Footage shows male senior swiftly strike ball in attempt to make goal, inadvertently hitting female player directly in mouth. A female high school lacrosse player [more…]
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Mamdani sells socialism — and Republicans peddle the Temu version
New York City has elected a self-professed socialist as mayor. Critics worry about Zohran Mamdani’s inexperience, his approach to law and order, and his views on Israel and Islamic radicalism. But the most urgent issue inside the walls of City Hall is his economic agenda.
Mamdani promises “free” bus transit, a freeze on rent increases, a $30 minimum wage, government-run grocery stores, free child care, and higher taxes in a city already crushed by some of the nation’s highest tax burdens. His brand of socialism isn’t subtle. It’s explicit — and guaranteed to fail.
A movement confident in free enterprise can beat socialism — first in the arena of ideas, then at the ballot box. But only if we choose clarity over imitation.
Many on the right treat Mamdani’s victory as cosmic justice for a deep-blue city that keeps moving left. Others welcome his rise, convinced that showcasing a hard-left mayor will repel voters nationwide. That might be true. It might also be fantasy.
New Yorkers didn’t elect Mamdani so conservatives could score a talking point. His win advances ideas — and conservatives must decide whether they still believe ours are better.
When the right copies the left
Mocking government-run grocery stores is easy. Yet national Republicans just embraced government ownership in Intel — a massive corporation that dwarfs any Manhattan supermarket. Some even support a federal sovereign wealth fund to buy equity across private industry, handing Washington the power to pick winners.
Mamdani demonizes Wall Street and high earners who keep the city solvent. Republicans respond by demonizing “big pharma” and pushing policies that treat major U.S. innovators as villains.
Mamdani wants to redistribute income with New York’s already-extreme tax code. Some on the right now call for $2,000 government checks to lower-income households — financed with borrowed money and paid back by business owners already hit with $350 billion in new tariff taxes this year.
Mamdani would freeze rents because, in his telling, landlords “make a killing.” His economics ignore taxes, insurance, utilities, and maintenance costs that devour margins across New York’s rental market. Yet GOP proposals on health care routinely blame insurers for “making a killing while the little guy suffers.” The overlap with left-wing rhetoric isn’t coincidence. It’s drift.
High grocery prices fuel Mamdani’s push for government-run grocery stores. He blames “capitalistic greed.” Republicans answered high beef prices by accusing meat companies of “price fixing.” Again, the same logic — just delivered with a different logo.
Resurrecting failed policies
Mamdani’s worldview mirrors the same interventionist thinking that powered the Affordable Care Act. Subsidies, mandates, and price controls promised relief. They delivered higher premiums, higher costs, and lower-quality care.
Conservatives should highlight that failure. Instead, too many mimic the left’s solutions — regulation dressed up as populism, government expansion sold as “tough on corporations,” and class warfare renamed as “standing up for workers.”
If Mamdani’s win teaches anything, it’s that conservatives must draw a bright line: free enterprise or the road to socialism. Blurring that line weakens the argument and cedes the moral ground socialism feeds on.
RELATED: Mao tried this first — New Yorkers will not like the ending
Bettmann/Getty Images
The real fight
The conservative movement faces serious internal debates — debates worth having. But Mamdani’s election exposes one fight we cannot dodge: the fight for limited government and competitive markets.
We cannot counter socialism with lighter versions of the same policies. We cannot attack Mamdani’s economic program while pushing our own price controls, government takeovers, and redistribution schemes. A movement that refuses to defend free enterprise won’t defeat socialism. It won’t even understand the threat.
Mamdani comes into office with plenty of flaws. New Yorkers will feel the consequences soon enough. But conservatives face a choice: defend our own principles or mimic the left and call it “the new right.”
A movement confident in free enterprise can beat socialism — first in the arena of ideas, then at the ballot box. But only if we choose clarity over imitation.
Zohran mamdani, Intel, Gop, Socialism, Opinion & analysis, Republicans, Voters, Free buses, Grocery prices, Industrial policy, Class warfare, Class envy
The CHILLING online trail of Trump’s would-be assassin
Donald Trump’s would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks’ digital footprint has been exposed — but not by the FBI. Rather, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson has revealed disturbing comments Crooks allegedly made on social media leading up to his decision to fire at President Trump.
This online history dates back years and includes him engaging in conversations in YouTube comment sections where he explains that the “only way to fight the gov is with terrorism style attacks.”
Crooks’ Google searches also reveal a mentally unwell young man, with searches as far back as 2019 centering around mass shootings, how to build a bomb, and “firing an AR15 as fast as possible.”
Prior to 2020, Crooks’ comments appeared to be pro-Trump and against the left. But all that switched, seemingly overnight.
While the FBI has countered Carlson’s claims, BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales isn’t buying it.
“This is a guy who is not well. And I’m just wondering, with so many people on the FBI radar, and the fact that the FBI radar can be so vast at times — I mean, they can track down anyone for anything. Unless you’re the pipe bomber and unless you try to assassinate the president, then running for office,” Gonzales says.
“And all of a sudden, we can’t find anything. … I’m telling you guys, this man was on their radar,” she says. “They won’t tell you that. This is my opinion.”
Gonzales believes that the YouTube comments — where Crooks was replying to an anonymous account discussing violent attacks — point to the possibility that he was “programmed to want to kill Trump.”
Gonzales also points out that while Crooks was engaging in violent rhetoric in the YouTube comment sections, she herself was getting censored for far less.
“I know for a fact YouTube is all over their stuff because I’ve been demonetized for two years of my life, two-plus years of my life, for saying something far more benign than calling for assassination. I misgendered someone, and I almost lost my entire YouTube account,” she explains.
“We deserve answers. … We deserve more answers than, ‘Trust us, bro, we’re the FBI,’” she adds.
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Utah Republicans just let Democrats steal a seat they could never win
A Utah judge just turned a safe Republican congressional seat into a near-guaranteed Democrat seat — and she did it in a state controlled top to bottom by Republicans. How does that happen? A generation of weak Republicans in the elected branches handed liberals control of the judicial branch and gave them the ballot initiative system they needed to take over the state piece by piece.
Democrats can’t win statewide office in half the country, so they’ve turned ballot initiatives into their weapon of choice. Pollsters craft soothing messaging, activists gather signatures, and voters — thinking they’re supporting neutrality — unknowingly approve measures that shift power to Democrats.
Supermajority states serve as a control group. The problem isn’t power; the problem is the GOP’s refusal to wield it.
The “nonpartisan redistricting commission” scam remains their most effective tool. These commissions always promise fairness, and they always produce more Democratic seats.
Utah proved the point in 2018, when 66% of voters approved Proposition 4, even though most Utahns don’t want Democrats running the state. The same tactic produced Medicaid expansion and marijuana legalization. None of these measures would have survived the legislature — but they passed once voters encountered them in isolation.
James Madison warned against pure democracy for this exact reason. A republic draws authority from the “great body of the society,” not from a small faction or self-appointed elite. Ballot-initiative commissions flip that logic on its head. They let unelected actors redraw power for themselves.
Here comes the judge
After the 2020 census, Utah’s legislature drew a fourth Republican congressional seat, as the state constitution requires. Democrats and their allies at the League of Women Voters sued to nullify the map and force a Salt Lake-centered Democrat seat.
In August, Third District Judge Dianna Gibson obliged. She declared the legislature’s map unconstitutional because, in her view, it ignored Prop. 4 — even though the constitution explicitly vests redistricting power in the legislature. She ordered a new process for 2026 and told both sides to submit maps.
