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With lawmakers back on the Hill, reconciliation talks are back in full force — and so are their critics.

Republicans have repeatedly emphasized the importance of spending cuts, many of which they are looking to accomplish in the reconciliation process. At the same time, Democrats are drumming up false narratives to try to derail reconciliation, but House Republicans are not having it.

In a sit-down interview obtained exclusively by Blaze News, Republican Reps. Brandon Gill of Texas, Beth Van Duyne of Texas, and Erin Houchin of Indiana debunked the Democrat-led misconceptions on Medicaid and spending cuts.

‘There is a misconception that 100% of that has to come out of Medicaid, and that’s just not true.’

Currently, House committees are combing through the budget recommendations outlined in reconciliation in order to identify appropriate spending cuts.

“They were each given instructions of how much they were expected to cut, but that was a floor, not a ceiling,” Van Duyne said. “We wanted to make sure that as part of reconciliation, if we gave them a number and they didn’t hit it, basically the entire bill is null and void, so we gave them a floor.”

Houchin, who sits on the Energy and Commerce Committee, said they were tasked with finding $880 billion in cuts. Although many critics have claimed that these cuts will come right out of Medicaid programs, Houchin insists that is not the case.

“It’s probably the biggest piece of reconciliation in terms of spending reductions, finding savings,” Houchin said. “But the $880 billion, there is a misconception that 100% of that has to come out of Medicaid, and that’s just not true.”

“We’re finding savings in our energy sector,” Houchin added. “We’re finding savings in other sections of code that aren’t in the health care sector. And so we are going to be working diligently again to cut waste, fraud, and abuse, to find savings, and to protect these programs for the very most vulnerable people.”

Houchin also pointed out that cuts made to Medicaid would work to uproot fraud taking place within the system.

‘Let’s put forward policies that promote American citizens, that put American citizens first and prioritize our people.’

“Right now, we have illegal immigrants that are accepting benefits, that are on benefits, even though they’re not supposed to be people that don’t even live in the country here, that are taking away from the health care of people who really do need it,” Houchin said. “Low-income, pregnant moms, the disabled, seniors, and children.”

Gill reiterated that no matter how much Democrats try to dig their heels in, President Donald Trump was elected to fulfill his campaign promises, like cutting wasteful spending, and it’s Congress’ job to codify these promises.

“They see all the great things that President Trump is doing every single day, a new executive order, sometimes three or four or five every day,” Gill said. “They want to see us codify those into law, which we can do via reconciliation, which, of course, is privileged in the Senate. So we don’t need to work with Democrats there, which is a huge plus.”

Republicans need a simple majority to get reconciliation through the Senate. Because of their 53-seat majority, Republicans are confident they will be able to do just that.

“Let’s put forward policies that promote American citizens, that put American citizens first and prioritize our people,” Gill said.

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​Beth van duyne, Brandon gill, Erin houchin, House republicans, Donald trump, Trump administration, Reconciliation, Medicaid cuts, Medicaid, Spending cuts, Government spending, Mike johnson, The mandate, Maga mandate, Politics 

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) is actively sabotaging President Donald Trump’s pick for Washington, D.C.’s top prosecutor, derailing the hard work to restore safety, law, and order to the capital city — and also threatening to upend the president’s ultimate (and more important) legislative agenda.

Ed Martin currently serves as acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia and has been nominated to keep the job permanently. In just a few months, he’s begun dismantling the political weaponization of the office that flourished under his predecessor, Matthew Graves.

This fight is bigger than Ed Martin. If not handled correctly, it all threatens to bleed over into the far more important budget reconciliation battle.

Graves spent four years refusing to prosecute 67% of arrests in Washington, D.C. Even felony arrests rarely led to charges. If police arrested you for a serious crime, your odds of walking free were better than your chances of facing trial. When Graves did take action, he often downgraded charges — reducing assaults on police officers to simple misdemeanors. Meanwhile, he directed his office’s full attention toward prosecuting rioters, trespassers, and innocent bystanders caught up in the Jan. 6 chaos.

Under his leadership, D.C. became one of the most violent and lawless major cities in America.

Republicans barely put up a fight when Graves was nominated. The Judiciary Committee approved him by voice vote. The Senate confirmed him the same way.

Now compare that to Martin.

In his first three and a half months,
Martin flipped those numbers, prosecuting 65% of all arrests in the D.C. His efforts didn’t stop at charging criminals. He also demoted and fired the partisan loyalists who turned the office into a political operation over the past four years. CNN and the New York Times have responded with their standard meltdowns — a reliable sign that he’s doing something right.

Tillis doesn’t see it that way. He especially opposes Martin’s reforms related to Jan. 6 prosecutions and has made it his mission to stop the nomination.

This showdown didn’t happen by accident. Martin can serve as acting U.S. attorney for only 120 days. To avoid a lapse, the Senate Judiciary Committee needed to advance his nomination by Monday. Trump made calls and publicly reaffirmed his support. But the committee still didn’t move.

Why?

Because Tillis — no stranger to obstructing conservative priorities — vowed to oppose Martin. And he didn’t stop there. The Beltway Brief has learned that Tillis has been actively whipping fellow Republicans to sink the nomination. He’s likely targeting senators such as Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, John Curtis of Utah, and Todd Young of Indiana.

Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), a conservative but also a Senate institutionalist, wants to avoid a messy intraparty fight — even behind closed doors.

This nomination battle has become a litmus test.

On one side stand Trump and his base, who’ve rallied behind Martin. On the other side are Tillis and the Republicans, who’d rather side with Beltway politics than back the president. The moment reveals who’s really prepared to obstruct the White House’s agenda over the next four years — and who’s just pretending to govern.

“This is far from over,” Oversight Project founder and Martin ally Mike Howell
promised Tuesday morning.

The fight has put the White House in a brutal bind. The president backs Martin, and making D.C. a clean and safe city once again is one of his top priorities, but Martin’s confirmation is far from the most important objective his administration is working to achieve.

The administration’s number-one goal is passing the budget, which would fund and power Trump’s agenda and the U.S. economy through tax cuts, deportations, border enforcement, new energy policies, etc. The last thing his Office of Legislative Affairs needs is a battle with Republican senators — even the squishy ones more eager to fight conservatives than Democrats.

Tillis is apparently counting on this reality. He knows the White House needs his vote on the budget, so he feels empowered here, as well. His goal for his own political future is less clear. He was already censured by his state GOP two years ago and faces party voters in a primary contest a short 10 months from now. Even if he’s expecting his state, which Trump carried by three points in 2024, to shift purple in the coming years, Tillis needs to survive a primary. Though, by all insider accounts, his dislike of Martin runs more on personal animus than calculated politics.

If Tillis refuses to budge even under White House pressure, he’ll leave the president with just three real options.

Option 1 is surrender to Tillis, drop Martin, and nominate some Federalist Society-approved Republican who won’t cause any trouble. This is an ugly path and essentially admits that Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Dick Durbin (D-Ill.)
and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) run the committee with Republican help. More: It wouldn’t contribute remotely as much to cleaning up Washington.

Option 2 would be to nominate a placeholder and let Martin run the show from behind the scenes. This is still an ugly option, but it has its merits.

Option 3 is for Trump to say he’ll let Tillis block the nomination and say he’ll allow anti-Trump Judge James Boasberg to appoint the next U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, then see if Tillis has the guts to take it that far. This sort of brinksmanship comes with obvious risks for Trump, the capital, and Tillis himself.

This fight is bigger than Ed Martin. The base is activated, the talk-show hosts and writers are cranking away, and, if not handled correctly, it all threatens to bleed over into the far more important budget reconciliation battle.

But this fight can be useful, too. It’s best to know your opponents early and engage them if necessary. They’re not planning on fading away on their own.

Blaze News: Republican senator turns against key Trump nominee, potentially empowering activist Judge Boasberg

Blaze News: Reconciliation or capitulation: Trump’s final go-for-broke play

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​Politics, Opinion & analysis 

Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.), a rising star in Republican circles and on TV news, told Blaze News he was married by a radical Muslim cleric but did not realize it at the time.

Mills rocketed to the heights of political celebrity over the past four years, thanks to his television appearances, several high-profile rescues of Americans from
Israel, Afghanistan, and Haiti, and the support of President Donald Trump. Mills was an Army medic from 1999 to 2003 and a private subcontractor in Iraq and the Middle East from 2005 to 2009. He has represented Florida’s East Coast 7th Congressional District since 2022, when he rode Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ “red wave” into office.

Running on a pro-Christian, America First platform, Mills’ website says: “Cory is a father, patriot, combat veteran, entrepreneur, foreign policy expert, and true American conservative.”

— (@)

Domestic disturbance

On February 19, the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department answered a domestic disturbance call at Mills’ luxury penthouse. According to local NBC affiliate
News4, the news station obtained a police report stating that Sarah Raviani, 27, an Iranian-American activist, told police that “her significant other for over a year” had “grabbed her, shoved her, and pushed her out of the door.”

The police report, as reported by the NBC affiliate, states that she showed the officer “bruises on her arm which appeared fresh.” An officer was “able to immediately identify [the alleged victim] out of all other patrons in the lobby by her demeanor: physically shaking and scared.”

Here is an Instagram post with Raviani and Mills.

The report also states, according to WRC-TV, that the police officer informed the individual about the impending arrest. However, the woman later contacted the police to retract her statements, including the source of the bruises. Mills and Raviani subsequently denied any wrongdoing, and Mills was not charged with a crime.

