A longtime resident and county attorney says progressive policies have ruined Maryland and forced him to abandon the state after six decades.

Carroll County State’s Attorney Haven Shoemaker (R) told WBFF-TV in an interview that aired earlier this week that after his term ends, he will be seeking greener grass in North Carolina.

‘Maryland has now become a sanctuary state. Even after jacking up taxes to the tune of, what, $1.6 billion last year, we’re still looking at a structural deficit next year.’

“[Democratic Gov.] Wes Moore and the Democrats in the General Assembly, you’ve won. I’m leaving,” the Republican said.

Shoemaker listed a long string of policies that have worsened living conditions for Marylanders, including new tax hikes, lax criminal prosecution, and the designation of Maryland as a sanctuary state.

“Essentially, the way I see it, Maryland is a lost cause at this point,” he added.

Shoemaker has a long history of participating in Maryland government but says he no longer wishes to continue living there.

“Maryland has gotten progressively more woke every single year,” he continued. “Their fiscal policies are awful. They’re taxing people to death. Car registration fees are through the roof. And, you know, this most recent session in Annapolis was really, you know, sealed my fate and has hastened my departure. Maryland has now become a sanctuary state. Even after jacking up taxes to the tune of, what, $1.6 billion last year, we’re still looking at a structural deficit next year.”

He cited the Youth Charging Reform Act, which wipes out automatically charging 16- and 17-year-olds as adults on drug, assault, and gun offenses.

“It’s more criminal coddling legislation that we see emanating from Annapolis every single year,” he added. “They were just telltale signs that Maryland’s lost.”

He went on to say that people are leaving “in droves, and it’s sad.”

RELATED: Glenn Beck says if you live in THIS state, get out NOW

The Maryland Chamber of Commerce said that the state ranks 45th nationally in domestic migration with more than 18,000 residents leaving in one year period from July 2023.

“High taxes, rising living costs, housing affordability challenges and regulatory complexity are pushing residents to states with lower costs, better growth prospects, and more business-friendly climates,” read a statement from the chamber.

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

​Haven shoemaker, Maryland is lost, Progressive policies in maryland, People abandoning maryland, Politics 

The state of California is handing out boatloads of cash to some of the biggest money-making studios in the world.

The money comes from the California Film Commission, which, in addition to providing tax credits for studios that rake in revenue, has a robust incentive program for productions that push diversity, equity, and inclusion.

‘The state also pushes productions to acquire suppliers based on their diversity.’

Dollars to doughnuts

As part of its $750 million annual industry push, the commission’s funding is not limited to independent films or smaller studios, but tens of millions are actually allocated to big-budget studios that have a history of massive revenues.

Chiefly in this instance, Variety has reported that a sequel to “The Simpsons Movie,” currently titled “The Simpsons Movie 2,” will receive $21.9 million in state funding as California has expanded into supplementing animation production.

The 20th Century Studios production is set for a release 20 years after the original hit movie, which took in $183 million domestically and $536 million worldwide against a $75 million budget.

While TV revenues are tight-lipped, it’s estimated that each episode generates between $3 and $5 million. It should go without saying that the longest-running American scripted primetime series is not hurting for cash.

RELATED: Disney down on DEI, says ex-staffer: ‘The vibe shift is real’

Alms for the A-list

Other major production houses getting a boost from the state include Netflix, which will get $10.9 million for a reboot of “13 Going on 30,” while an untitled Disney live-action movie will get over $18 million.

DreamWorks, which reportedly took in over $900 million in 2024, will also get a credit of nearly $25 million from California.

At the same time, Paramount will get just under $26 million; they took in a reported $28.75 billion in 2025.

RELATED: Welcome to WokeNut Grove: Sneak peek at Netflix’s ‘Little House on the Prairie’ reboot

Chris Polk/FilmMagic/Getty Images

DEI on the prize

The film commission also sports a complex DEI program that offers tax credits in exchange for pushing its ideology on the production staff of any given project.

The state provides a checklist for productions to ensure they know to perform inclusive hiring, equity education, and “industry capacity building” to “increase an inclusive and qualified workforce.”

The state also pushes productions to acquire suppliers based on their diversity.

California’s “success roadmap” also shows that productions must issue “mandatory DEIA orientation,” with the added letter in the acronym for “accessibility.”

