“I might be the first speaker at a National Leadership Seminar not to go to college,” Charlie Kirk joked during a speech at Hillsdale College in February 2025.

Then he added: “I’m on pace to complete every single Hillsdale online course, so I think I’m making up for it.”

“So you’re going to fix the world, and you don’t know much about it,” Arnn told him. Instead of taking offense, Kirk got to work.

Unconventional path

Kirk’s route to national prominence was as unconventional as his education. Raised in the Chicago suburbs, he briefly attended Harper College before leaving to pursue political activism full-time. At 18, he founded Turning Point USA, which grew from a fledgling campus organization into a national conservative youth movement. Over the next 13 years, Kirk became a prominent author, broadcaster, campus debater, and ally of President Trump — all without earning a college degree.

To mark the first anniversary of Kirk’s death, Hillsdale has assembled 28 of the online courses in which he enrolled into a “Charlie Kirk online course path.”

Hillsdale is a small, independent Christian liberal arts college in Southern Michigan with an outsized influence on conservative intellectual life. Founded in 1844, the school refuses federal and state funding — including grants and loans accepted on behalf of students — in order to preserve its independence.

It has also made much of its classical liberal arts curriculum available online for free, drawing more than 5 million course enrollments.

From Aristotle to American history

The courses in Hillsdale’s new Kirk path were already free and open to the public. What the college has provided is a map through its extensive catalog: a self-directed liberal arts education spanning American history, constitutional government, economics, philosophy, theology, literature, mathematics, and statesmanship.

Kirk studied Aristotle’s “Ethics,” Dante’s “Divine Comedy,” C.S. Lewis, the book of Genesis, the Federalist Papers, the Roman Republic, Winston Churchill, and the history of Western theology. His political courses ranged from “Civil Rights in American History” and “The U.S. Supreme Court” to “The American Left: From Liberalism to Despotism.”

The breadth of the list offers a glimpse of the work behind the public figure.

Kirk said in his February speech that he had completed more than 30 Hillsdale courses and intended to take them all — “yes, even the Euclidean geometry one.”

He reserved particular praise for “Constitution 101: The Meaning and History of the Constitiution,” which he argued should be required for every police officer, firefighter, and member of the military who takes an oath to defend the Constitution.

“As you take these courses, you realize how little our own elected leaders know about the country that they’re supposed to be protecting and defending,” Kirk said.

RELATED: Remembering Charlie Kirk, one year later

Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Images

Formative years

The remainder of his speech demonstrated how directly he applied that education to politics. Drawing on Hillsdale’s teaching about Woodrow Wilson and the rise of the administrative state, Kirk framed the opening weeks of Trump’s second term as a confrontation over the constitutional authority of the executive branch.

Appearing on “The Charlie Kirk Show” last week, Hillsdale President Larry Arnn recalled meeting Kirk12 years earlier, when the young activist was just 19. Arnn responded to Kirk’s ambitions by asking him a series of questions he could not answer.

“So you’re going to fix the world, and you don’t know much about it,” Arnn told him.

Instead of taking offense, Kirk got to work.

A month after their first meeting, Arnn received a text containing a photograph of a Hillsdale online course certificate. It was from Kirk.

“I knew him for 12 years. He grew so much,” Arnn recently said. After hearing Kirk deliver a Hillsdale speech several months before his death, Arnn approached him with a new assessment: “Okay, boy, you have learned a lot.”

Lifelong student

That willingness to be corrected was central to Arnn’s memory of his friend.

“I beat him up, and his reaction to that was exactly right,” Arnn said. “He was a student, right? He wanted to know.”

Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, described the effect of that education during Hillsdale’s commencement ceremony in May. She said the college helped her husband look beyond daily political commentary toward larger questions of what is good, true, and beautiful.

“He really understood that this institution wasn’t normal,” she said. “It was something that elevated his thinking to be a thought leader and really become a serious person.”

At Kirk’s memorial service last September, Arnn placed him among the finest young people he had encountered during his career in education.

