A Columbia University student and online influencer was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Thursday but was released by the end of the day through the machinations of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

The mayor posted on his social media account that he had secured the release of Elmina “Ellie” Aghayeva after speaking to President Donald Trump via phone call.

‘He has just informed me that she will be released imminently.’

“Just got off the phone with President Trump,” the mayor wrote. “In our meeting earlier, I shared my concerns about Columbia student Elmina Aghayeva, who was detained by ICE this morning. He has just informed me that she will be released imminently.”

Aghayeva is originally from Azerbaijan and has grown a large following on Instagram by documenting her life as a student.

The student’s attorney claimed that the ICE agents were able to detain her after pretending to be looking for a missing person in order to gain access to the Columbia campus. The Department of Homeland Security disputes the allegation.

Earlier in the day, Mamdani had met with the president at the White House to pitch a proposal to ease the housing crisis.

“Hi guys. I am so grateful for everyone of you. I just got out a little while ago. I am safe and okay,” Aghayeva wrote on Instagram after her release.

“I am so sorry, but I am in complete shock over what happened and my phone is blowing up with calls from reporters,” she added. “I need a bit of time to process everything. I will come back soon but please don’t worry.”

RELATED: Viral video shows alleged arson attack on rumored ICE facility in Kansas City — mayor expresses his outrage against ICE

A Blaze News request for comment from the White House was not immediately answered.

A DHS spokesperson said her student visa had been terminated in 2016 after she failed to attend classes.

Aghayeva lists her preferred pronouns as she/her on Instagram. She is majoring in neuroscience and political science.

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​Mamdani and trump, Ellie aghayeva detained, Ice detainments, Columbia university student detained, Politics 

President Trump’s State of the Union address has been championed by conservatives everywhere, but BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey took issue with one part of his address: his promotion of IVF.

During the address, Trump lauded his new pharmaceutical website, Trump RX, by introducing Catherine Rayner, “the very first customer ever” to get a discount on IVF drugs.

“For five years, she and her husband have struggled with infertility, and they turned to IVF. One drug has been costing Catherine $4,000 to purchase. But a few weeks ago, she logged onto the Trump RX website and got that same drug that cost $4,000, got it for under $500,” Trump said proudly.

“Catherine, we are all praying for you, and you’re going to be a great mom,” he added.

“I think that Trump’s heart is in the right place here. He probably has not grappled with the ethics of IVF. The vast majority of people, Christians and non-Christians, have not grappled with the ethics of IVF. And so he’s thinking, more babies the better,” Stuckey comments.

While Stuckey admits that infertility is a real struggle, she doesn’t believe that IVF is an ethical solution.

“The problem with in vitro fertilization is that it’s not good for the woman’s body, and it almost always creates embryos that are eugenically tested in a lab and then discarded, or they’re indefinitely frozen. We have over a million embryos on ice right now that have been abandoned that might be adopted one day by strangers and that’s a more redemptive option,” she explains.

But that won’t save all the embryos that will just be thrown in the trash — especially those that might be flagged for potential abnormalities.

“And as you guys know, it’s possible when you go through IVF to choose the gender that you want to give birth to, it’s possible to get them tested for abnormalities like Down syndrome, discard the ones that are not graded highly enough,” Stuckey says.

“The only way to be able to procreate without any ethical quandaries whatsoever is within the context of marriage between one man and one woman through sex. Adoption is a beautifully redemptive option. But surrogacy, egg-selling, sperm-selling, IVF, which basically asks the child to sacrifice its own well-being, its own health, in some cases its own life on behalf of adult desires. That is disordered,” she continues.

“And so, that was the one part of the speech that I can think of that I really did not agree with,” she says.

“And in fact, if Congress is trying to pass a law that would have us fund IVF, I will be calling my representatives, my senators, and I will be encouraging you to do the same because I don’t want to fund more slaughter of babies.”

