An Amber Alert on Monday led to the shooting death of a man who allegedly abducted a 13-year-old girl from her home in Ocala, Florida.

The Marion County Sheriff’s Office said that 45-year-old Jason Castillo had been identified as a possible suspect after the Amber Alert for Juliet Louise Arioso was issued in the morning.

Castillo was shot by 8 sheriff’s deputies and 1 officer while they tried to take him into custody.

Police believe Castillo had abducted Arioso from the Shady Road Villas community between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

At about 5:20 p.m., deputies spotted the red 2021 Hyundai Santa Fe and tried to pull Castillo over, but he refused and tried to speed away.

Officers performed a precision immobilization technique, commonly known as a PIT maneuver, that disabled the SUV on U.S. Highway 441.

Castillo was shot by eight sheriff’s deputies and one officer while they tried to take him into custody.

He was transported to a hospital, where he was later declared dead.

Arioso was found safe and returned to her home.

Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods later said that a citizen notified police when they saw the car described in the Amber Alert, and police were also aided by a license plate reader.

Woods said Castillo produced a handgun when the officers confronted him. The video they released shows him pointing the gun at police.

“I couldn’t be more proud of my deputies,” Woods said. “When that little girl needed them, they answered the call. They worked every lead, used every tool available, and they didn’t quit until she was safe.”

RELATED: Texas man arrested in connection to 12-year-old who went missing after getting into strange truck in the middle of the night

Castillo’s family released a statement about his death.

“We love him regardless of what he has done over the years no matter what a loss is a loss! Don’t take this as we supported his acts. But we did care about him and wished him better. I grew up with him as a huge part of my close family and it really sucks knowing he is gone,” the statement reads.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Amber alert, Child abduction, Florida man, Officer shooting, Crime 

As the shooting war with Iran enters its sixth month, the United States continues to smash Iran’s military — and lose the information war in Iran, at home, and around the world.

American forces can strike targets across Iran and hit Tehran’s regional allies, especially the Houthis in Yemen. By every conventional military measure, Iran is taking severe losses. Yet a growing domestic and international audience believes Tehran is fighting the United States to a standstill.

The Iranian officials would earn an A in my information-warfare seminar. Too many American officials would earn an F

It is not. But Iran is winning the argument over what the war means.

Too many senior American officials still treat television — whether broadcast or streamed — as a record of an event rather than a battlefield in its own right. The War Department approaches global visual media as if it were still 1991 and Desert Storm. That must change.

U.S. military planners still tend to think in Clausewitzian terms: War is politics conducted through the controlled application of violence. That formulation reflected the technology of the early 19th century. It does not account for an information age in which images cross the globe in milliseconds and political effects can precede, outweigh, or even replace battlefield effects.

I call this form of conflict SOFTWAR: the hostile use of global visual media to shape another society’s will by changing its view of reality. Three colleagues and I have taught this form of warfare to generations of students at U.S. war, staff, and intelligence colleges since the early 1990s. Too few American institutions adapted.

Iran did. Its military and intelligence apparatus has embraced the concept since at least 2003 and even adopted the American-coined term in its own publications and influence operations.

That helps explain why the United States has spent billions of dollars over five months while Iranian drone and missile attacks — and Tehran’s televised defiance — continue. Washington is using Cold War systems and industrial-age doctrine against an asymmetric enemy organized for the infosphere.

Iran’s theocratic dictatorship is fighting a four-dimensional guerrilla war across land, sea, air, and information. Its military losses have limited its ability to retaliate directly against U.S. forces. Its remaining attacks are therefore chosen less for battlefield effect than for global media impact.

Oil tankers and cargo ships in the Strait of Hormuz, a desalination plant and power station in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil hub, a liquefied natural gas facility in Qatar, a U.S. communications center in Jordan, and American naval facilities in Bahrain all produce frightening images and headlines.

RELATED: The only Iran plan that doesn’t end with a 20-year hangover

Marcin Golba/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Iran times its scattered counterattacks for its own early-morning hours so the images arrive during the American prime-time news cycle. The objective is not merely to damage a target. It is to shape the story told about the war here, there, and everywhere.

The United States helps Tehran by concentrating almost exclusively on visible military targets while leaving the regime’s domestic television system intact. Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting continues to push the mullahs’ account across dozens of television channels and through its official news operation.

Washington destroys weapons and commanders but fails to contest the information environment that gives those losses political meaning. It has not destroyed the transmitters and replaced the regime’s message with one aimed directly at the Iranian people.

