A law enforcement sting operation led to the arrest of several men who allegedly tried to pay for underage sex in Alabama.

Among those arrested for alleged human trafficking were a state representative, three people illegally in the country, a school board member, and a public works director.

If convicted of human trafficking, the suspects could face up to 20 years in prison.

Atmore police pretended to be underage prostitutes advertised online and then arrested men at a hotel when they arrived for sex.

“Instead of it being the clientele that you had ordered on the advertisement, it’s numerous law enforcement officers coming out with vests and ‘police officer’ on their shirts, so it’s a big surprise, I’m sure,” Atmore Police Major Chance Thompson said.

Seventeen were arrested in total, but not all were charged with underage trafficking.

Republican State Rep. Brett Easterbrook from Fruitdale is charged with human trafficking and soliciting prostitution after he allegedly sought to pay $500 to a person under 19 years old for sex.

Now-former City of Satsuma School Board President Kory Wesley was charged with human trafficking after he allegedly offered money to a “person known to be a minor.”

Former Public Works Director for the City of Orange Beach Timothy Tucker was charged with solicitation for allegedly seeking to pay an escort $220 for sex.

“Doing the actions that the people did in this operation, while looking at the statute and how it is defined right now, is human trafficking in the first degree,” Thompson added.

RELATED: New York rabbi nabbed in underage sex sting — and brought disgusting item to hotel, cops say

“The distances these people traveled to come to Atmore, Alabama, to get into what they were doing that night,” Thompson said.

If convicted of human trafficking, the suspects could face up to 20 years in prison.

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​Alabama, Human trafficking, Illegal immigration, Sting operation, Crime 

In October, during my sophomore year of high school, my schedule was: school from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., football practice 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., and a couple of nights working at the gas station.

And then on Fridays, I’d come home, and my dad would be packing for that weekend’s hunting trip.

This was what every dog craved, every dog dreamed of, the heroic duty they’d been bred for, for tens of thousands of years!

Usually, we’d be joined by my dad’s doctor friends and their kids of a similar age. Forming a caravan, our party would drive the three hours from Portland into the high desert and then onto the land of a rancher friend.

Into the wild

Arriving late at night, we’d continue several miles into a sagebrush and rimrock canyon, the cars and trucks rocking violently up and down, side to side on the primitive road. Often the only thing visible was the swirling dust in the headlight beams in front of us.

We’d camp near a small stream on a flat spot beneath some trees. Once the cars had stopped, we 12- to 15-year-old kids were forced out into the bitter cold to help set up camp. It seemed an impossible task, our hands instantly numb, the darkness impenetrable.

Somehow we did it though — with our dads’ supervision. We gathered the tent stakes, unrolled the canvases, unpacked the folding tables and camp chairs.

When I let the dogs out of their travel cages, they would tear around the campsite, apoplectic with excitement, utterly ecstatic to be in this remote environment, so rich with the presence of undomesticated animal life. New smells, new creatures, so much to explore and investigate.

A dog’s life

Warmed by activity, we pounded the tent stakes in and lifted the formless canvas tents into habitable shapes.

A Coleman lantern was lit. And a fire. If it wasn’t too late, our dads would enjoy a hot toddy and sigh to themselves, happy to be away from civilization, the hospital, their schedules, their wives.

But the dogs were the happiest of all. They too were finally free of civilizational restraint, the bloodless world of kitty litter and doggie treats, leashes and poop bags.

Now they were in the wild, in the realm of predator and prey: wolves, coyotes, deer, and rattlesnakes. And best of all, birds that they could chase through the brush and brambles in furious contests of speed and agility.

The danger, the adventure, the thrill of the hunt! This was what every dog craved, every dog dreamed of, the heroic duty they’d been bred for, for tens of thousands of years!

Bottom of the bag

When it was time to sleep, I would unfold my cot and spread out my sleeping bag in the faint light of a flashlight.

