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Americans seeking mental health or addiction treatment often encounter a system that claims to coordinate care but rarely delivers it quickly. As demand for behavioral health services rises, a basic question deserves a clear answer: Who actually controls behavioral health care in the U.S., and is that control helping or hurting patients in crisis?

When someone finally reaches out for help, he encounters waiting lists, paperwork, and network gaps that push him toward emergency care or no care at all.

Nevada offers a revealing case study. The state’s Department of Health and Human Services certifies programs and distributes federal grants. County and regional commissions convene advisory meetings to reflect local priorities. Medicaid sets reimbursement rates and payment timelines. Managed-care organizations impose prior authorizations that can delay or deny treatment. Each layer is designed to promote accountability. Together, they often produce delays.

The result is not a coordinated system but a fragmented patchwork of public agencies, insurers, and contractors. Federal funding arrives with compliance requirements that consume clinicians’ time. States enact parity laws to ensure mental health and substance abuse treatment is covered like other medical care. Legislatures debate how to curb investor influence over clinical decisions, insisting that licensed professionals — not financial managers — direct care.

These tensions are unfolding as Washington rethinks the structure of federal health policy. The proposed Administration for a Healthy America would consolidate agencies such as the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration into a single entity. Supporters promise efficiency; critics warn that consolidation could slow local responses.

At the state level, the policy picture is equally unsettled. In 2025, lawmakers across the country revised behavioral health statutes with competing priorities: workforce shortages, crisis response systems, parity enforcement, and the elimination of out-of-pocket costs. Some states strengthened insurance mandates. Others reconstructed governance and funding to regain control over fragmented delivery systems.

Federal policy choices loom over the whole picture. Potential Medicaid funding cuts and weaker enforcement of mental health parity threaten access as demand continues to rise. Proposed budget changes could reduce support for community mental health clinics, suicide prevention programs, and substance abuse treatment — services that are often the last line of defense before emergency rooms or jails.

RELATED: AI in education: Innovation or a predator’s playground? | Blaze Media

Shelby Tauber/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Technology adds another complication. States are beginning to regulate artificial intelligence in behavioral health, with some banning AI-driven psychotherapy outright and others exploring guardrails for diagnostic or treatment support tools. These debates reflect a larger concern: the potential for innovation to replace clinicians or create unregulated substitutes for human judgment.

What patients experience is the cumulative effect of misaligned authority. Financial power, regulatory oversight, and clinical delivery point in different directions. When someone finally reaches out for help, he encounters waiting lists, paperwork, and network gaps that push him toward emergency care or no care at all.

Reform should start with three principles. First, policymakers must reduce administrative burdens that trap providers in compliance while patients wait. Second, insurance reforms must deliver real parity in access — not just coverage on paper. Third, oversight should protect quality while allowing local systems to innovate and respond quickly to community needs.

Behavioral health care is not a niche service. It is a public safety imperative and a core function of a serious health system. Until policy shifts its focus from control to care, patients will continue to pay the price.

​Healthcare, Behavioral health, Bureaucracy, Addiction, Drug policy, Medical, Regulations, Opinion & analysis 

Bruce Springsteen recently released a stand-alone protest single titled “Streets of Minneapolis,” which strongly criticizes Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics.

In the song, the washed-up has-been condemns what he dubs “state terror” in Minneapolis, memorializes Renee Good and Alex Pretti (two anti-ICE agitators who were killed by law enforcement), and condemns “King Trump,” Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.

On a recent episode of “Pat Gray Unleashed,” Pat and co-hosts Keith Malinak and Jeffy unload on the Boss’ latest flop.

Pat and the panel can’t help but howl in laughter at the out-of-touch millionaire’s cheap agitprop lyrics:

[Verse 1]

Through the winter’s ice and cold

Down Nicollet Avenue

A city aflame fought fire and ice

‘Neath an occupier’s boots

King Trump’s private army from the DHS

Guns belted to their coats

Came to Minneapolis to enforce the law

Or so their story goes.

“He took a Daily Beast story, read it, and put some music underneath it,” laughs Pat.

Jeffy says that the faded celebrity clown has been algorithmically boosted on social media recently. “He’s been making the rounds on my algorithm lately for some of his performances as of late, and he looks terrible,” he giggles, noting that social media comments regularly compare him to “Biden walking around with his shirt unbuttoned.”

Keith quips that Springsteen’s song is so bad it makes “gold” of Bon Jovi’s COVID-era “Do What You Can” track, in which the hair metal sellout sang, “Although I’ll keep my social distance / What this world needs is a hug / Until we find the vaccination / There’s no substitute for love.”

When compared to Springsteen’s woke ditty, “that should be Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-worthy,” he mocks.

Catch the full panel’s savage, laugh-out-loud takedown of Springsteen’s embarrassing woke protest rant in the episode above.

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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.

​Pat gray unleashed, Pat gray, Patheads, Blazetv, Blaze media, Bruce springsteen, Bruce springsteen politics, Bon jovi, Springsteen, Classic rock, Music, Woke music 

American religious history is littered with cult leaders who promised a blessed life through deviant sexuality. From the earliest frontier movements to the modern era, the pattern is remarkably consistent: a charismatic figure announces that traditional Christian morality is oppressive, outdated, or unnatural — and that true freedom, enlightenment, or spiritual power is found through sexual transgression.

Today’s polygamy apologists are not offering anything new. Like cult leaders before them, they package sexual license as enlightenment and rebellion as honesty.

The sexual revolution of the 1960s can be understood as a much larger cultural wave of the same desire. “Any way you want it, that’s the way you need it,” became a slogan of liberation, echoing the older Luciferian maxim, “Do what thou wilt.” The point was not merely freedom from social constraints, but freedom from moral law itself.

The LGBTQ+ movement followed this trajectory and intensified it by questioning the very idea of nature altogether. Gender was no longer something discovered or received but something invented by the autonomous mind. Reality itself became plastic, malleable to inner desire. If the mind declares it, then it must be so.

That impulse represents the more openly “liberal” side of the sexual revolution. But today we are witnessing what some might call a more “conservative” version gaining traction: a renewed interest in polyamory and polygamy. This, too, bears all the classic marks of rejecting Christian marriage — only now it does so in a more crafty way, cloaking itself in appeals to nature, history, and even Scripture. This camouflage makes it especially dangerous.

The first move modern polygamy advocates is an appeal to what comes naturally. Men, we are told, are not designed to be with just one woman for life. What is the proof? Male desire. Men experience lust for multiple women; therefore, monogamy must be unnatural.

This argument collapses on closer inspection. It amounts to saying that because men experience disordered desire, they should not be expected to govern it. Lust becomes its own justification. By this logic, no appetite — sexual or otherwise — should ever be restrained. Gluttony, rage, greed, and violence would all be “natural” simply because they occur.

Others dress this same claim in evolutionary language. Men, we are told, are merely advanced apes whose biological purpose is to spread their seed as widely as possible. This argument is simply an abdication of moral reasoning. If evolutionary impulse defines moral obligation, then fidelity, sacrifice, and self-control become irrational. Civilization itself becomes a mistake.

Proponents of polygamy then pivot to the Bible. Didn’t Jacob have two wives? Didn’t David have many? And Solomon more than all of them?

