Category: blaze media

Election officials in one of the bluest cities in Michigan may soon have to give answers under oath about an election-related imbalance that always seems to favor Democrats.

In 2022, the Michigan GOP and the Republican National Committee sued various officials in Flint, Michigan, after the city hired just a fraction of the number of Republican polling inspectors required by state law.

‘It’s about making sure that courts are open to decide important questions about people’s rights.’

The state statute demands that “board of election commissioners shall appoint at least 1 election inspector from each major political party and shall appoint an equal number, as nearly as possible, of election inspectors in each election precinct from each major political party.”

However, of the 562 inspectors appointed by the Flint election commissioners, just 57 were Republicans, court documents said.

RELATED: Trump order leads to investigation of 33 potential incidents of noncitizen voting, AG Paxton says

Photo by GEOFF ROBINS/AFP via Getty Images

Despite the gross disparity, lower courts in Michigan dismissed the lawsuit, claiming that the state and national Republican parties lacked standing. These Republican organizations “cannot show that they are interested parties who are entitled to a declaratory judgment,” the majority opinion from the Michigan Court of Appeals determined in 2024. The 2-1 decision added that the groups “do not have a legally protected interest in the enforcement of” the applicable statutes.

A supermajority of the decidedly liberal Michigan Supreme Court disagreed.

On Monday, the state’s highest court ruled 5-1 that the Michigan Republican Party and the RNC do in fact have “a unique interest in ensuring the fair and equal treatment of party-affiliated candidates during voting and the counting of ballots.” The ruling added that such “fair and equal treatment” “is fulfilled through party-affiliated election inspectors.”

The ruling gives new life to the GOP lawsuit, allowing it to proceed at the lower courts. Should it be retried, “Flint officials will be forced to explain themselves under oath,” Rod D. Martin, tech entrepreneur and CEO of Martin Capital, noted.

“Democrats stacked the deck in Flint,” Martin continued on social media. “Now they’ll have to answer for it.”

Michael Whatley, chairman of the RNC, likewise cheered the ruling as “another major win for election integrity!”

“Every voter deserves transparency and fairness — and that starts with equal representation among poll workers,” he continued in a statement posted to social media.

Republican state Rep. Bryan Posthumus of Rockford is likewise pleased.

“The Supreme Court made the right call in overturning the lower court’s ruling,” Posthumus said in a statement to Blaze News. “The fight to ensure free, fair, and transparent elections is a continuous one, and this is a big battle to win.”

Even the ACLU of Michigan celebrated the decision. ACLU attorney Phil Mayor claimed that the GOP lawsuit “really deserved to be heard.”

“The underlying case may be about politics, but the standing question that the Michigan Supreme Court decided today is not about politics. It’s about making sure that courts are open to decide important questions about people’s rights,” Mayor said, according to Michigan Public.

RELATED: 16 noncitizens apparently voted in Michigan in 2024 — and liberals are cheering about it

Michael Whatley and President-elect Donald Trump meet in Arizona in December 2024.Photo by Rebecca Noble/Getty Images

Flint is not the only heavily Democratic city in Michigan to be sued for failing to hire enough Republican election inspectors. In August, the RNC sued Detroit on similar grounds.

At that point, only 335 of the more than 500 precincts in Detroit had provided legally required information about polling workers. Of those 335, at least 202 “did not have any Republican election inspectors,” the lawsuit said, even though the Detroit clerk had received in May a list of nearly 700 Republicans willing to serve.

Though the city had hired at least 250 Republicans, those supposed Republicans were not nominated by the party.

Detroit settled that lawsuit just before the 2024 general election, agreeing to adjust “processes and protocols” to accord with state law.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Michigan, Flint, Polling workers, Michigan gop, Republican national committee, Rnc, Aclu, Michael whatley, Rod d. martin, Politics 

Just like BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey, founder of Live Action Lila Rose is a fierce pro-life advocate.

However, while they agree on social issues that concern morality, when it comes to their perspectives on faith, they differ slightly.

“Something that I hear a lot,” says Stuckey, “is that the church has always been so clear on this … and Protestantism has given way to division. And the Catholic Church is unified, but Protestantism, the fruit of it is this dissension and all of these denominations.”

“And yet when you look at, statistically, what professing Catholics say they believe and what professing Protestants say they believe, it seems to me, if we are to believe a Pew research or something like that, that Protestants, when it comes to things like abortion, when it comes to things like homosexuality, statistically we’re a lot more united on ‘This is what the Bible says,’” she continues.

Meanwhile, Stuckey says that according to these Pew Research studies, 68% of Catholics “say that they’re pro-choice” and 70% of Catholics believe that “non-Christians can go to heaven.”

“So my question is if the Catholic Church is a bastion of unity, why are professing Catholics so disunified when it comes to these really big moral, theological issues?” she asks Rose.

“These words might mean even different things to people, and might be lending some of the confusion,” Rose responds, noting that the Catholics who view missing weekly mass as a mortal sin will be a different story.

“They’re going to be pretty pro-life and pretty down the line, largely speaking, on sexual ethics,” she says. “There’s still going to be confusion even on contraception and IVF, things of this nature.”

“But I think that cohort, they’re doing the weekly gathering as God has commanded of worship, of the Mass, right? So I think it would depend on the groups we’re comparing, quite frankly, because I do know the idea of ‘I’m a believer, I’m a Christian, or I’m an evangelical’ can be very watered down, here in the United States and globally in terms of what that means with morality,” she adds.

Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?

To enjoy more of Allie’s upbeat and in-depth coverage of culture, news, and theology from a Christian, conservative perspective, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Video, Camera phone, Sharing, Free, Upload, Video phone, Youtube.com, Relatable with allie beth stuckey, Relatable, Allie beth stuckey, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Lila rose, Catholicism, Catholics, Protestants, Christians 

Senate Democrats are preparing to grill Mike Waltz during his Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is set to question Mike Waltz, a former Trump adviser and prospective U.N. ambassador.

‘Mike’s used to taking incoming fire.’

Waltz, who was ousted from the National Security adviser role in May following what has been called “Signalgate,” is set to face the public for the first time concerning his involvement in the scandal. Signalgate allegedly involved a private message chain with Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Mike Waltz, and others discussing war plans.

Mike Waltz took the fall when it was revealed that Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor in chief of the Atlantic, was added to the chain.

RELATED: Mike Waltz’s fate uncertain following supposedly accidental war plan leak: ‘Don’t give the mob what it wants’

Photo by Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images

“This will be a chance for senators to question the former national security adviser and nominee to be U.N. ambassador, which has historically been a significant foreign policy post,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), who sits on the committee, told USA TODAY in anticipation of today’s hearing.

The U.S. ambassador seat for the United Nations has been largely vacant during the second Trump administration. Filling the seat was further frustrated when Trump withdrew his nomination for Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) at the end of March.

“He’ll be fine. Mike won’t have any issues,” Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla) told the Independent. “I mean, the Democrats are gonna do their thing. Whatever. Mike’s used to taking incoming fire.”

Waltz, a former Republican congressman from Florida, needs a majority vote to be confirmed in the 53-47 Republican-controlled Senate.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Politics, News, Mike waltz, Trump, Signalgate, United nations, Senate democrats, Confirmation hearing 

President Trump signed an executive order in March designating English to be the official language of the United States.

