An illegal alien suspected of terrorism put many American lives in danger earlier this month after he allegedly crashed his car into stopped traffic and fled the scene during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrest.

Felipe Linares De Oliveira Dell Aquilla is a “criminal illegal alien from Brazil” who held his wife hostage and was known as a commander of foreign terror organizations, according to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security.

‘This guy is no friend of America, nor our citizens, nor anybody else in this country.’

Law enforcement officers were performing a traffic stop on June 5 when Aquilla allegedly tried to speed away in Mooresville, North Carolina.

After the crash, Aquilla’s wife confirmed to police that she had been taken hostage by her husband as he tried to escape to Mexico, the department said. Numerous laptops and cell phones were reportedly found in his car along with money and a 9mm handgun.

“This guy is no friend of America, nor our citizens, nor anybody else in this country,” said Iredell County Sheriff Darren Campbell to WJZY-TV about the arrest. “He didn’t know we were actively looking for him, but once he seen a car, he got uncomfortable. And of course, we were already in position to do the arrest.”

Aquilla was booked into the county jail on felony charges of fleeing to elude arrest, and the DHS said it was pursuing kidnapping charges as well as firearm charges related to his immigration status.

ICE also lodged a detainer on Aquilla. The DHS said it was unclear when Aquilla entered the U.S.

According to jail records, Aquilla is 40 years old and has a court date scheduled for July 2. He was denied bond on account of the deportation order.

Aquilla had allegedly been a commander of the Primeiro Comando da Capital and Comando Vermelho terror groups and has outstanding arrest warrants for extortion and criminal association in his home country, according to the DHS.

InSight Crime expert Steven Dudley told WJZY that the two gangs are some of the largest in South America.

“They traffic drugs. They are involved in human trafficking, human smuggling, contraband, local drug peddling, et cetera,” he explained. “The United States has a big appetite for drugs. There is a lot of money laundering that happens in the United States.”

RELATED: ‘Disgusting criminal’ illegal alien tortured dogs at animal training center in Las Vegas: DHS

“This arrest demonstrates the unwavering commitment of HSI to protect our communities from dangerous international criminals,” said Mark Zito, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in North and South Carolina.

“By removing a known leader of violent foreign terrorist organizations — wanted for serious crimes, including criminal association and extortion — we have prevented further harm to innocent people here and abroad,” he added. “[Homeland Security Investigations] will continue to pursue those who endanger our communities and bring them to justice.”

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

​Brazil, Criminal illegal alien, Department of homeland security, Politics, Ice, Terrorist 

For years, South Africa has been marketed to the world as a post-apartheid “rainbow nation.” But according to South African farmer Jason Bartlett, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

“The South African government really has an actual war room that they are creating to try to spread misinformation and hide that South Africa is in turmoil. It’s anarchy. It’s not the rainbow nation. It is one of the most hateful nations towards minorities, including myself,” Bartlett tells Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck.

“There’s 146 race laws. That’s why Elon Musk can’t get Starlink over there. And with the farm murders, there is more than 180 farm attacks every year. Dozens and dozens of murders. There’s approximately a murder every seven to 10 days,” he explains.

But these murders, Bartlett says, aren’t “just normal murders.”

“It’s torture. It’s where a 12-year-old gets boiled alive in a bath, or they cut your Achilles off while they tie you to a chair, and they make you watch them rape 10 people, rape your 5-year-old daughter,” he says.

“Things that are barbaric and inhumane, and I’m sorry that I have to be so abrupt, but like I told the Trump administration, I’m going to be raw,” he adds.

Bartlett tells Glenn that he’s seeking asylum in the United States because after he left South Africa, his cousin was having a cookout.

“I always went to go visit them, and eight black men broke in, and it was deemed a ‘normal’ break-in, and they shot him through the back of the head. The bullet came out the front of his face. They then threw him in the fire, burnt him with a grid, and urinated on him while they sang, ‘Die white bastard,’” he says.

“And his little girls had to witness this. And he doesn’t get a news article. It doesn’t get anything,” he continues. “I have got a cousin who was kidnapped and put into the trunk of his vehicle and driven around for hours and then beaten and thrown up. My other cousins have been hijacked.”

Even Bartlett himself has been attacked, as he tells Glenn that there’s “been two attempts on [his] life.”

“They don’t look at what you’ve got,” he says, adding, “They look at what you look like, and they attack.”

Want more from Glenn Beck?

To enjoy more of Glenn’s masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis, and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Glenn beck, Jason bartlett, The blaze, Elon musk, South africa, Farmer, Alabama, The glenn beck program 

The staggering scale of the crimes committed against generations of young white girls in Britain by predominantly Muslim Pakistani gangs is detailed in a damning independent report unveiled on Tuesday by Rupert Lowe, the head of Restore Britain in the U.K. Parliament.