Therefore — what, exactly?

These are not normative examples for the Christian. Scripture never presents polygamy as an ideal. At best, it records God’s tolerance of sinful arrangements within a fallen world, never His approval. In fact, the biblical record consistently highlights the misery, injustice, and disorder produced by polygamous households. The entire account of Jacob having children with four women is an account of their contest and jealousy.

Most strikingly, the very man most often invoked by modern apologists — Solomon — is the author of Scripture’s greatest celebration of monogamous love: the Song of Solomon. The man with many wives wrote the Bible’s most eloquent testimony to exclusive devotion between one man and one woman. That irony should give pause.

From the beginning, marriage was instituted as a one-flesh union. One man. One woman. One covenant. When adultery occurs,it is not the creation of a new marriage but the violation of an existing one. Bringing in a third, fourth, or fifth person breaks the union between one man and one woman as the man moves on to the next woman. This is why God uses adultery as His primary image for Israel’s sin. The prophets do not praise Israel’s “polyamory” with other gods; they condemn it as betrayal.

RELATED: Michael Knowles explains why he isn’t a Christian Zionist

Photo by Olivier Touron/AFP via Getty Images

In the New Testament, Jesus explicitly reaffirms this creational order. Appealing not to cultural norms but to Genesis itself, He teaches that from the beginning God made them male and female and that the two — not three, not many — become one flesh. Jesus was perfectly aware that pagans often practiced polygamy.

Paul makes this even more explicit in 1 Timothy 3. As the gospel advances into pagan cultures where polygamy existed, Paul does not relax the standard for Christian leadership. An elder must be the husband of one wife. Polygamist marriages of people who converted to Christianity were not dissolved, but they were not held up as ideal in the place of Christian marriage, which points us to Christ’s monogamous love for his church. A man should have known better, even as a pagan, and thus Christian leadership was preserved for those who understood what marriage pointed toward from the beginning.

From beginning to end, the biblical story is monogamous. The Old Testament image of God and Israel gives way to the New Testament image of Christ and His bride, the church. History itself culminates not in a harem, but in a wedding: the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Christ has a bride — not brides.

Today’s polygamy apologists are not offering anything new. Like cult leaders before them, they package sexual license as enlightenment and rebellion as honesty. Like wolves in sheep’s clothing, they aim not at hardened skeptics but at the unguarded and naïve.

Christians must be better equipped. Know the Scriptures. Understand the arguments. Do not be deceived by appeals to desire dressed up as nature or sin disguised as tradition. The sexual revolution — whether “progressive” or “conservative” — always ends the same way: with broken people, broken families, and broken faith.

Truth, by contrast, calls us not to indulge our lusts, but to master them. The Christian marriage points us to Christ’s monogamous love for his church.

​Polygamy, Bible, Christianity, Lgbtq, Cult, Sexual revolution, Solomon, Monogamy, Biblical marriage, Opinion & analysis 

The head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services posted a video exposing alleged government funding fraud in Los Angeles, and the Democratic governor instead opened an investigation into the “racially charged” allegations.

CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz posted a video on his Instagram account showing businesses in Van Nuys that he suspected were fronts for criminal activity and fraud.

‘Given the historic sensitivities involved, we are taking these allegations seriously. Any and all acts of hate have no place in California.’

“What we have learned, there’s roughly $3.5 billion of fraud taking place here in Los Angeles, in hospice and home care,” Oz said. “It’s run, quite a bit of it, by the Russian-Armenian mafia; you notice the lettering and language behind me.”

He called L.A. County the “epicenter” for health care fraud in America.

“Criminals have corrupted the system so much that fraud is now almost expected,” he added. “President Trump has made it clear: We will not tolerate the patient harm or taxpayer funded theft any longer. More to come.”

However, the targeting of Armenian business owners by Oz, who is Turkish-American, led many to believe they were being racially discriminated against.

Rather than look into the claims of fraud, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said he would investigate Dr. Oz.

“Our office is reviewing reports that Dr. Mehmet Oz targeted the Armenian American community in Southern California recently — making racially charged claims of fraud outside Armenian-owned businesses, including a popular bakery,” he posted on social media.

“Given the historic sensitivities involved, we are taking these allegations seriously,” he added. “Any and all acts of hate have no place in California.”

RELATED: Entire board of directors at charter school resigns after allegations of massive fraud scheme

Newsom was referring to hostility between Armenians and Turkish people over the 1.5 million Armenians that were killed beginning in 1915 by the Ottoman Empire, which is now Turkey.

Dr. Oz fired back at the governor.

“If there were a real defense for California’s fraud crisis, we’d hear it. CMS and law enforcement will keep doing the actual work: going after fraudsters, period.”

Garen Janbachian with the Armenian National Committee of America told KNBC-TV that the community was outraged that Oz was singling them out, and they denied allegations of fraud.

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​Dr. mehmet oz vs armenians, Armenian turkey conflict, Gavin newsom vs dr oz, Armenian business fraud, Politics 

While many on the left expressed outrage at the shooting reported near the U.S.-Mexico border by federal agents, the sister of the man shot says he’s “no victim.”

Very few details were initially available when the shooting 10 miles from the border was reported on Tuesday. One person was shot at about 7:30 a.m. and was in serious but stable condition.

‘He is no victim. He is a violent person. That’s who he always has been.’

The man was later identified as 34-year-old Patrick Gary Schlegel. Police said he had an active warrant for human trafficking when he was stopped and that two men rushed out of his truck after he drove away.

He eventually ran out of the truck and fired gunshots in the direction of a police helicopter pursuing him, which led to his getting shot and being injured in the leg and head.

Amber Schlegel, the man’s sister, told KOLD-TV Wednesday that he had placed many people in danger through his actions.

“To hear that he’s back running illegals again didn’t surprise me, but to hear that he actually fired at federal agents — that took me by surprise,” she said. “He is no victim. He is a violent person. That’s who he always has been.”

She said that she had already sought a protection order against him when he threatened her for speaking out against him.

“He’s where he should be,” she added. “Whether he recovers or not, he needs to be locked up for a very long time.”

Police said they found a handgun, a .45 pistol, and a cell phone in Schlegel’s possession.

RELATED: More UNHINGED anti-ICE extremist footage: ‘I am a liberal, leftist, pagan, lesbian, transgender woman, and witch!’

The two men who were in his truck allegedly told police that they had paid Schlegel to bring them across the border. One claimed to have paid $8,000, while the other said he paid him $14,000.

The man is charged with assault on a federal officer and had many other previous run-ins with the law.

“Schlegel has a significant criminal history to include an active federal arrest warrant issued in 2025 by the U.S. Marshals Service for escape related to a previous smuggling conviction,” said Heith Janke, FBI special agent in charge in Phoenix.

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​Border patrol shooting, Arivaca border shooting, Patrick gary schlegel, Human smuggler shot at border, Politics 

If you were to turn conservative media off and instead tune in to the opinions of celebrities and the mainstream media, BlazeTV host Stu Burguiere points out that you’d realize that “the skepticism that you might feel about the media’s coverage of these types of incidents when we’re talking about ICE murdering people does not exist in most people’s world.”

