Category: blaze media

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis did her apparent best to throw President Donald Trump in jail and failed miserably.

While Willis was disqualified in 2024 from the Georgia case regarding alleged 2020 election interference and the case was dropped late last year, the Democrat DA has proven unable to put the lawfare behind her.

In addition to having to fight misconduct allegations, Willis now faces the possibility of having to shell out millions to the president in attorney fees and costs, thanks to legislation ratified in May by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R).

‘It’s Fani Willis’ fault.’

The new law, which went into effect in July, provides “for the award of reasonable attorney’s fees and costs in a criminal case to the defendant upon the disqualification of the prosecuting attorney for misconduct in connection with the case and the subsequent dismissal of the case by the court of a subsequent prosecutor.”

Although the law might appear perfectly tailored to Trump’s case, the legislation had bipartisan support.

RELATED: Fani Willis has ugly meltdown when confronted with how much her office paid her ex-lover to prosecute Trump

Photo by Dennis Byron-Pool/Getty Images

Trump is pushing for over $6.2 million in restitution. As the president’s legal team has reportedly already been paid, most of the requested funds would go to reimburse Trump.

Steve Sadow, Trump’s lead attorney in the case, told WXIA-TV, “I feel for the people in Fulton County, because Fani Willis has involved herself in improper conduct. She’s now set up a situation where her office, from funds that have been collected through Fulton County, will have to pay for it. It’s Fani Willis’ fault.”

“At the same time, maybe Fani Willis will tell us how much money she spent from her budget pursuing this politically motivated case against President Trump,” added Sadow.

Her office has since filed a motion to intervene in the matter, which states, “The statute raises grave separation-of-powers concerns by purporting to impose financial liability on a constitutional officer, twice elected by the citizens of Fulton County, for the lawful exercise of her core duties under the Georgia Constitution.”

Willis’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

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​Fani willis, Georgia, Donald trump, Trump, Restitution, Election interference, Lawfare, Nathan wade, Steve sadow, Winning, Politics 

Late-night host and writer Conan O’Brien says Trump-deranged comedians need to step up their game.

Speaking at the Oxford Union Society, the former talk-show host and “Simpsons” writer lamented that some in the comedy establishment have given up on laughs in favor of angry tirades about President Trump.

‘We don’t have a straight line right now. We have a very bendy, rubbery line.’

“I think some comics go the route of, ‘I’m going to just say F Trump all the time’ [and] that’s their comedy. And I think, well, now, a little bit, you’re being co-opted because you’re so angry.”

“You’ve been lulled,” added the Harvard alum, likening the allure of crowd-pleasing but joke-free anti-Trump material to a siren song.

The comedian continued, “You’ve been lulled into just saying ‘F Trump. F Trump. F Trump. Screw this guy.’ I think you’ve now put down your best weapon, which is being funny, and you’ve exchanged it for anger.”

Finding the funny

The 62-year-old noted that he has always prided himself on finding a way to be funny in any situation, and he did not give his peers an out when it comes to political comedy.

RELATED: ‘I wouldn’t ask for no f**king charity!’ Mickey Rourke blasts ’embarrassing’ GoFundMe plea

“Any person like that would say, ‘Well, things are too serious now. I don’t need to be funny.’ I think, well, if you’re a comedian, you always need to be funny. You just have to find a way,” O’Brien told the audience at the esteemed student debating society.

“And you just have to find a way to channel that anger. … Good art will always be a great weapon, will always be a perfect weapon against power, but if you’re just screaming and you’re just angry, you’ve lost your best tool in the toolbox.”

Playing it straight

Earlier in the interview, O’Brien recalled that some of his most joyful memories in comedy were parodying different magazines or news outlets by mocking their tone and style. At the same time, he said it was impossible to parody something that doesn’t follow a “straight line.”

He referred to the National Enquirer, describing the outlet’s content as impossible to make fun of because it would print stories like, “Elvis found in Titanic lifeboat 105 years after sinking. He is now a woman, and he’s married a giant peanut-butter sandwich.”

“How do you parody that? You can’t,” he explained. “And I think with Trump we have a similar situation in comedy, which is people saying, ‘We’ve got a great Trump sketch for you. In this one, he’s kind of talking crazy and he’s saying stuff, and he tears down half the White House to build a giant ballroom, and he says it’s going to be the new Mar-a-Lago.’ Yeah, no, that happened yesterday,” O’Brien joked.

RELATED: How ‘conservative’ art can go from cringey to cathartic

Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images

“Comedy needs a straight line to go off of,” O’Brien added. “And we don’t have a straight line right now. We have a very bendy, rubbery line. We have a slinky. We have a fire hose that’s whipping around, spewing water at 100 miles an hour or something else.”

​Align, Trump, Conan o’brien, Comedy, Colbert, Kimmel, Comedians, Leftism, Oxford, Entertainment 

“It’s official. I’m running for Mayor of LA.”

After a year of calling out Democrat leadership for its handling of last year’s devastating Los Angeles wildfires, Spencer Pratt is offering Angelenos an alternative: himself.

Pratt, who shot to fame playing a villainous version of himself on hit MTV reality show “The Hills,” lost the Pacific Palisades house he shared with wife (and former castmate) Heidi Montag and their children in the January 7, 2025, conflagration. Since then, he has emerged as one of the most prominent critics of L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and California Governor Gavin Newsom, both Democrats.

‘Gavin Newsom and his state park policies actually literally dictated that we let the Palisades burn.’

Fired up

The Palisades native has accused Bass of bungling the response to the deadly blaze, which eventually spread to 23,448 acres, costing 12 lives and destroying almost 6,000 homes.

Pratt has also claimed that Newsom’s inadequate brush-clearance policy helped cause what was otherwise a preventable disaster.

Pratt kicked off his mayoral campaign on Wednesday with an impassioned speech to at least 1,000 attendees.

RELATED: ‘Reckoning day’ for Newsom: Trump DOT yanks $160 million over illegal trucker licenses

“It’s official. I’m running for Mayor of LA,” Pratt announced in a post sharing video of the speech. “I’ve waited a whole year for someone to step up and challenge Karen Bass, but I saw no fighters. Guess I’m gonna have to do this myself. Let’s make LA camera ready again!”

Brush-off

Pratt addressed the enthusiastic crowd with a mixture of defiance and sorrow.

“Standing here one year later, I have to tell you the most heartbreaking part of the past year wasn’t being displaced or losing everything I own. It was the realization that all of this was preventable,” he explained, fighting back tears.

The 42-year-old continued, “The state and local leaders let us burn. Gavin Newsom and the state of California let brush grow wild … no wildfire maintenance.”

RELATED: ‘Send in the next guy’: Nicki Minaj savages Newsom over his desire to ‘see trans kids’

Photo by Steve Granitz/WireImage

Policy pinch

Like many of the would-be constituents in attendance, Pratt faced the fires without standard homeowners’ insurance, after insurers declined to renew policies for thousands of homes in the Palisades, Altadena, and other designated fire-prone areas in recent years. Most notably, State Farm announced in 2024 that it would discontinue coverage for roughly 72,000 houses and apartments statewide.