In it, he declared that it is long past time to do so to create a cohesive society and push immigrants into adopting American culture and joining the American tradition.

Now, the Department of Justice is following through on the order and making sweeping changes to the federal government — and its services — to make the aggravating experience of dealing with government agencies a lot simpler.

‘You shouldn’t have to press 1 for English when calling a federal agency.’

As part of new guidance, the DOJ said it was in Americans’ best interest for the federal government to have one official language: English.

It said the new policy would streamline federal processes, including forms, notices, websites, and advisories, to make them consistently clear and cost-effective. The guidance also said federal agencies will need to determine which of their programs, grants, and policies might better serve the public if they operated exclusively in English.

This effectively means that wherever possible, federal agencies will be providing services only in English.

The Justice Department is also looking to eliminate initiatives from a Clinton-era executive order which introduced limited English proficiency programs.

RELATED: ‘Despicable’: DHS unloads on left-leaning outlet for suggesting illegal alien pedophiles had a ‘cultural misunderstanding’

The Trump administration said that LEPs often prioritized “multilingualism over English proficiency among new Americans” and “could impede assimilation and strain resources.”

Therefore, the government is suspending operations of the LEP.gov website and will stop any letters, videos, or other training materials from being produced. These are likely to be replaced with new ones that reflect Trump’s executive order.

Not only that, but all LEP guidance will be rescinded regarding the idea of “national origin discrimination affecting limited English proficient persons,” which was referenced in Clinton’s executive order.

“As President Trump has made clear, English is the official language of the United States,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a press release.

She added, “The Department of Justice will lead the effort to codify the president’s executive order and eliminate wasteful virtue-signaling policies across government agencies to promote assimilation over division.”

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said in the press release that the DOJ plans to “respect linguistic diversity” but that federal resources will “prioritize English proficiency to empower new Americans and strengthen civic unity.”

RELATED: Democrats find loophole that could continue birthright citizenship for illegal aliens

— (@)

Representative Mary Miller (R-Ill.) boiled the new guidance down to a simple issue: “You shouldn’t have to press 1 for English when calling a federal agency.”

Miller wrote on X, “This is America, English should be the default. Learn it!”

The DOJ left room for the idea that some federal agencies could deem it “mission critical” to have some second-language services. If that were the case, they would need to include a “clear note that English is the official language and authoritative version of all federal information.”

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​News, Doj, Department of justice, Bilingual, Spanish, English speaking, English language, Politics 

Federal law enforcement officers executed immigration raids on Thursday at a pair of state-licensed marijuana facilities operated in Camarillo and Carpinteria, California, by Glass House Farms — a company run by a donor both to Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and to Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.).

Among the 361 illegal aliens arrested at the two sites were a number of dangerous criminal noncitizens, including Roman Izquierdo, a Mexican convicted of kidnapping, attempted rape, and attempted child molestation; Juan Duarte-Valasquez, a Mexican convicted of rape and DUI; and Jose Orellana, an illegal alien from El Salvador convicted of DUI and a hit-and-run with property damage.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, agents rescued at least 14 migrant children during the raids from “potential exploitation, forced labor, and human trafficking.”

While saving children and capturing foreign rapists, federal agents were savagely attacked by a mob of radicals who learned of the raids and apparently sought to obstruct the immigration enforcement actions. Among those who came out in opposition of law enforcement was Carbajal.

In addition to faulting Carbajal for apparently joining the ranks of the rioters, the DHS has accused the Democratic congressman of doxxing an ICE employee who was later injured by the mob.

“During the enforcement operation in Carpinteria, California, Rep. Carbajal spoke to an ICE Public Affairs Specialist, who gave the congressman his business card,” the DHS said in a statement. “The congressman then showed the ICE employee’s business card to the mob, making a target out of him. The employee was subsequently attacked, with lacerations to his left hand due to a rock being thrown at him. The employee had to go to the emergency room and get stitches for his injury.”

RELATED: Nonprofits aided the invasion — now they obstruct deportation

Department of Homeland Security

Carbajal later characterized the riot at the marijuana facility — which prompted the use of tear gas and smoke bombs by federal authorities — as “peaceful” protests and claimed that the federal agents attacked by the mob “were creating fear, anxiety, and intimidation” and “an untenable incendiary circumstance where they could have got members of the public and themselves hurt.”

— (@)

In an interview with the Santa Barbara Independent, Carbajal once again named the ICE agent he spoke to, admitted to repeatedly trying to break through the ICE perimeter, and accused ICE of “violating the rights of U.S. citizens,” adding, “If you’re brown, you’re going to have your civil rights violated.”

‘No one is above the law, and members of Congress are no exception.’

Carbajal stressed that “we need people to protest.”

ICE blasted the Democratic congressman for downplaying the violence of the rioters and painting federal officers as villains, stating, “THIS is precisely the rhetoric that has led to orchestrated attempts to murder officers and a 700% increase in officer assaults.”

RELATED: July shows strong signs of a coming and violent Democratic implosion

Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call Inc. via Getty Images

“May the congressman’s constituency always remember he chooses violence over the rule of law,” added ICE.

“The actions by Representative Carbajal are downright un-American,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “He dares to claim that his actions were simply congressional oversight, but doxxing ICE personnel and inciting a mob of rioters to attack law enforcement is NOT oversight — it’s abominable.”

Carbajal stated on Monday, “ICE’s claims of ‘doxxing’ and ‘violent mobs’ are attempts to deflect attention from their unjust tactics, distort the facts to support misleading narratives, and avoid accountability for their aggressive actions that caused injuries and left our community traumatized.”

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche indicated that the Department of Justice takes all allegations of inciting violence and doxxing of federal employees seriously, underscoring that “no one is above the law, and members of Congress are no exception.”

“We are reviewing reports from the protest,” said Blanche. “If substantiated, we will pursue every appropriate legal avenue to protect our law enforcement officers and uphold the rule of law.”

Blaze News has reached out to the DHS and to Carbajal for additional comment.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Us immigration and customs enforcement, Ice, Immigration, Salud carbajal, Illegal aliens, Illegal immigrants, Migrant, Marijuana, California, Leftism, Radicalism, Politics 

There has long been controversy over the provision of student visas to Chinese nationals, around 277,000 of whom studied in the U.S. last year.

For starters, this army of military-age individuals hails from an adversarial communist nation that has in recent years targeted the U.S. with cyber attacks, intimidation and coercion campaigns, deadly fentanyl, election interference, and threats.

Victims were allegedly instructed to tell inquiring bank tellers that ‘home remodeling’ was the reason for their massive bank withdrawals

In apparent service of China’s goal of displacing the U.S. and becoming the global hegemon by 2049, Chinese students have also reportedly engaged in espionage, spy recruitment, bio-material smuggling, and intellectual theft on college campuses, which the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party has emphasized constitute “soft targets.”

It turns out some Chinese students may not be here to give Beijing a competitive edge but rather to rip off elderly Americans.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced on Friday that eight Chinese nationals who secured student visas to attend college in America were indicted by a federal grand jury for conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

According to the indictment, the defendants — whose ages range from 24 to 35 and who were stationed in California, Florida, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania — allegedly kicked off a wide-scale computer “pop-up” scam targeting elderly Americans, falsely claiming that their computers or bank accounts had been compromised.

