Blaze Media

by Blaze Media Oct 7, 2026

Ex-CIA spook captured with gold treasure admits creating secret programs to steal nearly $200 million

When the FBI raided the Virginia home of ex-CIA official David Rush in May, agents found nearly 300 gold bars, each weighing a kilogram; 35 luxury watches; €104,795; and roughly $2 million in U.S. currency. This apparently stolen treasure was only the tip of the iceberg.'His self-serving actions threatened to erode public confidence in the intelligence services.'Rush pleaded guilty on Tuesday to using his senior executive-level position within the CIA to create fake classified programs so that he could divert and fraudulently obtain roughly $193,590,400 in taxpayer funds."By his own admission, David Rush defrauded the government of hundreds of millions of dollars, and then misused those funds for extravagant purchases," stated FBI Director Kash Patel. "Rush betrayed his oath, his co-workers, and the American people, and he will now face justice for his actions."According to a statement of facts dated Tuesday and signed by Rush, Rush secured a senior role at a federal agency on the basis of false claims about his military background and education.Sources previously told the New York Times that Rush worked for the CIA, and Attorney General Todd Blanche confirmed on Tuesday that it was the spy agency that had referred the matter to the FBI following an internal investigation identifying potential crimes.Contrary to what he told CIA colleagues and contractors, Rush never served as a pilot in the U.S. military, and he held neither a bachelor's degree from a large public research university based in South Carolina nor a doctoral degree from a private research university in New York, the DOJ said.RELATED: DOJ report details Biden admin's apparent conspiracy against parents who dared to defend their kids L-R: Matt Jelonek/Bloomberg/Getty Images; Alexandria Sheriff's OfficeThe federal position that Rush occupied on account of such misrepresentations provided him with the authority to approve multimillion-dollar expenditures for various programs.Rush admitted to creating a "highly classified program to justify the acquisition of luxury real estate, which he then intended to resell for personal profit," according to the statement of facts. Since access to his fake program was restricted to "specifically authorized individuals with the appropriate security clearance and need to know," Rush was for a time able to operate in the shadows.He also created "separate purported sensitive government activity" to justify the acquisition of hundreds of gold bars. The affidavit originally filed in support of a criminal complaint and arrest warrant for Rush stated that FBI agents seized "approximately 303 gold bars" from his residence. That number has been adjusted to 298 gold bars.A DOJ source familiar with the investigation told Blaze News that the original 303 figure was the result of "a miscount the day of the search."The CIA did not immediately respond to Blaze News' request for comment."Although the real estate and gold acquisitions involved different transactions and intermediaries, they were executions of the same overarching scheme — RUSH created false classified authorities, directed and approved the associated expenditures, caused contractors and subcontractors to carry out the transactions, and thereafter exercised possession or control over the acquired assets," said the document.Rush didn't just acquire gold bars and the luxury residential properties in Palm Beach and Hobe Sound, Florida, at America's expense. Prosecutors noted in court documents that over $38.65 million was seized from the bank account linked to the holding company that Rush created as part of his scheme, and over $2.1 million in American cash was seized from his house.Per the terms of his plea agreement, Rush has agreed to forfeit the gold bars, the cash found at his home, the luxury residential properties he fraudulently obtained in Palm Beach and Hobe Sound, two 2026 BMW Alpina vehicles — at least one of which is valued at around $172,000 — and at least 30 luxury watches, including a Rolex Oyster Perpetual Sea-Dweller 4000."Our Intelligence Community must have the trust of the American people to operate effectively in a Nation committed to transparency and the rule of law," stated Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg. "Rush repeatedly betrayed that trust. He defrauded the United States out of approximately $194 million in real estate, jewelry, and other valuable property, including 298 gold bars. Worse, his self-serving actions threatened to erode public confidence in the intelligence services that must strive in secret to keep America safe."Rush, who pleaded guilty to a single count of wire fraud, is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 28, 2027. He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.While Rush has pleaded guilty, the DOJ noted that its investigation is continuing and that Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton has asked for the intelligence community's inspector general to launch a separate investigation. Editor's note: This article has been edited after publication to incorporate comment from a DOJ source.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

by Blaze Media Oct 7, 2026

Fraud, fraud, and more fraud: How Maine became a Somali scammer's paradise

PORTLAND, MAINE — If you didn’t know any better, you would think Maine was the sickest state in the union.Home health care LLCs, some with Minnesota area codes, fill entire office buildings throughout the city centers, suburbs, and exurbs of that once-sleepy New England state. They’re supposedly open from 9:00 to 5:00 every day, but no one is ever working.‘The legislature needs to conduct a serious investigation of MaineCare’s provider system.’What follows is the story of how Maine got robbed.Somali refugees began flooding into Maine in 2001. Previously resettled elsewhere, the Somalis later gathered in Portland, then Lewiston, drawn by cheap housing. Catholic Charities Maine relocated the waves that followed, bringing as many as it could to Vacationland.Catholic Charities was Maine’s primary federal refugee resettlement agency for nearly 50 years. It paid bus fare for hundreds of Angolan and Congolese migrants sent from San Antonio to Portland in 2023, the Maine Wire previously reported.Maine, which boasts a robust General Assistance program offering rent, heating, food, utilities, and prescriptions to asylum-seekers for up to 24 months, has been a heavenly destination for the tired, poor, and huddled masses.Soon enough, those masses would be rested, rich, and sprawled over numerous state-backed housing units.Some New Mainers, as the state refers to them, never got off the government dole. In fact, they have built an entire way of life around spending other people’s money.RELATED: Retiree radicalism: Behind the scenes with Maine's anti-ICE activists Blaze NewsBlaze News visited office buildings in Portland, Westbrook, and Lewiston, Maine, in September. We found dozens of home health care agencies, all of which spent the work day empty despite posted hours of operation. All companies were linked to Gmail addresses rather than any corporate email, and some even listed Minnesota mailing addresses and phone numbers.Many of these numbers were out of service or went straight to voicemail. Only one, New Horizon Residential Care, picked up the phone. A thickly accented voice on the other end informed Blaze News that the company had shuttered operations and fled to New Hampshire after MaineCare fraud began to be exposed.The full list of suspicious home health care LLCs could fill volumes, thanks to Jon Fetherston and Steve Robinson of the Maine Wire. Some examples that Blaze News encountered in Maine are more glaring than others. Legit Home Health Care (now Legit Home Care LLC, according to state filings) registered with the federal government on March 19, 2018. Its provider record lists one official, a "director" named Adulahi Aden, and one address: 991 Forest Avenue, Suite 2A, Portland.From 2019 to 2024, MaineCare paid Legit $7,116,267, according to state payment records previously obtained by the Maine Wire. That money is meant for aides who bathe, feed, and care for elderly and disabled Mainers in their own homes. Legit billed $6.95 million across 8,652 claims from 2018 through 2024 for in-home personal care, according to federal Medicaid data. The claims were billed in 15-minute increments.When Blaze News visited the office, no one was around to answer. The sign is still proudly and prominently displayed at the location.Maine officials did once suspect something was off. In October 2022, MaineCare's Office of Program Integrity ordered Legit to repay $39,804.06. The home health care company had "failed to provide proper documentation for some of its services," according to state records reviewed by the Maine Wire.Aden disputed the finding and sent in more paperwork. The state canceled the demand. Inspectors returned in July 2025 for a licensing review and found no deficiencies, the Maine Wire reported.Normal nursing homes don't receive that kind of leniency. Federal rules require those facilities to undergo unannounced inspections and other taxing verifications. Home-care agencies like Legit aren't covered by those rules.RELATED: Trump administration revokes visas for HISTORIC number of noncitizens Benjamin Roberts/Blaze MediaLegit Home Health Care had an important political connection. Halimo Mohamed, the wife of Democrat state Rep. Yusuf Yusuf, worked there.Yusuf found the time to run his own agency as well. Care for Everyone, which received $1,212,852 from MaineCare between 2020 and 2024, operates out of the same address as Affinity Home Care. Neither Yusuf nor his agency has been accused of wrongdoing.The overlaps can be confusing.Yusuf's ethics filing places Care for Everyone at 49 Dartmouth Street, the same address as Affinity Home Care, from which the state is trying to recoup $445,262. Affinity is currently listed as administratively dissolved for a missed annual report.The state's corporate registry puts Care for Everyone at 203 Anderson Street, which also houses a branch of Dahabshiil, a Somali money-transfer company. Its federal record lists a third address, on Bishop Street, with Yusuf as CEO. You almost need a flowchart to keep track of where your taxpayer money is going.Yusuf did not respond to a request for comment.RELATED: Social justice activist groups shut down after leader admits her years-long race hoax Blaze NewsThough Legit’s flashy name and vanishing audit make it a prime example of Maine’s seemingly endless fraud troubles, it is only one of many home health care companies gorging on state funds.Holding Hands Home Health Care's bill was cut from $357,583 to $121,131. Adam Healthcare Services' (now Quality Care LLC) was cut from $647,834 to $25,849. Luna Home Care never paid its $262,120 recoupment and has billed MaineCare another $1.69 million since the notice was issued.Community Home Health Care of South Portland received $47,986,855 from MaineCare between 2019 and 2025. The state suspended its payments months after the Maine Wire visited its office.Bright Future Healthier You in Lewiston took in $15.6 million and is under federal investigation, according to the Maine Wire.No public finding says how much of the money paid to Community or Bright Future was improper. Ocean Home Health Care on Bishop Street took $11.5 million. A 2020 state audit found $24,437 in overbilling, which it repaid.Like Legit, Golden Home Care was also seemingly able to evade a clawback. Golden Home was ordered to repay $1,676,126 following a 2024 audit. That order was later canceled.The list goes on and on and on.Mostafa Alahmedi ran 5 Stars Home Health Care until auditors found $390,672 in overbilling. He repaid $13,961 and closed the business. He also worked at Ocean Home Health Care and claims he later worked at Golden Home Care and Community Home Health Care. Those four agencies billed MaineCare $66,487,379 from 2019 to 2025, though Alahmedi worked at each for only part of that time.Gateway Community Services' office is registered next door to Legit, at 999 Forest Avenue. Gateway took $28.8 million from MaineCare from 2019 through 2024. Three state audits found about $1.7 million in overpayments. The state cut off its payments in December 2025.There are two distinct, but related, Gateways. Gateway Community Services LLC is the for-profit enterprise, whereas Gateway Community Services Maine is a nonprofit organization.The Maine DHHS affirmed "credible allegations of fraud" in May, according to the Maine Wire. Gateway appealed the payment suspension but missed its deadline to appeal the fraud finding itself.Gateway founder Abdullahi Ali may now lose his Falmouth home, which he bought for $875,000 in 2022. Bangor Savings Bank sued to foreclose in July, months after the state placed a $44,082 lien on his property for unpaid income taxes. Gateway has denied the allegations.Gateway's former attorney Pawel Binczyk said he no longer represents the company when reached for comment.Catholic Charities Maine, the same church-backed charity that resettled migrants to the state, gave the not-for-profit Gateway Community Services Maine $77,672 in 2024 for “refugee health promotion and youth mentoring.” Catholic Charities is a MaineCare biller as well. The ostensibly Christian organization accepted $19.7 million from 2019 to 2024 and failed two state audits, which ordered it to repay thousands.The companies tend to cluster together in specific locations.At 203 Anderson Street in Portland, five home-care companies drew $13,774,554 from 2019 to 2024, sharing the building with a Dahabshiil branch. Maine Connect Care, one of those companies, later had its payments suspended. At 640 Brighton Avenue, Al-Shawk, Luna, and Hope Home Care received over $11.6 million.In Lewiston, there are five home-care companies listed at a single warehouse grocery store on Park Street.At 265 Lisbon Street, Lewiston's main street, five more share an address with the Immigrant Resource Center of Maine, which also runs offices at 124 Canal Street and 1220 Lisbon Street. Rajo Home Care, Ibsa Home Care, Ayda Home Care, Mayson Senior Care, and Mandi Home Care all registered with the federal government between June and September 2023. Rajo and Ibsa list the same phone number.There are Minnesota connections as well. Mandi's phone number includes a Minneapolis area code, and Mayson's mailing address is in Saint Paul.No one there reported ever seeing office workers or health care staff, and Blaze News found no offices. When Blaze News and the Maine Wire entered the building on Canal Street in September, a notice from Lewiston District Court was taped to the front door. The company owed $63,013.87 in rent, utilities, and taxes as of June, according to landlord Veridis LLC's attorney. Veridis is suing to evict.When reached for comment, the Immigrant Resource Center of Maine's Fatuma Hussein flatly stated that they had the money and requested that no further reporting be published on the matter.That building also housed Gateway Community Services, which stopped receiving funding after a Maine Wire investigation. In August, the same landlord won a court order evicting Gateway from the building. It's quite the coincidence.The Maine State Housing Authority also won a $110,000 default judgment against the center this year.Independent audits of the center's federal grants for 2022 and 2023 each found "material weakness" in its internal controls and "material noncompliance."RELATED: Are America's jails being run by foreigners? Blaze NewsThe fraud being foisted on the Maine taxpayer hasn’t exactly been a secret. State officials have simply refused to take the large-scale actions necessary to root it out.Democrat Gov. Janet Mills’ Department of Health and Human Services licenses these agencies, delivers the funds to them, and audits them.Democrat Attorney General Aaron Frey’s Healthcare Crimes Unit is supposed to prosecute the cases the DHHS sends over. The unit declined four DHHS referrals in 2021 and secured one guilty plea out of 18 referrals from 2022 to 2025, the Maine Wire reported.The DHHS typically sends three to five fraud referrals a year, the Portland Press Herald reported. The office is seeking a new chief as fraud allegations continue to pile up.Frey’s office declined to comment on its referral record or on whether it has received referrals involving Gateway, Community Home Health Care, or Legit.Republican lawmakers in Augusta say they have been stonewalled by Mills and her appointees.“Lawmakers have called for comments from the Mills administration, and we have been met with silence,” Assistant Senate Republican Leader Matt Harrington told Blaze News. “Democrats are largely silent. Fraud should not be a partisan issue.”“The legislature needs to conduct a serious investigation of MaineCare’s provider system,” Harrington said. “There are clearly problems in how providers are screened, monitored, and audited."Harrington wants lawmakers to examine “whether providers are being appropriately vetted and whether DHHS has the resources and policies necessary to intervene quickly when red flags appear,” and he called for a review of the Healthcare Crimes Unit’s record.“In fact, federal regulators have already raised concerns that make such a review absolutely critical,” Harrington said. “We should examine how many credible fraud allegations DHHS identifies, what happens to those fraud referrals, how long cases remain pending, and whether staffing or other deficiencies have prevented fraud from being adequately investigated.”“Taxpayers deserve answers about how their money is being spent,” Harrington said.The DHHS and Mills’ office did not respond to Blaze News' requests for comment.“Many of my constituents are struggling to pay their electricity bills and buy medication, while fraudsters are getting rich,” Harrington said. “This is wrong.”Community Home Health Care, Ocean Home Care, Bright Future Healthier You, Veridis LLC, and the Maine State Housing Authority did not respond to Blaze News' requests for comment.This story was reported in collaboration with the Maine Wire’s Jon Fetherston.Like Blaze News? 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by Blaze Media Oct 7, 2026

