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Category: blaze media
‘Photo tells the story’: Democrat senator uses fake image of Pretti shooting featuring headless agent
Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin (D) gave a speech Wednesday on the Senate floor expressing both his intention to help starve the Department of Homeland Security of funds and his outrage over anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement agitator Alex Pretti’s fatal shooting on Saturday by a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent.
When discussing Pretti’s demise, Durbin relied on a large visual aid — a supposed photograph of the incident.
However the Democratic senator appears to have overlooked glaring indications that the image was significantly doctored. For starters, one of the federal agents depicted in the image appears to be missing his head.
‘AI enhancement tends to hallucinate details.’
“I’m going to show a photo of that scene, which is graphic, but I’m afraid is necessary to appreciate the horror of the moment,” Durbin said as he set the image for all to see on an easel. “This photo shows the last second before the ICE agent killed Alex Pretti on the streets of Minneapolis.”
After citing the image as evidence that it was “obvious” Pretti had made “no effort to resist” — a claim contradicted by footage taken from multiple vantages — and emphasizing that “the photo tells the story,” Durbin criticized the Trump administration for encouraging skepticism about the initial narrative surrounding the shooting.
“What was the Trump administration’s immediate response when they heard of this second killing in Minneapolis? Not to bring down the temperature but instead to rush to the American people with one message: ‘Don’t believe your eyes. Don’t believe what you see,'” said Durbin, pointing at the image, which is apparently an AI interpretation of a blurry still from footage taken of the incident.
Photo by Octavio JONES / AFP via Getty Images
There are numerous other signs of AI “hallucinations” in the image used by Durbin besides the absence of one agent’s head.
There are, for instance, confusing shadows; a seemingly impossible configuration of fingers on Pretti’s right hand; an unnatural bend in one of the legs of the headless agent kneeling next to Pretti; and a fantastical weapon in the possession of the agent depicted behind Pretti.
Hany Farid, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley’s School of Information, told the Agence France Press, “The issue with these images is that the AI enhancement tends to hallucinate details.”
According to IBM, “AI hallucination is a phenomenon where, in a large language model (LLM) often a generative AI chatbot or computer vision tool, perceives patterns or objects that are nonexistent or imperceptible to human observers, creating outputs that are nonsensical or altogether inaccurate.”
Peter Adams, senior vice president of research and design at the News Literacy Project, told the Minnesota Star Tribune that such AI-generated images “are an example of how synthetic visuals can spread confusion and further divide Americans about important issues.”
Durbin was evidently not the only liberal duped by the image.
In fact, it went viral on multiple social media platforms, including X, where it netted tens of millions of impressions and was shared widely. Even retired Gen. Raymond Thomas III, the former commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, and MSNBC legal analyst Jill Wine-Banks appear to have been fooled by it.
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Dick durbin, Illinois, Democrat, Fake, Ai, Artificial intelligence, Hallucination, Alex pretti, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Anti-ice, Customs and border patrol, Politics
Klobuchar running for Minnesota governor on anti-ICE platform
After the withdrawal of Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D) formally declared her candidacy for governor of Minnesota in a polished campaign video released Thursday.
Klobuchar emphasized unity during what she described as a period of deep division in the state but repeatedly invoked federal immigration enforcement as a core concern for voters.
‘Get out of our state.’
“I’m running for every Minnesotan who wants ICE and its abusive tactics out of the state we love,” Klobuchar said, echoing remarks she has made repeatedly on the Senate floor and in public appearances as Minnesota has grappled with a federal immigration enforcement surge.
In recent speeches, she has urged Immigration and Customs Enforcement to leave Minnesota and criticized congressional efforts that would fund expanded ICE operations.
Klobuchar said the federal immigration surge in Minnesota was “making us less safe” and called on ICE to “get out of our state,” arguing that the deployment of thousands of agents inflamed tensions rather than improved public safety.
Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images
Following the fatal shooting of Renee Good, Klobuchar also issued a statement through her Senate office criticizing the operation as being carried out “against the wishes of local leaders” and warning that federal enforcement actions were destabilizing Minnesota communities.
Klobuchar further condemned congressional proposals that would increase ICE funding without additional restrictions, saying she would not support legislation that “doubles down on enforcement-first policies” while communities are already facing unrest tied to federal immigration operations.
Her gubernatorial campaign video opens with Klobuchar addressing recent tragedies, saying, “Minnesota, we’ve been through a lot,” before referencing a string of violent incidents, including the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both of which occurred amid unrest tied to federal immigration enforcement activity.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
She also criticized the presence of roughly 3,000 federal immigration agents operating in Minnesota communities, criticizing an administration she said “relishes division.” Klobuchar has publicly said that immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis are “making us less safe” and has joined other Minnesota leaders in calling those federal actions a threat to community safety.
Klobuchar said Minnesota needs leaders who can stand up to Donald Trump’s administration while still finding common ground to address problems at the state level.
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Minnesota, Amy klobuchar, Governor, Office, Campaign, Politics
Gregory Bovino sends strong message to immigration officers from Mount Rushmore: ‘I support you, and I salute you’
Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino posted a video message in support of federal immigration officers after he and some of his agents left Minneapolis in the wake of a lethal shooting.
President Donald Trump sent border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota to address growing rioting and protests after Alex Pretti was shot and killed by federal officers Saturday.
‘I’ve got your back, now and always — I love you, I support you, and I salute you.’
Bovino, who has been lauded for his “turn and burn” tactics by immigration hawks, issued a statement of love and support for his officers in the social media video.
“Team, behind me are a few individuals there,” said Bovino, referring to former Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. “That’s the original turn and burn, the folks that helped make America.”
“But you know what? I’m very proud of what you, the mean green machine, are doing in Minneapolis right now, just like you’ve done it across the United States over these past tough nine months,” he added.
“And I want you to know that you’re the modern-day equivalent of turn and burn. It makes me very proud,” he concluded. “I also want you to know that I’ve got your back, now and always — I love you, I support you, and I salute you.”
Bovino coined the term “turn and burn” with his agents to describe mass deportations.
Homan has met with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey as well as Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, both Democrats, after arriving in the state. Both Frey and Walz have said their goal is to shut down all federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota.
Homan addressed reporters from Minneapolis about making the immigration enforcement operation safer.
“I am not here because the federal government has carried its mission out perfectly. The first thing I said to senior staff when I walked in here, is what I told you earlier: I didn’t come here for photo-ops or headlines. I come here looking for solutions,” he said.
“I do not want to hear that everything that’s been done here has been perfect,” he added. “Nothing’s ever perfect, and anything can be improved on. And what we’ve been working on is making this operation safer, more efficient, by the book. The mission is going to improve.”
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Gregory bovino, Bovino video, Mt rushmore, Bovino removed from minnesota, Politics
The ‘Barabbas trap’ in Minnesota: Why anti-ICE mobs are BLIND to reality
Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck has come up with a newly coined term to describe what has the left in a death grip — the “Barabbas trap.”
Glenn modeled the term after the Jewish insurrectionist and notorious prisoner Barabbas, who was released after Pontius Pilate asked a crowd during Passover whether he should release the insurrectionist or Jesus Christ.
The crowd chose to release the one who offered the easy way out, revolution, rather than Christ’s way.
And he believes the left is currently falling hardest for the “Barabbas trap” in Minnesota.