Although infidelity is commonplace in Congress, the incident raised more than a few eyebrows in Washington. In his statement about the incident, Mills revealed that he is still in the process of divorcing his wife, Rana Al Saadi, a naturalized American citizen from Iraq. According to multiple sources, Mills had routinely claimed he was no longer married. Even some members of his own staff were apparently unaware before Raviani called the police that he was, in fact, still married.

Mills told Blaze News recently that “we’ve been going through divorce proceedings for 2.5 years and have been separated for three years.”

In 2022, during Mills’ primary race for Congress against fellow Republican Anthony Sabatini, a website,
Cory Mills Watch, published a document it claimed was the 2014 marriage certificate for Mills and Al Saadi. Last month, an ex-Daily Beast journalist named Roger Sollenberger began posting about the document again on X.

Mills has apparently never publicly addressed the issue, until now.

Married in a radical mosque?

Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic CenterBlaze News

After looking into the domestic disturbance call, Blaze News obtained and verified the marriage certificate with the state of Virginia. It cites the officiant as being a radical Islamic mufti named Mohammed Al-Hanooti, the former imam for the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center, reputed to be the most extremist mosque in America.

Blaze News reached out for comment from both Mills and Al Saadi to set the record straight, asking for confirmation concerning their religious status and the officiant of their wedding. Rana Al Saadi has not responded.

In a combative, often heated, near hour-long phone call with Blaze Media editor Peter Gietl, Mills confirmed he was married by Al-Hanooti, but vehemently denied converting to Islam. “It’s pretty pathetic. This attempt has been used so many times, and it’s baffling to me. Not to mention the fact that I am a Christian — I’m not an Islamophobic. I’ve lived in Middle Eastern cultures. I think that the radicalized stuff is pretty harmful and disgusting, but I would say that on any side of things. But this has been attempted so many times. And it’s just downright offensive at this point,” Mills stated.

It is unclear how many times anyone has “attempted” to ask Mills about his marriage certificate other than during his congressional primary race. While few paid attention at the time, Sabatini and his supporters were called “bigots” by supporters of Mills for bringing the certificate and related issues up in the race.

Mills said that asking these questions was out of bounds. “And I don’t think you guys understand, because I spent 10 years in the culture in that region. You guys need to educate yourself, because you come across very ignorant, bigotry, and it just makes you guys sound very, very, I guess, lack of American plurality.”

Mills marriage certificate

The Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Virginia, has been linked to several individuals engaged in terrorism-related activities, resulting in scrutiny from law enforcement and the public.

Anwar al-Awlaki served as imam at Dar Al-Hijrah from January 2001 to April 2002. Initially viewed as moderate, al-Awlaki later became a prominent al-Qaeda propagandist and terror leader. He was later linked to the radicalization of individuals such as Maj.
Nidal Hasan, the Fort Hood shooter who killed 13 people and wounded more than 30 in November 2009, and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab — the Underwear Bomber — who tried to detonate explosives hidden in his underwear on a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day 2009. In 2010, President Barack Obama ordered al-Awlaki’s death by authorizing a U.S. drone strike in Yemen. He was killed on September 30, 2011.

Two of the 9/11 hijackers, Nawaf al-Hazmi and Hani Hanjour, also attended the Dar Al-Hijrah mosque in early 2001. Other individuals associated with the mosque include Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, a former Dar Al-Hijrah congregant, who was convicted in 2005 of plotting to
assassinate President George W. Bush.

YouTube/Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center

Mohammed Al-Hanooti, who officiated Mills’ wedding in 2014, is perhaps best known for being an unindicted co-conspirator in both the
2008 Holy Land Foundation Hamas financing trial and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing plot.

He served as imam at Dar Al-Hijrah from 1995 to 1999, drawing heavy scrutiny from the national security and counterterrorism communities. His
sermons included radical calls for jihad. In a 1998 khutbah, he declared, “We have to do everything we can to help the Iraqi people from tyrannies. … We all have to be ready for the jihad with our properties and our souls.” He also stated, “Allah will rain his curse on the Americans and the British,” and “the curse of Allah will become true on the Jews.”

Al-Hanooti had deep ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. According to a 2003 FBI memo cited in reports by the
Investigative Project on Terrorism and Global Muslim Brotherhood Watch, Al-Hanooti was believed to be a key fundraiser for Hamas in the United States. His associations, along with his rhetoric, cast a long shadow over the mosque even after his departure.

Mills sets the record straight?

These facts were all well known in 2014, when the then-77-year-old Al-Hanooti, serving as mufti of the D.C. area, officiated the marriage of Mills and his wife and listed the Dar Al-Hijrah mosque as his address. Since Mills has publicly presented himself as Christian for years, people who first encounter the document are puzzled. According to the mosque’s
website, the individuals it marries must be Muslim. A few weeks ago, after Blaze News called the mosque inquiring about the certificate, this requirement was apparently removed from the website.

At least one associate of Mills, speaking on background for fear of reprisal, told Blaze News that Mills became a practicing Muslim after marrying Al Saadi.

Although it seems highly unlikely that a mufti like Al-Hanooti would officiate a marriage of a non-Muslim, Mills says that the situation was complicated.

“I don’t know the damn guy. I didn’t have a relationship with the guy, so I can’t tell you anything other than the fact that he was sick,” Mills told Blaze News. (Al-Hanooti died within a year after signing the certificate.) “I don’t know anything about his involvement in the co-conspirator thing,” he said. “And then he died — I think, I don’t know — months later.”

Mills explained that at the time, his wife needed to visit a dying relative in Iraq, but if she entered Iraq without the marriage certificate, she “would’ve been arrested” because her first husband in Iraq “wasn’t a good man” and “all he had to do was say she wasn’t divorced within Iraq, therefore the marriage is still valid. And that she has another child, therefore she is unfaithful, and they can detain her, they can take their property rights, they can get a dowry for him.”

Al-Hanooti was ”the only Iraqi imam that her mom [could] get in contact with who would do this for us.”

“I will do anything to protect my family. So if having her mother find someone who is willing to just sign something so she doesn’t get arrested when she goes to visit her dying uncle, who’s her last remaining male Al Saadi … yeah, you’re damn right, I have no problem whatsoever, because it didn’t change my faith, it didn’t change who I am, it didn’t change the church that I went to. So yeah, enjoy your hit piece.”

Blaze News reached out to Robert Spencer, the founder and editor of
Jihad Watch and one of the country’s foremost experts on radical Islam, on whether Mills could have been married there without converting to Islam.

It doesn’t sound plausible. Al-Hanooti had multiple ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. … Any imam who had their approval, and who approved of the Brotherhood, had to be well versed in Sharia and loyal to its provisions.

Sharia stipulates that a Muslim woman may not marry a Christian or any other non-Muslim man. This is based on the Qur’an. … A Muslim man may marry a Christian woman … but a Muslim woman cannot marry a Christian man and become part of his household, for then the Christian community would grow at the expense of the Muslim one, and Islam must dominate.

Thus it is virtually certain that Al-Hanooti, as a knowledgeable and believing imam, required Mills to convert to Islam before he married Rana Al Saadi.

Spencer speculates that maybe “the whole thing was quick and involved Mills saying the shahada in Arabic at the mosque with little understanding of what he was saying, or interest in the proceedings, so he can dismiss it now and may not have even realized what he was doing, but he wouldn’t have been able to marry Al Saadi otherwise.”

Mills threatens Blaze Media

Mills bristled at being asked about the marriage certificate and his religion, and he referred to his lawyers throughout the interview. He accused Blaze News of rushing the article and engaging in “fake news.”

When asked if he was threatening Blaze News, he said, “I don’t think it’s threatening with lawsuits, but I think that when there’s defamation, libel, malice, and slander, then we need to basically make sure that that’s something that’s on notice, right?” He ended his rant on the matter by saying, “But you can call it a threat or whatever you like. Please go ahead.”

Blaze News editor in chief Matthew Peterson responded, “I find it odd that the congressman assumed we were writing a hit piece in response to two basic questions about his religion and marriage. I tried to follow up with him multiple times for a week after his initial remarks to Peter Gietl, but he did not speak with us again.”

Peterson rejected the idea that the issue is out of bounds. “He’s a sitting congressman who owns an international arms company that he started with his wife shortly after getting married by a radical Muslim cleric. There may be a perfectly understandable explanation for this, but if you’ve never given public comment on it, you should not be threatening my reporters for asking about it. People on the left and right are starting to chatter, and we wanted to share his explanation with our audience.”

Part of Mills’ complaint was that “you guys don’t talk about the fact that I’ve had a rosary tattooed my arm since [2001 or ‘02] and now still have the archangel tattooed on. People who are Muslim don’t do that.”

Mills had a rosary tattoo on his left arm for many years. Photos from his social media account indicate that he was attempting to get rid of it. As a congressman in 2023, Mills covered the image of a rosary with another tattoo of St. Michael the Archangel. St. Michael is recognized by both the Catholic and Islamic faiths.

He also complained that “you guys aren’t reaching out to my churches that I go to regularly. … You guys don’t do that, right?”

Mills has consistently and publicly identified as a Christian, repeatedly invoking his Christian faith to his constituents. In 2021, his wife said she was not Christian.

His Wikipedia page says he is
Catholic. From a Floridian article: “Al Saadi, who worked for the Trump administration in Iraq gathering intelligence, is a ‘believer in God’ and attends Mass with her [sic] Mills, who is a devout Catholic.”