Pratt’s sole coverage came from the state’s supplementary California FAIR Plan, which he has previously said did not provide enough money to rebuild.

In his speech, Pratt laid the blame squarely on Newsom, who he said “created an insurance market so hostile that every major carrier stopped writing policies” and thereby “dictated that we let the Palisades burn.”

The candidate also had harsh words for the Los Angeles Fire Department, which he blamed for “fail[ing] to deploy sufficient firefighters, fire engines, and firefighting resources, whether it be due to lack of budget, lack of knowledge, or simply DEI.”

Pratt concluded by touting his showbiz experience as something that made him uniquely attuned to the workings of power in the city. Singling out “NGOs, nonprofits, and unions,” he vowed to make it his “mission” to dismantle what he labeled a “machine designed to protect the people at the top.”

​Align, California, Los angeles, Hollywood, Spencer pratt, Mtv, Reality tv, Wild fires, Entertainment 

Across rural America, families are learning a hard lesson. The biggest threat to their local hospital or cancer clinic no longer comes from distance, workforce shortages, or regulation. It comes from private equity.

Over the past two decades, private equity firms have quietly bought hundreds of cancer clinics, oncology practices, and community hospitals. They promise efficiency and stability. Many communities experience something else: consolidation, higher costs, fewer doctors, and the slow erosion of care. When profit targets fall short, clinics close. Patients travel hours for treatment — or go without it altogether.

The same forces that hollowed out manufacturing towns and family farms are now targeting essential health care.

This shift reflects a deeper failure: treating health care as a financial asset rather than a public obligation.

Private equity follows a familiar playbook. Firms acquire medical practices with borrowed money, cut staffing, increase billing, extract profits, and sell within a few years. That model rewards investors. It fails patients who need long-term care and towns that depend on a single hospital or cancer center.

The collapse of 21st-century oncology shows how destructive this approach can be. After private equity took control, the company expanded rapidly across the Southeast while piling on debt. Pressure to generate revenue intensified. Federal investigators later uncovered widespread abuse, including unnecessary testing and illegal billing. The company paid more than $86 million in fraud settlements to the federal government and patients before filing for bankruptcy.

Entire regions lost access to cancer care with little warning. Investors exited. Patients were left to deal with the fallout.

Rural communities suffer the most. In cities, the loss of a clinic often means longer wait times. In rural America, it can mean the end of cancer care entirely. Patients face long drives, delayed treatment, or impossible choices between health and family obligations.

The same pattern appears in rural hospitals owned by Apollo Global Management through its control of LifePoint Health. After the acquisition, hospitals took on heavy debt. Executives sold real estate to raise cash, cut staffing, reduced services, and closed cancer centers. In New Mexico, state officials opened an investigation after reports that an Apollo-owned hospital denied or delayed cancer care for low-income patients.

RELATED: The hidden hospital scam driving up drug prices, coming to a state near you

amphotora / Getty Images

Defenders of private equity claim these firms rescue independent practices from hospital monopolies. In reality, they replace local control with corporate control.

Doctors lose authority to distant executives who never set foot in the affected communities. The language of independence disguises a transfer of power away from patients and physicians and toward investors.

Conservatives should recognize this for what it is. An elite financial class is extracting wealth from essential local institutions and leaving weaker communities behind. The same forces that hollowed out manufacturing towns and family farms are now targeting essential health care.

Cancer care should not function as a short-term investment. Rural hospitals should not exist to satisfy quarterly return targets. A system that allows this will continue to fail the people who rely on it most.

The answer is accountability, not a government takeover of medicine. Regulators must enforce antitrust laws. Policymakers should strengthen protections that preserve medical judgment from corporate interference. Communities deserve transparency about who owns their hospitals and who controls decisions about their care.

Health care depends on trust and continuity. When financialization dominates cancer care, rural Americans lose both. And once these institutions disappear, rebuilding them proves far harder than protecting them in the first place.

​Cancer, Cancer treatment, Private equity, Rural hospitals, Cancer care, Drug prices, Opinion & analysis 

The Rush reunion announcement landed like a Neil Peart cymbal crash heard from two continents away.

For some, it was a benediction. For others, a blasphemy. In America especially, Rush has always been a band that splits the room in two. On one side: devotion bordering on reverence. On the other: a curled lip, a sigh, a muttered word like “soulless” or “show-off.”

Rush endured because they never chased cool. Cool is perishable, but craft is not.

Few great bands inspire such loyalty and such irritation at the same time. Even fewer manage it without changing who they are.

A Farewell to Kings

The power trio we know as Rush formed in 1974 in Toronto, three young men chasing something bigger than barroom rock. They were loud, fast, and committed to mastery. As the years passed, they grew tighter, more disciplined, more deliberate. While other bands burned out or sold out, Rush stayed true.

That mindset carried them for four decades. Album after album. Tour after tour. By the time they bowed out in 2015, Rush had become one of the most reliable live acts in rock history. No scandals (despite a well-documented affection for Bolivian marching powder). The farewell felt final, especially as drummer Peart’s health declined. When he died in 2020, the door seemed closed for good.

Which is why this reunion lands so satisfyingly. It doesn’t feel forced. It doesn’t feel desperate. It feels natural. Two old friends picking up guitars, laughing through familiar songs, and realizing the music still matters to millions.

To others, it matters in the way a neighbor’s power drill matters — piercing, relentless, and likely to trigger a migraine.

Working Man

Rush has never fit comfortably into the American rock myth. The band wasn’t blues-rooted, booze-soaked, or born of Southern swag. Geddy Lee sang like a caffeinated banshee. Alex Lifeson mixed power with precision. And Neil Peart — the irreplaceable center — treated drums like an Olympic event.

To rock traditionalists, however, something about this just felt off. Rock, to them, was meant to feel dark and dangerous. Think Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, the Who, AC/DC. Part of the gig was bringing chaos — both on and off stage. Treating hotel rooms like demolition sites and sanity as optional. Consider the late, great Ozzy Osbourne: a man who built a Hall of Fame career out of conduct that would have ended most working lives in a padded room.

Rush never subscribed to that model. And for a certain kind of American critic, that alone was enough to raise suspicion.

Rock wasn’t supposed to sound so organized. It wasn’t supposed to sound like the band had talked things through. So the complaints piled up. Too clean. Too lame. “Cheesy” and “corny” became the easy shortcuts, a way to dismiss what they didn’t want to engage with.

RELATED: Exclusive: Former Toto bassist recalls 2019 breakup: It got a little ‘Lord of the Flies’

NurPhoto/Getty Images

Limelight

Take “Tom Sawyer,” still my personal favorite. Purists love to pick it apart. The synth line is too bright. The lyrics are too earnest. The chorus too triumphant. It doesn’t brood.

But that’s the point. “Tom Sawyer” isn’t trying to sound dangerous. The aim isn’t menace but momentum. It captures motion, confidence, and propulsion — three qualities rock critics often mistake for shallowness. Look past the childish nitpicking, and what’s left is undeniable. A song that still fills arenas, still hits hard, still makes people feel 10 feet tall.

For some critics, Rush was the band you loved if you owned graph paper and color-coded your homework. Rush’s music was for the kids who finished the test early and then checked their answers. Not rebels, not wreckers, but students of the thing itself. In rock culture, that kind of seriousness was treated like a social crime.

