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University of Michigan now under fire after Chinese scholars allegedly smuggle bio-weapon
A university has become the target of a federal investigation following an alarming pattern of potential national security threats.
In June, two Chinese scholars with ties to the University of Michigan were charged with attempting to smuggle a biological pathogen that could devastate crops into the United States. The suspects claimed they wanted to use the fungus, Fusarium graminearum, to conduct research at the university’s laboratory.
‘As the recipient of federal research funding, UM has both a moral and legal obligation to be completely transparent about its foreign partnerships.’
Interim U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon described the pathogens as a “potential agroterrorism weapon.”
One week later, federal authorities arrested another Chinese scholar with ties to the university on similar charges. The suspect was accused of mailing packages containing “biological material related to round worms” from Wuhan to the Michigan university.
The recent arrests appear to have prompted the Trump administration’s Department of Education to open an investigation into the University of Michigan for allegedly violating federal disclosure laws.
A Tuesday letter from Education Department officials to UM interim President Domenico Grasso claimed that the university provided “incomplete, inaccurate, and untimely” disclosures of foreign gifts and contracts related to Chinese research. The university disclosed $375 million since January 2021, and roughly $86 million, or over 20%, was allegedly provided in an untimely manner.
The letter further stated that the university “erroneously identified” the counterparty as “nongovernmental” in “many” of its disclosure reports.
RELATED: From Wuhan to Michigan: Feds nab ANOTHER Chinese scholar in alleged bio-material smuggling plot
Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images
The Education Department Chief Investigative Counsel Paul Moore stated, “Despite the University of Michigan’s history of downplaying its vulnerabilities to malign foreign influence, recent reports reveal that UM’s research laboratories remain vulnerable to sabotage, including what the U.S. Department of Justice recently described in criminal charges as ‘potential agroterrorism’ by Chinese nationals affiliated with UM. As the recipient of federal research funding, UM has both a moral and legal obligation to be completely transparent about its foreign partnerships.”
“Unfortunately, tens of millions of dollars in foreign funding in UM’s disclosure reports have been reported in an untimely manner and appear to erroneously identify some of UM’s foreign funders as ‘nongovernmental entities,’ even though the foreign funders seem to be directly affiliated with foreign governments. [The Education Department’s Office of General Counsel] will vigorously investigate this matter to ensure that the American people know the true scope of foreign funding and influence on our campuses.”
RELATED: Agroterrorism plot? Chinese nationals arrested for smuggling potential bioweapon into US: FBI
Photo by Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images
Colleen Mastony, UM’s assistant vice president for public affairs, told the Detroit News that it “is dedicated to advancing knowledge, solving challenging problems, and improving nearly every facet of the human experience. Our research enterprise is united in this commitment to serving the people of Michigan and the world.”
“The University of Michigan takes its responsibility to comply with the law extremely seriously, and we will cooperate fully with federal investigators. We strongly condemn any actions that seek to cause harm, threaten national security, or undermine the university’s critical public mission,” Mastony added.
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Black man blamed racism for arson at his home that killed 2 people — until an accomplice allegedly told police it was a scam
A Texas man who went to the media to denounce racist vandalism at his home was arrested by police for allegedly burning down the home and killing two people, including one of his relatives.
An unsealed federal indictment detailed the charges against Mario Raynard Roberson, who had blamed racial hatred for vandalism at his Huntsville home in 2023. Later, that home burned to the ground, leading many to blame racism and call for a federal investigation.
‘People are being terrible because of the hatred in their heart.’
That federal investigation has led to numerous charges against Roberson, including one that carries a sentence of life in prison.
Roberson went to the media when racist vandalism was spray-painted onto his home after a heated neighborhood association meeting where members voted to ban the use of homes as short-term rentals in May 2023. He claimed that someone at the meeting had threatened him.
“People are being terrible because of the hatred in their heart,” said Roberson at the time.
The graffiti read, “We don’t like your kind,” and ended with a racial epithet. Roberson, who was described as black in a KTRK-TV report, said he would not leave the neighborhood and would stand up to the alleged racism instead.
At the time Roberson also claimed that someone fired a gunshot at him through a window in his house, narrowly missing him.
‘Racism, power-hungriness, money has gotten us to this place.’
Only one month later in June, the home burned to the ground.
Two people were killed in the home, and a witness said that the witness had seen a man running out of the home while fully engulfed in flames before stripping his clothes and driving away.
Roberson again blamed racism.
“Racism, power-hungriness, money has gotten us to this place,” Roberson said to KTRK at the time.
That led to some organizations demanding that the Department of Justice investigate the incidents. In a June 2023 KRIV-TV report, a spokesperson from CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, says that the group demanded that the FBI open an investigation into the matter as a possible hate crime.
Roberson was arrested in Nov. 2023, as previously reported by Blaze News, after an investigation pointed to him as the arsonist.
On Thursday, a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Texas said that the man had been indicted on July 1 on 12 counts related to the fire.
Prosecutors said that Roberson hired three men, one of whom was a relative, to commit the arson so that he could make an insurance claim on his property with State Farm Insurance. However, something went wrong, and two of the three alleged arsonists died in the flames, prosecutors believe.
According to KTRK, police found the man who had driven away from the house fire after he crashed his truck into a ditch. Police body-camera video obtained by the station showed that he told police he was brought out for an insurance scam.
“I’m telling you. I’m from Houston. This dude, he told me to bring him out here to Huntsville,” the man reportedly said. “He said somebody wants to do a numbers job on a house.”
Police said a “numbers job” refers to insurance scams.
“Whoever is doing it, he knows the man with the house,” said the man. “A numbers job or something. That’s all I know.”
Roberson denied the claims, but KTRK said it also found several civil lawsuits against him, mostly related to money.
The most serious charge Roberson faces is conspiracy to commit arson against a property used in interstate or foreign commerce resulting in death, which carries a sentence of life in prison.
Roberson also faces charges ranging from wire fraud to conspiracy to commit arson and conspiracy to violate the Travel Act.
“The defendant is alleged to have orchestrated a scheme to collect an insurance payout through a purported racially motivated arson, which led to two deaths,” said U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei. “Now that he is in federal custody, he will answer these charges and, if found guilty, be held accountable for the death of these two men.”
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Black racial hoax, Race hoax huntsville, Mario roberson hoax, Cair race hoax, Politics, Crime
PROOF: ICE is arresting VIOLENT criminals
Not only were 361 illegal immigrants arrested during an ICE raid at a Ventura County California cannabis farm, but 14 children were rescued from potential forced labor, exploitation, and trafficking.
Ten of the children were unaccompanied.
The raid is believed to be one of the largest in ICE history — and, of course, the left is up in arms over the result — claiming they were all just here for a better life.
“And of the 361 illegals arrested, you know, all these people here in search of a better life, it’s just women and children coming in for a better life. It’s just strange because there were some convicted of rape, kidnapping, child molestation, serial burglary, DUIs, hit-and-runs,” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales says on “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered.”
“It really is incredible,” she continues. “We’ve disenfranchised minorities. We’ve disenfranchised the actual citizens here, the black community, the Hispanic community. I guess we’ll just try to bring in the illegals so that we can have some form of slavery here.”
“You guys really seem to love your slave labor,” she adds.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is among those on the left rendered furious after the massive raid, using a video of Vice President JD Vance at Disney with his family to illustrate his feelings on the matter.
“JD is back in California. He won’t take the time to debate and defend gutting our Medicaid system, taking away kids’ school meals, militarizing America’s streets, or adding trillions to the debt. Instead, he’s off to Disneyland. Probably to detain Mickey Mouse at this rate,” Newsom wrote in a post on X.
Vance responded, “Had a great time, thanks.”
Want more from Sara Gonzales?
To enjoy more of Sara’s no-holds-barred take to news and culture, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.
Sharing, Free, Upload, Video phone, Video, Camera phone, Youtube.com, Sara gonzales unfiltered, Sara gonzales, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Ice raids, Cannabis farm, Gavin newsom, California governor, Jd vance, Vice president jd vance
Jill Biden’s ‘shadowy’ chief of staff clams up during autopen probe
Former first lady Jill Biden’s senior adviser, Anthony Bernal, appears desperate to avoid questions under oath about the former president’s cognitive decline while in office, its cover-up, and its alleged exploitation behind the scenes.
Bernal was originally supposed to appear for a voluntary transcribed interview with the House Oversight Committee on June 26 but bailed after learning that President Donald Trump was taking a page out of his predecessor’s book and waiving executive privilege for the investigation, meaning Bernal would be required to provide lawmakers with “unrestricted testimony.”
Bernal — characterized as one of the most influential people in the Biden White House and a key member of Biden’s so-called politburo in CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Axios correspondent Alex Thompson’s new book, “Original Sin” — was subsequently met with a subpoena compelling his testimony before the committee.
Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the committee, emphasized in the letter accompanying the subpoena his desire to know whether Bernal “contributed to an effort to hide former President Biden’s fitness to serve from the American people.”
Bernal had been, after all, in a prime position to conceal and possibly exploit Biden’s decrepitude.
Former Democratic National Committee Vice Chair David Hogg told an undercover Project Veritas reporter earlier this year that “Jill Biden’s chief of staff had an enormous amount of power” in the White House.
RELATED: Biden tried defending autopen use to the New York Times. He made it a whole lot worse.
Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images
Deterrian Jones, a former staffer in the Biden administration’s Office of Digital Strategy who also gabbed to an undercover reporter, suggested that Bernal was a “shadowy, ‘Wizard of Oz’-type figure” who “wielded an enormous amount of power.”
“I can’t stress to you how much power he had at the White House,” Jones added.
Exactly one week after Joe Biden’s White House doctor, Kevin O’Connor, refused to answer the committee’s questions on-theme, Bernal similarly clammed up, citing the Fifth Amendment.
The concern shared by both men over self-incrimination appears to signal that investigators are right over the target, particularly with regard to the matter of the use and possible abuse of the autopen.