RELATED: Vindicated? Patel’s FBI uncovers apparent Chinese communist plot to rig 2020 mail-in vote for Biden

HUNG CHIN LIU via iStock / Getty Images

The “pop-up” would provide victims with a phone number to call. When the number was called, members of the conspiracy would allegedly inform victims they needed to move money out of their banks accounts in the interest of security. In some cases, victims were allegedly instructed to tell inquiring bank tellers that “home remodeling” was the reason for their massive bank withdrawals.

Chinese nationals involved in the conspiracy allegedly traveled to victims’ homes disguised as federal law enforcement officers, then hustled large amounts of cash on the false pretense that the money would be protected.

The alleged fraudsters are believed to have defrauded over 50 victims across 19 states of over $10 million between August 2023 and late February 2024.

Conspiracy to commit wire fraud could land the supposed students up to 20 years in prison.

‘Schemes like these cause significant emotional and financial harm to elderly victims across the country.’

“As outlined in the indictment, this criminal enterprise not only exploited elderly victims but did so by impersonating federal law enforcement — an egregious abuse of trust,” Wayne Jacobs, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Field Office, said in a statement.

“We urge older Americans and their families to remain alert to these kinds of scams,” continued Jacobs. “The FBI will never ask for money or payment of any kind.”

The Federal Trade Commission underscored that legitimate tech companies “won’t contact you by phone, email, or text message to tell you there’s a problem with your computer,” and “security pop-up warnings from real tech companies will never ask you to call a phone number or click on a link.”

“These indictments highlight the relentless efforts of Homeland Security Investigations to safeguard our elderly population from complex fraud operations,” said Special Agent in Charge Edward Owens of Homeland Security Investigations Philadelphia. “Schemes like these cause significant emotional and financial harm to elderly victims across the country.”

John Gurganus, acting U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, declined to comment when asked whether there was cause to suspect the scheme was state-backed and whether the DOJ believes similar conspiracies executed by foreign nationals on student visas were underway.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on May 28 — just weeks after a bombshell report about Chinese spies at Stanford University — that the State Department would work with the Department of Homeland Security to “aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields.”

President Donald Trump revealed two weeks later that the U.S. was dropping its plans to revoke Chinese student visas in exchange for the communist nation continuing the supply of necessary rare-earth minerals.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​China, Chinese, Student visas, Visas, Beijing, Scam, Fraud, Department of justice, Doj, Arrests, Indictment, Pop up, Politics 

It shouldn’t have to be said, but here we are: No, it is not normal for federal employees — whether career staff, political appointees, or otherwise — to defy the direction of the president of the United States.

It doesn’t matter which party is in power. It doesn’t matter if you disagree with the president on a certain policy. Short of a murderous dictatorship or truly Constitution-threatening administration (and regardless of what they say on Bluesky, this isn’t that), the powers of the executive branch are vested in a president. All federal employees work for the president and have a duty to the American people to see their will enacted through each new administration.

Those who are fearful of losing their coveted and protected government jobs are gnashing their teeth at the sight of real accountability.

You wouldn’t know it, however, watching the second Trump administration.

Amid the streamlining of the federal government, many federal employees have taken aim at Trump’s policies mandated by the American people. Some may actually be motivated by their understanding of the Constitution or their love of country. But given the years of malfeasance in the Beltway, few deserve the benefit of the doubt.

Most are federal employees looking to save their comfortable jobs and pampered skin. These employees are so entrenched that they believe they are entitled to their jobs on the taxpayers’ dime — with one recently going as far as to claim that the Trump administration shows “disrespect” to federal employees.

Entitlement runs deep

Their resistance goes beyond Trump-era deregulation. Many of these same employees continue to complain about returning to the office after COVID-era stay-at-home orders — something the private sector largely resumed years ago. They claim that going back to their federal workplace is an “arbitrary punishment.”

Worse, the corporate left-wing media is attempting to spin the lack of resources at these bloated offices on the Trump administration, as if the previous president hadn’t allowed wanton remote work.

At the center of this bureaucratic backlash is President Trump’s push to reinstate Schedule F — a policy that would reclassify certain federal employees to make them more accountable to the executive by placing them more directly under the president’s purview.

Naturally, the federal employees ringing alarm bells about this policy are the same ones who want to retain the litany of job protections not afforded to people in the private sector. Redesignating certain staff as Schedule F employees ensures that those working in the government aren’t phoning it in and collecting a paycheck for decades on end.

RELATED: When bureaucrats rule, even red states go woke

cmannphoto via iStock/Getty Images

This isn’t a new problem. Both Trump administrations have faced internal resistance from the civil service. But so did the Biden administration. Though Joe Biden didn’t see nearly as much resistance as Trump, the scenarios were just as egregious.

Arguably the most high-profile issue that spurred federal workers to buck Biden was Israel’s war against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas after the deadly anti-Semitic attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023. Some federal employees didn’t just protest the Biden administration’s stance on Israel’s war outside the White House; they staged a walkout in support of the war-fighting Islamic terrorists who hate America. A U.S. airman even immolated himself in protest.

These instances underscore a significant problem facing the federal government: federal employees who believe themselves both above the policies of the presidents they serve and more knowledgeable than the American people who decide our leadership.

It doesn’t matter which party or president is in power — those who are fearful of losing their coveted and protected government jobs are gnashing their teeth at the sight of real accountability.

When bureaucrats act like they’re above democratic accountability, they not only weaken presidential authority, but they also jeopardize the nation’s credibility on the world stage. In doing so, they erode the trust Americans place in their government.

While it’s imperative that federal workers speak out in the face of actual constitutional danger from any administration that seeks to upend our nation, the actions undertaken by federal employees in the current and previous administrations severely run the risk of the American people viewing all federal workers as boys and girls who cry wolf.

Perhaps some of these individual revolts are emotional reactions to perceived injustices or policy blunders. It’s tempting to see a pattern in their occurrences and the media lionization of the malcontents. But wisdom says never to attribute to malice what you can to incompetence.

​Opinion & analysis, Schedule f, Donald trump, Joe biden, Executive branch, Administrative state, Deep state, Bureaucracy, Firings, Layoffs, Reduction in force, Federal employees, Jobs, Civil service, Bluesky 

The flooding in West Texas has devastated the state, with over 100 reported dead and even more still missing.

As the devastation has swept across America, many skeptics have pointed the finger at cloud seeding, which creates rainfall by spraying small particles into clouds, usually made of silver iodide.

Rainmaker was operating in the area a few days before the floods, but CEO Augustus Doricko denies that cloud seeding could have had anything to do with it — and told Will Cain on “The Will Cain Show” that he’s simply stewarding creation.

“My intention is to serve God. I think that in Genesis 1:26-28 and then throughout the Psalms and the rest of the Bible, God tells us to take dominion over and steward creation both for our sake, creation’s itself, and then to honor Him,” Doricko told Cain.

