Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah painted a bleak picture of the real consequences of the Somali fraud that was recently uncovered at illegitimate child-care facilities and “learing” centers in Minnesota.

During a Wednesday Senate hearing, Lee demonstrated that elites won’t have to foot the multibillion dollar bill, but rather everyday Americans.

‘This is, if anything, the tip of a tip of the iceberg.’

“You don’t put a hornet’s nest in your child’s bedroom and expect that it won’t cause problems at some point,” Lee said during the hearing. “You don’t release blank checks and allow those blank checks to be cashed at will by people who are not directly paying the bill because somebody else is, 350 million Americans who are sharing in that burden, and expect there not to be fraud.”

“Not just occasional fraud, but massive, earthshaking kinds of fraud that cause people to lose faith in the system.”

RELATED: Exclusive: Republicans pen OMAR Act, targeting lawmakers who have ‘blurred’ ethical lines

Lee noted that the extent of this rampant fraud is not merely a bug, but a feature of Democrat-run states and soft-on-crime cities. Although the fraud uncovered by journalists like Nick Shirley is staggering, Lee and his Republican colleagues noted that Minnesota is bound to be just one example of many states that have turned a blind eye to this financial abuse.

“Let’s not kid ourselves,” Lee said. “This is, if anything, the tip of a tip of the iceberg.”

RELATED: Trump offers hilarious rebuttal to Tim Walz’s absurd Civil War analogy

Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

“The federal government is $38 and a half trillion in debt,” Lee said. “When we look at the fact that we have impoverished Americans, keep in mind, when we spend this much money that we don’t have, adding to that $38 and a half trillion debt at a staggering rate approaching $2 trillion a year, what does that do?”

“I’ll give you a hint,” Lee said. “It is not the rich people who suffer.”

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​Mike lee, Donald trump, Senate republicans, Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota fraud, Somali fraud, Somalia, Ilhan omar, Nick shirley, Politics 

Curling is more popular in the United States than you might think.

Around 100,000 Americans try curling every year, and the sport is picking up steam even in states like Montana. Now, after John Shuster took home gold in men’s curling in Pyeongchang in 2018, the United States will send teams in all three categories to Italy for the 2026 games: men’s, women’s, and mixed.

How is it played?

Olympic curling rules are not too hard to follow. Each match consists of 10 rounds, called “ends.” An end can be considered similar to an inning in baseball. Teams throw eight stones per end, looking to get their stones into the center of the bull’s-eye-like target at the other side of the rink, known as the “house.”

The center of the house is called the “button,” the innermost circle. The team with a stone closest to the button gets the points; every stone that is closer to the button than the opponent’s closest stone garners a point too.

For example, in the image below, the yellow team would get two points because it has two stones closer to the center than the red team’s closest stone.

Teams are allowed to knock each other’s stones out of position in any way they see fit using their own stones.

Only one team gets points in each round, and after all 10 rounds, the final score is calculated.

RELATED: Women can crush pull-ups too: 5 steps to doing your first

Photo by Liu Xu/Xinhua via Getty Images

Why are they screaming?

Viewers may not notice that when a curler launches a stone, he or she is twisting (or curling) the stone in attempt to curve it into position in the house while avoiding other stones.

As this is happening, the thrower is likely yelling commands at his teammates. Viewers may hear phrases like “hurry” or “hurry hard!” in addition to simple commands like “yes!” or “no!”

This is an attempt to get the teammates, or sweepers, to sweep the ice in front of the stone in order to melt the ice with friction to make the stone travel farther. Viewers will notice the most intense sweeping when a stone is moving too slowly or if the sweepers are trying to get a few extra inches to hit the button.

The only differences in mixed doubles curling, where teams are composed of one man and one woman, are fewer ends and fewer stones per end. Mixed curling has just eight ends instead of 10 and five stones per end instead of eight.

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How to watch

The United States will field teams in all three categories in 2026. Sweden is defending gold in men’s and Great Britain in women’s, while host country Italy is the reigning champion in mixed.

Team USA will likely be considered an underdog across the board, as the team does not break the top five in the international rankings in any category.

Mixed doubles are under way before the official opening ceremonies for the Olympics. The first matches aired at 1:05 p.m. ET, Wednesday, February 4, on NBC. The first U.S. match will be at 4:05 a.m. ET on Thursday, when the mixed team faces Norway.

The men’s category starts on Wednesday, Feb. 11, at 1:05 p.m. ET, when Team USA goes up against the Czech Republic.