The high desert altitude and bracing cold always left me punch drunk, and by the time I climbed into my sleeping bag, I could barely keep my eyes open.

My father was a heavy-set man in his 40s. Originally from Iowa and of Scandinavian descent, he seemed unaffected by the frigid temperature. He stripped down to his underwear and once inside his sleeping bag, instantly fell asleep and began to snore.

I, on the other hand, was small and slight and was more of a “fetal position at the bottom of my sleeping bag” type of kid.

Desert dreams

Once my bag was warm and I was somewhat comfortable, I’d realize I forgot to piss. Which meant the life-or-death decision: Do I get up and go outside? Or try to hold it through the night?

But no, there was no holding it. I’d better piss. I just had to be tough. I had to be a man. I was on the frickin’ football team for God’s sake, I could get up and take a piss in the cold!

So I flung open my sleeping bag, rolled off my cot, and pushed through the tent flap, exposing my nearly naked body to the knife-like cold outside.

I stepped gingerly through the dirt and sagebrush in my bare feet. I then relieved myself, realizing as I did that it wasn’t that cold, I wasn’t going to die, and that in the moonlight, the desert was vivid and hushed and almost welcoming in its austere beauty.

Layers of ice

It would be very cold the next morning. Even colder than it had been at night. There would be frost on the ground. Water left out would now have a layer of ice.

But somehow, over the course of the night, I’d grown up a little. I’d morphed into someone a little more resilient than the suburban 15-year-old I’d been the day before.

So out I came from the tent, unafraid and without complaint.

The campfire was restarted. Breakfast was made and quietly eaten. Now there was talk of logistics. Where the birds might be. The options for the morning hunt.

The dogs were fed. Extra food for them. They would be having one of the greatest days of their short lives. They would barely be able to walk by nightfall.

Morning has broken

The first morning’s hunt was usually the most energetic. Everyone rested and ready to go. The dogs raced through the brush and over the rimrock, knowing without instruction exactly what to do and when to do it.

Like war, hunting is mostly walking and waiting, and waiting and walking, and wondering if anything will ever happen.

Followed by short bursts of extreme excitement, chaos, noise, and adrenaline when a covey of birds exploded into the air all around you.

RELATED: Defending the last place where men can be men

ABC Photo Archives/Getty Images

Rest and relaxation

We’d return to camp for lunch. And then back out again if the hunting was good. Or if there were no birds, maybe fishing in the afternoon.

Or sometimes, my dad would just take a nap. And I would relax in a camp chair and read a couple chapters of my assigned books for sophomore English: “Huckleberry Finn” or “Catcher in the Rye.”

All parties would be back in camp by dark. If you’d caught or killed anything that day, you cleaned it now. The camp stove would be fired up. Often freshly caught trout would be fried in butter for dinner. If not, there were usually steaks in one of the coolers.

The dogs would have to be attended to. More food. More water. And extra praise and meat scraps, as they were the ones who dove into impenetrable thickets, dashed across precarious rim rock, or chased a pheasant into a treacherous ravine.

Always, the dogs were the heroes of the day and then the thoroughly exhausted warriors of the night.

Arriving back in Portland, late on a Sunday night, I would take a long, hot, deep-scrubbing shower and retire to my warm and comfortable suburban bed.

The next morning, it was back to my warm and comfortable suburban high school. But doing so with a secret and special experience of a type most kids would never have.

​Birds, Dogs, High school, Hunt, Lifestyle, Nostalgia, Portland oregon, High desert, Fathers and sons, Hunting, Blake’s progress 

JD Vance has a message for Texas voters about James Talarico: Look past the Christian rhetoric and pay attention to what he actually believes.

While speaking to a Texas crowd, Vance argued that Talarico’s “real religion” has nothing to do with what you hear in church on Sunday or “the redemptive power of Christ’s sacrifice.”

“It’s about crazy left-wing politics. His real religion is not about Jesus. His real religion is about the radical left in this country,” Vance said, pointing out that Talarico believes it’s “abusive” if you don’t let a 6-year-old start hormones and change his pronouns once he claims to be a girl.

