Stembridge News Digest

  • Federal judge in Florida orders release of long-hidden Epstein grand jury documents Sat, 06 Dec 2025 22:03:05 +0000


    After the nearly unanimous passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act last month, many have wondered what other files and information have yet to be disclosed amid the heated controversy over the Epstein files.

    A federal judge in Florida just ordered the release of grand jury documents from an old case against Epstein, defying past orders not to release them.

    U.S. District Judge Rodney Smith argued that a recent law now takes precedence over the rules that prohibited past disclosure.

    U.S. District Judge Rodney Smith has ordered the release of grand jury transcripts related to investigations from 2005 and 2007 involving convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

    RELATED: Was the latest Epstein document dump just Trump’s 4D chess trap? Steve Deace answers.

    Photo by Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images

    Grand jury proceedings are often conducted in private and there are higher standards to meet in order to disclose transcripts from them.

    However, U.S. District Judge Rodney Smith, in his short decision to release the transcripts, argued that a recent law now takes precedence over the rules that prohibited past disclosure.

    Representative Thomas Massie (R-Ky), who spearheaded the effort for disclosure, posted the news of the ruling on X on Friday afternoon.

    Massie highlighted the fact that the Epstein Files Transparency Act played a crucial role in the judge's decision to override past decisions against disclosure.

    The Act, being "later-enacted" and more "specific", trumps the rules barring the release of the documents in the past.

    Epstein was not convicted of any crimes as a result of this grand jury investigation..

    Instead, he famously pleaded guilty to comparatively minor charges in 2008 under the U.S. Attorney at the time, Alex Acosta, who later became Trump's Labor Secretary in his first term. Acosta subsequently resigned following scrutiny over the non-prosecution agreement in 2008.

    It is not clear when the grand jury transcripts will be released or exactly how much new information will be disclosed.

    The Epstein Files Transparency Act, signed into law on November 19, gives the government 30 days to prepare and release all relevant records.

    Those following the case can expect an update on the release of any remaining files by December 19.

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  • Inside the radical pipeline turning America's teachers into activists Sat, 06 Dec 2025 21:00:00 +0000


    Following the unrest that unfolded at a Turning Point USA event at the University of California, Berkeley, the Department of Justice has launched an investigation into those behind the disruption.

    One of the alleged organizers of the recent protest, By Any Means Necessary, has been described as part of the ecosystem of the “anti-fascist” movement.

    These educators are attempting to advance their political agenda through statewide governmental jobs and teachers' union leadership positions.

    Unfortunately, UC Berkeley is no stranger to left-wing protests turning violent.

    In 2017, several far-left agitators were arrested at a conservative rally on the same campus. One of those individuals was BAMN member and middle school teacher Yvette Felarca, who had previously defended the use of militant violence in an interview. She had also been charged in 2016 with assault related to a previous counter-protest.

    But Felarca is not an anomaly. Rather, she is one example of a fringe of aggressive, far-left revolutionaries who seek to corrupt the K-12 education ecosystem to advance their radical political ideology. Whether through ethnic studies curriculums, organizing “Teach-ins for Gaza” and anti-Israel activism, or alleged glorification of terrorism and endorsement of Antifa, activist teachers are leveraging the historical trust bestowed upon the education profession to foment an anti-Western, anti-American mindset in schools and the culture writ large.

    Not surprisingly, the teachers' unions play a role in funding, promoting, and protecting these activist educators.

    In fact, the American Federation of Teachers came to Felarca’s aid in 2018 by passing a resolution in support of her and her lawsuit against Judicial Watch. The legal action was aimed at stopping the watchdog group from obtaining public records from the school district. But the lawsuit failed.

    Yet this has not stopped Felarca and other BAMN members from continuing to advance a far-left ideology both inside and outside K-12 schools.

    For example, in March, Oakland High School (Calif.) students, flanked by teachers who affiliate with BAMN, led a protest over immigration policies. In this instance, the influence of the teacher-activists is no secret. The student protesters publicly claimed they received help from the local BAMN chapter in organizing the event.

    RELATED: The radical left is poisoning our schools — here's how we fight back

    skynesher/Getty Images Plus

    Even though street activism can be the most visible form of ideological battle on the American culture, these educators are attempting to advance their political agenda through statewide government jobs and teachers' union leadership positions.