‘Every order, every bill that was signed, every memorandum — so far as I’m concerned — are null and void.’
“This week new reporting confirms President Biden’s aides took unauthorized executive actions during his presidency amid his cognitive decline,” Comer noted on X. “It’s no surprise that Anthony Bernal is pleading the Fifth Amendment to shield himself from criminal liability.”
The chairman was referencing the New York Times’ recent reporting on Biden White House emails which indicated that the former president was not directly involved in numerous controversial actions that were run through the autopen.
Biden also admitted last week to the Times that he orally communicated his decisions to aides; that the autopen was used liberally because there were “a whole lot of people”; and that he did not personally approve every individual categorical clemency.
Comer indicated that Bernal specifically pleaded the Fifth “when asked if any unelected official or family members executed the duties of the President and if Joe Biden ever instructed him to lie about his health.”
RELATED: A look at the next Biden insiders to testify to Congress about ‘historic scandal’
Photo by Mandel Ngan – Pool/Getty Images
“This is a historic scandal and Americans demand transparency and accountability,” Comer continued. “We will continue to pursue the truth on their behalf and examine options to get the answers we need.”
Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) told reporters on Wednesday, “The fact that [Bernal] couldn’t make any statement, the fact that the White House doctor couldn’t make any statement, and they both pled the Fifth — which is their constitutional right to do, and we respect the Constitution like every American does — but the fact that they are now hiding behind the Constitution so that they don’t have to tell the truth to the American people about Joe Biden’s capabilities and mental faculties while he was president of the United States is not just shocking; it’s stunning, and it demonstrates the level of corruption that was going in that administration.”
Donalds noted further that if Biden was not in fact in charge of his administration, “then every order, every bill that was signed, every memorandum — so far as I’m concerned — are null and void.”
Time will tell whether the other Biden insiders set to testify before the committee in the coming weeks will similarly plead the Fifth.
Ron Klain is set to testify on July 24; Steve Ricchetti on July 30; Mike Donilon on July 31; Bruce Reed on Aug. 5; and Anita Dunn on Aug. 7.
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Autopen, Autopen scandal, Anthony bernal, Bernal, Jill biden, Joe biden, White house, Ron klain, Politics
ICE accuses media of peddling ‘FALSE narrative’ about non-criminal deportations
The Department of Homeland Security says the media is misleading the public about who is being deported.
Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin decided to strike back against media members who have accused her agency, especially Immigration and Customs Enforcement, of increasingly going after illegal aliens who do not have criminal backgrounds.
New ICE arrest data from late June shows that federal agents ramped up arrests of those who are considered “other immigration violator(s),” but it is that definition that has some journalists and the DHS playing the blame game.
‘This deceptive “non-criminal” categorization is devoid of reality and misleads the American public.’
The DHS is battling narratives from outlets like NPR, CBS News, and the Cato Institute that have argued that the Trump administration said, through Attorney General Pam Bondi and border czar Tom Homan, that enforcement would focus on aliens who have committed crimes in addition to illegally crossing the border.
CBS host Major Garrett even posited to Homan last week that “a growing number of those detained … are not criminals.”
“They are here illegally, which is a crime. But they don’t have other felonies on their records,” Garrett explained.
A report from journalist Austin Kocher made the same point, showing that 44% of ICE’s arrests now represent illegal aliens who have not committed additional crimes.
It is precisely this angle that the DHS is calling a “false” and “deceptive” narrative.
RELATED: Pot farm raid update: Trump’s DHS found convicted rapists and kidnappers working near migrant kids
– YouTube
“The media continues to peddle this FALSE narrative that ICE is not targeting criminal illegal aliens,” Assistant Secretary McLaughlin told Blaze News in a statement. “The official data tells the true story: 70% of ICE arrests were criminal illegal aliens with convictions or pending charges.”
It is likely that, as June’s data is incomplete, the secretary is using data from May, which shows about 71% of ICE arrests included those with either prior convictions or pending criminal charges.
Those without additional convictions, or “other immigration violators,” make up the remainder. ICE defines this category as individuals without any known criminal convictions or pending charges in “ICE’s system of record at the time of the enforcement action.”
However, the DHS assistant secretary says the media are reading between the lines and using their own narrative.
“Many illegal aliens categorized as ‘non-criminals’ are actually terrorists, human rights abusers, gang members, and more — they just don’t have a rap sheet in the U.S. This deceptive ‘non-criminal’ categorization is devoid of reality and misleads the American public,” McLaughlin’s statement added.
RELATED: ICE accuses Democratic congressman of joining ‘violent mob,’ doxxing agent
Photo by Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu via Getty Images
“The criminal numbers are much higher than a lot of the media is reporting,” Homan said on CBS News. “They’re simply not counting misdemeanors [and] those that are pending criminal charges.”
Many of the convicted criminal aliens are with others who have not committed additional crimes, Homan asserted.
“They’re coming, too,” he reminded the host. “We’ll tell ICE agents, ‘You’re going to enforce the law.'”
The border czar added, “We still focus on public threats and national security threats, but if we find an illegal alien in the process of doing that, they’re going to be arrested too.”
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Trump doubles down on ‘bulls**t’ Epstein files: ‘I don’t want their support anymore!’
While the MAGA base continues to demand answers about the administration’s botched handling of the Epstein files, President Donald Trump is not backing down.
In his latest Truth Social post, Trump likened the Epstein scandal to the “fully discredited” Russia hoax and the “Laptop from Hell,” referring to Hunter Biden’s laptop. The common thread according to Trump is that all of these scandals were manufactured by Democrats to threaten his presidency.
‘The American people feel highly disappointed. They feel like they’ve been betrayed.’
“These Scams and Hoaxes are all the Democrats are good at – It’s all they have – They are no good at governing, no good at policy, and no good at picking winning candidates,” Trump said Wednesday.
Trump criticized the legacy media and even some of his supporters who think there’s more to the Epstein story, calling them “weaklings” and saying he no longer wants their support.
RELATED: The White House will need to do plenty more to get past Epstein
Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
“Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this ‘bulls**t,’ hook, line, and sinker,” Trump said. “They haven’t learned their lesson, and probably never will, even after being conned by the Lunatic Left for 8 long years.”
“I have had more success in 6 months than perhaps any President in our Country’s history, and all these people want to talk about, with strong prodding by the Fake News and the success starved Dems, is the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax,” Trump added. “Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats [sic] work, don’t even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don’t want their support anymore!”
RELATED: FBI, DOJ Epstein memo sparks right-wing outrage: ‘Nobody is believing this’
Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images
Although Trump is urging Republicans to turn the page on Epstein, several lawmakers told Blaze News that they would be in favor of additional transparency.
“We’ve gotta address this thing. America is ticked off about it,” Republican Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee told Blaze News. “But I think President Trump gets it.”
“The American people feel highly disappointed. They feel like they’ve been betrayed,” Republican Rep. Eric Burlison of Missouri told Blaze News. “This issue isn’t going to go away.”
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Donald trump, Trump administration, Epstein files, Pam bondi, Epstein list, Fbi, Foj, Tim burchett, Eric burlison, Russiagate, Russia hoax, Hunter biden laptop, White house, Kash patel, Dan bongino, Democrats, Legacy media, Maga, Maga mandate, Maga base, House republicans, Politics
Ex-teacher accused of grooming, sexually abusing teen boy; mother rips suspect as ‘sick, twisted, calculating sex offender’
A former elementary school teacher in South Carolina is accused of engaging in a “prolonged and inappropriate relationship” with a teenage boy, according to police.
Multiple jurisdictions have been investigating the allegations.
‘Looking back, it sickens me knowing Nikki manipulated our son and our family.’
The Anderson County Sheriff’s Office charged Nicole Ballew Callaham, 33, with three counts of criminal sexual conduct with a minor and one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The Greenville Police Department hit Callaham with eight counts of criminal sexual conduct with a minor and four counts of unlawful conduct toward a child, as the alleged victim attended school there. In addition, the Clemson City Police Department has been conducting a parallel investigation.
The Anderson School District Five stated that Callaham had been a kindergarten teacher for the Homeland Park Primary School from 2017 until her May 21 resignation.
The Anderson County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that an investigation into Callaham was launched in May 2025 after police discovered evidence of misconduct against a teenage boy.
The Greenville Police Department added in a press release, “The investigation revealed that Callaham engaged in an inappropriate and unlawful relationship with a 14-year-old male.”
Police said the alleged misconduct began in 2021 when the boy was 14 and continued for at least two years.
Investigators said Callaham “engaged in grooming behavior toward the boy during his early teenage years.”
“The relationship intensified as she reportedly signed the student out of school, transported him to practices, and served as a supervisor for after-school activities,” the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office stated.
Detectives said Callaham engaged in a “prolonged pattern of abuse, which was corroborated by search warrants and ongoing cooperation with the victim’s family.”
Citing arrest warrants, WHNS-TV reported that Callaham provided the alleged victim with marijuana, nicotine, and alcohol. The arrest warrants also accused Callaham of engaging in sexual intercourse with the teen boy at a Greenville hotel and a downtown Greenville parking garage.
Callaham “voluntarily surrendered herself” Thursday morning to the Anderson County Detention Center, the sheriff’s office said. The next day, Callaham was booked at the Greenville County Detention Center.
During Callaham’s bond hearing in Anderson County last week, a detective read a letter in court from the mother of the alleged victim, according to WYFF-TV. The mother claimed that her family first met Callaham while she was serving as the director of musical theater productions for a play in which her son performed.
“Our son, who was an innocent, naive 14-year-old boy, had worked hard for years in hopes of earning a lead role. Our son was finally given an opportunity by Nikki, and we were beyond thrilled for him,” the mother wrote.
The mother said she and her husband “trusted her completely with our son, as she seemed to be a wonderful mentor to our son and other young actors and actresses by investing in them.”