“Charlie is the only one who was never a full-time student at Hillsdale College who was on that list,” he said. “We will miss him dearly. He can’t be replaced.”

Hillsdale’s new course path offers a fitting memorial to the man Arnn called the college’s “best unofficial student of all time.”

Kirk was not content simply to lecture young people or ask them to take his word for anything. His signature campus events were invitations to challenge him: “Prove me wrong.” Hillsdale is honoring him in the same spirit — not by handing his admirers a set of conclusions, but by giving them access to the books, arguments, and teachers that helped him reach his own.

​American history, Charlie kirk, Erika kirk, Federalist papers, President trump, Theology, Turning point usa, Winston churchill, Cs lewis, Education, College, Hillsdale college, Larry arnn, Lifestyle, Remembering charlie kirk 

A New Jersey woman is now facing federal criminal charges after she allegedly attempted to hire a hitman from Tinder to kill her former boyfriend — a Philadelphia police officer — and his daughter.

As Blaze News previously reported, 28-year-old Jaclyn Diiorio was arrested in April 2025. At the time, she was charged with two counts of first-degree attempted murder, one count of first-degree conspiracy to commit murder, and one count of third-degree possession of a controlled dangerous substance.

‘We haven’t seen this in decades.’

Camden County dropped its case against Diiorio after she was hit with federal charges related to the accusations, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania announced last week that Diiorio was arrested again and was charged by indictment with two federal counts of using interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire.

If convicted, Diiorio faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.

The federal indictment, filed Sept. 3 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, accused Diiorio of using a cell phone to facilitate an interstate plan to kill two individuals.

The indictment said Diiorio, of Runnemede, started committing the alleged crimes around March 30, 2025.

WCAU-TV obtained the Camden County criminal complaint and affidavit of probable cause in April 2025, which said Diiorio met a man on the Tinder dating app.

Camden County Prosecutor Grace MacAulay said during a press conference that the informant and Diiorio connected on Tinder with the intention of dating.

The pair exchanged several phone calls and text messages, according to the affidavit of probable cause.

The two first met at a Wawa convenience store in Runnemede on March 31, 2025.

The informant told detectives on April 4, 2025, that Diiorio was “adamant” about killing her ex-boyfriend.

RELATED: Ex-teacher who dodged conviction for allegedly asking teen lover to kill husband learns fate for sexually assaulting student

The informant told detectives that Diiorio offered him $12,000 to murder her former boyfriend and his 19-year-old daughter.

Diiorio said she would pay the hitman $500 up front and the remaining balance split into installments.

Detectives determined that Diiorio’s ex-boyfriend was a 53-year-old officer with the Philadelphia Police Department.

Investigators said they interviewed the ex-boyfriend on April 4, 2025, and he confirmed that he had dated Diiorio after meeting her when she was his hairstylist.

The officer told detectives that he broke up with Diiorio on March 6, 2025, according to the affidavit.

The probable cause statement said the former boyfriend told investigators that Diiorio had filed a temporary restraining order against him in the summer of 2024, but it was later dropped.

The informant told investigators that he agreed to meet Diiorio on the evening of April 4, 2025, at the Dollar General in Glendora, where she would give him the down payment for the murders.

According to the probable cause statement, the informant entered Diiorio’s white Honda Civic in a Dollar General parking lot around 6:45 p.m. on April 4, 2025.

Once inside the vehicle, Diiorio demanded to see the informant’s driver’s license and then gave him $500, the affidavit said.

Officers with the Gloucester Township Police Department then arrested Diiorio, according to investigators.

Camden County Prosecutor Grace MacAulay at the time said murder-for-hire plots are “not common at all. … In Camden County, we haven’t seen this in decades.”

WCAU reported that investigators said Diiorio had a bottle of alprazolam pills on her with the label ripped off. Alprazolam often is prescribed for panic attacks and anxiety.

Diiorio previously attempted to have the ex-boyfriend and his daughter killed, according to prosecutors.