    The executive vice president of United Educators of San Francisco, for example, is currently running for state superintendent of public instruction. The San Francisco Unified teacher touts that under his leadership, the UESF “transformed into one of California’s strongest and most militant unions.” His site also states that he is an activist and “longtime organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation” — an organization known to be behind many of the anti-Israel and anti-ICE protests that have taken place across the country.

    In Los Angeles, the Association of Raza Educators, the education wing of the radical group Union del Barrio, has a slate of individuals running for positions of leadership in United Teachers Los Angeles. Included on the roster is teacher Ron Gochez, who is no stranger to controversial comments and actions.

    In fact, he was recently the subject of a DOJ probe over public statements he made toward Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Other ARE members have served on committees for the California Teachers Association, have been delegates to the NEA convention, and are engaged in groups such as Educators for Justice in Palestine and Queers for Palestine.

    The system is being used as a tool to advance a radical left-wing political agenda.

    But should ARE achieve its goal of taking over leadership of the union of one of the largest school districts in the country, it would be more status quo than anomaly.

    In 2021, UTLA President Cecily Myart-Cruz infamously proclaimed that “there is no such thing as learning loss.” She continued by stating that it was “OK that our babies may not have learned their times tables ... they learned the difference between riot and a protest.”

    Myart-Cruz said the quiet part out loud — the teachers' unions and far-left educators value political activism over learning.

    Yet parents, public officials, and even other teachers are either willfully blind or largely unaware of the influence that these nefarious actors have on education despite the increase in public-facing activism. The system is being used as a tool to advance a radical left-wing political agenda, and it comes with a very steep cost for American children.

    The proof is already starting to rear its ugly head, as evidenced by a recent University of California, San Diego, report.

    Regardless of one’s position on public schools or teachers’ unions, this issue will eventually impact all Americans if left unaddressed. It is time to put a stop to the "school to far-left activism" pipeline and return the institution to its primary charter — to teach children to read and do math.

  • Killing drug ads won’t lower prices — it will kill innovation Sat, 06 Dec 2025 20:00:00 +0000


    The United States is one of the few countries that allows prescription drugmakers to speak directly to patients. That simple fact now fuels political calls to “ban the ads.” But restricting direct-to-consumer advertising would do more than change what runs during football games. It would shrink the flow of information to patients and push our system toward the bureaucratic throttling that has turned other countries into innovation laggards.

    Advertising is part of a dynamic market process. Entrepreneurs inform consumers about new products, and when profits are high, firms have every incentive to improve quality and expand access.

    The pattern is clear: The more Washington intervenes, the fewer cures Americans get.

    New, cheaper treatments need to be brought to consumers’ attention. Otherwise, people stay stuck with older, more expensive options, and competition falters. Banning pharmaceutical advertising would hobble innovative firms whose products are not yet known and leave those seeking medical care less informed.

    Critics warn that “a growing proliferation of ads” drives demand for costly treatments, even when less expensive alternatives exist. Yet a recent study in the Journal of Public Economics finds that exposure to pharmaceutical ads increases drug utilization across the board — including cheaper generics and non-advertised medications. In short, advertising pushes people who need care to make better, more informed decisions.

    A market-based system rewards risk-taking and innovation. Despite the many flaws in American health care, the United States leads the world in medical breakthroughs — from cancer immunotherapies to vaccines developed in record time. That success wasn’t created by government decree. It came from competition: firms communicating openly about their products, fighting for patients, and reinvesting earnings into the next generation of lifesaving discoveries.

    Sure, some regulations are adopted with good intentions. But drug ads are already heavily regulated, and a full ban would create serious unintended consequences — including the unseen cost of innovative drugs that will never reach patients because firms won’t invest in developing treatments they are barred from promoting.

    American health care is now regulated to the point of satisfying no one. Patients face rising costs. Physicians navigate a Kafkaesque maze of top-down rules. Taxpayers foot the bill for decisions made by distant bureaucracies. Measures associated with socialized medicine continue creeping into the marketplace.

    Price controls in the Inflation Reduction Act are already cutting into pharmaceutical research and development. One study estimates roughly 188 fewer small-molecule treatments in the 20 years after its enactment. The pattern is clear: The more Washington intervenes, the fewer cures Americans get.