“This is possibly the biggest fraud case in American history, OK? And there’s no way the Democrats in power didn’t know about it. But no one’s talking about that,” Glenn says on “The Glenn Beck Program.”
“No one’s talking about how you, the taxpayer, the people who are now saying ‘Barabbas,’ how you were ripped off, how maybe your children were hurt because your government, the state government and the local government, was giving money knowingly to people who were abusing the system,” he explains.
“And when the government comes in to arrest, they start shouting for revolution. And they’re shouting for it because of the leaders. The same leaders who likely allowed the fraud, know the people in the streets will look past their egregious sins if it means stopping Trump,” he continues.
While Glenn agrees that it’s “sane” to have a healthy distrust of the federal government and demand “accountability and transparency” — he also notes that there’s a line where “distrust becomes devotion.”
“Where you stop evaluating the facts because you’re devoted, where your movement stops being about justice and becomes about being against something so completely that it doesn’t matter what you’re now defending,” Glenn says.
“When people are told these arrests are targeting truly dangerous criminals, the sober response isn’t blind faith in the government. I don’t have that,” he says, explaining that the sober response is asking for evidence.
“And if the claim is true, if people are being swept up, who are really violent, predatory, destructive, then the society is indeed standing at a knife’s edge, cliff’s edge … not because enforcement can’t be abused. It can. Not because the state can’t lie. It can. But because a crowd can begin to treat evil as an acceptable ally as long as it wears the right costume: resistance,” Glenn says.
“I would like to coin a term here. This is the ‘Barabbas trap,’” he adds.
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‘More arrests to come’: Bondi shares photos of anti-ICE agitators now charged with crimes
In a sudden turn of events, anti-ICE protesters are now being arrested, with some members of the Trump administration, including border czar Tom Homan, making their presence felt on the ground.
Attorney General Pam Bondi joined Homan and other officials in Minneapolis on Wednesday with a post of some of the latest anti-ICE scalps police have claimed, including some who have since been catapulted to internet infamy.
‘We expect more arrests to come.’
“I am on the ground in Minneapolis today. Federal agents have arrested 16 Minnesota rioters for allegedly assaulting federal law enforcement — people who have been resisting and impeding our federal law enforcement agents,” Bondi wrote.
“We expect more arrests to come,” she continued.
Nasra Ahmed. Attorney General Pam Bondi on X
Bondi wrote that all of the anti-ICE protesters were arrested for allegedly “assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers or employees” under 18 U.S. Code § 111.
Christina Rank, Abdikadir Noor, Madeline Tschida, Nitzana Flores, Helicity Borowska, Quentin Williams, William Vermie, Paul Johnson, Gillian Etherington, Joshua Doyle, Kirubele Adbebe, Margaret Sager, Ilan Wilson-Soler, Nasra Ahmed, Alice Valentine, and Matrim Charlebois were named in the post as those arrested recently.
Bondi included booking photos of those arrested in her post on social media.
Among those in the photos was Somali radical Nasra Ahmed, who last week went viral for her bizarre, jumbled speech about Somalian nationality and bananas and rice.
Ahmed is accused of spitting in the face of a federal officer, leading to her detention. During the press conference held after her release without charges, she was wearing a prominent bandage on the right side of her forehead. No sign of injury or bandages can be seen in the booking photo, however.
Attorney General Pam Bondi on X
Attorney General Pam Bondi on X
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Politics, Anti-ice, Ice, Pam bondi, Attorney general, Ag pam bondi, Nasra ahmed, Minneapolis, Tom homan, Border czar, Minnesota
‘Justice is coming’: Border czar Tom Homan vows to stay in Minneapolis ‘until the problem is gone’
President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, pledged to stay and clean up Minneapolis until justice is served.
Homan traveled to Minneapolis this week in the aftermath of a second fatal shooting of an anti-ICE agitator. Despite new footage apparently showing Alex Pretti, the radical killed over the weekend, spitting on federal agents and kicking out a tail light, violent activists are continuing to ravage Minneapolis.
‘They’ll be held accountable.’
“The reason for the massive deployment is because of the threats, because of the violence,” Homan said during a Thursday press conference. “… We brought extra resources in to provide that security.”
“When the violence decreases, we can draw down those resources.”
RELATED: Alex Pretti broke a rib in a previous altercation with feds a week before he died: CNN
Ben Brewer/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Homan suggested that many of these violent mobs are not organic, but rather organized and well-funded groups of agitators motivated by ideology. Although he didn’t specify the approach, Homan committed to holding these agitators accountable.
“About the organization and the funding of the attacks on ICE,” Homan said. “I’m not going to answer a lot about that, because I’m not going to show our hand, but they’ll be held accountable. Justice is coming.”
Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images
Homan said a lot of progress has been made since he arrived in Minneapolis on Monday, claiming Minnesota has agreed to allow county jails to notify federal agencies like ICE when illegal aliens are released so they can be taken into custody. Although Homan acknowledged that this is a step in the right direction, he is committed to staying in Minnesota until the work is done.
Blaze News has reached out to Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison for comment.
“I’m staying until the problem is gone,” Homan said.
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Tom homan, Donald trump, Trump administration, Ice agents, Kristi noem, Ice, Dhs, Alex pretti, Renee good, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Anti-ice, Illegal aliens, Tim walz, Jacob frey, Politics
Minnesota police crack down on anti-ICE protesters, multiple arrests outside hotel
As talks between the Trump administration and Minnesota leadership continue, with some possible success, police have begun dealing with protesters more efficiently this week.
In a surprising turn of events, protesters in Minneapolis were swiftly dealt with near the Graduate by Hilton hotel.
‘All individuals: You are under arrest. Please sit down.’
In video originally captured on independent reporter Brendan Gutenschwager’s livestream of the protests in Minneapolis on Wednesday night into Thursday morning, protesters could be seen being kettled by police on a street block.
Police officers, who were reported to be Minnesota state police and University of Minnesota police officers, quickly formed a line on the street.
Photo by Kerem YUCEL / AFP via Getty Images
“All individuals: You are under arrest. Please sit down,” one officer says once the police line is set.
The video showed a few dozen protesters on the street, many of whom sat down immediately in compliance with the order.
Gutenschwager reported that this kettling tactic was used near the Graduate by Hilton Minneapolis.
A second video of the aftermath of some arrests shows police walking arrestees toward a line of blue buses.
Frontlines TPUSA posted a video on the ground of the same event. Describing the scene, the cameraman says, “They’re being taken into these buses now with bars on the windows.”
Though the crowds seemed subdued during and after the kettling tactic, Gutenschwager’s livestream showed that the protesters were much more energetic and disruptive in the earlier hours of the night.
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Politics, Protests, Protesters, Minneapolis, University of minneapolis, Police, Kettling tactic, Graduate by hilton, Minnesota, Trump, Ice, Brendan gutenschwager
‘Gentle nurse’ narrative cracks: New video appears to show Pretti spit toward federal agents and kick out taillight
A video circulated on social media on Wednesday that appears to show Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, having an altercation with federal agents in Minneapolis on January 13, a week before he was fatally shot.
The News Movement stated that it was filming a documentary about Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in Minneapolis when it received a tip that federal agents were blocking a street. Protesters had gathered in the area.
‘Now we know that Alex Pretti was not a kindly gentle nurse … he was a CRIMINAL!!!’
In the video, a man who appears to be Pretti is seen shouting at and spitting toward an agent inside a Ford SUV. He then kicks the right taillight, shattering it and dislodging it from the vehicle.