For live-action films, this must be done before principal photography begins, while animation has to show its DEI work within 120 days of production.

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

​Align, California, California film commission, Disney, Diversity equity inclusion, Film, Gavin newsom, Movie studios, Netflix, Paramount, Tax credits, Tv production, Entertainment 

In an effort to fulfill President Donald Trump’s 2025 executive order to restore the implementation of the death penalty at the federal level, the Department of Justice has decided to bring back a means of execution often associated with a blindfold and a cigarette.

After a moratorium on the death penalty under the Biden administration, the Trump DOJ has reintroduced the traditional firing squad method as well as the lethal injection protocols adopted in Trump’s first term.

President Trump has called for the death penalty in specific cases, including the vicious murders of Iryna Zarutska … and Charlie Kirk.

In a memo released Friday, the DOJ claimed that the purpose of these measures is “to expedite death penalty cases” by “clearing the way for the Department to carry out executions once death-sentenced inmates have exhausted their appeals.”

“The prior administration failed in its duty to protect the American people by refusing to pursue and carry out the ultimate punishment against the most dangerous criminals, including terrorists, child murderers, and cop killers,” said a statement from acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “Under President Trump’s leadership, the Department of Justice is once again enforcing the law and standing with victims.”

RELATED: ‘Very good news!’ Imminent death sentence for 8 Iranian women halted, Trump says — because he intervened

Photo of memorial to Iryna Zarutska; Peter Zay/Anadolu/Getty Images

The memo claimed that the Biden administration, under the direction of Attorney General Merrick Garland, refused to implement the death penalty, even when the administration’s own attorneys sought it.

Moreover, shortly before leaving office, President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of nearly every inmate on federal death row. The only three whose death sentences Biden did not commute were 2013 Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev; Dylann Roof, who murdered nine people in a black church in 2015; and Robert Bowers, who murdered 11 people at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018.

The DOJ under Trump is now actively seeking the death penalty against dozens of defendants, including three MS-13 gangsters accused of murdering a federal witness, the memo said. Two of the three are in the U.S. illegally.

The administration is even considering erecting a new execution facility.

Since retaking office, President Trump has called for the death penalty in specific state-level cases, including the vicious murders of Iryna Zarutska in North Carolina on August 22, 2025, and Charlie Kirk in Utah on September 10, 2025.

Several states already use the firing squad. In fact, beginning on July 1, Idaho will become the first state to use the firing squad as its main means of execution, while other states like South Carolina offer it as an option to death-row inmates.

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

​Trump, Doj, Biden, Merrick garland, Todd blanche, Politics 

The daring raid that captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro has also landed one special forces soldier in hot water after he allegedly won $400,000 on a prediction market.

Gannon Ken Van Dyke, 38, was charged with personally benefiting from the use of classified information after betting $33,000 on the timing of the raid, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

‘Insider trading has no place on Polymarket. Today’s arrest is proof the system works.’

Van Dyke was reportedly a part of the planning of Operation Absolute Resolve between December 8, 2025, and January 6, 2026, and had access to classified information during that time.

At the end of December, Van Dyke allegedly created a Polymarket account and began making more than a dozen bets related to the raid.

When news of the trade began to make headlines, Van Dyke then allegedly took efforts to conceal his actions by trying to delete the Polymarket account and transferring the money to cryptocurrency accounts.

Polymarket said on social media that it had cooperated with the investigation.

“Last month, we published our enhanced market integrity rules to combat insider trading,” the company said. “When we identified a user trading on classified government information, we referred the matter to the DOJ & cooperated with their investigation. Insider trading has no place on Polymarket. Today’s arrest is proof the system works.”

The indictment said Van Dyke was stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina when he allegedly made the transactions on Polymarket.

President Donald Trump was asked about the case and likened it to baseball legend Pete Rose betting on himself.

RELATED: Insider bets. Multiple lawsuits. Free groceries. Are prediction platforms about to crash out?

“Prediction markets are not a haven for using misappropriated confidential or classified information for personal gain,” said U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton.

“The defendant allegedly violated the trust placed in him by the United States Government by using classified information about a sensitive military operation to place bets on the timing and outcome of that very operation, all to turn a profit,” he added. “That is clear insider trading and is illegal under federal law.”

