The death of a black woman found hanged from a tree was peddled by left-wing activists as a racist lynching to further divide Americans, but police say it was something else altogether.

29-year-old Tasia Fortune, a mother to four children, was found dead in the back yard of an abandoned house in Jackson, Mississippi, on Aug. 3.

‘Not only was the act itself heinous, but what it was, I believe, intended to imply was also heinous.’

Even after a black man was arrested for his alleged part in Fortune’s murder, many continued to peddle the falsehood that Fortune’s death was emblematic of the nation’s racist past.

That narrative was further derailed by new details in the case released on Monday.

Jackson Police Chief RaShall Brackney said in a press conference that an investigation determined that Fortune had been killed after a drug deal went wrong, and her “lynching” was staged afterward.

“So at this time, we do know the manner of death was homicide. We also are confirming that this was a staged event, and often we know that these events are staged so that we can derail the investigation, pointing in another direction,” Brackney said.

Police said 45-year-old Eric Clark used “props” to make it appear that the mother of four children had been killed in a racist lynching.

“Not only was the act itself heinous, but what it was, I believe, intended to imply was also heinous,” Brackney added.

Police said a witness told them Clark and two other people left with Fortune but that the three men came back without the woman. Days later, she was found hanging from a tree.

The witness allegedly said Clark came back dirty and sweaty with a pocket full of money.

Two other men were arrested in the case and were identified as 51-year-old Jarques Ratliff and 25-year-old Earnest Lloyd Jr.

Brackney said that she expects conspiracy charges to be filed in the case as the investigation continues.

She added that there was a known association between Fortune and the suspects arrested.

RELATED: Activists rage over racist vandalism at California HS — district says black student was caught

Clark pleaded not guilty and was given a $5 million bond. Requests for bonds were rejected for Ratliff and Lloyd.

Fortune’s family said in a statement Monday that the public should reject making hasty assumptions about the case.

“We would like to thank everyone for their prayers and support and are grateful for the silence to be broken, but we also want to say that we wish for people to have patience and wait for the rest of the facts to come out before jumping to conclusions.”

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​Lynching, Racial hoax, Mississippi, Racism, Politics, Crime 

The editors of the New York Times responded to online furor and ridicule over their headline that minimized the alleged attempted hijacking of a plane heading to Israel.

While many were praising the crew and passengers who rushed to stop the alleged terror attack Wednesday, the Times was seemingly downplaying the incident on social media.

‘Why does the @nytimes act as a propagandist for terrorists?’

“Breaking news: A plane flying from Dubai to Israel was diverted after an altercation between the pilot and co-pilot, Israeli officials said,” read the Times post on social media.

A community note provided context the Times had neglected to mention:

This was not simply an “altercation between pilots”. The co-pilot stabbed the captain, attempted to take over the aircraft with mostly Israeli citizens on board, children included. Passengers forcibly subdued the attacker after the plane dove 15,000 feet.

Critics pounced on the opportunity to pummel the Times on social media.

“The New York Times is just laughable. … An attempted terrorist attack on a flight from Dubai to Israel, and they call it a ‘clash’?” responded news anchor Stella Escobedo.

“This isn’t real journalism.”

“An altercation is how you describe an argument. An attempted terrorist hijacking is how you describe this incident. Dishonesty and deception is how you describe the New York Times,” replied entrepreneur Phil Bak.

“Anything that happens to Israelis, the NYT downplays. Anything that happens to Palestinians they exaggerate and then issue a correction,” said independent investigator Eyal Yakoby.

“Just a little scuffle between two guys, ya know. Nothing to see here. Shame on you, @nytimes!” replied New York City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov.

“‘An altercation’??? Why does the @nytimes act as a propagandist for terrorists?” said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas)

After five hours into the online kerfuffle, the Times released a defiant statement.

RELATED: Dentist loses job after ripping down Hamas terror victim flyers, calls them too divisive

“Our headlines and live coverage contain all the facts we’re able to confirm as we confirm them,” the statement read. “Unlike activists and partisans, we don’t publish speculation or unverified information.”

In a statement Wednesday, Flydubai also described the incident as an “altercation … in the flight deck.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu greeted the passengers from the terror attack and called them heroes for taking down the alleged attempted hijacker.