A federal agent steps out of the rear passenger side of the vehicle to confront the man and attempts to wrestle him to the ground, but the man resists. Other agents step in to pin the man to the ground.
The News Movement reported that the agents fired tear gas and pepper balls into the crowd of protesters.
After a brief altercation, the agents release the man, who returns to his feet and moves away from the officers. What appears to be a gun is seen in the man’s waistband.
Minutes later, the federal officers climb back into their vehicle and drive away.
Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told Blaze News that the department is “reviewing this footage.”
A representative for the Pretti family confirmed to CBS News that the person in the video was Alex Pretti.
The News Movement reported that the footage was analyzed using the BBC’s facial recognition technology, which confirmed Pretti’s identity with 97% accuracy.
When reached for comment, the BBC referred Blaze News to its news clip on the shooting of Pretti, which included the News Movement’s January video.
Steve Schleicher, an attorney for the Pretti family, said in a statement obtained by the BBC, “A week before Alex was gunned down in the street — despite posing no threat to anyone — he was violently assaulted by a group of ICE agents. Nothing that happened a full week before could possibly have justified Alex’s killing at the hands of ICE on Jan. 24.”
RELATED: Alex Pretti broke a rib in a previous altercation with feds a week before he died: CNN
Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images
Conservative commentators reacted to the newly surfaced video of Pretti, arguing that it shatters the left-wing narrative that he was a peaceful protester.
“This footage is so damning, that you and I both know it will never leave X,” Matt Van Swol wrote. “Now we know that Alex Pretti was not a kindly gentle nurse … he was a CRIMINAL!!! An ARMED, VIOLENT, DANGEROUS, UNHINGED criminal. HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN PRISON!!!!!!!”
Tim Pool stated, “WOW. Footage shows Alex Pretti ATTACKING DHS Agents. Could he have been known to the agents as they attempted to arrest him? Known violent extremist, armed, violent, actively resisting?”
“He committed 3 crimes and wasn’t arrested. He should have been in jail. Would have saved his life,” Owen Shroyer wrote.
A separate video from what appears to be the same incident captured Pretti seemingly shouting at federal agents, “F**king assault me, motherf**ker,” before he spat on and kicked the officers’ vehicle.
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News, Alex pretti, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Immigration, Immigration crisis, Illegal immigration, Illegal immigration crisis, Immigration and customs enforcement, Ice, Department of homeland security, Dhs, Politics
Matthew McConaughey just trademarked himself. What can you do about deepfakes?
It’s only been a couple of months since our last public service announcement about deepfake videos, but in that short time, AI content has reached another terrifying milestone. While anyone could make a fake video of a celebrity with a simple prompt, new AI video tech now makes it possible for an average person to “become” someone else on camera entirely, complete with a brand-new face, clothes, expressions, and even the person’s voice.
The facade of fakery is reaching critical mass
A video surfaced in early January showcasing an AI specialist named Eder Xavier using a combination of Kling AI Motion Control, Gemini Nano Banana Pro, and video editing software to “become” the cast of “Stranger Things.” In the short clip posted to his Instagram page, he rotates through several characters, perfectly replicating the appearances of Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Will (Noah Schnapp), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), Derek (Jake Connelly), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), and Hopper (David Harbour).
Deepfakes may finally be the thing to break people’s addictions to their phones.
Most alarming of all was that he didn’t just swap faces with the cast members. The AI software recreated everything — their clothes, hairstyles, skin blemishes — and stamped it onto his body. Although Xavier didn’t speak in the video, Kling can also imitate voices, further fueling the facade of fakery.
This type of tech is quite different from the Neil deGrasse Tyson video we covered in November. In that example, Neil was recreated using a prompt that constructed his office and himself in a post-production video. Kling AI Motion Control, however, can impose another person’s body directly onto a video of the creator to make the other person do or say practically anything.
While Xavier’s video is a harmless showcase of the AI video technology in action, it doesn’t take much to imagine how this could be abused. At the very least, deepfake videos can trick people into thinking a friend, family member, politician, or celebrity did something out of character. At the worst, deviant users could expand on the Grok deepfake scandal by creating inappropriate content of real celebrities, played by themselves with an AI skin on top, engaging in adult or illicit activities.
The bad, the good, and the hope of tomorrow
Now that people can become anyone, at any time, for any reason, Kling AI Motion Control (and services like it) could single-handedly tear apart several digital industries around the web.
RELATED: Anti-Trump groups are quietly planning for a deepfake election crisis
Tiffany Hagler-Geard/Bloomberg via Getty Images
For starters, influencer marketing is primed to lose its luster when a random person can pretend to be any online personality — or even create an alternate identity — to gain followers and sell products. Imagine a 40-year-old man posing as a 21-year-old beautiful blonde woman to sell products, earn likes, and push scams.
Online dating apps are another digital service that will lose all credibility. If you can’t tell if the person you’re talking to is real or fake, why would you swipe and risk meeting an imposter at all? The movie and film industry will also suffer when actors can be recreated by extras to play minor roles on camera, or studios could cut down on the cost of reshoots by reskinning stand-ins to play main characters.
On the bright side, adult paid subscription services, like OnlyFans, could crumble if patrons can’t be sure that the attractive woman they subscribe to isn’t secretly that 40-year-old man again (yikes).
In the best-case scenario, the rise of AI deepfakes may finally be the thing to break people’s addictions to their phones. If nothing on social media is real — photos, videos, posts — why would anyone waste their time scrolling? The alternative, of course, is that people continue to consume AI slop in pursuit of increasingly irreversible brain rot, but the hope is that AI breaks users’ hyper-online habits and helps them seek real-world experiences, taking us back to the days before technology warped our perception of reality.
What to do next
Online deepfake content feels inescapable, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing we can do about it.
Some celebrities are already starting to resist AI and its ability to steal their likeness. Matthew McConaughey just trademarked himself to prevent AI companies from using images that resemble him, giving him the right to take legal rights against “AI misuse.” If successful, other celebrities, and maybe even citizens, will likely do the same.
Until then, Eder Xavier’s video serves as another reason to question everything you see online. In a digital world where nothing on social media is real and everything could lead to a scam, the internet as we know it will collapse, or at the very least, it will become far less important than simply living life out in the real world.
Tech
Concealed carrier delivers swift justice when Chicago thugs allegedly approach him — and one pulls gun, demands his property
A concealed carrier wasted no time doling out justice when a pair of males allegedly attempted an armed robbery against him earlier this week.
Chicago police said a 39-year-old man was exiting his vehicle around 2:40 a.m. Tuesday near the intersection of Montana Street and Laramie Avenue in the city’s Cragin neighborhood, WFLD-TV reported.
‘So sick of thugs.’
With that, two males — Robert Cooks Jr., 23, and Teryon Pittman, 24 — approached him, and one of them pulled out a gun and demanded the victim’s belongings, the station said.
Well, the victim wasn’t having a bit of it.
Police said the CCL holder drew his own gun and fired multiple shots, striking Cooks in the legs, WFLD reported.
Cooks and Pittman both were charged with one felony count of armed robbery with a firearm, the station said.
Paramedics treated Cooks, after which he was taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he was listed in good condition, WFLD said.
The station added that Pittman has faced criminal charges in Chicago three times since 2020, including two cases of domestic battery.
Teryon PittmanImage source: Chicago Police
Both suspects have a detention hearing scheduled for Thursday, WFLD noted.