“Nothing in the Bible supports any of this, of course. Now, in my church, and I imagine like a lot of yours, we are taught, for example, that Mary was selected by God to be the sacred vessel because she was, in the words of the archangel, full of grace and blessed among women,” Vance said.

“But in the gospel of James Tala-freako, Mary was not a woman because there is no such thing. She was a pregnant person, and her son was little more than a decent philosopher,” he continued.

Vance then asked what “really motivates a man” to spend all his time “talking about 11-year-old drag queens.”

“A man who wears your religion as a cover will never fight for your values, and he won’t fight for you because he thinks, like so many generations of politicians, Talarico thinks that we are backwards and simple. He’s a man so focused on children and drag, he’s never going to care about our jobs,” Vance said.

“He’s a man who empathizes more with criminals than with the victims. And when you empathize with the criminals more than with the victims, that man is never going to protect your streets,” he added.

BlazeTV host Pat Gray and executive producer Keith Malinak couldn’t agree more with Vance, though Malinak points out that someone else should be following Vance’s lead.

“Why isn’t Ken Paxton delivering these kind of remarks with this kind of energy?” Malinak asks.

Gray notes that “Vance is right” about Talarico.

“He’s so concerned with the trans issue, which is less than 1% of the population,” he says, “but that’s who he’s going to focus on.”

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​James talarico, Jd vance, Keith malinak, Ken paxton, Pat gray, Drag queens, Transgender, Minors, Texas, Blazetv show 

President Donald Trump’s former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt resigned at the end of August and rejoined Trump-affiliated super PAC MAGA Inc. Shortly after, she was a featured speaker at the Republican Midterm Convention in early September. Now, just about a month later, she’s ready to start a new chapter in her professional life.

On Monday, Fox News announced that Leavitt will join the network as a contributor starting on November 1. According to the network’s reporting, she is scheduled to “provide commentary across the Fox News lineup.”

‘I look forward to bringing my unique perspective from my experience as White House press secretary, along with the same energy and candor that defined my tenure, to Fox’s millions of viewers across their many platforms.’

While Leavitt interned at local news organizations when she was a student at New Hampshire’s Saint Anselm College, this is the first time Leavitt will work directly with a major news organization in her professional career.

She began that career shortly after graduating college, as a deputy press secretary during President Trump’s first administration. Then she ran for Congress, worked for Trump’s super PAC, joined his 2024 campaign, and ended up back at the White House as press secretary.

In a press release announcing the signing of Leavitt, Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott said, “Karoline’s firsthand experience in the White House and on the presidential campaign trail gives her a distinct understanding of today’s political landscape. We look forward to her providing our audience with authentic and sharp insight across all FOX News Media platforms.”

“I am grateful for the opportunity to continue appearing on Fox News Channel as an official member of the extraordinary team at FOX News Media,” Leavitt said in that same press release. “I look forward to bringing my unique perspective from my experience as White House press secretary, along with the same energy and candor that defined my tenure, to Fox’s millions of viewers across their many platforms.”

RELATED: 3 moments that will make you miss Karoline Leavitt

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

President Trump has not yet weighed in on Leavitt’s new job on social media, though liberal media critics were quick to pounce on the news and pivoted to attack Trump’s current relationship with Fox.

CNN’s Brian Stelter called Leavitt’s new gig “the least surprising headline of the day” in his daily Reliable Sources newsletter. He used the announcement as a pivot point to attack President Trump for noticing that Fox is no longer covering his full rallies.

Leavitt joins another former Trump press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, at the network.

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​Brian stelter, Donald trump, Fox news, Karoline leavitt, Kayleigh mcenany, Politics 

Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom whined that Joe Rogan wouldn’t have him on his incredibly popular podcast to hash out their disagreements.

Rogan has been especially critical of Newsom and his presidential aspirations after the podcaster moved away from California to escape the high taxes and dysfunction of the local and state government.