“They see the video maybe one time. They see everyone posting all these things, and they just assume with 100% certainty that this is murder, and all these things were murder, and the Gestapo is out in Minnesota, and they’re killing everybody,” he explains.

One celebrity giving his followers the impression that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is in fact the Gestapo is actor Pedro Pascal, who recently posted on Instagram a list of the nine people he claims have been killed by ICE in just 2026 alone.

“I bet you all of those people were not actually murdered by ICE. … So let’s go through all the names. This is going to be very interesting and maybe a little misleading. Now before I do it, I want to tell you there’s no way Pedro Pascal did what we’re about to do,” Stu says, before beginning with the names that are not Renee Good or Alex Pretti.

Geraldo Lunas Campos, 55, was an illegal immigrant being detained at an ICE detention center. His death was ruled a homicide.

“This in theory could fit the post. … In theory, you could say, ‘OK, this guy was murdered by ICE.’ Maybe that’s true. And despite what I’m about to tell you, if that is true, the people responsible for that should be charged with crimes. That is how these things should happen,” Stu says.

“I will say, your sympathy factor for him may be slightly diminished when I tell you he had prior convictions, including sexual contact with a minor. So we’re talking about someone who was charged with child molestation … they don’t put that in the Instagram post though. They just put the name,” he explains.

The next name is Keith Porter Jr., who was killed by an off-duty ICE officer on New Year’s Eve.

“Well what if I were to tell you that yes, an ICE agent did shoot the person, but that ICE agent was off-duty, not working for ICE at the time. … He was in his home and heard multiple gun shots and believed there was an active shooter outside. So he went out to try to help the situation and saw a man with a rifle and wound up shooting him,” Stu explains.

In the reports on the story, it’s also revealed that “Porter’s loved ones and advocates say that they believe he was ringing in the New Year by firing a gun into the air.”

“Of course, shooting your gun into the air to celebrate New Year’s is a very dangerous act and also a crime. You’re not allowed to do that at all,” Stu says.

Parady La is the next name on the list, and he comes with a multi-decade criminal record outside of the fact that he was here illegally. La died in ICE custody while going through severe withdrawal from opioids and was found unresponsive in his cell. Attempts to save him failed.

Luis Beltran Yanez Cruz is also on the list, and he died after being admitted to a hospital for health-related issues. He had a heart attack in prison. The next name is Luis Gustavo Nunez Caceras, and he also died after being treated for chronic heart-related health issues.

“Then we have Heber Sanchez Dominguez … he was an illegal immigrant, of course, but he also was driving without a license. Is that enough to murder a man in prison? I don’t know. You’d have to ask him because he killed himself,” Stu explains.

The next name on the list, Victor Manuel Diaz, also killed himself.

“Now it’s possible we might find out later on that he didn’t kill himself and that ICE agents came in, grappled him, murdered him, hung him from his cell. Those things might be possible, and we might know them in investigation, but it’s obviously misleading and obviously wrong when all the evidence we have to this point indicates that some of these people killed themselves,” Stu says.

“Some of them had heart attacks,” he says, adding, “This is insanity.”

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​Camera phone, Free, Video, Video phone, Upload, Sharing, Youtube.com, Stu does america, Stu burguiere, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Ice, Ice shooting, Illegal immigration, Illegal immigrants, Pedro pascal, Leftist celebrities 

The defense team for Jan. 6 D.C. pipe-bomb suspect Brian Cole Jr. accused the U.S. Department of Justice of being “reckless” by insinuating that Cole’s sister and grandmother were somehow involved in the crime.

Defense attorney J. Alex Little filed an 11-page rebuttal of the DOJ’s recent 39-page opposition memo, which seeks to prevent Cole’s release from jail pending trial.

‘It is an unjustified deprivation of liberty.’

Oral arguments on the question were held before U.S. District Judge Amir Ali on Jan. 28. The judge said he would issue a ruling later. On Jan. 16, Judge Ali denied an emergency motion for Cole’s release from custody. The judge set a status hearing for Feb. 27.

Cole was arrested Dec. 4 on a criminal complaint alleging that he planted pipe bombs behind the Democratic National Committee building and near the Republican National Committee building between 7:54 p.m. and 8:16 p.m. on Jan. 5, 2021. In January 2026, he was indicted by a federal grand jury and charged with two explosives-related crimes.

‘Resorts to insinuation’

Near the end of its Jan. 23 memo opposing Cole’s release from jail pending trial, the DOJ mentioned that Cole’s sister texted her mother that she was going into D.C. on Jan. 5, 2021. Brittany Cole texted her mother that her grandmother cautioned her there could be protests.

“Unable to identify an actual, present threat, the government resorts to insinuation. It closes its response by suggesting that Mr. Cole’s sister and grandmother may have been involved in the charged conduct,” Little wrote.

“Its proof? Text messages showing that Mr. Cole’s sister — a club promoter who frequently works in Washington D.C. — told her mother she was going to the city, and that her grandmother had warned it might be crowded,” he wrote.

The DOJ memo also mentioned that Cole sent texts to his mother in the days leading up to Jan. 6. There was no mention of the content of those messages. Little said this reference baselessly suggested something nefarious.

A federal grand jury charged Brian Cole Jr. with two explosives-related charges, alleging he planted pipe bombs on Capitol Hill on Jan. 5, 2021. FBI, Prince William County photos

The DOJ said Cole’s sister texted their mother at 4:17 p.m. Jan. 5, writing: “I’m going to dc…Grams said it may be crazy out there so I was just letting you know.” The sister “sent a text message to the defendant a few hours earlier, at approximately 12:39 p.m. on Jan. 5,” the DOJ memo read.

“That is not evidence of involvement. Nor is it evidence of dangerousness,” Little countered. “It is family checking in with each other. The government’s decision to publicly imply, with no factual basis, that these private citizens are connected to domestic terrorism is reckless and reveals how little actual evidence it has that Mr. Cole poses a continuing danger.”

Brittany Cole provided an affidavit on Jan. 27 stating that her job as a concert promoter took her to D.C. that afternoon and that her trip had nothing to do with Jan. 6 or the crimes her brother is accused of.

‘Unable to identify an actual, present threat, the government resorts to insinuation.’

“As part of my work, I routinely had meetings and would attend events in the Washington D.C. area,” she wrote. “I attended these meetings and events as a networking event for my work and the nightclubs I marketed before.”

Tim Lauer, director of external affairs at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, told Blaze News, “When a defendant claims he should be released into the custody of his family, there will inevitably be a court discussion about the appropriateness of that release.”

For nearly a month, the two sides in the pipe-bombs case have argued whether Cole should be held behind bars until trial. The government insists that Cole is so dangerous that no combination of supervision or monitoring could adequately protect the public.

The DOJ said Cole had purchased other items besides the alleged bomb-making components used for the pipe bombs. This included a pressure cooker on July 25, 2020, a funnel and canning jar on Jan. 28, 2021, nails on Feb. 10, 2021, four alarm clocks and duct tape on March 28, 2020, and three analog wristwatches in 2020 and 2021.

Little said the pressure cooker was purchased to cook meals and was not some kind of bomb component.

“Mr. Cole explained during his interrogation that he bought it for the house for cooking, and there is no evidence it has ever been used for anything else,” Little wrote, noting that “millions of Americans own pressure cookers.”