“And so if there are droughts, and we have the tools to mitigate the damage done by them for our sake and for nature itself, then we should deploy those for the sake of tending to and stewarding the world. And if we weren’t to do that, if we were to ban cloud seeding wholesale despite knowing that it’s safe, despite knowing it could help alleviate these problems, we’d be abdicating our God-given responsibility to be stewards of the world,” he added.

BlazeTV host Steve Deace is unimpressed with Doricko’s beliefs.

“What was expressed in that clip in my view is that we can add to God’s recipe. All right? What things like dams and irrigation systems do is work within the confines of that recipe,” Deace says. “In this case, he is saying we can add to it. We can maybe even do it better than what is currently the way it is currently being done.”

“And that’s what I’m concerned about. It’s not necessarily the technology itself. It’s the people and the rationale for doing it,” he continues.

“What I heard there was hubris. ‘We can change the environment. We can do it better.’”

Want more from Steve Deace?

To enjoy more of Steve’s take on national politics, Christian worldview, and principled conservatism with a snarky twist, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Camera phone, Free, Sharing, Upload, Video, Video phone, Youtube.com, Steve deace show, Steve deace, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Cloud seeding, Rainmaker technologies, Gods will, West texas flooding, Texas floods, Kerr county floods 

Chip and Joanna Gaines are in hot water — not with the left, but with the same Christian conservative audience that made them household names. Why? Because their new reality show features a gay couple with two “adopted” children — portrayed in the warm, country-home aesthetic that defines the Gaines brand. They pronounce that this is family time well spent.

When backlash inevitably began, Chip Gaines took to social media to cool things down. His message varied from urging critics to “listen” and “learn” to censuring fellow Christians for “judg[ing] 1st, understand later/never,” lamenting how Christians are simply purveyors of “hate and vitriol.” Ultimately, he finally settled on being a victim.

Chip Gaines laments on social media that Christians are quick to judge and slow to listen — then immediately judges them as mean-spirited.

While the full social media drama is still unfolding, one thing Gaines notably did not say was, “I share your view on marriage and agree that normalizing a gay couple as a moral and healthy family structure is a problem.” Instead, he criticized Christians for being “hateful,” boiling the Christian life down to one oversimplified command: “Don’t judge.”

Ah yes, that verse — the favorite verse of every smug libertine who treats quoting Matthew 7:1 as a theological mic drop.

“Don’t judge,” they proclaim, believing they’ve just checkmated their Christian sparring partner. But whenever someone pulls that verse out of his back pocket, it’s rarely after a rigorous exegesis. Usually, he’s just dodging a moral reckoning.

Framing is never neutral

The issue here isn’t simply the presence of a gay couple on a TV show. It’s the framing — a term woke professors love, so let’s indulge them.

If it truly isn’t a big deal, Chip, then why intentionally feature a gay couple at all? Reality TV isn’t a livestream of raw America; it’s carefully scripted and edited to send a particular message. In this case, the message isn’t neutral. It deliberately normalizes a version of family life where two men can “have” children and live as if their union mirrors traditional marriage.

But it doesn’t. And it can’t.

The liberal academics at a university like Baylor — which, not coincidentally, recently passed on a major LGBTQ+ grant after it got exposed in the press — will ask, “What’s wrong with visibility? We can’t pretend gay couples don’t exist.” But no one is pretending that. The real question is whether we must affirm, celebrate, and gloss over the serious consequences of a lifestyle in the name of diversity and inclusion.

LGBTQ advocates’ double standard

At the heart of the matter is the glaring contradiction in the LGBTQ worldview: the idea that nothing in nature is normative. LGBTQ advocates argue explicitly that just because every human is born from a male-female union doesn’t mean society must follow this model. Yet in the next breath, they assert that their own sexual attractions are natural and thus morally compelling.

RELATED: Baptist college rescinds LGBTQIA+ grant after backlash; calls it inconsistent with views on human sexuality

Dani VG via iStock/Getty Images

So nature is normative — when it suits their desires. But when nature reveals the fundamental design of human reproduction and family structure — one man, one woman, and children from that union — they claim it’s irrelevant..

You can’t have it both ways. Either nature reveals something about how we ought to live, or it doesn’t. This inconsistency shows that the LGBTQ worldview isn’t a coherent moral philosophy. It boils down to the hedonistic mantra: “Do what thou wilt.”

The inner libertarian in all of us may be tempted to say, “Do what you want. It’s your life. You’ll live with the consequences.” But the moment you demand that society join your moral hallucination — to smile, applaud, and redefine reality — the stakes change.

And when children become involved, the stakes rise exponentially.

Commodifying children

Consider these children. We’re told they’re “just like any other family.” But are they? Were they adopted as orphans in need of care, or were they purchased, intentionally separated from their biological mother so that two men could simulate parenthood?

That’s what is being asked of us — not just acceptance of two men in love, but approval of a system where human beings become commodities, accessories for adults who want to “play family.” This moral sleight of hand rebrands child commodification as compassionate parenting. Ironically, the old-timely leftist professor would easily get three protests and a sit-in scheduled over this commercialization of human trafficking.

The kicker is that we can diagnose the problem without even cracking open a Bible. We don’t need to quote Romans 1 or Genesis 2 (though we should) to recognize that something is deeply wrong when society demands that we pretend children can have two dads and no mom, that what these men do to each other’s bodies is love, and that this is equal to God’s intended design.

Judgment is unavoidable

Christians voicing concern are told, “Don’t judge.” But judgment is unavoidable. The moment you choose which stories to tell, which couples to feature, and how to portray them, you’re making a judgment.

The real question is: Whose judgment are you endorsing?

Chip Gaines laments on social media that Christians are quick to judge and slow to listen — then immediately judges them as mean-spirited. But Jesus never said, “Don’t judge, period.” He instructed, “Judge rightly.” That requires discernment, courage, and a moral compass rooted in something deeper than social media applause.

Regardless of how this particular show unfolds, American Christians don’t have to indulge another person’s immorality or rebellion against nature and God. It’s the story of people exchanging the truth of God for a lie — and demanding that everyone else smile while they do it.

We’re not going to smile any more. And we’re certainly not going to pretend.

​Opinion & analysis, Chip gaines, Joanna gaines, Marriage, Family, Gay marriage, Gay adoption, Reality tv, Gospel, Judgment, Jesus, Christians, Lgbtq agenda christianity, Matthew, Advocates, Do what thou wilt, Romans, Genesis, Bigotry, Hypocrisy 

Shallow, performative politicians are the norm, but there’s a new wave of conservative leadership — embodied best by Vice President JD Vance — that does it for the love of the country rather than the money or accolades associated with it.

“When we’re constantly trying to be held captive by ideology, it would be prudence, which would be practical judgment, and I think JD Vance embodies that incredibly well,” Turning Point USA CEO Charlie Kirk tells BlazeTV host and Blaze Media editor in chief Matthew Peterson on “Blaze News: The Mandate.”

“When you’re in elected office, you have to be prisoner to the party dogma and the political expectations of the time. For example, when President Trump entered into the political space 10 years ago,” he continues, “you would never be able to talk about a border wall, let alone mass deportations.”

“So, a true statesman is able to identify the problems and then, with the proper amount of moral courage and with precision, rhetorically be able to address these things and then move the Overton window,” he adds.