Democrats have a political violence problem

They say politics can be murder. Recent polling suggests a disturbing share of Democratic and left-of-center voters are becoming far too comfortable with the idea.A new survey from Liberal Currents and the Center for Strategic Politics asked 683 Democratic voters how they would feel about five hypothetical ways President Donald Trump might leave office before his term ends.Apparently protecting democracy now includes the occasional military junta.The lawful options drew predictably lopsided reactions: 86% said they would feel positively if Trump were impeached and convicted, and 84% said the same about removal under the 25th Amendment.Then the poll got darker.Fifty-nine percent said they would react positively to a headline announcing that military leaders had removed Trump and assumed control of the government to “safeguard the Constitution.” Another 56% said they would react positively if Trump simply died in his sleep.The only scenario in which negative reactions outnumbered positive ones was assassination. Even there, 31% said they would feel very or somewhat positive if Trump were killed while speaking at a rally; 26% were neutral, and 43% reacted negatively.The survey measured emotional reaction, not willingness to carry out or personally endorse violence. Still, a positive reaction to an assassination or a military takeover is an ugly result for a party that presents itself as the guardian of democracy.Apparently protecting democracy now includes the occasional military junta.Those findings do not stand alone. In April 2025, the Network Contagion Research Institute and Rutgers Social Perception Lab surveyed 1,264 U.S. adults and found that 55.2% of respondents who identified as left of center considered the murder of Trump at least somewhat justified. Nearly 50% said the same about Elon Musk. The researchers described an emerging “assassination culture” among segments of the political left.Five months later, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was assassinated while speaking at Utah Valley University. Prosecutors allege that the accused killer targeted Kirk because of his political and religious beliefs.RELATED: Where was God? Frank Turek asks the question after Charlie Kirk Owen AndersonThe online reaction exposed something broader than one alleged killer’s motive. Social media filled with people celebrating Kirk’s death, mocking his widow, and arguing that he had deserved to die because of his politics.A YouGov poll conducted after Kirk’s killing found that 16% of liberals said it was usually or always acceptable to be happy about the death of a public figure they opposed. Among the “very liberal,” the number rose to 24%.Conservatives registered at just 4%.Cheering a death is not the same thing as committing violence. But political violence becomes easier to rationalize when the target has first been reduced to someone whose death is funny, deserved, or morally cleansing.I have watched that permission structure develop in my native Portland, OregonDuring the summer of 2020, rioters repeatedly attacked the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse with fireworks, incendiary devices, rocks, bottles, and other attempts to set fires. Federal prosecutors charged one man after an incendiary object exploded at the courthouse entrance.The pattern did not disappear. Beginning in 2025, the Portland ICE facility became another center of unrest. Court records describe protesters throwing rocks and bricks at officers, damaging security equipment, trying to breach the building, and using an upended stop sign as a makeshift battering ram. One participant who struck a federal officer in the head with a rock was later sentenced to 30 months in federal prison.RELATED: ‘Reign of terror’: One-third of Democrats give thumbs-up to Trump assassination Anna Moneymaker/Getty ImagesThere is a difference between peaceful protest and political violence. Democrats should be able to draw it without hesitation.It’s why then-Senator Kamala Harris took flak during the 2020 Black Lives Matter riots when she urged followers to donate to the Minnesota Freedom Fund “to help post bail for those protesting on the ground in Minnesota.” In the middle of widespread disorder, a future Democratic vice president used her platform to promote bail assistance for protesters rather than draw a sharper distinction between lawful protest and criminal violence.Political violence thrives on permission — explicit or subtle. That permission can come from celebrating an assassination, describing violence as justified, excusing riots because the cause is righteous, or treating the rule of law as optional when the target is sufficiently hated.Democrats have spent the better part of a decade warning that American democracy is endangered by Trump and the right. They cannot demand that the country take political violence seriously while refusing to confront the appetite for it inside their own coalition.You cannot save democracy by cheering when your political opponents are removed from it.That is, in fact, how democracies die.

by Blaze Media Oct 7, 2026

Trump said the robot apocalypse is a 'hoax.' This new invention is built to prove him right.