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

​Maduro raid, War prediction market bet, Special forces soldier arrested, Prediction market insider trading, Politics 

According to BlazeTV host Liz Wheeler, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has been quietly fighting a “legitimate color revolution effort by the deep state.”

The institutional left, she argues, has been attempting to “control the president’s every thought, every action, every decision, every policy in order to impose on you wokeism and destructive [left-wing policies],” and it’s Pete Hegseth who’s standing in its way.

This isn’t just her hunch either. On this episode of “The Liz Wheeler Show,” Liz dives into a recent @DataRepublican thread that blew the lid off the shocking truth behind the nonstop attacks on Pete Hegseth.

Liz begins by reading through the X thread posted by @DataRepublican on Monday:

The thread argues that Hegseth is being relentlessly attacked not because of any personal scandals (drinking, women, etc.), but because he’s a loyal secretary of war who would prevent the military/security forces from defecting.

According to the thread, this loyalty is what’s stopping a would-be soft coup attempt against Trump. Citing academic studies, training videos, and planning docs from left-leaning groups that emphasize getting security forces to disobey or stand down, the post posits that you can’t execute a successful color revolution without flipping or neutralizing the military — and Hegseth, being outside its influence networks and loyal to Trump, makes that impossible.

Two people @DataRepublican highlights in the thread are Erica Chenoweth and Maria Stephan — “the two most cited scholars in the color revolution field.” According to their research into 323 different regime change campaigns, security force defections make those campaigns “46 times more likely to succeed.”

“Once you meet these women, you will not only understand who is behind much of the civil unrest in our country, but how they do it,” says Liz.

Stephan, she argues, “is the epitome of a blob creature,” citing her careers at the State Department, the Atlantic Council, the Council on Foreign Relations, and in academia. Liz notes that she also founded and directed the “program on nonviolent action at the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP).”

Chenoweth, who “serves in many different capacities at Harvard University,” is famous in the color revolution world, Liz says, for coining the “3.5% rule,” which argues that it takes only 3.5% of the population’s participation, combined with a military willing to defect, for a color revolution to be successful.

Maria Stephan and Erica Chenoweth, Liz contends, are connected to the founders of the No Kings movement, Ezra Levin and Leah Greenberg, who “get their funding … almost directly from George Soros.”

“Ezra Levin and Leah Greenberg are on video talking about how their protests, the No Kings protests, are essentially a color revolution,” says Liz, playing a clip from their joint podcast where they interviewed none other than Chenoweth.

“Maria Stephan is also involved in the No Kings protest through her organization New Horizons Project. She actually trained No Kings protesters,” she continues, playing more videos from @DataRepublican capturing Stephan training protesters on how successful campaigns depend on “defections and loyalty shifts within key institutional pillars,” specifically business, labor, faith, education, civil service, and military/police, which must be “[cracked]” so that “the entire edifice can crumble.”

Liz says Stephan’s framework is “almost exactly the same thing” as Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci’s theory of hegemony and the “war of position,” which argues that revolutionaries must first capture the institutions of culture, education, media, ideas, and other key pillars of society in order to eventually seize power.

In the same thread, @DataRepublican also highlighted Gene Sharp, the father of modern “color revolution” tactics, and Hardy Merriman (Sharp’s former assistant), for co-writing the main training manual used for regime changes in over 50 countries.

Merriman then created a U.S. version that tells government and military people: You don’t owe loyalty to the president — only to the Constitution — and teaches them how to quietly defect (slow down, leak, ignore orders, etc.) so the regime can be brought down.

All of this explains the “character assassination” attempts on Pete Hegseth, says Liz.

“Seventy-two hours after President Trump named Pete Hegseth as his nominee for secretary of war … Democracy Playbook 2025 specifically named Pete Hegseth as a threat because he cannot be convinced or compromised to the point of defection,” she says, noting that this playbook was edited by “Democrat super lawyer” Norman Eisen, who Liz exposed last year for being one of the central architects and coordinators of a “resistance” network seeking to topple the Trump administration.

But that’s just the beginning of the intricate network Liz uncovers in this episode.

She continues unpacking the rest of @DataRepublican’s thread to reveal how these color revolution tactics are allegedly being deployed against Trump right now and why unco-optable Pete Hegseth is literally the one man preventing a successful soft coup.

If you want the full picture — and to see exactly how deep this goes — watch the entire eye-opening episode above.