The Inquirer reported that prosecutors claimed Diiorio told the informant she previously had been misled by others who had given her “fake pictures” of a supposed completed contract killing.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, with assistance from the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit, Gloucester Township Police Department, and the U.S. Marshals Service New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force – Camden Division, investigated the case.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Kwambina Coker and Joshua Myers.

The Inquirer reported that Diiorio’s defense attorney, Robert Gamburg, said his client planned to plead not guilty to the charges.

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​Murder for hire plot, Tinder, New jersey, Arrest, Federal charges, Crime 

The Trump administration has gotten the last laugh against an illegal alien gangster who infamously refused to hold his tongue when he was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Just two days after President Donald Trump retook office in January 2025, Boston ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations picked up Wisteguens Jean Quely Charles, a native Haitian and convicted criminal who was then 25 years old.

‘He went viral for praising Biden as he was getting arrested, because he knew that the Biden administration’s open borders turned America into a paradise for criminals like him.’

During his arrest, a defiant Charles cursed Trump and insisted he was “not going back to Haiti.”

“F**k Trump! You feel me?” he continued. “Yo, Biden forever, bro. Thank Obama for everything that he did for me, bro.”

Despite the verbal bluster, the case for deporting Charles was strong. For one thing, he is a career criminal, with convictions for assault and battery on a public employee, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, various drug and weapons offenses, resisting arrest, and even trespassing.

Moreover, Charles is a known member of the Back Block Money Gang, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

RELATED: DHS secretary: Ilhan Omar married her brother, and consequences are coming

Screenshot of DHS press release

Charles was granted Temporary Protected Status by President Barack Obama in February 2013, and he was admitted into the U.S. a few months later, the DHS said. His TPS status was then terminated in 2022, under President Joe Biden, and a federal judge issued a final deportation order for him last November.

On Thursday, that order was carried out, and Charles was deported back to Haiti.

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said of Charles:

This illegal alien gang member from Haiti had quite the rap sheet, with convictions for assault and battery on a public employee, resisting arrest, and drug trafficking, among other heinous crimes.

He went viral for praising Biden as he was getting arrested, because he knew that the Biden administration’s open borders turned America into a paradise for criminals like him. The Trump administration has finally done what both the Obama and Biden administrations failed to do and deported this criminal back where he belongs.

The White House took a victory lap on Tuesday, sharing a video of Charles with the caption “Home sweet Haiti” and two waving emojis. The voice of a real or virtual female flight attendant concludes the video saying, “You have arrived at your destination.”

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​Department of homeland security, Immigration and customs enforcement, Trump administration, Temporary protected status, Haiti, Politics 

Demographics in Texas are changing, but apparently Texans aren’t allowed to notice.

“Many people, not just myself, have seen the rapid and dramatic shift in our communities with, you know, people who by and large when you live here, you’re allowed to look around you, because you have eyeballs, and you notice things,” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales says on “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered.”

“And so Bo French, who is my friend and also the Republican nominee for railroad commissioner here in Texas, noticed something,” she adds.

French had pulled a still from a University of Texas at Austin football game, where the crowd in one section was made up entirely of Indians wearing UT football jerseys.

“I heard UT graduation this year looked like this. I didn’t believe it. The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined,” French wrote in a post on X.

“It’s an observation that he made. An observation that I think I will be able to prove to you is not racist, but just true. But be that as I may, you’re not allowed to say things like this according to the libs and the RINOs who I actually would just categorize as all one,” Gonzales says.

“You’re not allowed to have eyeballs. You’re not allowed to look at the community, at the demographics around you changing, you’re not allowed to, I don’t know, want Texas to just look like Texas,” she continues.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) responded to French’s post, writing, “This is the Republican nominee for statewide office. Are other Republican elected officials going to condemn the intolerance and racism, or look the other way while it becomes normalized. This is how great political parties self-destruct. Sad.”

“Get out of here, John,” Gonzales says.

But it gets worse.