The 219-page “Rape Gang Inquiry Report” explains in horrific detail how, starting in the 1950s, predominantly Muslim men developed organized networks in the British Isles that “transported victims between locations, supplied them with drugs and alcohol, recorded abuse for distribution and blackmail, and passed girls between multiple adult men.”

‘They targeted these girls because they were vulnerable, they were young, they were white.’

The estimated number of white girls subjected to “repeated rape, gang rape, trafficking, torture, pregnancy, forced Islamic conversion, and lifelong trauma” is “at the very least, 250,000,” said the report.

These crimes occurred in at least 149 local authority districts across the U.K. and are known to have taken place in the following counties: Derbyshire, Devon, Dorset, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, Merseyside, Norfolk, Yorkshire, and Warwickshire.

Lowe’s report — on the basis and recommendations of which he and other lawmakers now expect “His Majesty’s Government” to take action — underscores that the horror of these crimes was compounded not only by the perpetrators’ religious and cultural justifications and the pervasiveness of the crimes but by the widespread and decades-long failure of virtually every institution charged with protecting the victims and holding the offenders accountable.

RELATED: Two-tier Britain finally has its George Floyd moment

Conservative march against child abuse on June 28, 2025, in London. Guy Smallman/Getty Images

In many cases, it appears that those who could have done something about the exploitation of children by marauding members of immigrant subcultures were more sensitive to the perceived need for political correctness than to the needs of the victims.

The report notes, for instance:

“Police forces ignored repeated reports, criminalised victims instead of perpetrators, destroyed evidence, and allowed known rapists to walk free on bail.””The NHS recorded genital injuries, multiple sexually transmitted infections in children as young as 13, pregnancies caused by rape, and suicide attempts, yet discharged victims back to their abuser.””Schools observed older men collecting girls at the gates, heard disclosures of rape on school premises, and responded by excluding victims rather than protecting them.”

One of the sectors whose failures most stand out is Britain’s social services, which the report claimed “undermined protective parents, placed children in trafficking hubs inside children’s homes, closed cases despite clear indicators of exploitation, and retaliated against whistleblowers.”

In one particularly egregious case highlighted in the report, a girl named Chloe was around the age of 13 when she told social workers that she was being sexually abused by gangs of Muslim men.

“Social services did not intervene, but rather talked to Chloe about contraception and sexual health,” said the report. “One social worker started regularly taking Chloe to a sexual health clinic, where she was diagnosed with chlamydia in her throat and vagina, gonorrhea, genital warts, and pelvic inflammatory disease. Neither the social workers nor the clinic staff questioned or reported this.”

‘Authorities at every level, as we have seen, feared being labelled ‘racist’ or ‘Islamophobic’ more than they feared failing the girls.’

The report noted that in a separate case, the social worker of a girl who was raped and abused from the age of 13 while living in a children’s home in Bradford not only ended up attending the victim’s forced Sharia marriage but permitted the perpetrator’s parents to foster the victim after she became pregnant, thereby enabling them to receive a fostering allowance from the state.

Prosecutors are assigned a great deal of blame in the report for allegedly holding suspects in grooming gang trials to a different standard than native Britons, refusing to invoke racial aggravations despite evidence showing that suspects described their victims as “white slags,” “white trash,” and “kuffar bitches,” while boasting also of racial supremacy.

“Kuffar” or “kafir” is an Islamic theological term used to describe non-Muslims — sworn enemies of Islam who will supposedly be thrown into hellfire by Allah.

While the British media, of course, also did its apparent best to downplay the scandal, the report notes that “political failure lies at the heart of the scandal” — that successive governments, especially Labour governments, “lacked the will to confront the ethnic and religious patterns.”

“The concern to shield Muslims from criticism at all costs went hand in hand with a more general ideological shift organised around the unquestioning treatment of minorities as special victim groups,” said the report. “Rooted in the Left-liberal paradigm of the 1960s, this minoritarian outlook first scored political victories under Harold Wilson’s Labour government.”

Wilson, a Labour politican, served as prime minister from 1964 to 1970 and again from 1974 to 1976. His regimes not only focused on racial matters but legalized abortion; made divorces easier to obtain; abolished the death penalty; and legalized homosexual acts.

The report continued:

In time, tolerance, multiculturalism, and anti-discrimination became highly prized values in elite circles. The law, too, began to foster an environment in which challenging certain minority communities, including Muslim ones, became politically dangerous and even criminal. This enabled the grooming gangs to operate with impunity for years because authorities at every level, as we have seen, feared being labelled “racist” or “Islamophobic” more than they feared failing the girls to whom they owed a duty of care.