The GOP-controlled legislature complied, proposing a compromise map and passing SB 1011 to impose “partisan fairness” tests on future redistricting so the commission couldn’t hand Democrats a permanent advantage.
Gibson ignored all of it. On Nov. 10, she tossed the legislative map, sidelined SB 1011, and adopted the map drawn by the very activist groups suing the state — the same groups that engineered Prop. 4.
Plainly unconstitutional
Nothing in Utah’s constitution supports what Gibson did. Article IX, Section 1 states that the legislature “shall divide the state” into congressional districts. A commission cannot do it. A judge cannot do it. Activists certainly cannot do it.
Yet Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson signed off on Gibson’s map, even though state law required her to certify only lawful maps. That decision reflects a deeper problem: Too many Utah Republicans treat constitutional violations as minor inconveniences and concede ground to Democrats who never reciprocate.
Democrats defend Gibson’s ruling by citing Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (2015), when Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg reinterpreted the word “legislature” to include ballot initiatives. Even if you grant that tortured reading of the U.S. Constitution, Utah’s constitution is far more explicit. Only the legislature draws maps.
RELATED: Democrats crown judges while crying about kings
Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Make impeachment great again
At the federal level, impeachment has become an empty threat. Senate math makes convictions nearly impossible. But red states with Republican supermajorities don’t face that obstacle.
Utah’s legislature holds a 61-14 majority in the House and a 22-6 majority in the Senate. Rep. Trevor Lee (R-Utah) on my show last week called for the impeachment of both Judge Gibson and Lt. Gov. Henderson for violating the state constitution. Republicans have the votes to do it — and the constitutional duty to rein in judicial usurpation.
Other states have shown it can be done. In 2018, West Virginia impeached all five members of its Supreme Court for corruption and removed them. Red states such as Oklahoma, Montana, Missouri, and South Carolina face the same problem Utah now faces: liberal judges empowered by timid Republicans.
A perilous path
Utah proves a point conservatives hate to admit. Republicans in Washington often claim they can’t implement the party’s agenda because they lack power. But in Utah, Republicans hold all the power — and still refuse to use it. They allow commissions to override them, courts to embarrass them, and Democrats to seize ground they could never win through elections.
Supermajority states serve as a control group. The problem isn’t power; the problem is the GOP’s refusal to wield it.
Unless Republicans act with conviction, Utah will follow Colorado’s path. Democrats chipped away at Colorado one institution at a time while Republicans shrugged. Now Colorado is a Democratic Party fortress.
Utah is heading down the same trail — unless Republicans use the constitutional tools they still possess.
Utah, Gop, Redistricting, Judges, Democrats, Opinion & analysis, Proposition 4, Nonpartisan committee, Dianna gibson, Ruth bader ginsburg, Legislatures, Red states, Supermajority
Police investigating new sexual assault claims against Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs — from a Florida man
The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department said it is investigating new claims of sexual assault against Sean “Diddy” Combs made by a man in Florida.
The hip-hop mogul was sentenced in October on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution after he was acquitted on sex trafficking and racketeering charges. He was sentenced to 50 months in prison but will get credit for time already served.
The man said that he was so shocked that he did not respond.
Investigators said they received a report about the allegations against Combs from a police department in Florida on Friday.
That report was made by a man in September to police about an alleged incident of sexual assault in 2020. The man said that Combs had gratified himself in front of the man and then asked him to join in. The man said that he was so shocked that he did not respond and Combs tossed a shirt at him that he had soiled.
The identity of the man was redacted from the report, but music producer Jonathan Hay later identified himself on social media posts.
Hay is also one of the people who filed a civil lawsuit against Combs in July.
He also alleges that he and Combs participated in the sexual assault of C.J. Wallace, the son of deceased rapper Christopher Wallace, whose stage name was Notorious B.I.G. C.J. Wallace has filed a lawsuit against Hay for what he called “wildly false and defamatory allegations.”
Trump has said that Combs asked him for a pardon, although Combs’ attorney said he had no knowledge of such a request.
RELATED: Trump says Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs requested a pardon for prostitution charges
A spokesperson for the Largo Police Department said the department was not investigating any alleged Combs crimes independently but said it is assisting the East Los Angeles Sheriff’s Office.
Neither representatives for Combs nor Wallace responded to requests for comment, according to ABC News.
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Sean diddy combs, New sexual assault claims, Jonathan hay, Puff daddy, Politics
‘True heroes’: Brothers rescue cop from cruiser engulfed in flames — and credit their mother, who taught them the Golden Rule
Atlanta police last week shared a video report they said demonstrates that “in moments of crisis, true heroes emerge.”
On the night of Oct. 21, Officer Malik Safi was responding to a call for backup — but he never arrived at the scene, officials said.
‘I feel extremely proud of them both. I feel like they did exactly what they were taught to do — to help and have empathy for other people.’
Instead, Safi crashed into a house, setting both the residence and his patrol vehicle on fire, officials said.
WSB-TV reported that Safi also suffered serious injuries in the crash and was trapped inside the vehicle.
But fortunately brothers Keshun Robinson and Ryan Beck — and others — were around to help.
In fact, they braved the flames and pulled Safi out of his burning cruiser and to safety. That heroic action is captured, in part, on Safi’s body-worn camera.
“We just went off our heart,” Beck later said. “[It’s] how we was raised, you know. We didn’t want to see nobody suffer in that type of situation. We just hopped out and sprung into action.”
Robinson added, “We just tried to comfort [the officer] and let him know that he wasn’t there by himself.”
But the danger wasn’t over.
Soon gunshots were ringing out — and Robinson said “one of [the officer’s] guns that was in the car actually started going off.”
With that, police said the group had to move Safi yet again, this time pulling him all the way to a sidewalk.
What’s more, an unknown woman seen and heard on Safi’s bodycam video got on police radio and told dispatch he needed help.
WSB said the officer was taken to a hospital, and police noted that the “bravery and selflessness” of the two brothers and the other Good Samaritans “saved Officer Safi’s life.”
Later Beck noted to police that his mother raised him and his brother to live by the Golden Rule: “Treat people how you want to be treated.”
Their mother, Keziah Reed, also appeared in the police department’s video report and said, “I feel extremely proud of them both. I feel like they did exactly what they were taught to do — to help and have empathy for other people.”
Robinson added that perhaps the best part of the experience was when his own son called him a hero. “It means the world to me. It lit up my day. It made me a proud human being — not even [as] a father — just a proud person.”
Police noted that “these residents remind us that community truly means neighbors looking out for one another when it matters most. From all of us at the Atlanta Police Department, thank you for your extraordinary courage.”
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Atlanta, Georgia, Police, Citizens rescue police officer, Bodycam video, Heroes, Crash, Police vehicle on fire, Good news, The golden rule, Brothers, Mother, Human interest
‘Don’t touch it’: Michelle Obama tells white folks to ‘get out of’ black women’s hair
Michelle Obama is making waves after claiming that black women have been trapped by the beauty standards of white people, which is why they straighten their hair.
The former first lady went on her rant during a live sit-down with Tracee Ellis Ross to discuss her new book, “The Look.”
“Let me explain something to white people,” Obama said. “Our hair comes out of our head naturally in a curly pattern. So when we’re straightening it to follow your beauty standards, we’re trapped by the straightness.”
“That’s why so many of us can’t swim and we run away from the water … trying to keep our hair straight for y’all! It is exhausting and it’s so expensive and it takes up so much time. Braids are for y’all so we can work harder and focus on the work,” she continued.