Texas Senate Democrat candidate James Talarico then chimed in, reposting Cornyn’s tweet and writing, “Thank you @JohnCornyn for your leadership. Racism has no place in Texas. @KenPaxtonTX: will you condemn this blatant racism or will you cower to extremists?”

Paxton responded, “I condemn racism in all its forms, including James Talarico saying white men are America’s top terror threat and that he prays to overcome his own ‘whiteness,’ whatever that means. Only one person in this race has a history of dividing Texans by race, and it’s James Talarico. I will continue to focus on uniting our State and bringing together the broadest possible coalition to fight for Texas, our values, and our families.”

“Truly,” Gonzales comments, “a mic-drop moment from my friend Ken Paxton.”

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.

​James talarico, John cornyn, Sara gonzales, Ken paxton, University of texas, Football, Indians, Texas, Bo french, Racism, Blazetv show 

A 21-year-old man was arrested in Pennsylvania as he was preparing for an alleged mission for a mass shooting just after the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said Jonathan Hunter Kramer of Valencia had been on their radar since 2023, according to a Justice Dept. press release.

‘His apparent ISIS inspiration and escalation toward violence show how close this country came to a devastating attack. This arrest prevented what could have been a horrific tragedy.’

FBI agents claimed they watched Kramer purchase ammunition and magazines at a sporting goods store before they searched his hotel room.

Kramer was allegedly found to be in possession of five boxes of rifle ammunition and three 30-round capacity rifle magazines, and in the room agents allegedly found a semiautomatic rifle and ammunition.

Prosecutors allege that Kramer was plotting an attack in support of the ISIS terror group.

“Kramer was taken into custody just as he appeared to be preparing for a mass shooting that could have taken many lives, having already secured a rifle and approximately 190 rounds of ammunition for what he called his ‘mission,'” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg.

“His apparent ISIS inspiration and escalation toward violence show how close this country came to a devastating attack. This arrest prevented what could have been a horrific tragedy.”

Kramer had been previously arrested as a minor when he was found in possession of child pornography while also helping plot a mass shooting attack, according to the DOJ press release.

He was subsequently released from a Pennsylvania juvenile detention facility, but an anonymous March 2026 tip warned officials about his alleged dangerous behavior.

The tipster claimed Kramer had received “mysterious packages” and had been talking to friends he made prior to his juvenile adjudication.

Investigators said they uncovered his online persona, “Hamza Al Rashid,” which claimed to have pledged allegiance to ISIS.

On Saturday, Kramer booked a room in cash at a hotel in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania, before going to the sporting goods store, according to agents watching him.

Police also reportedly found a prayer rug, pepper spray, and approximately 30 knives when they searched his hotel room.

RELATED: ‘Major’ Halloween terror plot thwarted by FBI involved links to ISIS, ‘LGBTQ+ community’

And they claimed to have found a note with a cryptic message:

“DoNt look For me[.] IDK what I did buT I cant live In constant Fear,” the note allegedly read.

Kramer was charged with “receiving a firearm and ammunition knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that the firearm and ammunition would be used to commit a felony or a federal crime of terrorism, including providing, attempting to provide, and conspiring to provide material support or resources to a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.”

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​Isis, Pennsylvania, Terrorism, Politics, 9/11 

Ed Sheeran invited Macklemore to open for him in front of tens of thousands of fans.

Macklemore returned the favor by giving him an unsolicited lesson in the political obligations of pop stardom.

‘Free all people in America living in fear over this terrorist organization ICE.’

Tour bore

After being dropped from Sheeran’s stadium tour over his pro-Palestinian remarks, the rapper — real name Benjamin Haggerty — published a lengthy statement that managed to praise his friend of 13 years, reveal details of their private conversations, and suggest that Sheeran’s long-standing refusal to turn his concerts into political rallies was a moral failing.

“Ed was in a f**ked up position,” Macklemore wrote. “He knew it. His typical apolitical stance was being challenged in a way it never had been before.”

Macklemore says he hopes their friendship survives. But first, apparently, Sheeran has some things to learn.