“Looking back, it sickens me knowing Nikki manipulated our son and our family,” the mother stressed. “She was waiting on this opportunity, and she found the perfect victim and family to prey on.”
The letter stated, “She saw our son’s innocence and that he was very easily manipulated. … She saw a family who had a lot of love and kindness to share with those who needed it.”
The mother accused Callaham of having a “plan to groom our son” and added that Callaham referred to her as her “best friend.”
“However, Nikki was abusing our trust and abusing our young teenage son right under our noses,” she wrote.
The mother claimed that Callaham “led a double life” and put up a “facade” to “blind us from her evil, sick intentions.”
The mother added that Callaham is a “sick, twisted, calculating sex offender.”
The mother also said she witnessed behaviors around her son that were “questionable and inappropriate,” and her family instructed her to cease all contact with the teen.
The mother alleged that Callaham continued to contact her son through social media and purchased an Xbox video game system in order to interact with him.
WHSV-TV reported that the alleged victim — identified as Grant Strickland — spoke out following Callaham’s bond hearing.
The station said he decided to come forward as an 18-year-old after time spent processing the trauma he said he experienced.
Strickland told WSPA-TV that confronting Callaham was like a “weight lifted off his shoulders.” He noted that he was a “child” when the alleged misconduct occurred.
“All I really want the public to know is that that was a traumatic event. I’m here to fight, and I’m not going to back down,” Strickland said following the hearing, according to WRDW-TV. “I think more awareness needs to be brought to things like this. And just because I’m a man doesn’t mean that it should be shunned away. Because I was a child.”
Strickland added, “I would love to bring more awareness to show that this happens, and it happens a lot, and it’s not just to women. It’s to men too, and it happens to young children, and it’s gotta stop.”
Strickland continued, “I would never want somebody to go through what I went through, because I don’t really think that most people would be strong enough to survive it. Because I almost didn’t.”
WSAV-TV reported that at Callaham’s bond hearing in Greenville on Monday, she was seen smiling at people in the courtroom, including her family and fiancé.
Callaham’s lawyer asked for leniency since his client is pregnant and needs prenatal care.
“Miss Callaham is eight to nine weeks pregnant,” attorney William Epps III said.
Her bond was set at $120,000 in Greenville County, and her bond was set at $40,000 in Anderson County.
WRDW reported that as part of her bond requirements, Callaham will be placed under house arrest until she secures employment. A judge also ordered Callaham to not have contact with the alleged victim; in addition, she must undergo a psychological evaluation and will be required to wear a GPS monitor.
The Anderson County Sheriff’s Office stated that the Anderson School District Five is aware of the investigation and charges made against Callaham.
Blaze News reached out to the Anderson School District Five for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
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Teacher arrested, Teacher sex scandal, Bad teacher, Grooming, Child sex crimes, Sex offender, South carolina, Crime
Charlie Kirk outlines ’10 immediate credible action items’ Pam Bondi can take on Epstein case
President Donald Trump continues to deliver on campaign promises and to surmount obstacles thrown before him by radical Democrats and activist judges. His accomplishments in recent weeks, however, while impactful, have been overshadowed by his Justice Department’s conclusion that child sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein did not have a client list that could implicate deep-pocketed elites.
Amid mounting criticism over the lack of substantial insights from the DOJ, Turning Point USA founder and President Charlie Kirk — whom Trump reportedly called on Saturday to express support for Attorney General Pam Bondi — noted on his show Monday, “I’m going to trust my friends in the government to do what needs to be done, solve it; ball’s in their hands.”
‘Anything that’s credible, I would say, let them have it.’
Kirk subsequently outlined “10 immediate credible action items” Bondi could take that might satisfy Americans’ hunger for answers and help the president move on to other matters with the reinvigorated support of his base.
Backlash, persistent curiosity
The backlash over the DOJ’s conclusion was particularly severe in part because of Trump’s campaign promise that he would “be inclined” to release Epstein’s list of clients, saying, “I’d have no problem with it.”
It certainly did not help that after telling cable news on Feb. 21 that the Epstein client list was “sitting on [her] desk right now,” Bondi handed out to Trump-supporting podcasters binders titled “Epstein Files: Phase 1,” loaded with publicly available information and documents devoid of significant revelations. She then failed to deliver the promised second phase of possibly substantial documents.
It also didn’t help that the FBI’s Epstein prison video is reportedly missing nearly three minutes of footage from one of two stitched-together clips.
Trump appears keen for the scandal “over a guy who never dies” to blow over.
“Why are we giving publicity to Files written by Obama, Crooked Hillary, Comey, Brennan, and the Losers and Criminals of the Biden Administration, who conned the World with the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, 51 ‘Intelligence’ Agents, ‘THE LAPTOP FROM HELL,’ and more?” Trump noted in a Truth Social post on Saturday. “They created the Epstein Files, just like they created the FAKE Hillary Clinton/Christopher Steele Dossier that they used on me, and now my so-called ‘friends’ are playing right into their hands.”
RELATED: The White House will need to do plenty more to get past Epstein
Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Recent polling indicates that public interest in the alleged Epstein list isn’t going anywhere.
A Rasmussen Reports poll revealed on Tuesday that only 21% of likely U.S. voters believe the FBI and the DOJ are telling the truth about Epstein; 56% don’t think they’re telling the truth; and 23% aren’t sure. Sixty-eight percent of Democrats, 66% of Republicans, and 69% of unaffiliated voters reject the idea that the Epstein case is closed “and instead believe that there are dozens of powerful and wealthy offenders who need to face justice,” reported Rasmussen.
10 action items
“I don’t understand why the Jeffrey Epstein case would be of interest to anybody,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews on Tuesday.
“I think really only pretty bad people, including fake news, want to keep something like that going. But credible information? Let them give it. Anything that’s credible, I would say, let them have it.”
Responding to Trump’s remarks, Charlie Kirk identified 10 immediate action items that could result in the production of “credible” information for the American public. Here are the 10 items in his list, summarized.
Release the DOJ’s 2020 Office of Professional Responsibility report that evaluated Epstein’s 2008 plea deal.Unseal all of Ghislaine Maxwell’s grand jury testimony.Press Alexander Acosta about what he knew about Epstein working for foreign intelligence. Acosta was the secretary of labor during Trump’s first term and oversaw Epstein’s 2008 plea agreement.Release underlying facts concerning Epstein’s indictment in 2019, except child sexual abuse material.Release a full report concerning the “butchered” Bush-era federal investigation into Epstein.”Green-light Maxwell to speak freely and learn what she knows.”Establish how exactly Epstein made his money and source relevant “bank records and financial statements.”Overrule privacy rules and release the names of prisoners on the floor of the Metropolitan Correctional Center on the night Epstein died.”Get the missing minutes of the prison footage.”Hold a press conference as soon as possible to remedy any remaining confusion.
Action items one and three are related, as they both center largely on the insights of Acosta, who, while serving as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, approved the plea deal that enabled Epstein to plead guilty to a single charge of solicitation in exchange for a non-prosecution agreement — what the Miami Herald called the “deal of a lifetime.”
‘He’d cut the non-prosecution deal with one of Epstein’s attorneys because he had “been told” to back off.’
The deal that Acosta arranged reportedly scuttled the federal probe into a possible international sex-trafficking operation and prevented both the victims and the judge from knowing how many girls Epstein may have sexually abused between 2001 and 2005.
RELATED: Why MAGA wants the Epstein list — and won’t settle for less
Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images
Bradley Edwards, a former state prosecutor who represented some of Epstein’s victims, told the Miami Herald, “How in the world do you, the U.S. attorney, engage in a negotiation with a criminal defendant, basically allowing that criminal defendant to write up the agreement?”
Mike Benz, the founder of the Foundation for Freedom Online, recently told Kirk, “In the process of that [DOJ Office of Professional Responsibility] investigation, they interviewed everyone at Justice who was involved in that 2008 plea deal and sought to put the story to bed by collecting transcribed interviews, audio, and basically reams of files.”
Benz indicated that the OPR report referred to an interview with Acosta in which he apparently discussed Epstein’s intelligence ties.
The Daily Beast reported in 2019 that when being interviewed for the job of labor secretary in the first Trump administration, Acosta was allegedly asked whether the Epstein case was going to cause a problem for his confirmation hearings.
RELATED: The Epstein files may be Trump’s biggest liability yet
Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell (Photo by Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
According to the Daily Beast, “Acosta had explained, breezily, apparently, that back in the day he’d had just one meeting on the Epstein case. He’d cut the non-prosecution deal with one of Epstein’s attorneys because he had ‘been told’ to back off, that Epstein was above his pay grade.”
Acosta allegedly told his interviewers, “I was told Epstein ‘belonged to intelligence’ and to leave it alone.”
‘No one from the government has ever asked her to share what she knows.’
While evidence of an intelligence link might not get the American public any closer to a client list, it could help explain why such a list may have been developed over time and was then suppressed.
As for action item six, Maxwell — whose father the Telegraph indicated was a newspaper baron who had “known links with MI6, the KGB, and the Israeli intelligence service Mossad” — might be able to shed some light on the operations she ran with her former lover and boss.
Maxwell was sentenced in 2022 to 20 years in prison for her role in a scheme to sexually exploit and abuse minor girls as young as 14 with Epstein, going all the way back to the early 1990s.
A source close to Maxwell recently told the Daily Mail that the convicted groomer “would be more than happy to sit before Congress and tell her story.”
“No one from the government has ever asked her to share what she knows,” said the unnamed source. “She remains the only person to be jailed in connection to Epstein, and she would welcome the chance to tell the American public the truth.”
When asked about Maxwell possibly testifying, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters, “I’m for transparency. We’re intellectually consistent in this,” reported CBS News.
The steps outlined by Kirk might help Bondi satisfy the American people’s desire for truth about the “guy who never dies” and possibly also his clients.
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Election officials rage as Trump administration pushes for election security
President Donald Trump has consistently raised concerns over election integrity, and as the 2026 midterm elections loom, his team is taking action. His administration is reaching out to several states to shore up election security, and officials from both sides of the aisle are up in arms.