Police walked right past DNC pipe bomb to first look under a bush where bomber sat 17 hours earlier. Photos by U.S. Capitol Police

“The government’s inclusion of this item in a list of purported ‘bomb-making components’ is the kind of innuendo that pervades its argument — suggestive without context but unsupported by any actual evidence,” Little said.

In numerous filings with the court, the DOJ said Cole “used beaker sets to conduct another science experiment to create potassium chlorate,” a chemical “oxidizing agent commonly used in explosives.” This experiment was done sometime after Jan. 5, the DOJ said.

Little said the DOJ “has the timeline wrong.”

‘There is significant evidence of the defendant’s continued interest in bomb-making.’

“This experiment occurred years before the charged conduct, not after,” Little wrote. “During his interview, Mr. Cole described the experiment in detail: He used beakers and got bleach on the carpet. The government’s own discovery confirms that the beakers the government describes were purchased in 2018.”

Cole’s mother, Delicia Cole, provided an affidavit stating, “In or before 2018, while living in my home, Brian attempted a science experiment to create homemade ‘rocket fuel.’” Her son’s attempt to make rocket fuel “was an innocuous science experiment without any ill intent,” Delicia Cole wrote.

Little said the DOJ has provided no forward-looking evidence of Cole being a danger to society. He said his client is willing to be placed under the strictest release conditions, including home detention and GPS monitoring.

“Mr. Cole’s alleged conduct occurred more than five years ago. He has done nothing dangerous since,” Little wrote. “He has no criminal history, strong community ties, and family — including a retired law enforcement officer — willing to ensure his compliance.”

‘Deprivation of liberty’

Given Cole’s willingness to submit to comprehensive release conditions, Little said that continued detention of his client “is not the ‘carefully limited exception’ the Constitution requires — it is an unjustified deprivation of liberty.”

The DOJ cited Cole’s alleged history of purchasing bomb-making components, his alleged confession, and a nearly five-year effort to avoid law enforcement as factors showing he is a danger to society and must remain in custody.

“There is significant evidence of the defendant’s continued interest in bomb-making, and there are concrete reasons to doubt that the defendant will abide by release conditions or that a third-party custodian will effectively monitor him,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles R. Jones wrote in a memo opposing Cole’s release.

“On this record, and given the statutory presumption of detention, there is clear and convincing evidence that no combination of conditions will reasonably assure the community’s safety if the defendant is released,” Jones wrote.

A U.S. Capitol Police bomb robot (center) responds to the Democratic National Committee building on Jan. 6, 2021. Photos by FBI, U.S. Capitol Police

Little scoffed at the idea that his client evaded law enforcement for nearly five years.

“The government paints him as a criminal mastermind who engaged in a sustained effort to avoid apprehension. But the government’s own evidence tells a different story,” Little wrote.

While the DOJ said Cole “wiped” his Samsung cell phone more than 940 times, Little said that began 18 months after Jan. 5. “If Mr. Cole were trying to destroy evidence of the January 5, 2021, offense, one would expect the wiping to begin immediately afterward, not 18 months later,” Little said.

“The government’s own discovery shows that Mr. Cole purchased CCleaner, an application that advertises its ability to make phones and computers operate faster by cleaning out junk files,” Little wrote. “According to Mr. Cole’s interview, he understood it to be antivirus software.

“According to the government, beginning in July 2022, he started compulsively using the cleaning function — a pattern consistent with his documented OCD.”

The defense submitted an affidavit of Maryland neuropsychologist David O. Black, who said he diagnosed Cole with autism spectrum disorder, level 1, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

“Over the past several years, Mr. Cole has repetitively wiped his phone of junk files,” Black wrote. “Repetitive behavior of this nature is consistent with behavior that is often seen in obsessive-compulsive disorder.”

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​Jan. 6, Politics 

Podcast giant Joe Rogan is leaning on investigative reporting from independent journalists to find the truth about left-wing protests in Minnesota.

Chats on the Signal messenger app that were “infiltrated” by reporter Cam Higby showed that a complex and coordinated network of left-wing groups have been working together to allegedly impede federal operations in Minnesota.

‘The idea that this is an organic protest — these riots are organic — is nonsense.’

The chats, reviewed by Fox News, allegedly detailed socialist, communist, and Marxist-Leninist cells in the United States organizing protests after the death of Alex Pretti. In fact, the report said that agitators were already mobilized to the scene of the death before it happened.

Color me shocked

Rogan explained on his podcast that the riots and anti-government protests in the state are akin to a color revolution, which he described as a “a coordinated effort to cause chaos.”

“This is a very coordinated thing,” Rogan told commentator Andrew Wilson on episode No. 2444 of “The Joe Rogan Experience.”

“The idea that this is an organic protest — these riots are organic — is nonsense. It’s provably nonsense because now they have access to the Signal chats,” he continued.

Rogan made it clear that he did not believe that Pretti should have been shot but said he understands that federal agents were operating under chaotic circumstances.

RELATED: Klobuchar running for Minnesota governor on anti-ICE platform

‘Coordinated effort’

The Austin-based comic made the distinction that it was not Immigration and Customs Enforcement that shot Pretti, rather it was Customs and Border Protection that was brought in to assist ICE.

These agents have been “harassed outside of any hotel they’re at. People blow horns. They try to smash into the hotel. They doxx them,” Rogan explained, which he said is the reason why so many agents are wearing masks.

“It’s a coordinated effort.”

Pretti was reported to have a gun with two magazines on him at the time of his death; Rogan, who has displayed intricate knowledge of weapons over the years, discussed the nuances of concealed carry licenses with Wilson, who said he had experience in teaching weapons training.

“If you know anything about concealed carry, if you are a concealed carry holder and you are carrying not just a pistol, but two full magazines as well, you do not ever physically engage with someone,” Rogan explained. “You also are supposed to carry your license on you, and you’re supposed to have ID on you.”

Pretti was reportedly not carrying ID on him at the time of his death.

Rogan went on, “When you go to what’s supposed to be a peaceful protest and you’re fully armed like that with two magazines, it’s kind of crazy, right? Like … why do you need so many bullets?”

RELATED: ‘More arrests to come’: Bondi shares photos of anti-ICE agitators now charged with crimes

Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP via Getty Images

Welcome diversion

The comedian was careful not to get himself into legal battles over the story but overall cited the riots in Minnesota as distractions that have been welcomed to draw attention away from billions in fraud abuse in the state.

“There would be a reason why you would want to distract from all that fraud,” he added.

Recently new footage of Pretti from 11 days before his death has surfaced. The video showed Pretti swearing at federal agents, spitting at them, and even kicking the taillight off of a vehicle containing federal agents as it was driving away.

Outlets and witnesses had previously described Pretti as simply a “calm observer.”

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​Politics, Joe rogan, Andrew wilson, Gun rights, Second amendment, Alex pretti, Ice, Dhs, Immigration, Minnesota, Entertainment 

President Donald Trump skipped over some key Cabinet secretaries on Thursday, leaving onlookers to speculate about who may be on the outs.