Women’s will start the next day, Thursday, Feb. 12, and the American women will play against South Korea at 3:05 a.m. ET.

Although Scotland is the world No.1 in both men’s and mixed doubles, the team competes under the flag of Great Britain at the winter Olympics. This team will likely be the favorite in those categories.

Canada, Switzerland, and Sweden are also mainstays as medalists in men’s, while South Korea, China, and Japan are also in the mix for women’s.

Mixed doubles has just two Olympic games under its belt since being included in 2018; Norway is the only country to medal both times.

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​Fearless, Curling, Olympics, 2026 olympics, Team usa, Explainer, Sports 

The brutal murder of a beloved pastor in Arizona led to the arrest of a man who was plotting to attack 14 Christian leaders, according to an interview with the man in jail.

The remains of 76-year-old Pastor William Schonemann of the New River Bible Chapel were found in his home by police on a welfare check in April of last year.

He said that he had zero remorse and that God would allow him to continue his plan to kill priests and ‘burn every church to the ground.’

Police said they found Schonemann covered in blood, and he had been posed with his hands positioned above him, similar to a crucifixion, and pinned to a wall.

Investigators zeroed in on 51-year-old Adam Sheafe as a suspect after Sedona police caught him breaking into a home while using a truck stolen from a home in Cave Creek. He was captured on surveillance video with the truck at the site of another burglary.

Evidence gathered at Sheafe’s home connected him to the murder of the pastor, as well as evidence found in the truck, in his backpack, and at the burglary scene in Cave Creek, according to prosecutors.

Sheafe was indicted in July on nine counts that included first-degree murder, first-degree burglary, criminal trespass, and kidnapping.

On Wednesday, Sheafe pleaded no contest to the charges.

In a bizarre interview with Briana Whitney of KTVK-TV, Sheafe explained why he wanted to murder 14 priests.

“There’s 13 tribes of Israel, so what I wanted to do was execute and crucify 13 priests and put one of the tribes of Israel in each of their right ears,” he said. “Which I did with this priest — I put the tribe of Benjamin.”

He went on to say that he believed priests had violated the most important commandment by preaching that Jesus is God. Sheafe explained in detail how he picked Schonemann to be his first victim. He said he had wanted to kill another priest for a total of 14.

Sheafe said he used a stud finder to find where to screw Schonemann’s hands to the wall and then put a crown of thorns on his head.

RELATED: Police search for suspect who allegedly lit a man on fire near the US Capitol in broad daylight

He also said that God would not allow him to be executed, so he asked for his execution date to be scheduled quickly. He said that he had zero remorse and that God would allow him to continue his plan to kill priests and “burn every church to the ground.”

Sheafe may get his wish and face the death penalty.

Schonemann was a beloved pastor who was a Navy veteran that had served in the Vietnam War.

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​William schonemann murder, Adam sheafe murderer, Religious murders, Crime, Crucifixion of a pastor 

Last week’s FBI raid on Fulton County election offices marked a long-overdue reckoning for the corruption that plagued the 2020 election. Federal agents seized ballots and records from the jurisdiction that has done more than any other to plunge Georgia — and the nation — into lasting doubt about whether we can trust our election outcomes.

Fulton County sits at the center of the 2020 story for a reason. I remember election night clearly. As returns rolled in and Joe Biden “won” Georgia by fewer than 12,000 votes, the irregularities were impossible to ignore.

If we want trust restored, we need the truth — documented, preserved, and brought into the open. That is what the FBI’s raid makes possible.

After the election, I became the first elected official in Georgia to call for a special session to investigate massive fraud. I went on the record — publicly — because grassroots patriots knew something was wrong.

The numbers didn’t add up. Atlanta’s GOP establishment didn’t want a fight. They ignored me, threatened me, and eventually tried to remove me. They wanted to move on as if nothing happened. I refused.

The people of Georgia deserved answers. The country did, too.

Then came the absurd indictments. When President Trump and 18 other patriots were arrested under Georgia’s RICO Act, I was the first to call for a special session to investigate, defund, and impeach Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis for weaponizing her office.

That prosecution served one purpose: silence Trump — and intimidate everyone else who dared question 2020. Willis abused her power for partisan gain and burned millions in taxpayer dollars pursuing a case built to punish political enemies.

Georgia Senate Republicans had a choice: stand with voters demanding transparency, or protect the old order. They chose the old order. The old guard punished me for speaking out by kicking me out of the Republican caucus.