Macklemore was scheduled to open eight of the remaining 10 U.S. dates on Sheeran’s Loop Tour.

During his performances at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium earlier this month, however, Macklemore used some of that time to deliver a series of political messages.

“Free Palestine,” he told the crowd. “I want those words to be loud and clear so the people from Gaza all the way to the occupied West Bank know that we have not forgotten them.”

He went on to call for a “free” Lebanon, Cuba, Congo, and Sudan before turning his attention to the United States.

“Free all people in America living in fear over this terrorist organization ICE.”

Macklemore also praised the “bravery” of Columbia University students who participated in pro-Palestinian encampments.

‘The stage becomes resistance’

The “Thrift Store” rapper has made similar statements for years. But in his response to being dropped from the tour, Macklemore acknowledged what made these performances different: He was making them from somebody else’s much larger stage.

“What I said at MetLife I have been saying on stages around the world for almost three years,” he wrote. “So why is it an issue now?”

“Because now I’m sharing a stage with one of the biggest artists in the world, in some of the biggest stadiums in America.”

And Macklemore appears to have understood Sheeran’s continued willingness to share that stage with him as an implicit political endorsement.

“If I kept doing the shows, saying Free Palestine, with Ed implicitly supporting it, the crowd getting loud and showing undeniable support for Palestinian liberation, what artist might speak out next?” he wrote.

“The stage becomes resistance.”

RELATED: SKIN IN THE GAME: Sydney Sweeney shrugs off female athletes triggered by naked ad

Nose for controversy

According to Macklemore, the arrangement became untenable after New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft got involved. The Kraft Group owns Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, where Sheeran is scheduled to perform September 25 and 26.

Macklemore said Sheeran told him that Kraft had called and made clear that the rapper would not be permitted to perform there. The Seattle rapper further claimed that Kraft had rallied other stadium owners and effectively presented the tour with an ultimatum: Drop Macklemore or lose the venues.

Tour promoter Messina Touring Group confirmed that multiple venues refused to host the concerts with Macklemore on the bill. Kraft confirmed his own decision to bar Macklemore from Gillette Stadium, although Macklemore’s claim that Kraft personally rallied the other owners remains his account.

The Patriots owner, who founded the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism in 2019, said Macklemore’s recent performances reflected what he described as “a broader history of anti-Semitic rhetoric and imagery that we believe has been deeply offensive and hurtful to the Jewish community.”

“We determined that his participation in the September 25 and 26 concerts at Gillette Stadium would cross that line,” Kraft said.

Kraft also stressed that the decision was not intended to dismiss Palestinian suffering and said he would be willing to sit down with Macklemore.

Macklemore rejected Kraft’s characterization of his statements.

“Antisemitism is real,” he wrote, before arguing that accusations of anti-Semitism are being “weaponized” to silence criticism of Israel.

This was not the first time Macklemore has faced accusations of anti-Semitism. In 2014, he performed in Seattle wearing a black wig, beard, and large hooked prosthetic nose — an outfit critics said resembled an anti-Semitic caricature.

Macklemore apologized, saying the resemblance was unintentional and that he had assembled the disguise randomly. “I acknowledge how the costume could, within a context of stereotyping, be ascribed to a Jewish caricature,” he wrote at the time. “It was absolutely not my intention.”

RELATED: Meet the 25-year-old building a Christian alternative to Hollywood

Rap session

After stressing that he wasn’t trying to “tear down [Sheeran’s] character,” Macklemore proceeded to give his “brother” a public dressing-down for his refusal to politicize his tour.

He described a private conversation in which Sheeran told him that “Free Palestine” and the image of a Palestinian flag had been hurtful to some of the people Sheeran had spoken with.

Macklemore wasn’t persuaded. “I told him if those words were more offensive than tens of thousands of Palestinian children being killed by Israel, then there was a fundamental disconnect.”

“But he couldn’t get past his public facing, ‘I don’t take sides,’” Macklemore wrote.