Big AI companies are terrified because the agents they built ran amok, hacked into third-party websites, and threatened our national infrastructure to the point that they’re begging for government regulation. Instead of turning power over to politicians though, the free market has a solution that tests the true motives of the AI giants.While the CEOs of Big AI companies, like Dario Amodei and Sam Altman, doom and gloom that AI could end humanity as we know it, Nvidia’s CEO, Jensen Huang, disagrees. While on stage at the All-In Summit in September, he said, "I think the whistleblowing is fine. I think the scientific prediction about the future is less fine because it's not grounded on science obviously.” What happens next is the ultimate test for AI companies.Huang also took a call from President Trump, who further assuaged these fears, calling them a “hoax.” Several weeks later, we now know why Huang and Trump were so confident.Nvidia just unveiled a brand-new tool to tame rogue AI agents and bots. Dubbed OpenShell, the solution is a sandboxed environment that gives testers full control over the types of data an agent can access without compromising entire file systems or sensitive information. Each agent is isolated in its environment, preventing multiple agents from interacting with each other or colluding to hack into websites. OpenShell also monitors agents for risky behavior and blocks these activities until a human can review their actions and either approve or deny them.OpenShell is part of Nvidia’s new Open Agent Safety Platform, which offers a full stack of agent monitoring and security resources. The best part is that it doesn’t cost a thing. OpenShell is freely accessible as an open-source platform on GitHub, so any company can deploy it for testing today.The question now: What makes OpenShell different from other testing environments? After all, AI companies were already using similar sandboxes when their agents broke free and hacked into third-party websites, like Hugging Face (which is now, ironically, owned by Nvidia). When the incidents first came to light, details were sparse, but now we know that most of the failed sandboxes were provided by a startup cybersecurity company called Irregular. In these cases, the AI agents within were supposed to be isolated with no internet connection. However, misconfigurations in the system led to unintended web access, resulting in what appeared to be an elaborate jailbreak by the agents themselves.RELATED: Big AI broke the internet. Now it wants everyone else to fix it. Just_Super/Getty ImagesThat wasn’t true. The agents merely found the door that was left open and walked through it to attack what the bots believed were fake websites. Adding insult to injury, Irregular didn’t include mechanisms to track agent behavior. This is why most of the rogue AI events were discovered weeks or months after they occurred.OpenShell is built to correct these oversights and ensure humans are always aware and in full control of the agents in their system.What happens next is the ultimate test for AI companies that will prove whether their rampant calls for government regulation were really about fears over rogue AI or relegating control to the deep state. If it’s the former, the Big AI giants will immediately adopt OpenShell and cease further claims of AI doom because their agents are now contained within safe testing environments where they can be tuned properly before unleashing them on the public. If the latter, they will claim that OpenShell doesn’t offer enough protection and that government control over their platforms is the only answer.So far, Anthropic and SpaceXAI have signed on to use OpenShell, along with more than 100 other companies.Ultimately, the fact that OpenShell exists is further proof that the free market can regulate itself when Big Government stays out of the way. If AI companies can’t control their products, other companies can step in to fill the void, and in this case, they have.Nvidia, of course, supplies major AI platforms with GPUs to train and maintain their large language models. As a result, Nvidia has a unique stake in ensuring Big AI keeps chugging along without arbitrary restrictions or unintended hiccups.When Big AI succeeds, Nvidia succeeds, and OpenShell could just be a way for the GPU maker to protect its valuation on the stock exchange. But even so, the AI companies have shown that they either can’t or won’t police their AI bots, so someone else stepped in with a solution before the government over-regulates AI into oblivion.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

by Blaze Media Oct 7, 2026

Susan Collins brilliantly shuts down attacks from Troy Jackson in heated Maine debate

Republican incumbent Sen. Susan Collins of Maine deftly fended off rhetorical attacks from her Democrat challenger and even threw some damaging counterpunches in their debate Tuesday night.The wide-ranging debate was the first of four and covered everything from ICE to the president's "Big, Beautiful" budget bill.'Democrats underestimate Susan Collins at their peril.'Democrat Troy Jackson was clearly on a mission to tie Collins to President Donald Trump as much as possible, while Collins responded by threading the needle between defending her record and establishing her independence.At one point she proudly expressed the difference between herself and the rest of the Republican Party. "I voted against my party more than any other senator on either side of the aisle," she said.Jackson went on the attack against Collins for her vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court. She had said she was satisfied that he would not vote to overturn Roe vs. Wade, and many pro-abortion activists blamed her on the issue."I would, you know, wonder for everyone, including myself, would you trust her to pick the next Supreme Court justice?" Jackson asked rhetorically in his opening remarks.Collins similarly swiped at Jackson from the left for transmogrifying into a progressive Democrat after identifying as an anti-abortion Republican. "There’s only one of us on the stage who has always been pro-choice, and that's me," she said.Jackson tried to blame Collins for inflation and unaffordable housing, but she pushed back and pointed out that Jackson presided over the state at a time when more local policies worsened affordability.She also was able to flatly refute him when he tried personal attacks, such as the claim that Collins had never been without health care. "Troy, you're just out-and-out wrong on that," she countered.Jackson was pressured to answer whether he identified as a socialist Democrat, and he instead attacked Collins over Elon Musk in a rambling non-response.Collins was able to shove Jackson into an extremist pigeonhole by pointing out that he supported abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Jackson also said voters should not have to show ID.While the 73-year-old incumbent definitely showed her age, she was very much on point and cogently defended her positions while landing some significant blows upon the 58-year-old challenger.Polling suggests that Jackson has been competing well for the seat despite coming into the nomination late after Graham Platner dropped out over his various and sundry scandals.RELATED: Former Democrat Joe Manchin endorses Republican — and calls her the 'soul of the Senate' At least one national politics reporter warned Democrats not to feel too confident about unseating the five-term senator, no matter what the polls say."Democrats underestimate Susan Collins at their peril," said Lisa Lerer of the New York Times. "In 2020, she was re-elected by nine points, even as President Trump lost the state and amid a huge amount of spending by Democrats."While the debate was heated at times, the interlocutors remained civil and shook hands after the contest ended.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

by Blaze Media Oct 7, 2026

Trump blames violent rioting in France on Islam, ‘out of control mass migration’ — and a French official has responded

A French official has responded to President Donald Trump blaming Islam and mass migration for the violent riots in France.Nearly 500 people were arrested in just one day in connection with massive riots that French officials claim are about the conditions in schools. Education Minister Édouard Geffray reported that at least 24 schools were ransacked or set on fire.The Ministry of Justice said more than 5,000 people had been arrested in the rioting and that 87% of the arrestees were minors.While many news reports characterize the rioting as a result of French citizens expressing their outrage against education conditions, Trump tied it to Islam and mass immigration."What’s happening in France is nothing less than out of control mass migration. This isn’t about schools, this is about Islam wanting to take over a once great Country!" he wrote Tuesday on Truth Social.The post captured a lot of attention and led to a tepid response from Jean-Noel Barrot, the French foreign minister."If we do not write our own story, others will write it for us," said Barrot.He went on to accuse France's "rivals, adversaries, and partners" of attempting to interpret the rioting in a self-serving manner.Organizers claim as many as 450,000 people are participating in the massive protest and rioting, reportedly to oppose the educational system offered in France. The French Ministry of the Interior said 488 people were just arrested on Tuesday and 43 law enforcement officers had been injured, AA reported.In one startling case, a 15-year-old had his hand reportedly blown off by a police stun grenade that detonated.Another individual lost teeth, and others reportedly suffered eye injuries, according to The Hill.Some have tied the rioting to increased immigration enforcement ordered by the European Union in June. The new policies included increasing deportations and constructing detention centers abroad.U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz also blamed immigration for the rioting in a statement to Fox News Digital. "I think we would always condemn lawlessness, condemn the violence that we're seeing in Paris," Waltz responded.RELATED: Italy to BAN burqas in schools and limit number of foreign students, says PM Giorgia Meloni "But I think we also have to recognize that when you have open borders, when you [have] this pro-migration, unchecked immigration kind of policy, coupled with policies over the years that deny people basic energy, that overspend on all kinds of other government programs, that you see a level of frustration boiling to the surface," he added.In a letter dated Monday, the Ministry of Justice said more than 5,000 people had been arrested in the rioting and that 87% of the arrestees were minors. Only about a third of them are being prosecuted.At least 900 high schools were expected to be blockaded or closed on Tuesday."The French are notorious for strikes, labor stoppages, and street demonstrations. It’s a core part of the Fifth Republic’s civic culture," said Theo Wold, a former Trump official, to Fox News Digital. "What’s new is the violence, lawlessness, and rioting. This is a consequence of mass immigration."Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

by Blaze Media Oct 7, 2026

Jason Kelce called them the 'Redskins.' The Blackfeet family behind the logo says he's right.