Among the pieces of leftist legislation that over time precluded or at the very least dissuaded law enforcement from pursuing any “action that could be construed as targeting ethnic minorities” was the Race Relations Act 1965, the report claimed.

RELATED: ‘F**king madness’: UK police detain Tommy Robinson — again

Prime Minister Keir Starmer standing near a statue of previous Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair, another Labour Party politician, is accused in the report of making matters worse by overseeing the consolidation and strengthening of so-called “anti-discrimination” protections, particularly the addition of religion as a protected characteristic alongside race.

“Combined with hate crime legislation under Part III of the Public Order Act 1986 and the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, it created an environment in which criticising aspects of Islamic culture or patterns of offending linked to Muslim communities could be framed as ‘racial hatred’ or ‘Islamophobia,'” said the report.

Blaze News has reached out to the Starmer government, the Tony Blair Institute, Restore Britain, and Lowe for comment.

‘This is not homegrown. We imported it.’

As the grooming gangs became more brazen, British officials seemingly became more captive to political correctness.

The report minces no words on this point, stating, “Liberal elites in media, politics, and the public sector internalised the idea that acknowledging cultural or religious factors in crime was itself a form of bigotry. This mindset actively shielded the rape gangs by discouraging the very inquiries and interventions that could have saved thousands of children.”

While the language of the report is measured, Lowe let loose on X, accusing those politicians who failed to prevent the development of apparently rapacious “parallel societies” inside the U.K. over fears of “being called racist” of setting the stage for the spread of “alien cultures” that, “in short, treat women and non-Muslims like s**t.”

Speaking to the findings of the report, Lowe said, “Vulnerable working class white girls were treated like a piece of meat. Raped, abused, tortured, murdered. It was a racial attack, and it was a coordinated attack. All across Britain. They targeted these girls because they were vulnerable, they were young, they were white. Until the political class accepts that fact, nothing will EVER change.”

Not one to beat around the bush, Lowe noted that the perpetrators and their ilk “do not live by the same rules as us — it is all beyond evil,” adding, “This is not homegrown. We imported it. We welcomed it. Embraced it. We continue to do so. That was a choice. Reversing it is also a choice.”

“The Rape Gang Inquiry Report” identifies the following as next steps for the powers that be:

publish the inquiry’s full witness statements;seek out further witness statements;name those who enabled the rape gangs; andcontinue initiating civil proceedings and private prosecutions where appropriate.

In the way of remedy, Lowe apparently has some additional steps in mind, namely removing millions of foreign nationals “who hate our way of life and have no reason to be in our country,” and reintroducing the death penalty and using it against child rapists.

Louise Casey, a British official, was commissioned last year to produce a national audit on the grooming gang scandal. Her final report, which was published last June, claimed that “the ethnicity data collected for victims and perpetrators of group-based child sexual exploitation is not sufficient to allow any conclusions to be drawn at the national level.”

Casey’s report noted, however, that there was sufficient evidence in local police data across three jurisdictions to “show disproportionate numbers of men from Asian ethnic backgrounds amongst suspects for group-based child sexual exploitation, as well as in the significant number of perpetrators of Asian ethnicity identified in local reviews and high-profile child sexual exploitation prosecutions across the country, to at least warrant further examination.”

In Britain, the term “Asian” is often used to refer to those from the Indian subcontinent, which includes Hindus and Muslims from India and Pakistan.

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

​Rupert lowe, Grooming, Scandal, Britain, England, United kingdom, Keir starmer, Pakistan, Muslim, Islamic, Politics 

Fresh off a late night celebrating his 80th birthday and the White House Freedom 250 UFC bash, President Donald Trump strolled into Wednesday’s closing session of the G7 summit well after every other leader had taken a seat — and stopped to announce the obvious.

“I’m the boss,” he said with a stern look, followed by a smile.

As security cleared photographers out, Trump offered them a counteroffer: “Would you like to stay for the meeting? It’s OK with me.”

‘We fell in love, deeply in love. … We had great chemistry.’

The press conference, meanwhile, was apparently full of attractive people, Trump indicated.

Mid-question on the Strait of Hormuz, Trump got distracted by a Sky News Arabia reporter. “What a nice-looking person. Is he from your country?” Trump asked. “He’s got such a nice way about him. My people are so — they’re so mean. Handsome guy. Could put him in a movie right now.”

UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan jokingly warned the reporter to “be careful.”

Of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Trump said, “Look at this man. … He’s the most beautiful-looking man. He looks so nice. He’s like an angel. But actually … he’s as tough as they come.