Those people are the regime’s real engine: a population that has endured repression and the reported killing of tens of thousands of anti-government demonstrators. Outside the relatively small number of Iranians with access to Starlink, the United States has no coherent way to speak to them at scale.

America does not lack the technology. The military weakened its own capacity. In 2024, it retired the EC-130J aircraft of the 193rd Special Operations Wing, the only U.S. airborne radio and television broadcast platform. The aircraft were judged too vulnerable for modern combat, but no announced drone replacement has taken over the mission.

The result is overwhelming kinetic power without a direct means of reaching the Iranian public. It is the doctrine of a mechanic who responds to an engine-warning light by cutting the wire to the bulb. The warning disappears. The engine keeps failing.

Meanwhile, Iranian propagandists study the American audience, especially younger people hostile to the Trump administration, and target them with AI-generated Lego-character videos. The goal is to unite disparate factions, erode domestic support for the war, and influence the midterm elections.

America needs a genuinely four-dimensional military capable of operating on land, at sea, in the air, and throughout the infosphere. Information warfare should organize and direct the campaign, with kinetic operations supporting strategic influence objectives — not the other way around. Iran already understands the hierarchy.

RELATED: Memo to Hegseth: Military education needs a strategic makeover

Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu/Getty Images

Its officials also understand presentation.

When Iranian military figures such as Brigadier General Ebrahim Zolfaghari or Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps spokesman Abolfazl Shekarchi address the public, they are usually seated behind a desk with the Iranian flag visible. Their uniforms are immaculate, their beards trimmed, and their faces dramatically lit. Most important, they look through the camera lens directly at the audience. This is television 101.

Viewers who speak no Farsi still receive the intended message: discipline, seriousness, and defiance.

American military spokesmen too often squander the same opportunity. They ignore, disdain, or have never learned the skills needed to communicate effectively on television.

General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is informed and capable. But at his Pentagon press conferences, his televised manner resembles a squadron commander consulting his notes while briefing the weather to the first three rows.

He should address the millions watching beyond the room. Put the camera a few feet away, frame him from mid-bicep to just above the head, and have him look through the lens to establish direct eye contact with the intended audience. Reporters can sit to either side. The difference would be immediate.

Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command, makes a similar mistake. He often appears in green camouflage designed to defeat electro-optical observation — including television — rather than the Navy service uniform designed to convey authority, experience, and command. He also stands too far from the camera for viewers to read his face.

His folksy Ozzie Nelson manner may work before Congress or the Navy League. It does not put an enemy on his heels.

RELATED: The future of warfare is not what you think

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth should know better. The former Fox News host needs a tighter camera shot and a visual style designed for wartime communication rather than his old television demographic.

His current presentation is crowded with distractions: a tight European-cut suit, patterned tie, clashing flag pocket square, and hair product that makes his scalp glisten under studio lights. His deep-set eyes require careful lighting. Without it, viewers may read strain or evasiveness where none exists.

Alfred Hitchcock understood the rule: Dress the leading man simply and light him properly so the audience watches the man rather than the costume. Cary Grant in “North by Northwest” remains the model.

The Iranian officials would earn an A in my information-warfare seminar. Too many American officials would earn an F — and three hours of detention.

That needs to change right now.

The United States is not losing the military contest with Iran. It is losing the contest over what the world believes the military contest means.

A nation can destroy every designated target and still lose the war if its enemy controls the images, timing, and story. Information warfare is not an elective. It is the core course.

America, so far, is failing.

​Iran, Opinion & analysis, Pete hegseth, Tehran, Television, United states, War department, Yemen, Information war, Propaganda, Dan caine, Brad cooper 

Two summers ago, our team at the Oversight Project sat in a conference room asking the same question as the rest of the country: How were they running the government with a broken president?

That was before Joe Biden’s complete malfunction on the debate stage. Even then, we were confident he could not sustain a full re-election campaign. We began examining whether state election laws would permit Democrats to replace him after key ballot deadlines. Leaked Democratic National Committee memos showed that the prospect had already alarmed both pro- and anti-Biden factions.

The silence on the tapes speaks loudly. It suggests knowing and willful conduct, not an innocent paperwork mistake.

As a clip of Biden stumbling played on the television, someone asked the lawyer’s question: How were they moving paper through the White House, and could Biden even sign it?

After a brief silence, someone answered: Probably an autopen. Let’s find the documents and calendars and figure it out.

The rest became what President Trump has called the scandal of the century: congressional investigations, Justice Department and White House inquiries, evidence of the extraordinary lengths Biden’s aides took to conceal his condition, and even the rearrest of violent felons who should never have received autopenned commutations.

Accountability, however, has remained elusive.