In 2022, in response to an accusation from Mills’ primary opponent Anthony Sabatini, Word of Faith Pastor Cheryl Ingram, who hosted a congressional campaign event for Mills, claimed that Al Saadi “went to a Jesuit Catholic school,” “graduated from Georgetown,” and is Catholic.

More recently, he has told other sources he is Protestant. He told Blaze News that he now regularly attends a Word of Faith church in Florida, where his pastors are Cheryl and Steve Ingram.

— (@)

PACEM Defense

Shortly after marrying in 2014, Mills and Al Saadi started two companies (defense consulting and munition manufacturing) and acquired ALS Less Lethal, a military and law enforcement equipment manufacturer. According to Mills, these businesses made him and his wife wealthy and propelled his run for Congress. He told Glenn Beck
last year that “I have more than I ever need.”

Al Saadi worked as a cultural adviser for the U.S. Department of State, was a translator for the Department of Defense in the Green Zone, and assisted U.S. intelligence during the invasion of her country. According to the Arlington Catholic Herald, she claimed to have lived in a 10-bedroom house in Iraq, and her family was from the political leadership of the country. Al Saadi has also said after her family was persecuted for supporting the United States, she came to the U.S. with “only $50” before starting an international weapons company with Mills.

Al Saadi with a luxury Maserati

Their company grew quickly. The year after PACEM was founded, the company secured a $228 million arms deal with Iraq. A subsequent audit said that the government of Iraq had “accepted the pricing and the specs supplied by the company for the product, without … asking any of the official trusted consultants to write up specs and details of pricing,” according to
Business Insider. Mills told Business Insider there was nothing wrong with the contract, although his company did not receive the full amount for reasons unrelated to the audit.

Last year, the Office of Congressional Conduct board, formerly the Office of Congressional Ethics, stated that Mills’ conflicting financial statements triggered inquiries into how he acquired $1.8 million to support his 2022 campaign. This
report, crafted in August 2024, remained confidential until March 27, 2025, as the House Ethics Committee continued its investigation.

Mills responded on X by
saying:

“I’m committed to complying with all laws and ethics rules and was pleased that the Federal Election Commission recently dismissed a complaint with similar allegations also filed by my former primary opponent. We trust the House Ethics Committee will come to a similar conclusion.”

Mills indicated to Blaze News that the complaint was part of a political witch hunt, “filed by my primary opponent.” “People think OCC is a part of the Ethics Committee. It’s not … it’s an outside entity which is known to have partisan bias.” Mills also said the complaint “has already been dismissed by the FEC … and I guarantee you that the Ethics Committee does the exact same thing.”

Conflict of interest?

Mills, who serves on the Armed Services and Foreign Affairs committees, claimed on “The Glenn Beck Podcast” last year that “we still own 100% of that company, which I divested and put in a blind trust.”

When questioned by Blaze News, he said: “I believe I’m in a blind trust. Okay? I think I’ve divested from one company, and I think I’m in a blind trust for another. I’d have to go back and look; I couldn’t honestly tell you, well, you’re talking about something that I did, I think, in 2020, I mean, almost four years ago.”

When pressed further about his financial relationship with the company, he responded definitively: “I don’t take money from the company. I don’t get money from the company.” He also repeatedly told Blaze News that “I have zero decision-making in this company” and that he was not involved in company business.

Critics have
questioned his foreign trips and meetings with various government officials. In response, Mills told Blaze News “Yes, I’m entitled to go on certain vacations, and yes, I’m allowed to go to countries that my former company worked in or had an office in. Wow, what a novel idea.” In 2025, Mills visited Kuwait over New Year’s and met with the Iraqi prime minister; Dubai over Valentine’s Day; and Syria and Turkey over Easter. Mills responded sarcastically to his critics: “When I went to Dubai, I went on vacation for Valentine’s Day. Imagine.”

Perhaps coincidentally, 200,000 attendees of the world’s largest biannual weapons expo, IDEX, were in Dubai on Valentine’s Day weekend.

Over Easter, Mills also did more than vacation, holding well-publicized talks with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and other Syrian officials. An organization called the Syrian American Alliance for Peace and Prosperity claimed it paid for the trip. Mills told Blaze News that he was optimistic about change in Syria. “I think that there’s an opportunity here to get another person who’s willing to sign up to the Abraham Accords, who’s willing to look at acknowledging the state of Israel, who’s willing to be a good partner.”

After Business Insider published an
article investigating Mills’ relationship to the company while serving in Congress, “Pacem Solutions removed the ‘Who We Are’ page that listed Mills as executive chair,” according to Business Insider.

Rana Al Saadi is now the executive chairwoman of PACEM.

Al Saadi receiving a gift in Dubai.

Editor’s Note: Matthew J. Peterson, Cooper Williamson, and Steve Baker contributed to this article.

​Politics 

In the first major shake-up of Trump’s second term, Michael Waltz has been removed as national security adviser. The White House gave no explanation, but sources say Waltz drew fire for adding Jeffrey Goldberg, editor of the Atlantic, to a Signal chat with other national security officials about a recent U.S. strike on Houthi targets in Yemen.

But Waltz’s ouster likely runs deeper. It reflects a growing internal struggle over the direction of national security policy — a familiar pattern in American politics. From Hamilton’s Federalists to Jefferson’s Old Republicans, the fight over foreign policy priorities has shaped administrations since the founding.

Good strategy requires focus and discipline. The United States must prioritize its goals, not squander its power on open-ended crusades.

In a recent American Enterprise Institute essay, Hal Brands identified five competing foreign policy factions jockeying for influence under Trump. The two most influential camps are the “global hawks” and the “come home, America” bloc.

The Global Hawks — often dismissed as neocons — include Waltz and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. They insist on maintaining U.S. primacy to preserve global security and stability. This faction champions aggressive containment of adversaries like Iran, Russia, China, and North Korea. It also defends long-standing U.S. alliances, though now under pressure to renegotiate the terms.

The other faction, often called the “disengagers,” frames U.S. strategy through the lens of “forever wars” in Iraq and Afghanistan. Their primary goal is to avoid further entanglements in the Middle East by scaling back U.S. military involvement. They also oppose military aid to Ukraine, citing the risk of escalation with Russia. Vice President JD Vance and Tulsi Gabbard stand out as leading figures in this camp.

Brands identifies three additional factions: the “Asia firsters,” the “economic nationalists,” and the “MAGA hardliners.” The most consequential alliance may be the one forming between the “come home, America” bloc and the “MAGA hardliners.” That coalition threatens to upend decades of Republican foreign policy — to the country’s detriment.

Force without strategy

Since the Vietnam War, the GOP has generally stood for national security: strong defense, reliable alliances, and a forward-leaning military posture. President Trump largely embraced that tradition during his first term. His national security strategy took a clear stance, particularly on South Asia, replacing President Obama’s unfocused approach to Afghanistan with a more coherent plan.

Yet, as H.R. McMaster notes in his memoir “At War with Ourselves,” Trump often strayed from those principles. While many of his instincts were sound, he frequently abandoned them when challenged — or simply deferred to whoever had his ear last.

Some observers see Waltz’s ouster as a sign that the “come home, America” faction is gaining influence within the White House. That remains uncertain. But one thing is clear: Abandoning the traditional Republican defense posture would be a mistake.

The core issue isn’t military force itself — it’s the use of force without a coherent strategy rooted in defending U.S. interests. Too many in Washington treat national security as a tool for serving some imagined “international community.” That’s how the Obama-Biden team, and even George W. Bush, stumbled: They lacked prudence.

Prudence, as Aristotle defined it, is the political virtue essential to statesmanship. It’s the ability to match means to ends — to pursue what’s right with what works. In foreign policy, that means setting clear objectives and taking deliberate action to apply power, influence, and, when needed, force.

Return to what works

Since the 1990s, U.S. foreign policy has often shown hubris rather than prudence. Clinton, Obama, and now Biden have placed their faith in global institutions, believing U.S. power exists to uphold abstract international norms. Their goal has been to build a “global good” — a corporatist globalism detached from national interest and patriotism.

These Democratic administrations have repeatedly failed to distinguish allies from adversaries. Nowhere was this clearer than in Obama’s tilt toward Iran, which came at the expense of both Israel and Sunni Arab states. Biden has doubled down with his disgraceful treatment of Israel, undermining one of our closest allies while appeasing their enemies.

Meanwhile, George W. Bush pursued his own misguided vision — an effort to remake the Middle East in America’s liberal image through force. That project collapsed under the weight of religious conflict and tribalism in Iraq and Afghanistan. And while Washington obsessed over exporting democracy, China quietly rose — unfazed, unchecked, and happy to let us believe it would someday play by our rules.

The best way to secure America’s liberty, safety, and prosperity is to return to a strategy that resembles the one that won the Cold War — one that brought the Soviet Union to collapse and elevated the United States to unmatched global power.

Ronald Reagan summed it up in three words: peace through strength.

I call it prudent American realism. This approach blends principle with power. It recognizes that the internal nature of regimes matters. Thucydides understood this over 2,000 years ago. In “The Peloponnesian War,” he noted that both Athens and Sparta sought to promote regimes that mirrored their own values — democracies for Athens, oligarchies for Sparta.

The lesson? A nation is safer and more stable when it is surrounded by allies that share its principles and interests.

Two sides of the same coin

Prudence also demands restraint. While regime type matters, trying to spread democracy everywhere is a fool’s errand — one the Bush administration disastrously pursued after 9/11.