The Washington Post reported that the Trump administration has begun a multifaceted campaign in several states to inspect voting equipment and gather voter data.
The Justice Department has taken what the Post called the ‘unusual step’ of asking at least nine states for copies of their voter rolls.
The Washington Post claimed that the “most unusual activity” was occurring in Colorado, where an alleged federal consultant working with the White House has asked county clerks if they would allow the federal government to physically examine the voting equipment. Election laws strictly limit physical examinations by federal agencies, though they can offer technical assistance and advice to state and local election officials.
Photo by Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images
“That’s a hard stop for me,” Carly Koppes, a Republican clerk in Weld County, Colorado, told the Post. “Nobody gets access to my voting equipment, for security reasons.”
A White House spokesperson declined to comment on whether the agent who was asking the clerks for this voting information, identified as Jeff Small, is connected to the White House. However, the White House official did reiterate the president’s commitment to ensuring the citizenship status of all voters on the voter rolls.
Still, this recent move has been met with bipartisan pushback.
“President Trump and his allies are trying to lay the groundwork to interfere with a free and fair election in 2026,” Samantha Tarazi, CEO of the nonpartisan Voting Rights Lab, told the Washington Post.
In a separate case, the Justice Department has taken what the Post called the “unusual step” of asking at least nine states for copies of their voter rolls. At least two states have complied with this request.
While the Constitution largely limits the federal government’s power over election proceedings in favor of the states, the events of the last two presidential elections have raised widespread concern over election security. Trump himself has been a vocal advocate for stronger election integrity.
In a long Truth Social post on Saturday, Trump reiterated his administration’s continued focus on investigating election fraud: “Kash Patel, and the FBI, must be focused on investigating Voter Fraud, Political Corruption, ActBlue, The Rigged and Stolen Election of 2020.”
In the same post, Trump added, “The 2020 Election was Rigged and Stolen, and they tried to do the same thing in 2024 — That’s what [Pam Bondi] is looking into as AG, and much more.”
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Vindication in Tehran: Iranian official’s recent execution demands confirm Trump’s strike on nuclear sites was right call
While Operation Midnight Hammer coupled with Israel’s own military strikes successfully crippled Iran’s ability to create nuclear weapons, the threat of the Iranian regime remains. Its vitriol toward the West can never be eliminated.
“Their mindsets don’t change. They’re in a forever war against us,” says Mark Levin.
On July 4, this was proven when Iranian cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami delivered a prayer sermon in Tehran, during which he explicitly called for the execution of President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu under Sharia law, framing it as a religious obligation.
Levin plays a video of Khatami’s sermon, which was translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute, commonly called MEMRI.
“The ruling regarding Trump and Netanyahu, according to the Sharia, is that the pair of them should be executed,” Khatami said to a crowd that roared back, “Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Khamenei is the leader! Death to those who oppose the rule of the jurisprudent! Death to America! Death to England! Death to the hypocrites and the infidels! Death to Israel!”
“They deserve the death penalty according to three articles of the Sharia. First, they have murdered: 55,000 people have been killed in Gaza, and you killed our martyr Qasem Soleimani. You are murderers, and you need to be punished. Second, you are oppressors, and third, you are sowing corruption upon the land, and you are fighting God and His messenger,” Khatami added.
“So death to England, death to America, death to Israel, death to anybody who doesn’t agree with them,” sighs Levin.
“We’ve never heard that before, have we?” he asks sarcastically.
As for the claim that 55,000 have been killed in Gaza, Levin calls it a baldfaced lie.
“Of course, 55,000 have not been killed in Gaza, and those who have been killed, you have a significant percentage of them who are terrorists, and then most of the rest have been killed because of what Hamas has done,” he corrects. “And of course, if [Hamas] hadn’t started a war in the first place, nobody would be dead.”
Even though Iran is poised to negotiate with the United States about restricting its nuclear program, Levin warns that we need to be prepared for what is essentially inevitable: They will try to rebuild because while their nuclear power can be quelled, their hatred for the West cannot.
“We can’t be static about this,” he says. “We can’t stand still if they’re going to try and do the same thing.”
President Trump’s partnering with Netanyahu in this conflict isn’t just about protecting Israel; it’s also about protecting the United States.
Trump took “direct military action in order to protect [Americans], too,” says Levin. “We should be having a ticker-tape parade over this.”
To hear more of his analysis, watch the clip above.
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Texas flood UPDATE: We have NEVER SEEN this before
A little over a week after the devastating flooding in the Texas Hill Country, over 120 residents have been confirmed dead, and over 100 are still missing.
Mercury One executive director J.P. Decker was on the ground in Texas, and while the circumstances couldn’t have been worse, what he saw was incredible.
“Walking through this area, there’s just regular locals and probably people from all around Texas just searching. I mean, they brought their own shovels, they brought their own pickaxes, and they’re just trying to, you know, help,” Decker tells Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck.
“There’s search and rescue teams from all over the country,” he continues, noting that it was much like the response in North Carolina.
“And you know, it’s interesting,” he says, “just talking with some of the locals about what they’re going through, and almost everyone said, ‘We’re Texans. We’re gonna get through it.’”
“We talked to all of our partners, and they said, ‘This is unlike any disaster we’ve ever seen.’ And some of them have been doing it for 15, 20 years. And they said the response from the administration helped us to be able to help them long-term,” he explains.
The National Guard was deployed as well as the Coast Guard, who Decker tells Glenn “got there within no time.”
“It’s cool to see when administrations do the job,” he says.
And it’s not just the locals and state and federal government that’s helping out. Mercury One challenged their donors to raise $1 million — none of which would go to administrative costs — and they raised it within 48 hours.
“And usually with that, we do have to pay credit card fees. But the donors chose to pay $25,000 of fees to go help these people. And I think that alone tells you, one, how amazing our donors are, but how amazing your listeners are because they believe and they trust what we’re doing with the funds,” Decker says.
“You’re the first in, the last out every time,” Glenn responds, adding, “And it’s just so good.”
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Trump DOJ ends battle with Polymarket after Biden’s FBI raided CEO following 2024 election
Crypto-gambling site Polymarket had President Trump winning the 2024 election by a healthy margin for nearly a month before voters went to the polls.
The week after Trump’s election, President Biden’s FBI raided the home of Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan. The Biden administration alleged that the Polymarket platform, operating under Adventure One QSS Inc. out of Panama, had allowed U.S.-based users to illegally bet on the election through its website.
Prosecution quickly became a running theme for the company, as not only did the Commodity Futures Trading Commission launch its own investigation, but other global jurisdictions piled on with similar claims about the $1.5 billion that was bet on Trump to win.
‘This is obvious political retribution by the outgoing administration.’
Just two weeks after the election, Swiss gambling authorities blocked the website in their country, followed by an investigation by authorities in France that resulted in Polymarket geoblocking its site in the country.
Poland followed suit by blocking the website in January, with Singapore not far behind.
Following the raid on Coplan, a Polymarket spokesperson reacted to the federal investigation, saying, “This is obvious political retribution by the outgoing administration against Polymarket for providing a market that correctly called the 2024 presidential election.”
The Trump administration, however, began singing a different tune before getting into office, a changing of the political guard now paying figurative dividends for the tech CEO.
RELATED: Frenchman who saw through pollsters’ failure and media’s skew makes fortune betting on Trump
Landmark appearances from Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the Bitcoin conference last July paved the way for the new administration to immediately sign an executive order upon taking office.
The order not only directed the federal government to hold onto any seized digital assets as opposed to auctioning them off, as usual, but also effectively ended the regulatory war on cryptocurrency.
This softened attitude toward digital currency has certainly worked out in Coplan’s favor, as the Trump administration decided to end its probes into Polymarket.
The CFTC and DOJ reportedly sent formal notice to Polymarket earlier this month that the investigations had ended, according to Yahoo.
Coplan himself took to his X page on Tuesday, recalling the FBI raid and describing it as a “story of Polymarket’s accuracy and the ensuing resistance” that is now etched into the history of American politics.
“I’m happy to announce that this chapter of the story is over,” Coplan continued. “After cooperating and engaging, we’ve been cleared of any wrongdoing. Justice prevailed. God Bless America.”
Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan. Photo by Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for the New York Times
A series of crypto-friendly bills are expected to pass through Congress this week, part of what has been coined as “Crypto Week” on Capitol Hill.
The bills will establish regulatory framework for stablecoins as well as provide a definition for when a cryptocurrency can be considered a commodity, according to Reuters.
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The Islamification of America is well under way
America was built on a Christian foundation, rooted in individual liberty, personal responsibility, and a devotion to God Almighty.
These weren’t trivial ideals. They were bricks in the wall — pillars that held up a republic unlike anything the world had seen.
This is not a religion as the West understands religion. It is a comprehensive theocratic legal system, one that seeks total submission.
That foundation is cracking. Not from earthquakes but from erosion, from silence, from fear. By 2040, Islam is expected to be the second-largest religion in the United States, surpassing Judaism.
Let this census-level reality sink in for a minute.
With growth comes influence: cultural, legal, political. The consequences will be profound, and they will not wait politely at the door.
Mosque and state
Islam is not like Christianity. It does not draw clean lines between worship and law or between private belief and public life. In Islam, the personal is political. The religious is legal. The mosque is a courtroom, a legislature, and a military command center. Sharia is the spine of Islamic thought — codified, enforced, and upheld across centuries.
It governs every facet of life, down to what you wear, what you eat, what you’re allowed to say, who you can marry, how you discipline children, what rights women don’t have, and what punishments must be meted out to the disobedient. There is no distinction between moral failure and criminal offense. There is no distinction between private sin and public punishment.
Total submission
Under Sharia, apostates are to be executed, blasphemers silenced, homosexuals thrown from rooftops. Thieves mutilated. Women veiled, owned, constrained, beaten. Contracts, taxes, and warfare are governed by divine statute, not civic reason.