Which is infuriating. What happened during the Biden years was wrong, harmful, and in many instances unlawful. The Constitution vests presidential authority in one person. That person must possess both the capacity and the awareness to authorize official acts. The entire system depends on fixing responsibility on the president whom the voters chose.

That did not happen. For a country that has spent decades lecturing the world about democracy, the Biden presidency became an embarrassment at home.

Monday brought a measure of accountability. After more than two years of litigation, the Biden tapes were released to the American people.

Joe Biden and his well-funded legal team fought us in federal district court and on appeal. We won both times. Biden could have asked the Supreme Court to intervene, but he finally surrendered. His lawyers had so much time and money that they devoted pages of legal filings to posts from my X feed and that of my colleague Jeff Clark, apparently hoping to discredit us before the court. I will always enjoy knowing that the Biden team paid an aspiring left-wing lawyer to study my unvarnished thoughts.

RELATED: Biden audio tapes have just been released — and it’s not good for Joe

Mandel Ngan/Pool/Getty Images

What does the release of the tapes mean?

First, it pushes the timeline of Biden’s decline back to 2016 and 2017.

The recordings capture Biden’s interviews with ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer while the two worked on Biden’s memoir, “Promise Me, Dad.” They were made within six months of Biden leaving the vice presidency. On the tapes, Biden forgets the name of Rep. Jim Clyburn, the man who would later rescue his 2020 campaign. He repeatedly says, “I’m so confused” and, “I can’t remember.”

The good days and bad days that defined his presidency were already apparent in 2017. The recordings contain so many pauses and verbal stalls that Biden sounds like a dial-up connection trying to buffer.

That helps explain why the 2020 campaign used COVID-19 as cover to keep him in the basement. Had Biden been forced to speak publicly and off the cuff throughout that campaign, his decline might have become as obvious then as it was during the 2024 debate. Democratic leaders knew they were selling damaged goods long before the public finally saw the label.

Second, the tapes raise serious questions about special counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into Biden’s handling of classified information.

Hur declined to prosecute, concluding that a jury would view Biden as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” Yet the recordings reveal conduct more serious than Hur’s public account suggested.

At several points, Biden acknowledges that the material before him may be classified. The audio then cuts to long stretches of silence redacted for national security reasons. These are not isolated interruptions. Classified redactions cover substantial portions of the recordings.

The transcripts indicate that Biden disclosed information involving the CIA, the Defense Department, and other sensitive national security matters to a ghostwriter who lacked both a security clearance and authorization to receive it. Biden made those disclosures while pursuing a book deal worth $8 million.

The silence on the tapes speaks loudly. It suggests knowing and willful conduct, not an innocent paperwork mistake. The recordings justify a fresh examination of whether Hur’s investigation was designed to uncover the full truth or to contain a politically explosive scandal.

RELATED: Biden freed killers with a pen he didn’t even hold

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Third, the tapes open the door to criminal inquiries.

Biden told the American people that he “did not share classified information” with his ghostwriter. The tapes contradict that statement. Knowing and willful disclosure of national defense information to an unauthorized person can constitute a federal crime. Unlike a witness with a failing memory, a recording does not need to testify.

The inquiry should not stop with Biden. His White House mobilized in 2024 to discredit Hur for accurately describing the president’s mental condition. Officials who knew the truth attacked the special counsel for saying it aloud. The autopen scandal was institutional, and accountability must extend to the aides who enabled, concealed, and benefited from it.

Investigators must reconstruct the timeline carefully. Biden was plainly diminished in 2016 and 2017, though he deteriorated further by 2024. What was his mental state when he removed classified documents from secure facilities? Did he understand that he was disclosing protected information when he said as much on tape? How did Hur evaluate intent at the time the alleged offenses occurred rather than at the time of his later interview?

Those questions demand answers.

The tapes always belonged to the American people. The Oversight Project merely delivered them to their rightful owners.

America can never again permit a presidential administration to operate by mechanized fiat. Only one person may exercise the powers of the presidency. That person must know what he is authorizing, accept responsibility for it, and actually possess the confidence of the voters who put him there.

​Autopen, Joe biden, Oversight project, Justice department, Robert hur, Classified documents, Donald trump, National security, Opinion & analysis 

Donald Trump turned a White House dinner joke into one of the most controversial statements possible, as his joke clearly left his victim fuming — but she couldn’t say anything about it without damaging the left’s belief system.

BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales calls it “the greatest joke” he’s had, before playing a clip of the president honing in on CNN host Kaitlan Collins.