“More embryos, unborn lives are killed through the IVF industry than through the abortion industry every year. That really matters,” she adds.

Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?

To enjoy more of Allie’s upbeat and in-depth coverage of culture, news, and theology from a Christian, conservative perspective, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

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A Manhattanite’s comment about a homeless woman reportedly urinating on a public train led to a massive debate about whether public urination is a charming example of city life and culture.

The person, identified only as Daniela, said her husband had been “traumatized” by the public urination, to which many responded by accusing them of being bigoted and fascist.

The two of them were immediately ridiculed for not appreciating the deep cultural value of public urination.

“My husband was on a crowded train yesterday when a homeless woman got on, pulled down her pants, and peed all over the train in front of everyone,” Daniela wrote.

“He hasn’t stopped talking about it for the past 24+ hrs. It is the single most traumatizing thing that’s happened to him in nyc,” she added.

The two of them were immediately ridiculed for not appreciating the deep cultural value of public urination by the homeless.

“You live one of the most coddled lives in the history of the human race and all you do with your world-historic luck and comfort is snivel and whine and waste oxygen,” responded a user identifying as an Antifa member.

Another responded, “Wow your husband must lead an extremely boring life.”

“If seeing someone experiencing mental distress is the most traumatizing thing that’s ever happened to him, has your husband considered to stop being a weak little bitch?” another critic replied.

Others, however, saw it as an example of lawlessness that erodes residents’ quality of life.

“This is a great example of [something] that doesn’t show up in crime statistics but INFINITELY degrades quality of live and gives a sense of lawlessness to the city,” one response reads.

Another debate thread led to the conclusion that the man’s trauma showed why the nuclear family must be destroyed.

“I’ve been on the subway with homeless people that peed, screamed, all sorts of stuff. it was mildly uncomfortable but truly didn’t impact my day in any way. maybe your husband needs to toughen up,” replied a user identifying as Antifa, anti-Zionist, and democratic socialist.

“Agree that this probably isn’t the single most traumatizing thing someone could see in a city but it’s still not normal or OK and the left shouldn’t act like it is. we all deserve to live in functioning cities where public displays of anti social behavior are not tolerated,” one user responded.

“Having a baby really changed my mind about this stuff (unwell people experiencing episodes on public transit). I went from ‘whatever, look the other way’ when I was just a sturdy adult man on my own, to being like ‘f**k f**k this guy is gonna kill my baby strapped to my chest,'” another user replied.

“‘Having a baby made me fascist’ is a real phenomenon. That’s why we must abolish the nuclear family,” a bizarre response reads. “Homeless ppl have children too, homeless ppl are sometimes children. And instead of thinking of them as human, you’re falling into racist and classist anxieties.”

RELATED: City councilman gets into physical altercation with gay bar manager after urinating on door in downtown Los Angeles

Others made almost no sense at all.

“Right, the only way a person squatting down & pissing on the floor of a subway train would catch your attention would be if you’re staring at people,” reads one response to the original post. “Are you deliberately trying to be an asshole? Should a woman also ‘stop staring’ if a guy on the subway waves his d**k at her?”

The original tweet garnered more than 5.8 million views.

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​Homeless woman urinating on train, Mega-viral debate on x, Daniela post on homeless urination, Nyc train public urination, Politics 

A Christian teacher said he sought a religious exemption when he was ordered to read an LGBTQ book to his first graders, and he was threatened with termination instead.

Eric Rivera told WZTV-TV that the book conflicted with his religious beliefs because it depicted a girl being raised by two fathers.

‘I believe that that is not what God designed a marriage to be and a family to be.’

Rivera said that initially the KIPP Antioch College Prep Elementary School where he taught offered to allow him a co-teacher to read the book to the children and then called him into the principal’s office.

That’s where he was allegedly given a “final warning” to teach the book or lose his job.

“I refused to read a book that had two fathers on the cover and one daughter,” he explained. “I believe that that is not what God designed a marriage to be and a family to be.”