A number of commenters under the station’s Facebook post about the incident didn’t hold back.
“Great job CCL holder,” one commenter wrote.”Too bad!!! Pew pew,” another user exclaimed.”So he faced 3 charges since 2020 and still roaming the streets?” another commenter asked. “The court system is sad.””That’s awesome,” another user noted.”So sick of thugs,” another commenter lamented.
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Crime thwarted, Chicago, Concealed carrier, Ccl, Attempted armed robbery, Arrest, 2nd amend., Guns, Gun rights, Self-defense, Shooting, Wounded, Wounded suspect, Crime
Somali radical accused of sickening salivary assault on federal agents after bizarre ‘bananas with rice’ speech
Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the arrest on Wednesday of 16 anti-ICE rioters who allegedly assaulted, resisted, opposed, impeded, intimidated, and/or interfered with federal agents while officers were engaged in official duties in Minneapolis.
Among the radicals charged under 18 U.S. Code Section 111 was Nasra Ahmed, a 23-year-old “Somali-American” whose bizarre speech about Somalis’ supposed affinity for bananas and rice recently went viral.
‘I will carry this on my shoulders.’
Ahmed, who lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota, held a press conference with Democrat state Rep. Samakab Hussein at the Minnesota Capitol last week, where she criticized U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, accused federal agents of roughing her up, and did her apparent best to provide some insights into Somali identity.
“I got kidnapped by ICE,” said Ahmed, wearing a bandage on a portion of her head not covered by her Islamic veil. “ICE came to my neighborhood, where — my neighborhood is a very Somali neighborhood. It’s a predominantly Somali neighborhood. There’s many Somalis that live here.”
Ahmed indicated that she saw a pair of Somali men running away from federal agents outside an apartment complex on Jan. 14 and decided to get involved. When asked for her ID, she allegedly complied.
Footage appears to show a woman believed to be Ahmed spitting in the face of a federal agent.
Following the apparent salivary attack, Ahmed was reportedly arrested, taken to the Whipple Federal Building at Fort Snelling, then briefly held on pending federal felony charges at Sherburne County jail in Elk River.
Speaking at the press conference several days after she was released without charges, Ahmed claimed both that an ICE agent used a racial slur in reference to her and that she suffered a concussion during the arrest.
Photographer: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images
“They arrested and detained me for two days, and I was put in county jail,” continued the anti-ICE radical. “Then there was this ICE agent who called me a racial slur.”
“I am proud to say I have survived ICE,” said Ahmed. “Many people are saying, including my family and friends, that I will go down in history, and I will carry this on my shoulders.”
While Ahmed’s sob story resonated with Democrats such as Rep. Betty McCollum and other anti-ICE liberals, the part of her monologue that went viral online was her commentary on Somalis and “eating bananas with rice”:
I’m Somali. I’m proud to be Somali. To me, being Somali isn’t just eating bananas with rice. It’s a, it’s a lot, it’s like a, it’s a, it’s a, it’s an interesting thing. It’s a — it’s very hard to describe what means to be Somali and what it means to be American, but it’s like a cultural fusion. It’s kind of like the bananas and rice, you know? People don’t really see like — you know it’s a, it’s a, it’s — you know, people don’t think, “Oh, you can eat bananas with rice,” but that’s what it’s like to be Somali and American. It’s like that combination of banana and rice, but you’re gonna get what I mean.
Despite the supposed fusion of bananas and rice, the U.S. State Department has paused immigrant visa processing from Somalia, citing it as one of 75 countries “whose migrants take welfare from the American people at unacceptable rates.”
The Center for Immigration Studies indicated in a report last month that in Minnesota, approximately 54% of Somali-headed households received food stamps and 73% of Somali households had at least one member on Medicaid. By way of comparison, the figures for native households were 7% and 18%, respectively.
“Somalians ripped off that state for billions of dollars. Billions every year. Billions of dollars, and they contribute nothing. The welfare is like 88%. They contribute nothing,” President Donald Trump said last month. “I don’t want them in our country; I’ll be honest with you. Some might say, ‘Oh, that’s not politically correct.’ I don’t care. I don’t want them in our country. Their country is no good for a reason. Their country stinks, and we don’t want them in our country.”
Ahmed is now hitting up sympathizers for cash, requesting $20,000 on GoFundMe “to support her in this difficult moment.” At the time of publication, she had raised nearly $2,000.
Regarding the arrest of Ahmed and other anti-ICE radicals, Bondi noted, “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: NOTHING will stop President Trump and this Department of Justice from enforcing the law.”
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Bananas with rice, Somali, Somalia, Homeland security investigations, Department of justice, Doj, Justice, Crime, Minnesota, St paul, Saint paul, Anti-ice, Immigration, Fraud, Immigration and customs enforcement, Ice, Politics
‘STOP THE SCAMS!’ Trump announces new office in DOJ dedicated to investigating fraud
With more and more fraud being investigated and exposed across the country, the Trump administration has created a new office specially dedicated to prosecuting these types of crimes.
On Wednesday night, President Trump announced the creation of the office and his nominee to run it.
‘My Administration has uncovered Fraud schemes in States like Minnesota and California, where these thieves have stolen Hundreds of Billions of Taxpayer Dollars.’
“I am pleased to nominate Colin McDonald to serve as the first ever Assistant Attorney General for National FRAUD Enforcement, a new Division at the Department of Justice, which I created to catch and stop FRAUDSTERS that have been STEALING from the American People,” Trump said on Truth Social. “My Administration has uncovered Fraud schemes in States like Minnesota and California, where these thieves have stolen Hundreds of Billions of Taxpayer Dollars.”
Trump called McDonald a “very Smart, Tough, and Highly Respected AMERICA FIRST Federal Prosecutor” and promised that the administration would “RESTORE INTEGRITY” to the federal programs.
RELATED: ‘PLAYING WITH FIRE!’ Trump responds to Minneapolis Mayor Frey’s latest act of defiance
Todd Blanche and Pam BondiPhoto by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images
“STOP THE SCAMS!” Trump concluded.
McDonald, though not a well-known figure on the national stage, has a resume built for the new position.
For example, McDonald successfully prosecuted a large-scale conspiracy in 2020 that the judge in the case called “staggering in its breadth, its scope, and its audacity.”
The conspiracy case, which involved multiple people including the former police chief of Honolulu, brought multiple charges and sent several people to prison for years.
Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general under Pam Bondi, signaled his approval of the choice on X: “Colin is a rockstar, who was instrumental in our team’s mission of Making America Safe Again. He is a consummate prosecutor who loves God, family, and country and will serve the President and the American people well.”
Likewise, ambassador and chief of protocol Monica Crowley cheered on the decision: “President Trump is putting an end to the United States of Fraud.”
The announcement was made amid ongoing talks between the Trump administration and the leadership of Minnesota, one of the primary hot spots of widespread fraud.
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Politics, Colin mcdonald, Donald trump, Pam bondi, Fraud, Department of justice, Doj, Taxpayer dollars, Trump
Death threats, doxxing, and empty Dem seats: The high cost of Nick Shirley’s fight against Minnesota welfare fraud
Life keeps getting crazier for 23-year-old YouTuber Nick Shirley — the overnight independent journalist who ripped the curtain back on Minnesota’s Somali-run fraud schemes, bringing the issue to national attention.