Subdivisions

Rush is hardly alone in this. Steely Dan took the same beating, dismissed as music for dental offices, waiting rooms, and people who alphabetize their spice racks, despite writing some of the sharpest, most venomous songs of the era. Yes was mocked as bloated and indulgent. Genesis, especially after Peter Gabriel left, got the same treatment.

America has always had a complicated relationship with genuine greatness. It celebrates brilliance, but only when it looks accidental. Genius is best received if it arrives late, drunk, and a little out of control.

You see this pattern everywhere. Adam Sandler spent decades being treated like a joke because his films made money and audiences laughed until they nearly lost bladder control. Jim Carrey wasn’t taken seriously until he stopped being funny and started looking permanently unwell. Rush refused that trade and paid the cultural price.

Headlong Flight

What the reunion clarifies — especially now, in an age of irony fatigue — is that Rush endured because they never chased cool. Cool is perishable, but craft is not. When Lee and Lifeson talk about laughing while jamming, about the music “dispelling dark clouds,” they’re describing something purists often forget. Music is allowed to be joyful. It’s allowed to be exhilarating without being mystical. It can be thrilling without pretending to be profound every second.

The dark humor is that Rush’s biggest sin may have been optimism. In an era increasingly allergic to it, they believed in improvement — musical, personal, even societal. That’s unfashionable.

Cynicism sells. Rage Against the Machine built an entire brand on permanent fury, screaming about “the system” while cashing checks from it. Nine Inch Nails turned self-loathing into an aesthetic. Nirvana mattered because they captured the feeling that nothing worked and no one was coming to fix it. Misery read as honesty. Anger read as depth. Enjoyment, by contrast, looks unserious.

But why? We’re here for a good time, not a long one. Rush understood that early.

Music doesn’t always need to diagnose the human condition. Sometimes it just needs to move, lift, and hit you square in the chest. Half a century on, they’re back. Not to win over the skeptics, who never wanted convincing anyway. But to reward the faithful and quietly remind everyone else that having a good time isn’t a crime.

​Rush, Tom sawyer, Music, Culture, Rush reunion, Classic rock, Geddy lee, Alex lifeson, Neil peart, Review, His mind is not for rent 

It’s the $1.2 trillion question.

The United States spends roughly $1.2 trillion every year on means-tested welfare programs — cash aid, food assistance, housing subsidies, and medical care. The list runs through a thicket of acronyms: SNAP, TANF, SSI, EITC, ACTC, WIC, CHIP, ACA subsidies, and CCDBG, plus school meals, Medicaid, and Section 8 housing.

States that eliminate fraud can afford to provide better aid to real residents in need — creating a race to the top in administration rather than a race to exploit Washington.

This guaranteed-income architecture now fuels a destructive cycle. Federal spending drives debt. Debt fuels inflation. Inflation expands dependence. And Washington responds by printing more money and sending it back to the states — without demanding serious accountability.

The result is a bottomless pit of spending, fraud, and inflation, with states handed endless federal funds and almost no incentive to police abuse.

Minnesota’s massive Somali-linked fraud scandal exposes this system in its most grotesque form. The question is whether President Trump will use it to force states to reclaim ownership — and responsibility — over welfare.

The day-care, nutrition, and medical fraud uncovered in Minneapolis is not an aberration. It is the predictable outcome of an open-ended entitlement state. Fraud networks thrive wherever federal money flows without limits or consequences. While the Minneapolis cases involved tight-knit ethnic networks, the underlying problem is national and structural. As long as states do not have to pay their own way, fraud will remain rational behavior.

California offers a parallel example. A report last summer found that roughly one-third of all community college applications in the state were fake — submitted solely to extract federal financial aid. That scam could not survive if California had to pick up the tab.

It isn’t just a blue-state problem, either. As Alex Berenson has reported, Indiana’s Medicaid spending on “autism behavioral therapy” exploded thirtyfold in just six years, reaching $75,000 per child for a few hours a week of unproven playtime therapy. When federal dollars cover the bill, discipline evaporates.

RELATED: Government fraud meets its worst enemy: Some dude with a phone

Wanlee Prachyapanaprai via iStock/Getty Images

Many Americans ask how Minnesota allowed the Feeding Our Future scandal to persist for years. The answer is simple: Washington supplied unlimited money, and the state faced no budgetary consequence for ignoring warning signs.

Over 200 day-care and medical providers allegedly siphoned billions across Medicaid, child care, and nutrition programs. That scale of fraud does not occur without political indifference — or worse.

States have every incentive under this system to look away. Federal money enables a closed loop of special interests, dependency, and electoral protection. Oversight threatens the flow.

Devolving welfare programs to the states — using fixed block grants rather than open-ended federal matches — would cut this dynamic off at the knees. States must balance their budgets. They do not have a printing press. When fraud costs real money, enforcement follows.

This is the moment for Trump to make that case. Either states raise taxes to fund welfare programs themselves, or they reform and prioritize them. That choice restores democratic accountability.

Consider the contrast. The United States spends roughly $1 trillion on national defense — protecting everyone. Yet we now spend even more on means-tested welfare that serves narrower populations while distorting the economy for all. Open-ended welfare spending drives inflation, which then forces more people onto welfare. End the money-printing, and fewer people will need subsidies in the first place.

RELATED: The insane little story that failed to warn America about the depth of Somali fraud

NoraVector via iStock/Getty Images

In response to the Minnesota scandal, Trump’s Office of Management and Budget froze $10 billion in funding for TANF and the Child Care Development Fund across several states. That is a start. But temporary freezes will not survive the next Democrat administration.

The durable fix is statutory restructuring — through budget reconciliation — to force states to assume full financial responsibility for welfare programs. Without unlimited federal backstopping, abuse becomes politically and fiscally intolerable.

Critics warn that block grants spark a “race to the bottom.” The 1996 welfare reform suggests the opposite. When states gained ownership, many innovated — emphasizing work, child-care support, and fraud reduction. Accountability improved because incentives changed.

Yes, benefits should be limited to the truly needy. Open-ended entitlements allowed 250 “meal sites” to appear almost overnight in Minnesota, claiming to feed 120,000 children a day.

Force states to balance their books, and they will treat taxpayer money with respect. States that eliminate fraud can afford to provide better aid to real residents in need — creating a race to the top in administration rather than a race to exploit Washington.

The real way to “feed our future” is to end inflationary money-printing and dismantle the infinite entitlement state — so families can afford food on their own again.

​Opinion & analysis, Welfare reform, Inflation, Fraud, Federalism, Donald trump, Snap benefits, Tanf, Families, Feeding our future, Scandal, Medicaid, Supplemental nutrition assistance program, Section 8 housing, National debt, Taxes and spending, Minnesota fraud, Somali fraud, Minneapolis, Alex berenson, California, Community college 

Minnesota has faced intense scrutiny in recent weeks due to revelations of a widespread childcare fraud scheme, largely among local Somalis, that has allegedly drained millions of taxpayer dollars. However, the problem is far from new, as whistleblowers have been warning about this alleged rampant abuse for nearly a decade.

Yet, there has been little progress or accountability.