    RELATED: Trump faces drugmakers that treat sick Americans like ATMs

    Trump faces drugmakers that treat sick Americans like ATMs Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

    The answer to the problems in American health care isn’t more government. It’s less. Expected profitability drives investment in biomedical research. Imposing new advertising bans or European-style price controls would mean lower-quality care, higher mortality, and the erosion of America’s leadership in medical innovation.

    The United Kingdom offers a warning. Once a global leader, it drove investment offshore through overregulation and rigid price controls. Today, only 37% of new medicines are made fully available for their licensed uses in Britain. Americans spend more, but they also live longer: U.S. cancer patients outlive their European counterparts for a reason.

    Discovering new drugs is hard. Every breakthrough begins with the freedom to imagine, to compete, and to communicate. Strip companies of the ability to inform patients, and you strip away the incentive to develop the next cure. Competitive markets — not centralized control — will fuel tomorrow’s medical miracles.

  • Mark Levin drops the hammer: America isn’t rigged — your ideology is Sat, 06 Dec 2025 19:00:00 +0000


    One of the great beauties of America, says Mark Levin, is her lack of fixed social classes. With grit and determination, anyone from any background can rise in the ranks and become successful. That’s why America is the top country of origin for self-made millionaires and billionaires.

    Now compare that to Marxist regimes, where the mantra is “you are what you are, and that's where you're going to stay.” Work ethic, intelligence, ambition don’t get you anywhere, unless, of course, you’re part of the government machine that crushes the people.

    And yet the radical left and the neofascist right alike are pushing similar grievance politics that echo Marxist tactics — demanding more government to “fix” a rigged system. Progressives say, “If you're a minority, the system is out to get you,” while “the neofascists [say] if you're white, the system is out to get you,” says Levin, accusing both groups of “racializing” economics to the detriment of all.

    “They want more and more government, which is the biggest problem we have,” he says.

    But this push for more federal power is the folly of ideologues. “We conservatives are motivated by reality. ... Our principles are based on knowledge and information and experience and reality — not a fanatical ideology,” says Levin.

    “This ideology of Marxism and socialism, it's been imposed on one society after another — imposed. And it's a disastrous outcome in every case: poverty, often genocide, no civil liberties.”

    But because the government holds all the power, the blame can’t be placed on the ruling class when everything inevitably goes to hell in a handbasket. Rather the people — powerless and crushed economically and in spirit — shoulder the blame.

    But even though history lessons in failed socialism abound, still people like Robert Reich make capitalism the villain. Levin plays a clip of the former secretary of labor under Bill Clinton whining about McDonald’s high prices — the same complaint he made in 1994 — as proof that corporations are deliberately creating a permanent underclass.

    Levin’s response is brutal and simple: “You were an idiot in 1994, and you’re an idiot today.” In the 31 years since Reich’s prophecy, millions of supposedly “left-behind” Americans started businesses, bought homes, and invested.

    “Your life isn't static. The economy is not static. Nothing is static. The fact is things keep turning along. Sometimes they go over a cliff; sometimes up to the stars,” says Levin, noting that his life has changed tremendously since 1994.

    But if you really want to buy Reich’s argument that McDonald’s and “processed foods” are the problem, go ahead and ban them, he says.

    Get rid of the Big Macs, the canned beans, the frozen pizzas, the mass-produced bread, the snacks — everything affordable and convenient. The result won’t be social justice; it’s “people starve to death,” says Levin.

    The ideological war on private enterprise always ends up punishing the very people it claims to help — exactly the pattern Marxism has repeated from Moscow to Havana. America works, Levin concludes, precisely because we let people solve their own problems instead of letting utopian grifters in Washington or on social media tell them the system is rigged and only total government control can save them.

    To hear more of his commentary, watch the video above.

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  • Thug attacks mother walking her toddler in stroller, cops say; 10 days later — on Thanksgiving — he's accused of even worse Sat, 06 Dec 2025 17:30:00 +0000


    An 18-year-old New Jersey male is accused of approaching a woman from behind while she was walking her 2-year-old in a stroller — and then putting her in a chokehold and throwing her to the ground.

    The incident took place Nov. 17 on Pinewood Road, Howell Township Police said. Howell is a little over 30 minutes east of Trenton.

    'Off with his head!!! Do this the old school way; we don't need people in ... society like that!!!!'

    According to News 12 New Jersey, police said the suspect ran off after the woman screamed for help.

