemented.

‘There are any number of things that you might be worried about.’

With claims of “AI psychosis” and killer robots, Eoyang said the military cannot simply use an existing, public AI agent and morph it into use for the military. This would of course involve giving a chatbot leeway on suggesting the use of violence, or even killing a target.

Allowing for such capabilities is cause for alarm in the Department of Defense, now Department of War, Eoyang claimed.

“A lot of the conversations around AI guardrails have been, how do we ensure that the Pentagon’s use of AI does not result in overkill? There are concerns about ‘swarms of AI killer robots,’ and those worries are about the ways the military protects us,” she told Politico.

“But there are also concerns about the Pentagon’s use of AI that are about the protection of the Pentagon itself. Because in an organization as large as the military, there are going to be some people who engage in prohibited behavior. When an individual inside the system engages in that prohibited behavior, the consequences can be quite severe, and I’m not even talking about things that involve weapons, but things that might involve leaks.”

Perhaps unbeknownst to Eoyang, the Department of War is already working on the development of an internal AI system.

RELATED: War Department contractor warns China is way ahead, and ‘we don’t know how they’re doing it’

GREG BAKER/AFP via Getty Images

According to EdgeRunner CEO Tyler Saltsman, not only is the Department of War not afraid of AI, but it’s “all about it.”

Saltsman just wrapped up a test run with the Department of War during military exercises in Fort Carson, Colorado, and Fort Riley, Kansas. He recently told Blaze News about his offline chatbot, EdgeRunner AI, which is modernizing the delivery of information to on-the-ground troops.

“The Department of War is trying to fortify what their AI strategy looks like; they’re not afraid of it,” Saltsman told Blaze News in response to Eoyang’s claims.

He added, “It’s concerning that folks who are clueless on technology were put in such highly influential positions.”

In her interview, Eoyang — a former MSNBC contributor — also raised concerns about operational security and that “malicious actors” could get “their hands on” AI tools used by the U.S. military.

“There are any number of things that you might be worried about. There’s information loss; there’s compromise that could lead to other, more serious consequences,” she said.

RELATED: ‘They want to spy on you’: Military tech CEO explains why AI companies don’t want you going offline

Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images

These valid concerns were seemingly put to bed by Saltsman when he previously revealed to Blaze News that EdgeRunner AI would remain completely offline.

The entrepreneur even advocated for publicly available AI models to offer an offline version that users can pay for and keep. Alternatives, he explained, “want your data, they want your prompts, they want to learn more about you.”

“They want to spy on you,” he added.

Saltsman recently announced a partnership with Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta that will see the technology shared with military allies across the world.

“It’s important for the government to partner with industry and academia and have joint-force operations in this field,” he told Blaze News. “I’m thankful for Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and all he is doing to reshape the DOW and help it become more effective.”

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A former sixth-grade teacher in Ohio recently pleaded guilty to sex crimes against an underage female.

As Blaze News reported in August, 41-year-old Stefanie Erin Kellenberger pleaded guilty to four counts of third-degree felony sexual battery and 17 counts of third-degree felony unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.

‘I know that during this time, you were just a child, and I was an adult in a position of trust.’

Kellenberger on Monday was sentenced to 15 years in prison for having an illicit sexual relationship with a minor, the Richland Source reported. Kellenberger may be granted a judicial release after a decade if she doesn’t commit any other offenses.

Judge Brent Robinson delivered a stern warning to Kellenberger.

“Don’t let anybody be confused, this is a 15-year prison sentence with the hope that you come back in 10 years, and you’ve been a model inmate — you’ve done everything you were supposed to do, you haven’t got in any trouble at all,” Robinson stated during the sentencing hearing.

Kellenberger must register as a Tier-3 sex offender. She also was ordered to have no contact with the victim or any other minors. The former middle school teacher also must forever forfeit her teaching license.

During the sentencing hearing, Kellenberger apologized to her victim — who was her daughter’s underage babysitter.

“I know that during this time, you were just a child, and I was an adult in a position of trust,” Kellenberger said, according to the Source. “I’m responsible for everything that happened between us.”

Kellenberger continued, “I’m so sorry for all of the emotional pain and hurt that I’ve caused you.”

“I hope that my guilty pleas and this sentence will provide some degree of closure for you as you move on with your life,” Kellenberger stated. “I fully accept the consequences of my actions and the sentence that I will be receiving today.”

RELATED: Ex-teacher pleads guilty to sex with 11-year-old at ‘play dates,’ blamed boy for advances, sent him hundreds of dollars: Cops

Photo by halbergman via iStock / Getty Images

Kellenberger formerly was a sixth-grade English teacher at Shelby Middle School.

According to the Mansfield News Journal, Robinson told Kellenberger during her trial that “you had been a teacher. She had been a student. But at the time these occurred, you were not her teacher, and she was not your student.”

Bryan Dove, an assistant prosecutor for Richland County, alleged that Kellenberger began grooming the girl when she was just 13 years old and that the child sex abuse began when the victim turned 14.

“The relationship continued until the age of consent,” Dove told the judge.

Ohio law declares that 16 years old is the age of consent.

Prosecutors noted that there was “no use of force” by Kellenberger.

James Mayer III, Kellenberger’s defense attorney, stressed that “consent was never an issue in this case. It’s an age thing.”

The sexual abuse allegations surfaced in February 2024, and school officials placed Kellenberger on paid administrative leave.

Shelby City Schools Superintendent Michael Browning sent a letter to parents in October 2024 regarding the eye-opening allegations against Kellenberger.

“As a follow-up to the communication sent on March 4, 2024, I have been informed that the staff member placed on administrative leave following serious allegations has been arrested, and criminal charges have been brought against them,” Browning stated, according to a separate story by the Source. “This news may be unsettling, especially for families with children in our schools.”

The Mansfield News Journal reported that Kellenberger resigned in October 2024 “due to personal reasons.”

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