BLACKFEET NATION — NFL Network broadcaster Jason Kelce ignited faux media outrage Sunday when he called the league’s Washington franchise the Redskins — six years after the team’s name and native imagery were claimed by cancel culture as its trophy kill.If Kelce is looking for allies, he’ll find them among most Americans, few of whom obey the command to call the team by its official new name, the Commanders.'The [Redskins] logo was the most powerful logo in NFL history, because it actually had meaning behind it.'He’ll also find allies in Blackfeet Nation and among the family of Chief John Two Guns White Calf, an American hero who, according to a NYT obituary, served as the face of the U.S. Mint’s famous 1913 Indian Head nickel and, posthumously, the Washington Redskins for 48 years.“The team’s new stadium [slated to open in 2030] needs to honor John Two Guns White Calf in the right way, because he was their image, their logo, from 1972 until 2020,” Thomas White Calf told Blaze News in a recent interview, while standing in the shadows of 8,894-foot White Calf Mountain.Blaze News reached out to representatives for Jason Kelce and did not receive a response in time for publication.RELATED: Wake-up call for Redskins ownership: Family of canceled native hero wants team name, icon to return The White Calf family are already on the record saying they want the NFL and the franchise to reclaim the Redskins name, the native legacy of “braves on the warpath,” and the proud portrait logo of Blackfeet Chief Two Guns White Calf.The family, however, were silenced for years by the same media outlets trying to silence Kelce today.Media outrage against the Redskins exploded suddenly in October 2013. President Obama criticized the team on Oct. 5. The National Congress of American Indians issued an incendiary report to mainstream media outlets on October 10. Within days, the Associated Press, ESPN, NBC Sports, New York Times, and other major media outlets published and broadcast scathing attacks on the team. Blaze NewsDan Snyder, the previous owner of the Redskins, succumbed to the withering media attack and dropped the team name and native imagery in 2020. Current owner Josh Harris inherited the public relations nightmare when he bought the team in 2023. The White Calf family stated their wishes to meet with the team in a previous Blaze News report.Despite years of widespread reporting on the Redskins name and image, Thomas White Calf's interview with Blaze News was the first-ever media interview about the issue in the Blackfeet Nation homeland of “the most photographed native in history,” as Thomas White Calf called the family patriarch.He was joined by his mother, Delphine, a great-niece of Two Guns; Aunt Myrna; brothers Shawn and Chris; and his nephew Chris Jr.“Nobody ever asked us for our opinion. Nobody ever asked what we thought,” Thomas White Calf added, standing on the edge of a spectacular valley overlooking Saint Mary Lake in northwest Montana.“This is where it all started from. The face of the Washington Redskins. The face of the Indian Head nickel. This is where Two Guns White Calf was born and raised. This is his land.”The mainstream media not only silenced the White Calf family, they erased the heroic life story of Two Guns from the Redskins' cancel-culture narrative during a withering seven-year attack on the team orchestrated by the far-left, Soros-funded National Congress of American Indians.The media never mentioned White Calf’s name, even though his face was the entire center of the manufactured controversy. Even worse, the NCAI dehumanized White Calf as an anonymous “savage and clownish caricature.”White Calf was in fact an American hero who fought to preserve native heritage and force the U.S. government to honor tribal treaties from this remote Blackfeet homeland to the halls of power in Washington, D.C. His death in 1934 was front-page news coast to coast.RELATED: NFL makes social justice announcement fans probably aren't going to like If any journalists visited Blackfeet Nation, they would find monumental mountain peaks, sprawling Big Sky prairie, and sparkling rivers and lakes. Blackfeet Nation covers 2,400 square miles — about the size of Delaware — wedged between Glacier National Park and Alberta, Canada.The White Calfs spoke from a precipice site of three monumental iron teepees, a tribute to an ancestral Blackfeet settlement with a spectacular view.Blackfeet Nation is a land of spiritual beauty and profound continental impact. Despite the media blackout, Blackfeet Nation plays an outsized role in North American hydrological history and in American cultural history.Just southwest of White Calf Mountain is the imposing face of Triple Divide Peak (8,018 feet).“It’s the most sacred mountain to the Blackfeet, to our ancestors,” said Shawn White Calf.And for good reason: Triple Divide Peak is one of the only points on earth at the corner of three continental watersheds.It's also the only mountain on earth whose snowmelt ends in three oceans. Waters from the peak run northeast to Hudson Bay and the Arctic Ocean, southeast to the Mississippi River, then the Gulf of America and the Atlantic Ocean; and west to the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean.The Blackfeet, despite their remote location, see themselves as the caretakers of all North American waters.Two Guns White Calf was the caretaker of the original Americans.He forged a bond with the leaders of the United States — a nation that arose only from the blend of traditions between indigenous Americans and European migrants. Among his other notable acts of unity, President Calvin Coolidge was made a member of Blackfeet Nation while Two Guns was chief.The United States honored the Blackfeet chief in its currency; the nation’s most popular sports league honored him in the football team in the nation’s capital.And then that face and that history were canceled. So no, Kelce didn’t commit a gaffe. He echoed the feelings of the Blackfeet people and the White Calf family and the 90% of American Indians who claimed they were not offended by the Redskins in the only two major polls of native opinion (Annenberg, Washington Post).“The history is finally getting out there, and people are learning more and more about Two Guns and the powerful history behind it,” said Thomas White Calf.“The [Redskins] logo was the most powerful logo in NFL history, because it actually had meaning behind it.”Editor's note: This article has been edited after publication to include Aunt Myrna among the White Calf family members and to correct the name of the nephew to Chris Jr.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

by Blaze Media Oct 7, 2026

Netflix ‘adapts’ Steinbeck’s ‘East of Eden’ — and Satan gets a sympathetic makeover

Any thrill I might have experienced upon learning an “East of Eden” adaptation was in the Netflix pipeline was rapidly extinguished by memories of the latest screen desecrations of beloved classics.Earlier this year, provocateur Emerald Fennell turned Emily Brontë’s Gothic tragedy “Wuthering Heights” into cheap fodder for the smut-obsessed. This summer, Netflix retconned Laura Ingalls Wilder’s “Little House on the Prairie” — complete with culturally fluent pioneers and a DEI-mandated American frontier. They are systematically eliminating our clearest portraits of evil because behind them lies the Christian realities that inspired them.As for Christopher Nolan’s “Odyssey,” I thought it was a cinematic success, but it still made the face that launched a thousand ships a lesson in representation, while casting transgender “Elliot” Page as the Greek warrior Sinon, who’s not even a Homeric character.I’m already recoiling thinking about the heresy that animates feminist auteur Greta Gerwig’s upcoming “Narnia” reimagining, which intends to emasculate Aslan and turn Lewis’ sacrosanct creation myth into a secular 1950s “rock opera.”I could go on, but that’s enough to make plain the pattern of Hollywood’s utter disregard for adapting the literary canon faithfully. Always it must infuse its warped catechisms, lest we plebeians forget where it stands. But being the masochist I am when it comes to these matters, I watched Netflix’s “East of Eden” anyway, and I have to tell you, I was genuinely gutted by what I witnessed. Not annoyed by predictable woke tropes, although those were there too. No — gutted.My visceral shock, however, was less about the revision of John Steinbeck’s perennial Cain and Abel allegory and more regarding what that deliberate modification reveals about the dismal state of our culture.Will the real Cathy Ames please stand up?If you haven’t read Steinbeck’s “East of Eden” (and please do!), I’ll take the liberty of giving you a little teaser: The novel's antagonist, Cathy Ames, is certainly one of the most heinous villains in American literature, if not in the entire Western canon.The book introduces her with this haunting bit of prose: “I believe there are monsters born in the world to human parents.”And that’s an apt entrance for Cathy. She is a monster at birth, a mutant at the soul level, a fiend cloaked in human flesh. Modern-day psychologists would diagnose her as an incorrigible sociopath who takes pleasure only in the torture, humiliation, and demise of other people.Cathy is also what critics call a “static character”: She undergoes virtually no meaningful change over the course of the novel. More unsettlingly, she remains almost impossible to relate to at a human level. Steinbeck gives her no humanizing backstory that draws our sympathies, no redeeming ethical or moral arc, no thing we might point to and say, “See, that’s why she behaves so horribly.”Static characters are almost humorous in their simplicity, and they serve a variety of purposes in literature. But in Cathy’s case, her function is symbolism. She is an emblem for unadulterated evil, and that’s neither my nor the literary authorities’ verdict. It’s Steinbeck’s. In a letter, he called Cathy Ames “a total representative of Satan.”It’s a tailor-made description, given she frames two young boys for sexual abuse, drives a man to suicide, and burns her parents alive all by the age of 16 and the end of the chapter that introduces her. In hopes you will read the book for yourself, I won’t spoil the rest of the unspeakable horrors that unfold at Cathy’s polluted hand.But as sinister as she is, Cathy Ames plays a paramount role in this story. “East of Eden” is a moral epic, meaning it’s not just an entertaining tale about fictional people and events. It actually employs those things for the explicit purpose of drawing our attention to the cosmic war between good and evil, heaven and hell, God and the devil. Cathy, as I’ve already noted, represents the dark side of that epic struggle. Humanize her in any way and you collapse the entire framework.But surprise, surprise — that’s exactly the sin the makers of Netflix’s “East of Eden” committed.A moral epic gets the Hollywood makeover Writer Zoe Kazan told Reuters, "We wanted our audience to be able to identify with every single character, the ones that are good on the surface and the ones that are evil on the surface because if we think about people that are evil or bad as being not human, we don't learn anything about ourselves."A pleasant sentiment, except no logical reader could conclude that Steinbeck’s Cathy Ames is evil “on the surface.” He makes it unmistakably clear from the outset that she is not just a perpetrator of evil but the embodiment of evil itself. “A malformed soul” are his exact words.So to correct Ms. Kazan, Cathy is nonhuman in that she lacks the very qualities that make one so — empathy, moral quandaries, regret, emotional baggage, anything that would resonate with a real human being. The Bible gives Lucifer no domesticating backstory, so why should his literary stand-in have one?Actress Florence Pugh, who plays Cathy in the series, had her own nauseating comments: “She can still make terrible decisions and face awful consequences, but there can also be ... an understanding of her history and her past, which makes her the way that she is.”Except being a static archetype, there’s literally nothing in Cathy’s history or past to explain her savagery. The fact that she is inherently and incurably evil is the entire point of her character. But that won’t do for Hollywood. It must tinker and snip at a classic until it creates its desired Frankenstein's monster. Thus Kazan gave the diabolical Cathy Ames a tragic backstory, turning her from a Satan figure into a woman we can pity, even as she destroys. She suffers abuse, acquires trauma, is driven to desperation, and, of course, experiences the cold hand of misogyny. It’s not even worth delving into. Suffice it to say it’s a lie. More important to me is the "why" behind it.When killers get poignant backstoriesThe show's egregious misreading of Cathy raises an important question: Are the makers of this blasphemous series just stupid, or are they up to something?That’s a rhetorical question. You know as well as I do there’s an agenda at play. What might surprise us is how ugly it is. Obviously, these Hollywood revisionists are well aware Steinbeck’s Cathy Ames is not a sympathetic character in any sense of the term. But they chose to rewrite her as one anyway — and it has nothing to do with the audience wanting to “learn something about themselves,” as Kazan sold it."Introspection" is a reasonable sop to satiate the masses, but it’s a ruse. Cathy must be remade, for she represents the very thing the progressive left wants to retroactively undo. As long as objective evil breathes, it stands as a barrier to their dark vision for the world: a dystopia ruled by moral relativism, where one man’s act of slaughter is another man’s tragic mental break.Or should I say woman’s? After all, the morally intact part of the nation has been watching, mouths agape, for months now as thousands of people (most of them mothers) fought for a woman who admitted to methodically strangling her three young children to death in a basement. “Postpartum psychosis” was an evocative enough backstory to tip the pity scales in Clancy’s favor.A similar and equally disturbing trajectory of events surrounded the premeditated stalking and murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. His admitted killer, Luigi Mangione, was made into a sympathetic vigilante by radicals who cheered his “courage.” His chronic pain, denied claims, and manifesto then made him an ideal mascot for progressives’ agenda to blame “the system” rather than the criminal.Karmelo Anthony, the “good kid” who stabbed an unarmed student after a verbal confrontation, claimed self-defense, and was cast as a victim of racism, is yet another example.There is a pattern here, and it reveals a dark truth: There is much power to harness when you give a killer a poignant backstory.RELATED: 'I think they're demons': Why JD Vance refuses to downplay supernatural evil Silver Screen Collection/Kent Nishimura-Pool/Getty ImagesTelevision tells a visionBut backstories, even those belonging to killers, are not off limits. On the contrary, they are the lens that allows us to see the gray, the nuance that tempers dichotomous thinking. Much good results from understanding motive so long as the line of objective morality remains unblurred — because for every degree it fades, Pandora’s box opens a hair more. And then suddenly, the demons are too numerous to count. And they do not go back in the box willingly.But Steinbeck’s Cathy Ames is designed to make us look at those bloodthirsty demons, not the complexities of real people living in a broken world. To adapt her character, or any similar character, in this way is a calculated attempt to corrupt what C.S. Lewis called the “Law of Human Nature,” the idea that man is born with a moral radar.No doubt entertainment has been powerful in the dulling of man’s intrinsic moral compass. Under the guise of artistic license, it surreptitiously conditions the masses. True to its name, television tells a vision — in this case, that evil is really just the manifestation of trauma or poverty.By turning a Satan symbol into a tragic figure, a Netflix series becomes propaganda for the progressive push for absolution. And of course, the communists are cheering. Explaining away evil is their vision too, you know. The only difference is their endgame isn’t equity or decarceration; it’s dominion.Christianity in the crosshairsI initially thought it was ironic they chose a famous moral epic — the least fitting vessel — to undermine the idea of pure evil. But then I realized that’s exactly why they chose “East of Eden.” They are systematically eliminating our clearest portraits of evil because behind them lie the Christian realities that inspired them. If your goal is to unmake evil, Christianity is where you must aim the arrow.Steinbeck’s 600-page epic boils down to a single word. After God rejects Cain’s offering in Genesis 4, he tells the soon-to-be fratricidal murderer: “Sin lieth at the door ... and thou shalt rule over him.” After a long spiritual journey, the character Lee discovers that the Hebrew translation for “shalt” — timshel — is less of a command and more of a gracious offering.Despite Satan and his wicked pull on the hearts of man, “thou mayest” rule over evil. That is the lesson Cathy’s son Cal — who fears he has inherited his mother's malevolent nature — walks away with.But when you get rid of objective evil, what is there to rule over? That’s what really guts me. By painting evil as buried trauma, the series offers a secularized, counterfeit timshel. Biblical permission to recognize and deny Satan’s influence turns into a therapy session on handling our misfortunes better than our forebears. It would be a decent message if it didn’t obscure precisely the cosmic war between good and evil that “East of Eden” seeks to illuminate — a darkness our culture exploits for any number of nefarious ends.The war is real, however, and there's no opting out of it. You can distort works like "East of Eden" to pretend that it isn't, but you remain a combatant nonetheless. Just one who's chosen to fight for the losing side.