The book is titled, “Stella Brings the Family,” by Miriam B. Schiffer.

He claims that he had no prior disciplinary history before the LGBTQ incident. He was reassigned to teach technology before he was moved yet again to teach kindergarten.

“I still have the fear in me that I could lose my job for anything that I do based on my religious beliefs,” Rivera added.

The teacher is now represented by the First Liberty Institute, who sent a demand letter to the school asking for an accommodation based on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. It was sent Feb. 17 and gave the school 10 days to respond.

The institute also expressed concerns that parents may not have been properly informed about the LGBTQ lesson, but WZTV said that accusation was not yet independently verified.

The teacher wants to return to teaching first grade but refuses to teach the lesson.

“I just want the whole curriculum to be shown to the parents in a way where they can actually understand,” Rivera said.

RELATED: Florida Christians win $70K over anonymous complaint against tiny cross displayed in their yard

The charter school falls under the jurisdiction of the Tennessee Charter School Commission, which released a statement to WZTV.

“All public charter schools must follow the same Tennessee academic standards as traditional public schools, and while they do have flexibility selecting curriculum and materials, they must still be aligned with those same state standards,” the commission said in its statement.

“All schools are required to comply with the prohibited concepts law and must provide a form on their website for reporting violations,” it added. “The Commission provides a form for submitting complaints related to the prohibited concepts law as well as any other violations of charter school law on our website. Teachers and staff at charter schools are employees of the school or charter operator and as such all personnel matters are handled by the school.”

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The House Oversight Committee’s first closed-door hearing with the Clintons concerning their ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein encountered a brief snag moments into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s deposition.

Members of the committee traveled to Chappaqua, New York, this week to depose Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton, after months of back-and-forth negotiations and a vote finding the two in contempt of Congress.

‘Hillary is trying to get out of answering questions about Epstein because of a picture. Does this sound desperate to you?’

Hillary Clinton was scheduled to testify under oath on Thursday and Bill Clinton on Friday.

After initially defying congressional subpoenas and then pressing the committee to hold public hearings, Hillary Clinton’s team abruptly halted Thursday’s closed-door deposition when a photograph of her from the session was leaked on social media.

The picture of Clinton was shared by political commentator Benny Johnson, who stated that it was provided to him by Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.).

“This is the first time Hillary has had to answer real questions about Epstein. Clinton does not look happy,” Johnson wrote.

RELATED: Bill and Hillary Clinton to testify under oath about Jeffrey Epstein this week

Photo by Melina Mara – Pool/Getty Images

A short time later, Nick Merrill, a Clinton adviser, exited the deposition hearing to address the media. He explained that the session had been temporarily paused after a photograph was posted to social media, which he described as being “against chamber rules that were read at the top of the meeting.”

Johnson responded to Merrill’s announcement by highlighting the inconsistency: Clinton had advocated for a public hearing, yet her team was displeased with the release of a photograph.

“The deposition is being filmed and will be released in full. Hillary wanted it to be done LIVE on TV. Rep. Boebert gave me permission to post a photo she took before the hearing started with credit,” Johnson wrote in a post on X. “Hillary is trying to get out of answering questions about Epstein because of a picture. Does this sound desperate to you?”

Boebert replied to Johnson’s comments, defending him for posting the photo of Clinton.

“Benny did nothing wrong,” she wrote, adding that the deposition had proceeded after the temporary pause.

Ahead of Thursday’s deposition, Clinton posted her opening statement on social media. She insisted that she has no information regarding Epstein’s criminal activities or those of co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell.

“As I stated in my sworn declaration on January 13, I had no idea about their criminal activities. I do not recall ever encountering Mr. Epstein. I never flew on his plane or visited his island, homes or offices,” Clinton wrote.

RELATED: Former Clinton official to quit Harvard University position amid backlash for Epstein ties

Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images

She accused House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) of refusing to hold any public hearings regarding Epstein.