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​Israel, New york times, Benjamin netanyahu, Hijacking, Politics 

A transgender New York Times executive was gunned down in Northern California, allegedly by the exec’s mother-in-law, who blamed the victim for her grandson wanting to wear his “sister’s dresses,” according to a California Post report, which cites court documents.

Jonathan McKinsey, the paper’s head of engineering for games player experience, allegedly was killed by McKinsey’s elderly in-laws — Shouyong Zhang and Shili Chen, both 77 — on Saturday in the parking lot of a Dublin park, the Post said.

‘During our marriage, the children and I learned to avoid provoking Jonathan lest he became angry.’

Zhang and Chen allegedly took turns shooting McKinsey, the paper said.

McKinsey transitioned from female to male in 2010 and got married to Candice Jang in 2011, a previous Post story said, adding that the couple had been estranged and were set to be in court for child custody prior to the shooting.

According to a restraining order McKinsey filed against Jang, Chen — McKinsey’s mother-in-law — visited to watch the couple’s children in 2023, the Post said.

Chen noticed her grandson was asking to wear his sister Alexis’ dresses — a “phase” he was going through, McKinsey said, according to the Post, which cited records.

Chen allegedly began berating her grandson and called him a “disgusting queer” and a “pervert,” the paper said, adding that Chen also allegedly hit her grandson in the back of his head when he asked to wear the dresses.

When McKinsey “begged her to stop,” the Post said Chen called McKinsey the same names, according to the restraining order.

“She blamed me for W wanting to wear his sister’s dresses and told me to get out of ‘her house’ even though we were in the home owned by Candice and I,” McKinsey wrote, the Post reported.

McKinsey tried to get Jang to hire outside help to prevent Chen from taking care of their children again, but Jang allegedly refused, the paper reported.

McKinsey also accused Jang of abuse in their relationship, including pushing McKinsey to commit suicide, the Post said, citing the documents, because “no one would want to be with someone as f**ked up and transgender like me.”

Jang first filed a restraining order against McKinsey last year, alleging McKinsey “threatened to kill me and my parents,” the paper reported.

RELATED: Transgender sex offender accused of trying to kidnap boy at elementary school gets good news from DA

Alameda County prosecutors also charged McKinsey with two counts of misdemeanor child abuse after an incident during which McKinsey allegedly hit their 6-year-old son in the face with an open hand, the Post said.

Charging documents also say Jang told investigators about a 2018 domestic violence incident during which McKinsey bruised her left arm, the paper said, adding that McKinsey pleaded not guilty to both crimes and was released from jail on the condition that McKinsey take parenting classes.

Moments after McKinsey’s killing, Zhang and Chen were arrested nearby and booked into Alameda County’s Santa Rita Jail on suspicion of murder, the Post said, adding that booking records indicate the couple is facing charges including first-degree murder, felony conspiracy, dangerously firing a gun, and child endangerment that could have caused major injury or death. They both remained behind bars Wednesday on no bond, jail records say.

A previous California Post report said Jang indicated in an August custody filing that “during our marriage, the children and I learned to avoid provoking Jonathan lest he became angry. In my experience, appearing agreeable or happy around him was sometimes a means of avoiding his anger.”

Jang filed for divorce in 2025 after McKinsey allegedly became abusive to her and their three children, ages 3, 5, and 7, the paper said, adding that McKinsey also filed for divorce last year.

Jang also filed a restraining order against McKinsey in 2025, and McKinsey filed a restraining order that same year, the Post said.

Jang also submitted an additional court filing that updated the court on a custody issue and addressed false testimony she claimed McKinsey gave, the paper said.

McKinsey, who was 40, joined the New York Times in early 2023 as a senior engineering manager for the games platform and became director of engineering for games player experience in late 2025, the Post said.

The paper said it reached out to the Times for further comment.

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​California, Crime, Fatal shooting, Murder charges, New york times, Transgender, Politics 

Artificial intelligence is being sold as a necessary, giant leap forward. But there’s another story unfolding beneath it: a borrowing spree unlike anything America has ever seen.

And Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck is sounding the alarm, asking, “Who is borrowing more money now than anybody in America besides the federal government?”

“The people who are borrowing more money than anybody else are the people building artificial intelligence,” he explains, and the company SoftBank is among them.