“But I want to personally congratulate CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on receiving her award. It was all about me, it’s a fake. She shouldn’t get the award. It was a fake. But I didn’t mind. I said, ‘Kaitlan, congratulations.’ But it was fake,” Trump began.

“There’s no question about it. But she’s a young, attractive woman. She never smiles. I said, ‘Kaitlan, do you have a smile? Smile. You have a nice position. You’re at CNN fake news. You should be a happy person. So smile, Kaitlan,’” he continued.

“I thought Kaitlan had really made it big with a major new sponsorship, but then I informed her that it wasn’t her on the Bud Light can,” he said, adding, “It was Dylan Mulvaney.”

“Now,” Gonzales comments, laughing, “what’s so brilliant about this joke is that they can’t actually complain about the joke without proving that they’re transphobic. How are you going to explain what exactly is offensive about this joke?”

“Because if you want to accept leftist logic, Dylan Mulvaney is just as beautiful of a woman as Kaitlan Collins,” she says, noting that according to the left, “trans women are real women.”

When Collins was questioned about the joke following the dinner, she ignored the questions and walked away.

“They couldn’t be too offended,” Gonzales says, adding, “to protect the trans people.”

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.

​Donald trump, Dylan mulvaney, Kaitlan collins, Sara gonzales, Bud light, Blazetv show, Lgbt 

A Michigan husband and father is suspected of fatally shooting his wife and six children before taking his own life last week, authorities said.

Ottawa County Sheriff’s Capt. Jake Sparks said investigators believe that 47-year-old Kristopher Karolkiewicz killed his wife, 39-year-old Amanda Karolkiewicz, and their six children — four boys, ages 15, 12, 11, and 5, and two 11-year-old girls — before killing himself.

‘This is an unspeakable tragedy that we may never completely understand.’

“The manner of death for Amanda and the six children was ruled homicide. The manner of death for Kristopher has been ruled suicide,” Sparks stated.

Deputies assisted firefighters at 11:42 a.m. Friday responding to a call about a house fire in the Riverwood neighborhood of Grand Haven, which is on the coast of Lake Michigan and a little over 30 minutes west of Grand Rapids.

Firefighters entered the two-story residence and discovered eight people dead in various rooms. Investigators later determined that all of the victims had suffered gunshot wounds before the blaze was set.

Autopsies confirmed the identities of the deceased as Kristopher and Amanda Karolkiewicz and their six children, four of whom were the couple’s biological boys; their two girls had been adopted. The children’s names have not been released.

“This is an unspeakable tragedy that we may never completely understand … but we’ll do our best to find the answers and to honor the memory of those victims,” Sparks pledged.

Investigators believe Kristopher used a handgun in the killings; no suicide note has been found so far.

RELATED: Deadly Seattle shooting: Arrested suspect is just 15 years old; cops say there were 2 other suspects — 1 killed, 1 unknown

While the official cause of the fire remains under investigation, preliminary evidence indicates it was intentionally set after the killings, Sparks shared. Investigators found multiple areas where the fire appeared to have been ignited, including the home’s first floor and basement.

“I can tell you that no suspects remain at large in this incident at this time. The investigation at this point shows that this was a murder-suicide with the fire being started after the murders,” Sparks said.

The family’s pets, including several dogs and at least one cat, also died in the fire.

Sparks noted that the violence may have commenced the night before and continued into the early morning hours, with neighbors having reported smelling smoke early in the day, though a precise timeline is still being established.

The motive remains unknown.

The American Heart Association confirmed that “Kristopher Karolkiewicz was an employee … from September of 2023 until earlier this month, July 2026, when his employment ended,” WWMT-TV reported.

Amanda worked as a substitute teacher at Grand Haven Area Public Schools, WDIV-TV reported. District Superintendent Kristin Perkowski called the tragedy a “devastating incident.”

“It is with deep sadness that we acknowledge reports of a devastating incident in Grand Haven Township earlier today involving the loss of multiple lives, including several school-aged children,” she wrote, according to WZZM-TV.

Amanda also was a children’s author, and a biography from one of her books notes that her passions were “special needs and trauma-informed advocacy, mindfulness, reading, dining out, traveling, and exploring the Lake Michigan shoreline.”

Steve and Becky Lawwill, the parents of Amanda and the grandparents of the six children, issued a statement Monday to WWMT saying, “Our daughter Mandy was a kind and devoted soul who loved her family and her students.”

“We treasured every moment we had with her and her six children, and words cannot adequately express our devastation,” the Lawwills added. “We pray for God’s peace and comfort as we grieve their deaths and honor their lives.”