“Why do we need an act, an act of law, to tell white folks to get out of our hair? Don’t tell me how to wear my hair. Don’t wonder about it. Don’t touch it. Just don’t,” she added.
BlazeTV host Pat Gray is not amused by Obama’s little rant.
“Can you imagine if this was a white person saying, ‘All right, let me talk down to black people. Let me explain something to you black people about reality.’ … You’re an instant racist if you say that. And you’re labeled as such the rest of your life,” he says on “Pat Gray Unleashed.”
“There’s no escape from that. How is she immune to all of that?” he asks.
“Good lord,” executive producer Keith Malinak chimes in, adding, “She is insane.”
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Sharing, Free, Upload, Camera phone, Video phone, Video, Youtube.com, Pat gray unleashed, Pat gray, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Michelle obama, Obama, Racism, Black on white racist, Michelle obama hair rant, President obama, First lady michelle obama, White women, Beauty standards
Democrat fires staffer accused of posing as immigration attorney at ICE facility
A staffer for a Democrat U.S. senator is looking for a new job after allegedly pretending to be an immigration attorney in order to help a previously deported illegal alien.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Todd Lyons informed Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois on Wednesday about the accusations against Edward York.
‘I can confirm that neither I nor my leadership team was aware of, authorized, or directed what your letter describes as the employee’s conduct.’
The staffer was accused of intervening on behalf of a 40-year-old named Jose Ismeal Ayuzo Sandoval who had been previously deported four times to Mexico and had been convicted of a DUI.
“At approximately 1:29 p.m., an individual identified as Edward York, who according to publicly available information, is employed as a Constituent Outreach Coordinator for your Senate office, entered the field office lobby, and in a discussion with a federal officer, claimed to be Mr. Ayuzo’s attorney. Mr. York demanded to speak with his ‘client,’” according to Lyons’ letter.
“This staff member allegedly did so to gain access to the detainee and seek his release from custody, and he accomplished it by falsifying an official Department of Homeland Security (DHS) form,” he added.
York allegedly got Ayuzo to sign a form that allows an attorney to represent him in communications with immigration officials.
On Monday, Duckworth indicated that York had been fired.
“Upon reviewing the matter, I can confirm that neither I nor my leadership team was aware of, authorized, or directed what your letter describes as the employee’s conduct,” according to the letter obtained by Fox News.
She said he was fired effective on Monday.
Duckworth has been very critical of ICE after President Donald Trump ramped up operations for mass deportations.
“I was on the ground today in Broadview with @SenatorDurbin (D-Ill.) to conduct Congressional oversight on ICE’s processing facility. As elected officials, we have a duty to ensure transparency within federal facilities. What is ICE hiding?” she posted in October.
“I literally spoke with a mother whose son is terrified that his teacher, Miss Diana, was taken. Republicans are siding with ICE’s lies and cruelty over our children,” she wrote in November.
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Fake immigration attorney, Ice facility, Tammy duckworth, Jose ismeal ayuzo sandoval, Politics
Marjorie Taylor Greene says she has received violent threats — and blames Trump
Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia said she has been targeted with violent threats and suggested that they are related to a vote on releasing the Epstein files.
Greene tried to tie the threats to rhetoric from President Donald Trump and others who had criticized her over the vote, which is scheduled for Tuesday.
‘The toxic and dangerous rhetoric in politics must end and we need healing in this country for all Americans.’
“President Trump’s unwarranted and vicious attacks against me were a dog whistle to dangerous radicals that could lead to serious attacks on me and my family,” she wrote on social media.
Greene said that she had previously been the target of death threats and swatting calls from the left but went on to say the current threats were likely from the right.
“Now that President Trump has called me a traitor, which is absolutely untrue and horrific. Mark Levin has been calling me a traitor. And so have other prominent likely paid social medial activists. This puts blood in the water and creates a feeding frenzy. And it could ultimately lead to a harmful or even deadly outcome,” she said.
“Also, the timing of this just happens to be days before we take the vote on releasing the Epstein files,” she added. “I love America and the American people, and I swore an oath to uphold the constitution and always do so. I am not a traitor.”
She said that her construction company’s office building had received a pipe bomb threat.
A spokesperson for the Rome Police Department confirmed in an email statement to Blaze News that they had received threat reports related to Greene.
“While the threats directed at Congresswoman Greene’s business occurred in a different jurisdiction in Georgia, we can confirm that Rome Police were notified of an unordered pizza delivery, as well as received two email threats referencing her family, at an address within our jurisdiction,” read the statement.
Greene blamed the president’s rhetoric against her, adding, “When the President of the United States irresponsibly calls a Member of Congress of his own party, traitor, he is signaling what must be done to a traitor.”
She included a clip explaining how hoax pizza deliveries are used to intimidate targets by letting them know that their residence is known to their critics.
“The toxic and dangerous rhetoric in politics must end and we need healing in this country for all Americans,” Greene concluded.
Also on Monday, the president posted on social media that he supported Republicans voting to release the Epstein files.
RELATED: Trump denies report of letter and drawing sent to Epstein on 50th birthday, threatens to sue WSJ
“As always, we take any threat seriously and follow established investigative procedures, regardless of political context,” continued the police statement. “The Rome Police Department remains committed to thoroughly investigating all credible threats and ensuring the safety of every member of our community without regard to political affiliation or public profile.”
Greene has also been one of the few Republicans to call the Israeli military operation against Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip a “genocide.” She went on to argue against U.S. involvement in the Middle East unrest.
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Bomb threats, Pizza delivery threat, Marjorie taylor greene, Epstein files, Politics
The early social media reviews of Cruz’s 2028 POTUS trial balloon are in
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R) dropped out of the 2016 presidential race after his crushing defeat in the Indiana Republican primary by then-candidate Donald Trump. It seems that Cruz did not, however, drop his aspirations of one day taking the White House.
Cruz kept his powder dry during the 2020 presidential election and, in 2024, successfully ran for a third term in the U.S. Senate. Now, the 54-year-old Calgary-born senator appears to be preparing for a 2028 presidential bid.
Unfortunately for Cruz, MAGA influencers do not appear too impressed by his recent attacks on Tucker Carlson, which some regard as proxy attacks on Vice President JD Vance, who is far and away the 2028 Republican front-runner, by even Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s admission.
‘Cruz is gonna have a tough time.’
On Monday, Axios highlighted a number of signs that Cruz is indeed “laying the groundwork” for a 2028 bid, such as hitting the speaker circuit, endorsing midterm candidates, and securing a date to host a big donor retreat next year.
The liberal publication suggested further that it’s clear from his recent salvo against Tucker Carlson that Cruz is simultaneously courting powerful pro-Israel donors, some of whom aligned themselves with Nikki Haley in her humiliating 2024 GOP primary run against Trump; “staking out turf as a traditional, pro-interventionist Republican”; and setting the stage for a battle with Vance, who is not only a Carlson ally but unmistakably at odds with the tack taken by the George W. Bush-era GOP.
RELATED: Vance, Banks come out swinging against reporter attacking Tucker Carlson’s son
Photo by Al Drago-Pool/Getty Images
Axios stated that “by poking at Carlson’s isolationist foreign policy views, accusing him of anti-Semitism and more, Cruz is putting himself on a collision course with Vice President Vance.”