“SoftBank just borrowed $11 billion in junk bonds, paying as much as 9 and 3/4%,” he says.

“Oracle’s interest bill for one quarter jumped 55%. Their interest is now $1.4 billion. JP Morgan expects $4 trillion of AI debt to be issued between now and 2030.”

“That’s a tenth of our national debt borrowed,” he continues.

“And just in time, as the price of borrowing is climbing. This is like building your dream house with an adjustable-rate mortgage,” he says. “And the rate just keeps being adjusted, and it’s always up. How long would that last?”

And now one of the biggest data center landlords in the country, CoreWeave, is “[telling] its investors that every one-point rise in interest rates costs it another $30 million a year.”

“Then last week, Brookings put a price on the whole thing. $10.3 trillion for America’s AI build-out between 2025 and 2032,” Glenn says.

“What is the debt in the interest on that?”

“Now, you measure that against the size of the economy,” he continues. “That is bigger than the canals. That’s bigger than electrifying the entire country. That’s bigger than the interstate highway system. That’s bigger than the railroads.”

However, this is a massive bet the AI companies are making — as a recent Gallup poll says 71% of Americans don’t want a data center in their own towns.

“This is the biggest bet in not American history — in human history. This, let me say it again, the biggest bet in all of human history,” Glenn says.

“When a bet is too big to fail and too sacred to question, there’s only one place the bill can go,” he explains. “One place.”

“I want you to ask one question of your congressman, and I want you to send a clear message to everybody in Washington. Ask this question: If it goes wrong, who pays? If the answer is fuzzy, so is the plan,” he continues. “And it will end up being on your shoulders.”

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​Glenn beck, Coreweave, Debt, Data centers, Artificial intelligence, Soft bank, Oracle, Jp morgan, Brookings, Blazetv show 

James Talarico scored some points with an easy political play: Pick up the phone, “call” Ken Paxton, and publicly challenge him to a debate.

The video quickly went viral, with Talarico urging his Republican opponent to join him on Fox News before Texans head to the polls.

The short clip shows Talarico on the phone, before saying, “Hey Ken, it’s James, I’m calling to invite you to a debate on Fox News. Texans start voting in less than a month, and they deserve to hear from both of us before they do. I’ve accepted four local TV debates, but we haven’t heard from you, and we’re running out of time.”

“So if Fox News is where you’ll be most comfortable, I’ll be there because I think it’s that important. Bret Baier can moderate, we can both take questions, and Texans can hear from us directly,” he continued.

“So give me a call back, man. I look forward to hearing from you,” he added.

BlazeTV host Pat Gray wonders if Talarico’s confidence means he’s the “program director at Fox now.”

“We already cleared it with Bret. He’s got on the schedule,” Jeff Fisher laughs.

Executive producer Keith Malinak points out that at least four local stations have agreed to host the debate, but Paxton hasn’t answered the invite — which he calls “completely unacceptable from the Paxton camp.”

“The guy who’s ahead is the one who is begging for debates,” he adds.

The ad, Malinak and Fisher say, has been “effective.”

“It should be addressed,” Fisher says.

The ad was posted days ago, and there’s still been no response from Paxton.

“They actually didn’t return USA Today when they reached out for comment,” Malinak says.

“Does he want to win?” Gray asks.

“I don’t know,” Malinak answers, adding, “Honestly, I don’t believe he does at this point. The evidence points to no.”

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​James talarico, Ken paxton, Campaign ad, Texas, Senate, Pat gray, Blazetv show 

A federal criminal complaint alleges that a DoorDash driver who is said to be in the U.S. illegally struck an immigration officer with his vehicle’s side mirror as he fled a traffic stop — an encounter that ended with him being shot.

The shooting of 28-year-old Wilber Rafael Garces Perez has led to outrage and protests from critics of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The other officer who was wearing a body camera caught up to the scene only after the shooting had occurred.

The complaint claims bodycam video from the Sept. 20 incident in Austin, Texas, shows Perez clipping an officer with the side mirror of his vehicle when he tries to flee from the traffic stop.

The complaint says the law enforcement operation began when immigration officers saw Perez parked with his hazard lights on and discovered through a database check that he had an active deportation order.

The initial interaction was described as “pleasant and not aggressive” in the complaint.