Resources are limited. Good strategy requires focus and discipline. The United States must prioritize its goals, not squander its power on open-ended crusades abroad.

Reagan’s foreign policy understood a timeless truth: Diplomacy and force go hand in hand. Too often, American policymakers — steeped in the fantasies of liberal internationalism — act as if diplomacy alone can achieve strategic goals. But as Frederick the Great put it, “Diplomacy without force is like music without instruments.”

A sound U.S. strategy treats diplomacy and force as two sides of the same coin.

President Trump should follow Reagan’s lead. That means maintaining a forward defense posture with the support of reliable allies, projecting strength through presence, and defending freedom of navigation around the globe.

Strategically, the goal must be clear: Preserve the U.S. maritime alliance that defends the “rimlands” of Eurasia — a term coined by Nicholas Spykman. This system exists to contain any aspiring hegemon, whether it’s Russia or China.

This approach has served the nation well before. Trump should carry its lessons forward.

​Opinion & analysis, Strategy, National defense, Peace through strength, Ronald reagan, Donald trump, Forever wars, Jd vance, Michael waltz, National security, Tulsi gabbard, H.r. mcmaster, Prudence, Barack obama, Joe biden, Iran, George w. bush, Afghanistan, China, Diplomacy 

A bombshell new study has found that women are suffering serious harm from chemical abortions at a rate 22 times higher than what the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or abortion pill manufacturers are reporting to patients.

The federal government must step in now to protect women. It can no longer shirk its responsibility by “leaving it up to the states.”

If a drug is this dangerous, Big Pharma should not be allowed to hide its risks from women.

The study from the Ethics and Public Policy Center, which analyzed insurance claims of 330 million U.S. patients and over 850,000 cases of mifepristone abortions since 2017, is the largest and most comprehensive study ever conducted on the effects of America’s most common chemical abortion drug.

The numbers don’t lie

While the FDA and abortion drug manufacturers tout serious side effects in only 0.5% of cases, actual insurance claims from patients reveal the number is much higher: Nearly one in nine women experience severe or life-threatening events within 45 days of taking mifepristone, including sepsis, hemorrhaging, blood transfusion, infection, and surgeries tied directly to the abortion drug.

Nearly two-thirds of abortions in the United States are now chemical, according to the Planned Parenthood-founded Guttmacher Institute, suggesting that hundreds of thousands of women over the past 10 years have suffered serious complications. That is neither “rare” nor “safe” by any definition.

By contrast, according to the EPPC, the federal government’s claims of the drug’s “safety” rely on small, outdated trials — some conducted over 40 years ago — on a combined total of only 31,000 mostly healthy women in doctor-controlled environments.

In real-world environments, however, the abortion drug has proven significantly more dangerous.

The EPPC study found 10.93% of women suffered significant harm from taking the drug. What other FDA-approved drug would remain on the market with such a high rate of serious adverse events?

No state is safe

In light of this data, the federal government can no longer justify the lifting of oversight protocols for the abortion drug. Under Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, critical safety measures — such as in-person supervision by a doctor and adverse event reporting — were eliminated. These federal safeguards must be restored, and the drug’s safety and FDA approval must be re-evaluated.

This is not a mere “states issue.” Abortion drugs are often shipped across state lines without a doctor’s involvement. Pro-abortion states like California should not be allowed to pump this dangerous drug into Texas or other states that have enacted reasonable protections for women and their babies.

The leaders we send to Washington, D.C., cannot hide behind federalism on this issue under the guise of “leaving it up to the states.” If just one aggressively pro-abortion state is allowed to ship abortion pills nationwide, women across all 50 states remain at risk — even if the other 49 state legislatures vote to protect them.

Women deserve the truth

Regardless of opinions on abortion, all Americans should agree on this: Women have a right to accurate information about the drugs they take. If a drug is this dangerous, Big Pharma should not be allowed to hide its risks from women. And the FDA cannot turn a blind eye, becoming complicit in a cover-up.

We must demand that the FDA take action. I’ve joined with dozens of pro-family leaders nationwide in writing a letter to President Donald Trump urging him to act. The letter reads, in part:

All the original safety protocols on mifepristone must be restored, and the FDA must investigate mifepristone, reconsidering its approval altogether. The lives of women and unborn children and the rights of states depend on it.

Furthermore, here in Iowa — home of the first-in-the-nation presidential caucus — we are committed to making safeguarding women from the dangers of mifepristone an issue for any candidate who seeks to follow President Trump in the White House. We urge voters to ask the same of any of their candidates: If you seek federal office, will you insist on seeing the safeguarding of women as a federal issue?

​Opinion & analysis, Abortion, Mifepristone abortion pill, Pro-life, Pro-choice, Big pharma, Fda, States rights, Regulations, Safety, Women, Barack obama, Joe biden 

David Horowitz, the ex-radical firebrand who spent the last 40 years of his life exposing the left’s lies, hypocrisies, and crimes, died on April 29 after a long battle with cancer. He was 86.

A former Marxist intellectual and New Left insider who became one of the most prolific and pugilistic conservative writers of his time, Horowitz was many things: essayist, agitator, memoirist, mentor, and iconoclast. But above all, he was a political street fighter of the first order. He saw himself on a battlefield of ideas — and he had no interest in compromise.

Horowitz spent the second half of his life warning Americans about the first half. And he never, ever backed down.

He was also my first boss.

Born in Forest Hills, New York, in 1939 to Communist Party members, Horowitz was steeped in ideological certainty from the cradle. He earned degrees at Columbia and UC Berkeley, gravitated toward literary criticism, and helped lead the radical journal Ramparts in the 1960s. By the early ’70s, he was deep in the orbit of the Black Panthers, whose criminality and murder of Horowitz’s friend Betty Van Patter all but obliterated his faith in the left.

That trauma marked the turning point and the beginning of a long journey rightward. He completed his break from his old comrades in 1985, when he and his longtime friend and collaborator Peter Collier published a scorching essay in the Washington Post Magazine with the cheeky title “Lefties for Reagan.”

“One of the few saving graces of age is a deeper perspective on the passions of youth,” they wrote. “Looking back on the left’s revolutionary enthusiasms of the last 25 years, we have painfully learned what should have been obvious all along: that we live in an imperfect world that is bettered only with great difficulty and easily made worse — much worse. This is a conservative assessment, but on the basis of half a lifetime’s experience, it seems about right.”

Horowitz would later write in his autobiography that his “moral conscience could no longer be reconciled with the lies of the Left.” If it could kill and lie and justify it all in the name of justice, what the hell kind of justice was it?

Horowitz’s political evolution was more than a turn — it was a total break. And once broken, he threw himself into the cause of exposing the radicalism, corruption, and totalitarian impulses of his former comrades. He brought to the right a kind of inside knowledge and rhetorical ferocity that few others could match.

In the late 1980s, he and Collier (who died in 2019) launched the Center for the Study of Popular Culture — originally just a room in Horowitz’s house in the San Fernando Valley. “The name identified its focus,” Horowitz wrote, “but also made it harder for the Left to attack.” It wasn’t a think tank like Heritage or Cato. “Our combative temperament was hardly suited to policy analysis,” he admitted. The CSPC would become the David Horowitz Freedom Center in 1998 — what Horowitz proudly called a “battle tank.”

I started working there in 1994, fresh out of college. David and Peter gave me my first real job. I wasn’t there long — only a couple of years — but the lessons stuck. When I gave notice to join the Claremont Institute, Peter warned me: “I certainly wish you luck. I don’t think David will take the news very well, though.” Oh, boy, was he right.

“JESUS CHRIST! HOW CAN YOU DO THIS TO ME?” was David’s immediate, explosive reaction. Such outbursts were legendary in the office — others had gotten the same treatment — but after a talk, he settled down. I finished my two weeks, and he shook my hand and wished me well as I left.

It took me a while to understand his wild response. But as he admitted in “Radical Son,” he had “a strain of loyalty in me” and “an inability to let go of something I had committed myself to.” That loyalty was fierce. And once you were in David’s circle — whether as comrade or colleague — he expected you to stay. Nothing mattered but the cause. “I would not run when things got tough,” he wrote of his hesitation to break from the Panthers. It was personal for him, always.

Peter once described his friend to me as “four-fifths of a human being.” That was generous on some days. Horowitz could be cold, irascible, and prone to volcanic rage. But he also had a great heart, one which bore scars from a lifetime of tragedy and regret. One of his most affecting books is “A Cracking of the Heart,” the 2009 memoir of his rocky relationship with his daughter Sarah, a gifted writer in her own right, who died suddenly in 2008 at the age of 44. It’s the reflection of a fully formed human being.

I was proud to publish David’s work years later. It always tickled me when he pitched articles — my old boss, pitching me — but I was pleased to publish them out of gratitude for the start he and Peter gave me.

While David became famous for his political transformation, in some ways he never changed. “You can take the boy out of the left,” one wag quipped, “but you can’t take the left out of the boy.” Venture capitalist Ben Horowitz, David’s son, put it even more precisely: “While David became known for his change in views, in a sense he never changed at all.” His method of ideological engagement — fierce, unrelenting, totalizing, moralistic — remained constant. Once an ideologue, always an ideologue.

And thank God for that.

David launched and encouraged the careers of many others, including Donald Trump’s domestic adviser Stephen Miller and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. His Freedom Center helped shape the new generation of conservative activists — and sharpened the right’s sense of urgency and resolve. Though he often complained that Republicans lacked the stomach to fight, he lived long enough to see another political pugilist from Queens take and retake the Oval Office.