Vance, like Carlson, has criticized the protraction of the war in Ukraine; cautioned against new regime-change wars; emphasized that the U.S. is “not at war with Iran”; and noted that American and Israeli foreign policy are not always aligned.
Cruz has indicated that similar foreign policy views expressed by Carlson are “bat-crap crazy” and “off the rails.”
Cruz, who is reportedly set this week to address the Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly, has also blasted Carlson for his October interview with Nick Fuentes, whom he labeled a “little goose-stepping Nazi,” suggesting that Carlson was wrong and “complicit in evil,” not for platforming Fuentes but for failing to adequately cross-examine him.
“We have a responsibility to speak out even when it’s uncomfortable,” Cruz said in a statement to Axios. “When voices in our own movement push dangerous and misguided ideas, we can’t look the other way. I won’t hesitate to call out those who peddle destructive, vile rhetoric and threaten our principles and our future. Silence in the face of recklessness is not an option.”
While Vance — whom Fuentes routinely attacks for having a wife of Indian descent — has made expressly clear that he thinks Fuentes is a “total loser” who does not belong in the MAGA movement, others have attempted in recent days to smear Carlson and Vance with a single stroke.
Cruz’s office did not respond to Blaze News’ request for comment.
A number of MAGA influencers criticized Cruz on Monday over the poor timing of the Axios piece and/or his apparent punches in Vance’s direction.
Human Events senior editor Jack Posobiec highlighted that Cruz’s latest dig at Carlson came just hours after President Donald Trump signaled continued support for Carlson, claiming reporters “can’t tell him who to interview” and that “ultimately, people have to decide.”
Political strategist and commentator Alex Lorusso wrote, “Right after President Trump says you can’t tell Tucker Carlson who to interview, Ted Cruz says we have a ‘responsibility’ to speak out against him. He has a rude awakening coming if he wants to run for president in 2028 by positioning himself against DJT.”
Normalcy advocate Robby Starbuck wrote, “Breaking: Ted Cruz will lose the 2028 primary. He has absolutely no chance against JD Vance.”
“It’s all about principle you see,” tweeted BlazeTV host Auron MacIntyre, “and that principle is power.”
The popular X user Swig noted, “Ted Cruz’s bizarre attacks on Tucker Carlson are simply a proxy attack on JD Vance. Extremely transparent game he is engaging in.”
“Judging by top MAGA influencers, Cruz is gonna have a tough time,” concluded Axios’ Marc Caputo.
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Jd vance, Tucker carlson, Carlson, Ted cruz, Senate, Republican, Rino, Bush, Robby starbuck, Vance, Presidential election, 2028, Politics
Tucker dropped the Crooks files — now Glenn Beck demands answers to 6 critical questions
On November 14, Tucker Carlson released an investigative video, exposing new details about Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old who nearly succeeded in assassinating President Donald Trump at his Butler, Pennsylvania, rally on July 13, 2024.
In the 34-minute video, Carlson made three bombshell claims:
1. The FBI spent months falsely claiming Crooks had no online footprint while hiding a years-long digital trail of extremist posts across multiple platforms, including Discord, Snapchat, and YouTube, as well as an extensive search history in the days leading up to the assassination attempt.
2. Crooks began as a pro-Trump, far-right teen advocating dictatorship and racial violence, then dramatically flipped in 2020 to virulent anti-Trump rhetoric and explicit threats of assassination, decapitations, and terrorism-style bombings.
3. Crooks was groomed online by a neo-Nazi handler linked to a U.S.-designated terrorist group, yet the FBI — under both Christopher Wray and now Trump appointee Kash Patel — continues to cover up Crooks’ full history, motive, and evidence, including physically scrubbing the crime scene.
After these revelations, Glenn Beck says there are six critical questions the American public must demand answers to.
FBI slept on Crooks’ kill list
For starters, Glenn is highly skeptical about the FBI’s dismissal of Crooks’ disturbing online activity.
During his pro-Trump era, Crooks directed violent comments almost exclusively toward Democrat officials — overtly calling for their gruesome deaths. This was happening under Joe Biden’s FBI — “a period when the U.S. government … was monitoring social media more aggressively than any other point in U.S. history,” says Glenn.
“People were arrested for memes at this time, but Crooks? Nothing … not a warning, not a knock on the door, not one single action,” he says.
Crooks’ 2020 plot twist: MAGA → Trump assassin
Sometime in 2020, Crooks’ digital footprint, per Carlson’s documentary, reveals an abrupt ideological flip. His comments were just as violent, but suddenly, they were directed at Trump and his supporters. He began mocking Trump’s handling of COVID-19, anti-lockdown protests, and conservative media figures, including Carlson himself, for downplaying the virus.
The FBI in its post-assassination attempt report, however, revealed only half of Crooks’ political leanings, omitting the anti-Trump part.
Neo-Nazi Discord daddy groomed him — crickets from FBI
Around the same time Crooks’ political leanings reversed, a shadowy online figure under the alias Willy Tepes, whom Carlson posits is a neo-Nazi Discord groomer affiliated with the U.S.-designated terrorist group Nordic Resistance Movement, began interacting with Crooks. According to the exposé, Tepes encouraged Crooks’ violent rhetoric, openly approving of his barbaric ideations aimed at government officials.
“So now you have our state department” and “our intelligence community that is monitoring people online, especially Nazis in the rest of the world and Nazis here, and yet there’s nothing. Not a single red flag is triggered, not a single investigation, no monitoring, no intervention,” says Glenn, noting that this same FBI was monitoring “Catholic churches and priests.”
Further, in the days leading up to the assassination attempt, Crooks, Carlson alleged, searched Trump’s name hundreds of times, as well as Jack Ruby, bomb-making, car and sniper attacks, successful assassinations, and how to evade police gunfire.
“All of these things should ring every NSA alarm bell. Nothing — again,” says Glenn.
“They didn’t stop him. They didn’t prevent or try to prevent. They didn’t warn anyone. Instead, as soon as he was shot, they rushed out a narrative — a very specific narrative — and then they shut down anything that conflicted with it.”
Trump’s FBI still running cover?
Perhaps the most head-scratching revelation in Carlson’s exposé is that Trump’s own FBI has continued to keep Crooks’ shocking history under wraps.
“I understand it when it’s Biden’s FBI, but now Trump’s FBI? Now, why didn’t Trump’s FBI immediately come out [with this information]?” asks Glenn, noting that Dan Bongino is on record reiterating the narrative that Crooks had virtually no digital footprint.
He uses the metaphor of an iceberg for the FBI. “You see an iceberg, and you just see just the top of it. Two-thirds of that is under the water, so we’re seeing the tops change,” he says.
“I’m questioning: Does anyone know how deep this goes? Because I don’t think it matters who’s running it.”
FBI: Fast cremation
The FBI also approved and coordinated the release of Crooks’ body for cremation just 10 days after the shooting.
“You don’t do that in a presidential assassination attempt. You don’t do that in a local homicide case unless you want something gone,” says Glenn.
The essential questions
1. Why did the FBI push the narrative that Crooks had a minimal digital footprint when quite the opposite is true?
2. Why did the FBI present only half of Crooks’ political history, hiding his era of Trump hatred? Who exactly was involved in the decision?
3. After the election and the appointment of Kash Patel and Dan Bongino, why did the FBI continue to uphold the original narrative? Who made that decision?
4. Given that the government constantly monitors potentially dangerous online activity, why did Crooks’ violent comments, suspicious search history, and consorting with a known Swedish Nazi group go ignored?