Episode one, which has amassed over 141 million views, exposed Somali-run day cares in Minnesota as allegedly fraudulent operations. Shirley’s footage highlighted empty day-care centers, many with locked doors, blacked-out windows, and tight-lipped “staff members,” despite receiving millions in federal and state funding.
Episode two identified fraudulent nonemergency medical transportation companies as the “hub” of the fraud wheel that enables the schemes taking place in day-care centers and other welfare/social services programs.
Shirley’s reporting has not only triggered widespread outrage across the nation but also immediate action from the Trump administration. Shortly after episode one dropped, the Department of Health and Human Services froze federal child-care funding to Minnesota and later expanded freezes to other states. The FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigations in Minnesota surged as well.
On a recent episode of “Come & Take It,” Sara interviews Shirley about his viral Minnesota fraud exposés, the government actions they sparked, the death threats and doxxing forcing 24/7 security, and his congressional testimony where Democrats were largely absent.
“We always hear about the fraud taking place, but we’ve never actually been able to see it with our eyes. And so I think that’s why the video did so well … because people were really actually able to see that fraud,” says Shirley of his viral exposé.
As a fellow investigative journalist who’s uncovered the depth of depravity taking place in “kid-friendly” drag shows and other LGBTQ+ events — and most recently widespread H-1B visa fraud in Texas — Sara agrees that showing rather than telling is the most powerful and effective form of journalism.
“There is something about just having it put right directly in front of them that really, really hammers the point home,” she says.
Unfortunately effective journalism is also dangerous. As a result of Shirley’s reporting, he’s faced death threats, doxxing of his home address and family members, and severe harassment that has forced him to hire 24/7 personal security for protection so that he can continue his work.
“I’ve had to raise and spend thousands of dollars in order just to keep myself safe and my family as well,” he says, noting that people who want to help can donate at supportnickshirley.com.
But the level of aggression and vitriol he’s faced isn’t even the most surprising thing Shirley has encountered.
On January 21, Shirley testified before a House Judiciary subcommittee about his Minnesota fraud investigations. However only two out of the eight Democrats scheduled for the hearing showed up, and the two who were present “didn’t direct one single question towards [him],” he tells Sara.
It’s “gotten to the point where they’re defending fraud or to the point where they don’t even want to speak out against the fraud because it’s happened inside of their own areas,” he says.
Sara agrees, adding, “Democrats are now running on a platform of ‘we want to protect the fraudsters”’ — the reason being that they’re scared of being labeled “racist” or “xenophobic.”
But there’s nothing racist about facts — and the fact is that “89% of the fraud that has been committed and charged inside Minnesota is by Somalians,” says Shirley.
“If there was any other race outside of those buildings [of fraudulent businesses], they would have got filmed as well … so by no means am I a racist.”
“I’m just a fact-teller and a truth-teller.”
To hear more of the interview, watch the video above.
Want more from Sara Gonzales?
To enjoy more of Sara’s no-holds-barred takes on news and culture, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.
Come and take it, Come and take it with sara gonzales, Sara gonzales, Nick shirley, Nick shirley video, Minnesota fraud, Somali fraud, Minnesota somali fraud, Blazetv, Blaze media
Democrat darling charged: Dana Nessel ally accused of stealing $50,000 from brain-damaged old woman
A former star in the Michigan Democratic Party has been criminally charged after allegations surfaced that she stole money from an elderly woman under her care.
According to a press release from the Kent County prosecutor’s office, Traci Kornak has been charged with three felonies:
one count of embezzlement from a vulnerable adult of $50,000 or more but less than $100,000;one count of embezzlement from a vulnerable adult of $1,000 or more but less than $20,000; andone count of false pretenses of $1,000 or more but less than $20,000.
She could face up to 25 years behind bars if convicted.
‘Where do you think this ranks in terms of skullduggery? Pedophiles, puppy abusers, and people who steal old people’s money?’
Kornak, the former Michigan Democratic Party treasurer and a member of Democrat Attorney General Dana Nessel’s 2018 transition team, has been under intense scrutiny for years after she was named conservator for Rosalene Burd, an elderly nursing home resident with a traumatic brain injury.
Kornak has been accused of mishandling Burd’s funds, even bilking an insurance company to pay extra money for a caregiver who was not a licensed medical professional.
According to whistleblower Joe LeBlanc, the former director of the facility where Burd lived, Kornak used the tax ID of the assisted living facility and a billing template from another facility to create fabricated invoices for the insurance company totaling nearly $50,000 over two years, as Blaze News previously reported.
Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images
LeBlanc claimed to have seen one check for over $23,000 in November 2021. When LeBlanc confronted Kornak about it, she “asked me to just cash it, and then she said she’d pay us a little money for the trouble,” LeBlanc recalled.
Burd died last April at the age of 86. According to journalist Charlie LeDuff, Burd’s debit card was used the day after she died.
Because of Kornak’s close association with Nessel, Scott Teter, the director of the Financial Crimes Division of the Michigan attorney general’s office, wrote a memo in September 2022 ordering “an isolation wall” that would prevent Nessel “from being provided or accessing any information” related to the state investigation into Kornak.
However, documents later uncovered by LeDuff revealed that Nessel sent an email in December 2022 referring to the investigation and suggesting that Kornak, an attorney, was up for a Kent County judicial appointment. Four reports related to the Kornak investigation were included in the email, according to LeDuff.
The investigation from the AG’s office was officially closed two weeks later with no charges filed against Kornak.
“Did [Nessel] hook up her gal pal? I say she did,” LeDuff later wrote.
Though more than three years have lapsed since his initial reporting on the story, LeDuff has never let it drop. Earlier this month, he ambushed Kornak and her attorney outside a hearing to ask questions about Burd’s money.
RELATED: Leftist AG Dana Nessel threatens to prosecute Michigan woman for allegedly sharing ‘misleading’ election info
“Where do you think this ranks in terms of skullduggery? Pedophiles, puppy abusers, and people who steal old people’s money?” LeDuff asked. He also pressed Kornak on whether she colluded with Nessel “to make this case go away.”
Kornak repeatedly dodged LeDuff’s questions and asked him not to touch her.
Michigan Republicans have repeatedly threatened to impeach Nessel in connection with the Kornak investigation, among other issues. Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is also implicated in the case, Michigan Enjoyer has indicated.
“Whitmer was planning to appoint Kornak to a judgeship as soon as the criminal investigation went away,” LeDuff wrote.
Nessel’s office, Whitmer’s office, an attorney for Kornak, and the Michigan Democratic Party did not respond to requests for comment from Blaze News.
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Traci kornak, Dana nessel, Michigan, Michigan democratic party, Kent county, Politics
Ken Paxton launches crackdown on H-1B fraud in Texas after exposé by BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton credited BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales on Wednesday with getting the ball rolling on a new and “wide-sweeping investigation into abuse of the H-1B visa program by Texas businesses.”
Standing outside a seemingly vacant single-family home in Irving — the supposed office of 3Bees Technologies Inc., one of the companies Gonzales scrutinized in a damning report on possible H-1B fraud earlier this month — Paxton told the BlazeTV host, “Thanks to you, we’re here today.”
‘It’s not our first rodeo, and we’ll definitely find out what’s going on.’
“We’ve started an investigation into three different companies that we think might be scamming people with these H-1B visas,” said Paxton.
“Thanks to you, we’ve sent them questionnaires,” continued Paxton. “They’re called Civil Investigative Demands, and they’re designed to find out what the truth is, what is actually happening, what are their actual practices. Are they defrauding consumers? Are they misguiding people as to what they’re actually doing?”