On the topic of the alleged drone-and-sniper plot targeting his White House UFC event, Trump responded, “I haven’t heard about it, no. … The attack that I watched were the fighters.”

“That last fight was brutal,” he added.

RELATED: Alleged UFC 250 assassination plot targeted Republicans — and the Trump DOJ names suspects

Evan Vucci/Reuters/Bloomberg/Getty Images

When asked about Egyptian border security, Trump instead recounted his meet-cute with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. The two met in a hotel years ago, when he first ran for president, and in Trump’s own telling, “We fell in love, deeply in love. … We had great chemistry.”

Trump said Sisi “didn’t even want to see” Hillary Clinton on that trip.

All of this humor unfolded against a heavy backdrop. The official signing day for the Iran deal is not until Friday, and Trump said he would resume fighting if Iran doesn’t “behave.” Ukraine is also trying to reclaim his attention after Iran overshadowed it for weeks.

Asked if European leaders’ warmth toward him meant they agreed with his worldview, Trump didn’t bother with modesty: “I think they think I was right.

“I’m sort of always right when you get right down to it.”

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

​Blaze news, Europe, Freedom 250, G7 summit, Leaders, Strait of hormuz, Trump, Ukraine, White house, Politics, Iran, Ufc 

When England begins its World Cup run against Croatia in Dallas today, millions of fans will be watching every move, hoping that Thomas Tuchel’s side can win the Three Lions’ their first title since 1966.

Such a victory would make good on the squad’s famous rallying cry, “It’s coming home.” For a growing number of England’s stars, however, it’s a heavenly home that keeps them driven to excel.

Guéhi returned for the next match wearing the same rainbow armband but with a different motto: ‘Jesus loves you.’

The phenomenon was on display in March when defender Marc Guéhi captained England for the first time in a friendly against Senegal. After the match, Guéhi posted a message on Instagram thanking God for the milestone: “Thank you to the Most High.” It was entirely in keeping with a player who has previously written “I love Jesus” and “Jesus loves you” on his captain’s armband and who has spoken openly about putting God at the center of his life.

Guéhi is hardly alone.

God Squad

England’s current squad includes a cluster of openly Christian players — including midfielder Eberechi Eze and forwards Ivan Toney, Noni Madueke, and Bukayo Saka — whose habits of praying together and speaking publicly about their beliefs have earned them nicknames such as the “God Squad” and the “Bible Brothers” in parts of the British press.

To American audiences, the phenomenon may come as a surprise. The enduring stereotype of English football is one of raucous supporters, celebrity culture, and the hooliganism that scarred the game’s reputation decades ago. Yet beneath the surface, Christianity has become a visible and accepted part of life for many elite players.

Saka, one of England’s biggest stars, has made his faith central to his public identity. His Instagram bio identifies him as “#GodsChild,” and in interviews, he has spoken about reading the Bible every night and relying on prayer before matches. “God’s plan is perfect so I can go on the pitch and know that God has my back,“ he has said, explaining that his faith allows him to play with freedom rather than fear.

RELATED: Brazil sends off its World Cup team in the most Catholic way possible

Jordan Bank/Getty Images

Prayer on the pitch

The story, however, extends well beyond England’s national team. Across the Premier League, an increasingly visible Christian fellowship has emerged among players from different clubs and nationalities. Arsenal, in particular, has attracted attention for a number of openly Christian stars.

One of them is Saka’s England teammate Madueke. After scoring against Bayern Munich last season, his first words to reporters were: “I just want to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” Explaining the bond he shared with his Christian teammates (there are “about 10 of us,” he estimated), he told the New York Times: “We believe we have God fighting for us.”

Arsenal defender Jurrien Timber regularly posts Bible verses before matches and has earned the nickname “Pastor Timber.” “For me, it is a way of life, my faith,” he told the Athletic. “I try to live by it. We pray before games because we have a few Christians in our team, which is amazing. It brings unity and understanding because you kind of live the same life.”

Football fellowship

According to reporting by the Religion Media Centre, roughly half of Premier League clubs engage with Christian ministries, while about 80% have access to chaplaincy support. Those chaplains are not there to discuss tactics or team selection. Instead, they provide pastoral care — meeting players and staff through injuries, family crises, contract disputes, loneliness, and the intense psychological pressures of professional sports.

As Rev. Graham Daniels, a former professional footballer who now leads the organization Christians in Sport, wrote earlier this month, “At a time when many Christians feel increasingly isolated in their workplaces, there is something deeply encouraging about believers opening the Scriptures together in football clubs up and down the country.”

For players like Guéhi, faith is more than private devotion. It is something to be expressed publicly, even at personal cost.