5. Why did the FBI clean the scene prematurely by allowing Crooks to be cremated shortly after the crime?
6. Why is it that every time our FBI and government make a mistake, it seems to point in the direction of “ignorance, negligence, hiding inconvenient data, shaping a political narrative”?
“There’s something very wrong. The official story is impossible to believe,” says Glenn, calling these questions not partisan but “self-preservation” inquiries.
“You can feel the republic slipping through your fingers. If we do not correct these things, we do not have a government of, by, and for the people.”
To hear more of Glenn’s commentary and analysis, watch the video above.
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ICE takes down alleged ‘wanted terrorist’ illegal alien trucker
Federal agents arrested an illegal alien truck driver who is wanted in his home country for allegedly belonging to a terrorist organization.
Akhror Bozorov, a 31-year-old from Uzbekistan, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of Homeland Security announced Monday.
‘This issue extends far beyond the trucking industry and represents a profound national security crisis.’
Bozorov reportedly entered the United States illegally in February 2023. The U.S. Border Patrol arrested him but later released him into the country.
Uzbekistan authorities issued an arrest warrant in 2022, claiming that Bozorov had distributed terrorist propaganda online that called for jihad. He also allegedly recruited others to join the movement.
On November 9, ICE agents arrested Bozorov in Kansas while he was working as a truck driver.
The DHS blamed Pennsylvania for issuing Bozorov a CDL after the Biden administration granted his work authorization in January 2024.
Akhror Bozorov. Image source: Department of Homeland Security
A photograph of Bozorov’s license, shared by the DHS, showed that Pennsylvania issued him a non-domiciled CDL with REAL ID in July.
“Not only was Akhror Bozorov — a wanted terrorist — RELEASED into the country by the Biden administration, but he was also given a commercial driver’s license by Governor [Josh] Shapiro’s Pennsylvania. This should go without saying, but terrorist illegal aliens should not be operating 18-wheelers on America’s highways,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated.
“Biden and [former DHS Secretary Alejandro] Mayorkas allowed countless terrorists to come into our country,” McLaughlin continued. “President Trump and [DHS] Secretary [Kristi] Noem unleashed ICE to target these national security threats.”
Image source: Department of Homeland Security
Shannon Everett with American Truckers United reacted to ICE’s recent arrest.
“At American Truckers United, our longstanding concern has been that this issue extends far beyond the trucking industry and represents a profound national security crisis,” Everett told Blaze News. “The driver in question is just one of several we have identified in possession of not only non-domicile commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) issued by rogue states, but also REAL IDs.”
“These individuals have been found transporting critical assets, including U.S. Mail, U.S. defense shipments, and our nation’s food supplies. This situation is untenable, and our administration must take immediate and decisive action to ban and revoke all non-domicile CDLs improperly issued to noncitizens over the past five years,” Everett said.
“Pennsylvania issues both commercial and non-commercial driver’s licenses only to non-U.S. citizens who can provide documentation proving their lawful presence in the United States,” PennDOT told Blaze News. “When noncitizen applicants appear at a Driver License Center in Pennsylvania, PennDOT reviews immigration and naturalization documents, which are confirmed in real time against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) website before issuing any driver’s license. PennDOT is prohibited from publicly disclosing information about an individual’s driver record due to state and federal privacy laws.”
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‘The Naked Gun’ creator David Zucker bashes ‘frightened’ Hollywood elites
Legendary “Airplane!” director David Zucker has a theory about why today’s movies are flopping so badly — and the folks in charge aren’t going to like it.
“The studios are very frightened people afraid to take risks,” the director told Align, stroking his chin. “I wrote an article … about the 9% rule. There’s 9% of people who just don’t have a sense of humor. There’s like zero sense of humor. So the studios are being guided by those people.”
‘There’s 9% of people who just don’t have a sense of humor.’
According to Zucker — whose cinematic pedigree includes comedies like “The Naked Gun,” “BASEketball,” and “Top Secret!” — cancel culture is still alive and well in the film biz, pushed by overly cautious studio brass.
Cracked rearview
“It’s like driving looking through the rearview mirror,” Zucker said — an attitude that leads to unfunny films that repackage old ideas with jokes that don’t land.
Zucker didn’t have to look far to find an example: the recent “The Naked Gun” reboot, which went ahead without his involvement.
RELATED: ‘Trey didn’t have a car’: ‘Airplane!’ director David Zucker on humble origins of ‘South Park’ empire
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Blocked calls
Zucker recalled the confusion he felt when he learned Paramount had no intention of consulting him on “The Naked Gun” reboot, despite having pages upon pages of jokes already written. Instead, the studio went with “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane, who came in and took over.
Zucker attempted to explained the debacle:
“I’m excluded from it. I called him. He didn’t return my calls, refused to meet with me. So I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going on, but that’s Hollywood.”
Still he said MacFarlane did contact him after the movie finished production and spent “10 minutes just telling me how much he idolized [my movies], hard to get mad at a guy who keeps telling you what a genius you are.”
‘Painful’ viewing
Despite all the flattery, Zucker said he had no intentions of ever seeing the new version of “The Naked Gun,” recalling his experience watching “Airplane II: The Sequel,” with which he also had no involvement.
“If your daughter became a prostitute, would you go watch her work?” he asked. “So you know, it’s painful. It would be painful to sit through. It’s somebody else doing our movie, and they don’t know what they’re doing.”
RELATED: ‘The Naked Gun’ remake is laugh-out-loud funny? Surely, you can’t be serious
(L-R) Seth MacFarlane, Pamela Anderson, and Liam Neeson attend ‘The Naked Gun’ New York Premiere on July 28, 2025. Photo by Arturo Holmes/WireImage
In Zucker’s view, Hollywood’s risk-averse approach is especially obvious in comedies. “If you do a comedy that’s not funny, you can’t hide,” he noted, adding that the new “The Naked Gun” “must have been excruciating to sit through.”
It’s safe to say Zucker won’t be lining up for the upcoming “Spaceballs” reboot either. Not that he was a huge fan of the 1987 original, which he dismissed as “an attempt to copy ‘Airplane!'”
“You can’t do stuff that’s 10, 20 years old … puns [that] were fresh in 1982,” he laughed.
As for his own movies, Zucker said he hopes to advance the pun-filled, slapstick comedy genre he helped popularize — with his next project offering a fresh, humorous spin on film noir.
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Canada’s liberal prime minister gets embarrassed by football fans before country’s biggest game
The average football fan is likely not a big supporter of Canada’s prime minister.
Amid an ongoing trade and tariff war with President Donald Trump, Canada’s Liberal leader, Mark Carney, made an appearance at the Grey Cup, the championship game for the Canadian Football League.
‘We were cheered as well.’
On Sunday night, the East Division champion Montreal Alouettes and the West Division champion Saskatchewan Roughriders faced off at the Princess Auto Stadium in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It was just an eight-point victory for the Roughriders, 25-17, but for Carney, exactly zero winning was had.
During the playing of the national anthem, fans shockingly paused their singing to boo the prime minister as he appeared on camera.
That was not all, though. During the coin toss, the CEO of cryptocurrency platform Coinbase joined the prime minister, and assuming the fans in Winnipeg were not staunch vocal supporters of physical currency, the raucous boos were likely directed at Carney when his name was announced.
About a minute later, Carney was booed even louder as the referee handed him the ceremonial coin and said, “Mr. Prime Minister, would you do us the honor?”
Mainstream Canadian outlet the National Post even described the boos as having “suddenly increased in volume” as Carney tossed the coin into the air.