In May 2018, KMSP-TV released a scathing report alleging “massive daycare fraud” based on whistleblower claims. Scott Stillman, a former employee of the Minnesota Department of Human Services, told the news outlet that he warned his supervisors about these issues in a series of emails in March 2017.

Stillman, an upper management employee who spent eight years overseeing the state’s digital forensics lab, explained that he reported alleged fraud to the state’s DHS because he was concerned there was a “strong possibility” that defrauded taxpayer funds were being used against innocent civilians and the U.S. military.

‘Everyone who did this must be arrested.’

The alleged fraud pertained to the Child Care Assistance Program, which the federal government created in 1990 to help low-income parents afford childcare so they could work or participate in job training.

Stillman told KMSP he wanted the federal government to launch an independent investigation into the handling of day care and Medicaid programs, claiming the fraud reached $100 million or more annually. He also alleged that individuals in the state sent the fraudulent money to Somalia, where it was used to fund a terrorist organization known as al-Shabaab.

The local news interview prompted lawmakers to hold a hearing that same month.

“This is not a Minnesota problem,” Stillman testified. “It started in Minnesota, but we found an individual in our investigation who was teaching and training other states to do this, and it’s spreading out.”

“A federal investigation would reveal that there are other entities involved in this who may be receiving benefits from this fraud,” he said.

RELATED: The insane little story that failed to warn America about the depth of Somali fraud

Photo by Matt Roth for The Washington Post via Getty Images

Stillman’s testimony prompted the Minnesota’s Office of the Legislative Auditor in 2019 to issue a report in which auditors stated they could not verify the alleged $100 million in annual fraud and concluded they could not provide a reliable estimate.

However, they believed the fraud was greater than the $5 million to $6 million prosecutors were able to prove in several criminal cases where defendants were charged with felonies and ordered to pay $4.6 million in restitution for their participation in a childcare fraud scheme.

Auditors also said they could not substantiate Stillman’s claims that any of the alleged funds were making their way into the pockets of terrorist groups.

“On the other hand, we found that federal regulatory and law enforcement agencies are concerned that terrorist organizations in certain countries, including Somalia, obtain and use money sent from the United States by immigrants and refugees to family and friends in those countries,” the auditors wrote. “In addition, federal prosecutions have convicted several individuals in Minnesota of providing material support to terrorist organizations in foreign [countries].”

Federal and state officials have been concerned about Child Care Assistance Program fraud since at least 2013, the report added.

The auditor’s report referenced an August 2018 email from Jay Swanson, the then-manager of the CCAP Investigations Unit, in which he substantiated Stillman’s allegations.

“Investigators, as well as the Supervisor and Manager of this unit believe that the overall fraud rate in this program is at least 50% of the $217M paid to child care centers in CY2017,” he wrote in an email to then-Inspector General Carolyn Ham.

Swanson claimed that much of the “pervasive” fraud could be attributed to “large scale overbilling” by “many child care centers,” eligible mothers recruited by providers to receive cash kickbacks, fraudulent centers opening in the same location as a previous center that was ineligible for the program, and shell care centers that exist only to scam the program, among numerous other schemes and oversight gaps.

“In my opinion anyone who claims that Mr. Stillman was making false statements on this topic either has no knowledge of this situation, or is attempting to shift the focus of the conversation away from a very serious issue,” Swanson concluded in his letter to the inspector general.

During a December 2018 hearing before the state lawmakers, IG Ham disputed Swanson’s claim.

“I do not trust the allegation that 50% of CCAP money is being paid fraudulently,” Ham remarked.

The CCAP Investigations Unit also warned about rampant fraud, according to the 2019 auditor report. The unit’s manager stated that investigators “do not believe, despite the number of cases investigated thus far, that any real progress has been made regarding CCAP fraud.”

“Investigators regularly see fraudulent child care centers open faster than they can close the existing ones down,” the manager explained.

While Minnesota DHS officials did not dispute the existence of a CCAP fraud problem, they argued that $100 million in fraud, as Stillman had claimed, was “not a credible number.”

“We’re concerned about fraud and are aggressively pursuing it, but it’s not at that level. Funding for the Child Care Assistance Program for 2017 was $248.2 million,” the MDHS said in a statement in May 2018, responding to Stillman’s allegations.

RELATED: Anna Paulina Luna refers Tim Walz and AG Keith Ellison for criminal charges: ‘May justice be swift’

Photographer: Simone Lueck/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Then-acting MDHS Commissioner Chuck Johnson reiterated that Stillman’s fraud estimate was not credible. However, he admitted he could not put a reliable number on the total fraud.

By the time the 2019 report was published, dozens of Minnesota residents and childcare centers had been charged with CCAP fraud.

Since these issues were initially brought to the MDHS’ attention, Minnesota has transitioned CCAP oversight and administration to the Department of Children, Youth, and Families. When reached for comment concerning childcare fraud, MDHS directed Blaze News to contact DCYF. That department did not respond.

Minnesota’s long-standing childcare fraud issues recently gained national attention, thanks to journalist Nick Shirley’s on-the-ground reporting in December. This explosive coverage has ignited fierce criticism of the state’s Democratic leadership while shining a harsh light on broader oversight failures that extend beyond the CCAP.

This week, the Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor released a performance audit highlighting grant issuance lapses in the Minnesota Department of Human Services’ Behavioral Health Administration, the department responsible for overseeing mental health programs and alcohol and drug abuse services.

Auditors aimed to assess whether the BHA had “adequate internal controls and complied with significant finance-related requirements related to oversight of grants.” Instead, they found that the administration had failed to comply with “most” of the tested requirements, concluding that it lacked sufficient internal controls over grant funds.

Some of the report’s shocking findings included nearly $300,000 in unsupported grant reimbursements, $915,000 in grant payments for work performed before fully executed agreements were established, $2.5 million in grants awarded without using a competitive bid process, and the improper use of single-source grants.

Additionally, auditors noted that, while MDHS and BHA staff were cooperative with the audit, they provided “a number of documents” that were “either backdated or created after our audit began.”

When reached for comment about the OLA report, Minnesota’s Department of Human Services provided an excerpt from temporary Commissioner Shireen Gandhi’s testimony at a Tuesday Legislative Audit Commission hearing.

During her opening remarks, Gandhi stated that she was “shocked” to learn that staff have provided auditors “anything other than an accurate representation of the work done.”

“With respect to the audit report, while it’s upsetting that DHS has findings in an area that we have placed concerted effort, the OLA’s report highlights the importance of the compliance work that is under way at the department. And the findings provide us with a road map for our focus going forward to continue strengthening oversight and integrity of behavioral health grants,” Gandhi said. “I take the report seriously, I accept responsibility for the findings, and I will ensure that DHS closes the findings.”

Eric Daugherty of Florida’s Voice reacted to the new “BOMBSHELL” report, stating that it confirms the MDHS “FABRICATED RECORDS and did not verify grant recipients, tried COVERING THEIR TRACKS, enabling massive fraud.”

He called on Gov. Tim Walz to immediately resign. Walz has already dropped out of his re-election campaign amid the state’s ongoing fraud controversy.

“Everyone who did this must be arrested,” Daugherty wrote.