by Blaze Media Oct 7, 2026

Our enemies burn Israel’s flag. Our friends plant it.

Sometimes a symbol becomes more than a symbol. A flag is a simple piece of fabric. But what it represents — a country, a people, a history — can inspire us deeply. And when that flag is planted by someone who has chosen to stand beside you in your darkest hour, it becomes something more: a message that you are not alone. A flag planted by someone who has chosen to stand beside you in your darkest hour becomes a message: You are not alone. That is what I think about when I see an Israeli flag planted by a church in America. In 2024, we began Flags of Fellowship with a simple idea. Christians across America would plant Israeli flags at their churches and in their communities in memory of the innocent lives taken on October 7, 2023. We could not have known how far that simple act of friendship would travel. This year, more than 4,375 churches, synagogues, universities, and organizations around the world are participating in Flags of Fellowship. Together, they will plant more than 5.2 million Israeli flags. The movement now reaches 12 countries, with more than 1,775 participating churches and organizations outside the United States and Canada. Every one of those flags tells a story. It tells an Israeli family that we remember. It tells the Jewish community that someone sees what happened to us. And it tells the world that October 7 did not destroy the friendship between Christians and Jews. If anything, that friendship has grown stronger. Last month, we gathered in Israel at Banias Church in Nazareth for the first Flags of Fellowship event of this year. Church volunteers and community members planted 1,200 Israeli flags before Christian and Jewish leaders spoke and prayed together. The Armenian Christian Association’s children’s and youth choir sang the Lord’s Prayer. Israel is home to Christians, Jews, Muslims, and people from many countries and backgrounds. We do not always agree. We do not always see the world in the same way. But there is profound beauty when people who are different choose to stand together. RELATED: Want fewer RINOs? Give GOP conventions more power When a church plants an Israeli flag, it is not making a political statement. It is making a spiritual one: a declaration of friendship, remembrance, and faithfulness to those who are hurting. That is what I hope people see when they look at Flags of Fellowship: not simply flags, but friendship; not simply remembrance, but solidarity. The world has changed since October 7. So much attention is given to division, hatred, and the people who tear things down. But another story is being written. It is being written in churches across America and around the world. It is being written by pastors who stand before their congregations and say that Israel is a friend. It is being written by families who plant an Israeli flag outside their homes, by Christians who pray for Israel, and by Jews who are discovering, sometimes for the first time, how deeply many Christians care about them. It is written one flag at a time. RELATED: Is ‘Islamophobia’ irrational? Daniel Gnap/NurPhoto/Getty Images I have had the privilege of watching this friendship grow for years. I have sat with Christian leaders who opened their churches to Israeli flags. I have heard from pastors whose congregations embraced this initiative with extraordinary enthusiasm. And I have spoken with Israelis who are deeply moved to learn that, thousands of miles away, people they have never met are standing with them. As we mark another anniversary of October 7, I am reminded that remembrance is not only about looking backward. It is also about deciding what kind of future we want to build. Choosing courage over fear. Friendship over division. Love over hatred. There is a phrase we often use at the Fellowship: Our enemies burn the flag; our friends plant it. That is the choice behind Flags of Fellowship. Millions of flags, planted by thousands of congregations and organizations, say the same thing to the Jewish people: You are not alone. I am deeply grateful for every one of them.

by Blaze Media Oct 7, 2026

11-year-old girl found delinquent for attempted murder, rape, and assault of 5-year-old girl in Ohio

Another underage suspect in the horrific attack on a 5-year-old girl in Cleveland, Ohio, has been found to be delinquent of nine charges that included attempted murder and rape.A 10-year-old boy previously pleaded guilty to attempted rape and felonious assault for his part in the heinous attack.'My daughter was not my daughter. Her hair was scalped from her head. She had bruises and blood all over her body.'The 11-year-old female suspect was addressed as M.H. in court. On Friday, a judge found her delinquent on the charges, which is the equivalent of an adult conviction but for minors.The girl was attacked on Sept. 13, 2025, in a field near E. 148th Street and St. Clair Avenue, according to Cleveland police.The girl testified that her clothing was removed and she was strangled with her own shirt.Antavia Kennibrew, the mother of the victim, testified in court against M.H., as did the 10-year-old boy. Kennibrew said her daughter was treated at a hospital for weeks after the attack."When we left the hospital, she went through severe behavioral changes. She kept saying she's not pretty anymore. She kept saying Earth is a bad place," she said.In previous comments, she said the attack left her child "unrecognizable.""What I saw was unbelievable," Kennibrew said. "My daughter was not my daughter. Her hair was scalped from her head. She had bruises and blood all over her body. Her eyes were filled with blood. Her lips and mouth were filled with blood."RELATED: Illegal alien coach who allegedly murdered 13-year-old now charged with horrendous sex crimes against 2 other underage boys Kennibrew said the judge answered her prayers when she found M.H. delinquent on all the charges."I was very vulnerable. I told the whole world what had happened to my baby," she said. "And I just was hoping, hoping that somebody like, you know, they will help me fight. And they did. And they did. And my baby, she got her justice. She got her justice."She added that she wants M.H. to face the full punishment allowable by law."The maximum for whatever she's able to get," Kennibrew added. "I want her to know that she should never did this. Like, she needs to be able to live with that every day."Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

by Blaze Media Oct 7, 2026

A dead scientist, quarantines, and a plague lab: Here we go again?