Another video from the event went viral and appeared to show at least two fans getting vulgar with the Liberal Party leader.
“Carney! Carney!” a person called out, waving to him at first. The wave then turned into a middle finger, while at the same time a second football fan was heard yelling, “Yeah, you f**king commie, eh?!”
The prime minister was asked about the boos on Monday and claimed that at least some in the crowd were his supporters.
“You were booed,” a reporter said as he entered Parliament, per the National Post. “What does that show you about Western disaffection?”
Carney responded, “We represent the entire country. We were cheered as well,” he claimed.
Carney later posted on X that the national championship “brings Canadians together” and that Sunday’s game was “no exception.”
Manitoba, where the game was played, voted slightly in favor of the Canadian Conservatives in the 2025 federal election, winning seven seats to the Liberals’ six.
Saskatchewan’s fans were more than likely conservative, voting the right-wing party in for 13 seats in 2025; the Liberal Party won just one in the province.
While Montreal’s fans are very proud of their French culture, the province voted in favor of Liberals in the same election, handing them 44 out of a possible 78 seats.
Meanwhile, Carney recently apologized to President Trump over an ad that used former President Ronald Reagan in an attempt to dig at Trump’s tariff policies.
The prime minister placed the blame on Ontario’s Progressive-Conservative Premier Doug Ford, saying “I told Ford I did not want to go forward with the ad,” which sparks further questions about the Liberal Party leader’s relationship with what is supposedly an opposing party.
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Big-city school district risks potential federal funding cuts to push trans ideology, DEI
Pennsylvania’s largest school district is celebrating “Transgender Awareness Week,” despite the Trump administration’s order prohibiting “radical indoctrination” in the nation’s public schools.
The School District of Philadelphia, which serves more than 100,000 students from pre-K through 12th grade, posted on its social media platforms on Thursday, recognizing the so-called “awareness week.”
‘Our policies … accommodate name and gender requests, ensuring that our LGBTQIA+ students are respected and valued throughout their educational journey.’
“Happy #TransAwarenessWeek. This is a week to help raise visibility about transgender people and address issues members of the community face,” the district wrote.
The post included a link to the activist group GLSEN’s “Trans Action Kit,” which described “Transgender Awareness Week” as running from November 13 to 19. It encouraged those seeking to celebrate it to host a “transgender and nonbinary student and staff panel,” play a “film based on transgender issues,” and “center[] trans and nonbinary voices.”
Critics flooded the district’s Facebook post.
“Thought it was April 1st?!” one user joked.
“Concentrate on academics,” another responded.
“But, about those math and read[ing] scores,” a third user wrote.
Photo by Paul Marotta/Getty Images
Just 18% of students in the district are proficient in math, and only 36% in reading, according to Niche.
The district regularly voices support for the LGBT+ community and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
In June, the district shared a photo of staff members standing next to a Pride flag and rainbow balloons. “Pride doesn’t end in June — we wear our hearts on our sleeves (and shirts!) all year long. We’re proud to be educators, advocates, and allies — ensuring every SDP student knows they belong,” the post read.
Another June post stated, “As we continue to pursue equity and inclusion, we will nurture classrooms and learning environments that embrace the diverse backgrounds and identities of our students, families, and staff.”
RELATED: LGBTQ+ teacher posts meme apparently threatening violence over pronouns: Report
Photo by Mark Makela/Corbis via Getty Images
Last November, the district promoted a “Transgender Remembrance Coffee House & Open Mic Night,” encouraging students, staff, and families to participate by sharing their “poetry, art, & other forms of expression that affirm and acknowledge the transgender experience.”
The district’s website includes a DEI page with a “cultural calendar,” featuring “LGBTQIA+ History Month,” “National Coming Out Day,” “Trans Awareness Month,” “Trans Day of Remembrance,” “Trans Day of Visibility,” “PRIDE Month,” “Pulse Nightclub Remembrance,” and the “Stonewall Riots Anniversary.”
The website also features a “LGBTQIA+ Resources and Policies” webpage, which states that the district “celebrates the diverse experiences and affirms the unique identities of our LGBTQIA+ students.”
“Our policies, such as Policy 252, accommodate name and gender requests, ensuring that our LGBTQIA+ students are respected and valued throughout their educational journey,” it reads.
President Donald Trump issued an order in January to end the “radical indoctrination in K-12 schooling,” which included a threat to pull federal funding to any public institutions pushing the “illegal and discriminatory treatment and indoctrination in K-12 schools, including based on gender ideology and discriminatory equity ideology.”
The Department of Education and the School District of Philadelphia did not respond to a request for comment.
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Actor Jon Voight calls on Trump to ‘terminate’ election of Mamdani in NYC
Academy Award-winning actor Jon Voight released a video calling on the president to take action to prevent the newly elected socialist mayor from imposing his destructive policies on New York City.
Zohran Mamdani surprised many by winning the Democratic nomination in the mayoral primary election and then went on to easily win the office in November. The socialist Democrat garnered 50.4% of the vote over runner-up Andrew Cuomo, who got support from 41.6%.
‘The blood, sweat, and tears that the city of New York was built on will turn into a virtual refugee shelter for the radical Muslim ideology. This is now the most dangerous time for our citizens of New York.’
Critics are warning that Mamdani’s extremist socialist policies will worsen the plight of NYC residents, but Voight says the threat is so severe that President Donald Trump should address it.
“The mayor that has taken over New York City is a Muslim who is going to take down the ‘city that never sleeps,'” he began on the video posted to social media.
“The city of life’s dreams, this city that our ancestors brought forth in prosperity and greatness and liberty. This city will turn into a forbidden place of darkness, the blood, sweat, and tears that the city of New York was built on will turn into a virtual refugee shelter for the radical Muslim ideology. This is now the most dangerous time for our citizens of New York,” he added.
Voight went on to say that the mayor has no right to dictate socialist rules for the city that would take away citizens’ rights.
“This must be stopped, and his mayoralty should be terminated immediately,” he continued.
“You, the people of the greatest city, New York, are in danger of losing your city to this communist fool. We, the people, must stand for the greatest nation’s purpose — the honor of our flag, the red, white, and blue — and for which it stands, one nation under God, with liberty and justice for all,” Voight added.
He then pleaded with the president to take action.
“We the people have put our trust in the president of the United States, Donald J. Trump. He, and only he, can stop this horror as this mayor, Mamdani, will try to destroy New York’s wealth and turn it into a socialist crap city.”
RELATED: Angelina Jolie says she’s moving from California: ‘Hollywood is not a healthy place’
“Let this be a warning to the people — and may God bless,” Voight concluded.
The 86-year-old has been a passionate Trump supporter, and in 2019, the president awarded him the National Medal of Arts.
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Beloved ‘Last Chance U’ coach John Beam shot and killed on Oakland campus
Former football coach John Beam was known for giving players who most coaches wouldn’t gamble on a chance after being featured in the Netflix series “Last Chance U” — which focuses on junior college athletes attempting to turn their lives around.
Now, Beam, 66, has been tragically shot and killed on the Laney College campus where he worked in Oakland, California.
The suspect is believed by police to have known and targeted Beam.
“That was the second shooting this week in Oakland on a college campus, by the way, and very unfortunate,” BlazeTV contributor Jason Brown, also known as Coach JB, tells BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock on “Fearless.”
“I did get calls by buddies of mine that are up there, that are in that conference, and what I was told is very disturbing and unfortunate … I haven’t seen the final report so it’ll all be allegedly at this point, but I heard it was a targeting situation where they walked into his office,” he explains.