This is not a religion as the West understands religion. It is a comprehensive theocratic legal system, one that seeks not peaceful coexistence but total submission. To invite it in under the banner of tolerance is a form of national self-harm.
In Islamic doctrine, there is no freedom of conscience — absolutely none. Conversion away from Islam is considered treason, not metaphorically but literally. To leave the faith is to forfeit your life. The Quran, the hadiths, the scholars — they agree. A Muslim who becomes an “infidel” is not merely mistaken. He is a traitor. And traitors, in Islam, must be dealt with.
The West, shaped by Christianity, grew to celebrate the soul’s autonomy: the right to believe, to doubt, to wrestle with God in private. Islam has no such allowance.
Moderate … by Taliban standards?
The West clings to the idea of the “moderate Muslim.” The polite neighbor. The assimilated voter. The religious man who just wants peace. That man exists. Of course he does. But moderation isn’t the standard that matters — not in politics, not in law. Not in demographics. The real question is this: moderate compared to what?
Moderate compared to the Taliban? Compared to ISIS? Compared to a suicide bomber in Gaza? That’s not a useful metric. A man without a suicide vest isn’t necessarily a friend in waiting. Just because someone isn’t brandishing a weapon doesn’t mean he believes in democracy, equality, or pluralism.
RELATED: Afghan gang rapes shatter Vienna’s civilized café society
Anadolu/Getty Images
“Moderate,” when measured only by distance from violence, is absolutely meaningless. It allows the West to pretend that surface-level civility equals compatibility with liberal values. This is idiotic thinking. Scratch beneath the surface, and you’ll often discover core beliefs completely at odds with constitutional freedom.
In the context of Islam, moderation is relative only within its own system. A moderate Muslim might still believe that Muhammad was the perfect man, that the Quran is the literal word of God, and that Sharia is the ideal legal system for humanity. That’s not moderation by American standards. That’s just a quieter form of absolutism. Moderation, when measured only by what someone doesn’t do, becomes meaningless.
Creeping accommodation
America isn’t being overtaken by terrorism. It’s being overtaken by submission and quiet demands for accommodations. Foot-washing stations in public universities. Prayer breaks in workplaces. Hijabs in courtrooms. Schools dropping pork from lunch menus. And behind every new policy is a pressure campaign. Behind every pressure campaign, a precedent. And behind each precedent, a message: Bend or be called a bigot.
Islam doesn’t bend to host cultures. It outlasts them. It absorbs them. Ask France. Ask Sweden. Ask Belgium. Ask Britain, where entire towns operate under de facto Sharia. Where police turn a blind eye to grooming gangs. Where bloodthirsty psychopaths murder concertgoers. Where the fear is so thick it doesn’t need to be spoken. It just lives in the back of the throat.
CAIRing is sharing
In America, the same pattern is forming. Activist groups disguise their intentions in the language of civil rights. The Council on American-Islamic Relations calls itself a defender of religious liberty. However, behind the appeals to tolerance lies a pernicious political project — a theocratic one that sees American values not as rights to protect but as threats to eliminate.
Islam is not a race. It is not an ethnicity. It is not a vague spiritual belief. It is a legal-political system that carries with it specific obligations. The devout are not asked to live and let live. They are instructed to spread the faith — through da’wah, through influence, through numbers, through laws. The ultimate goal is not coexistence. It is dominance. Peace, in Islamic jurisprudence, comes only after submission.
And no, this isn’t xenophobia. This is history. This is reality. This is theology meeting demography. Look at Iran, once Persia. Look at Lebanon, once Christian. Look at Afghanistan, once Buddhist (yes, really). What Islam cannot conquer by weaponry, it conquers by the womb. Slowly. Relentlessly. Without apology.
Islam, Islamification of america, Birth rate, Immigration, Judaism, Culture
Corruption allegations? No problem! DC Democrat wins back seat despite looming trial over alleged kickback scheme
A Washington, D.C., councilman, who was previously arrested for his alleged involvement in a bribery scheme and is currently awaiting trial, successfully reclaimed his vacant seat during a special election on Tuesday.
In August, the FBI arrested Ward 8 Democratic Councilman Trayon White Sr. after he was accused of accepting over $150,000 as part of a kickback scheme. Preliminary evidence allegedly included a video showing White taking envelopes filled with cash from a city contractor, who received contracts in return for the payments.
‘We plan on fighting. But you shouldn’t allow 12 people to speak for 85,000 people.’
Amid the ongoing controversy, voters handed White a re-election victory in November. Yet, despite his win, the council voted in February to expel White, prompting a special election on Tuesday.
Several Democratic candidates ran to fill White’s vacant seat, including White, who hoped to reclaim his spot on the council.
White landed in more hot water during his special election campaign after the Board of Ethics and Government Accountability accused him of failing to file two legally required financial disclosures for his previous year in office.
White told WJLA, “I have until July 23rd to file. It will be filed.”
RELATED: Democratic DC councilman arrested, accused of $156,000 bribery scheme
Photo by Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Salim Adofo, Mike Austin, and Sheila Bunn were also on the ballot. No Republican ran.
All three of White’s opponents framed voting for another candidate as a necessary step forward for D.C.
Austin expressed frustration last month for Ward 8’s lack of representation due to “White’s actions.”
“I understand and appreciate everybody who voted for him in the general [election], but the reality is that right now, we have a real opportunity to correct the mistakes. We can no longer give passes for malfeasance,” he stated.
Adofo similarly implied that electing White would hold D.C. back.
He told voters, “I think that moving forward gives us an opportunity to go a different direction.”
“We have to take into consideration [if this] is where we want to go. Do we want to continue to deal with some of the issues from the past? Because we know that this would not be the last time we hear about these things if we go back to where we once were,” Adofo said.
Bunn seemed to echo her opponents’ sentiments, contending that D.C. requires a leader who “is not fraught with any ethical issues.”
“Good people make bad mistakes,” she added. “But we cannot let those mistakes affect us at this inopportune time for our community and for our city.”
RELATED: GOP lawmakers seek to repeal DC’s Home Rule Act
Photo by Linda Davidson/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Ward 8 voters seemed to disagree with the three Democratic candidates, instead handing White a decisive victory on Tuesday.
White secured 29.7% of the votes, leading Bunn by 5 points with just 24.3%, the Associated Press reported. Austin received 23.7% of the vote and Adofo 22.3%.
White has expressed concerns that the council may vote to expel him again, despite the voters’ wishes. However, he indicated that he is prepared to fight for his seat.
During his victory speech Tuesday evening, he stated that he plans to hold “one-on-one meetings with the members.”
“We plan on fighting. But you shouldn’t allow 12 people to speak for 85,000 people,” White said. “They can’t say that Congress is taking our will to become a state away and taking away our votes, and the council’s doing the same thing.”
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The next Christian revolution won’t be livestreamed on TikTok
Ronald Reagan famously cited the Roman maxim, “If it was not for the elders correcting the mistakes of the young, there would be no state.” That wisdom rings hollow when you’re on the mistake-making side.
Generation Z hasn’t exactly earned a reputation for excellence. As we wrote this, professional activist Greta Thunberg was in Paris, pausing her carbon-shaming campaign to weigh in on the war against Hamas. Here at home, Gen Z Democratic influencer Olivia Julianna is trying to rebrand her party’s image among young men by championing abortion access and highlighting its supposedly deep, hidden love for groups like Black Lives Matter.
Being ‘Christian first, conservative second’ isn’t political surrender. It’s the basis for cultural authority.
That barely scratches the surface.
A quick scroll through X reveals countless under-30 users with enormous followings and the “influencer” label — despite having little real influence. Their mistakes aren’t just frequent. They’re embarrassing.
So what’s a Christian Zoomer supposed to do?
The extreme of ‘influencerdom’
At a high level, the answer is simple: Build systems that reflect Christian values, and challenge the ones that don’t. But real influence won’t come by copying the warped incentives pushed by our generation’s loudest voices.
The skills needed to go viral online rarely match the skills needed to drive real-world change. In fact, they often clash. Posting about the dangers of corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion is one thing; using influence to force lasting change in corporate policy is something else entirely. Both matter — but they aren’t the same.
The other extreme: Apathy
But political “influencerdom” isn’t the only problem. Gen Z also suffers from a serious apathy problem. Between the aftershocks of the COVID economy and apocalyptic climate narratives — why bother thinking seriously about policy if the sun’s going to explode in 10 years? — Zoomers have earned a reputation as, in the Wall Street Journal’s words, “America’s Most Disillusioned Voters.”
We’ll show up to vote — maybe. But posting on Instagram takes less effort, so we’ll do that instead. One analysis summarized the challenge this way: “Campaigns must focus on converting robust online advocacy into real-world voter turnout.” That’s the kind of strategy you get when no one really cares.
RELATED: Church is cool again — and Gen Z men are leading the way
Shuang Paul Wang via iStock/Getty Images
A Christian Zoomer response
As Christians, our duty is the opposite of apathy. We’re called to care. Rejecting our generation’s default indifference is just the beginning. “Christ is King” isn’t a license to coast — it’s the foundation for action.
Here are some practical ways Christian Zoomers can avoid the traps of both performative activism and total disengagement.
Seek wisdom from the right sources. Don’t look to influencers for answers. The people most worth learning from probably don’t have a million followers on X. Avoid the echo chamber of “onlineness.” Instead, find expertise from unglamorous sources: people with “lived experience,” technical know-how, and hard-earned wisdom.
Join a local church. Every Christian needs the weekly rhythm of worship, sound teaching, and community. But for young believers navigating a secular world, the church is especially vital. Find a congregation that preaches the gospel clearly and offers intergenerational support. This isn’t about socializing — it’s about growing in conviction and courage through regular contact with people who live by “Christ first, culture second.”