It is not yet clear whether any of these reports will result in criminal investigations.

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​News, Minnesota, Tim walz, Scott stillman, Minnesota department of human services, Department of human services, Daycare fraud, Child care fraud, Child care assistance program, Ccap, Somali, Somali fraud, Minnesota legislative auditor, Minnesota office of the legislative auditor, Jay swanson, Chuck johnson, Carolyn ham, Inspector general, Dcyf, Behavioral health administration, Bha, Ola, Fraud, Fraud scheme, Politics, Department of children youth and families 

Police investigators said they were horrified to find more than 100 skulls and skeletons at the Pennsylvania home of a man who is now facing nearly 600 criminal charges.

Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse announced in a press conference Thursday that 34-year-old Jonathan Gerlach of Ephrata had been charged with 574 counts, including trespassing, abuse of a corpse, and theft.

‘It is truly, in the most literal sense of the word, horrific. I grieve for those who are upset by this.’

Detectives had been on a stakeout at the historic Mount Moriah Cemetery and Arboretum in Yeadon Tuesday when they noticed that a car belonging to Gerlach had “numerous bones and skulls in plain view in the back seat.”

They said they saw the man leaving the cemetery with a burlap bag and a crowbar. When he was detained and questioned, Gerlach admitted that he had stolen human remains from 30 grave sites.

They found far worse after raiding the man’s home.

“Detectives walked into a horror movie come to life in that home,” Rouse said at the press conference. “It is truly, in the most literal sense of the word, horrific. I grieve for those who are upset by this, who are going through this, who are trying to figure out if it is in fact one of their loved ones.”

Investigators are now trying to determine why Gerlach had been collecting the remains.

They are also investigating Gerlach’s involvement in a group on Facebook titled, “Human Bones and Skull Selling Group.”

Rouse said that some of the remains were hung up, some were pieced together, and skulls were found on the man’s shelf.

“Very simply, detectives have recovered an awful lot of bones at this point, and we are still trying to piece together who they are, where they are from, and how many we are looking at,” Rouse said. “It’s going to be quite some time before we have a final answer.”

Gerlach is being held at the George W. Hill Correctional Facility on bail of $1 million.

RELATED: 4 people arrested over human remains scattered across New York, bail reform sets them free

“Rest in peace is rest in peace, and this is definitely something that tears at your heartstrings,” Yeadon Police Chief Henry Giammarco said.

The cemetery was founded in 1855, according to a sign at the entrance.

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​Jonathan gerlach arrest, Grave site robbery, Hundreds of remains found, Mount moriah cemetery, Crime 

Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D) is making the media rounds as she eyes a U.S. Senate run — and her latest stop on “The View” raised eyebrows for all the wrong reasons.

“She’s running for Senate here in Texas, where she will fail miserably, and she’s making the rounds ’cause she’s running for U.S. Senate. And so, she made an appearance on everyone’s favorite daytime talk show, ‘The View.’ And they asked her a pretty reasonable question,” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales says.

When the panel asked Crockett why she’s willing to go all in on a Senate race in Texas, her answer was essentially that she’s black.

“We are also a majority minority state. So, for everybody that’s like, ‘Well, she running for Senate, and she black.’ Yes, I am. I am. … We have more African-Americans in the state of Texas than any other state,” Crockett said proudly on “The View.”

“That’s the first time I’ve ever heard you tell me that you’re black, Jasmine. I never would have known that you were black except for all the times that you’ve just led with the fact that you’re a black woman. Other than literally every time you speak, I would have never known that you were black,” Gonzales says sarcastically.

“It seems to be your only identification in your entire life, is that you’re an independent black woman who don’t need no man,” she adds.

Gonzales believes that Crockett, despite being black, might face some challenges trying to sway Texans to vote her way.

“President Trump won Texas in 2024. This was, like, unprecedented since 2012. 56 to 42. That’s the largest gap since 2012. It was a difference of 1.5 million votes, I believe,” Gonzales explains.

“So, yes, the overwhelming majority of black people voted for Harris, but they only made up 11% of the total vote. So, like, okay, cool. There are more black people who live in Texas than anywhere else. They’re not voting,” she continues.

“And I don’t know, I guess she’s just like, ‘I’m going to get black voter enthusiasm up so high that they’re just going to, like, skip to the ballot box,’” she adds.

Crockett also is refusing to release her polling numbers.

“What I did is, I evaluated the numbers. The numbers are clear that we can win,” Crockett said on “The View.”

“I want to be clear that a lot of people haven’t put their numbers up, and I haven’t put mine up for a good reason because I’m playing for keeps. But let me tell you that I know how to evaluate, and I know how to win races,” she explained.

Crockett went on to claim that she shared her numbers with the “front-runner” in the race, who decided to “step aside” after seeing her numbers.

“He decided to step aside because he felt like what mattered was getting the best person across the finish line,” she added.

“Or, Republicans just tricked you and astroturfed you,” Gonzales says.

“This was actually a thing that they did to try to push you into a Senate run,” she continues. “They ran these polls suggesting that she would win.”

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Memphis police released video showing what went down after a male pulled a gun during an attempted robbery in a convenience store Monday morning, WHBQ-TV reported.

Police said video shows a man dressed in a white hoodie starting to pull out a gun inside the Quick Check Store on Alcy Road near Perry Road around 10 a.m., the station said.

‘Criminals beware and think twice!’

But police said the armed male at that moment jerks back and runs away, WHBQ reported.

Police said the clerk fired a shot at the would-be robber and struck him, the station noted.

RELATED: 7-Eleven hands down unthinkable punishment to clerk after she shoots knife-wielding thug who attacked, strangled her

Later Tuesday, police released doorbell camera video showing the suspect unmasked and dressed in an orange sweatshirt running into a home, WHBQ reported.

The new video also zeroes in on some type of stain in the suspect’s chest area, the station said.

Police added to WHBQ that they’re still looking for the suspect, who’s described as between the ages of 18 and 22 and standing about 5 feet 5 inches tall with a tattoo over one of his eyebrows.

The station also said he was wearing black pants and black shoes as well as a red shirt underneath his white hoodie.

More from WHBQ:

Under Tennessee’s Stand Your Ground Law, the clerk was within their rights to shoot. It says any person is justified in using force if they reasonably believe there is an imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury. Pulling out that gun would enforce that “reasonable” belief.

The clerk had no duty to retreat or try to get away but could, as the law states, stand their ground.

Those with information about the suspect’s whereabouts are asked to call CrimeStoppers at 901-528-CASH, the station said.

Commenters under WHBQ’s Facebook post about the incident did not hold back:

“I bet he won’t go back to that store to try and rob it,” one commenter stated.”Good job store clerk,” another user added.”Need more of this type of news,” another commenter declared.”Criminals beware and think twice!” another user noted.

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A man and a woman were shot and injured by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Portland, according to local media reports.

The two people were transported to a hospital for treatment of their injuries, although their conditions were not released to the public.

‘We cannot sit by while constitutional protections erode and bloodshed mounts. … As Mayor, I call on ICE to end all operations in Portland until a full investigation can be completed.’