During the 10th Cabinet meeting of his second term, Trump wrapped up the gathering after a prompt hour and 20 minutes. Trump made the exceedingly rare decision not to take questions at the end of the meeting, and those tuning in noticed he skipped over some high-profile officials who are currently under intense scrutiny.

‘Noem has come under fire from both Democrats and some Republicans.’

The most notable Cabinet official who seems to have been snubbed was Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who is at the center of a PR firestorm following another fatal shooting of an anti-ICE agitator in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Noem and other officials like top White House adviser Stephen Miller caught flak for their immediate categorization of Alex Pretti, calling him a “would-be assassin” who committed acts of “domestic terrorism.” Footage has since emerged of a man believed to be Pretti spitting on federal agents and kicking the taillights out of a government vehicle just days before he was fatally shot following another altercation.

RELATED: ‘Justice is coming’: Border czar Tom Homan vows to stay in Minneapolis ‘until the problem is gone’

Yuri Gripas/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Despite these new revelations, Noem has come under fire from both Democrats and some Republicans. The Trump administration has since swapped out Noem’s leadership on the ground, reassigning Chief Greg Bovino and bringing border czar Tom Homan onto the operation.

Trump also glossed over Attorney General Pam Bondi, whose first year in office has been primarily plagued by frustration over the handling of the Epstein files. Similarly, Bondi is now being criticized for the perceived inaction amid the situation in Minneapolis after she touted another “very strong letter” she sent to Democratic Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota.

While Noem and Bondi have received negative press for their professional duties, Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s personal life has been the focal point of a recent scandal.

Multiple department staff have been put on leave in recent weeks after an inspector general’s investigation was launched into Chavez-DeRemer’s alleged misconduct. The probe alleges that two staff members engaged in “travel fraud” by scheduling professional events as an excuse for personal travel while Chavez-DeRemer reportedly had an “inappropriate” relationship with a subordinate.

Although an internal investigation is ongoing, Chavez-DeRemer’s lack of participation during the Cabinet meeting is notable.

RELATED: ‘Horrifying situation’: Some Republicans retreat following Minneapolis shooting of anti-ICE agitator

Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Another Cabinet member who refrained from speaking during Thursday’s meeting was Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Rubio has been center stage in the news cycle for weeks following the capture of Nicolas Maduro and as tensions in Iran escalate.

While Trump did not ask Rubio to speak, Rubio did spend hours testifying on Capitol Hill Wednesday in defense of the administration and its agenda.

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​Kristi noem, Pam bondi, Lori chavez-deremer, Stephen miller, Minnesota, Minneapolis, Renee good, Alex pretti, Anti-ice, Marco rubio, Donald trump, Trump cabinet, Cabinet meeting, Dhs, Ice, Tom homan, Greg bovino, Politics 

As agitators continue to interrupt federal immigration operations in Minnesota, the state’s governor is tossing gasoline on the conflagration by implying a civil war is erupting.

Democratic Gov. Tim Walz asked if the violence in Minnesota was akin to that at Fort Sumter, which famously precipitated the Civil War of the 1860s.

‘That is literally the dumbest f**king thing anyone has ever said in the history of anything.’

“I mean, is this a Fort Sumter?” Walz asked rhetorically in an interview with the Atlantic.

“It’s a physical assault,” he added. “It’s an armed force that’s assaulting, that’s killing my constituents, my citizens.”

The failed vice presidential candidate was referring to the lethal shooting of Renee Good, who had driven her car into an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, and a second lethal shooting of nurse Alex Pretti, who interfered with an operation while armed with a gun.

While many have been calling for a calming of heated rhetoric, the comments from Walz were widely ridiculed on social media.

“What a complete and total dumbass. Good grief,” replied CNN commentator Scott Jennings.

“Tim Walz is, to put it mildly, not the sharpest tool in the shed,” responded Mike Coté of the Spectator.

“That is literally the dumbest f**king thing anyone has ever said in the history of anything, and quoting it as though it were not condemns the Tweeter as well,” replied John Podhoretz of Commentary.

“Walz, once again, proves he is a moron who both lacks the context for the (horrible and inaccurate) historical analogies he uses and also is not lowering the heated rhetoric. The fact Harris thought this guy was some kind of positive is astounding,” said another user.

Others pointed out that Walz appeared to misunderstand his own comparison.

“Federal agents are in a recalcitrant state trying to enforce federal law, and the governor of that state wonders if it’s Fort Sumter without stopping to puzzle out which side that makes him in the analogy,” replied Charles C.W. Cooke of National Review.

RELATED: Tim Walz says Democrats need to be ‘meaner’ and ‘bully the s**t out of’ Trump

“Uh. Yeah. That is a more apt comparison than he probably realizes. Once again, democrats starting a Civil War to keep their slaves. (Walz, dude, you are the bad guy),” said another user.

Walz is under investigation for allegations that he obstructed investigations into massive fraud in the Minnesota Somali community. He has since dropped his re-election campaign for the governor’s office.

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​Tim walz civil war, Is this fort sumter, Walz mocked online, Twitter attacks democrats, Politics 

Amid the escalating anti-ICE protests raging through the Twin Cities, President Trump announced on Monday that he was immediately dispatching border czar Tom Homan to oversee and manage ICE operations on the ground in Minnesota.

The announcement came shortly before another Truth Social post in which Trump revealed that he had spoken with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) about working toward a solution to quell the escalating protests, noting that Homan would be a key figure in the process.

But BlazeTV host Steve Deace can’t imagine a situation where Tom Homan — “the crown prince of the entire [Trump] regime,” he calls him — de-escalates a raging left-wing movement.

It won’t be enough, Deace argues, for Homan to deliver messaging that counters that of Walz and Frey. “That’s a good start, but that’s not going to quell the level of [violence we have seen],” he says.

Unlike most people on the right, who “won’t do bold stuff because they don’t want to get in the way of their comfort,” left-wing activists, like Renee Good, says Deace, are willing to risk their lives for a cause. They don’t seem to be motivated by protecting their comforts in the same way conservatives are.

That said, he “[doesn’t] believe there’s a single protester right now who’s going to tune in to Tom Homan’s … superior messaging to Tim Walz and Jacob Frey.”

It’s delusional to think these protesters, who are often willing to break the law and put themselves in danger, will hear a Homan sound bite and suddenly say, “Well, by golly, you know, I was going to listen to my 45,000 TikTok followers telling me that I’m a hero to sacred democracy if I go out there and and give my life for the cause. But now, you know, that was just a great 60-second quip by Tom Homan,” Deace mocks.

If the Trump administration is serious about squashing this anti-ICE movement in Minnesota, it’s going to “take more commitment than that,” he declares.

Right now, “blue city-states” within red states, like Austin, Texas, are watching how Homan and the Trump administration handle Minnesota, says Deace. If a strict precedent isn’t set, he fears that similar anti-ICE protest movements will sprout up across the country.

Deace explains Homan’s role in Minnesota using the analogy of President Abraham Lincoln sending Union General William T. Sherman to capture the key Confederate city of Atlanta during the Civil War. The campaign involved heavy fighting, destruction of supplies and railroads, and a lot of hardship for people in the area, but it was necessary to win the war.