“You have held zero public hearings, refused to allow the media to attend them, including today, despite espousing the need for transparency on dozens of occasions,” she stated.

Comer has not ruled out holding public hearings, but has insisted that initial depositions will be behind closed doors.

Maxwell previously stated that she had gone to the Clintons’ Chappaqua home “a few times.” Maxwell also attended the wedding of the Clintons’ daughter in 2010.

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​News, Jeffrey epstein, Epstein, Hillary clinton, Clinton, James comer, House oversight committee, New york, Deposition, Lauren boebert, Benny johnson, Politics 

The grandson of the man who created Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups said Tuesday that the Hershey Company has not contacted him following his public criticism of the brand. He also accused company leadership of arrogance toward the Reese family.

On Feb. 14, Brad Reese, the grandson of H.B. Reese, who created Reese’s in 1928, wrote an open letter expressing concern about alleged ingredient changes associated with the Reese’s brand.

“How does The Hershey Company continue to position REESE’S as its flagship brand, a symbol of trust, quality and leadership, while quietly replacing the very ingredients (Milk Chocolate + Peanut Butter) that built REESE’S trust in the first place?” Reese wrote.

During an appearance on “The Glenn Beck Program,” host Glenn Beck referred to the dispute as the “chocolate wars” before pressing Reese on whether the company had responded to his concerns about changes with Reese’s.

‘I mean, talk about a conflict of interest.’

“Nothing. Zero,” Reese said.

“They are so arrogant and condescending to anybody, especially in the Reese family, I find, unless they want something from you,” Reese said.

Hershey said in a statement: “As we’ve grown and expanded the Reese’s product line, we make product recipe adjustments that allow us to make new shapes, sizes, and innovations that Reese’s fans have come to love and ask for, while always protecting the essence of what makes Reese’s unique and special: the perfect combination of chocolate and peanut butter.”

Reese told Beck that tensions with company leadership date back years. He said he “kind of burned … bridges” after helping stop the proposed sale of Hershey in 2002.

“You have to understand, the Reese family has been creating the wealth there,” Reese said, arguing that the family has long played a role in building the company’s value.

RELATED: ‘This is crazy’: Glenn Beck questions Obama alien claim and Trump’s response

Photo by Rick Loomis/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

He also discussed what he described as internal conflicts involving the Hershey Trust and past corporate leadership. Reese referenced a cousin who previously served as general counsel for Hershey and later became president of the Hershey Trust Company, which controls the Hershey Company. According to Reese, his cousin worked to “clean up” issues within the trust and the company.

Reese then turned to what he described as a missed “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” when Hershey pursued a $19 billion acquisition of Cadbury Schweppes. He said the deal was “locked up” before it ultimately fell through and Kraft acquired Cadbury instead.

Reese alleged there were conflicts of interest involving former executives and advisers tied to competing bids during that process.

“I mean, talk about a conflict of interest,” Reese said.

He also questioned whether corporate decisions driven by profitability are sustainable “long-term.”

“Wall Street loves when you increase your margins at whatever cost to the public,” Reese said. “It’s long-term, is what I’m getting at. Is this going to not work out long-term?”

RELATED: Glenn Beck reveals 5 reasons the US hockey victory over Canada was the moment America needed right now

Photo by Rick Loomis/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Reese framed his concerns as rooted in protecting what he views as his grandfather’s original legacy and questioned whether current corporate decisions serve the long-term interests of the brand.

Hershey did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

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​Hershey, Reese, Reese’s, Politics, Glenn beck 

In a nearly three-hour interview released on February 20, Tucker Carlson pressed U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on several topics, including biblical claims to land “from the Nile to the Euphrates,” Gaza civilian casualties, U.S. aid to Israel, and Christian Zionism, resulting in heated exchanges. The interview highlighted a divide within conservative America over U.S. foreign policy priorities, particularly the balance between “America First” principles and strong support for Israel.