Vote locally. You don’t have to be a political junkie, but you should know what’s happening in your county. Local and state policies affect your daily life far more than most federal debates. National politics is often a circus; local politics is where things actually get done. Caring about what happens five miles from home is a Christian habit worth cultivating.
Think before you post. Virtue-signaling comes in all forms — left, right, and “based.” Whether it’s a black square or the latest meme, pause before jumping in. Ask: “Am I actually doing something about this issue in my community?” If the answer is yes, then post away. If not, maybe start with action before broadcasting your opinion.
Keep a few friends who disagree with you. Yes, surround yourself with faithful Christians — but don’t retreat into an ideological bunker. Having friends with different views helps you resist tribalism. You may not see eye to eye on politics, but they probably aren’t your enemies. Humanizing your opponents is a discipline, one that fights against the hyperfixation and outrage that dominate our age.
Serve somewhere. Whether you care about the unborn, the incarcerated, or victims of trafficking, find a local organization doing the work — and show up. It’s easy to have strong opinions about cultural decay. It’s much harder to give your time. But service grounds us. It reminds us of God’s blessings and our call to be His hands and feet.
Our generation veers between two extremes: obsessive political engagement and total apathy. Both reflect a flawed attempt to wring meaning from a system designed only to support human flourishing — not define it. And both fail.
The politically apathetic pride themselves on floating above the fray, looking down on those who care enough to engage. The hyper-engaged believe their passion sets them apart — morally superior to the so-called “normies” who sleepwalk through civic life.
Both attitudes are wrong.
If we, the rising generation of Christians, want to engage the culture meaningfully, we must refuse to measure our success — or define our mission — by worldly standards.
Being “Christian first, conservative second” isn’t political surrender. It’s the basis for cultural authority. It doesn’t excuse disengagement. It demands engagement.
We act because we believe every person bears the image of God. That truth drives our pursuit of justice, mercy, and truth. Our theology shapes our politics, not the other way around.
And if pagan, anti-Christian values fall in the process? So much the better!
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Accused Minnesota assassin: ‘If you want to save the country you have to get your hands dirty’
Accused Minnesota assassin Vance Luther Boelter seemingly thought he was saving the country — and was willing to get his “hands dirty” in the process.
A handwritten statement contained in one of the notebooks seized by the FBI gives a clue to his possible motivation in allegedly killing a top Democratic state lawmaker and her husband on June 14 and attempting to kill a state senator, his wife, and adult daughter.
‘I could have left a pile of cops dead.’
As a federal grand jury delivered a six-count indictment against Boelter that could bring the death penalty for murder, prosecutors in Minneapolis released extensive new details from their investigation of what they said was Boelter’s plan to murder at least seven people in the predawn hours of June 14.
Boelter, 57, of Green Isle, Minn., was indicted by the grand jury for the murder of state House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman (DFL-Brooklyn Park) and her husband, Mark Hortman; the shooting and grievous wounding of state Sen. John Hoffman (DFL-Champlin) and his wife, Yvette Hoffman; and the attempted shooting and intended murder of the Hoffmans’ adult daughter, Hope. He was also charged with stalking the lawmakers and using firearms in furtherance of his crimes.
“Vance Boelter planned and carried out a night of terror that shook Minnesota to its core,” acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson said in a statement. “He carried out targeted political assassinations the likes of which have never been seen in Minnesota.
“We grieve with the Hortman family and continue to pray for the recovery of the Hoffmans,” Thompson said. “Today, a grand jury indicted Boelter with the most serious of federal charges for these heinous political assassinations. Let me be clear: Boelter will see justice.”
An image from the home security system of Melissa and Mark Hortman shows Vance Luther Boelter wearing a mask with goatee and a wig as he rang the doorbell at 3:30 a.m. June 14, 2025, the FBI said.FBI image
Prosecutors added detail to what they said was Boelter’s twisted plan to execute at least four Democratic state lawmakers in the overnight hours on June 14. He allegedly ended up killing the two Hortman spouses and their family golden retriever, putting 17 bullets into Hoffman and his wife, and firing at Hope Hoffman, who miraculously was not hit by the gunfire because her parents shielded her and pushed her out of harm’s way, the FBI said.
After allegedly shooting Mark Hortman at the front entrance of the Hortman home, Boelter allegedly executed Melissa Hortman as she attempted to run up the stairs, the FBI said. He then apparently fired on the family’s golden retriever, Gilbert, whom FBI agents later found mortally wounded in the back yard.
Thompson told a Tuesday news conference that the grand jury indictments came with a “notice of special findings,” which is the first step “for seeking the death penalty against defendant Vance Boelter.”
Thompson said the decision on whether to seek the death penalty “will not come for several months and will ultimately be decided by Attorney General [Pamela] Bondi with input from the Capital Case Unit in the Department of Justice, along with this office and the victims.”
The alleged attempted shooting and intended murder of Hope Hoffman was new to the case since a criminal complaint was first issued against Boelter on June 16. Statements from Hope Hoffman and her parents — who are recovering from their life-threatening wounds — led to the charges for harming and attempting to kill the Hoffman family.
“We now know that Vance Boelter not only shot at Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, but he also shot at and attempted to kill their daughter, Hope Hoffman,” Thompson said. “Both John and Yvette acted with incredible bravery to put themselves between Boelter’s bullets and their daughter. Miraculously, Hope Hoffman was not shot, but she was the fifth intended victim of Vance Boelter that night, and as such she is included in the federal indictment.”
Hope Hoffman released a statement later Tuesday relating how she relives the nightmare of June 14.
“Though I was not shot physically, I will now forever coexist with the PTSD of watching my parents be nearly shot dead in front of me and seeing my life flash before my eyes with a gun in my face,” Hope Hoffman said.
“My parents pushed me out of the way that night. I was pretty bruised up from getting hurled against our washer, and I’m glad I was,” she said. “How I didn’t get grazed is nothing short of dumb luck. I’m grateful I happened to be at my parents’ house to be able to call 911. Had I not been, they wouldn’t be here. My parents saved me, and we saved each other.”
‘Good God, I was asleep!’
A search warrant affidavit released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office includes chilling new details of the execution of the Hortmans around 3:30 a.m. June 14.
According to the FBI, Boelter parked his fake police vehicle in the driveway of the Hortman home. Allegedly wearing a hyper-realistic silicone mask and a wig, Boelter rang the doorbell and shouted, “Police! Welfare check!” Boelter shined his tactical flashlight in Mark Hortman’s face when he answered the door, the affidavit said.
“When Mr. Hortman answered the door, Boelter — shining a flashing [sic] toward Mr. Hortman’s eyes — said there had been reports of shots fired,” the FBI affidavit said. “Mr. Hortman denied knowing anything about a shooting, saying at one point, ‘Good God, I was asleep!’
“Mr. Hortman told Boelter, who was still shining a flashlight toward him and was standing approximately six feet away from the doorway: ‘We can’t see you,’” the FBI said. “Mr. Hortman asked for Boelter’s name and badge number. Boelter did not promptly respond, but moments later he said, ‘Nelson, 286.’”
About this time, squad cars from the Brooklyn Park Police Department pulled up in front of the home to carry out a welfare check on the former speaker. Boelter allegedly began firing into the front door at Mark Hortman, then charged inside the home, the FBI said.
“One or more of the Brooklyn Park officers fired at Boelter as he charged forward into the home,” the FBI said. “As law enforcement later discovered, Boelter, having moved past the fallen Mr. Hortman and into the home, shot Representative Hortman several times at close range, killing her as she attempted to flee up the stairs.”
Shortly after, the FBI said, “sounds of extreme distress can be heard in the Hortman security footage coming from the Hortmans’ golden retriever, Gilbert. Law enforcement determined that later Gilbert, too, had been shot. … Gilbert was seriously injured. FBI agents took Gilbert to a veterinarian, who attempted to save him, but Gilbert died from his injuries.”
‘She was the fifth intended victim of Vance Boelter that night.’
Prosecutors released the full text of the confession letter Boelter allegedly left inside the Buick sedan he reportedly used as a getaway vehicle some four hours after the shootings and abandoned on a rural road in Belle Plaine, Minn., June 15.
The rambling, disjointed, two-page screed written on the back of a wall calendar attempts to implicate Minnesota Democrat Gov. Tim Walz in a plot to murder U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and U.S. Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.), allegedly so Walz could take one of the open Senate seats.
Boelter allegedly wrote the letter hours before he was captured in Sibley County, 50 miles southwest of the Twin Cities, at 9:15 p.m. the night of June 15. He was at large for 43 hours and led police on the largest manhunt in Minnesota history.
Boelter allegedly wrote that Walz “is probably cra**ing bricks right now because I’m still at large and he knows what I can do and that I know about where all the buried skeletons are. So I will be shot on sight, you can bet on that.”
Boelter allegedly wrote that he would only surrender directly to FBI Director Kash Patel and said, “I need to be held in a military prison in Asia or the Middle East, or at least on a military ship over there.”
Handwritten notes
Prosecutors also released snippets of handwritten notes taken from journals found in the fake police vehicle Boelter allegedly used to travel to and between the homes of four Democratic Minnesota lawmakers, prosecutors contend, with the intention of killing them all.
They said Boelter made repeated political references in the notebook pages, along with a list of more than 45 Democratic lawmakers from six states and the names of prominent attorneys and the locations of Minnesota Planned Parenthood facilities.
The notebooks contain “all manner of notations, scribbles, stray phone numbers or emails, and lists, but few cohesively written thoughts,” the FBI wrote in a probable-cause affidavit. “There is no manifesto explaining his actions. There are, however, certain subjects or themes that appear several times in Boelter’s notes. One recurring subject matter is politicians.”
RELATED: Accused assassin makes ‘disgusting’ attempt to paint himself a victim over jail conditions: Sheriff
A confession letter the FBI said was written by Vance Boelter makes references to being trained by the U.S. military and ordered to commit murders by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.Image via FBI
The names of the Hortmans and the Hoffmans were written in the notebooks, along with the two other homes he reportedly visited that night, those of state Rep. Kristin Bahner (DFL-Maple Grove) and state Sen. Ann Rest (DFL-New Hope). Bahner’s family was not at home. Boelter was apparently scared away from the area near Rest’s home when New Hope police vehicles began arriving to check on the senator.