Paxton has ordered the companies to provide documents identifying all of their employees, records detailing the specific products or services they provide, financial statements, and communications pertaining to company operations.
Although the Texas Attorney General’s Office is currently looking at three businesses in North Texas, Paxton indicated that is the start of a much larger investigation.
‘Abuse and fraud within these programs strip jobs and opportunities away from Texans.’
The Texas attorney general expressed confidence that potential fraudsters will be flushed out, telling Gonzales, “It’s not our first rodeo, and we will definitely find out what’s going on.”
“Any criminal who attempts to scam the H-1B visa program and use ‘ghost offices’ or other fraudulent ploys should be prepared to face the full force of the law,” Paxton said in a statement.
RELATED: ‘Where are all the workers?’ BlazeTV’s Sara Gonzales exposes potential H-1B visa fraud in Texas
Photo (left): BlazeTV; Photo (right): Brandon Bell/Getty Images
“Abuse and fraud within these programs strip jobs and opportunities away from Texans. I will use every tool available to uproot and hold accountable any individual or company engaged in these fraudulent schemes,” added the Texas attorney general.
Gonzales’ exposé evidently also captured the attention of Gov. Greg Abbott (R).
Citing “recent reports of abuse in the federal H-1B visa program” and the “federal government’s ongoing review of that program to ensure American jobs are going to American workers,” Abbott directed all state agencies on Tuesday to “immediately freeze” new H-1B visa petitions.
In addition to pumping the brakes on new H-1B visas, Abbott demanded that public universities and various state agencies provide an account of how many H-1B visa holders they are currently sponsoring; the countries of origin of their sponsored H-1B visa holders; the expected expiration date for each sponsored visa; and the efforts taken to ensure that Texan candidates were afforded a reasonable opportunity to apply for each position filled by an H-1B visa holder.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ H-1B Employer Data Hub indicates that over 41,500 H-1B visa beneficiaries were approved for fiscal year 2025 in Texas.
Qubitz Tech Systems, one of the companies Gonzales scrutinized in her report, had 12 H-1B beneficiaries approved last year. The company, whose visa job contact is Hari Madiraju, has apparently been hiring “software developers” from abroad for years.
When Gonzales went to the address listed for Qubitz in Frisco, Texas — a four-bedroom house in a residential neighborhood — she was greeted by a man responding to “Hari” who was clearly not happy to see her.
At the mention of Qubitz and its supposed employees, Hari called the police, which Gonzales welcomed.
Gonzales later paid a visit to Qubitz’s supposed worksite. Instead of finding a dozen or more workers engaged in the kind of software development that supposedly requires foreign talent, she found a vacant prison-cell-sized room with a single chair and some folding tables.
“Pretty cramped working quarters for 12 H-1B workers,” said Gonzales. “I’m not buying it.”
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Sara gonzales, Gonzales, Blazetv, Ken paxton, Greg abbott, Texas, Lone star state, H-1b visa, H-1b, Immigration, Nonimmigrant, Work, Wage suppression, Replacement, Politics
The left is at war in Minnesota. America is watching football.
Gunfire, smoke grenades, vehicles charging law enforcement: The scene in Minnesota looks like a war zone. Leftists are assaulting ICE agents, storming churches, threatening journalists, and ripping conservatives out of cars, all in one of the most frigid winters imaginable.
While CNN and MSNBC are treating ICE’s presence as a fascist takeover that every progressive foot soldier should travel to fight, they are increasingly frustrated that no one seems to really care. The left might be engaged in its own miniature insurrection, but the rest of America isn’t at war. The rest of America is watching football.
The average guy might catch an online video or headline and shake his head, but he goes right back to wondering if the Patriots are going to win another Super Bowl.
The summer of 2020 was truly a wonder to behold. After the entire country was locked down for months on end, tensions were boiling. The media had been steadily bombarding their captive viewers with different stories of police brutality against black people, the most sacred of all victims, hoping that one spark would eventually trigger a wildfire. It took a while, but once riots started, they spread to different cities quickly. Teachers had their students write essays about George Floyd, while churches baptized in his name. Statues were built, murals were painted, and companies donated millions to Black Lives Matter, even as rioters looted and burned down their stores.
It was a truly religious movement, supported by every major power center in the nation, justifying outrageous violence and property damage, while news organizations glorified the entire spectacle. Not since the 1960s has America been gripped by such a fervently spiritual devotion to revolutionary politics.
Now, Trump is back in office and the left is desperately trying to recreate the magic, but leftists can’t seem to get it done. ICE has started its deportations of the worst illegal-alien criminals. In most states, the operation has gone smoothly. Some blue states have decided not to work with ICE, forcing the agents to retrieve the illegal aliens themselves, often in very hostile environments, without the aid of local law enforcement. Minnesota has been a hotbed of domestic unrest, so it is no surprise that the state has also seen the most conflict during these ICE raids.
It isn’t just that Minnesota refuses to cooperate with federal immigration officials. The entire state political apparatus is involved in a conspiracy to foment violence. Government officials, including the lieutenant governor, have been caught in a group chat working to coordinate the revolution. Teachers’ unions and school boards collaborate to suspend school so that educators and students can join in the street protests and riots. Judges refuse to sign arrest warrants for obvious crimes because they agree with the perpetrators. Minnesota is in open insurrection. There really is no other word for it.
Despite the incredible level of subversive coordination occurring in Minnesota, events have failed to capture the popular imagination like they did during the summer of love. Some have blamed the winter, claiming that it is simply too cold for the leftists to maintain an overwhelming presence in the streets. Others have pointed to the lack of lockdowns or some other simmering psychological factor increasing political tensions.
The most likely explanation centers around the cause itself. Black criminals have gained an almost sacred status on the left, making them a far more animating cause, especially for the black community at large. No black activist is showing up to die for white lesbians who get themselves shot standing up for child-molesting illegal aliens from Venezuela. Without the sacred victims, it is difficult for leftists to get their most violent foot soldiers in the streets or to get corporations to sign on and push the agenda. Whatever the true explanation, the consequences are obvious. The revolution is not spreading, and most of America does not care.
If you are someone who follows the news obsessively, it is easy to overestimate the impact that events in Minnesota are having on the country. It’s not that what is happening between ICE and violent leftists isn’t serious. It is, but most Americans are barely paying attention. Most states are cooperating with ICE, and deportations are entirely positive, making very little noise. The average guy might catch an online video or headline and shake his head, but he goes right back to wondering if the Patriots are going to win another Super Bowl.
Progressive activists are posting on social media complaining about how most of the country just does not care about what they are doing. The revolution is contained, and the leftist insurgency is becoming demoralized.
Tim Walz has now agreed to involve local law enforcement if ICE reduces its direct presence in operations. Some disgruntled right-wingers have described this as capitulation by the Trump administration, but that simply is not the case. The goal was always to use ICE as a supplementary force in conjunction with local agencies. Anything else invites chaos.
RELATED: Conservatives can’t barbecue their way through national collapse
Blaze Media Illustration
The refusal of local law enforcement to cooperate created a “city under siege” mentality, where progressives could sell the image of faceless authoritarians surging into their hometown, justifying all kinds of ruthless tactics. Now that local police are handling the riot control, they own the situation. It’s a lot easier to demonize and attack a faceless federal agent. Now the protesters are assaulting their friends, family members, and neighbors. Activists have even started to surround Tim Walz’s residence due to their outrage. Once revolutionary energy is redirected toward their own leaders, the movement is not long for this world.