‘He won’t have me on. I told him it’d be 10 against 1. Get all your guys, get the ear things. You can have people ask the questions and follow-ups for you. But he won’t do it.’

During an interview with Shelby Church on her YouTube channel, the governor fired back.

“[The] problem with Rogan, he won’t have me on. He doesn’t want to be confronted with the bulls**t that he spews, particularly in the political sense. He’s a bulls**t artist in political terms. Sorry, just is,” Newsom said.

“I’m happy to confront him, but he won’t do it. Now I’m not even interested because it’s been two years of him just bashing me on a weekly basis. Well done, tough guy!” he said while clapping sarcastically.

He went on to say he would even allow Rogan to have others debate alongside Rogan with the governor.

“But he won’t have me on. I told him it’d be 10 against 1. Get all your guys, get the ear things. You can have people ask the questions and follow-ups for you. But he won’t do it.”

He went on to say that Rogan had some kind of “anxiety” about being confronted by Newsom, but admitted that he used to listen to Rogan’s podcast and even admired him before he turned to the right.

Rogan eviscerated Newsom on his podcast in Oct. 2025 and said even Democrats didn’t want him to be president.

“[Democrats] don’t have any faith in Gavin Newsom, which is kind of funny because he wants to be president so bad,” Rogan said, laughing.

“You can’t ruin a city and then go on to ruin a state and say, ‘Guys, that was just practice. Once I get in as president, I’m gonna fix it. Fix it all,” he added.

RELATED: Newsom lashes out at report of MASSIVE fraud in California

Ironically, Rogan used the same insult against Newsom that the governor lobbed at him in the current rant.

“He’s a good bulls**t artist. … The things that he says when he gets confronted with anything — ‘We have the highest this and the highest that!'” Rogan continued.

“Like, everybody’s leaving! You have the highest unemployment. You have the highest homelessness. Money’s missing. You killed Hollywood. Like, Hollywood doesn’t exist anymore. It’s literally gone!” he concluded. “You mandated vaccines for kids that didn’t need them. You guys, he did horrible s**t!”

Newsom responded by calling Rogan too cowardly to defend his position in a debate with the governor.

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​Gavin newsom, Joe rogan, California, Presidential election, Politics 

The president vehemently denied reports in the New York Times and other outlets that the Ohio Arena was not full for his rally on Saturday.

President Donald Trump said in a post on Truth Social that reporters should be arrested for relaying what he called fake news.

‘The New York Times, and many other Artificial Media Outlets, should be arrested for their dishonesty and disservice to our Country.’

“The Ohio Arena was already full to the brim — And yet these people were still trying to get in,” he wrote Monday.

“The New York Times said, ‘There were empty seats’ when, in fact, there were none, and thousands of people had to be turned away. The New York Times, and many other Artificial Media Outlets, should be arrested for their dishonesty and disservice to our Country,” he added.

“When Bernie Sanders has 500 to 1,000 people, they make it sound like it’s the biggest event that ever took place,” Trump concluded. “When PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP has 50,000 people, they make it sound like nobody showed up!”

He continued in a second post to explain that some of the upper seats were empty because of the migration effect, whereupon people move down to the main floor.

“In actuality, thousands of people were unable to get in. The Arena was totally MAXED OUT, including all upper sections,” he said in the second post.

RELATED: Trump slams ‘sick, treasonous, and demented’ journalists after berating CNN’s Kaitlan Collins

“The ‘migration’ process always happens! The Times knows this, and so does everyone else. I never have empty seats — Never have, and never will!” Trump added.

The White House has been engaged in a feud with various news outlets after they sued to have their access restored. Fox News Media, ABC News, CBS News, CNN, and NBC News released a joint statement saying they would forgo all pool reporting duties unless the outlets were allowed back.

Trump added that he was going to Nebraska for a rally in Grand Island on the first day of early in-person voting.

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​Fake news, New york times, President donald trump, Politics