Category: blaze media

It’s the $1.2 trillion question.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wanlee Prachyapanaprai via iStock/Getty Images

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yet, there has been little progress or accountability.

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

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

‘Everyone who did this must be arrested.’

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

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

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

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

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

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

Photo by Matt Roth for The Washington Post via Getty Images

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Photographer: Simone Lueck/Bloomberg via Getty Images

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Crockett also is refusing to release her polling numbers.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Want more from Sara Gonzales?

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

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

‘Criminals beware and think twice!’

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

More from WHBQ:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Blaze News has reached out to CNN for comment.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Photo by Caean Couto/NHLI via Getty Images

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

‘It acts without lawful authority.’

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

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

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

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

Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Image

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Anti-ICE protesters and rioters have forced Minneapolis public schools to shut down out of caution after a lethal shooting of a woman by federal agents.

Protesters denounced the Trump administration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement overnight at the same time that the governor and mayor, both of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, called for ICE to leave Minneapolis immediately.

‘All MPS-sponsored programs, activities, athletics, Community Education, including Adult Education, will be canceled.’

“Out of an abundance of caution, there will be no school on Thursday, January 8, 2026 and Friday, January 9, 2026 due to safety concerns related to today’s incidents around the city,” reads a statement from Minneapolis Public Schools.

“All MPS-sponsored programs, activities, athletics, Community Education, including Adult Education, will be canceled,” they added. “The District will not move to e-learning because that is only allowable for severe weather. MPS will continue collaborating with the City of Minneapolis and other partners on emergency preparedness and response.”

Some media reports tied the action to an incident where armed U.S. Border Patrol officers detained two staff members at Roosevelt High School after allegedly tackling people and pepper-spraying bystanders.

A school official who spoke on condition of anonymity described the incident to MPR News.

“The guy, I’m telling him like, ‘Please step off the school grounds,’ and this dude comes up and bumps into me and then tells me that I pushed him, and he’s trying to push me, and he knocked me down,” the official said.

“They don’t care. They’re just animals,” the official added. “I’ve never seen people behave like this.”

The Department of Homeland Security offered a far different version of the incident. DHS said agents were conducting an operation when a protester tried to impede them and rammed their vehicles. They gave chase and ended up near the school when a teacher “proceeded to assault a Border Patrol agent.”

DHS denied using tear gas at the incident, but witnesses contradicted that report.

RELATED: ‘ICE, get the f**k out of Minneapolis!’ Democrat mayor calls ICE’s self-defense claim for deadly shooting ‘bulls**t’

Another witness to the incident spoke to KARE-TV about the altercation.

“All of a sudden, a few high school-age kids came running and looking scared and maybe even tearful,” said Evan Johnson, who was walking his dog near the school. “And there was a woman right next to me who was going to head over and start filming herself. And she told this little boy to get into her car. She asked him first if he was afraid of what’s going on. And he just said, ‘ICE is here.'”

DHS said that at no point “was a school, students, or staff targeted, and agents would not have been near this location if not for the dangerous actions of this individual.”

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On Wednesday, federal agents approached an SUV in Minneapolis that was strategically angled to interfere with their law enforcement operation. The driver, 37-year-old Colorado native Renee Nicole Macklin Good, disobeyed repeated orders to exit the vehicle, then drove into a federal agent who opened fire in self-defense.

The agent who fatally shot Good is apparently no stranger to suffering injuries as the result of vehicular violence from radicals. In fact, he appears to be the ICE agent bloodied by another menace evading justice in Minnesota earlier this year.

Munoz-Guatemala hit the gas, trapping the ICE agent’s arm between the seat and the frame of the car.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told reporters on Wednesday, “The very same officer who was attacked today had previously been dragged by an anti-ICE rioter who had rammed him with a car and dragged him back in June. He sustained injuries at that time as well.”

On June 17, federal agents attempted to arrest Roberto Carlos Munoz-Guatemala in Bloomington on an immigration order.

RELATED: Woman who died plowing into ICE agent extolled by same liberal media that vilified Ashli Babbitt

Photo by Christopher Juhn/Anadolu via Getty Images

Munoz-Guatemala is a 40-year-old illegal alien from Guatemala who was previously arrested for domestic assault, convicted in 2022 for serial sexual abuse of a minor, and convicted for driving without a valid license.

Federal agents stopped the foreign sex offender’s vehicle and ordered him to exit; however, Munoz-Guatemala refused to comply.

As Munoz-Guatemala was preparing to speed away, an ICE agent smashed the rear window of the sex offender’s vehicle and attempted to open the car from the inside. However, Munoz-Guatemala hit the gas, trapping the ICE agent’s arm between the seat and the frame of the car.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota, “Munoz-Guatemala dragged the federal agent for more than 100 yards, while weaving back and forth in an attempt to shake the agent from the car.”