Perez asked officers to allow him to wait for his wife to arrive to retrieve his vehicle, but they refused, which led him to “abruptly” close the window and hit the gas, the complaint claimed.

One of the officers was struck on his torso by the side mirror as the man fled, the complaint also claimed.

Perez allegedly led them on a car chase for about eight minutes before he was shot by an officer who was not wearing a body camera, the complaint continued. The other officer who was wearing a body camera caught up to the scene only after the shooting occurred.

Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, an attorney for Perez, previously said that he was seeking asylum and had a valid work permit. She added that he was ordered to be deported because a notice to appear in immigration court had been sent to his previous address and he missed the hearing.

The DHS responded that his work permit had expired in 2025 and added that a work permit did not confer any legal status on immigrants. The Department of Homeland Security had previously described Perez as an “illegal alien from Venezuela, who illegally entered our country under the Biden administration and had a final order of removal.”

In court on Tuesday, Lincoln-Goldfinch claimed that Perez remains in “extremely bad medical condition” after the gunshot wound and has been asking for surgery to remove the bullet, the AP reported.

Lincoln-Goldfinch did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News about the allegations in the complaint.

RELATED: DHS Sec. Mullin CRUSHES ‘open borders’ Democrat pushing ‘radical’ anti-ICE bill

Perez was charged with one count of assaulting, resisting, and impeding a federal officer. If he’s convicted of the charge, Perez faces up to 20 years in prison.

He alleges that officers crashed into his car and caused it to spin before he was shot in the back. Perez was taken into custody after receiving treatment at a hospital.

The complaint included still-frames from police footage of the incident, but the bodycam footage was not released.

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​Illegal alien, Immigration and customs enforcement, Body camera footage, Immigration, Politics 

Passengers aboard a Boeing 737 heading to Tel Aviv, Israel, braced themselves when the plane suddenly plunged by 16,000 feet over an alleged hijacking attempt.

A co-pilot stabbed the other pilot on the flight in a 9/11-style attempt to take control of the plane, according to law enforcement officials.

‘We’re here during the hijacking of an airplane. At this point, we’ve subdued the terrorists.’

Some of the 174 passengers of the plane, which took off from the United Arab Emirates, recorded cellphone video of the harrowing incident.

“We’re here during the hijacking of an airplane. At this point, we’ve subdued the terrorists,” said one passenger on his video.

Some of the videos show passengers with blood on their clothing from confronting the alleged attacker. A passenger said cabin crew and passengers rushed to stop the attack.

“We were either going to crash or be murdered,” said another passenger to I24 News. “It was like a terrorist attack in mid-air.”

A flydubai spokesperson said in a statement that following the “altercation in the flight deck,” the “on-duty flydubai crew travelling on the flight … diverted and landed the aircraft safely at Tabuk Airport.”

“At this early stage, the underlying reasons and motives behind this event are unknown and remain subject to a formal investigation. We urge all parties to refrain from premature speculation while authorities gather the facts,” the flydubai statement added.

Sources told the Jerusalem Post that the alleged co-pilot terrorist is believed to be from Oman.

Photos showed that the rudder on the plane was damaged during the landing, which was completed by two off-duty European pilots, the New York Post reported.

“Someone shouted ‘stabbing,’ and my husband understood what was happening and rushed to the front of the plane,” a passenger said. “Along with other Israelis, they neutralized the terrorist.”

RELATED: NY woman allegedly thanked Allah for 9/11 and plotted to bomb state capitol and White House

The flight was diverted and landed in Saudi Arabia.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that “all passengers are out of danger” and that “the pilot who stabbed them has been arrested and is currently being questioned by the Saudi authorities.”

Some of the videos from passengers can be viewed on social media.

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​Terror attack, Israel, Plane hijacking, Islam, Politics 

Every day, tens of millions of Americans walk. Some walk to the kitchen, others walk to the bathroom, and plenty make the familiar trip back to the kitchen after forgetting what they went there for in the first place. The more adventurous, in search of a little exercise, head outside for a stroll around the block.

I enjoy a good walk myself. But after reading about the latest method, I have to ask a critical question: Have we all been walking wrong this entire time?

By next spring, expect the arrival of Scandinavian Sitting Down, a Nordic method that involves placing your buttocks on a chair when your legs feel tired.