One chilling scribbled note read:
If you want to save the country you have to get your hands dirty.
Another entry said:
Doing what most people know needs to be done, but are not willing to do it themselves.
In text messages and two jail video interviews with the New York Post, Boelter said his pro-life views and support for Republican President Donald J. Trump were not his motivations in allegedly carrying out the deadly shooting rampage. He would not say specifically what his reasons were, making a vague reference to things going on in Minnesota in 2023.
RELATED: Vance Boelter’s wife speaks out for first time since June 14 shooting rampage
Handwritten notes the FBI said came from the writings of Vance Luther Boelter indicate that he was willing to get his “hands dirty” to “save the country.”Image via FBI
Thompson said he believes Boelter’s alleged statement in the letter about being “trained by U.S. military people off the books starting in college” is likely not some kind of delusion but more likely Boelter’s attempt to justify the crimes.
Boelter made similar claims on the website of Praetorian Guard Security Services, a residential security company he unsuccessfully tried to launch between 2018 and 2024.
“Dr. Vance Boelter has been involved with security situations in Eastern Europe, Africa, North America, and the Middle East, including the West Bank, Southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip,” said his profile on a 2024 version of the website archived on the Wayback Machine. “He brings a great security aspect forged by both many on-the-ground experiences combined with training by both private security firms and people in the U.S. military.”
A geofencing study of Boelter’s home address in Green Isle identified a unique cell phone that pinged in overseas locations between 2022 and 2025, including Turkey, Dubai, Africa, India, and Nepal, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Oversight Project.
Cased the Hortman home
Among the new details released Tuesday by prosecutors was the revelation that a man matching Boelter’s description was seen on the Hortmans’ home security system the day before the killings. The video “depicts a man, wearing a rain jacket with the hood up, briefly walking around the side and back of the home,” the FBI said.
“Hours before this, at approximately 6:55 p.m., security cameras near Boelter’s temporary residence on Fremont Avenue recorded Boelter, wearing a rain jacket with the hood up, carrying what appears to be body armor and a duffel bag to one of his black SUVs.”
Entries in the notebooks indicated that the suspect did research on the lawmakers, their spouses, and their children and accessed Google Maps to determine the best travel routes.
The FBI seized a laptop computer left behind in the Buick sedan that Boelter allegedly abandoned in Belle Plaine. “The laptop also shows extensive use of Google Maps in the months and weeks leading up to the attacks,” the FBI said. “The laptop data shows the Hortman home address was entered in Google Maps as early as May 15, 2025.”
‘I support the police and didn’t want to see them hurt.’
The computer contained a query for Hortman on TruePeopleSearch.com on May 15 and a search for Hoffman on PeopleFinder.com on June 4, the FBI said. Melissa Hortman’s name was reportedly first entered into Boelter’s Garmin GPS unit on May 15, which Thompson said showed the amount of time and level of planning that went into the attacks.
“It was a crime committed first and foremost against the Hortmans and the Hoffmans and their families,” Thompson said. “But this political assassination, the likes of which have never occurred here in the state of Minnesota, has [shaken] our state at a foundational level.”
A Minnesota state fire marshal stands guard at the bier of state Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman, her husband, Mark Hortman, and their golden retriever, Gilbert, at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul on June 27, 2025.Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
Boelter’s alleged crime spree began just after 2 a.m. when he pounded on the front door of the Hoffmans in Champlin, the FBI said. Mrs. Hoffman quickly realized that the suspect was wearing a mask and was not a real police officer. The senator tried to push Boelter out the front door and was shot nine times, police said.
“Mrs. Hoffman attempted to shut Boelter outside the home by shutting the door on him, but Boelter then shot Mrs. Hoffman repeatedly. After the shooting, Boelter fled in the black SUV,” the affidavit said.
Hope Hoffman told police that “Boelter shot at her too, with bullets narrowly missing her as she saw her mother and father get shot.”
Boelter found no one home at the residence of Rep. Bahner in Maple Grove, so he drove to New Hope and parked about a block from the home of Sen. Rest, the FBI said.
A New Hope police officer pulled alongside Boelter’s SUV at 2:36 a.m., rolled down the car window, and tried to get his attention, the FBI said, but Boelter stared straight ahead and didn’t acknowledge her. The officer then drove away toward Sen. Rest’s home.
In his alleged confession letter, Boelter said that had he wanted to, he could have killed the New Hope officer.
“Cops were pulling up right next to me in their vehicles and I had an AK pistol aimed right at her head and I could have left a pile of cops dead but I did [sic] shoot 1 bullet towards law enforcement,” the letter said. “You can ask them because I support the police and didn’t want to see them hurt.”
After allegedly executing the Hortmans, Boelter fled out the back door and began shedding his disguise, body armor, and weapons as he ran, the FBI said. A partly disassembled 9mm Beretta pistol was found along his escape route. Another 9mm Beretta handgun was retrieved by police from a nearby pond.
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Politics
Tragic: Chip and Joanna Gaines’ new show exploits ‘forced motherlessness’
Chip and Joanna Gaines have been beloved by their Christian fans for years, but now they’re facing backlash for featuring a gay couple and their surrogacy-born sons on their new reality show “Back to the Frontier.”
The gay couple explained in an interview that they applied for the show in order to “normalize same-sex relationships,” but BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey believes it’s much more than that.
“Their mission is to normalize forced motherlessness, which is the forcing of a child to live without their mother, and that is what is going on here, of course, and so they wanted to glorify that, they wanted to expand their platform so that more people could see this kind of relationship and more people could think, ‘OK, maybe a mom is unnecessary,’” Stuckey explains.
“‘Maybe a husband can become a wife, and maybe a dad can become a mom.’ I mean, it is functional transgenderism,” she continues. “Even if people aren’t actually identifying as the opposite sex, they are certainly identifying as the opposite gender role.”
The gay couple also claimed in the same interview that part of the reason they applied to be on the show was because they saw a flyer for the show with a gay couple in it.
“So that means, from the get-go, Magnolia Network along with HBO, they were trying to attract a gay couple. It’s not one of those things where, ‘OK, they weren’t looking for that.’ They just stumbled upon this, you know, exceptionally charismatic couple, and they just said, ‘OK, we have to go with them,’” Stuckey says.
“That’s what they were looking for. And if you don’t think that Chip and Joanna had a say in that, or at least knowledge of that and confirmed that, then you’re crazy. Or maybe you just don’t understand the level of influence they have as the executive producers of this show,” she continues.
Stuckey not only takes issue with forced motherlessness but sees deep moral issues with surrogacy itself.
“You’re discarding all kinds of embryos, all so two men can do what God created them not to be able to do and that is have biological children without a mother that is raising them,” she says.
“This is a social experiment in which we are laying the well-being of children on the altar of adult desire, and there is nothing more disordered than that,” she continues, adding, “Demanding children who cannot consent to this motherlessness to sacrifice their innate needs, their biological longing for their mother in services to the disordered desires of adults.”
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John MacArthur was a bold voice for Christ in an age gone soft
Los Angeles megachurches often resemble their Hollywood neighbors — grand stage sets with top-tier lighting and sound, carefully produced services complete with scripts, soundtracks, and a live audience. They usually plant themselves in the “nice parts of town” — Hollywood Hills, Santa Monica, Pasadena. Perfect if you’re after a Sunday pep talk and a little feel-good music to carry you through the week.
But that was never Grace Community Church with John MacArthur at the pulpit.
MacArthur never chased applause or tailored sermons to flatter the mood of the age.
Unlike many pastors leading congregations of similar size, MacArthur, who died Monday at the age of 86, didn’t preach to people hoping to make them “feel better” about themselves. He preached to dying souls, convinced he held the only message that could save them: the gospel — the real, unvarnished gospel of Scripture.
An unapologetic truth-teller
“Being a pastor means you’re a truth-teller,” MacArthur once said. And the truths proclaimed from his pulpit often rubbed people the wrong way, both inside and outside evangelical circles. Statements like, “The whole purpose of the Christian message is to confront the sinner’s sin so you can call the sinner to repentance and forgiveness,” or, “The true gospel is a call to self-denial. It is not a call to self-fulfillment,” clash with a world that prizes non-judgment, self-indulgence, and endless comfort.
But for those who’ve discovered how hollow those things truly are, MacArthur’s words struck hard — painfully, yet like cool water on the cracked lips of a wanderer lost too long in the desert.
He stood nearly alone in the upper echelon of church notoriety, refusing to bend on the bedrock truths of the Christian faith for the sake of publicity, celebrity congregants, TV slots, or social praise.
MacArthur cared about one thing: reaching lost souls with the only message that could rescue them. It either turned you away like an offensive painting or drew you in, like peering into a dense, bristling forest from the window of a climate-controlled, sterile cell.
My family was among those drawn in.
It took us years to find a church home after moving from rural Virginia to Southern California. Until we settled into a small local congregation in northwest L.A., we often trekked to Sun Valley for one reason: the teaching at Grace Community Church. My parents had listened to MacArthur’s sermons for years back east. Amid the chaos of starting over out west, they knew they could rely on him for a feast of biblical preaching — the kind that made the gospel, not man, the focus.
Ministering in their neighborhood
As a kid, I never noticed much about Grace’s neighborhood. My 10-year-old eyes skipped past the barred windows, the tiny houses jammed with large families, the rows of homeless encampments along Wilshire Boulevard. Only when I returned as an adult did I grasp just how far Grace was from Beverly Hills. This was the hood. And Grace Community Church didn’t just happen to be there — they chose it.