In 2024, Guéhi was serving as captain of Crystal Palace during the Premier League’s annual LGBTQ Rainbow Laces campaign, in which players are encouraged to wear rainbow armbands. Guéhi wore his, but wrote “I love Jesus” on it for a match against Newcastle United. After the Football Association reminded the club that its rules prohibit religious messages on playing equipment, Guéhi returned for the next match wearing the same rainbow armband but with a different motto: “Jesus loves you.”

Although the FA again contacted Crystal Palace to reiterate the regulations and Guehi faced the prospect of disciplinary action, the governing body ultimately declined to take formal action against either the player or the club.

Imported faith

The prominence of openly Christian players also reflects the increasingly international makeup of English football. Many stars with African and Caribbean family backgrounds have brought traditions of public worship, prayer, and church involvement into dressing rooms, where such expressions might once have been unusual. Prayer circles before kickoff and post-match thanksgiving have become familiar sights rather than oddities.

None of this, of course, means the Premier League has become a religious institution. It remains one of the world’s most commercialized and closely scrutinized sporting competitions. But beneath the billion-dollar television deals and transfer fees lies a quieter story: Bible studies, pastoral mentorship, and players who openly credit Jesus Christ with sustaining them through triumph and disappointment alike.

​Bible verses, Christianity, Dallas, England, Thomas tuchel, Three lions, World cup, Premier league, Sports, Arsenal, Soccer, Faith 

Former “Top Gear” star Jeremy Clarkson had heartbreaking news for his friends during the season finale of his new show.

After leading “Top Gear” to fantastic ratings over 33 seasons between 2002 and 2022, Clarkson moved on to “Clarkson’s Farm,” a show about him running a farm in West England.

‘Where it is of no concern of anybody.’

Difficult conversation

In the final two episodes of Season 5, Clarkson revealed to his friends and co-stars Charlie Ireland and Kaleb Cooper that his recent disappearance was because he was getting tests done.

The show aired Clarkson having a difficult conversation with his mates, revealing his diagnosis: “I’ve got cancer,” Clarkson said.

Cooper appeared shocked, replying, “No.”

Clarkson offered a shrug and a “yep.” Cooper asked, “Where?”

“Where is of no concern of anybody,” Clarkson firmly stated. “I’ve known since May.”

In the later episode, however, Clarkson confirmed to his co-stars that he has prostate cancer.

RELATED: Hate-spewing Jimmy Kimmel mocks homeless Spencer Pratt with U-Haul gag

‘Fingers crossed’

As reported by Variety, Clarkson said he had “disappeared off the other week,” had had a biopsy done, and that the cancer is “aggressive,” but it’s “really early.”

He added, “I’ll have to go and have an operation, and then — the operation is in and out in no time — but your body’s out of action for a little while.”

By the final episode, Clarkson had already gone through the procedure, seemingly telling his friend that part of his prostate had been removed.

“10% of it is dead, the 10% where the cancer is,” Clarkson explained, per the BBC.

“I had the op, and just fingers crossed it’s worked; we don’t know yet.”

RELATED: ‘Farmer’ George Clooney wouldn’t last a minute with my family’s sheep

Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publishing/Getty Images

Carry on

Clarkson took to his Instagram page on Tuesday to say that the Season 5 finale was “really, really difficult,” but it was his words in the show’s last episode that displayed Clarkson’s true perseverance and classic English attitude.

The season started “with me in a hospital bed and we are at the end of Season 5 and I’m back in a hospital bed,” the 66-year-old said. He noted that if his treatment is “successful, I’ll see you for Season 6, and if it isn’t, I won’t.”

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

​News, Jeremy clarkson, England, Bbc, Cancer, Entertainment 

Many on the left were disturbed by the appearance of a burning cross at a park in Chicago, but the man who claims he put it up says he is not racist and was protesting President Donald Trump.

Police released video of a man they called a person of interest after someone set up the cross and lit it on fire on June 10 at Grant Park in downtown Chicago.

‘I don’t wanna wait until he may or may not get impeached. I want him gone right now.’

Community members immediately blamed racism and hatred, and one even mentioned “the South.”

“I was horrified; I was angry!” said Rev. Michael Pfleger of the Faith Community of Saint Sabina in an interview with WGN-TV.

“This is a decades-old symbol of hate and supremacy and the Ku Klux Klan. This is their symbol,” he added.

“This is something that’s been used in the South to harm and scare black Americans, so it was very distasteful,” said Keinika Carlton, who saw the cross burning and captured it on video.

“There’s no way to explain this nicely, except it’s hate!” Pfleger added in another interview with WBBM-TV.

