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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

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

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

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

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

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

How is it played?

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

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

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

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

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

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Photo by Liu Xu/Xinhua via Getty Images

Why are they screaming?

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

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

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

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

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How to watch

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

On Wednesday, Sheafe pleaded no contest to the charges.

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

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

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

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

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

Sheafe may get his wish and face the death penalty.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

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

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

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

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

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

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