Many GOP commentators and politicians have decided that now is the time to defect, calling for ICE to withdraw and abandon operations in Minnesota — a huge mistake. The progressives are outraged that their government allies have wavered and demoralized becuase their revolution has been contained. The worst possible move would be to rip defeat from the jaws of victory because a few MSNBC segments started to make the donor class squeamish.
Now is the time to break the insurgency and continue nationwide operations without hesitation. Americans are more interested in whether the Seahawks can pull this one off than they are in spreading the Marxist open-borders gospel. If conservative politicians and commentators can control their impulse to surrender like spineless cowards for a few weeks, the moment will pass and immigration law will be enforced.
Minnesota, Radical left, Football, Super bowl, Ice, Trump, Trump administration, Ice protest, Law enforcement, Minneapolis, Tim walz, Opinion & analysis
Hard times create strong men — at any age
I know this guy, Richard. He’s friends with a couple of different friends of mine. He’s in his late 40s. He’s had a successful microbrewery business going for many years.
Last year, I heard that his business was in trouble. And then, more recently, his wife filed for divorce. He is apparently having problems seeing his kids.
Maybe this is our new male initiation ritual. Getting crushed by family court. Losing your business to far-left politics. Being abandoned in your moment of need.
I saw him recently at a large gathering. He was in pretty bad shape. He was getting screwed at family court. He was blaming Trump for his business problems.
His blaming Trump was no surprise. Many otherwise intelligent people do that automatically here in Portland. Everything is Trump’s fault. I don’t really hold it against them. The propaganda is so thick here. And if you own a public-facing business, you probably have to go with the flow.
More likely, the true cause of his business problems is the economics of Portland. Taxes are up. Insurance is skyrocketing. Homeless people have invaded your neighborhood. Drug addicts are lighting your dumpster on fire.
Hitting bottom
So I was at this event, and I ended up in a small group with Richard and a couple of other guys. I could see that he was upset. He looked terrible.
I could relate to his situation. I had gone through a similar compound disaster when my father died, right in the middle of my own divorce.
So I had felt that pain. But I didn’t have kids. Which probably makes Richard’s situation much worse.
Eventually, the other guys wandered off, and I found myself giving Richard a little pep talk. I told him what happened to me and explained how at the time, I tried to think of it as a test.
I thought to myself: How often in life will I have to face two life-changing crises, coming from two different directions, at the same time?
I tried to think of my situation as a challenge, a rare opportunity to test my mettle, as I faced a mountain of emotional stressors and practical problems.
I couldn’t tell if he was buying it. And I didn’t know him that well. So I left it at that.
The soft life
But in the days after, I thought more about Richard’s situation.
He was a solidly upper-middle-class guy. His parents were well off. He went to a good college. He was a successful businessman and a respected member of the local microbrew scene. His brewery had prospered for years, before Portland took its current downturn.
He had really had an easy time of it, all things considered. So really, my idea that this was a “rare opportunity” was not far off. His current problems were easily the worst thing that ever happened to him. And they were all happening at once!
This also might have been a good time to try to red-pill him on local politics. Bro, Trump isn’t the reason you can’t run a business in Portland. But he wasn’t going to change on that.
But the “test” thing. That was still a valid point. Richard had never been hit this hard. And like a lot of men, he wasn’t ready for it. He had lived a relatively soft life.
RELATED: The American dream lives where people still choose to build
CS0523183 via iStock/Getty Images
Into the wilderness
People have been saying for years that part of the problem with American men is they don’t have any form of initiation ritual.
There’s no rigorous coming-of-age process. We have no “rites of passage.”
You can live your whole life and never have to endure any true hardship or serious deprivation.
Other cultures make a point of creating those “rites of passage.” Growing up in the West, I heard about young Native American men going on “vision quests.” They ventured into the wilderness by themselves, with no food and no protection from the elements or predatory animals.
In this way, they proved themselves worthy of their people, both physically and mentally. They were pushed to the limits of their endurance.
This was not only a physical ordeal, but a chance for spiritual growth as well. Becoming a man was not just about strength and skill; it was about humility and understanding your responsibilities within your tribe.
Once you had experienced the difficulties of fending for yourself, you would forever appreciate the security of life within a stable and healthy community.
The new vision quest
I thought about Richard’s predicament, which is now fairly common in America. What was happening to him was happening to men all the time.
Maybe this is our new male initiation ritual. Getting crushed by family court. Losing your business to far-left politics. Being abandoned in your moment of need by your own social class, because they’re progressive Democrats as well.
That’s how I would think of it if I were him. What else are you going to do? Cry to your lawyer? Complain about Trump? Whine to your Kamala-voting buddies?
Or are you going to grieve your losses, accept your situation, and then respond with a new resolve, a new clarity of mind, and perhaps a stiffer spine?
I mean, I feel for the guy. He’s going through hell. But these kinds of men have got to stop crying and focus on what is really going on around them.
Think of your present difficulties as the rite of passage you should have experienced when you were 14. Think of them as your overdue vision quest. You’re in the wilderness now. You have only yourself to depend on.
Lifestyle, Men, Hard times, Motivation, Donald trump, Portland, Business, Divorce, Family court, Blake’s progress
Cops shocked to recognize woman complaining about police to city council: ‘Lady, you’re wanted by the police!’
A Missouri woman complaining about police at a city council meeting was recognized by the police as being wanted for allegedly stabbing her boyfriend.
Berkeley Police Major Steve Runge told KTVI-TV that Jameicia Moore was spotted as she spoke to the Berkeley City Council on Jan. 12.
‘You’re lucky I didn’t stab you in the f**king chest.’
“Are you kidding me? Was my reaction,” Runge said. “Because we were trying to get her to come talk to us and she just refused.”
Video from the city council meeting shows the moment Runge, who is sitting in the background, recognizes Moore and texts his officers to apprehend her.
“Then, not only that, [she] complained about the police. And I’m like, lady, you’re wanted by the police!” he added.
Runge said he told his officers to arrest her in the hallway in order to avoid disrupting the meeting. He said they had been seeking to talk to Moore for about two months, but she had refused.
Moore was being sought on charges of domestic assault and armed criminal action over an alleged stabbing attack against her boyfriend from Oct. 2025. Police said she stabbed him with a butcher knife in his left arm after becoming enraged when he mentioned another woman.
The woman was allegedly captured in a recording saying to the victim, “You’re lucky I didn’t stab you in the f**king chest.”
Three weeks later, there was another domestic incident that involved Moore wielding a baseball bat.
St. Louis County Prosecutor Melissa Price Smith said she had never quite seen anything like Moore’s arrest.
“Shout-out to the Berkeley Police Department, who were really on top of their game — very aware,” Smith said.
“She had refused to go to the police department to speak with them,” she added. “It’s actually quite surprising, though, that she then appeared at the Berkeley City Council meeting two months later on a completely different matter.”
Runge added, “You can run, but you can’t hide.”
Moore was given a $100K bond.
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Jameicia moore arrest, Woman complains city council, Berkeley city council, Domestic violence charges, Crime
Liz Wheeler’s frame-by-frame takedown: 7 reasons the Ilhan Omar assault was probably fake
On January 27, during a town hall meeting in Minneapolis, a man sitting in the front row suddenly charged at Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and sprayed her with an unknown liquid using a syringe-like device. The alleged suspect, 55-year-old Anthony Kazmierczak, was immediately arrested on suspicion of assault, and Omar, unharmed, was able to continue her event. He faces charges of third-degree assault and is currently detained at the Hennepin County jail.