“A burning cross is not a prank. It is not a misunderstanding. It is one of the most recognizable symbols of racial terror in American history,” said attorney Benjamin Crump, known for representing many race-related cases.

“Hate cannot be normalized, excused, or ignored. Those responsible must be identified and held accountable,” Crump continued.

“This isn’t random vandalism. It’s a direct message of hate meant to intimidate Black people in the middle of downtown Chicago. How many more times will racists use this symbol of terror in public before it’s treated like the hate crime it is?” an anti-racism account said on social media.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said it was also investigating the incident.

A few days later, a 21-year-old Asian man claimed to have set up the cross and said he didn’t even know it was a symbol of racism.

“I did know about this historical relevance beforehand, but I didn’t know the severity, how racially motivated it may seem from what I did,” University of Illinois Chicago senior Merlin Lu said to WMAQ-TV.

Lu said the cross was intended as a protest against Trump’s alleged Christian-nationalist supporters and the “Make America Great Again” movement and that he had put a red hat on top of the cross to try to get this message across.

“I put a red hat to signify the MAGA hat, the Make America Great Again hat,” he added. “So that was, yeah, that’s what I tied on top.”

“I don’t want to wait till his term ends,” Lu said of the president. “I don’t wanna wait until he may or may not get impeached. I want him gone right now.”

RELATED: Activists rage over racist vandalism at a Sacramento high school. The district says a black student was caught on camera committing the hoax.

Lu was asked how he came up with the idea for the burning-cross protest.

“Just it came up to my head one day,” he said. “I wanted to find something that I could do by myself, like no organization, no friends.”

WMAQ said Lu is a native of Naperville.

“He’s just scamming people,” Lu added about Trump.

“I think that’s a great reflection of how this country works right now, where money controls everything. Money has power over health care. Money has power over transportation,” he continued.

Lu said he was thinking of surrendering to the police, and WMAQ reported in an update that the police confirmed the arrest of a person of interest.

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

​Burning cross, Anti-trump protest, Chicago, Race hoax, Politics 

During an interview on Monday, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that she thought former President Joe Biden’s decision to run for re-election was “a terrible miscalculation.”

The interview with New Yorker editor David Remnick covered a range of topics, including the war in Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Trump administration, and the 2024 presidential election.

‘He made a terrible mistake for himself, his legacy, and for the country.’

The Democratic National Committee recently released an autopsy report on the 2024 election, which Remnick criticized for not mentioning Biden’s decision to run. Asking Clinton if Biden made a mistake by launching another candidacy, she responded, “He made a terrible mistake for himself, his legacy, and for the country.”

Clinton went on to say that if Biden had stuck to serving a single term, Democrats “would have had a real contest.”

“I believe whoever emerged from that contest, whether it was the vice president or a governor or a senator or anybody else, would’ve beaten Donald Trump.”

Despite Biden’s old age and alleged cognitive decline, Clinton claimed that before the CNN presidential debate between Biden and Trump, there was still a strong belief inside the White House that he would emerge victorious in the election. Those who attempted to convince Biden otherwise “were met with total denial” from Biden and those around him, Clinton detailed.

That denial continued even after the debate, Clinton said, with many still believing Biden’s performance to be “recoverable” regardless of the renewed push for Biden to suspend his campaign.

RELATED: VIDEO: Joe Biden interrupts Jill Biden’s book event with agonizingly awkward interaction

Clinton’s account comes only a few weeks after a CBS interview in which former first lady Jill Biden revealed that she thought her husband was experiencing a stroke while on the debate stage.

“I don’t know what happened,” she said. “As I watched it, I thought, ‘Oh, my God, he’s having a stroke.’ And it scared me to death.”

Biden ultimately dropped his bid for president in July 2024 and immediately backed then-Vice President Kamala Harris. Harris would go on to lose to Trump in the November general election, receiving 226 electoral votes to Trump’s 312.

“There was no way to convince [Biden]” to step aside “by going public,” Clinton said. “And eventually what convinced him was, you know, polling.”

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

​Hillary clinton, Joe biden, Politics, Kamala harris 

A congressional hearing took a tense turn when Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas) challenged Southern Poverty Law Center President Bryan Fair over the organization’s claim that abortion restrictions are tied to white supremacy.

“Your organization said that restricting and banning abortion is a tool that the far right uses to maintain white supremacy,” Gill began, asking Fair, “Do you believe that pro-lifers are white supremacists?”

After Fair dodged the question several times, Gill asked again, “I don’t think that pro-lifers are white supremacists; do you?”

“What I think is that reproductive liberty is a right that every woman should enjoy,” Fair answered, still dodging the question.