    RELATED: Female accused of stabbing 1-year-old in stroller in front of parents on Philly street was out on bail after NYC stabbing

    Photo by Bob Carey/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

    Jaden Thompson of Freehold was criminally charged Tuesday for endangering the welfare of a child (3rd degree) and simple assault (Disorderly Persons Offense), police said.

    But there was no need to lock up Thompson.

    Turns out he already was behind bars in the Ocean County Jail as of Nov. 29 on unrelated criminal charges, police said.

    What else is he accused of doing?

    According to Jackson Police, just after 11:30 p.m. on Thanksgiving, officers responded to the Paragon apartments at 1020 Larsen Road for a report of a female who had been stabbed by an ex-boyfriend. Jackson is about three miles west of Howell Township.

    A family member of the stabbing victim told police that Thompson was the ex-boyfriend and that he carried out the stabbing.

    It was determined that Thompson was arguing with the victim when he stabbed her in the lower abdomen, police said, adding that he then fled the area in a vehicle believed to be a black 2012 Nissan Altima.

    After a two-day search with the assistance of U.S. Marshalls, the suspect was located in Edison, police said. Edison is almost an hour northeast of Trenton.

    Police said Thompson crashed the car following a vehicle chase. After he fled the crash scene, police quickly apprehended him and transferred him to the custody of Jackson Police.

    In connection with the stabbing incident, police said Thompson was charged with:

    • Attempted murder (1st degree)
    • Aggravated assault with a deadly weapon (2nd degree)
    • Endangering the welfare of a child (2nd degree)
    • Possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose (3rd degree)
    • Unlawful possession of a weapon (4th degree)
    • Criminal trespass

    Some commenters under the Jackson Police Department's Facebook post about the stabbing seemed as though they've had about enough:

    • "Sad that we have come to the crossroads," one commenter wrote, adding that "the people in town need to really take a stand against this degradation of our community."
    • "Hope he rots in 666," another user said.
    • "Off with his head!!!" another commenter exclaimed. "Do this the old school way; we don't need people in ... society like that!!!!"

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  • Did the FBI ignore radicalized they/them gunman? Sat, 06 Dec 2025 16:00:00 +0000


    Trump’s would-be assassin in Butler, Pennsylvania, had a lengthy online history of radicalization, extremist posts, and fetishes — but somehow, none of this sparked any concern with our intelligence agencies.

    “One subset of this pornography that is also pushing these men toward sexual degeneracy and gender fluidity, including transgenderism and nonbinary identity, is furry porn,” BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey comments on “Relatable,” noting that this kind of sexual obsession is rampant in violent individuals.

    “We also have to see that this form of pornography is actually leading to, in some ways, political violence that has now affected the president of the United States, who had an assassination attempt against him on July 13, 2024,” she continues. “And then also Charlie Kirk.”

    “I do not think it’s a coincidence that both of these men who are suspected as the killers of these top, you know, conservative — one politician and one activist — were also allegedly addicted to this kind of pornography and obsessed with transgenderism,” she adds.


    While Stuckey believes that the moral, spiritual, and political meaning behind this is a necessary topic of discussion that could “shake us out of our stupor that these are identities or interests that deserve our compassion,” those who have been tasked with uncovering the truth don’t seem to care about actually finding it.

    The 20-year-old gunman who attempted to murder President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, last year had a horrific online footprint and was using they/them pronouns online.

    “This person is messing with gender fluidity, which again, had become a sexual fetish and that this had manifested itself in the demonic identity of being they/them. Now, this person is clearly unwell for a lot of reasons,” Stuckey explains.

    “He had an online footprint that included extreme rhetoric espousing political violence as far back as 2019 when he was only 15 years old. He apparently was a former Trump supporter. He left violent threats against ‘the Squad.’ He wished them a quick and painful death,” she continues.

    “He wrote things in 2019 like ‘murder the Democrats.’ Then he also would apparently search for things that were violent like Kennedy’s assassination,” she adds.

    In 2020, however, it all changed.

    “He became critical of Trump. He called Trump a ‘racist,’ referring to Trump supporters as ‘cult followers,’” Stuckey explains, noting that he publicly posted in YouTube comments that the “only way to fight the government is with terrorism style attacks.”

    “So I think it’s fair to question, like, why didn’t the FBI do something about this beforehand? Because the FBI actually is able to step in when someone is making these kinds of threats online,” she continues.

    “Why wasn’t this happening to this guy when we have so much intelligence,” she asks, “so many resources going to our intelligence agencies?”

    Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?

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  • Settling Afghans here puts America last Sat, 06 Dec 2025 14:30:00 +0000


    I have a longtime friend — I’ll omit his name because he is somewhat politically prominent — who has been very involved in the extraction of Afghans who allegedly helped us from Afghanistan and resettlement of them in the United States. My friend already has a demanding job, but he has often worked through the night, forgoing sleep to help with this task.

    I have several strong political disagreements with him, but I would never question his patriotism. He voluntarily served as a soldier in Afghanistan after overcoming great obstacles to be accepted into the military. But I would strongly question his political judgment and the judgment of anyone who thinks we should be settling Afghan refugees in America.

    'The second the US military backed out, their men folded and refused to fight for what we gave them. We don’t owe them, they owe us.'

    Unfortunately, a number of our former soldiers, no matter how sincere their beliefs, seem to sympathize more with people in a foreign country whom they believed, rightly or wrongly, to be allies rather than with the interests of the only country to which they owe their allegiance.

    Joe Kent, an Afghanistan combat veteran and director of the National Counterterrorism Center, argued on social media for the deportation of all of our “Afghan allies.”

    “Vetting a foreigner in a war zone to determine if he will fight a common enemy is vastly different than vetting a foreigner to see if he is suitable to live in our country,” Kent wrote.

    As journalist Daniel Greenfield notes, the targeted attack on two National Guardsmen by an Afghan national in Washington, D.C., the day before Thanksgiving was not a one-off. It’s part of an extensive series of assaults by Afghans whom we have foolishly allowed to resettle in the United States.

    Unbridgeable inequalities

    Having lived briefly in a third-world country and having traveled for many years in various countries of that description, I have quickly learned to be wary of “friendships.” It is not that people in these countries are inherently bad or incapable of genuine friendship in principle. It is that the gap between you (a well-off American) and them (a third-world citizen who, even if relatively affluent, is often at a huge disadvantage versus an American) is astronomical.

    And that gap is not just financial and legal, but also based on traditions and customs. Relationships that may feel like genuine friendship for a time usually come with future requests or pleas for assistance. Again, I don’t necessarily blame these people — I might do the same in their shoes — and of course genuine friendships in such situations are possible, but they are far rarer than idealists might wish them to be.

    What applies in basically peaceful third-world countries applies a thousandfold in an impoverished, war-torn, and primitive country like Afghanistan. It is monstrously arrogant to think the American political class understands deeply the inner workings of these countries and the motivations of the people there, given that we spent almost $1 trillion to occupy Afghanistan, only to see all of our efforts collapse within a week after we removed our military as a threat of force.

    Wade Miller, the executive director of Citizens for Renewing America and a U.S. Marine combat veteran, responded to the claim that resettling Afghans was the moral thing to do since they “fought alongside our own” soldiers, rightly calling it a “BS metric.” As he noted, “1. Many played both sides. 2. Many only did it to make money. 3. Many were plants. 4. Many had long-standing tribal grudges against the Taliban.”

    And none of them necessarily has a long-term loyalty to America, which is the first step to assess before even beginning to consider a claim of residency.

    All of this would be obvious to anyone who does not let suicidal empathy overwhelm good sense. But unfortunately, we have lost that common sense, even among many of our supposedly hardened fighting forces.

    ‘We don’t owe them’

    Miller punctures the lie that we owe these Afghans for “doing America a favor,” pointing out that we did them a favor by expending American lives and treasure to help them govern themselves without the Taliban. But “the second the U.S. military backed out, their men folded and refused to fight for what we gave them. We don’t owe them, they owe us.”

    This is a harsh assessment, but in the aggregate, it is not unfair.

    Or consider what Mark Lucas, an Afghanistan veteran and founder of the Article III Project, has written: “Afghans were untrustworthy allies who sold their children to pedophiles, ritually raped little boys, and beat their women.” He notes that without male soldiers guarding them, countless local Afghans made clear that they would have raped the women who were attached to their detachment.

    RELATED: Trump makes America dangerous again — to our enemies

    Jim Watson/Getty Images

    Lucas points out that even asking simple questions of potential Afghan asylum-seekers, such as whether they support putting apostates to death, child marriage, Sharia for non-Muslims, defense of suicide bombings, polygamy, and honor killings, would quickly disqualify them. The vast majority of Afghans, he says, support one or more of these views — none of which are compatible with the American way of life.