His nine-volume “The Black Book of the American Left” was arguably his life’s last great project, modeled in part on “The Black Book of Communism.” Where others flinched or equivocated, Horowitz named the threat. The left wasn’t simply wrong — it was dangerous, deceitful, and, at its root, totalitarian.

David Horowitz is survived by his wife, April, four children, and several grandchildren.

He spent the second half of his life warning Americans about the first half. And he never, ever backed down.

Editor’s note: A version of this article appeared originally at Chronicles Magazine.

​Opinion & analysis, In memoriam, Obituary, Marxism, The left, The right, Donald trump, Ramparts, 1960s, Ronald reagan, Communist party usa, David horowitz, Peter collier, Stephen miller, Charlie kirk, Black panthers, Betty van patter 

An Ohio father whose son was killed in a Cincinnati police shooting last week is accused of murdering a recently retired sheriff’s deputy the very next day.

Rodney Hinton Jr. on Tuesday appeared in court for a no-bond hearing on an aggravated murder charge in the death of retired Hamilton County sheriff’s deputy Larry Henderson, WLWT-TV reported.

The detective said Hinton Jr. picked out the first officer he could find and accelerated toward him, going ‘through the intersection, directly at where deputy Henderson was standing, struck deputy Henderson and the metal utility pole on the northeast corner.’

The station said the court’s gallery was packed with family members and law enforcement officers during the hearing — and that emotions ran high.

The prosecution called a Cincinnati police detective who said Hinton Jr. on Friday had been at the police station to meet with the chief and view police bodycam video from the day before, WLWT reported.

The video showed officers fatally shooting Hinton Jr.’s son, Ryan Hinton, the station said, adding that the shooting occurred as police stopped a stolen car.

The detective said Hinton Jr. was emotional after viewing the bodycam video, and family didn’t want him driving, WLWT reported.

The detective said Hinton Jr. initially didn’t drive — but came back later, got his car, and headed to an area near the University of Cincinnati where deputy Henderson was directing traffic for the college’s graduation, the station noted.

The detective said Hinton Jr. picked out the first officer he could find and accelerated toward him, going “through the intersection, directly at where deputy Henderson was standing, struck deputy Henderson and the metal utility pole on the northeast corner,” WLWT reported.

The prosecutor asked if there was evidence of skid marks, but the station said the detective replied “no” and that “there were no indications he tried to brake, stop, or otherwise avoid deputy Henderson.”

The prosecution previously said Hinton Jr. “purposely caused the death of an on-duty deputy sheriff,” WCPO-TV said.

Judge Tyrone Yates heard testimony as well as arguments from the state and defense in regard to bond for Hinton Jr., WLWT said, adding that the state said there are no adequate forms of release, and the suspect is a “giant mental health question mark” who presents a risk to law enforcement officers and the public.

Hinton Jr.’s attorney, Clyde Bennett, entered a not guilty plea on Hinton Jr.’s behalf and noted that his client’s behavior indicates “classic mental illness” — and that not being in a right frame of mind can get one believing a wrong choice is actually right, the station said.

Hinton Jr. was denied bond at Tuesday’s hearing, NBC News said.

Bennett said he will seek a competency hearing, WLWT noted, adding that a grand jury date was set for May 12.

You can view a video report here about Tuesday’s hearing and the case in general.

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​Murder charge, Cincinnati, Police involved shooting, Ohio, Father and son, Angry father, Rodney hinton jr., Hamilton county sheriff’s deputy larry henderson, Retired, Helping out, Ryan hinton, Crime 

While talking to Bill O’Reilly and Andrew Cuomo on “News Nation,” Stephen A. Smith received a presidential endorsement that no one was expecting.

President Donald Trump called into the show to endorse Smith as a 2028 presidential nominee.

“Stephen A. Smith may run for president, as you know,” O’Reilly told Trump over the phone. “Do you have any advice for Stephen A. if he launches the run?”

“No, Stephen A., he’s a good guy, he’s a smart guy, I love watching him, he’s got great entertainment skills, which is very important. People watch him. You know, a lot of these Democrats I watch, I say, ‘They have no chance.’ I’ve been pretty good at picking people and picking candidates, and I will tell you, I’d love to see him run,” Trump said to cheers from the studio audience.

“Boom,” Jason Whitlock of “Fearless” says. “Donald Trump has joined Stephen A. Smith’s campaign for the presidency in 2028. Doesn’t surprise me.”

“But it does surprise me that they’re paying the guy $20 million a year at ESPN and he doesn’t even have to pay attention to sports,” he continues, “He’s out campaigning for president.”

BlazeTV contributors Steve Kim and T.J. Moe are glad Trump is endorsing Smith.

“I’m with Donald Trump,” Kim says. “I hope he runs for president, please let it be. Please. In fact, let his running mate be Jazzy Jazz Ratchet. That’s a dream party ticket for me. So yes, I endorse the endorsement of Donald J. Trump.”

“I had the same thought,” Moe chimes in. “Trump’s baiting him into it. It’s no different than what I heard yesterday, Beto O’Rourke came out and said, ‘If the people of Texas want me to run for the Senate, I will run.’ And I’m like, ‘Yes, I will donate and contribute to your campaign because it will guarantee another conservative maintains Texas.’”

“That’s what I think Donald Trump’s doing here,” he adds.

Want more from Jason Whitlock?

To enjoy more fearless conversations at the crossroads of culture, faith, sports, and comedy with Jason Whitlock, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Camera phone, Video phone, Sharing, Free, Upload, Video, Youtube.com, Fearless with jason whitlock, Fearless, Jason whitlock, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Stephen a smith, Donald trump, President donald trump, Stephen a smith presidency, Bill o’reilly, Andrew cuomo 

After years of lying to the American public that Joe Biden was as “sharp as a tack,” former White House staff and the legacy media are now quietly admitting that our suspicions were right all along — Biden was as sharp as a soap bubble. From former White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain to numerous media voices, the narrative has been corrected. People knew.

Former Biden press secretary Jen Psaki just addressed the former president’s mental acuity on a recent episode of Semafor Media’s “Mixed Signals.”

Pat Gray plays the clip.

“I left in May of 2022 … and I have seen Biden once since then, when I took my daughter to the holiday party this last December after he had lost. And so I hadn’t seen him in person during that period of time. I never saw that person — not a single time, and I was in the Oval Office every day — that was on that debate stage,” Psaki doubled down.

“Were things that people saw during that period of time that were similar to that or would have been in a category of that? I don’t know. Possibly,” she then caveated.

“Were they actively covering it up? Were they sort of in denial? Or was that just a bad debate?” Semafor editor in chief Ben Smith asked.

“Cover-up is a very loaded term. … Cover-up is often, like, a crime,” Psaki said defensively. “People use that term as they relate to Watergate. … It’s a bit of a dangerous term.”

“Yes, this is much worse than that,” says Stu Burguiere, calling “cover-up” an “accurate term.”

“Yes, it’s the truth. People covered up for him, and they’re admitting that now,” agrees Pat. “To me, that borders on treason when you’re talking about the chief executive of this country.”

However, even if we were to give Psaki’s story the benefit of the doubt, it would still fall flat because “before [Biden] was even elected, he had lost a step (or 12).”

“We saw it all during the campaign in 2020,” says Pat. Even back then it was clear that “he was not the same guy he was back in 2008 when he ran.”

To hear more of the conversation and see the footage of Psaki’s interview, watch the clip above.

Want more from Pat Gray?

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​Pat gray unleashed, Pat gray, Blaze media, Blazetv, Jen psaki, Biden mental decline, Biden administration 

The decades-long feud between India and Pakistan broke out into a military attack after a lethal attack on tourists in a region administered by India.

Indian officials said on Wednesday (local time) they ordered missile strikes on what they identified as “terrorist infrastructure” of nine locations. The attack was a response to a massacre of tourists in Kashmir last month that was attributed to a Kashmir resistance group.

‘This heinous provocation will not go unanswered.’

“These steps come in the wake of the barbaric Pahalgam terrorist attack in which 25 Indians and one Nepali citizen were murdered,” read a statement from India’s Ministry of Defence. “Our actions have been focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature. No Pakistani military facilities have been targeted. India has demonstrated considerable restraint in selection of targets and method of execution.”

In April, gunmen opened fire on tourists in Pahalgam, a Indian-administered part of Kashmir, and killed 26 tourists. Kashmir is a disputed region that is claimed by both countries but only controlled in part since the partition of British India in 1947.

Pakistani military spokesperson Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry released a statement vowing that the country would retaliate.

“Pakistan will respond to it at a time and place of its own choosing,” said Chaudhry. “This heinous provocation will not go unanswered.”

Pakistani sources told CNN that three of the affected sites — Kotli, Muzaffarabad, and Bagh — were in the Pakistani-administered portion of Kashmir, while two of the locations — Ahmadpur East and Muridke — were in the Punjab province of Pakistan. Three people were killed in the attack, including one child, according to Pakistani officials.

India did not publicly blame the Pakistani government for the tourist massacre but said that the strikes were in response to the government’s “support for cross-border terrorism.” The Resistance Front initially claimed responsibility and then reportedly walked back the claim.

The escalation of the feud between the two countries is especially alarming because they are both armed with nuclear weapons. The two nations have fought for control of Kashmir ever since 1947, making it one of the most militarized places in the world.

Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif denied the claim from India that they had struck terrorist sites and called on international media to visit the sites to document that they were targeting civilians.

President Donald Trump offered some comments about the altercation from the Oval Office.

“It’s a shame. We just heard about it, just as we were walking in the doors of the Oval, just heard about it,” said Trump.

“I guess people knew something was going to happen based on a little bit of the past. They’ve been fighting for a long time, you know. They’ve been fighting for many, many decades and centuries,” he added. “I just hope it ends very quickly.”

Pakistan’s prime minister, Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, said the strikes were an act of war.

“The enemy will never be allowed to succeed in his nefarious objectives,” Sharif said.

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​Pakistan india war, India strikes pakistan, Terror attack india, India vs pakistan, Politics 

Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said he was directing an investigation into what he called an “alarming” violation of student rights at a Loudon County school over a transgender policy.

The family of a student at Stone Bridge High School said he was accused of sexual harassment after asking why there was a biological girl in the boys’ locker room. The student is reportedly being investigated for allegedly violating Title IX, which forbids sex discrimination.

‘It’s astonishing that Loudoun school officials are subjecting him to a formal investigation for a bogus charge that could derail his life.’

On Tuesday, Youngkin responded to outrage over the case by announcing an investigation into the actions of the school district officials.

“Parental rights are not negotiable,” wrote the governor on social media.

“It’s deeply concerning to read reports of yet another incident in Loudoun County schools where members of the opposite sex are violating the privacy of students in locker rooms,” he added. “Even more alarming, the victims of this violation are the ones being investigated.”

He went on to say that the state’s attorney general was investigating the matter in order to ensure that “every student’s privacy, dignity and safety are upheld.”

Details of the incident were documented in a lawsuit filed by the Founding Freedoms Law Center, which is representing the student. The male student, who is a high school sophomore, complained about the presence of a biological girl in the boys’ locker room and was recorded by the biological female. The recording also captured two other male students who expressed confusion and discomfort about the girl’s presence.

The district has a policy of allowing students to use bathrooms and locker rooms based on their gender identity and not their biological identity.

The boy’s father said the accusation could ruin his son’s life.

“My 15-year-old son is being unfairly targeted for simply asking a basic question that any boy would be asking in that situation. It’s astonishing that Loudoun school officials are subjecting him to a formal investigation for a bogus charge that could derail his life,” the father said.

A father of one of the boys commented to WJLA-TV; it was unclear if this was a different father.

“There were other boys asking the same question,” he said. “[LCPS] created a very uncomfortable situation. They’re young. They’re 15 years old. They’re expressing their opinions, and now they’re being targeted for expressing those opinions.”

WJLA pointed out that it was against school policy to record in school locker rooms, but the boys who were recorded are being investigated rather than the student who recorded them.

The father said the school needed to change its policy in order to protect all children.

“I think the policy itself creates an unsafe environment for all kids at all levels, from the elementary schools and middle school to the high school,” he added.

“I think it creates an unsafe and unclear message for them. I think by not having clear policies in line with the presidential mandates, that it has actually created these hostile environments, and environments that these young boys and young girls do not feel comfortable in,” the father explained. “I do want our son and his future and these other students to be protected, but I think that the bigger issue is that the policy itself is not keeping our students safe.”

A spokesperson for Loudon school district did not respond to a request for a comment from the Washington Times.

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​Youngkin vs loudon school, Loudon county public schools, Loudon schools trangender, Girl in boys locker room, Politics 

A federal judge ruled against the Trump administration and ordered for 12,000 migrants to be allowed entry and resettlement in the U.S. after the government objected to an injunction from a prior ruling.

The Trump administration had estimated that the injunction would apply to only about 160 people, but U.S. District Judge Jamal Whitehead accused them of “interpretative jiggery-pokery” to exempt thousands.

‘The government is not free to disobey statutory and constitutional law — and the direct orders of this court and the Ninth Circuit.’

The migrants had their travel approved under the United States Refugee Admissions Program, but President Donald Trump ended the program with an executive order when he got into office in January.

Whitehead had issued a preliminary injunction against the administration ending the programs, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals partially ruled against him, saying that the Trump administration had the authority to determine immigration law. The court said that the ruling would not apply to migrants conditionally accepted to travel before the Jan. 20 order.

However, since the appeals court did not define what conditional acceptance meant, the government concluded that it only applied to 160 people, while Whitehead said it applied to more than 12,000 people.

“It is surprising that there could be any disagreement about the meaning of a judicial order that articulates three specific criteria in plain, straightforward language,” Whitehead wrote after the court clarified three conditions to meet the standard.

He also said the government was “hallucinating new text” into the appeals court order.

“This court will not entertain the government’s result-oriented rewriting of a judicial order that clearly says what it says,” the judge added. “The government is free, of course, to seek further clarification from the Ninth Circuit. But the government is not free to disobey statutory and constitutional law — and the direct orders of this court and the Ninth Circuit — while it seeks such clarification.”

Whitehead issued specific benchmarks that the government needed to meet in the coming weeks to fulfill his order to allow the migrants in question to settle in the U.S.

The refugee program was instituted in 1980 and is separate from the immigration policy that allows migrants to seek asylum in the U.S.

Judge Whitehead was appointed to the court by former President Joe Biden in 2023.

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​Biden judge vs trump, Judge forces 12k migrants, Trump vs judiciary, Politics, Us refugee admissions program 

The shocking murder of a beloved Arizona pastor is raising more questions than answers.

On April 28, Maricopa County sheriff deputies were dispatched to the home of 76-year-old William Schonemann. Known in his community as “Pastor Bill,” Schonemann served as pastor of the New River Bible Chapel for 25 years.

‘Who would do that? Why would anyone hurt Bill?’

At the scene, police discovered Schonemann’s lifeless body.

Detectives initially said little about Schonemann’s death, though they disclosed that “foul play” was observed at the scene. A few days later, the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Pastor Bill’s death a homicide. He had been murdered inside his own home.

Investigators remain tight-lipped about the details. But sources told KSAZ-TV that Schonemann was discovered on his bed with “his arms spread out and hands pinned to the wall,” the outlet reported. Schonemann’s body, moreover, reportedly had “significant injuries,” though the nature of those injuries remain unclear at this time.

As for a motive or a suspect? Police aren’t saying much.

Investigators have only disclosed that there are “specific and unique circumstances” with the case, but they have declined to elaborate further.

Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office deputy Will Jinks said the agency is “actively working the case,” but “there are specific and unique circumstances” that “we are not at liberty to discuss to ensure we keep the integrity of the investigation. We hope to have an update very soon.”

As for those who knew Pastor Bill, his untimely death is “unfathomable.”

“Who would do that? Why would anyone hurt Bill? I don’t understand how someone could do something like that. It’s still unfathomable,” said neighbor Eric Asher.

Mike Anders, another neighbor, said their community remains shocked over Schonemann’s murder.

“I mean, we locked our doors last night. It’s just something that we are just not used to doing,” Anders told KSAZ. “Everybody is just, until we know what’s going on, we don’t know if it was a family member, or, we don’t know what, who could do this to him.”

In a statement, Schonemann’s family said:

Our Dad had such a positive impact on people everywhere he went. We will miss the loving guidance and patience. The happiness he showed just getting to walk around an airport, getting his steps in. The creativity of all machines he built. There are never enough words to say it all or to say it as well as a person would like. Simply, he is missed.

Aside from his vocation as a pastor, Schonemann served in the Navy, including a tour in Vietnam.

The investigation into his murder remains ongoing, and you can view a video report here about where things stand.

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​William schonemann, Christianity, Murder, Arizona, Christian, Pastor, Crime 

The Trump administration’s National Institutes of Health announced over the weekend that it had shut down the notorious government research labs that were used to conduct brutal and deadly experiments on dogs.

NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya told Fox News on Saturday that the agency had closed the last of its in-house beagle laboratories.

‘Mr. Fauci’s evil lab has FINALLY been shut down.’

Bhattacharya explained that changing the existing culture within the NIH has been difficult.

“I’ll do some policy change, and people try to find the worst possible spin for it,” he stated. “I put out a policy to make sure that when we have animals in research, that we look at alternatives.”

“It’s very easy to cure Alzheimer’s in mice, but those things don’t transfer to humans,” Bhattacharya continued. “So we put forward policy to replace animals in research with other technological advances — AI and other tools — that actually translate better to human health.”

“We got rid of all the beagle experiments on the NIH campus,” he declared.

Bhattacharya addressed the public’s lack of trust in the NIH, noting that he hopes to reverse this sentiment under President Donald Trump.

The White Coat Waste Project celebrated the NIH’s move to shut down the last and largest in-house dog lab, where more than 2,000 beagles died from “brutal septic shock experiments.”

Under former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, the NIH likely spent “millions of tax dollars” forcing pneumonia-causing bacteria into dogs’ lungs. WCW stated that the bacteria caused the beagles to bleed out and forced them into septic shock.

WCW president and founder Anthony Bellotti stated, “Taxpayers and pet owners shouldn’t be forced to pay for the NIH’s beagle abuse.”

“We applaud the president for cutting this wasteful NIH spending and will keep fighting until we defund all dog labs at home and abroad. The solution is simple: Stop the money. Stop the madness!” Bellotti added.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals also praised the Trump administration’s move.

PETA director of science advancement and outreach Dr. Emily Trunell said, “After more than a decade of agitation, tens of thousands of emails to NIH officials from PETA supporters, and a 2021 landmark lawsuit, PETA welcomes the long-overdue news that NIH is canceling at least one of the appalling sepsis experiments that inflicted prolonged suffering on animals in federal and federally funded laboratories.”