“He had an office that butts up against the street, the neighborhood there in Oakland, and it’s very, very far from the facilities. It’s very, very far from anything, and it’s real easy to go do something and not be seen and then just escape,” he continues.
A suspect has been taken into custody and a gun has been recovered.
The suspect, as Brown understands, “walked in his office, did whatever happened, and then just went right into the hood behind it.”
Whitlock is shocked, asking Brown how “dangerous is it being a junior college coach in California?”
“As dangerous as it can be, because at the end of the day, you don’t have security walking around like a D1 coach. You don’t have resources,” Brown says. “You’re out there in the hood, at churches, trying to get food at food banks for your players, if you really care for your guys like I did.”
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Teacher accused of trafficking for alleged Soros-linked, sex ‘dungeon’ financier loses certification: ‘Not a one-man show’
A Texas woman accused of sex trafficking women for her former financier boss has temporarily lost her teacher certification, according to a new report.
As Blaze News noted in September, a former famed Wall Street financier with money ties to George Soros is accused of torturing women at a secret BDSM sex “dungeon,” according to authorities.
‘During many of these encounters, Rubin brutalized women’s bodies, causing them to fear for their safety and/or resulting in significant pain and injuries.’
On Sept. 26, FBI agents arrested 70-year-old Howard Rubin at his home in Fairfield, Connecticut. On the same day, FBI agents also arrested Rubin’s alleged personal assistant — 46-year-old Jennifer Powers — at her home in Southlake, Texas.
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York said in a statement released in September, “A 10-count indictment was unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn charging retired New York-based financier, Howard Rubin, also known as ‘Howie’ and ‘H,’ along with his personal assistant, Jennifer Powers, with sex trafficking and transporting women in interstate commerce for sex acts with Rubin.”
Rubin — a former high-profile money manager at Salomon Brothers, Bear Stearns, and Merrill Lynch — was also charged with bank fraud in “connection with misrepresentations made to a bank in the course of financing Powers’ mortgage for the Texas home of Powers and her husband.”
If convicted of sex trafficking, Rubin and Powers each face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment and a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years behind bars. Rubin and Powers face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison if convicted of transporting women to engage in commercial sex acts. Rubin faces a maximum prison sentence of 30 years if he’s convicted of bank fraud.
Rubin and Powers have pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Federal officials said Powers became Rubin’s personal assistant around 2011 and “managed the logistical aspects of their commercial sex operation.”
Federal prosecutors said the alleged sexual abuse crimes occurred between 2009 and 2019 when Rubin and Powers “recruited multiple women to travel to New York City to engage in commercial sex acts with Rubin involving bondage, discipline, dominance, submission, and sadomasochism, referred to as ‘BDSM’ sex, and some of the women were trafficked.”
According to the Associated Press, Rubin “lured dozens of women, including former Playboy models, to be sexually and physically assaulted during encounters in his Central Park penthouse in a soundproofed room described in court papers as ‘The Dungeon.'”
Federal authorities said the purported sexual encounters happened at luxury hotels and at Rubin’s two-bedroom penthouse apartment in midtown Manhattan, where one of the bedrooms was converted into “what they referred to as a sex ‘dungeon’ that was painted red, soundproofed, and furnished with BDSM equipment and devices, including a device to shock or electrocute the women.”
The federal prosecutor’s office stated in the news release, “During many of these encounters, Rubin brutalized women’s bodies, causing them to fear for their safety and/or resulting in significant pain and injuries.”
Federal officials said Rubin and Powers also forced the women to sign nondisclosure agreements, which would “require the women to assume the risk of the hazards and injury of the BDSM encounters with Rubin, prohibit the disclosure of information about the BDSM sex with Rubin, and require the payment of damages in the event of a breach.”
Special agent Harry Chavis said Powers was quite involved in the alleged sexual abuse, and it was “not a one-man show.”
Chavis stated, “While Rubin dehumanized these women with abhorrent sexual acts, Powers is alleged to have run the day-to-day operations of the enterprise and got paid generously for her efforts.”
The Dallas Morning News, citing online records from the Texas Education Agency, reported Friday that Powers temporarily lost her state teacher certification. The paper added that Powers worked as a long-term substitute teacher for Old Union Elementary in Southlake.
A TEA spokesperson added to the Morning News that the State Board of Educator Certification is required to temporarily suspend a teacher’s certification or permit following an arrest. The paper added that in such cases, a hearing on the temporary suspension “must take place within about two months of the final outcome of the legal case.”
CBS News in September reported that the Carroll Independent School District confirmed Powers had been a substitute teacher but was dismissed.
Cameron Bryan — president of the board of trustees for the Carroll Independent School District — said the district followed all TEA hiring requirements, including fingerprint-based criminal background checks.
An attorney for Powers did not immediately respond to the Morning News’ request for comment.
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True crime, Sex trafficking, Howard rubin, Howard rubin arrest, Howard rubin victims, George soros, Crime
Bluesky founder reboots Vine for AI-free social media — as human-only video becomes ‘nostalgic’
Jack Dorsey is bringing the nostalgia back, just a few seconds at a time.
Dorsey co-founded Twitter in 2007 and served as its inaugural CEO for a year until returning to the position for a six-year stint in its seemingly darkest years between 2015 and 2021.
Now, through his nonprofit called and Other Stuff, Dorsey is bringing one of the internet’s most beloved applications back from the dead.
‘Can we do something that takes us back, that lets us see those old things …’
“So basically, I’m like, can we do something that’s kind of nostalgic?” said Evan Henshaw-Plath, Dorsey’s pick to spearhead the revival. The New Zealander comes from Dorsey’s nonprofit team, where he is known as Rabble, and has outlined aspirations to bring the internet vibe back to its Web 2.0 time period — roughly 2004-2010 or thereabouts.
Dorsey and Henshaw-Plath are rebooting Vine, the six-second video app that predominantly served viewers short, user-generated comedy clips. The format is a clear inspiration for modern apps like TikTok and formats like YouTube’s Shorts and Instagram’s Reels.
Dorsey and company are focused on keeping the nostalgic feel, however, and unlike the other apps, will keep a six-second time limit while also taking a stance on content. What that means, according to Yahoo, is that the platform will reject AI-generated videos using special filters meant to prevent them from being posted.
RELATED: Social media matrix destroys free will; Dorsey admits ‘we are being programmed’
The new app, called diVine, will revive 10,000 archived Vine posts, after the new team was able to extract a “good percentage” of some of the most popular videos.
Former Vine users are able to claim their old videos, so long as they can prove access to previously connected social media accounts that were on their former Vine profiles. Alternatively, the users can request that their old videos be taken down.
“The reason I funded the nonprofit and Other Stuff is to allow creative engineers like Rabble to show what’s possible in this new world,” Dorsey said, per Yahoo.
This will be done by “using permissionless protocols which can’t be shut down based on the whim of a corporate owner,” he added.
Henshaw-Plath commented on returning to simpler internet times — as silly as it sounds — when a person’s content feed only consisted of accounts he follows, with real, user-generated content.
“Can we do something that takes us back, that lets us see those old things, but also lets us see an era of social media where you could either have control of your algorithms, or you could choose who you follow, and it’s just your feed, and where you know that it’s a real person that recorded the video?” he asked.
RELATED: Twitter announces the demise of video-sharing app Vine, internet weeps (2016)
According to Tech Crunch, Vine was acquired by Twitter in 2012 for $30 million before eventually shutting down in 2016.