Want more from Liz Wheeler?

To enjoy more of Liz’s based commentary, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Antonio gramsci, Atlantic council, Blazetv host, Character assassination, Civil unrest, Color revolution, Color revolution effort, Council on foreign relations, Datarepublican thread, Deep state, Gene sharp, George soros, Harvard university, Horizons project, Institutional left, Liz wheeler, Militarysecurity forces, No kings movement, Pete hegseth, Regime change campaigns, Secretary of war, Security force defections, Soft coup, Soft coup attempt, State department, The liz wheeler show, Us institute of peace, Wokeism 

ICE agents have a hard enough time staying safe with leftist politicians trying to defund them, media villainizing them, and rioters threatening them. For months, ICE agents even watched their backs as location-tracking apps pinpointed their every move on the streets, at least until alleged government pressure wiped them from the App Store and Google Play. Unfortunately for ICE, the ban didn’t last long, as a district court judge just ruled their removal unconstitutional, seemingly disregarding the safety of ICE agents while blaming the Trump administration.

The rise and fall of anti-ICE apps

ICE-reporting apps — led by ICEBlock on iOS — popped up online around April 2025, shortly after deportation raids in Democrat-run strongholds earned the ire of politicians, media, and rioters on the left side of the aisle. The apps were billed as a way to report and monitor the location of ICE agents and hold them accountable for “alleged civil rights abuses and failures to adhere to constitutional principles and due process.”

It sounds altruistic, if any of that were true, but it’s ICEBlock’s off-label use cases that make it far more dangerous to the people, government officials, and United States sovereignty.

The next step in deciding the fate of ICE-tracking apps is to take the case to court.

With ICE agent locations marked on a map, apps like ICEBlock gave illegal aliens enough information to hide or flee from law enforcement to avoid deportation. ICEBlock also essentially showed rioters exactly where to go to confront ICE on the street, adding fuel to countless attacks on agents and the deaths of two American citizens.

In October 2025, the Trump administration reportedly sought to ban ICE-tracking apps, noting that they posed a major threat to ICE officials and public safety at large. At the time, former United States Attorney General Pam Bondi said, “ICEBlock is designed to put ICE agents at risk just for doing their jobs, and violence against law enforcement is an intolerable red line that cannot be crossed.”

Apple quickly removed ICEBlock from the App Store, prompting the developer, Joshua Aaron, to sue the Trump administration for censorship. Although Apple wasn’t directly implicated in the lawsuit, Aaron added, “We are incredibly disappointed by Apple’s actions. Capitulating to an authoritarian regime is never the right move.”

Cue the eyeroll.

RELATED: The FBI busted an anti-ICE attack squad by reading its encrypted messages

FOTOKITA/Getty Images

Violence against ICE is a real threat

There’s no doubt that Pam Bondi was right about the threats against ICE agents, something we covered extensively at Blaze News. Here are just some of the most egregious stories:

Anti-ICE mob turns hostile, breaching barriers outside detention facility — several officers injuredLos Angeles anti-ICE protesters harass DHS agents, military members on Independence DayInside the Portland ICE facility under siege by Antifa extremistsICE agents fear for their safety after security fence removed at Chicago-area facility amid sometimes violent protestsBorder Patrol agents dodge bullets and bricks from leftist rioters in sanctuary city: DHSVIDEO: Unhinged anti-ICE extremists hurl profanities at agents in Minneapolis: ‘Get the f**k out!’

ICE agents aren’t the only ones at risk. Due to increasingly divisive rhetoric by left-wing politicians, agitators took to the streets and threatened ICE to the point that two protesters lost their lives.

ICEBlock returns … maybe

Fast-forward to today. Months after ICEBlock’s removal, Obama-appointed District Court Judge Jorge L. Alonso issued a preliminary injunction in favor of Joshua Aaron, agreeing that banning or blocking ICE-tracking apps, websites, and services violates the First Amendment. He went on to say that both the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security illegally coerced tech companies to remove ICEBlock and similar apps from the App Store and Google Play. Facebook was also reprimanded in the decision for shutting down an ICE-tracking Facebook Group called “ICE Sightings — Chicagoland.”