On a recent episode of the “Steve Deace Show,” host Steve Deace spoke with Huckabee about his recent interview with Carlson.

“Overall, how did you feel it went?” Deace inquires.

“Our interaction in the interview was just fine. I didn’t understand a lot of the things that he was going with in terms of the questions, and it was very frustrating because normally when he has someone on his show, he gives them about 65% of the time and he takes about 35%. … But with both Ted Cruz and me, he interrupted constantly; he went off on tangents,” says Huckabee.

Deace then turned to the section of the interview that drew the most attention. Carlson referred to a Bible verse in Genesis 15 promising Abraham’s descendants land “from the Euphrates to the Nile,” an area encompassing much of the modern Middle East, and asked Huckabee whether this verse implies Israel has a divine right to that entire territory today.

In response, Deace said that Huckabee said that it would “be fine” but immediately added that Israel has no such endeavor.

“[Tucker’s] side of the argument absolutely seized on this. … Some of these nations, I think, have even released statements in response,” says Deace, offering Huckabee a chance to “clarify” and “react.”

“He was badgering me, trying to get me to say that Israel was going to try to do a conquest from the Euphrates to the Nile … and finally I said, tongue in cheek, ‘Yeah, they can have the whole thing,”’ says Huckabee. “Now then immediately what I said was ‘Tucker, Israel is only wanting to keep the land of Canaan, the land that they have.”’

He went on to emphasize that Israel has no plans to expand beyond its current borders into Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, or even Gaza.

“Tucker clipped from that one statement, and then he marketed that all over the Arab world, where he apparently has some very strong contacts. Well, they got all spun up and did a blanket condemnation of what I had said,” Huckabee explains.

“If you missed the last part of my answer, of course it kind of looks like that I said, ‘Yeah, just let ’em have the whole part’ — flippantly acting as if, ‘Yeah, that’s fine with me.’ If you took it in its context, listened to the whole answer, you come away with a completely different view.”

To hear more of Deace and Huckabee’s conversation, check out the full interview above.

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​Steve deace, Deace, Mike huckabee, Tucker carlson, Blazetv, Blaze media, Tucker huckabee, Steve deace show 

Johnny Knoxville is not a regular human being, and his latest interview has cemented that fact.

The “Jackass” series and movie star sat down with Rolling Stone, marking 25 years since his famous cover shoot with the outlet.

‘The whole world was closing in, and … I have a lot of sympathy for myself then.’

As a fifth “Jackass” movie is in the making, the new “Fear Factor: House of Fear” host discussed his greatest stunts, production hurdles, and even brain injury fallout. However, what is grabbing attention online is Knoxville’s brief emotional breakdown during the interview.

No bull

After discussing what it feels like to have an eyeball come out of its socket — with Knoxville describing his vision at the time as “fuzzy” TV lines — host Alex Morris asks the stuntman if there was one stunt he thought he would never get to do again.

At 54 years old and 16 concussions deep, the Tennessee native got choked up before answering.

“I don’t want to get emotional. I can’t. God damn. I hate when this happens,” Knoxville begins, fighting back tears.

“No, this is good. I was gonna ask when the last time you cried was,” the reporter says, trying to comfort her guest.

Then Knoxville reveals the source of his pain:

“I can’t mess around with bulls anymore.”

Confused, Morris follows up, “And that — you’re, and that makes you emotional?”

“Yeah. It’s terrible,” he replies, before getting deeper into the emotional reality of a stuntman.

RELATED: Make your own record player: A simple project with a profound lesson

‘Steer’ing his thoughts

The host asks Knoxville why that makes him cry; was it the thought of his art form being limited by injury or the memory of catastrophic brain damage?

“No, I just want to play with them,” the actor reveals. “And I’m trying not to — trying not to indulge in those thoughts.”

Although the bull-induced injury was not the source of his emotional pain, Knoxville takes time to go into detail about the five- to six-month period during which he suffered from “catastrophic thinking” and “ruminating” thoughts.