The app sparked careers for personalities like Logan Paul, Andrew “King Bach” Bachelor, and John Richard Whitfield, aka DC Young Fly. Bachelor and Whitfield captured the genre that was most popular on the platform: eccentric young performers who published unique comedy.
DiVine is currently in a beta stage and is available only to existing users of the messenger app Nostr.
X owner Elon Musk announced in August that he was trying acquire access to Vine’s archive so that users could post the videos on his platform.
“We recently found the Vine video archive (thought it had been deleted) and are working on restoring user access, so you can post them if you want,” Musk wrote.
However, it seems the billionaire may have been beaten to the punch by longtime rival Dorsey.
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Vance, Banks come out swinging against reporter attacking Tucker Carlson’s son
Buckley Carlson, son of Tucker Carlson, works in Vice President JD Vance’s office as deputy press secretary. There appears to be a campaign underway to have him removed over the perceived sin of having Tucker Carlson as a blood relation.
Amid mounting pressure on the young man to disavow his father or at least denounce some of his father’s remarks, Vance and other conservatives have made abundantly clear that they will not throw Buckley Carlson to the wolves.
‘You don’t assign your hate for his Dad to him, and you don’t ask sons to disavow their fathers or mothers.’
Vance stressed in a multipart defense of his staffer on Sunday, “I have an extraordinary tolerance for disagreements and criticisms from the various people in our coalition. But I am a very loyal person, and I have zero tolerance for scumbags attacking my staff.”
“And yes, *everyone* who I’ve seen attack Buckley with lies is a scumbag,” added Vance.
While Laura Loomer and others have concern-mongered in recent months over the presence of a Carlson in the vice president’s office, Vance was responding to comments by Jennifer Sloan Rachmuth.
Rachmuth, a Republican operative and journalist who was arrested last year on a cyberstalking charge that was quickly dismissed, stated in a viral Saturday post on X that “racism and antisemitism is a Carlson family trait.”
“Is Tucker’s son Buckley, who serves as JD Vance’s top aide also a vile bigot?” Rachmuth asked, after claiming that Tucker Carlson’s brother idolized Nick Fuentes. “America deserves to know how deep the Carlson’s family ethnic and religious hatred runs.”
RELATED: Tucker Carlson, Nick Fuentes, and the war for the conservative soul
Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Rachmuth, who previously suggested that Vance’s ties to the Carlson family are “indefensible,” hinted on Monday that this pressure campaign might have less to do with Vance’s staffer and more to do with the front-runner for the 2028 Republican nomination.
After accusing Tucker Carlson of being “America’s most prolific antisemite,” Rachmuth noted, “The vice president is close friends with Tucker and yet, he hasn’t weighed in on his targeting against Christians and Jews.”
Rachmuth noted further that “when senior aides like Carlson contribute to national policy discussions, clarity regarding his stance on equality and minority protections will maintain public trust in Vance’s policymaking.”
Rachmuth, Tucker Carlson, and the vice president’s office did not respond to Blaze News’ request for comment.
Vance did not mince words when responding to Rachmuth, writing, “Sloan Rachmuth is a ‘journalist’ who has decided to obsessively attack a staffer in his 20s because she doesn’t like the views of his father. Every time I see a public attack on Buckley it’s a complete lie. And yes, I notice ever [sic] person with an agenda who unfairly attacks a good guy who does a great job for me.”
“Sloan describes herself as a defender of ‘Judeo-Christian Values.’ Is it a ‘Judeo-Christian value’ to lie about someone you don’t know?” continued Vance. “Not in any church I ever spent time in!”
Republican Sen. Jim Banks of Indiana similarly defended Buckley Carlson, noting that the young man had worked for him for years and was “one of the smartest, most trustworthy and loyal staffers I’ve ever had.”
“These personal attacks are disgusting and don’t serve your cause well,” added Banks.
Some critics of Rachmuth’s attack characterized it as a spillover of venom intended for Tucker Carlson.
Normalcy advocate Robby Starbuck, for instance, noted, “Attacking Buckley is really messed up. Even if you don’t like Tucker, you don’t assign your hate for his Dad to him and you don’t ask sons to disavow their fathers or mothers. Come on.”
“They can’t bring down Tucker so they’re going after his son,” wrote conservative commentator Megyn Kelly.
Christina Pushaw, an aide to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), noted, “If us political staffers are accountable for everything our uncles might post online, we’re all in trouble,” adding in a separate post that it’s a “good thing blood-lines don’t predetermine our views, and good thing we live in America where we reject the concept of blood-guilt.”
Tucker Carlson has been the target of intense criticism in recent weeks over his interview with Nick Fuentes, a rightist provocateur who routinely attacks both Vance and Israel.
When asked about Tucker Carlson on Sunday, President Donald Trump said, “You can’t tell him who to interview and if he wants to interview Nick Fuentes — I don’t know much about him — but if he wants to do it, get the word out. … People have to decide. Ultimately, people have to decide.”
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Jd vance, Vance, Buckley carlson, Tucker carlson, Sloan rachmuth, Rachmuth, Israel, Foreign policy, Nick fuentes, Donald trump, Maga, America first, Politics
Fathers step up to defend girls’ sports after liberal state defies President Trump — and biology
Concerned fathers of female athletes are taking matters into their own hands.
After two bills failed to pass through the Maine state legislature, parents are taking to the streets to collect signatures in hopes of getting their own set of rules passed.
‘We will effect change across the entire state all at once.’
The group of fathers, called Maine Girl Dads, is asking the general public of Maine to sign a petition for the initiative titled “An Act to Designate School Sports Participation and Facilities by Sex.”
The act would require schools in the state to designate “athletic teams and private facilities,” including bathrooms and locker rooms, on the basis of biological sex.
“This is important, as we will effect change across the entire state all at once, while providing a private right of action for enforcement, clarifying statutory cross-references, and ensuring severability,” the group wrote on its website.
The dads are hoping to garner the 68,000 signatures required to get the initiative on the ballot in the 2026 midterms next November.
Weathering a cold November day in the Northeast, the group recently held a signature drive that saw overwhelmingly positive results.
RELATED: Maine Democrat says transgender athletes make women better
“We collected over 53K signatures! In just one day, we’re over halfway to our goal of 100K,” the group recently wrote on X. “When this gets on the 2026 ballot, we win and girls’ sports are protected. Let’s keep going, Maine!”
WMTW-TV caught up with Steven Scharf, one of the men taking roadside signatures over the weekend, to see what the reactions were like from the general public.
“Everybody who’s stopped by has been very eager to sign and can’t understand why this is not just automatic and why this needs to go through a process of being voted on, and why the state legislature has not passed this as is,” Scharf told the outlet.
Sending the question of banning boys from girls’ sports directly to the voter circumvents the state. Not only has Maine defied President Trump’s early February executive order on this matter, but the state Senate has shot down two different bills that would have achieved the same end.
RELATED: Liberal state gives ridiculous reason to justify refusal to ban men from women’s sports
Two bills passed the Maine House, which has a virtual split between Democrats (74) and Republicans (73), with three independents. However, neither passed in the state Senate, which is composed of 20 Democrats, 14 Republicans, and one independent.
Proposal LD 1134 was rejected by the Senate on June 13, while LD 233 was rejected just days later on June 16.
If the Maine Girl Dads get their way and their proposal is passed, it would become effective on Jan. 1, 2027.
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