“Taking a side can cost you,” Macklemore wrote, citing money, sponsorships, festivals, relationships, and access. He then offered a crash course in social justice for his fellow multimillionaire pop star:

“There is no neutral position between the oppressor and the oppressed. When one side has the bombs and bottomless financial and military support from America, refusing to take a side doesn’t leave you in the middle.”

Paging Pink

Sheeran wasn’t the only artist Macklemore took to task. After Pink reposted criticism of his MetLife remarks from the group StopAntisemitism, he invoked her as another example of a successful artist with little excuse, in his view, for remaining on the sidelines.

“Sheeran is not a victim, Pink is not a victim,” Macklemore wrote. “We have careers, money, opportunities, safety, and audiences around the world.”

Pink later objected to the assumptions being made about her own views.

“I was born a Jew. I didn’t pick it, and I’ve never hidden it,” she wrote. “And this week a whole lot of people decided what I believe without asking me, without checking a single thing I’ve ever said or done, because a repost and the word ‘Jew’ were apparently enough to fill in the rest.”

She added that she doesn’t speak for Israel and that “Hamas is a terrorist organization.”

In Macklemore’s telling, however, celebrity and financial security appear to create an obligation to speak: Using a stadium concert to advocate for Palestine isn’t an intrusion of politics into entertainment but part of an artist’s responsibility.

“I didn’t need 10 shows from Ed. I needed 2,” Macklemore wrote. “Two chances to stand in front of 90,000 people and say the words that somehow became too dangerous to say.”

Sheeran: Fans first

On Tuesday, Sheeran issued a lengthy response of his own. He confirmed that venues threatened to cancel upcoming shows if Macklemore remained on the tour and said he spent the week speaking with venues, promoters, and activists in an effort to find a compromise.

But he disputed the suggestion that he personally fired Macklemore. “Macklemore coming off the tour was the promoter’s decision, it was not mine,” Sheeran wrote.

And he pushed back more directly against Macklemore’s suggestion that staying publicly neutral amounts to complicity. “I am not complicit,” Sheeran wrote.

Sheeran said he has his own views on the Israel-Gaza war and cares deeply about the suffering it has caused. But he does not believe that obligates him to turn his professional platform into a political one. Furthermore, his fans “do not expect a political forum” when they come to see him perform.

Instead, Sheeran said he wants his music to provide “a place of safety and sanctuary” and argued that “there is room for multiple approaches” toward the same goal of peace.

Sheeran’s attempt to keep the tour out of the political fight hasn’t exactly succeeded. All of his remaining scheduled opening acts — Finneas, Aaron Rowe, and Lukas Graham — have now pulled out, while his touring band Beoga has quit as well.

School of rock

After publicly recounting their disagreement and some of Sheeran’s private remarks, Macklemore insisted he bears his old friend no ill will.

“I hope this isn’t the end of my relationship with Ed,” he wrote. “Thirteen years of friendship doesn’t disappear because of one painful disagreement.”

He then offered his erstwhile tour-mate a homework assignment of sorts.

“I hope we both continue listening, studying what is happening in Palestine and wrestling with what neutrality means in a moment like this.”

Macklemore himself doesn’t appear to have much wrestling left to do.

“Free Palestine,” he concluded, adding that “if those words cost me the stage, while turning the conversation back to Palestine, then it was the most successful tour I’ve ever been on.”

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​Macklemore, Israel, Palestine, Ed sheeran, Robert kraft, Entertainment 

Your Wi-Fi router has one job — to deliver wireless internet throughout your house for all of your smart devices, and that’s about it, right? Well, think again. Some Xfinity routers come with an extremely intrusive upgrade that turns your Wi-Fi into a motion-detecting spy network within the privacy of your own home, and police can access the data.

Believe it or not, Xfinity is actually offering this “feature” as a selling point on its website. Dubbed WiFi Motion, the company says that some of its routers can use the shifting Wi-Fi signal within a home to sense motion and to deliver a push notification to the owner’s device to let them know when someone — either you, a friend, a family member, or an intruder — is in the house.

Any activity that happens on WiFi Motion’s watch could be brought up and used against you in a court of law.