This is what separates the likes of Trump and Vance from the rest of the Republican Party, as they are “unafraid to challenge their own political dogma if it’s actually benefiting the nation or the body politic.”

And while many RINO politicians only take action for the optics, statesmen like Vance do it out of real concern for the country and the people — and young people are among those making the difference.

“I feel as if a lot of these younger people are much more in tune with statesmanship in the sense that they actually want to make the country better, and they don’t care about the old prestige structure,” Peterson tells Kirk.

“If you’re young and you want to get involved in politics or being a statesmen, that means that you are likely forsaking making more money and more wealth in another field,” Kirk says. “The high-IQ, high-driven, virtuous people are now saying, ‘You know, okay, fine. I could go make $200 million at Goldman Sachs, but that’s not deep. That’s not fulfilling. Instead, I would rather go be a statesman.’”

“These are people that could go make a ton of money elsewhere, which means that just monetary gain is not the most important. It’s not the driving factor or motivator of so many in this generation,” he continues.

“Imagine if all of a sudden the people that have a capacity and the wherewithal dedicated itself towards a national revival,” he adds.

Want more from ‘Blaze News | The Mandate’?

To enjoy more provocative opinions, expert analysis, and breaking stories you won’t see anywhere else, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Free, Sharing, Video, Camera phone, Video phone, Upload, Youtube.com, Blaze news the mandate, Blaze news tonight, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Blazetv, Charlie kirk, Matthew peterson, President trump, Jd vance, Rinos, Republicans, Republican party, Maga, Statesmen, Statesman 

In yet another low point for Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D), she marched into the drug-ridden chaos of MacArthur Park — press corps in tow — to join a protest last week against federal immigration enforcement. She demanded that agents leave the area immediately. The stunt accomplished nothing beyond generating a photo op and pushing the false narrative that Bass stood for her city’s “honor.”

In reality, her appearance exposed a familiar truth: Sanctuary city mayors like Bass offer no real solutions to the crises they helped create. Worse, they routinely display ignorance of how federalism actually works.

The 2024 election was a clear rebuke of sanctuary city policies and the broader anti-borders agenda that Bass represents.

The Supremacy Clause — Article VI, Clause 2 of the Constitution — makes clear that federal law overrides state and local laws when they conflict. Immigration policy, long upheld by the courts as a federal responsibility, lies squarely within Washington’s authority. In Arizona v. United States (2012), the Supreme Court reaffirmed that states and localities cannot pursue policies that obstruct federal immigration enforcement.

By declaring Los Angeles a sanctuary city and demanding that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents stand down, Bass didn’t just express a policy preference. She tried to seize power that the Constitution explicitly grants to the federal government.

This isn’t a symbolic squabble. Immigration enforcement involves national security, public safety, and international diplomacy. Local governments lack both the authority and the expertise to handle these matters on their own.

Sanctuary cities in crisis

The leftist mayor’s public campaign against ICE is especially galling considering that the agency’s presence in Los Angeles stems directly from the city’s sanctuary policies. For years, Los Angeles has limited cooperation with federal immigration authorities, refusing to honor ICE detainers and withholding information when illegal aliens are released from custody.

Bass and her predecessors created the very conditions that now require federal intervention. Far from “overstepping” in L.A., ICE is responding to a city government that harbors people who violate federal immigration law, including those with serious criminal records.

RELATED: Karen Bass says LA anti-ICE riots ‘never happened’ as the media reported them

Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

The consequences of sanctuary policies have been devastating. Los Angeles, once a beacon of prosperity and opportunity, is struggling with high crime rates, strained public services, and a ballooning budget deficit.

According to the Los Angeles Police Department, violent crime in the city increased by 11.6% from 2020 to 2022, with homicides spiking to levels not seen in over a decade. The city’s homeless population, which includes a significant number of illegal aliens, has surged to more than 75,000, overwhelming shelters and defiling public spaces.

Sanctuary policies worsen the crisis by cutting off cooperation with federal immigration authorities, giving criminal elements more room to operate unchecked. The burden on public resources grows heavier by the day. Los Angeles expects a $400 million budget shortfall in 2025, yet city leaders continue pouring funds into programs for illegal aliens, including legal aid and housing. These decisions reflect an ideological agenda that leaves taxpaying citizens footing the bill for rising crime and collapsing public services.

Bass’ posture isn’t just another act of left-wing defiance. It’s a warning sign of a national policy failure. Cities like San Francisco, Chicago, and New York have followed the same sanctuary script, and the results are as predictable as they are destructive: higher crime, strained infrastructure, and a public rapidly losing faith in its leaders.

In New York City, for instance, the influx of immigrants has pushed the city to the brink, with Mayor Eric Adams admitting in 2023 that the crisis could “destroy” the city. New York is no outlier. It is what happens when a city abandons order for lawlessness.

Enough is enough

Americans have had enough. The 2024 presidential election was a clear rebuke of sanctuary city policies and the broader anti-borders agenda that Bass represents. The L.A. mayor’s defiance of ICE is not just a legal overreach; it is a rejection of the democratic will of the American people, who have made it clear that they want safe streets, secure borders, and accountable leaders.

Instead of confronting the crime, homelessness, and fiscal crises fueled by her city’s policies, Bass chose to cling to a failed ideology. Her call for ICE to leave is not a defense of compassion but a surrender to anarchy. Americans deserve leaders who respect the Constitution rather than cling to a discredited sanctuary city experiment.

​Opinion & analysis, Illegal immigration, Immigration and customs enforcement, Ice raids, Macarthur park ice operation, Los angeles, Karen bass, Crime, Sanctuary cities, 2024 presidential election, Mass deportations, Resistance, Constitution, Law enforcement, Law and order, Anarchy 

California police are investigating a gruesome discovery made by a homeless person near a dumpster on Saturday morning in the Panorama City neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Officers responded to a call regarding a dead body at about 7 a.m. at an address on the 8200 block of Van Nuys Boulevard. They said the body appeared to be that of a 3-to-5-year-old boy, according to an LAPD spokesperson.

‘I don’t know the cause of death of this individual. … But no one deserves to be handled in this manner.’

Police did not indicate in what condition the body was found but said the death was suspicious.

“This is horrific, and it impacts every single one of us that comes to these scenes, everyone at home who hears about these scenes,” LAPD Det. Meghan Aguilar said to KABC-TV.

“We’ve got mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, anyone — you don’t have to be one of those to know how horrific this is,” she added. “I don’t know the cause of death of this individual. Again, that will be up to the coroner to determine. But no one deserves to be handled in this manner.”

RELATED: Homeless woman left to die inside impounded vehicle after getting injured by drunk driver, lawsuit says

Police said they are interviewing witnesses from the area and looking for footage captured by nearby surveillance cameras.

The county coroner will determine the cause of death for the family.

“To be left out and discovered by a stranger is absolutely horrible, and the detectives on this case are from our Abused Child Unit,” Aguilar continued. “This is all they deal with, and they are passionate about that, and I have no doubt that they will identify and hold the person responsible for this.”