The incident comes only a day after a 37-year-old woman was shot and killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers after she tried to hit them with her vehicle, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Portland police said they responded to reports of the shooting at about 2:24 p.m. near Northeast 146th Avenue and East Burnside.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation in Portland said in a post on social media that it was investigating the incident.

DHS said in a statement that U.S. Border Patrol agents were conducting a targeted vehicle stop that included a “Venezuelan illegal alien affiliated with the transnational Tren de Aragua prostitution ring.” When the agents identified themselves, the driver “weaponized” the vehicle and tried to run them over.

“Fearing for his life and safety, an agent fired a defensive shot. The driver drove off with the passenger, fleeing the scene,” DHS added.

“Portland is now grappling with another deeply troubling incident,” said Portland Mayor Keith Wilson, a Democrat. “We cannot sit by while constitutional protections erode and bloodshed mounts. Portland is not a ‘training ground’ for militarized agents, and the ‘full force’ threatened by the administration has deadly consequences. As Mayor, I call on ICE to end all operations in Portland until a full investigation can be completed.”

City Council President Elana Pirtle-Guiney spoke about the two injured during Portland’s city council meeting.

“As far as we know, both of these individuals are still alive, and we are hoping for more positive updates throughout the afternoon,” she said.

RELATED: Trump team calls out ‘depravity’ of Jimmy Kimmel’s response to lethal ICE shooting

An ICE facility in Portland has been targeted by protesters opposed to the mass deportation operations, and some of the demonstrations have included violence.

Protests also ramped up in Minneapolis after the lethal shooting. The public schools were shut down for the rest of the week as a precaution.

Editor’s note: This article has been edited after publication to include a statement from DHS.

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​Portland people shot, Ice shooting, Anti-ice protests riots, Us customs and border protection, Politics 

Yesterday, in south Minneapolis, 37-year-old U.S. citizen Renee Nicole Good was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent during a large-scale federal immigration enforcement operation. Good allegedly weaponized her SUV in an attempt to ram and run over the agent who shot her.

President Trump and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem have framed the officer’s actions as self-defense, while Democrat officials, most notably Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey, and Rep. Ilhan Omar, have framed the incident as the unjustified and reckless killing of an innocent observer. They, as well as other Democrat officials, have publicly claimed that Good was merely trying to drive away, even though video footage captures the ICE agents being propelled backward from the impact of Good’s vehicle.

BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock says it’s clear Democrats are hoping to turn this into a “George Floyd 2.0.” On this episode of “Jason Whitlock Harmony,” Whitlock and contributors Shemeka Michelle, Dre Baldwin, and Virgil Walker explain why their plan is bound to fail.

Shemeka says it’s unlikely that Good’s death will be as politically profitable as Floyd’s. For one, Good is a “white woman,” she says, meaning her race automatically disqualifies her from being the ideal victim the left seeks to push its social justice wars.

“Number two, this happened during the dead of winter. I don’t know how many black people they’re going to get to go out and be in the streets for long periods of time,” she adds, alluding to the orchestrated, heavily funded, not-at-all grassroots movement that was BLM.

Whitlock speculates that if Good had been a black woman, a George Floyd 2.0 would still be an impossibility because the officer — out of fear of vicious backlash — would likely have refrained from shooting.

But Baldwin disagrees. “I think the ICE agent probably still would’ve shot had it been a black woman. I still don’t think it would be as big of a deal as George Floyd because George Floyd, if you looked at the video (just the 90 second clip that came out), he appeared completely innocent and not a threat,” he counters, “whereas this woman … was behind the wheel of a vehicle. … [Good] was playing offense in some way.”

Walker, however, notes that recent studies indicate that law enforcement is less likely to use deadly force when the perpetrator is black. Had Good been black, he thinks there might have been at least “a delay in response” from the shooting officer.

“At the end of the day, I think legally speaking, what prosecutors are going to be looking at, what people are going to be trying to determine is: At the time that the officer pulled the trigger, was the vehicle aiming at him in such a way that he would be directly hit? That’s the sliver that everybody is trying to figure out,” he adds.

In regard to the incident being escalated into a George Floyd 2.0, Walker says he highly doubts Good’s case has the makings of a BLM-level movement.

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​Jason whitlock, Fearless, Jason whitlock harmony, Blazetv, Blaze media, Renee good, Ice, Ice attacks, Law enforcement, Immigration, Mass deportations, Minnesota, Minneapolis, Jacob frey, Tim walz, Ilhan omar 

Jimmy Kimmel used the lethal shooting of a woman by a federal agent in Minneapolis to blame President Donald Trump, and the White House fired back a response.

Kimmel aired the expletive-filled statement from Democratic Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey calling on Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to leave the city and cease operations.

‘Why is ABC allowing such sick depravity on their network?’

“I know what they’re doing. They’re trying out a new slogan!” Kimmel said as he held up a red T-shirt.

“Donald J. Trump is gonna kill you,” the shirt reads.

“This maniac, he isn’t just killing people overseas. An ICE agent today shot and killed an unarmed 37-year-old woman during an ICE operation in Minneapolis,” he continued. “They’re there under the guise of protecting us.”

He criticized Trump for his statement describing the incident and then showed his audience video of Frey’s response.

“They are already trying to spin this as an action of self-defense. Having seen the video myself, I want to tell everybody directly: That is bulls**t! This was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying, getting killed,” Frey said at a press conference.

“And I have a message for ICE. To ICE, get the f**k out of Minneapolis!” he also said.

Kimmel added, “Now that is the shirt I want to see!” and held up a shirt that reads, “GET THE F**K OUT OF MPLS.”

Video of Kimmel’s comments was widely shared on social media and criticized by the Rapid Response account of the Trump team.

“Jimmy Kimmel pushes the narrative that President Trump is ordering ICE to kill Americans,” the account said. “Why is ABC allowing such sick depravity on their network?”

RELATED: ‘I don’t care if I lose my job’: Worker at Hilton hotel posts anti-ICE video on social media — then gets hit with consequences

Kimmel’s show had been previously canceled after controversial comments he made about the suspect in the assassination of Charlie Kirk. The show was eventually reinstated after a few days.

The woman killed in the ICE shooting was identified as Colorado native Renee Nicole Macklin Good. Anti-ICE critics dispute the account from the Department of Homeland Security that she was trying to run over officers when she swerved and accelerated her vehicle.

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At a Thursday press briefing at the White House, Vice President JD Vance had some choice words for the corporate media, which have been caught leaving out key details about the fatal ICE shooting in Minneapolis — especially the context for the agent involved.

Vance was referring to the deportation operation that turned deadly on Wednesday after an ICE officer was forced to defend himself from an aggravated driver. The driver, identified as 37-year-old Renee Nicole Macklin Good, was fatally shot by the ICE agent.

‘Everybody who has been repeating the lie that this is some innocent woman who was out for a drive in Minneapolis when a law enforcement officer shot at her — you should be ashamed of yourselves.’

The incident may have sparked a sense of déjà vu for the agent since this wasn’t his first brush with vehicular violence while on the job. Video evidence emerged of a similar attack involving the same agent from June.