“This is Lincoln calling Sherman in and saying, ‘Atlanta’s a problem; go and solve it,’ all right? And I’m all for that, but we need to understand, then, sometimes you have to solve things the way that Sherman did. Sometimes the solutions are not easy,” says Deace.

“We have to understand now: We are never quelling their desire. We have to defeat it.”

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​Steve deace, Deace, Steve deace show, Tom homan, Donald trump, Minnesota, Tim walz, Jacob frey, Somali fraud, Anti ice protests, Truth social, Homan, Minnesota anti-ice protests, Minneapolis 

New York City’s newly inaugurated mayor, Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani, revealed plans to increase taxes on “the richest New Yorkers” less than one month into his term, blaming former Mayor Eric Adams (D) for a budget shortfall.

On Thursday, Mamdani held a press conference to detail the “Adams Budget Crisis,” claiming that the former mayor “misled and misinformed” New Yorkers about the “true state” of the city’s finances.

‘And here’s the part socialists hate saying out loud: “Free” is a lie.’

“I will be blunt: New York City is facing a serious fiscal crisis. There is a massive fiscal deficit in our city’s budget to the tune of at least $12 billion. We did not arrive at this place by accident. This crisis has a name and a chief architect,” Mamdani said.

“This is the Adams Budget Crisis.”

He accused Adams of handing the new administration “a poisoned chalice” by “systematically” under-budgeting necessary services, including rental assistance, shelter, and special education.

“Knowing his time in office was likely coming to an end, Mayor Adams chose political self-preservation over fiscal responsibility. This is not just bad governance. It is negligence,” Mamdani remarked.

“The Adams administration dramatically and intentionally understated the problem.”

Mamdani vowed to balance the budget over two fiscal years by implementing “bold solutions,” including “recalibrating the broken fiscal relationship between the state and the city.” He argued that New York City contributes 54.5% of the state’s revenue but receives only 40.5% of its operating expenditures.

RELATED: ‘Proud to be a sanctuary city’: Mamdani announces another handout for illegal aliens in NYC

Zohran Mamdani. Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images

“Working people did not cause this crisis, and they cannot be made the victims of its solution,” Mamdani stated.

“The time has come to tax the richest New Yorkers and most profitable corporations,” he declared.

Mamdani stated that he could “build a stronger city for everyone” if New York’s top 1% earners paid an additional 2% in income taxes, while claiming that the increase was not significant enough to drive wealthy individuals to leave the state.

RELATED: ‘Tax them to the white meat!’ Mamdani’s new ‘equity officer’ posted now-deleted X posts against white women.

Eric Adams. Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images

Adams fired back at Mamdani in several posts on X, denying that he left a deficit in the city’s budget.

“Facts have a way of getting in the way when slogans replace math and blame replaces leadership,” Adams wrote. “I didn’t leave a ‘budget hole.’ I left over $8 BILLION in reserves. Only someone who can’t read a balance sheet would call that a crisis.”

“And here’s the part socialists hate saying out loud: ‘Free’ is a lie. Every so-called free program comes with a price tag, and someone always pays for it,” he added.

Adams argued that Mamdani’s real motive behind his press conference was to find a way to pay for the “laundry list of ‘free’ giveaways” he promised New Yorkers “to buy votes.”

“Now that the math doesn’t work, instead of owning the fact that he misled New Yorkers, he’s blaming me,” Adams said. “This is the same Mamdani who spent years attacking me for not spending enough during the migrant crisis. The only reason those reserves exist is because I ignored him and his socialist comrades who demanded we blow billions more with no guardrails.”

Adams mocked Mamdani in a third post on X, writing, “When you promise ‘free’ everything on Sunday, boldly declare that millionaires and billionaires shouldn’t exist on Monday, and by Tuesday you’re scrambling to fund your giveaways with the very people you wanted gone just yesterday.”

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​News, Zohran mamdani, Eric adams, Socialism, New york city, Nyc, New york, Politics 

A family-owned winter sports company is stepping in to save a critical piece of Americana.

Based in Maine, the 208-year-old publication had seemingly released its final edition in November, after offering weather predictions and gardening advice for more than two centuries.

‘It felt wrong to stand by while an irreplaceable piece of our national heritage disappeared.’

The company wrote a heartfelt goodbye on its website toward the end of the year, saying that the 2026 Farmers’ Almanac would be its final release.

“Though the Almanac will no longer be available in print or online, it lives on within you,” editors Sandi Duncan and Peter Geiger wrote.

Fading fast

While the team did not give a specific reason for the closure in their post, CBS News reported that the publishers cited growing financial challenges involved with producing and distributing in today’s “chaotic media environment.”

As the almanac was starting to fade from public memory, publisher Tim Konrad stepped in.

Konrad founded family-owned media company Unofficial Networks, which focuses on content related to skiing, snowboarding, national parks, mountain adventures, and outdoor exploration.

“I saw the announcement that one of America’s most enduring publications was set to close, and it felt wrong to stand by while an irreplaceable piece of our national heritage disappeared,” Konrad said in a press release on the almanac’s website.

RELATED: Trump gives American farmers $12 billion boost to overcome inflation, trade wars

Photo by CBS via Getty Images

‘Living link’

Describing the publication as an important piece of American history, Konrad said it is “more than just a book — it’s a living link to generations of knowledge and curiosity about the natural world.”

In addition to a photo alongside Geiger, the entrepreneur said he has been working closely with the team to preserve its most beloved content, like its long-range weather forecasts, humor, and the publication’s “distinctive voice.”

Geiger praised the transition and exclaimed, “An American tradition continues!”

The editor went on to say that the values and wisdom of the almanac have been protected and nurtured for 200 years, and he is grateful to have found the “right next custodian in Tim Konrad.”

Geiger added, “I am also confident he will honor its heritage and carry it forward for generations to come.”

RELATED: Forget Greenland — we’re losing the real green land that feeds America

Photo by Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

New harvest

The Farmers’ Almanac — not to be confused with rival publication The Old Farmer’s Almanac — was founded in 1818 by poet and astronomer David Young and publisher Jacob Mann. It will continue to be accessible online, with plans to revive the annual print edition in future volumes.

Unofficial Networks has built a strong brand and following in its own genre, garnering over 250,000 subscribers on its YouTube channel. The channel features first-hand footage of avalanches along with skiing content.

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​Align, Farmers, Farming, Farmers’ almanac, New york, Maine, American history, Americana, Lifestyle 

After BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales exposed the truth hiding behind H-1B visas in Texas, Governor Greg Abbott (R) decided to open an investigation into H-1B visa abuse and has directed all Texas state agencies to freeze new H-1B visa applications.

“In light of recent reports of abuse in the federal H-1B visa program, and amid the federal government’s ongoing review of that program to ensure American jobs are going to American workers, I am directing all state agencies to immediately freeze new H-1B visa petitions as outlined in this letter,” Abbott wrote in a statement.

“Evidence suggests that bad actors have exploited this program by failing to make good-faith efforts to recruit qualified U.S. workers before seeking to use foreign labor. In the most egregious schemes, employers have even fired American workers and replaced them with H-1B employees, often at lower wages,” he continued.

“Rather than serving its intended purpose of attracting the best and brightest individuals from around the world to our nation to fill truly specialized and unmet labor needs, the program has too often been used to fill jobs that otherwise could — and should — have been filled by Texans,” he concluded.