Xfinity stresses that the system doesn’t use cameras or microphones to record visual or audio data. That would be absurd to let that into your home, right? It just weaponizes your Wi-Fi to watch your every move.

On the bright side, Xfinity’s parent company, Comcast, claims not to track or monitor WiFi Motion activity or push notifications. However, that doesn’t mean you don’t have anything to worry about.

Don’t commit a crime within WiFi Motion’s walls

Although Xfinity claims it can’t see captured motion or push notifications, it apparently knows enough about your whereabouts to comply with law enforcement. According to the website:

Comcast may be required to disclose information generated by WiFi Motion in response to a valid subpoena, court order, search warrant, or other lawful legal process, as required by law. In limited situations permitted by law, information may be disclosed in connection with legal proceedings, dispute resolution, or emergency situations.

In other words, any activity that happens on WiFi Motion’s watch — activity that takes place within the privacy of your own home — could potentially be brought up and used against you in a court of law.

Be careful what you do when your Wi-Fi is enabled.

RELATED: When did we agree to be watched?

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Wi-Fi-based motion tracking isn’t a new idea

To be candid, Wi-Fi-based motion-sensing technology isn’t anything new. Xfinity is just one of a few companies to actively turn it into a customer-facing feature. The truth is that “Wi-Fi sensing” is a potential side effect of any router that has multiple antennas with Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) compatibility.

The only saving grace is that Wi-Fi sensing is inefficient at best. It relies on the strength of the wireless signal in a room to monitor activity. That means if there’s a dead zone within the home — you probably even know which room or space gets a poor signal in your house — the system has a harder time detecting wave shifts, rendering it useless in those areas. It also requires the user to place stationary devices around the home to help detect signal fluctuations.

In other words, it’s not a very reliable spy, but what it does see can still come back to haunt you if the law takes an interest.

Is your Xfinity router a motion-sensing hub?

WiFi Motion is included with Xfinity WiFi Shield and available as an opt-in option in the Xfinity App for iOS or Android. Depending on how you feel about it, you might be happy to know that there are a few other requirements before it will work.

According to the company, you need an Xfinity Internet subscription, a compatible Xfinity WiFi Gateway, the Xfinity app, and your own connected devices to act as signal receivers. To see if your Xfinity WiFi Gateway (i.e., router) is a potential motion-sensing hub, check out the list:

Technicolor XB7Technicolor XB8Technicolor XB9Technicolor XB10Technicolor MXB1Technicolor XER10

For those concerned about the privacy implications of WiFi Motion, rest assured that it can’t do much unless you activate it in the Xfinity App. That said, the fact that the feature may be lying dormant in your router could be enough to convince you to change brands. The choice is yours.

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​Privacy, Tracking, Surveillance, Tech 

The man who infamously stated that “America deserved 9/11” has trashed the country again, this time on the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

On Friday, Hasan Piker interrupted what he called the “forcible reverence” for 9/11 to reiterate his “godd**n God-given and constitutionally protected right” to smear America as an evil and heartless country.

El-Sayed’s attempts to shake his previous associations with Piker have not worked.

“How can you not get angry and resentful about a government that does nothing to treat [its] sickly, to feed its hungry, to feed its starving, to shelter its homeless when we have all the money, we have an abundance of wealth and prosperity, and we just refuse to spread it around? Of course that makes me angry,” he said.

Piker also claimed that those on the left have repeatedly stood by the heroes who participated in the recovery and rebuilding efforts after 9/11, while those on the right have simply exploited them for political gain.

“There’s a long, time-honored tradition of the left trying to do their very best to help 9/11 first responders, 9/11 victims, and the right simply weaponizing their memory in order to wage war, destroy American civil liberties, and then consistently foment hatred towards Muslims all around the world.”

Piker did blame the left for complicity in the Global War on Terror, alleged maltreatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, and other instances of American “fascism.”

Piker acknowledged that he is “currently at the center” of controversy because of his past remarks about America and 9/11, especially claiming in 2019 that “America deserved” the horrific terrorist attacks.