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Handgun, Homicide, House fire, Michigan, Suicide, Grand haven, Fatal shootings, Crime 

The Trump administration’s changes to food welfare benefits are forcing grocery markets in Las Vegas, Nevada, to fire workers and reduce their store hours.

Many on the left have decried the changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which restricted benefits from people who are able to work or don’t have disabilities.

‘You can tell that everybody’s panicking, and that’s what everybody’s talking about is how they’re going to feed their families.’

According to the KVVU-TV report, the cuts are affecting stores so much that they are making drastic decisions.

“I think we’re just in a world of trouble right now,” said Mario Berlanga, the owner of Mario’s Westside Market.

He said his sales have decreased by 30% compared to a year ago, forcing him to shorten hours.

“Over 20 people have lost their job because there’s just no business,” he added.

He said he’s never seen anything like this in the 27 years of the shop’s existence, and families are panicking over the cuts.

“When you’re used to feeding your family of four or five with $200 and now you have to do it with $80 — you really watch and see what you can pick up,” Berlanga added.

“You can tell that everybody’s panicking, and that’s what everybody’s talking about is how they’re going to feed their families,” he continued.

Another owner told KVVU that the cuts had affected more than half of his shoppers at his Eastside store.

“Now all the homeless people come in here, they don’t have money,” the owner said. “All of them were thirsty.”

He has also cut hours and laid off a worker.

County Commissioner Tick Segerblom told KVVU that the cuts were hitting his district hard because many low-income wage-earners use the benefits to supplement their food purchases.

RELATED: Able-bodied 38-year-old man goes viral for response to Trump food stamp restrictions: ‘That’s some bulls**t!’

The City of Las Vegas also released a statement about the cuts.

“The changes to the SNAP program are federally mandated, and the city does not have control over them,” officials said. “The city understands that these changes have been difficult not only for businesses but also for those in need who rely on these federal programs. The city has worked to get the word out about programs to assist those in need, such as local food pantries and charities.”

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Trump administration, Supplemental nutrition assistance program, Food stamps, Welfare, Economy, Politics 

What started as a plan to track license plates has evolved into something far more expansive, according to automotive expert Lauren Fix. And on “Stu and Dave Do America,” she warns that the rapid expansion of surveillance technology is only getting worse.

“So, you’ve heard about the Flock cameras. Why do they call them ‘Flock’? That’s my first question. Are we the flock?” Fix asks, before answering, “Oh, yes we are. We are the sheep, and they are controlling us.”

“The truth is, they’re supposed to track your license plates, but they don’t. They track the car, the picture of your car, the bumper sticker on your car, … wherever you’ve been. Do you have a cargo container on your roof? Do you have a bike rack? Do you have a dent? Do you have a scratch? All of that is being tracked,” she continues.

“And it’s not just at one intersection. It’s at every intersection,” she adds.

And Americans aren’t happy with the heightened surveillance.

“One guy got arrested for sitting in a lounge chair. Like, he brought a folding chair out and on a pole like you would use in a pool, he put a piece of cardboard in front of the camera, and he got arrested for obstructing justice,” Fix explains.

“So, again, it was a misdemeanor, but it’s still all B.S.,” she says. “So, the bottom line is, why do you need to have these cameras on the roads?”

But they’re not just on the roads.

“They’re in parks. They’re in schools. They’re at Home Depot. They’re on every single FedEx truck. And don’t worry, they just put it on 400,000 school buses that are supposed to stop when people bypass the bus, where kids are loading and offloading,” Fix explains.

“They’re supposed to take a picture of that person, and you get a ticket,” she continues, noting that the families bringing their children out to the bus are then being photographed too.

“But it gets worse. So many people have complained about these Flock cameras that many cities, including Los Angeles, said, ‘You know what?’ The city of Los Angeles said, ‘We’re going to cancel our contract. Instead, we’re going to go with another company called Axon,’” she says.

This company, Fix warns, makes Flock cameras “look like child’s play.”

“They’ve moved it to the whole next level. They have gone even farther, and they’re making contracts with people that have ended their Flock camera systems,” she explains.

“They will be putting their cameras on every single light post. No permits, no requirements, just putting them on every single light post. That’s about 450 million around the world. And that means every light post on every street will have a camera,” she continues.

Fix claims there’s also a link between the new “kill switch” in cars and this new surveillance system.

“These dots are connected, and I will tell you, you’re not going to be happy,” she adds.

Want more from Stu and Dave?

To enjoy more of Stu and Dave’s lethal blend of wit, humor, and insightful commentary subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Dave landau, Flock cameras, Home depot, Kill switch, Lauren fix, License plates, Los angeles, Stu burguiere, Surveillance technology, Blazetv show