A researcher at a Russian plague laboratory is dead, dozens of people have reportedly been quarantined, and several hospitals have been shut down.Naturally, people are starting to ask questions.And BlazeTV hosts Stu Burguiere and Dave Landau are a little concerned.“Dozens have been quarantined after a researcher at a Russian plague laboratory dies of an unknown infection,” Stu says. “I will say, I don’t really want there to be Russian plague factories or observatories anymore.”“No,” Dave agrees, “but what will be exciting is when we find out that our tax dollars have somehow been funding it.”However, while dozens have been quarantined, Stu believes “it’s important to note, quarantine does not mean you have the virus or disease.”“Being quarantined means they’re worried that you had contact with someone or contact with someone who had contact with this particular woman,” he says.“So, it doesn’t mean all these people have the illness. However, it’s the freaking plague. So, we better be pretty careful,” he adds.Meanwhile, Russia is saying it “had nothing to do with that.”“It was just a normal illness. It’s no big deal. This is all out of a massive precaution,” Stu says, mimicking Russia. “Which may be true, but they did close down four different hospitals, three of which they have direct evidence of a contact tracing to those hospitals. The fourth one just kind of being out of extra, extra special security measures.”The outbreak bears a striking resemblance to the Wuhan lab leak preceding the COVID pandemic, which Dave points out is “kind of terrifying.”“Especially because this is, you know, a replay of things that have happened in the past,” he adds.“You mean conspiracy theories about COVID-19?” Stu asks.“Conspiracy theories about things that were proven correct. That’s what I mean,” Dave says.Want more from Stu and Dave?To enjoy more of Stu and Dave's lethal blend of wit, humor, and insightful commentary subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

by Blaze Media Oct 7, 2026

The ‘Cornell 7’ case should terrify every father of boys

As the civil lawsuit and renewed criminal investigation into what allegedly happened inside Cornell’s Chi Phi fraternity house move forward, the public argument over blame has become largely binary: her or them.“Consent” has become the watercooler word. Was she responsible for putting herself in that situation, or were the men responsible for what happened afterward?Brotherhood isn’t helping your brothers get away with bad things. It’s demanding that your brothers be better men.But I want to bring two more parties into the conversation: dads and the “manosphere.”I keep asking myself a question I don’t see asked nearly enough: Where were the other young men?Not the seven fraternity members accused in Jane Doe’s lawsuit. I mean the other brothers who may have been in the house or who saw the fraternity Snapchat thread during the night.According to the civil complaint and reporting on the messages, a photo of Doe appeared in a group chat, and messages invited other fraternity members to come upstairs. The public record does not establish what every recipient knew or whether each was physically present. But the question remains: What had those young men been taught a man should do if he realizes something terrible may be happening down the hall?More frightening is the thought of what my sons would have done if they were in that house.That’s where dads — and the competing vision of masculinity being sold to young men online — belong in this conversation.I have two boys under 10, and I’ve noticed the standard most dads emphasize: Don’t be the bad guy. Don’t bully other kids. Don’t take advantage of your friends.Fine. But that’s the floor.Your goal as a father isn’t merely to raise boys who won’t commit evil. It’s to raise boys who will confront it.Too often, we obsess over raising boys who aren’t predators. We don’t spend nearly enough time raising protectors. Strength isn’t demonstrated by what you can take from somebody weaker. It’s demonstrated by what you’re willing to risk on that person’s behalf.I’m not raising my sons to walk away from the Cornell fraternity house room. I’m raising them to open the door and stop what’s happening. Sometimes avoidance is the right answer, and avoidance takes judgment. Other times intervention is the right answer, and intervention takes courage.The manosphere teaches young men that masculinity is something you prove through acquisition: women, sex, money, muscles, followers, status, dominance. Men advertise their “body count” as if the number of women they have slept with were a masculine achievement. Women become objects, not obligations. That’s rotten.Most critics focus on how the manosphere distorts the way young men see women. They spend less time on how it distorts the way young men see other men. The entire system is a hierarchy: Who’s the alpha? Who’s weak? Who’s afraid? Who’s willing to go the farthest?RELATED: Nick Freitas says America needs real men again Ivan Pantic/iStock/Getty ImagesNow imagine being the 19-year-old fraternity brother who realizes something is badly wrong upstairs. Stopping it may mean risking exactly what this worldview tells him matters most: the approval of other men.The popular phrase goes, “Character is what you do when no one’s watching.” Good. But I’m also teaching my boys that character is doing the right thing when everyone is watching — and when doing it makes you unpopular.Applied to the Cornell allegations, the manosphere tells a young man not to be the buzzkill. Actual masculinity tells him to be willing to become the least popular man in the house. Open the door. Stop what’s happening. Find her clothes. Get her somewhere safe. Call the police if necessary. Accept the social consequences tomorrow.That’s courage.The stakes rise when the wrongdoer is your friend: your frat bro, your teammate, your lifelong best friend. We teach boys that loyalty is a masculine virtue. It is. But we have confused loyalty with complicity.We take our friends’ keys when they shouldn’t drive. Likewise, dragging your friend out of a room when he is about to do something horrific isn’t betraying him. It may be the most brotherly thing you can do for him.Brotherhood isn’t helping your brothers get away with bad things. It’s demanding that your brothers be better men.The manosphere didn’t arrive in a vacuum. Boys have been begging for someone to tell them what a man is, what strength looks like, and what we owe other people. If fathers don’t answer those questions, someone on TikTok happily will.RELATED: America needs heroes who do not apologize for being heroes Heritage Art/Heritage Images/Getty ImagesThe answer to the manosphere isn’t telling boys that masculinity is toxic. It’s giving them a better version of it.My biggest fear as a father concerns the moments when I won’t be there. Fatherhood has an expiration date on enforcement. Eventually my sons will face a situation without me standing beside them.Then it won’t be who’s beside them. It will be what’s inside them.If I’m successful, their standard won't be “don’t get arrested” or even “don’t participate.” It will be this: When everyone else loses his head, keep yours. And when somebody vulnerable needs help, help.The courts will determine legal culpability in the Cornell case. New York Attorney General Letitia James is now overseeing the renewed criminal investigation, while the civil lawsuit proceeds separately.Fathers don’t need to wait for either process to ask what would have happened if their own son had been there.We shouldn’t settle for hoping he wouldn’t have participated. We should raise the son who would have stopped it.

by Blaze Media Oct 7, 2026

Germany rocked by biggest spy scandal since the end of the Cold War

Germany is shocked by a massive spying scandal involving the former head of its foreign intelligence agency, the BND.August Hanning headed the spying agency from 1998 to 2005 but was illegally provided about 2,000 documents, some classified, by a paid BND informant, according to the German Federal Prosecutor's Office.'Hanning is strongly suspected of treasonous espionage, obtaining state secrets, attempted treason and espionage.'The stunning allegations constitute the greatest spying breach since the end of the Cold War, according to Politico.Hanning is accused of using the documents in order to compile an analysis for a foreign spy service.The foreign country involved was not identified, and it is unclear whether it ever received that analysis.Hanning also allegedly provided political information to a representative ⁠of the foreign spy agency.A senior security lawmaker said the arrest was unprecedented and would likely damage the nation's relations with other countries' intelligence agencies."Hanning is strongly suspected of treasonous espionage, obtaining state secrets, attempted treason and espionage," reads a statement from the prosecutor's office.A former BND office manager was also arrested for his alleged part in the scheme. Both will appear in court before a judge at the Federal Court of Justice.Some of the documents related to the Iranian nuclear program as well as the Russian military, according to one local news source. However, a German official granted anonymity said that the case involved neither the Chinese nor the Russian intelligence agencies. RELATED: European climate change activists forced to pay more than $1 million over protest damages The German spy agency has suffered other damaging espionage scandals that have eroded faith in the BND."For the BND and for me, there can be no compromises when it comes to internal security," said current BND chief Martin Jäger in a statement. "None of my goals, none of my priorities are called into question by this incident," he added. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

by Blaze Media Oct 6, 2026

The danger of calling the left stupid

A long list of prominent conservatives have referred to leftists and Democrats as dumb, stupid, incompetent, crazy, and insane. In 2007, Ann Coulter wrote the book “If Democrats Had Any Brains, They’d Be Republicans.” Both Rush Limbaugh and President Trump regularly referred to Democrats as “Dumbocrats.” More recently, the leader of the House Freedom Caucus called Democrats “the crazy party,” and JD Vance framed the contrast between the parties as “common sense vs. crazy.”Matt Margolis titled a piece in PJ Media this year “Democrats Are Too Stupid to Heed This Warning” and posited that somewhere between the 1990s and today, the Democratic Party lost its mind. Some of this stuff gets a chuckle, but conservatives need to be careful with this narrative.Calling an adversary’s actions crazy or stupid implies that those actions produce an outcome fundamentally different from what their architects intended.Conservatives need to understand that this tactic can not only contradict the more serious messages they’re trying to convey about leftist policies, it can also remove responsibility from leftists for their malevolence.Consider a recent interview in which Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) explained that the left’s open-border policy was part of a shrewd, long-term plan to bring in new Democrat constituents, with sanctuary-city policies as another step in that plan. Yet in the same interview, he called the policy “just stupid” and “one of the dumbest policies I’ve ever heard of,” and, in a later interview, adding that “just about every single position today’s left adopts is crazy.”So we are told that leftists are shrewd, long-term planners who are simultaneously stupid and crazy. Which is it? The distinction may seem trivial, but it’s not.We need to distinguish between leftist leadership and its dominant agenda on the one hand and its useful idiots on the other.To be clear, there are certainly some dim bulbs among the left — both in leadership and rank and file. Showcase examples include Vice President Kamala Harris, who frequently struggles to articulate coherent sentences; Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), who worried during a congressional hearing that Guam might “tip over and capsize” if it became too populated; and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who told us that America with defunded police would look just like the wealthy white suburbs.On a broader scale, consider millions of California voters who knowingly continue to vote for politicians whose policies have devastated the Golden State.But these examples aside, the overarching leftist agenda — and the people who genuinely understand, subscribe to, and orchestrate it — cannot simply be dismissed as stupid. Doing so is dangerous.The rise of the New LeftAs has often been the case with radical leftist movements in the United States, their stated objective is to dismantle existing American institutions, traditions, and governing structures in favor of a fundamentally different social order. Put simply, they despise America as it currently exists.Once you understand this premise, their positions look less like harebrained, stupid, illogical, or unworkable ideas, but more like carefully conceived, sometimes ingenious tactics intended to advance that larger objective.RELATED: Democrats are desperate to 'Europe' our health care system Sorbetto/Getty ImagesIn this light, things like defunding the police, draconian regulations and carbon taxes, mothballing coal and nuclear plants, wide-open borders, turning a blind eye to Medicaid and NGO fraud, supporting genital mutilation of minors, opposing voter ID, massive expansion of entitlement spending, lowering combat readiness standards in the military in the name of gender equality, and support for adversaries like Hamas can be understood not as disconnected examples of incompetence, but as elements of a broader ideological program.If it does damage to America and hastens the great realignment, they support it.Whether one agrees with that interpretation of any particular policy is a separate question. The important point is that conservatives shouldn’t automatically assume destructive policies are the product of stupidity.In “America’s Cultural Revolution,” Christopher Rufo explains how the radical left’s approach evolved from traditional Marxist class conflict toward an emphasis on race, gender, and identity. Traditional Marxism defined the conflict largely in socioeconomic terms, pitting the working class against the wealthy. In the United States, however, the middle class proved too large, mobile, and invested in the existing system for a conventional class-based revolution to take hold.Influenced by thinkers such as Antonio Gramsci and Herbert Marcuse, the New Left increasingly emphasized “the war of position,” “the long march through the institutions,” and racial and cultural identity as alternatives to direct political conflict. Barack Obama became a highly consequential figure in this transformation.During his 2008 presidential campaign, Obama told an audience in Columbia, Missouri, “We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.” In the years that followed, he did precisely that.The media proactively escalated the new narrative, increasing use of the terms racist, racists, and racism by roughly 700% between 2011 and 2019. The phrase “white supremacy” rarely appeared in the media until 2015, but by 2019, the Times and the Post were using it 17 to 18 times more often than in 2014, with similar jumps for “systemic racism,” “white privilege,” “unconscious bias,” and “whiteness.”Gallup found that the share of respondents who believed black-white relations were “very good” or “somewhat good” plummeted from about 70% to 47% by 2015.From the perspective of those who designed it, this was a deliberate and consequential political strategy. Arthur Brooks put it well, pointing out that the president ran on optimism and unity but governed on pessimism and division. In 2011, Obama’s Executive Order 13583 cemented DEI language, metrics, and policies across federal agencies. The resulting fallout has been well documented.RELATED: The right is building its own lawfare defense machine — finally Schöning/ullstein bild/Getty ImagesStupid or strategic?To call leftist leaders or their policies stupid is therefore more than an unfortunate choice of words. It can mislead conservatives regarding what they are confronting.We don’t tend to think of stupid people as evil. Perceived stupidity neutralizes perceived intent and, to some degree, perceived blame. “Stupid” is not the word that comes to mind for figures like Stalin, Mao, or Pol Pot, and it would have done us no favors to describe the Axis powers in World War II as merely stupid or crazy.Calling an adversary’s actions crazy or stupid implies that those actions produce an outcome fundamentally different from what their architects intended. But what if the opposite is true? What if the policies are producing precisely the disruption their architects sought?Once upon a time, Democrats and Republicans were two parties with broadly similar hopes for America but sharply different views on how to get there. That time has passed.Conservatives should not lose sight of what they believe to be the left’s overarching mission. They need to describe political actions, and the consequences those actions produce, not simply as the unfortunate results of incompetent or stupid people, but as those of an underlying ideological agenda.That doesn’t mean every Democrat is a radical leftist, every leftist is an intellectual strategist, or every controversial policy reflects a coordinated conspiracy. Nor does it mean conservatives should stop pointing out genuinely foolish statements or incompetent decisions. It means something simpler: Stop confusing foolishness with strategy.Some political actors may indeed be foolish. Others may be highly intelligent and deeply committed to an ideological vision conservatives regard as destructive. Those two categories shouldn’t be confused.If conservatives want to understand and effectively challenge the modern left, they should focus less on calling its leaders stupid and more on understanding what they’re trying to accomplish. That leadership may be insidious, duplicitous, destructive, morally wrong, and in some cases evil. But dismissing them as stupid or crazy risks missing the point entirely.Let’s start calling them out on what they actually intend to do.Editor’s note: This article was originally published at the American Mind.