Footage of the incident shows the sex offender accelerating down a residential street with the federal agent hanging from the car.

The agent reportedly required 20 stitches for a deep cut in his right arm and an additional 13 stitches in his right hand.

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated at the time, “Instead of comparing ICE law enforcement to the Gestapo, Governor Walz should be thanking our brave law enforcement for arresting these violent criminals.”

A federal jury convicted the sex offender last month on one count of assault on a federal officer with a dangerous and deadly weapon, causing bodily injury.

When asked to confirm that the ICE agent in the two incidents are one and the same, the Department of Homeland Security seemingly confirmed that they are by directing Blaze News to a press release about Munoz-Guatemala.

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Jim Irsay was the owner of the Indianapolis Colts before he passed away. Now, his daughter Carlie Irsay-Gordon is the team’s new owner — and BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock isn’t thrilled with the attention her presence has been drawing.

“She magically appears as the team’s owner and standing on the sideline. And she is what I’m calling an example of the equalizers and this whole feminist movement we have going on in the National Football League,” BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock comments.

“America, beyond question — American culture, American society — the feminist movement has overtaken everything. And that’s why we have women like Carlie Irsay-Gordon pretending to be some sort of football savant and standing on the sidelines with headsets on and listening to the coaches,” he continues.

“If women can overtake the NFL, that should be a message to you that they can overtake, and they are overtaking, all of American society,” he adds.

And when Irsay-Gordon spoke about the end of their season during a press conference, Whitlock points out that she’s literally reading off a script.

“She’s looking down every fourth word at notes in front of her. She’s reading a script. She’s pretending to be a male leader by reading a script. This is all scripted and intentional,” Whitlock says.

“In 2022, NFL owners put out a statement saying that diversity in ownership was an important goal for the NFL. And so, they’ve been ushering in all of this female leadership into the National Football League,” he explains.

“Anything that’s diverse, anything that promotes something that’s not male, patriarchal, and white, that’s all good. … Anything that disrupts tradition, anything that disrupts biblical patriarchy, anything that disrupts male authority and leadership, it’s all good. It’s a positive. It’s a sign of progress,” he continues.

While Irsay-Gordon isn’t the first daughter of an owner to inherit an NFL team, Whitlock points out that it’s not the fact that she inherited the team, but the hyperfocus on her while the Colts were off to an 8-2 start.

“She was the hottest thing in the NFL — ‘She’s holding the coaches accountable, she’s on the sidelines during the games, she’s on headsets, let’s do stories about it,’” Whitlock mocks.

“This is the future of the NFL,” he adds.

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As Christians, when we consider New Year’s resolutions, we often think about reading the Bible more, praying more often, or maybe getting more involved in our church. Those are all wonderful things worthy of pursuing.

Rather than taking time to expound on those, however, I’d like to commend three other resolutions that may not make the usual lists.

Our bodies and souls are integrally connected, and each significantly influences the other.

These are practical — maybe even commonsensical — but given the times in which we live, they’re easy to neglect, with the result that we flourish less than we could.

1. Practice attention management

We hear a great deal about time management these days, but rarely about attention management. Americans spend multiple hours each day on their phones, with teens devoting more than nine hours(!) and adults more than four hours daily. We’re awash in a sea of texts, emails, videos, games, and alerts. If we’re not careful, these can become an endless series of distractions that divert our attention from more important things.

They can also subtly mold us in the shape of the secular culture that produces much of what we consume. As theologian Jason Thacker writes, “Following Jesus in a digital age requires … having our eyes wide open and seeing how technology is subtly shaping us in ways often contrary to our faith. We need to learn how to ask the right questions about our relationship with technology, examining it with clear eyes grounded in the Word of God.”

It takes some intentionality to guard our hearts from the often counter-Christian messages coming through our screens, but we have to make it a priority because “everything [we] do flows from” our hearts (Proverbs 4:23). We can use technology in many beneficial ways, but we must also “examine everything” and “hold firmly to that which is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21) while avoiding obstacles to our spiritual growth.

2. Get more sleep

There’s an old saying among pastors that “sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is take a nap.” After all, we’re not just souls or minds, but also physical beings, by God’s design. Christians are sometimes tempted to view our physical nature in a negative light, but this reflects a Gnostic view that sees the spiritual as good and the material as bad or inferior. This is alien to Scripture, however, which tells us that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). As John W. Kleinig argues in his book “Wonderfully Made: A Protestant Theology of the Body”:

The body matters much more than we usually imagine it does. It matters because it locates us in time and space here on earth. It matters because we live in it and with it. It matters because through it we interact with the world around us, the people who coexist with us, and the living God who keeps us physically alive in it.

Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). In order to keep them healthy and functioning properly, adults need between seven and nine hours of sleep each day. A lack of sufficient sleep can lead to heart disease, hormonal imbalances, reduced immune response, and a lack of mental focus, among other problems.

Since blue light from our phone and computer screens can make it harder to get deep, restful sleep, this is another good reason to limit screen time, especially close to bedtime.

Get enough sleep, and you’ll likely notice greater energy, optimism, and an increased capacity to exhibit the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). Our bodies and souls are integrally connected, and each significantly influences the other.

3. Cultivate friendships

Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, half of U.S. adults reported feelings of loneliness, with 58% worrying that no one in their life knows them well. We live in a hyper-individualistic society that often views other people as obstacles to our personal agendas. Yet God designed us to live in close connection with other humans, especially fellow believers. The writer of Hebrews instructed his readers not to give up “meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another” (Hebrews 10:25). Like Christians in the early church, we should “[devote ourselves] to … fellowship” (Acts 2:42).

Since we’ve been noting how some of these resolutions affect our physical health, it’s remarkable that chronic loneliness is more dangerous than smoking 15 cigarettes a day! Thus, author Justin Earley observes that “friendship will make or break your life.” We can see the wisdom of God’s statement in Genesis that “it is not good for the man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18).

RELATED: 6 ways I’m using 2026 to deepen my relationship with God

Heritage Images/Getty Images

The quality of our friendships also makes a big difference. We’ve all seen groups of people sitting together in some public place, not interacting with one another, but engrossed in their phones. “This is what community often looks like in the digital age,” writes pastor Jay Kim. “Lonely individuals falling prey, over and over again, to the great masquerade of digital technology” that lulls us “into a state of isolation via the illusion of digital connection.”

As Kim goes on to note, while we can communicate digitally, we can only commune in person. Communication is about the exchange of information, while communing involves the exchange of presence. Communing is the more difficult task because it “requires more of us: more of our attention, empathy, and compassion.”

So this year, I encourage you to practice attention management, get enough sleep, and intentionally look for opportunities to begin new friendships and deepen old ones. It will take some deliberate effort, and every relationship will have growing pains, but the greater depth of fellowship will be worth it. As a saying often attributed to 18th-century evangelist George Whitefield goes, “No man is the whole of himself. His friends are the rest of him.”

A version of this essay originally appeared in the Worldview Bulletin Substack.

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A North Carolina mother was arrested for negligence almost a month after her toddler boy was found submerged in a container of water on a home’s front porch and later died, the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office said.

Deputies responded to a 911 call about a missing child in the 200 block of Old Timber Road in Jacksonville around 4:30 p.m. Dec. 11, officials said.

‘Don’t have kids if you’re not diligent about the care and protection you provide them! You are responsible for their lives! Literally!’

Shortly after deputies arrived at the home, they found a 16-month-old boy unconscious and submerged in water inside a container on the front porch of the home, officials said.

Deputies and emergency medical services personnel immediately initiated lifesaving measures, officials said, adding that the boy was taken to Naval Medical Center Camp Lejeune, where he later was pronounced dead.

RELATED: Baby’s fingers amputated after mom leaves her alone with pit bull puppy, hears screams, finds dog chewing on child’s hand, officials say

Image source: Onslow County (N.C.) Sheriff’s Office

An investigation determined that negligence on the part of the child’s mother was a contributing factor in his death, officials said.

Elizabeth Marie Holderness, 30, turned herself in Monday to the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office, officials said.

The sheriff’s office said Holderness has been charged with felony involuntary manslaughter, felony negligent child abuse – serious bodily injury, and six misdemeanor counts of contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile.

Investigators determined that Holderness showed reckless disregard for human life, WCTI-TV reported, citing arrest warrants.

The warrants allege Holderness willfully ingested an illegal substance in a separate room for an extended period of time while the child was in her care, the station added.

She received a $75,000 unsecured bond after her first court appearance Monday in Onslow County District Court, WCTI said, adding that Holderness bonded out later Monday afternoon.

While a number of commenters posting under the sheriff’s office Facebook entry about the incident claim to know Holderness and caution against judgment, others didn’t feel that way:

“Maybe you shouldn’t do drugs,” one commenter said. “If you’re defending these actions, do better.””Everyone making excuses. This boy was 16 months [old]. Those children are never to be left unattended. Period,” another user declared, adding that “the mother got negligence for a reason.””Makes me sick! Don’t have kids if you’re not diligent about the care and protection you provide them! You are responsible for their lives! Literally!” another commenter wrote.

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