Since those comments resurfaced earlier this summer, Democrats like Abdul El-Sayed, running for the U.S. Senate in Michigan, have scrambled to distance themselves from Piker even after cozying up to him.

El-Sayed brought Piker to Michigan to campaign with him multiple times, including in early August, but now seems to avoid saying Piker’s name, usually referring to him as just a “Twitch streamer in California.”

RELATED: Left-wing media appalled that Bari Weiss called out Abdul El-Sayed’s deleted 9/11 tweets

However, El-Sayed’s attempts to shake his previous associations with Piker have not worked. The media has continued to ask him about Piker, and El-Sayed has not concealed his exasperation with the Piker questions.

For instance, El-Sayed told Weijia Jiang of CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday: “With all due respect, this is the third time you’ve asked about a Twitch streamer in California.”

Piker admitted on Friday that Republican ads tying El-Sayed to 9/11 and Islamic terrorism have been effective. “To say that this doesn’t have an impact, it would also be silly. Of course it does,” he said.

“There are people who are primed, looking for any opportunity they can get to unload and to make responsible every Muslim American in the country for 9/11,” Piker continued. “… The question is, do we get to win those people back with decency? Do we get to win those people back with good policies?”

Piker indicated that Muslims running for office in America, such as El-Sayed, and those already in office, such as NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani, whom Piker called “the real president of the United States,” are “victims to the Islamophobic narratives that are running amok” and therefore must be “extra careful.”

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​Hasan piker, Abdul el-sayed, 9/11, Politics 

An elderly woman in Texas helped federal authorities nab a scammer connected to a massive international ring that stole allegedly millions and caused one victim to commit suicide.

The woman, who did not want to be publicly identified, said she was taken in by the phone call from a scammer claiming to alert her about fraud targeting her credit card.

The arrest helped authorities in their investigation of the international ring targeting more than 200 senior citizens in Northern Texas and other states.

“He comes on, and he says that he is the head of the fraud division of the Social Security Administration in Washington. And he’s very official, very smart, intelligent,” said the woman from Frisco to KDFW-TV.

The scammer provided documents to her to show that he worked with the U.S. government and that he would keep her money safe.

She gave him $30,000.

Then the scammer told her to take $22,000 out of another account at the bank to hand over to him. When she tried to withdraw the money, a bank manager refused the transaction.

“The manager came out, and thank goodness for her, she said, ‘You’re getting scammed,'” she said.

The victim filed a report with the Frisco police, who then had her turn the tables on her scammer.

Police gave her counterfeit money in a box to give to the courier, who tried to drive away after receiving the box but was arrested by police.

The arrest helped authorities in their investigation of the international ring targeting more than 200 senior citizens in Northern Texas and other states.

One of the alleged organizers of the scam was caught on Sept. 4 when he tried to flee the country through New York, according to the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office.

35-year-old Muzaamil Ahmed had allegedly built shell corporations in order to launder money scammed from senior citizens. He converted the stolen cash and gold into cryptocurrency that was then moved out of the country, according to prosecutors.

“If you are participating in this scam, know this: We are dismantling your network,” said District Attorney Phil Sorrells. “You will face justice in Tarrant County.”

RELATED: Feeding Our Future scammer CRIES before being sentenced for bribing juror with $120K

Sorrells said he knew of one case where a victim lost life savings to the scam and committed suicide as a result.

The criminal network was responsible for $250 million in theft from victims, prosecutors said.

Others had been indicted in the scam, including store owners who melted down gold, people who transferred the stolen funds in cryptocurrency, and others who set up bank accounts to aid in the money laundering.

Ahmed was booked into the Tarrant County Jail, and officials are working to extradite two other suspects in the scam.

“Law enforcement will never call you and tell you to buy gold or withdraw cash or purchase things like cryptocurrency for safety. If someone tells you to do that, hang up,” Sorrells warned.

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​Cryptocurrency, Scam, Texas, Elderly, Crime