by Blaze Media Oct 6, 2026

'Government cannot go snooping': Judge slams cop's Flock use as unconstitutional

Going to the doctor, casino, or a lawyer's office is nobody's business but the American who is doing it, an Oklahoma judge has declared.The judge said that when a police officer used the Flock Safety system to track a woman's cross-state movements, he went too far.'The government cannot go snooping through our personal lives.'U.S. District Judge Sara E. Hill granted a motion to suppress evidence in a drug case last week after declaring that a Tulsa County, Oklahoma, deputy searching a woman's license plate through the Flock systems violated the Fourth Amendment by way of unconstitutional search.The officer had access to at least two automated license plate reader systems, court documents revealed, Flock and VehicleManager, which were used to observe 50 sightings tied to the license plate in question."These two systems have different capabilities, but they serve the same essential function: gathering and organizing historical data about a vehicle's whereabouts on public roadways for use by law enforcement across the country," the documents read, per CBS12.Judge Hill said that the technology does not have the right to reveal sensitive information about a person's whereabouts, even if it does not provide the same precision in location as a cell phone."It could track and log a couple struggling to start a family at the fertility clinic. It could show how often someone visits a liquor store or casino. It could show which doctor someone goes to or what lawyer’s office someone visits," the document stated.The judge went on, "This leaves the question of why is it the government's business where everyone goes all the time? The government cannot go snooping through our personal lives and business without an adequate basis to do so."The court found that police cannot use a vast network of cameras to collect such vehicle data and then track a person's movements without probable cause and a warrant.RELATED: 'A nightmare for individual liberties' — Josh Hawley unveils sweeping new anti-Flock legislation Justin Sullivan/Getty Images In this case, the documents stated, when Tulsa County Deputy Sheriff Freddie Alaniz searched ALPR databases for a Mazda SUV under the queries "traffic violation" and "investigation," all he knew "was that the vehicle had a California license plate."The deputy sheriff used the ALPR data to track the car's movements across several states, which he later said raised suspicion on his part as to why the woman was making short trips.Alaniz said he suspected the woman of possible drug trafficking, due to the length of her trip, her nervousness, and her use of a rental car. For those reasons, and others, Alaniz eventually detained the woman before having a K-9 search her car.While the legality of the search and length of stop are argued by both parties in the document, the judge declared that the "use of the ALPR Systems was an Unconstitutional Warrantless Search."RELATED: Astronomers detect unprecedented radio signal — it's coming from a gigantic planet Charles-McClintock Wilson/NurPhoto/Getty Images The decision comes after Missouri Senator Josh Hawley (R) revealed his plans for sweeping legislation against ALRP companies through his proposed Stop Flock Abuse Act.Also, Florida recently banned the use of Flock cameras and other license plate readers on roads that are part of the state highway system.In the Oklahoma case, the judge wrote that motorists can still have a reasonable expectation of privacy when driving, in that "the whole of their physical movements" should not be readily available for search.The ruling does not stop police from using the cameras and does not declare a single use of the camera (a scan) to be unconstitutional.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

by Blaze Media Oct 6, 2026

Paramore's Hayley Williams says Christian nationalism is the biggest threat to democracy — and she's right

Following in the footsteps of Macklemore, Paramore lead singer Hayley Williams is fighting her dwindling relevancy by making a political statement.“She must have noticed the big boost Macklemore got from ruining Ed Sheeran’s tour, because neither Macklemore nor Williams have had a Billboard Top 100 hit since 2017,” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales says.“But there are two words that can make them relevant again,” she adds.Predictably, Williams yelled “f**k ICE” and “free mother-f**king Palestine.”“Hayley Williams actually wasn't done. Hayley Williams wasn’t done trying to gain some sort of legitimacy again. Maybe people might start Googling her name. And so she decided to take it one step further by targeting yet another group,” Gonzales says.“The greatest threat to American democracy is Christian nationalism,” she said in another set.“I hate to sound like a broken record, but the Democrats force me to do this every single time because they are trying to brainwash people. They think if they say ‘democracy, democracy, democracy’ enough times that you will forget that our country is not a democracy,” Gonzales comments.“It is actually a constitutional republic. That’s very important. Like, they’re doing this intentionally. They are using language to try to change your perspective on this country and how we are set up. It’s actually a very, very important distinction,” she continues.One, Gonzales explains, that “the founding fathers knew they needed to very clearly lay out because they knew that American democracy promotes mob rule” and “its end point is socialism.”“What would we have if we were a democracy?” she asks, before answering, “Legalized federal abortion, transgender protection at the federal level, men in women’s sports, men invading your bathrooms and girls' locker rooms. You’d have state-mandated DEI.”“I realize I’m describing a total dystopian hellhole, but that’s what you would have if we were an American democracy,” she continues.“This is why leftists like Hayley Williams are pushing their democracy narrative. That’s what they want, actually,” she adds.This is why she thinks Williams might be right.The definition of Christian nationalism from the book “The Case for Christian Nationalism” reads “is a nation that understands itself to be a Christian people and therefore orders its laws and customs accordingly, seeking both its earthly and spiritual good.”“So when you use this term how it has been defined, Hayley Williams is actually correct. Christian nationalism is the greatest threat to American democracy because it seeks to return us to our founding principles,” she says.“That’s actually very scary for them,” she adds.Want more from Sara Gonzales?To enjoy more of Sara's no-holds-barred takes on news and culture, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

by Blaze Media Oct 6, 2026

Famed televangelist Jim Bakker dead at age 86

Famous Christian televangelist Jim Bakker passed away on Monday at the age of 86, according to his wife. Bakker was one of the most prominent television evangelists of his time before he was convicted of financial crimes and admitted to having an affair with a church secretary. In 1987, Bakker admitted to a sexual encounter with Jessica Hahn. Two years later, he was convicted of fraud and conspiracy. "It is with a broken heart that I share that my beloved husband, Jim Bakker, went home to be with the Lord this evening," said Lori Bakker, his second wife, in a statement. "For 66 years, Jim gave his life to preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ," she wrote. "He was a pioneer of Christian television, but to me, he was my husband, my best friend, and the man I was honored to walk beside through so many seasons of life and ministry." Bakker was born in Muskegon, Michigan, and dropped out of a Bible college in Minneapolis after marrying his first wife, Tammy Faye Bakker. They began a traveling ministry before hosting a kids' show for televangelist Pat Robertson. He left in 1972 and began the PTL Satellite Network. PTL stands for "Praise the Lord." He and Tammy Faye became cultural icons in the 1980s and 1990s through their popular evangelical television program. The show drew 13 million viewers at its peak and led to their building a Christian-based theme park and hotel in Fort Mill, South Carolina. RELATED: Televangelist says demons harvested her eggs to create ‘hybrid child’ — but that’s not even her most shocking claim In 1987, Bakker admitted to a sexual encounter with Jessica Hahn, a church secretary, and was forced to hand over control of his empire to Jerry Falwell. Two years later, he was convicted of fraud and conspiracy from an investigation into his company's finances. He was sentenced to 45 years in prison, but that was later reduced to eight years. The trial resulted in one of the most well-known moments of the Bakkers' spectacle when Tammy Faye cried during a news conference and sang "On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand." Tammy Faye divorced Jim Bakker in 1992 and went on to marry Roe Messner, the contractor of the Christian theme park. Messner was convicted of bankruptcy fraud in 1995, and Tammy Faye died of colon cancer in 2007. Bakker continued to evangelize up until his death and was a supporter of President Donald Trump. "Even in his final days, his heart was still for the work of God and for the gospel to continue reaching the world," Lori Bakker concluded. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

by Blaze Media Oct 6, 2026

Army to execute Fort Hood terrorist Nidal Hasan the old-fashioned way — and Republicans are all for it