Now the evidence has reached a point that even federal law enforcement can’t ignore. The raid didn’t happen by accident. It happened because Fulton County’s conduct raised questions serious enough to justify federal intervention.

RELATED: Democrats panic at sight of Tulsi Gabbard at FBI raid of Fulton County election office

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

Here’s the scale of what we are talking about: Over 315,000 illegal ballots counted in Fulton County alone. Unsigned tabulation tapes for hundreds of thousands of early votes. Zero tapes not verified or signed at 32 sites. Uncertified results certified and submitted anyway. Polling places open until 2 a.m. Duplicate scanner serial numbers and unauthorized memory device transfers. Chain-of-custody failures at every turn.

That doesn’t describe “mistakes.” It describes a deliberate, coordinated attack on the integrity of an American election.

Fulton County was the epicenter, but the implications reach beyond Georgia. Americans deserve to know what happened in Michigan, Arizona, Pennsylvania, and every other battleground state where the same patterns appear and the same questions remain unanswered.

Wherever the chips fall, the standard must remain nonnegotiable: every legal vote counted, every illegal vote rejected, and every election run in a way the public can verify.

If we want trust restored, we need the truth — documented, preserved, and brought into the open. That is what this raid makes possible. Now we follow it through.

​Fulton county, Fbi raid, Fulton county elections office, Georgia, Elections, Gop, Democrats, Opinion & analysis, Stolen election, Election fraud, Donald trump, 2020 presidential election 

The latest Epstein document dump not only exposed some shady characters, but it may give “conspiracy theorists” the ammo and evidence they need to prove their theories aren’t theories at all — but that they might just be the truth.

In photo evidence released by the Department of Justice, a framed photo from Epstein’s home of him with a young girl, whose face is redacted, is featured. The girl is perched on his shoulders, wearing an outfit that looks eerily similar to one JonBenet Ramsey wore.

“Also of note is that she went missing around the same time the pictures were taken, according to pictures of Epstein at the time. But here’s where it gets really, really strange. ‘Cause again, you could just say like, ‘OK, like, she was the only blonde girl in America who wore a jumper like that at the time,’” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales says on “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered.”

“But there’s another picture that the DOJ accidentally left unredacted that’s floating around in the internet … this is literally just like a glamour shot picture, photo, that was on Jeffrey Epstein’s wall,” she continues.

The face of the young girl is redacted, but the golden blonde hair spills out around her, and her tiny hands reflect the age she once was.

“My question though is, like, who is that girl, and is the DOJ doing their best not to just protect victims but to potentially match these photos with potential unsolved crimes, unsolved mysteries? I would like to know,” Gonzales says.

“I don’t need to know who that person is if it is a person who is alive and was, you know, trafficked and doesn’t want their information out there. But if there’s a missing cold case, we should know. We should know that the DOJ is at least taking steps to identify who this is and whether or not they need to alert authorities from a separate case,” she continues.

Gonzales also pulls out a photo of JonBenet Ramsey where a woman in the background resembles Ghislaine Maxwell.

“Now again, I get like there’s a million people that could look maybe a little bit similar to Ghislaine Maxwell, but there’s also a loose tie. Maxwell and the Ramsey family were both represented by the same law firm,” Gonzales says.

One woman even posted a video of herself on social media showing a comment she received on Instagram regarding Maxwell and Ramsey.

“My daughter was in several pageants with Jon Bonet & they were pageant pals,” the comment begins, misspelling Ramsey’s name. “I don’t know about this exact Pic, but we saw Maxwell on the circuit often, she would hang out with the Mom’s & girls.”

“Makes sense. If you are going to traffic young children, your greatest hits would probably be at pageants where there are a bunch of young girls who are dressing up and putting makeup on and getting pretty,” Gonzales comments.

“I mean, it’s disgusting,” she adds.

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.

​Free, Video, Video phone, Sharing, Camera phone, Upload, Youtube.com, Sara gonzales unfiltered, Sara gonzales, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Jonbenet ramsey, The epstein files, Jeffrey epstein, Ghislaine maxwell, Conspiracy theory, Conservative podcast 

When a dictator in a distant, war-torn nation announces a plan to shrink an ethnic group inside his borders, the Western world erupts. Anchors denounce it. Newspapers detail the plight of the targeted people. Sanctions follow. Diplomats whisper about regime change. The moral verdict arrives quickly, and it arrives correctly: ethnic cleansing.