“Credit where credit is due,” Gonzales comments. “Let this play out. Let this investigation play out. Let them prove to us how far they are willing to go. This is step one of many different steps that need to take place in order for us to take our country back, in order for displaced American workers to be able to find work again.”

“So we’re not stopping. Obviously, public pressure works. We’re going to expose every aspect of this racket from the H-1B visas to all of the other visas that feed off of them, like H-4 visas,” she continues.

“But it turns out, yeah, your spouse can just get a visa too, if you’re on an H-1B. The kids too. There’s a visa for that. And so these H-4 visas have even less oversight on the rules of the kinds of jobs that they can get on and take on an H-4 visa,” she explains.

If an immigrant here on an H-4 visa wants to work at a place like McDonald’s, “there’s nothing stopping them,” Gonzales says.

“The whole thing is a racket,” she continues. “We will be exposing all of it.”

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​Camera phone, Upload, Free, Sharing, Video, Video phone, Youtube.com, Sara gonzales unfiltered, Sara gonzales, Come and take it with sara gonzales, Come and take it, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, H-1b visas, Texas, Immigration scam, H-4 visas 

A criminal illegal alien accused of throwing a baseball-sized rock into a New Jersey school bus and fracturing the skull of an 8-year-old girl was placed on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer, the Department of Homeland Security said earlier this week.

The DHS, citing local reports, said the school bus was traveling on the New Jersey Turnpike to Yeshivat Noam — a local Jewish day school — after a field trip at Liberty Science Center on Jan. 7.

‘We hope New Jersey’s sanctuary politicians will help us keep him off American streets for good.’

Officials said Hernando Garcia-Morales of Mexico threw a rock at the vehicle, breaking a window and hitting the third-grade student, who was forced to have surgery.

The DHS said two days later — Jan. 9 — New Jersey Turnpike State Police arrested Garcia-Morales for aggravated assault, resisting arrest, and possession of a weapon. The Bogota (New Jersey) Police Department also charged him for aggravated assault, criminal trespassing-defiant, criminal trespassing-peering, and criminal mischief-damage property, DHS said.

NJ.com added that Garcia-Morales was found in a self-made campsite within Old Croaker County Park in Bergen County.

Garcia-Morales has had an extensive criminal history while living in sanctuary state New Jersey, the DHS said, noting that he was arrested for burglary in 2023 and for possession of a weapon and theft in 2006.

In addition, the investigation also linked him to multiple rock-throwing incidents in Bogota Borough, NJ.com reported, citing state police.

Garcia-Morales has since been placed in ICE custody, NJ.com added.

RELATED: Minnesota’s ‘worst of the worst’: DHS highlights arrests of repeat offenders, violent criminals in Operation Metro Surge

DHS said Garcia-Morales entered the United States on an unknown date.

“Violently targeting a school bus full of children is extremely wicked and heinous,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, who called the suspect a “monster.”

“Hernando Garcia-Morales should have never been in this country, let alone released, after multiple arrests, into New Jersey communities,” McLaughlin also said, adding that “we hope New Jersey’s sanctuary politicians will help us keep him off American streets for good. Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, criminal illegal aliens have no place in the U.S.”

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​Crime, Department of homeland security, Ice, Immigration and customs enforcement, Detainer, Rock, Bus, Young girl injured, Fractured skull, New jersey, Mexico, Teaneck, Jewish day schoo, School bus, Rock throwing attack, Window, Hernando garcia-morales, Criminal illegal aliens, Politics 

“Breaking Bad” actor Giancarlo Esposito has a message for old white men: If you want civil war, you might just get it.

The 67-year-old told a reporter at the Sundance Film Festival that it is “time for a revolution” and that the powers that be “don’t even know that’s what they’re starting.”

‘They’ll kill 500, 50 million, however [many], but the rest of us would survive with a new [world].’

Esposito, who has also starred in “The Mandalorian” and “Better Call Saul,” elaborated on his theory at the premiere of his latest project on Tuesday in Park City, Utah.

Fring-a-ling

“You know, some very rich old white men are exerting their power to suppress our own people, thus creating a feeling of civil war in the streets, preparing the haters to hate, teaching them how to shoot — they’re not even trained right — to kill,” he explained. “This is all preparation for a very insidious problem that’s happening in our world.”

Esposito then told a reporter from Variety that while tens of millions may die from a revolution, the rest would get to live on in the new world.

RELATED: Sundance VIPs take 10-minute protest break in between screenings

Collateral damage

“I have to speak out that we will not be ICE’d out,” the actor continued. “This is not going to happen. They can’t take us all down. If the whole world showed up on Putin’s doorstep or on the Iranians’ doorstep or in Washington, it would stop [them]. They’ll kill 500, 50 million, however [many], but the rest of us would survive with a new [world].”

The TV actor went on to say that the unnamed forces don’t know what the revolution is that they are starting, but “we have to be strong enough to know that we can change the world. We have to change it from within.”

“Not by deporting immigrants” and “not by killing off brown … people,” the actor stressed.

RELATED: Brave Hollywood stars hit Sundance red carpet in defiance of ICE ‘gestapo’ terror

Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images

Talk show

This year’s Sundance has seen the “premiere” of many celebrity political opinions. Edward Norton, for example, wowed audiences by comparing Immigration and Customs Enforcement to Nazi gestapo.

Not to be upstaged, actress Natalie Portman told Deadline that what the Trump administration is doing is “really the worst of the worst of humanity,” while actor Elijah Wood of “Lord of the Rings” fame showed up for a 10-minute demonstration on Main Street to protest ICE with cell phones.

Wood said “folks” had been “unlawfully gunned down in Minnesota” and that the crowd at Sundance is “coming together” and is not divided.

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​Ice, Sundance film festival, Hollywood, Align, Revolution, Dhs, Entertainment 

A Democrat Oklahoma state representative is resigning after she got caught trying to pay the Ethics Commission with a forged check.

Rep. Ajay Pittman, whose district includes part of Oklahoma City, announced her resignation Wednesday after pleading guilty to a felony charge related to the forged check. She was in her fourth term.

The Democrat had previously agreed to pay $12,000 in restitution and a fine over similar accusations in 2020 and 2022.

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said that part of the sentence for Pittman included her resigning from her office.

“I believe stepping aside allows my district to be served without distraction,” Pittman said. “Leadership is not only about holding office, but it’s also about knowing when to close a chapter with grace and clarity.”

Pittman was accused of violating the Oklahoma Computer Crimes Act in relation to campaign finance records, as well as forgery and embezzlement. Investigators searched Pittman’s office in October.

Drummond said that she forged a check to the Oklahoma Ethics Commission to avoid paying back funds to her campaign account.

“Public officials hold a sacred trust with the people they serve,” read a statement from Drummond in a press release. “When that trust is violated for personal gain, it strikes at the very heart of our institutions. This office will continue to hold elected officials accountable when they abuse their positions and betray the public’s confidence. No one is above the law in Oklahoma.”

Pittman also received a deferred sentence of seven years and has to pay full restitution for the campaign funds she is accused of embezzling.