Residents of the neighborhood set up a small memorial of candles and stuffed animals for the boy, in the hope that justice will be served.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Homeless man finds body, Child death panorama city, Lapd toddler death, Crime, Los angeles toddler death 

President Donald Trump’s return to office marked the beginning of the end of the Biden-Harris border crisis. On day one, Trump took swift action to shut down the lawless pipeline that brought millions of illegal aliens into the country over the past four years.

But the federal government didn’t act alone. It relied on help — and that help came from well-funded nonprofit organizations.

Congress needs to look into whether these nonprofit organizations, directly or indirectly, are supporting people who interfere with federal law enforcement.

Non-governmental organizations played a critical role in sustaining the chaos. Groups like Catholic Charities, operating along the southern border, became de facto partners of the Biden administration. They served as the first stop for migrants after release from Border Patrol custody — offering shelter, services, and a pathway deeper into the United States.

These NGOs gave the White House political cover. By absorbing migrant overflow, they helped reduce the bad optics of people sleeping on sidewalks outside overwhelmed facilities. Even so, mass overcrowding forced thousands into the streets anyway, including during freezing winter months.

Taxpayer-funded, these groups didn’t just serve border towns. They helped migrants reach destinations across the country, arranging transportation and long-term support — despite the migrants’ unresolved legal status. Similar NGOs operated throughout the U.S. interior, extending the federal handoff.

Worse, many of these same organizations operate beyond our borders, guiding migrants along the journey north. From Central America through cartel-controlled regions of Mexico, these so-called humanitarian groups provided aid and logistical support — all while collecting public funds. That support only increased the flow.

In 2023, a shelter director in El Paso told me that around 80% of the women who came through the shelter doors had been raped, sometimes in front of their children. The brutal reality: What NGOs call “help” often exposes vulnerable people to predation, trauma, and lifelong damage. Yes, they reached the United States — but at horrific cost.

RELATED: The corrupt NGOs behind America’s border crisis and their big paydays

FG Trade via Getty Images

On Wednesday, I will testify before the House Homeland Security Committee on this very issue. Congress must act to ensure that taxpayer dollars can never again fund the infrastructure of illegal immigration. Using public funds to support border anarchy is not just bad policy — it’s a betrayal of the American people.

This four-year catastrophe helped spark the unrest now roiling sanctuary cities. Americans elected President Trump to clean it up and to begin the work of mass deportation. They want the damage undone.

Yet these NGOs haven’t disappeared. They’ve shown up at recent protests and riots in Los Angeles County. During a recent federal operation in the El Centro Sector in California, four people were arrested after allegedly placing homemade spikes on the road to disable Border Patrol vehicles. One carried a bag branded with the logo of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles.

Congress needs to look into whether these organizations, directly or indirectly, are supporting people who interfere with federal law enforcement.

The Biden-Harris administration opened the border. NGOs kept it open. And now the country is paying the price. Accountability must come next.

​Opinion & analysis, Opinion, Border crisis, Border, Border patrol, Border security, Border crossings, Ngo, Ngos help illegals, Illegal immigration, Immigration and customs enforcement, Ice raids, Congress, Funding, Investigation 

After the Department of Government Efficiency found rampant waste, fraud, and corruption in the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Trump administration fired nearly all of its 10,000 employees as part of a broader effort to dismantle the agency and transfer its functions to the State Department.

“Let me just remind you, USAID was a CIA front,” says Glenn Beck. “This is the group of people that started color revolutions all over the world, which is how to topple a nation.”

Now, a recent story has suggested that some of these former employees may be planning to use their color revolution tactics to undermine President Trump’s power and plot regime change.

“Some of the democracy-building experts President Donald Trump fired this year from the U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department are now reapplying the skills and knowledge they built up over decades to undermine Trump’s power,” Glenn’s co-host Stu Burguiere reads from a NOTUS article.

The piece goes on to quote a currently employed, anonymous federal official: “Take it from those of us who worked in authoritarian countries. We’ve become one. They were so quick to disband AID, the group that supposedly instigates color revolutions. But they’ve done a very foolish thing. You just released a bunch of well-trained individuals into your population. If you kept our offices going and had us play solitaire in the offices, it might have been safer to keep your regime.”

“What they’re saying here is that they are plotting regime change in our own country,” Glenn translates.

And this isn’t just a broad idea. These usurpers have intricate plans that are already in motion.

Former USAID employees “are holding workshops on a tactic called non-cooperation. They’re building a network of government workers willing to engage in even minor acts of rebellion in the office. They’re planting the seeds of what they hope could become a nationwide general strike,” Stu continues reading from the article. “Some in the informal network of the Trump opponents are sharing an old CIA pamphlet with allies who still work in the government. It’s called simple sabotage.”

“You have Democrats that have been so convinced that USAID is going to starve people to death because [Trump] cut it, and now the ‘aid’ workers are quote unquote planning revolution,” scoffs Glenn.

But he’s not surprised. The left has branded itself as the party of violent uprisings. Glenn revisits three recent news stories that prove this.

To hear them, watch the clip above.

Want more from Glenn Beck?

To enjoy more of Glenn’s masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis, and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​The glenn beck program, Glenn beck, Usaid, Regime change, Color revolution, Blazetv, Blaze media 

Anti-Israel migrant Mahmoud Khalil accused the Trump administration of illegally targeting him for deportation in a $20 million lawsuit.

Khalil is accused by the administration of leading a violent anti-Israel protest when he was a student at Columbia University and violating the terms of his immigration visa. The case has become a proxy battle between the opponents of the mass deportations ordered by President Donald Trump and his supporters.

‘Khalil’s claim that DHS officials branded him as an anti-Semite and terrorized him and his family is absurd. It was Khalil who terrorized Jewish students on campus.’

“Mr. Khalil is seeking $20 million, which he would use to help others similarly targeted by the Trump administration and Columbia University,” reads a press release from the Center for Constitutional Rights. “He would accept, in lieu of payment, an official apology and abandonment of the administration’s unconstitutional policy.”

The CCR said the lawsuit was only the beginning.

“The claim is a precursor to a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration, which he will bring under the Federal Tort Claims Act, a 1946 federal statute that allows individuals to sue the U.S. government for damages for civil law violations,” the statement reads.

Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for Homeland Security, responded with her own fiery statement.

“Mahmoud Khalil’s claim that DHS officials branded him as an anti-Semite and terrorized him and his family is absurd. It was Khalil who terrorized Jewish students on campus. He ‘branded’ himself as anti-Semite through his own hateful behavior and rhetoric,” McLaughlin said.

“It is a privilege to be granted a visa or green card to live and study in the United States of America,” she added. “The Trump Administration acted well within its statutory and constitutional authority to detain Khalil, as it does with any alien who advocates for violence, glorifies and supports terrorists, harasses Jews, and damages property.”

RELATED: Piers Morgan issues devastating argument on detention of pro-Hamas migrant Mahmoud Khalil

Khalil’s defenders have accused the government of viewpoint discrimination in violation of his free speech rights, but others point out that people on visas don’t have the same rights as citizens in the U.S.

In a statement with the lawsuit announcement, Khalil claimed that he missed the birth of his first child because he had been detained by the Trump administration.

“This is the first step towards accountability. Nothing can restore the 104 days stolen from me. The trauma, the separation from my wife, the birth of my first child that I was forced to miss,” he wrote. “But let’s be clear, the same government that targeted me for speaking out is using taxpayer dollars to fund Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.”