Addressing a slanted headline from CNN — which he read as: “Outrage after ICE officer kills U.S. citizen in Minneapolis” — Vance said at the press briefing, “Everybody who has been repeating the lie that this is some innocent woman who was out for a drive in Minneapolis when a law enforcement officer shot at her — you should be ashamed of yourselves. Every single one of you.”

RELATED: How the Minneapolis ICE agent who fired in self-defense was nearly killed by an illegal alien child rapist in June

“What that headline leaves out is the fact that that very ICE officer nearly had his life ended, dragged by a car six months ago, 33 stitches in his leg. So you think maybe he’s a little bit sensitive about somebody ramming him with an automobile?” Vance asked.

“What that headline leaves out is that that woman was there to interfere with a legitimate law enforcement operation in the United States of America,” Vance added angrily. “What that headline leaves out is that that woman is part of a broader left-wing network to attack, to doxx, to assault, and to make it impossible for our ICE officers to do their job.”

“If the media wants to tell the truth, they ought to tell the truth that a group of left-wing radicals have been working tirelessly, sometimes using domestic terror techniques, to try to make it impossible for the president of the United States to do what the American people elected him to do, which is enforce our immigration laws,” he added.

“The way that the media, by and large, has reported this story has been an absolute disgrace, and it puts our law enforcement officers at risk every single day.”

Blaze News could not find a CNN article that matched the headline read by Vance, though the outlet has published many articles about the incident, including “What we know about ICE’s fatal shooting of a US citizen in Minneapolis” and “Mother of 3 who loved to sing and write poetry shot and killed by ICE in Minneapolis.”

Blaze News has reached out to CNN for comment.

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​Politics, Jd vance, Vp vance, Ice, Ice officer, Ice agents, Corporate media, Minnesota ice shooting 

A McDonald’s restaurant location in Minneapolis has a sign outside restricting Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from entering.

An image of the sign was posted to social media and confirmed by a Daily Wire reporter who spoke to a security guard outside of the location.

‘At the end of the day, this is private property, so you can’t just break the law because you’re a federal agent.’

“NO ICE ACCESS IN THIS BUSINESS,” the sign reads. “NOTICE TO ALL LAW ENFORCEMENT & IMMIGRATION AGENTS.”

The sign went on to say that workers would not accept ICE administrative warrants for entry into the business.

“This is a private business,” the sign said. “You are not permitted to enter non-public areas of this business (including offices, break rooms, storage areas, and staff-only areas) without a valid JUDICIAL WARRANT signed by a judge or magistrate.”

The sign also forbids agents from questioning employees or searching the premises without “proper legal authority.”

It added in capital letters, “If you enter, you are trespassing, and we will seek legal recourse.”

When a Daily Wire reporter went to the location, a security guard said he was there to enforce the restaurant’s ban.

“Yeah, just to let you know, at the end of the day, this is private property. So you can’t just break the law because you’re a federal agent,” said the guard. “It’s like coming into your house or coming to any other restaurant. There’s rules.”

A Blaze News request for comment from the McDonald’s company was not immediately answered.

RELATED: ‘I don’t care if I lose my job’: Worker at Hilton hotel posts anti-ICE video — and gets hit with consequences

A similar controversy erupted at a Minneapolis-area Hampton Inn by Hilton after the Department of Homeland Security reported on social media that agents had their reservations canceled.

Hilton Hotels eventually dropped the hotel location from its system after releasing a statement to Blaze Media saying that location was independently owned and was not living up to its standards.

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​Mcdonalds anti-ice, Minneapolis ice protest, Companies against ice, Banning ice agents, Politics 

According to the updated CDC guidance, the recommended childhood immunization schedule has been drastically reduced — a change BlazeTV host Liz Wheeler says MAHA moms have been fighting for years to see.

“My head is actually still spinning from this news. It took me a couple days to wrap my mind around the implications of what President Trump has done,” Wheeler explains.

“What I’m talking about, of course, is the new recommended childhood immunization schedule from the CDC. Finally, guys, finally. How long have we MAHA moms been waiting for this? Finally that vaccine schedule has been not just slightly altered, but absolutely slashed, ripped to pieces,” she continues.

“To call this a huge decision would be the understatement of the year,” she says, adding, “It’s revolutionary. It’s paradigm shifting. And the argument that I’m going to make today is that this is the most significant thing that President Trump has ever done.”

Wheeler explains that the reason this is such a big deal is because this will have “generational impacts long after President Trump is out of office, long after he’s dead.”

“So this is what happened,” she begins. “The CDC has a committee called ASIP. Now the ASIP committee is supposed to recommend to the CDC, and then of course the HHS at large, supposed to recommend which vaccines should go on the recommended child immunization schedule, or which vaccines not to recommend.”

When ASIP was originally retooled by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Wheeler explains that he “put a lot of people on there.”

While she was originally very excited about the changes Kennedy made, Americans have had yet to see the impact made by them, until now.

“Now the CDC has taken action to reduce the recommended doses, the recommended vaccine doses for children in the United States from 88 doses — if you can believe that’s how many doses of vaccines were recommended for children and adolescents in our country — they’ve reduced the recommended doses from 88 to 55,” Wheeler says.

“They almost slashed it in half,” she says.

“This is what we voted for,” she adds.

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The NHL may have banned Pride-themed warm-up jerseys, but that did not stop the Seattle Kraken from releasing their own transgender jersey this week.

One of the newest NHL franchises, the Kraken jumped out of the gate with wokeness in 2021 by naming their home rink Climate Pledge Arena, as a “rallying call” for companies and organizations to “commit to net-zero carbon by 2040, a decade ahead of the Paris Agreement.”

‘I hope that people can, like, see the logo and, like, feel some trans joy and queer joy, too!’

The NHL struggled with backlash over Pride Night jerseys in 2023, with select Russian and Canadian players refusing to wear the sexuality-themed attire. The league eventually banned all themed warm-up jerseys, but launched a Player Inclusion Coalition just a week later.

With the league being no stranger to leftist ideology, the Kraken have found a work-around for 2026 despite gender- and sex-based events seeing significantly less support in the United States. The team released a transgender unicorn jersey this week, announcing they would auction off the bizarre design online for their Pride Night.

RELATED: NHL reverses ban on rainbow Pride stick tape; LGBTQ group calls it ‘a win for us all’

The team included transgender and gay Pride flags on their post announcing the jersey, and the artist who designed the unicorn clarified the transgender inspiration.

Tattoo artist Vegas Vecchio was profiled by the hockey organization and, after immediately announcing her “they/them pronouns,” rattled off strange rantings about being “exposed” to “queerness.”

“Being able to be in Seattle surrounded by the queer community and being exposed to the queerness I never got to experience growing up, it inspires my work a lot,” she explained.

“I ended up doing the unicorn; it seems like such a classic queer symbol,” she continued. “And I was like, ‘If anyone is going to do a unicorn, it’s going to be me.’ I hope that people can, like, see the logo and, like, feel some trans joy and queer joy, too!”

The artist also noted that people would describe her artwork as “very gay.”

RELATED: NHL bans Pride warm-up jerseys — and all specialty jerseys — calling them a ‘distraction.’ Pro-LGBTQ group is not happy.

Photo by Caean Couto/NHLI via Getty Images

Fans revolted in the comments on the Kraken’s post on X, with several asking if the jersey was actually meant as a joke.