Bhattacharya told Fox News that PETA thanked him for eliminating the experiments.

He stated, “Normally, I think NIH directors tend to get physical threats, but they sent me flowers.”

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) reacted to the Bhattacharya’s announcement.

“You paid over $2 million so Fauci could inject beagle puppies with cocaine. Real science, they said. For years I’ve called out this lunacy. Grateful to [Trump], [Bhattacharya], and [Robert F. Kennedy Jr.] for bringing a shred of sanity back to government spending,” Paul stated.

He called the shutdown “one of the best things to come out of DOGE.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) also praised the end of the experimentations.

“Mr. Fauci’s evil lab has FINALLY been shut down,” she wrote in a post on social media. “Beagles & dog owners across America are celebrating the END of this cruelty.”

Greene shared a video with one of the beagles rescued from the dog labs.

“What kind of person would support these terrible experiments??” Greene asked.

WCW stated that “it is 100% confirmed that Fauci’s NIH division funded” the experiments.

When pressed in 2021 about the NIAID’s decision to approve the NIH’s grant funding of the experiments, the agency downplayed Fauci’s role.

“The decision whether to fund a research grant application to NIAID is made through a multi-step peer-review process,” the NIAID told FactCheck.org. “Final funding decisions are made on a group of a few thousand grant applications at a time based on the advice of the Advisory Council and NIAID staff and concurrence by Dr. Fauci. Except in very limited circumstances, Dr. Fauci does not approve funding for grant applications on an individual basis. These limited circumstances did not apply to the research recently highlighted by the White Coat Waste Project.”

The NIAID and the NIH denied funding a study in Tunisia that placed sedated beagles’ heads in cages to allow diseased sand flies to bite them.

“All animals used in NIH-funded research are protected by laws, regulations, and policies to ensure the smallest possible number of subjects and the greatest commitment to their welfare,” the NIAID previously told PolitiFact.

In October 2021, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) sent a letter to Fauci demanding answers about some of the beagle experiments, noting that the “NIAID spent $1.68 million in taxpayer funds on drug tests involving 44 beagle puppies.”

“The dogs were all between six and eight months old. The commissioned tests involved injecting and force-feeding the puppies an experimental drug for several weeks, before killing and dissecting them,” she wrote.

Mace stated in December 2021 that Fauci had not responded to her letter.

During a June 2024 House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic hearing, Greene questioned Fauci about the beagle experiments.

“You did sign off on these so-called scientific experiments, and as a dog lover, I want to tell you this is disgusting and evil what you signed off on. And these experiments that happened to beagles, paid for by the American taxpayer, and I want you to know Americans don’t pay their taxes for animals to be tortured like this,” Greene told Fauci.

“What do dogs have to do with anything that we’re talking about today?” Fauci responded.

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​News, Trump administration, Trump admin, Donald trump, Trump, Jay bhattacharya, Nih, Beagles, Peta, People for the ethical treatment of animals, White coat waste project, Marjorie taylor greene, Mtg, Rand paul, Politics, National institutes of health 

KinderCare Learning Companies is the largest private provider of early childhood education in the country, operating over 2,300 facilities and programs nationwide.

While KinderCare reportedly had the capacity to serve over 200,000 children when the Oregon-headquartered corporation went public in October, its CEO, Paul Thompson, told Yahoo Finance that there was a “lot of opportunity” to serve even more families beyond the 40 states and the District of Columbia where it presently operates.

When speaking with BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey on the Monday episode of “Relatable,” investigative journalist Edwin Dorsey cast doubt on whether families are best served by the growing day care giant, highlighting various complaints about KinderCare across the country, as well as a handful of troubling reports of alleged abuse and/or neglect — including a report of a Wisconsin baby’s alleged exposure to cocaine at a care facility last year and another report concerning a KinderCare worker’s alleged slashing of a toddler with a pizza cutter.

‘Kids were overdosing on drugs brought by the staff.’

Dorsey told Stuckey that he makes liberal use of Freedom of Information Act requests to get copies of the consumer complaints people send to regulators and to state attorneys general offices, and that when it came to KinderCare, he found a “high level of complaints.”

The complaints were primarily about “child safety issues — and not the type of stuff you normally expect where, you know, maybe a kid, like, fights with another kid or somebody has allergies,” said Dorsey. “There is, like, issues where kids were escaping from the KinderCare locations. Kids were getting locked in rooms, you know, with no supervision. Kids were overdosing on drugs brought by the staff.”

Blaze News reached out to KinderCare for comment but did not receive a response by deadline.

The investigative journalist concluded in a report last month that KinderCare, which apparently receives millions of dollars in government subsidies, “is a broken business that harms the children and families it claims to help.”

‘This seems like a pretty simple and basic issue for day care.’

One of the incidents that drove the reporter to that determination took place on May 15, 2024, in Oak Creek, Wisconsin.

After finding scratches and marks on her 11-month-old son when she picked him up from KinderCare, Kimberly Hopson took him to Children’s Wisconsin, where doctors informed her the baby had cocaine in his system, reported WISN-TV.

Investigators subsequently searched Hopson’s home but found no trace of the illicit substance. When they searched the day care, police indicated drug-sniffing dogs found a bag of cocaine in a worker’s backpack in the infant room.

Passion Watson, the KinderCare worker who owned the backpack, was slapped with a misdemeanor drug possession charge to which she later pleaded guilty.

At the time of Watson’s arrest, an attorney representing the drugged child and his family stated, “I would expect that a day care that has that many locations and that type of brand recognition to have appropriate protocols, standards and policies to ensure against what took place.”

A WTMJ-TV investigation revealed that the KinderCare Oak Creek location had over two dozen violations cited by the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families, including for staff being aggressive with infants, undocumented injuries, and kids having access to power tools and toxic chemicals. The location has since had its license revoked.

Dorsey referenced a 2021 incident where a motorist found a 3-year-old boy wandering near an off-ramp in Milford, Connecticut. When the passerby notified the staff at the Wellington Road KinderCare where his parents dropped him off, staff reportedly indicated they had no idea the boy was missing.

WTNH-TV noted at the time that two years prior, the same location had been cited for 10 violations during an unannounced visit by state licensing inspectors.

“I know of at least three cases where kids are escaping from KinderCare, and this is, like, way more than any other chain,” Dorsey told Stuckey. “This seems like a pretty simple and basic issue for day care — you gotta make sure that the kids can’t escape, and that’s going on repeatedly in KinderCare.”

‘It’s a complete, you know, abuse of taxpayer funds.’

Another example Dorsey identified was the June 13, 2024, incident that took place at the KinderCare center in Rochester, Minnesota.

The Minnesota Star Tribune reported that Andrianna Newburn was initially charged with third-degree assault and making felony terroristic threats for allegedly going into the day care’s infant room and slashing a co-worker’s baby with a pizza cutter.

The Minnesota Department of Human Services cleared the KinderCare facility earlier this year, concluding that the employee was solely responsible for the incident of maltreatment.

Other incidents referenced in Dorsey’s report include the death of an Ohio infant after a stay at a KinderCare location that had multiple serious violations during inspections; a Florida mother’s February 2022 discovery that KinderCare workers had locked her 2-year-old daughter inside and left for the day; a KinderCare teacher’s alleged beating of a 4-year-old boy at a Dunedin, Florida, KinderCare location; and the threats caught on a hidden recording device allegedly issued by workers at a San Antonio KinderCare location.

Dorsey suggested to Stuckey that across the various examples of abuse and neglect, KinderCare appears to have also dropped the ball on transparency with parents, who learned of their kids’ maltreatment through secondary sources.

Dorsey noted further that KinderCare receives a substantial amount of money in federal funding “through the Child Care and Development Block Grant, which was started in 1990 under George H.W. Bush with the idea being that … having kids in, like, informative day cares is so beneficial to early childhood education and to kids’ development that the government should be subsidizing it.”

“The reality is that it’s kind of, like, the opposite,” continued Dorsey. “It doesn’t seem like it’s beneficial to your development to have 20 kids in a room supervised by someone earning $12 an hour in a corporate environment that just doesn’t care about these kids. So it’s a complete, you know, abuse of taxpayer funds. The government has huge ability to flex on these centers.”

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​Kindercare, Daycare, Abuse, Allie beth stuckey, Edwin dorsey, Politics 

CBS News has just released a report accusing Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, surgeon general nominee, of deliberately misrepresenting the truth regarding her academic career — but Liz Wheeler of “The Liz Wheeler Show” has other concerns about Nesheiwat.

Concerns that she believes should lead to the withdrawal of President Trump’s nomination.

“The most serious reason that senators must vote ‘no,’” Wheeler says, is that “Janette Nesheiwat called the COVID vax a ‘gift from God.’”

“She praised Facebook and other Big Tech companies for censoring what she called ‘anti-vax information,’” Wheeler continues. “And remember what these people, how these people, define ‘anti-vax information.’ Anything that discourages people from following their advice is what they consider to be anti-vax.”

“First of all, vaccines save lives, and I am so excited and I thank and I commend Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg for taking action because this affects everyone. This affects our children, it affects adults. I mean, just look at the recent measles outbreak, the biggest outbreak that we’ve had in decades with measles and that’s no joke,” Nesheiwat said in an interview on Fox Business.