After winning his freedom in one court case, Khalil almost immediately returned to a protest against Israel.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Dhs vs mahmoud khalil, Mahmoud khalil deportation, Khalil sues trump admin, Free speech lawsuit, Politics 

While just a few days ago the Trump administration told Americans that the case was closed on the Epstein investigation, a newly released FOIA request by Judicial Watch shows that the DOJ and FBI are still investigating Jeffrey Epstein.

“Is this a play? Is the DOJ still investigating Jeffrey Epstein, and maybe this is why they’re making the decisions that they are?” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales speculates, noting that as far back as February 2025, Judicial Watch filed three separate FOIA requests for records depicting the identities of clients or associates of Epstein.

Judicial Watch sued the Justice Department and FBI in April 2025 after they failed to respond all three times. Their delayed response came on July 7, and they claimed that “the FBI’s search efforts are ongoing.”

Gonzales is skeptical.

“It’s like, okay, did you guys have a bunch of documents deleted that you’re still looking for? Because if that’s the case, can you just tell us?” she says, to which BlazeTV contributor Jaco Booyens responds with his own theory.

“The CIA is who’s being protected here. The whole Epstein operation from the get-go is a CIA op — from Robert Maxwell to Ghislaine Maxwell. Jeffrey was a target. Robert handled Jeffrey. Robert gets killed on his yacht, gets thrown overboard. This is a CIA op,” Booyens tells Gonzales.

“With the breadth of information, of national intelligence, of people involved that they will never, never release,” he continues.

Booyens, who has been fighting human trafficking through Jaco Booyens Ministries, is well aware that Epstein’s conviction as a human trafficker means “he sold people to people for sex.”

“So to tell me,” he continues, “as a 31-year veteran expert in this, that Epstein and Maxwell had no clients is dead on its face.”

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.

​Video, Camera phone, Sharing, Free, Upload, Video phone, Youtube.com, Sara gonzales unfiltered, Sara gonzales, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Jeffrey epstein, Ghislaine maxwell, Robert maxwell, Jaco booyens, Human trafficking, Foia request, Jaco booyens ministries 

A former Israeli prime minister released a statement addressing suspicions that Jeffrey Epstein was a part of an Israeli “blackmail ring” to compromise powerful figures.

Businessman Naftali Bennett served as prime minister in Israel from 2021 to 2022 and forcefully rejected a conspiracy theory pushed by some that Israel was behind the Epstein trafficking ring.

‘There’s a vicious wave of slander and lies against my country and my people, and we just won’t take it anymore.’

“As a former Israeli Prime Minister, with the Mossad having reported directly to me, I say to you with 100% certainty: The accusation that Jeffrey Epstein somehow worked for Israel or the Mossad running a blackmail ring is categorically and totally false,” he wrote on social media.

Bennett went on to say Epstein’s criminal conduct had nothing to do with the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, or with the state of Israel.

“This accusation is a lie being peddled by prominent online personalities such as Tucker Carlson pretending they know things they don’t. They just make things up, say it with confidence and these lies stick, because it’s Israel,” he continued.

“There’s a vicious wave of slander and lies against my country and my people, and we just won’t take it anymore,” Bennett concluded.

RELATED: Kash Patel, Dan Bongino say Jeffrey Epstein DID commit suicide: ‘I’ve seen the whole file’

Bennett was responding to comments made by Carlson in his speech at the Turning Point USA summit in Tampa, Florida. He claimed that Epstein was working for the Israeli government when he ran an underage sex trafficking ring.

“I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t think that. I don’t know any of them that hate Israel. But no one feels they can say that,” Carlson said.

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump berated a reporter for asking him about the Epstein issue, which has divided many in the Trump camp and led to calls for resignation against U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.

“Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? This guy’s been talked about for years. … Are people still talking about this guy — this creep? That is unbelievable!” Trump said.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Naftali bennett, Bennett vs tucker carlson, Israel jeffrey epstein, Epstein maga debate, Politics 

Anthony Fauci was among the individuals with questionable track records who received controversial pardons just prior to former President Joe Biden leaving office.

Fauci, the fifth director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, specifically received a “full and unconditional” pass for possible federal crimes going back to Jan. 1, 2014 — around the time the Obama administration supposedly halted funding for dangerous gain-of-function research.

‘Dr. Fauci, as you are aware, it is a crime to lie to Congress.’

Molecular biologist Dr. Richard H. Ebright of Rutgers University, a leading critic of Fauci’s flirtations with gain-of-function research, previously provided Blaze News with insights into why Fauci might require an accountability shield, noting that he “violated federal policies on gain-of-function and enhanced potential pandemic pathogen research, committed conspiracy to defraud and perjury, used federal funds to commit crimes, and caused and covered up the cause of a pandemic that killed 20 million and cost $25 trillion.”

The Oversight Project revealed earlier this year that like the other pardons hastily dispensed before Biden left office, Fauci’s was signed with an automatic signature device. Unfortunately for Fauci, there is presently a great deal of uncertainty over the former president’s involvement with the autopen pardons and their legitimacy.

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul (R) announced on Monday that he was refiling his criminal referral of Fauci to the Department of Justice. Paul’s announcement follows the New York Times’ publication of Biden’s weak defense of his handlers’ use of the autopen along with insights into who was actually behind Fauci’s last-minute pardon.

“Perjury is a crime,” Paul said on X. “And Fauci must be held accountable.”

RELATED: Biden tried defending autopen use to the New York Times. He made it a whole lot worse.

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

During a Senate hearing in July 2021, Paul pressed Fauci about the National Institutes of Health funding research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the origins of the coronavirus.

“Dr. Fauci, as you are aware, it is a crime to lie to Congress,” Paul said.

“On your last trip to our committee on May 11 [2021], you stated that the NIH ‘has not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology.’ And yet, gain-of-function research was done entirely in the Wuhan Institute by Dr. Shi and was funded by the NIH,” he continued.

‘Senator Paul, you do not know what you are talking about, quite frankly.’

Paul’s smoking gun was a 2017 WIV paper on SARS-related coronaviruses that discussed gain-of-function work on coronaviruses and acknowledged funding from NIAID as well as from the United States Agency for International Development’s Predict program.

“Viruses that in nature only infect animals were manipulated in the Wuhan lab to gain the function of infecting humans,” said Paul. “This research fits the definition of the research that the NIH said was subject to the pause in 2014 to 2017 — a pause in funding on gain-of-function.”

When afforded an opportunity to retract his previous statement, Fauci instead dug in his heels, stating, “Senator Paul, I have never lied before the Congress, and I do not retract that statement,” adding that the study referenced in the 2017 paper was not gain-of-function.

“Senator Paul, you do not know what you are talking about, quite frankly,” added Fauci. “And I want to say that officially.”

Paul subsequently referred Fauci to the DOJ, asking then-Attorney General Merrick Garland to open an investigation into the former NIAID director over his testimony to the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

The senator noted that contrary to Fauci’s suggestion, research conducted “at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and funded under NIAID Award R01AI110964 fits the definition of gain-of-function research.”