The man who shot and killed 13 people at Fort Hood nearly two decades ago will face execution by firing squad, according to an order from President Donald Trump.U.S. Army Major and psychiatrist Nidal Malik Hasan was convicted for the Nov. 2009 mass shooting that killed 13 and injured at least 30 others near Killeen, Texas. He was sentenced to death after a 2013 court-martial.Hasan said in court that the attack was intended to keep the US out of Afghanistan and avoid the killing of his fellow Muslims. On Monday, the president approved the U.S. Army firing squad execution recommended by Sec. of War Pete Hegseth, according to a statement from Sean Parnell, Hegseth's spokesperson."The Secretary of the Army will set the time and place of the execution. Judgement day for Hasan has finally come," wrote Parnell on social media Monday.Hegseth called it "justice," while Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called it an "appropriate punishment for a terrorist!"The U.S. Army has not carried out the death penalty for 65 years, according to the Associated Press.Hasan yelled, "Allahu Akbar!" before beginning the attack with a laser-sighted handgun. He intentionally targeted military members.His rampage ended when Fort Hood civilian police Sergeant Mark Todd fired at Hasan and paralyzed him from the waist down.Hasan said in court that the attack was intended to keep the U.S. out of Afghanistan and avoid the killing of his fellow Muslims. Hasan would have escaped the death penalty and given life in prison if just one member of the court-martial jury had voted against the decision, but they unanimously approved the death penalty.Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas released a statement approving of the decision."Nidal Hasan is a radical Islamist terrorist who carried out an attack in Texas that killed and injured dozens of Americans," the senator said. "He deserves to be executed for his crimes, and I have fought throughout my entire Senate career to see that justice is served. I applaud President Trump and Secretary Hegseth for taking that decision."RELATED: Eric Holder calls out Trump over Charlottesville attack — and gets obliterated The Fort Hood attack was the worst terror attack in U.S. history since 9/11 until the San Bernardino terrorist shooting in 2015, which killed 14.Hasan is one of four men on military death row at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. The decision comes at a time when the botched lethal injection of a woman in Tennessee has led to a national debate about capital punishment. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

by Blaze Media Oct 6, 2026

Trump OKs dyed-diesel tax break, helping farmers and truckers save BIGLY

President Donald Trump has taken a major step to shield American truckers and farmers from the high cost of fuel.On Monday, Trump signed an executive order allowing them to use dyed diesel without paying a federal penalty.'The president listened to farmers and responded.'Dyed diesel is a tax-exempt fuel that is intended for off-road use, customarily in farming, manufacturing, construction equipment, and trains. Although identical to standard diesel, it is dyed with Solvent Red 164 so that law enforcement can distinguish it from taxable on-road diesel.Federal law prohibits the use or holding of dyed diesel unless utilized or held for nontaxable purposes. Each violation carries the penalty of a $1,000 fine or $10 for each gallon of the fuel involved — whichever is greater.In his order, Trump noted that the agricultural and farming industries have been "particularly hard hit" by restricted global diesel supply and the correlated rising prices. While the White House primarily blamed the Russia-Ukraine war for the recent supply squeeze, the Iran conflict and issues over the Strait of Hormuz have also restricted supply and driven up prices.Recognizing the need in these industries for "temporary relief," Trump directed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent "to use his authority to defer certain diesel fuel tax payment obligations and to provide penalty relief to the extent permitted by law." The Internal Revenue Service will hold off on fines for highway use of dyed diesel until Dec. 31, 2026.RELATED: First New York wants you to drive less. Then it wants to tax every mile. The president also directed Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to facilitate the implementation of this policy. For his part, Duffy will work with the states and various organizations to optimize access to dyed diesel. Rollins, meanwhile, will work to ensure that farmers can get their hands on fuel in high-demand areas.The White House claimed in a fact sheet that "this action will put money directly back in the pockets of American farmers, truckers, and workers, for example saving truckers over $100 per refill."Vice President JD Vance stated, "Another example of President Trump acting quickly to tackle an urgent issue. In this administration, we’re fighting every day to help hard working Americans, especially our farmers."Trump's order was well received among various farmer groups, lawmakers, and governors.Iowa Republican gubernatorial candidate Zach Lahn, who claimed to have advised on the EO, said that it "will provide immediate relief and much-needed savings for farmers in Iowa and all over America."Zippy Duvall, the president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, thanked the president "for recognizing that what happens at the fuel pump directly affects what happens on the farm and therefore at dinner tables across America.""The federal highway diesel tax is currently more than 24 cents per gallon, so it’s a big deal to farmers to be able to use tax-exempt diesel more broadly to get their harvest to market," added Duvall.American Soybean Association President Dave Walton similarly praised Trump's policy and noted, "ASA is encouraged by the administration’s continued focus on agricultural affordability."While Trump's order concerns federal regulations regarding the use of dyed diesel, numerous states have laws on the books concerning its use.Republican Governors Bill Lee of Tennessee, Tate Reeves of Mississippi, and Kim Reynolds of Iowa are among the governors who rushed to announce that they will order the suspension of their respective states' penalties for on-road dyed diesel use.Overall, average fuel prices fell last week in 48 states yet remain high. The national average price of gasoline stands at $4.30 per gallon — $1.22 per gallon higher than this time last year. The national average price of diesel stands at around $6.31 per gallon, according to the price-tracking service GasBuddy.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

by Blaze Media Oct 6, 2026

Repeat offender accused of murdering elderly woman — an art gallery owner — on Baltimore street in broad daylight attack

A repeat offender is accused of murdering an elderly woman in a broad daylight attack late last month on a street in the Fells Point neighborhood of Baltimore. The 76-year-old victim — who was an art gallery owner — and her husband reportedly "were staunch about staying in Fells Point and believing in that community and wanting to lift the community up." 'It's very surreal. It was so sudden. And the fact that it was so violent. And the fact that she was such a good person and so community-oriented.' Claudia Bismark died days after investigators said 32-year-old Montray McCray assaulted and robbed her and her husband after they left Broadway Market in Fells Point on Sept. 29, WBFF-TV reported. Police said officers responded to the incident just after 9:30 a.m. and spoke with the victims who told them an unidentified male knocked them to the ground and stole a wallet from one of them before fleeing. Police said both victims were taken to an area hospital for medical treatment, but the 76-year-old woman — now identified as Bismark — succumbed to her injuries and was pronounced dead Thursday. Police added that Warrant Apprehension detectives also on Thursday arrested McCray while in the unit block of South Carrollton Avenue. Police said McCray was taken to the Central Booking Intake Facility; initially he was charged with assault, robbery, and reckless endangerment. But now McCray is charged with first- and second-degree murder in connection with Bismark's death, WBFF reported. What's more, court documents indicate McCray assaulted a man near the city's Inner Harbor just days before the attack on Bismark and her husband, the station said. WBFF, citing court documents, said the victim told officers his attacker punched him in the face and robbed him after he refused to give money to the attacker. The victim added to police that the attack happened as he was walking from getting Chipotle in the 400 block of East Pratt Street near the Inner Harbor just after 2:15 p.m. Sept. 26, the station said. WBFF, citing court documents, reported that surveillance video from the earlier attack as well as the assault against Bismark and her husband helped lead police to tracking down McCray. McCray appeared in court Monday for bond hearings related to both cases, the station said. RELATED: Thug shoves elderly woman off NYC subway platform, onto tracks in reportedly random attack Court records also show that McCray’s criminal history dates back a decade, WBFF said. He was arrested in Baltimore City in 2016 and charged in connection with a felony drug case, the station said, adding that the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office said the case was listed as STET — meaning the case stays pending and no action is taken. In 2018, records show McCray was arrested in connection with another felony drug and gun case, WBFF reported, adding that the State’s Attorney’s Office said the case was never prosecuted. Records also indicate that McCray in 2019 was found guilty of violating his probation and sentenced to two and a half years in prison, the station said. McCray in 2023 was found guilty of violating a protective order, WBFF noted. He's scheduled for an Oct. 29 preliminary hearing, the station said. Bismark was the owner of the Bismark-Wilson Art Gallery on Bank Street, according to a separate WBFF story. On the day of her death, the station said family, friends, and neighbors gathered at the site of the assault against Bismark and her husband for a candlelight vigil. Longtime friend Kate Norris told WBFF that Bismark and her husband lived in Fells Point for decades, and she was passionate about art, people, the community, and traveling. “It's very surreal. It was so sudden. And the fact that it was so violent. And the fact that she was such a good person and so community-oriented," Norris added to the station. "They were staunch about staying in Fells Point and believing in that community and wanting to lift the community up." As for Bismark's attacker, Norris told WBFF that "it feels like the system failed us, our family, the community in letting somebody like that either be on the street or unmonitored if he had mental health problems. And this isn’t the first time. While I was at the vigil, I learned of a woman who lost her husband two years ago when he was walking the dog. Same situation.” WJZ-TV reported in July that new security measures and checkpoints took effect in Fells Point after a string of teen takeovers. "The amount of shootings that have happened in Fells the last couple of months has been an uptick that I don't think I've seen before," Baltimore resident Sophia Gana told WJZ. The station said the safety changes came a month after police were called to disperse a large crowd in Fells Point — and on that same weekend, police reported two shootings in the neighborhood. "I'll see on like social media, it just gets wild out here," Daniel Jacks added to WJZ. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!