    One of the few Afghan refugees who resettled in my own state of Montana promptly raped a Montanan shortly after his arrival. Unsurprisingly, the crime and its implications were shamefully underreported by local media.

    Toward a more sober policy

    Even assuming we have an obligation to those we believed helped us in Afghanistan, it would mean we were obligated to get them to safety — not get them to America. If we had made it clear at the outset that relocating to America was not on offer, we would have see a drastic reduction in the number of “refugees.” We can and should resettle them in other countries. Making arrangements to do that is a worthy use of American soft power.

    The notion that resettling Afghans in America is a moral duty reflects Joe Biden’s poor political leadership. His administration and previous ones before it had become arrogant about their ability to control events and remake complex societies and peoples far different from our own. In reality, their policies promoted cultural arrogance under the guise of friendship. They abandoned our own in favor of those from distant cultures and lands.

    Let us hope that President Trump’s promise to refuse all new Afghan visas and to remove postwar arrivals and resettle them elsewhere is the start of a more sober, realistic, and serious refugee policy that will put the interests of America and its citizens first.

    Editor’s note: A version of this article appeared originally at the American Mind.

  • University of Minnesota faces backlash over project that seeks to cure the 'Whiteness Pandemic' Sat, 06 Dec 2025 13:00:00 +0000


    The Trump administration has worked with great success over the past year to dismantle racist DEI initiatives in government and public education across the country. Nevertheless leftist identity politics continue to linger in various taxpayer-funded institutions.

    The parental advocacy group Defending Education recently highlighted that the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, which received $628 million in federal research awards in the 2024 fiscal year, is harboring an anti-white research project that claims America is suffering from a "Whiteness Pandemic."

    'Family socialization into the centuries-old culture of Whiteness — involving colorblindness, passivity, and fragility — perpetrates and perpetuates US racism.'

    Rhyen Staley, research director at Defending Education, said in a statement obtained by Blaze News, "This far-left programming at a major public university is another example of how ingrained DEI is in higher education and is not going away any time soon."

    The UMTC's Culture and Family Lab, which is part of the school's Institute of Child Development, has a page titled, "Whiteness Pandemic Resources for Parents, Educators and other Caregivers."

    The website:

    • characterizes the white family as a threat, stating, "At birth, young children growing up in White families begin to be socialized into the culture of Whiteness, making the family system one of the most powerful systems involved in systemic racism";
    • tells white adults that it is their "responsibility to self-reflect, re-educate [themselves], and act" and that they need to engage "in courageous antiracist parenting/caregiving";
    • recommends white adults begin "listening to, taking seriously, and following the stories and recommendations" of the scandal-plagued Black Lives Matter organization and "humanizing victims of police brutality and racism — such as Mr. George Floyd"; and
    • links to various works of agitprop for parents to "read and watch with children as part of a discussion about race, racism, white privilege, and antiracism."

    While the website references content from various radical sources, it largely focuses on a 2021 paper by the lab's director, Gail Ferguson, titled "The Whiteness pandemic behind the racism pandemic: Familial Whiteness socialization in Minneapolis following #GeorgeFloyd’s murder."

    RELATED: Woke lecturer cries 'white supremacy' after MAGA-racist smear doesn't go as planned

    Photo by KEREM YUCEL/AFP via Getty Images

    The paper, which was published in the journal American Psychologist and dedicated to repeat offender George Floyd, claims that "family socialization into the centuries-old culture of Whiteness — involving colorblindness, passivity, and fragility — perpetrates and perpetuates U.S. racism, reflecting an insidious Whiteness pandemic."

    While generally implying that "Whiteness" is a disease, the UMTC professor suggested that "color-evasion and power-evasion" specifically are "pathogens of the Whiteness pandemic" that "are inexorably transmitted within families, with White parents serving as carriers to their children unless they take active preventive measures rooted in antiracism and equity-promotion."

    According to Ferguson, who is black, and the paper's other authors, one litmus test for whether a white mother is helping spread the supposed "Whiteness" disease comes down to how that mother responded to George Floyd's death.

    A mother's apathy over the criminal's death and her unwillingness to discuss so-called "systemic racism" with her children were treated as indicators that she approves of or is at the very least indifferent to imagined racism. Alternatively the willingness of mothers to express grief and concern over Floyd's death and to discuss it "and Black Lives Matter with their children using color- and power-conscious parenting" were regarded as signs of a desired "antiracist" mentality.