“The whole world was closing in, and … I have a lot of sympathy for myself then, because your brain’s feeding you such terrible information. And people outside were telling me like, ‘Your brain’s playing tricks on you.’ I’m like, no, no, it’s happening. [But] nothing’s happening.”

The same brain that comes up with stunts like being shot with riot control munitions and balancing a teeter-totter around a charging bull apparently turned its back on Knoxville. He describes his recovery time as his “creative brain turned against me” while his mind “just fell off a cliff.”

RELATED: ‘He meant that s**t’: Actors rage after man with Tourette’s yells N-word during award show

Photo by FOX via Getty Images

Please, Clapp

Other parts of the discussion briefly touched on former Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) attacking the “Jackass” brand in 2001, as well as Knoxville’s upbringing in a Southern Baptist Church in the 1970s.

Real name Philip John Clapp, born 1971 in Knoxville, Tennessee, the action star said that the fire-and-brimstone talk was too much for him to handle at a young age.

“You know, you’re 7, 8, just having to go and sit there and be quiet and listening about burning in hell. And I’m like, ‘Wow.'”

“It was a lot,” he adds. “I think that’s why, maybe one of the reasons I hate being told what to do so much.”

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​Align, Jackass, Knoxville, Stunt, Hollywood, Stuntman, Bulls, Interview, Rolling stone, Entertainment 

An adviser at the U.S. State Department posted photographs from a visit from right-wing U.K. activist Tommy Robinson on Wednesday and outraged many politicians across the pond.

Joe Rittenhouse, a senior adviser at the Consular Affairs bureau of the State Department, posted the images and called Robinson a “free speech warrior.”

‘We need to engage this administration on the difference between that and incitement to violence and racial hatred.’

British politicians immediately lambasted the visit as an affront to U.S-U.K. relations. Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, has a history of criminal convictions related to his activism against mass immigration and Islam.

“The World and the West is a better place when we fight for freedom of speech and no one has been on the front lines more than Tommy,” Rittenhouse added. “Good to see you my friend!”

Robinson posted a video of himself interviewing Republican Rep. Randy Fine of Florida and made the rounds to speak to many media outlets on the right.

Meanwhile, back in Britain, the politicians fumed.

“Yaxley-Lennon is being touted around Washington as a ‘free speech warrior.’ We need to engage this administration on the difference between that and incitement to violence and racial hatred,” said Labour MP Emily Thornberry, chair of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee. “There should be no place in any democracy for the latter.”

Labour MP Alex Ballinger said in a statement to Politico he was “disappointed” that the State Department had hosted a “convicted criminal” and “far-right agitator.”

“Having worked alongside U.S. diplomats for many years, I suspect many of them will be embarrassed about it too,” he said.

Labour MP Phil Brickell called the meeting a “complete outrage” and accused Robinson of peddling “racist tropes” in the past.

“The guy holds no elected role,” Brickell added and questioned what basis the U.S. government had to recognize him.

A spokesperson for the State Department told Politico that Robinson visited “in an unofficial capacity on a tour.”

“The government needs to send a clear signal to the U.S. president that this is unacceptable,” said former Foreign Office Minister Catherine West, who went on to call the meeting “incredibly alarming.”

She added, “For the U.K.’s key ally to do so is frankly disgraceful.”

On the other hand, a spokesperson for the U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer downplayed the visit.

The spokesperson said Robinson was “not a representative of the U.K.” and added that the meeting was “a matter for the U.S. administration” and “not for me to speak to.”

RELATED: Tommy Robinson has the last laugh after politically motivated terrorism arrest

Robinson went on to mock the negative coverage of his visit by some in the media.

“I posted a photo at the US State Department earlier, the legacy media have been falling over each other to condemn my visit, devastated that their decades of slandering is now transparent,” he wrote. “Their power is gone.”

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​Tommy robinson visits state dept, Activist tommy robinson, British politicians freak out, Mps vs tommy robinson, Politics