RELATED: Congresswoman’s staffer indicted for spreading her intimate videos and photos online

The Democrat had previously agreed to pay $12,000 in restitution and a fine over similar accusations in 2020 and 2022.

Pittman either authored or co-authored more than 160 pieces of legislation during her time in the legislature. KOCO-TV said she was an influential and prominent politician in Oklahoma.

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​Is ajay pittman a republican, Rep ajay pittman forgery, Democrat resigns, Forged check democrat, Politics 

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin (D) gave a speech Wednesday on the Senate floor expressing both his intention to help starve the Department of Homeland Security of funds and his outrage over anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement agitator Alex Pretti’s fatal shooting on Saturday by a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent.

When discussing Pretti’s demise, Durbin relied on a large visual aid — a supposed photograph of the incident.

However the Democratic senator appears to have overlooked glaring indications that the image was significantly doctored. For starters, one of the federal agents depicted in the image appears to be missing his head.

‘AI enhancement tends to hallucinate details.’

“I’m going to show a photo of that scene, which is graphic, but I’m afraid is necessary to appreciate the horror of the moment,” Durbin said as he set the image for all to see on an easel. “This photo shows the last second before the ICE agent killed Alex Pretti on the streets of Minneapolis.”

After citing the image as evidence that it was “obvious” Pretti had made “no effort to resist” — a claim contradicted by footage taken from multiple vantages — and emphasizing that “the photo tells the story,” Durbin criticized the Trump administration for encouraging skepticism about the initial narrative surrounding the shooting.

“What was the Trump administration’s immediate response when they heard of this second killing in Minneapolis? Not to bring down the temperature but instead to rush to the American people with one message: ‘Don’t believe your eyes. Don’t believe what you see,'” said Durbin, pointing at the image, which is apparently an AI interpretation of a blurry still from footage taken of the incident.

RELATED: ‘Gentle nurse’ narrative cracks: New video appears to show Pretti spit toward federal agents and kick out taillight

Photo by Octavio JONES / AFP via Getty Images

There are numerous other signs of AI “hallucinations” in the image used by Durbin besides the absence of one agent’s head.

There are, for instance, confusing shadows; a seemingly impossible configuration of fingers on Pretti’s right hand; an unnatural bend in one of the legs of the headless agent kneeling next to Pretti; and a fantastical weapon in the possession of the agent depicted behind Pretti.

Hany Farid, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley’s School of Information, told the Agence France Press, “The issue with these images is that the AI enhancement tends to hallucinate details.”

According to IBM, “AI hallucination is a phenomenon where, in a large language model (LLM) often a generative AI chatbot or computer vision tool, perceives patterns or objects that are nonexistent or imperceptible to human observers, creating outputs that are nonsensical or altogether inaccurate.”

Peter Adams, senior vice president of research and design at the News Literacy Project, told the Minnesota Star Tribune that such AI-generated images “are an example of how synthetic visuals can spread confusion and further divide Americans about important issues.”

Durbin was evidently not the only liberal duped by the image.

In fact, it went viral on multiple social media platforms, including X, where it netted tens of millions of impressions and was shared widely. Even retired Gen. Raymond Thomas III, the former commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, and MSNBC legal analyst Jill Wine-Banks appear to have been fooled by it.

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​Dick durbin, Illinois, Democrat, Fake, Ai, Artificial intelligence, Hallucination, Alex pretti, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Anti-ice, Customs and border patrol, Politics 

After the withdrawal of Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D) formally declared her candidacy for governor of Minnesota in a polished campaign video released Thursday.

Klobuchar emphasized unity during what she described as a period of deep division in the state but repeatedly invoked federal immigration enforcement as a core concern for voters.

‘Get out of our state.’

“I’m running for every Minnesotan who wants ICE and its abusive tactics out of the state we love,” Klobuchar said, echoing remarks she has made repeatedly on the Senate floor and in public appearances as Minnesota has grappled with a federal immigration enforcement surge.

In recent speeches, she has urged Immigration and Customs Enforcement to leave Minnesota and criticized congressional efforts that would fund expanded ICE operations.

Klobuchar said the federal immigration surge in Minnesota was “making us less safe” and called on ICE to “get out of our state,” arguing that the deployment of thousands of agents inflamed tensions rather than improved public safety.

RELATED: ‘Organized obstruction’: Leaked alleged Signal chats show anti-ICE radicals tracking ICE agents, chasing vehicles

Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

Following the fatal shooting of Renee Good, Klobuchar also issued a statement through her Senate office criticizing the operation as being carried out “against the wishes of local leaders” and warning that federal enforcement actions were destabilizing Minnesota communities.

Klobuchar further condemned congressional proposals that would increase ICE funding without additional restrictions, saying she would not support legislation that “doubles down on enforcement-first policies” while communities are already facing unrest tied to federal immigration operations.

Her gubernatorial campaign video opens with Klobuchar addressing recent tragedies, saying, “Minnesota, we’ve been through a lot,” before referencing a string of violent incidents, including the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both of which occurred amid unrest tied to federal immigration enforcement activity.

RELATED: ‘You should f**king kill yourself’: DHS releases terrifying audio of anti-ICE agitator threatening Minnesota agent

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

She also criticized the presence of roughly 3,000 federal immigration agents operating in Minnesota communities, criticizing an administration she said “relishes division.” Klobuchar has publicly said that immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis are “making us less safe” and has joined other Minnesota leaders in calling those federal actions a threat to community safety.

Klobuchar said Minnesota needs leaders who can stand up to Donald Trump’s administration while still finding common ground to address problems at the state level.

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​Minnesota, Amy klobuchar, Governor, Office, Campaign, Politics 

Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino posted a video message in support of federal immigration officers after he and some of his agents left Minneapolis in the wake of a lethal shooting.

President Donald Trump sent border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota to address growing rioting and protests after Alex Pretti was shot and killed by federal officers Saturday.

‘I’ve got your back, now and always — I love you, I support you, and I salute you.’

Bovino, who has been lauded for his “turn and burn” tactics by immigration hawks, issued a statement of love and support for his officers in the social media video.

“Team, behind me are a few individuals there,” said Bovino, referring to former Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. “That’s the original turn and burn, the folks that helped make America.”

“But you know what? I’m very proud of what you, the mean green machine, are doing in Minneapolis right now, just like you’ve done it across the United States over these past tough nine months,” he added.

“And I want you to know that you’re the modern-day equivalent of turn and burn. It makes me very proud,” he concluded. “I also want you to know that I’ve got your back, now and always — I love you, I support you, and I salute you.”

Bovino coined the term “turn and burn” with his agents to describe mass deportations.

Homan has met with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey as well as Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, both Democrats, after arriving in the state. Both Frey and Walz have said their goal is to shut down all federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota.

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Homan addressed reporters from Minneapolis about making the immigration enforcement operation safer.

“I am not here because the federal government has carried its mission out perfectly. The first thing I said to senior staff when I walked in here, is what I told you earlier: I didn’t come here for photo-ops or headlines. I come here looking for solutions,” he said.

“I do not want to hear that everything that’s been done here has been perfect,” he added. “Nothing’s ever perfect, and anything can be improved on. And what we’ve been working on is making this operation safer, more efficient, by the book. The mission is going to improve.”

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