The recipient of this particular award was Peter Daszak’s scandal-plagued organization EcoHealth Alliance, which congressional investigators indicated facilitated gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab and was formally debarred along with Daszak in January by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

RELATED: Patel’s ‘breakthrough’ in COVID origins probe spells trouble for Fauci — especially if his pardon is voided

Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Paul asked the Biden DOJ again in 2023 to probe Fauci for allegedly lying to Congress after the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic released an email apparently showing the former NIAID director acknowledge that gain-of-function was indeed taking place at a Chinese institution which the U.S. Government Accountability Office confirmed had received NIH funding along with the WIV.

— (@)

Blaze News has reached out to Paul’s office and the DOJ for comment.

Paul’s referral comes on the heels of autopen bombshells printed in the New York Times.

Biden told the Times in a phone interview on Thursday that he orally communicated his clemency directions to aides, that the autopen was used liberally because they were dealing with “a whole lot of people” — a record number, actually — and that he did not personally approve every individual categorical clemency.

The White House emails turned over to investigators by the National Archives and reviewed by the Times also cast doubt on the provenance of Fauci’s pardon and others like it issued in Biden’s final hours in office.

The emails reportedly indicated that the former president’s clemency instructions were written up on the basis of hearsay by aides to Biden advisers, then executed by the master of the autopen, Biden White House staff secretary Stefanie Feldman. When it came to the high-profile autopen pardons issued on Biden’s final day, the final approval reportedly came not from Biden but from his chief of staff, Jeffrey Zients.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Anthony fauci, Criminal referral, Fauci, Rand paul, Paul, Covid-19, Coverup, Wuhan, Pandemic, Virus, Coronavirus, Ecohealth, Joe biden, Autopen, Politics 

The Trump administration chalked up another massive victory with the U.S. Supreme Court when it was allowed to continue plans to significantly cut down the size of the Department of Education.

The judgment fell along ideological lines, with six justices in favor of and the three liberal justices dissenting against the ruling. The majority did not explain the ruling.

‘We’re just simply not doing something right. I don’t think that education that is handled from a bureaucratic position in Washington, DC, is best for the states.’

“The majority is either willfully blind to the implications of its ruling or naive,” wrote Justice Sonia Sotomayor in the dissent, “but either way the threat to our Constitution’s separation of powers is great.”

She also said the ruling effectively gave the president the power to overrule Congress “by firing all those necessary to carry” out the laws passed by the legislative branch.

President Donald Trump had previously announced his intention to shut down the Department of Education by firing many employees and transferring many of the department’s functions to other agencies.

Critics of the administration say the executive branch is overstepping its authority and usurping the powers of the legislative branch.

Solicitor General John Sauer argued to the Supreme Court that Education Department officials had determined they could carry out the agency’s “statutorily mandated functions with a pared-down staff and that many discretionary functions are better left to the states.”

RELATED: Trump admin threatens California with ‘imminent enforcement action’ over transgender athletes

Education Secretary Linda McMahon argued in May that the agency had failed and needed drastic restructuring to fulfill the needs of America’s students.

“The Department of Education was set up in 1980. We have now spent, as a country, over $3 trillion to watch the performance of our students continue to decline,” she said.

“We’re just simply not doing something right. I don’t think that education that is handled from a bureaucratic position in Washington, D.C., is best for the states,” she added.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Supreme court vs trump, Trump vs education dept., Education department cuts, Trump cuts, Politics 

The drama surrounding the New York City mayoral race continues after radical Democratic Socialist Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani came from behind to win the Democratic primary last month.

Just a few weeks ago, Mamdani overcame long odds to win the primary, trouncing former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a legacy Democrat with almost universal name recognition, by 12 points. Cuomo conceded defeat on election night, admitting, “Tonight was not our night. Tonight was Assemblyman Mamdani’s night.”

Spokesman Rich Azzopardi believes that Cuomo still has the best odds of defeating Mamdani.

It appears that Cuomo is down but not out. On Monday, Cuomo announced that he will remain in the race as an independent. He claimed to be “in it to win it” and slammed Mamdani for offering “slick slogans but no real solutions.”

Cuomo is not the only high-profile Democrat running as an independent. Current Mayor Eric Adams, elected in 2021 as a Democrat, is trying to keep his job as an independent.

Former federal prosecutor Jim Walden is likewise running as an independent.

RELATED: Glenn Beck: Mamdani victory is ‘NOT A FLUKE’ — he’s Democrats’ 2028 vision for America

Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images

With Curtis Sliwa running as a Republican, the field is crowded — a dynamic that strongly favors Mamdani. According to a Data for Progress poll conducted from July 1 to July 6, Mamdani holds a commanding lead among likely NYC voters, with 40% planning to pull the lever for him. Cuomo finished a distant second with just 24%. Adams and Sliwa were neck and neck for third at 15% and 14%, respectively, while Walden managed just 1%.

Spokesman Rich Azzopardi believes that Cuomo still has the best odds of defeating Mamdani, according to the New York Post.

Cuomo also reportedly has a plan to unify support against Mamdani down the stretch.

According to NewsNation, Cuomo is expected to pledge to drop out of the race in mid-September if he is not in the lead. He is also expected to call on Adams, Sliwa, and Walden to promise to do the same if they remain behind.

RELATED: Exclusive: Vance on Mamdani: ‘Who the hell does he think that he is?’

Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Adams seemed to dismiss Cuomo’s reported plan to defeat Mamdani. “This kind of political double-dealing is exactly why so many New Yorkers have lost trust in [Cuomo],” Adams’ campaign said in a press release, the Post reported.

“The people spoke loudly — he lost,” the statement continued, referring to Cuomo’s primary defeat. “Yet he continues to put himself over the number-one goal — beating Mamdani and securing our city’s future.”

Adams’ campaign also described Mamdani as an “inexperienced opponent” who nevertheless poses a “serious threat.”

During the Bolivian Day Parade in Queens on Sunday, Adams also noted that, unlike Cuomo, he “didn’t lose” to Mamdani — or anyone else — in the Democratic primary, the Post reported. Of course, Adams couldn’t have lost because he didn’t participate in the primary, though whether he mentioned that fact to the media on Sunday is unclear.

When asked whether he would consider dropping out to help Cuomo, Adams, who until recently faced federal indictment, replied with bewilderment, “Are you kidding me?”

‘Putting New York’s best interests over our personal ambitions is critical at this moment.’

Sliwa also said he has no plans to drop out. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m in it until Nov. 4,” he said Sunday.

“I’m the only candidate with a major party nomination, a 50-year record of serving New Yorkers, and a real path to victory,” Sliwa later told NewsNation. “While they play musical chairs on a sinking ship, I’m out campaigning in NYC, listening, leading, and fighting to win it for the people. Let the voters decide this November.”

Walden, however, seems the most amenable to Cuomo’s reported idea. In fact, he indicated that he was the one who first suggested it. “I am glad Andrew has agreed to adopt my pledge,” Walden said in a statement to NewsNation. “I hope Eric and Curtis sign on as well. Putting New York’s best interests over our personal ambitions is critical at this moment.”

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Andrew cuomo, Eric adams, Zohran mamdani, Socialist, Curtis sliwa, New york city, Nyc, Nyc mayor, Independent, Democrats, Politics