Across the street stood Wat Thai, a historic Buddhist temple serving Sun Valley’s Thai, Vietnamese, and Cambodian communities. Just down the road, the Hilal Islamic Center ministered to the area’s Muslim residents.
The church building itself preached its own sermon. Unlike so many of L.A.’s glittering megachurches, Grace displayed a simple cross, adorned only with a wreath at Christmas. No fog machines, no laser shows — just a traditional choir and orchestra. Even after we found our local church more than an hour away, we never missed Grace’s Christmas concert. Just Google it, and you will get a glimpse into how special the church’s worship is.
Grace’s surroundings and the sanctuary delivered the same message: The gospel doesn’t belong to a single ethnicity, culture, or political camp. It doesn’t need to be repackaged or softened to reach the world. It simply needs to be proclaimed, boldly and without apology.
And that’s exactly what John MacArthur devoted his life to doing.
The gospel for all audiences
He never ducked controversy when conviction demanded courage. During the COVID lockdowns, when Los Angeles banned in-person worship, MacArthur stood behind his pulpit and delivered his landmark sermon “Christ, Not Caesar, Is Head of the Church,” in which he boldly declared, “We cannot and will not acquiesce to a government-imposed moratorium on our weekly congregational worship or other regular corporate gatherings. Compliance would be disobedience to our Lord’s clear commands.”
That Sunday, I sat in the congregation. For the first time in more than a year, after countless Zoom services, I worshiped shoulder to shoulder with fellow believers as the choir and orchestra swelled. Tears filled nearly every eye in the room. It was a moment I’ll carry forever — the last time I heard, and now will ever hear, John MacArthur preach in person.
RELATED: John MacArthur refused to compromise. Gavin Newsom learned the hard way.
iStock/Getty Images
MacArthur’s ministry outlasted the snares that took down so many other pastors with similar reach. He never chased applause or tailored sermons to flatter the mood of the age. Yet he could speak just as powerfully on Ben Shapiro’s stage as he did on Larry King’s. That’s because he never shifted his conviction. The gospel he preached to a conservative Orthodox Jew was the same gospel he preached to liberal Hollywood skeptics and suburban churchgoers.
Long after the lights fade on L.A.’s big productions, the legacy of that quiet, sturdy pulpit in Sun Valley will endure. It reached me. It reached countless others. It stands as proof that when you preach Christ — not entertainment, not cultural trends, not political hobbyhorses — the gospel still does exactly what God promises it will do: save sinners and transform lives.
Big shoes to fill
We lost a giant of the faith this week. Just as we’ve grieved R.C. Sproul, Tim Keller, and other pillars over the past decade, the church will deeply miss John MacArthur’s steady, trustworthy voice. Being an uncompromising Christian is only growing more difficult in today’s climate, even in the so-called Christianized West. MacArthur’s passing widens the void left by those who went before him, and younger voices who might fill it seem few and far between.
I hope I’m proven wrong. I hope many pastors rise with the same fearless conviction. If they do, they likely owe that spirit in part to the influence MacArthur had on believers across decades of faithful service to the Lord and his church.
Thank you, Pastor MacArthur, for ministering to the hearts, minds, and souls of countless people — including my family. Thank you for urging us to cultivate awe for the beauty of Scripture, reverence for the holiness of God, and a deep love for our Savior, Jesus Christ. May you rejoice now in His presence, after a life faithfully stewarded for His glory.
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HHS surmounts obstacles set by Democrat-appointed judges, gives thousands of bureaucrats the boot
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services revealed in late March that it was downsizing its workforce from 82,000 to 62,000 employees as part of a broader overhaul intended to maximize efficiency, save taxpayers money, and help make America healthy again.
The agency sent notices of reduction in force to 10,000 employees. Another 10,000 workers apparently left voluntarily, accepting early retirement and buyout offers.
The threat of a proper housecleaning enraged Democrats and, of course, pink-slip recipients, who filed legal challenges. Democrat-appointed U.S. district judges proved more than willing to hold up the terminations, prompting the government to appeal and the Supreme Court to weigh in.
‘Despite spending $1.9 trillion in annual costs, Americans are getting sicker every year.’
Taking full advantage of the path cleared by the high court, HHS finalized layoffs for thousands of employees on Monday.
An HHS spokesperson told Blaze News that “all employees who were originally notified, who aren’t covered under the N.Y. v. Kennedy case, and those who haven’t had their notice rescinded have been terminated.”
How it started
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the layoffs in late March, noting that the restructuring would:
save taxpayers $1.8 billion per year through the reduction in the workforce of about 10,000 full-time workers; streamline the functions of the department by consolidating 28 divisions into 15 divisions, reducing regional offices from 10 to five, and centralizing core functions;”implement the new HHS priority of ending America’s epidemic of chronic illness by focusing on safe, wholesome food, clean water, and the elimination of environmental toxins”; andmake Americans’ experience with the HHS more responsive and efficient.
The health secretary noted on X that while the moment was difficult, “the reality is clear: what we’ve been doing isn’t working.”
“Despite spending $1.9 trillion in annual costs, Americans are getting sicker every year. In the past four years alone, the agency’s budget has grown by 38% — yet outcomes continue to decline,” wrote Kennedy. “We must shift course.”
Straight out of the gate, senior officials at the National Institutes of Health including Christine Grady, the wife of former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, got the boot along with Fauci allies Clifford Lane, deputy director for clinical research and special projects at NIAID, and Emily Erbelding, director of the NIAID division of microbiology and infectious diseases.
Establishmentarians clutched their pearls over these and other firings at HHS.
Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, bemoaned the layoffs, telling Nature, “This will go down as one of the darkest days in modern scientific history in my 50 years in the business.
“It’s a bloodbath,” one U.S. Food and Drug Administration employee told CNN.
Former FDA Commissioner Robert Califf took his doomsaying onto LinkedIn, noting, “The FDA as we’ve known it is finished, with most of the leaders with institutional knowledge and a deep understanding of product development and safety no longer employed. I believe that history will see this a huge mistake.”
RELATED: How Big Pharma left its mark on woke CDC vax advisory panel — and what RFK Jr. did about it
Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
Two major legal actions were launched in recent weeks with the apparent aim of writing the terminations off as unlawful and undermining the MAGA agenda: a class-action lawsuit filed in the District of Columbia on behalf of ex-HHS employees and a lawsuit filed on May 5 by Democratic attorneys general from 19 states and the District of Columbia, seeking to block the RIF.
Both cases were assigned Democrat-appointed judges, the class-action lawsuit to an Obama judge and the blue states’ lawsuit to U.S. District Judge Melissa DuBose, a Biden appointee.
‘Thank you for your service to the American people.’
As is the apparent custom of Democrat-appointed federal judges, Judge DuBose obliged the plaintiffs, blocking the Trump administration from finalizing the layoffs and requiring HHS to file a status report by July 11.
DuBose suggested that they had “sufficiently shown irreparable harm” and that the “Executive Branch does not have the authority to order, organize, or implement wholesale changes to the structure and function of the agencies created by Congress.”
How it’s going
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed federal agencies to continue with their mass layoffs, staying a Clinton judge’s order that had blocked the administration from proceeding without congressional approval.
On Monday, the Supreme Court sent another message on theme, letting the Trump administration execute mass layoffs at the Department of Education.
RELATED: Career feds act like they’re the ones running the country
Photo by Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images
Citing the high court’s July 8 decision, HHS informed thousands of employees on Monday that their time at the agency was over as of close of business.
“You are hereby notified that you are officially separated from HHS at the close of business on July 14, 2025,” said a copy of the notice obtained by the Washington Post. “Thank you for your service to the American people.”
Not all of the intended 10,000 ousters are taking place this week.
Some jobs are temporarily protected owing to DuBose’s ruling in New York v. Kennedy, which reportedly shields employees at the National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and Tuberculosis Prevention; the National Center for Environmental Health; the Division of Reproductive Health; the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health; the Office on Smoking and Health; the National Center for Birth Defects and Development Disabilities; the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products; the Office of Head Start; and the Division of Data and Technical Analysis.
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Vance casts tiebreaking vote to advance DOGE cuts after Republicans defy Trump
Vice President JD Vance had to cast another tiebreaking vote in the Senate to advance President Donald Trump’s agenda.
The Senate narrowly advanced the DOGE cuts package in a 51-50 vote late Tuesday night. Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky voted to block the DOGE cuts, prompting Vance to cast his tiebreaking vote.
Congress is inching closer to codifying the first DOGE cuts via the White House’s rescissions package, but the $9.4 billion price tag is just a drop in the bucket.
Although some Republicans have gone against the grain, the White House is keen on codifying DOGE cuts.
The rescissions package makes $1.1 billion in cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, including PBS and NPR, which have functionally worked as left-wing organizations subsidized by American taxpayers. The package also cuts $8.3 billion to various leftist projects disguised as foreign aid programs such as the U.S. Agency for International Development.
RELATED: Vance casts tiebreaking vote after Republicans betray Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’
Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Although the DOGE cuts were able to clear a procedural hurdle, senators will now proceed with their vote-a-rama of amendments before scheduling the final floor vote in time for the Friday deadline.
Several House Republicans told Blaze News they were concerned that the Senate would water down the cuts through the amendment process, with one describing the cuts package as “low-hanging fruit.”
The DOGE cuts previously passed the House in a narrow 214-212 vote back in June. As in the Senate, a handful of Republicans voted alongside Democrats to block the DOGE cuts, including Reps. Mark Amodei of Nevada, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Nicole Malliotakis of New York, and Mike Turner of Ohio.
RELATED: Republican senator makes a stunning admission: ‘I can’t be somebody that I’m not’
Photo by Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images
Although some Republicans have gone against the grain, the White House is keen on codifying DOGE cuts. Director Russ Vought of the Office of Management and Budget previously told Blaze News that he would be open to drafting more rescissions packages in the future.
“We’re going to go through the process with the Hill to see if this first one passes, and see where we are,” Vought said. “… I think it will be successful, and it will certainly inform our strategy going forward.”
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