Yet Western leaders now make a parallel declaration in a cleaner suit. Their countries, they insist, have grown “too white.” The white population must fall. The electorate must change. No denunciations follow. No sanctions arrive. Corporate press treats the project as enlightened policy. A global consensus that once claimed to oppose ethnic cleansing now tolerates it — provided the target is white people in Western nations.

If the West still claims to oppose ethnic cleansing, it should start by opposing it at home and refusing the polite lies that protect it.

French writer Renaud Camus gave us the “Great Replacement.” For years, polite society treated the phrase as radioactive. Say it on television and you became a pariah. Post it online and platforms erased you. That taboo held only as long as people could be bullied into denying what they could see.

The concept’s explanatory power proved stronger than the gatekeepers. Major conservative outlets now discuss replacement openly. YouTube will still attach warnings to videos that mention it, yet the subject refuses to disappear because the policy keeps showing up in schools, boardrooms, and border statistics.

A taboo cannot survive daily evidence.

Quest for permanent power

“Diversity” served as a euphemism for replacement long before anyone had heard of Camus. When a corporation, movie studio, or university says it wants to “increase diversity,” it never means it plans to hire more white, straight men because it has too many trans black women on staff.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion never aimed at demographic proportionality. Leadership announced a preference: more non-white members, fewer white members. Declare a goal of reducing any other demographic, and the public would recognize the project as naked discrimination.

Private institutions practicing anti-white discrimination is bad enough. Governments adopting the same objective is a nightmare. Progressive voices in the United States celebrate the declining share of white Americans and brag that demographic change will lock Democrats into permanent power. They frame replacement as destiny, then use policy to accelerate it, then denounce anyone who notices as a “conspiracy theorist.”

Project Veritas recorded a State Department official admitting that replacement migration functions as a political strategy meant to secure electoral victory. That admission matters less than the broader point: Public and private rhetoric have normalized the idea that a party may change the electorate to entrench itself.

‘Diversity’ invades the countryside

Even if ethnic hatred played no role — and it does — the effort to subvert democratic accountability through mass migration amounts to a political coup. A ruling class that imports a friendlier electorate to escape judgment for its failures announces contempt for the people it claims to serve.

Spain offers a clear example. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and the Socialist Workers’ Party plan amnesty for 500,000 immigrants. Sánchez could not secure parliamentary support for the scheme, so he bypassed Parliament with an amnesty decree. Spain’s population runs about 49 million. Scaled to American size, that’s roughly 3.5 million people granted legal status by executive fiat. Far-left politician Irene Montero went farther, telling a crowd she hoped for “replacement theory” and meant to use new migrant voters to wipe out her political opponents.

The United Kingdom looks worse. Visitors to London joke that the Englishman has become an endangered species in the cities his ancestors built. Officials now want the countryside next. The Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs has decided rural England feels “too white” and “too middle class.” It has launched programs to “diversify” protected landscapes and village life.

Officials then discovered an awkward detail: Many Muslim migrants dislike dogs, a staple of country living, and avoid living around them. Planners treat dogs, solitude, and preserved land as “white culture,” then hunt for ways to remake rural life so it attracts Pakistanis and Bangladeshis.

Listen to the admission hiding inside that language. The government intends to make the countryside less like a place where white people live so that fewer white people will live there. It plans to change the character of the land, the habits of the residents, and the public culture, all to engineer a demographic outcome. That is social transformation by state design.

RELATED: The left is at war in Minnesota. America is watching football.

Blaze Media Illustration

Drop the euphemisms

Diversity, equity, inclusion, decolonization — the euphemisms multiply, but the goal stays constant. Even the Great Replacement argument, while useful, still softens what the policy does. When a party, an institution, or a government targets a group for reduction, removal, or displacement, the correct term is not “diversification.” It’s ethnic cleansing.

This process does not arise from a neutral demographic ebb. Politicians announce it. Activists demand it. Bureaucrats implement it. Corporate managers enforce it. Then they threaten anyone who objects with professional ruin. Fear keeps the system humming, and euphemism keeps the conscience quiet.

Enough. That taboo deserves to die. When politicians, corporate leaders, and professors declare their intention to replace white populations, they deserve the same disgust any advocate of ethnic cleansing would receive in any other context. If the West still claims to oppose ethnic cleansing, it should start by opposing it at home and refusing the polite lies that protect it.

​Ethnic cleansing, The west, Dei, Great replacement, Great replacement theory, Renaud camus, Diversity, Spain, Inclusion, Equity, Opinion & analysis, Western civilization, Great britain