“How many babies in the United States that are aborted are black?” Gill asked, answering himself, “About 40% of abortions nationwide are of black babies. Blacks represent about 13% of the population. Does that sound like something a white supremacist would oppose?”

“What I would say again is that SPLC supports reproductive liberty,” Fair answered.

“Calling somebody a white supremacist is a pretty serious charge, isn’t it? I would think you would be able to defend that if your organization says that. You clearly seem unable to,” Gill said.

“You’re the president of the SPLC, which labels pro-lifers as racists,” he continued. “Does your organization just hurl around epithets like that without any justification?”

BlazeTV host Pat Gray is impressed with Gill’s reasoning.

“That’s a great point by Brandon Gill, though. That needs to be brought up a lot more, because it’s so disproportionate — the number of blacks who are aborted compared to whites. And there’s plenty of whites and Hispanics and Asians being aborted.” Gray says.

“But 40% of abortions come from blacks when they’re 13% of the population,” he continues. “In New York City, and we’ve given you this stat before, there are more black children aborted than born. It’s staggering.”

Want more from Pat Gray?

To enjoy more of Pat’s biting analysis and signature wit as he restores common sense to a senseless world, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Pat gray unleashed, Pat gray, Bryan fair, Splc, Southern poverty law center, Pro-life, Abortion, Black, White, Brandon gill 

Spencer Pratt has ended his campaign for mayor of Los Angeles, but he says his fight against the two remaining candidates is just beginning.

And we thought all we had to look forward to was an electrifying debate between Nithya Raman and incumbent Karen Bass about shade trees.

‘This is not really a Republican or Democrat issue. … It’s a commonsense, quality-of-life issue.’

Pratt hardly needs his name on the ballot to steal focus from the two Democrats. The meme magic has been particularly strong with him since he first announced his candidacy — thanks especially to behind-the-scenes creators like digital media guru Nick Ward.

‘Weekend’ warrior

Back in 2020, Ward had a killer idea capitalizing on the Trump/Biden presidential race — but he knew Hollywood wouldn’t so much as give it the time of day.

So he decided to DIY it instead.

Ward’s “Weekend at Biden’s” comedy video swiftly went viral, generating millions of views with his wacky riff on 1989’s “Weekend at Bernie’s.” The clip shows Joe Biden’s advisers attempting to trick the country into thinking he’s still very much alive.

Last month, Ward found inspiration in a battle just as contentious as that presidential match-up: the tight L.A. mayoral race between incumbent Karen Bass and reality show star-turned-candidate Spencer Pratt.

The clip spoofs director Ridley Scott’s classic Apple ad from 1984 featuring a “Big Brother”-style threat. Here, it’s Mayor Bass as Big Sister, telling her bedraggled citizens not to believe their eyes and ears.

“There is no reason to change mayors. Our city is fine,” the dystopian Bass asserts. “There is no homelessness. There is no fire damage. There is no crime.”

“No one’s buying it,” Ward said of Bass’ attempt to spin the truth during her re-election campaign.

He says Californians know it’s “not normal to see a threat on the side of the road and tell your nervous system to ignore it.”

Hammer time

The clip retains the iconic female athlete throwing a hammer into the projection, a figure emblematic of the frustrations felt across Los Angeles. “It speaks to a lot of Los Angeles moms, people who want to feel safe,” Ward said.

The clip was quickly picked up by actor James Woods (5.3 million followers on X), generating hundreds of thousands of views in addition to the eyeballs shared from Ward’s account, @Weekend_Bidens.

“The cat gets out of the bag. … You have no control in a way,” he said of the clip’s early adoption. “I’m walking around South Beach. … Within an hour or two it had gone up to 30K or 50K views.”

Ward made the video independently of Pratt’s campaign, but he makes no bones about his intentions.

“This is not really a Republican or Democrat issue. … It’s a commonsense, quality-of-life issue,” Ward tells Blaze Media Lifestyle of his Pratt support.

RELATED: Hate-spewing Jimmy Kimmel mocks homeless Spencer Pratt with U-Haul gag

Dimitrios Kambouris/Randy Holmes/Getty Images

Truth in comedy

Ward may be building a brand as a go-to political satirist, but he spent his college days honing his improv comedy chops. Now, he’s tapping into the digital world’s viral reach as well as what AI can offer those challenging the media’s groupthink.

He understands the power of humor, something late-night comedians have attempted to marshal for some time. Except the Kimmels and Stewarts of the world are working at a disadvantage, as he sees it.

“I think one of the issues with the left, so to speak, is that they can’t really be funny,” he said. “Comedy is about truth. … They’re not telling the truth.”

“Someone like Gavin Newsom tries to be funny, but it comes off very off-key,” he added.

Since most mainstream comedy platforms lean to the left, that’s given creators like him an opening.