Some people, however, are convinced this assault was a hoax. They argue that certain details in the video footage indicate Omar staged the attack against herself, perhaps to deflect attention from controversies she’s involved in.
On this episode of “The Liz Wheeler Show,” Liz delivers a frame-by-frame analysis of the attack, dissecting seven details she argues might confirm the growing suspicion that the entire ordeal was manufactured.
Reason 1: Security dropped the ball — or did they?
The first suspicious detail, Liz says, is that Omar’s attacker was “visibly a weirdo.”
“Look at this guy. He is clearly under the influence of something,” she says, rolling video footage from the town hall meeting that captures the up-close profile of the attacker prior to the incident.
At a “town hall event for a sitting member of the U.S. Congress — if there’s a weirdo seated in the front row, the security moves the weirdo. That’s standard procedure,” she adds.
Reason 2: Timing a little too perfect?
“It’s interesting to note that he jumped up right after Ilhan Omar said that Kristi Noem must resign,” Liz says.
“It was as if that was his cue.”
Liz says the timing of the attack makes her wonder: “Is this some kind of stage/hoax/hate crime in order to protect Ilhan Omar from any kind of enforcement of her questionable immigration activities?”
Reason 3: Suspicious head nod?
“There’s also a moment where it appears that Ilhan Omar gives him the head nod, like, ‘Go ahead,”’ Liz says, playing another video clip that captures Omar’s face immediately prior to the attack.
While Liz wants to give her “the benefit of the doubt,” when she closely analyzes the footage, she sees a definitive nod.
“She gave him a nod as if to give him his cue,” she declares.
Reason 4: Zero panic?
“Then, of course, when he does lunge at her and squirts this foul-smelling unknown substance on her, she barely flinches,” Liz notes.
She explains that if Omar was truly unaware of the attack, then surely she would’ve shown concern about the substance — perhaps a “poison chemical agent” — that was just squirted on her. Or perhaps she would involuntarily flinch, assuming that the attacker was wielding a firearm.
“And yet, she barely reacts,” Liz says.
Reason 5: Omar charges toward the danger?
Liz also finds it suspicious that Omar’s initial reaction to being sprayed was to move toward the perpetrator. Video footage captures her immediately storming away from the podium, where she was speaking in his direction.
“Instead of the kind of self-preservation move-away, she lurches towards him,” she scoffs.
Reason 6: Why spare the face?
“It’s also strange, by the way, that he didn’t aim this substance at her face. He aimed it at her sweater,” Liz observes.
If he was a genuine attacker, he likely would’ve aimed to cause true damage and thus wouldn’t have projected the liquid in a “harmless” place, she suggests.
Reason 7: No medical checkup?
The most convincing evidence that Omar staged this attack, however, is that she refused any medical testing, hazmat evaluation, or decontamination at the scene. On the contrary, she demanded to be allowed to finish her speech before examination.
“To decline to even test what this substance is or to go to the hospital and to continue speaking — these are the reasons why … so many people are asking: Is this an authentic attack, or was this a staged attack?” Liz says.
“Well, my answer to that would be this: It’s a good thing that he was arrested because if it was a real attack, he deserves to be arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, and if it’s a fake attack, if this was some kind of hoax hate crime, then he deserves to be investigated, prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
To hear more of Liz’s frame-by-frame breakdown, watch the full episode above.
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The liz wheeler show, Ilhan omar, Liz wheeler, Liz wheeler show, Anthony kazmierczak, Blazetv
The FDA is undermining a culture of life inside and outside the womb
Last Friday during the annual March for Life, President Trump delivered a pledge to the nation: His administration stands for the “infinite worth and God-given dignity of every human life.” Vice President JD Vance’s remarks at the rally were just as clear: We must “build up that culture of life” and “cannot be neutral. Our country cannot be indifferent about whether its next generations live or die.”
Vance and Trump were primarily talking about the unborn. But their principles clearly include providing the right to life — as well as health and safety — for all citizens, especially the most vulnerable among us.
We have entire policies at the FDA dedicated to making it more difficult for children inside and outside the womb to live the lives they deserve.
Unfortunately, these principles have been undermined by a few key officials at the Food and Drug Administration, and not just for unborn children. Thousands of kids with rare diseases have seen valuable treatments slowed or even halted since last summer, thanks to FDA Commissioner Marty Makary and Chief Medical Officer Vinay Prasad.
As one of the oldest living Americans with spina bifida (I celebrate my 60th birthday this year), I understand the value of providing children with rare and fatal diseases the ability to improve or even extend their lives from a personal, policy, and political perspective. I took that knowledge into the first Trump administration as the commissioner of the Administration on Disability at the Department of Health & Human Services. Today, I’m deeply concerned by what Makary, Prasad, and — at times — Health & Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have done to reduce children’s ability to live the full length of their God-given lives.
Those concerns were why I raised the alarm when RFK Jr. was going through his Senate hearings a year ago. He had been openly supportive of abortion on the presidential campaign trail, but I and other concerned pro-life advocates were told that he would have plenty of pro-lifers around him and that people would become policy. They were right: People did become policy, but not the way we had hoped. Now, we have entire policies at the FDA dedicated to making it more difficult for children inside and outside the womb to live the lives they deserve.
Last October, the FDA outraged pro-life warriors across the country by approving a cheaper version of mifepristone, one of the most prevalent and notorious abortion drugs on the market. Women can have these drugs dropped off in their mailboxes and have abortions in the “comfort” of their own homes. The pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute estimates there were over 640,000 chemical abortions in 2023 — 63% of the total abortions that year.
In 2026, there will be even more.
That number, troubling enough on its own, understates the problem because it doesn’t account for the injuries these drugs inflict on the women who take them. One devastating fact I have learned in my advocacy for people with disabilities is the particular hazard the abortion pill presents for women who use wheelchairs or otherwise live with limited mobility. Any drug that causes blood clots — and abortion drugs definitely do — will be a deadly danger to people who have limited mobility.
FDA Chief Medical Officer Vinay Prasad is similarly problematic for those who support protecting life. He not only supports legalized abortion, but since his appointment in mid-2025, Prasad has held up the production of drugs and treatments that would make real differences in the lives of kids who suffer from rare diseases like Sanfilippo syndrome and Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
In 2018, Prasad opposed the Trump “right to try” doctrine, through which hundreds of patients have seen amazing results from drugs still in their experimental stages or through off-label usage. That number could be higher if Prasad’s red tape weren’t keeping effective drugs in “pre-approval” limbo.
RELATED: No, President Trump: The sanctity of life is not ‘flexible’
Photo by Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images
At HHS, the buck stops with RFK Jr. But ultimately in our government, the buck stops at the Oval Office. Trump and Vance recommitted to supporting life on Friday, and that commitment must be consistent throughout the administration. The FDA’s actions against the unborn and children with disabilities and rare diseases threaten to undermine what should be a slam dunk for Trump’s pro-life legacy.
In short, HHS and FDA appointees should be defending life, not quietly undermining it. Vance and Trump can make that happen.
Fda, Pro life, Abortion, Trump administration, March for life, Jd vance, Food & drug administration, Martin makary, Vinay prasad, Opinion & analysis