You see, researchers in Japan have found that deliberately alternating between slower and faster walking can improve aerobic fitness, leg strength, and blood pressure more effectively than simply walking at a steady moderate pace. Hence the latest viral craze sweeping the West. Japanese walking involves three minutes of relaxed walking, followed by three minutes of faster, more vigorous walking. You repeat the process for about 30 minutes.

It’s formally known as Interval Walking Training, which makes it sound infinitely more impressive than “walk normally, then go a bit faster.”

The saber-tooth protocol

Humanity has survived famines. It has endured plagues and savage wars without a digital timer strapped to its wrist, telling it when to put one foot in front of the other. Yet today, millions of supposedly sane adults in America and beyond subscribe to services that tell them to speed up for 180 seconds. Our ancestors accelerated when a saber-toothed tiger chased them and slowed when the tiger disappeared. They called it staying alive.

The absurdity extends far beyond walking. The entire self-improvement industry rests on taking an ordinary human function, giving it a very fancy name, and selling it as a revolutionary lifestyle breakthrough.

When you eat smaller portions, you’re not practicing moderation. No, you’re engaging in the fine art of portion control. If you skip breakfast because you slept through your alarm, you’re practicing intermittent fasting. Should you fall asleep on the couch on a Sunday afternoon, you’re not taking a nap. Instead, you’re practicing a form of Non-Sleep Deep Rest.

The obsession with rebranding even the most basic things stems from deep-seated collective insecurity. Modern culture distrusts anything that lacks an instruction manual or a monthly billing cycle.

Linguistic inflation

When you step outside your front door to observe an oak tree, you’re forest bathing. Taking the stairs instead of the elevator is known as incidental exercise. Drinking a glass or two of water when you feel thirsty has evolved into a hydration protocol, complete with a gallon jug marked with motivational quotes to ensure optimal cellular fluid retention.

Going to bed at 10 p.m. on a weeknight used to be called common sense. Now it’s called sleep hygiene. And naturally, getting a good night’s sleep requires blue-light-blocking glasses, a weighted blanket, and enough magnesium to stock a small pharmacy.

Sitting near a window at 7 in the morning is circadian activation. Taking a 10-minute break from your computer screen is deliberate recovery.

In the 1920s, if a laborer needed a breather, he sat down on a crate and smoked a pipe. A century later, an office manager hires a certified consultant to teach him breath work, which involves inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth.

The linguistic inflation is out of control. Sitting on a chair without looking at your phone for a few minutes is mindfulness. Writing about your annoying boss and even more annoying neighbor in a notebook is journaling. Drinking a mug of black coffee before going for a jog is pre-workout supplementation.

Vacuuming the living room and carrying heavy laundry baskets down to the basement is functional fitness. Throwing a ball around with your son in the back yard is active family bonding. Jumping into cold water is aquatic cardiovascular conditioning. Staring at nothing in particular for 10 minutes is dopamine detoxing.

RELATED: Rare disease? Chronic illness? Fame awaits as a ‘sickfluencer’

Getty Images

Wellness wordsmiths

Influencers have built multimillion-dollar digital empires by doing little more than glancing at the dictionary, grabbing an everyday word, and replacing it with something that sounds like a medical diagnosis.

The goal is to make you feel fundamentally incompetent at simply existing. If breathing, sleeping, walking, and drinking water require a life coach and a six-week online seminar, you’re permanently broken without their intervention.

Things are bad now, and they’ll likely get worse. By next spring, expect the arrival of Scandinavian Sitting Down, a Nordic method that involves placing your buttocks on a chair when your legs feel tired. By autumn, wellness retreats will charge exorbitant fees to teach corporate clients the ancient art of Korean Going to Bed. This esoteric eastern practice involves shutting your eyes in a dark room until you fall asleep.

The solution to this nonsense is pretty simple. And more importantly, it’s entirely free. Put away the stopwatch. Delete the tracking apps; ignore the snake-oil salesmen online. Go outside. Put one foot in front of the other, and walk at whatever speed feels comfortable until you decide to stop.

​Breathwork, Circadian activation, Deliberate recovery, Forest bathing, Health, Hydration, Incidental exercise, Influencers, Japanese walking, Journaling, Lifestyle, Make america healthy again, Wellness