“And that’s no joke,” she continued. “Measles can cause brain inflammation and pneumonia and ear infections and hearing loss and death. So it’s about time that they are taking action, and I hope and pray that other social media platforms will follow suit and do the same thing.”

“As if that’s not bad enough, maybe the most polarizing, maybe, maybe, the COVID vaccine is the most polarizing part of COVID. Maybe it was the lockdowns, maybe it was the social distancing, maybe it was the masking, maybe it was closing your businesses, maybe it was masking your children in school,” Wheeler comments.

“Guess who supported masking children in school? Dr. Janette Nesheiwat,” she continues.

In October 2021, Nesheiwat posted on social media that “masks have saved thousands of lives and prevented thousands of infections.”

“No scientific evidence of this, this is a stupid opinion. Not quite as harmful as masking children in school, but stupid,” Wheeler comments.

“There’s simply no question that President Trump should withdraw the nomination of Dr. Janette Nesheiwat from surgeon general, and the senators on the HELP committee in the United States Senate should vote no, should absolutely vote no,” she adds.

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​Camera phone, Video phone, Sharing, Free, Upload, Video, Youtube.com, The liz wheeler show, Liz wheeler, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Dr. janette nesheiwat, Trump, Donald trump, The trump administration, Covid vaccine, Censorship, Anti vax censorship 

President Donald Trump said that a two-month missile attack on the Houthi terrorist group will cease immediately after the group agreed to stop attacking U.S. ships.

The Iran-backed insurgents have been launching attacks on U.S. ships from Yemen for months, but the president said that he reached an agreement to stop the attacks in the Red Sea waterway.

‘They have capitulated. … They say they will not be blowing up ships anymore.’

“They said, ‘Please don’t bomb us anymore, and we’re not going to attack your ships,'” said Trump to reporters on Tuesday.

The Houthis faced a devastating military attack when Israel retaliated for the terror group’s ballistic missile strike against the Jerusalem airport on Sunday. The group has been allied with Hamas against Israel and the U.S. support for Israel’s military campaign.

“They have capitulated, but more importantly … we will take their word,” said Trump at the White House. “They say they will not be blowing up ships anymore.”

Trump told Secretary of State Marco Rubio to contact the Houthis about his decision.

“If it’s going to stop, then we can stop,” said Rubio to reporters.

The Trump administration labeled the Houthis a terror group in March, which had been previously identified as a rebel group under the Biden administration.

Human Rights Watch has criticized the Trump administration for the casualties among civilians in Yemen from the U.S. strikes.

“U.S. airstrikes are appearing to kill and injure civilians in Yemen at an alarming rate over the past month under a Trump administration that has loosened policy constraints on the use of force and is seeking to marginalize Pentagon offices charged with mitigating civilian harm,” said Niku Jafarnia, a researcher at HRW.

The president’s Houthi announcement can be viewed on the news video report from PBS News.

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President Donald Trump’s tariffs have reportedly unleashed chaos in China, with workers protesting over unpaid wages and layoffs.

A Radio Free Asia report claims that workers’ protests are spreading across China, prompted by Trump’s 145% tariff on the nation’s imports. It states that hundreds of employees have taken to the streets to demand back pay and challenge layoffs following the abrupt shutdown of some Chinese factories.

‘Their economy is collapsing.’

Workers from one electronic factory reportedly contend that the company has not paid their wages since the beginning of 2025 and that they have not received social security benefits since June 2023.

Those previously employed at other Chinese factories have reported similar issues regarding abrupt layoffs, as well as unpaid wages and benefits.

Shan Hui, chief China economist at Goldman Sachs, estimated that 16 million jobs are involved in producing goods sold in the U.S.

“Prices will need to fall for domestic and other foreign buyers to help absorb the excess supply left behind by U.S. importers,” Shan stated.

Before Trump’s tariffs took effect, China saw strong economic gains in the first few months of the year.

Sheng Laiyun, deputy director of the National Bureau of Statistics, stated, “The national economy had a steady and good start, continuing the upward trend.”

“However, we must also see that the current external environment is becoming more complex and severe, and the effective domestic demand growth momentum is insufficient,” Sheng added.

Goldman Sachs predicted that Trump’s tariffs would “significantly weigh” on China’s economy.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) recently praised Trump for his actions against China to bring manufacturing back to the U.S.

Mullin told Fox News this week, “President Trump is the first president that we’ve had that actually has a backbone strong enough to stand up and say we’ve got to right this wrong, start manufacturing goods here.”

“China has got rich off our country,” he continued. “Forty percent of all their goods they manufacture are sold back here in the United States. And they rip us off all the time.”

In an NBC News interview released over the weekend, Trump confirmed his plans to keep the steep tariffs against China in place — for now.

When asked whether he would drop the tariffs, Trump responded, “Why would I do that?”

“Would you lower them?” he was asked.

“At some point, I’m going to lower them because otherwise, you could never do business with them — and they want to do business very much,” Trump said. “Their economy is really doing badly. Their economy is collapsing.”

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​News, Donald trump, Trump, Trump administration, Trump admin, Tariffs, China, Economy, Protests, Trade, Politics 

Yesterday, President Trump signed an executive order banning federal funding for gain-of-function research abroad, particularly in countries like China and Iran, deemed to have insufficient research oversight. The order also pauses certain domestic research involving infectious pathogens and toxins until a safer, more transparent policy is developed. It aims to reduce the risk of lab-related incidents, like those associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, but doesn’t hinder U.S. innovation in biotechnology.

“This could be one of the most consequential things that Donald Trump will do in his entire presidency,” “Blaze News Tonight” host Jill Savage says.

“This is something that’s just pure justice that needed to be done to save this country from all the crap that we’ve been through in the last few years,” adds Blaze News editor in chief and co-host Matthew Peterson.

He notes that even President Obama, in response to concerns about biosafety risks following lab incidents, paused federal funding for certain gain-of-function research. Fauci, however, “thwarted Obama” and took his research abroad.

“Fauci was able to weasel his way out and continue this dangerous research throughout the world,” Peterson says. “This has to end,” and Trump’s executive order “is a great beginning.”

While it is certainly a good start, Jill points out the obvious next step: “We need people in Congress to step up to the plate.”

“In order to implement the mandate, you need Congress,” Peterson agrees, adding that sadly, “there isn’t a sense of urgency with a lot of these people.”

“Congress isn’t used to getting the job done,” he says. They like to “wait out the executive” and “slow roll things.”

That’s why it’s “vital that everyone out there start calling them and putting pressure on your congressmen.”

To hear more of the conversation, watch the episode above.

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​Blaze news tonight, Blaze media, Blazetv, Donald trump, Anthony fauci, Gain of function research, Wuhan, Covid lab leak, Covid-19 

A 22-year-old North Carolina woman was murdered in a tragic home invasion, according to police — and her shattered father honored his slain daughter with a heartbreaking tribute.

Logan Federico — a 22-year-old from Waxhaw — recently visited friends in Columbia, South Carolina.

‘You might be able to kill my body … but you cannot kill my love that my family and friends shared with me.’

On Saturday, Federico was found dead inside the house.

The young woman’s cause of death was determined to be a gunshot wound to the chest, according to Richland County Coroner Naida Rutherford.

During a Monday press conference, officers with the Columbia Police Department said Federico was “randomly murdered by a career criminal” who was “on a spree of thefts, break-ins, and credit card fraud.”

Police named the suspect in Logan’s death as 30-year-old Alexander Dickey.

Investigators believe Dickey broke into a house near the property where Federico was staying. The suspect allegedly stole several items from the house, including a firearm, credit cards, and keys to a vehicle.

Dickey then committed a home invasion where Federico was staying around 3 a.m. Saturday, police said, after which the suspect reportedly fled the crime scene in the stolen vehicle.

Dickey made several purchases with the stolen credit cards across Lexington County before the vehicle he allegedly stole broke down, according to People magazine.

Law enforcement tracked down Dickey at a house in Lexington County, and the suspect allegedly set the home on fire.

Police officers reportedly extracted Dickey through a window and took him into custody.

Citing the Columbia Police Department, ABC News reported that Dickey was charged with murder, two counts of first-degree burglary, weapons possession, and larceny.

The Lexington County sheriff added that Dickey also was charged with first-degree burglary and second-degree arson.

Dickey reportedly was denied bail.

The Columbia Police Department said in a statement, “While Logan was visiting friends in Columbia, her life was senselessly taken. Our deepest condolences go out to the Federico family and all who knew and loved her. No words can ease the pain of their loss, but we stand with them in support and sorrow.”

The statement continued, “We remain committed to pursuing justice and supporting Logan’s family every step of the way.”

Logan’s father — Stephen Federico — made a touching tribute to his slain daughter during a press conference.

“I am Logan Haley Federico’s father, better known as ‘Dad,’ or her hero,” the distraught dad said. “Unfortunately, that day, I could not be her hero.”

He continued, “My daughter, I cherished. She was a strong, fun-loving individual who did what she wanted to do and was spicy.”

The father added, “My daughter was working hard at school, working two jobs to become a teacher. She loved and adored kids, children of all ages.”

Logan’s father delivered a powerful message to his daughter’s alleged killer.

“The message I want to send to Dickey, who took my daughter’s life — this is from her: ‘You can’t kill my spirit. You might be able to kill my body … but you cannot kill my love that my family and friends shared with me,'” Federico declared before breaking down in tears.

You can watch the father’s painful tribute to his slain daughter here.

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​South carolina, South carolina crime, True crime, True crime news, Murder, Home invasion, Crime