“In some ways there’s been an artificially suppressed supply with that. There is a lot of demand,” he said.

The best satirical clips “speak about what’s unspoken, touching on something you’re not supposed to touch.” It’s one reason he hasn’t had to dig in his pocket for his latest clip’s promotion. It’s being shared organically.

There’s a method to his viral video madness, one that others have understood for ages.

“Leading with comedy is so great. Culture comes before politics,” he said, adding that there’s “a lot to laugh about in California” today.

AI auteur

Ward began making viral video content in 2020, and he didn’t have the wonders of AI at the time. He worked with a professional visual effects team without access to ChatGPT or Grok.

“I used to be so frustrated with stock images and being so limited,” he said. Now, with AI, “I can still do the whole editing process but just make myself the assets and be specific about it.”

The technology still has some hiccups. He notes how AI videos may degrade over time, forcing him to work in shorter segments.

“You try to change one thing, and [the onscreen character] may grow an extra arm or leg,” he said. “I have a few tips and tricks I use. Shorter is better.”

Ward isn’t hiding his partisan approach, but he also hopes his videos do more than ding the Bass campaign.

“I like making dialogue happen between people who aren’t necessarily talking to each other or hearing each other,” he said of his clips. “It’s an opportunity to bring people back into the conversation.”

​Ai, Chatgpt, Gavin newsom, Karen bass, Los angeles, Ridley scott, Spencer pratt, Viral video, Nick ward, Campaign, Lifestyle, Weekend at bernies, Toto recall 

Seven days after Maine’s June primary election, questions are emerging about the handling of ranked-choice voting results after reporting issues surfaced in several communities across the state, raising concerns about transparency, chain of custody procedures, and public confidence in the vote-counting process.

The Maine Wire began investigating the irregularities after receiving tips early Tuesday morning alleging problems with election results being processed by the Maine Secretary of State’s Office during the ongoing ranked-choice voting tabulation.

Bellows has still offered no clear public explanation. No timeline. No findings. No corrective action.

The first report involved the City of Biddeford, where election results appeared to be missing from the state’s ranked-choice voting count.

Seeking answers, we traveled to Biddeford City Hall and met with Interim City Clerk Crystal Morin and Communications Director Danica Lamontagne.

According to city officials, the election results were not missing. Instead, they explained that the city had inadvertently sent the wrong flash drive to the Secretary of State’s Office following Election Day.

Officials said the flash drive that was originally sent contained local election results rather than the state election results required for the ranked-choice tabulation process.

City officials further confirmed that investigators from the Secretary of State’s Office later traveled to Biddeford, retrieved the correct flash drive, and transported it to Augusta.

The incident raises several questions, including why it took seven days to discover that the incorrect flash drive had been submitted and what chain-of-custody procedures were in place to ensure the correct flash drive remained secure during that period.

Questions also remain regarding how the error was identified and whether any additional safeguards exist to prevent similar issues in future elections.

RELATED: ‘Some noncitizens’ on the voter rolls: Maine secretary of state resists efforts for election transparency

Shenna Bellows. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald/Getty Images

Biddeford was not the only municipality where election-related issues emerged.

The Maine Wire also confirmed with officials in the City of Bath that there was a delay involving election results submitted to the Secretary of State’s Office.

Bath City Clerk Diane Barnes confirmed that a delay occurred but said the results were ultimately delivered to Augusta. No explanation was provided regarding the nature of the delay or what caused it.

Meanwhile, officials in the Town of Bowdoinham confirmed that issues arose with ballot scanning following Election Day.

Town officials said ballots needed to be rescanned. However, rather than conducting the rescanning process locally, the ballots were picked up by Maine State Police and transported to Augusta, where the Secretary of State’s Office would conduct the rescanning.

The situation raises additional questions about the verification process used by local election officials and whether municipal clerks were able to independently confirm the election results before ballots were transferred to state officials for rescanning.

Despite reports of issues in multiple communities, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows (D) has not publicly addressed the incidents as of Tuesday afternoon.

No public statement has been issued explaining the Biddeford flash drive error, the reported delay in Bath, or the ballot rescanning issue in Bowdoinham.

Bellows has become something of an infamous secretary of state. In 2024, she attempted to meddle in an election when she tried to remove President Donald Trump from Maine’s 2024 primary ballot, a unilateral move that plunged the state into legal chaos before being ultimately overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Later, 250 absentee ballots surfaced in Newburgh inside an Amazon package. Bellows has still offered no clear public explanation. No timeline. No findings. No corrective action.

This story was originally published at the Maine Wire. You can read more here.

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

​Maine, Election, Shenna bellows, Politics