It’s important to note that Alonso’s ruling is only a preliminary injunction and not a final ruling, meaning that its protections are temporary, pending a full trial. If the case falls in favor of ICE-tracking apps and services, ICEBlock and the like can return to online spaces indefinitely, leaving the Trump administration with one less legal option to protect the whereabouts and operations of ICE agents.

​Tech 

Johnny Carson made us howl by having the biggest stars on the galaxy grace his “Tonight Show” couch.

Sinatra. Reynolds. Rickles. Martin.

‘We need somebody, we need a feral, bloodthirsty, violent Democrat.’

Modern late-night shows settle for the likes of John Kerry and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. Both far-left Democrats appeared on late-night this week, eager to take the hosts’ softball queries and smack ‘em out of the park.

Walz’s chat on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” found him deflecting the massive fraud in his state to, you guessed it, President Donald Trump. Any tough questions about Cap’n Jazz Hands quitting his re-election campaign? Hardly.

At this point, one of those “Technical Difficulties: Please Stand By” signs would be better than these late-night hacks …

Mind freak

Psychic abilities are overrated, apparently.

Sunny Hostin, in a daily scrum to prove who the dumbest “View” host is, told the ABC show crowd this week about her unique skill set. No, it doesn’t involve twisting the truth into a Bavarian pretzel. She’s already proved that more than a few times.

This week, Hostin shared a deeply personal strength.

I believe I have psychic abilities. I recall when I was a child at about 5 years old. You know, I grew up very poor, and I dreamt a number. And my grandmother was like, ‘We are going to play that number.’ We used to call it playing the numbers, and my entire family won based on that number.

Did she foresee how “The View” would become the train wreck TV that it is today? If so, she may be the real deal …

‘Chainsaw’ chatter

Leatherface is ready for his close-up. Again.

A mad bidding war for the “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” franchise is over, and newbie director Curry Barker (“Obsession”) will do the honors for A24 films.

But why?

The 1974 original is a classic for all the right reasons. It’s raw and shocking, and it reinvented horror in ways that are still reverberating today. It’s the original nightmare fuel, complete with an odd vocal cameo by John Larroquette. (And he was paid in pot. Literally.) Except we haven’t had many quality “Massacre” films since then.

Eight films. Only one could be considered a keeper, the unjustly attacked 2003 reboot starring Jessica Biel. The rest have modest reasons to recommend them, at best, but only for horror junkies.

Will the ninth film since the original hit the jackpot? Barker directed the no-budget horror film “Milk & Serial,” a creepy affair that became his calling card. “Obsession,” brimming with positive prerelease buzz, drops next month.

If not, well, the next reboot is only a few years away …

RELATED: Billionaire Bruce blasts ‘rich men’ in latest concert rant

Allen J. Schaben/ullstein bild/Getty Images

Cho chooses violence

Projection is a terrible drug.

The left routinely tells us who they are by projecting their darkest impulses on their ideological foes. And Margaret Cho is example A, B, and C.

Maybe D.

The far-left comic raged against all things Trump in a new interview. She didn’t stop there.

I am a Democrat, but I also feel like there’s this weird attachment to decorum and taking the high road, and none of that is gonna work. We need somebody, we need a feral, bloodthirsty, violent Democrat. We just need somebody who is willing to put them all in prison — do the right thing and put them all in prison.

Taking the high road? Apparently, Cho was struck in the head around 2017 and just woke up from a nearly decade-long coma. We wish her well in her recovery …

Rock ‘n’ roll swindle

The Boss missed out on that hometown discount.

Bruce Springsteen’s anti-Trump tour is getting all sorts of fawning press for all the obvious reasons. It could be partly why a 76-year-old rocker embraces his far-left shtick in the first place. He knew the legacy media would have his back.

Either way, a new review of his recent New Jersey concert hit the brakes on the media love fest.

Hard.

NJ.com’s review blasted Springsteen for a show “poisoned by hypocrisy.”

The blue-collar troubadour now charges exorbitant amounts for his tickets — up to $2,900 retail for the best seats in Newark Monday; prices he agreed to despite fan backlash. He’s selling No Kings-branded flags for $90 in the arena concourse.

The site leans to the left, but the Boss is so blatantly two-faced even his fellow liberals couldn’t ignore it: His glory days are far behind him.

​Culture, Entertainment, Late night tv, Jimmy kimmel, Movies, Tim walz, John kerry, Texas chainsaw massacre, Bruce springsteen, Toto recall