“Hardcore stupidity. Are you going to start doing straight jerseys also?” another X user wrote.

“That’s not a Kraken. No matter how it identifies,” another fan joked about the logo.

Alongside dozens of less-than-safe-for-work memes, one fan called the jerseys a “humiliation ritual” for the players. However, Kraken players did not seem bothered by the design.

Canadian players Ryan Winterton, Brandon Montour, and Tye Kartye all went along with the controversial photo shoot, while German goalie Philipp Grubauer made a public statement on the topic at the same time.

“It’s so important to create a safe and inclusive space within the hockey community,” he said in a team post. “As a proud ally of the LGBTQ+ community, I’ll continue to stand by your side.”

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​Fearless, Transgender, Gay pride, Pride night, Nhl, Hockey, Woke, Leftism, Sports 

An anti-ICE post on social media posted by a worker at the Hilton Hotel Anatole in Dallas led to immediate consequences, according to a statement from the hotel.

A woman saying her name is Gia recorded herself walking through the hotel and warning people about the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at the Texas location.

‘I care more about your families and about unity, so warn your family; if you or someone who works here is worried about their immigration status, please let them know.’

“Hey guys, my name is Gia, and I just want to give a warning to y’all that there are ICE agents staying at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas,” she said in the video.

“Quite frankly, I don’t really care if I lose my job, ’cause I could get in trouble for posting this,” she added. “But honestly I don’t care, because I care more about your families and about unity. So warn your family; if you or someone who works here is worried about their immigration status, please let them know. The Hilton Anatole in Dallas.”

The video was widely circulated on social media, where many criticized the hotel.

A spokesperson for Hilton Anatole sent a statement to Blaze Media via email confirming that the worker had been fired, but said she was not an employee of Hilton Hotels.

“We are aware of a video that has been shared on social media by an individual who is not a Hilton employee,” the spokesperson wrote. “We respect the privacy of all our guests and addressed directly with the third-party parking company who has advised us that the individual is no longer employed by their company.”

The incident follows upon a similar controversy over a Hampton Inn by Hilton location that had canceled reservations for ICE agents, according to a scathing statement from the Department of Homeland Security.

RELATED: Hilton Hotels cuts loose hotel location accused of refusing to host ICE agents

Hilton Hotels referred Blaze News to an apology from the Minneapolis-area hotel, which also promised to follow Hilton policies and allow the DHS to book rooms. When evidence surfaced on social media that the hotel had not changed its policies, Hilton stripped the facility from the Hilton reservation system.

“Hilton is — and has always been — a welcoming place for all. We are also engaging with all of our franchisees to reinforce the standards we hold them to across our system to help ensure this does not happen again,” the company said.

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​Hilton hotel anatole, Gia in anatole video, Hotel worker hates ice, Anti-ice posts social media, Politics 

A federal judge who was appointed by former President Barack Obama issued an order on Thursday disqualifying John Sarcone as the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York.

Adding insult to injury, Judge Lorna Schofield then tossed the subpoenas Sarcone’s office issued in August to state Attorney General Letitia James regarding civil cases brought by the Empire State against President Donald Trump and the National Rifle Association.

‘It acts without lawful authority.’

Sarcone has been investigating whether James’ office violated the president’s civil rights and the rights of others.

Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed Sarcone as interim U.S. attorney for NDNY on Feb. 28. His 120-day term began in earnest on March 1.

Since Sarcone was neither formally nominated by the president nor confirmed by the Senate, it was left up to a panel of judges overseeing the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York to appoint an attorney for the district at the end of Sarcone’s term, just one month after he was threatened with a knife, allegedly by an illegal alien.

RELATED: The courts are running the country — and Trump is letting it happen

Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Image

Although the panel declined to grant Sarcone a permanent appointment, Bondi designated him special attorney and first assistant U.S. attorney, effectively keeping him in charge of the office.

Schofield claimed in her ruling on Thursday that Sarcone was not lawfully serving as the acting U.S. attorney for the NDNY as his appointment supposedly “violates the [Federal Vacancies Reform Act] and the statutes governing U.S. Attorney appointments.”

“When the Executive branch of government skirts restraints put in place by Congress and then uses that power to subject political adversaries to criminal investigations, it acts without lawful authority,” wrote Schofield.

She suggested further that because Sarcone “used authority he did not lawfully possess to direct the issuance of the subpoenas, the subpoenas are quashed.”

A spokesperson from James’ office said in a statement obtained by CNN, “This decision is an important win for the rule of law, and we will continue to defend our office’s successful litigation from this administration’s political attacks.”

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A far-left Nebraska state senator is defending her actions after she removed portraits hung in the Nebraska State Capitol as part of America’s 250th anniversary celebration.

On Wednesday, state Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh (D) of Omaha took down multiple pictures and portraits from the Founders Museum, a traveling patriotic art display from PragerU meant to commemorate the heroes of the American Revolution.

‘Celebrating America during our 250th year should be a moment of unity and patriotism, not divisiveness and destructive partisanship.’

Surveillance video shared on X by Republican Gov. Jim Pillen shows Cavanaugh removing the pictures while others pass by. A still-frame shared by Pillen further shows Cavanaugh beaming with glee as she carries the pictures away.

“Celebrating America during our 250th year should be a moment of unity and patriotism, not divisiveness and destructive partisanship. I am disappointed in this shameful and selfish bad example,” Pillen said in the X post.

Cavanaugh told the Nebraska Examiner that she believed the exhibit violated Capitol regulations. “We are not allowed to adhere anything to walls in the hallway of the Capitol,” she explained.

“I have always been a stickler for the rules … so I removed the prohibited objects.”

RELATED: Trump announces ‘Patriot Games’ high school athletic competition for 250th anniversary of founding

The Founders Museum portrait shared by Gov. Pillen, though Cavanaugh denies taking this particular portrait down.

Cavanaugh claimed she attempted to remove the images without damaging them and alerted the Nebraska State Patrol that she had stored the pictures in her office.

The affected images were later recovered and restored to the Capitol walls.

While leafleting is prohibited in the Capitol and on its grounds, some art can be displayed with approval. Speaker John Arch told the Examiner that the Nebraska Capitol Commission had authorized the Founders Museum exhibit.

In response to Cavanaugh’s stunt, PragerU asked on X: “Why would an elected official take a tribute to American history off the wall of the capitol?”

Cavanaugh, described by the Examiner as “a Democrat in the officially nonpartisan Legislature,” made national news in 2023 when she filibustered the Let Them Grow Act, which banned the genital mutilation of kids, by chanting a mantra about the importance of “trans people.”

“Trans people belong here! We need trans people! We love trans people,” she repeated, slowly at first before building into a shrieking crescendo, during which she flailed about, wagging her finger and pounding the podium.

Despite Cavanaugh’s theatrics, Let Them Grow passed and was later signed into law by Gov. Pillen.

RELATED: Left-wing lawmaker loses it, spews furious, pro-trans chant amid legislative session: ‘Trans people belong here! We need trans people! We love trans people!’

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​Machaela cavanaugh, Nebraska, Capitol, Founders museum, Prageru, Jimi pillen, Politics