    The authors stressed that to dismantle "colorblind racial ideology," white students should be subjected to "racism and antiracism education," especially at a young age, and that "it will be important to go beyond how White women learn to say the right things to also consider how they learn to do the right things and actually 'show up' for racial justice."

    The basis for the conclusions in the paper was a survey of 392 white mothers, 51% of whom were "somewhat or very liberal," 18% of whom were "somewhat or very conservative," and over 91% of whom had a bachelor's degree or higher.

    The racist initiative was made possible with the help of federal funds provided by the National Institute of Mental Health during former President Joe Biden's tenure.

    When asked about the anti-white project, the UMTC told the National Review that it remains "steadfast in its commitment to the principles of academic freedom." The NIMH reportedly did not respond to the Review's request for comment.

    "It is not only concerning that these programs appear to still be up and running, but that absurd ideas like 'whiteness' also gain legitimacy through dubious activist-academic 'scholarship,'" said Staley. "Universities must end this nonsense yesterday."

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  • How to win the opioid fight Sat, 06 Dec 2025 11:30:00 +0000


    Despite thousands of lawsuits against OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma now being settled, the opioid crisis continues to devastate families and communities. This is why there are massive national efforts to expand addiction treatment, develop non-opioid pain alternatives, promote natural remedies, and confront the Mexican drug cartels flooding America with fentanyl. In recent years, opioid-related deaths have finally begun to decline, suggesting that those initiatives are starting to make a real impact. But that progress may already be slowing.

    The introduction of work requirements for Medicaid eligibility under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is producing unintended consequences for people in addiction recovery. Early studies show that declines in Medicaid enrollment correlate with drops in the number of patients receiving treatment for opioid use disorder. Because Medicaid is the primary source for buprenorphine and addiction services, these enrollment changes threaten fragile but meaningful recovery gains.

    Conservatives champion individual responsibility — but responsibility also requires ensuring that systems meant to help people reclaim their lives aren’t working against them.

    Work requirements aren’t the problem — they’re sound policy to preserve the financial stability and original intention of the program. The real issue is Medicaid’s regulatory structure, which is too rigid and dysfunctional to absorb yet another layer of complexity.

    This crisis didn’t begin with work requirements. Medicaid’s own structure, combined with state policies, had been restricting access to effective OUD treatment for years. Patients face prior-authorization delays, prescriber rules that block lifesaving medications, and certificate-of-need laws that stop treatment centers from opening or expanding. Policymakers often claim these rules protect patients or control costs. In practice, they have choked off reliable care and pushed people in recovery farther from the help they need.

    In states where prescriber limits and facility restrictions already make treatment scarce, adjusting Medicaid eligibility has a serious impact on the availability of buprenorphine providers. The problem lies in creating a policy that requires personal responsibility within an already bureaucratic structure that actively slows treatment access. When enrollment pressures combine with supply constraints caused by CON laws and prescription rules, the result is fewer people getting the care that keeps them alive.

    This is especially true in Appalachia, which is ground zero of the opioid crisis. Pennsylvania explicitly prohibits off-site methadone “medication units,” while legislation has been floated in West Virginia that aims to ban methadone clinics. Local governments across the region routinely block zoning permits for treatment facilities, often caving to community pushback rather than addressing a staggering public health emergency. Many states still impose CON laws, restricting the ability of hospitals and clinics to add new treatment beds or open new treatment programs.

    RELATED: Trump faces drugmakers that treat sick Americans like ATMs

    Trump faces drugmakers that treat sick Americans like ATMs Credit: Photo by Pete Marovich/Getty Images

    On the provider side, well-intentioned prescribing rules have created even more barriers. Despite a dire shortage of addiction specialists, many states limit the prescription of OUD medications to certain providers, leaving primary care doctors — who could dramatically expand treatment access — underutilized or prevented from issuing prescriptions. Lawmakers have inadvertently created a bottleneck: too few qualified providers and too many hoops to jump through for those who want to treat addiction.

    As the Trump administration continues to build a populist coalition that includes voters from Western Pennsylvania, Ohio, and other communities deeply scarred by opioid addiction, it must confront this reality head-on. Doing so does not require abandoning conservative principles, nor does it mean reversing work requirements. Those reforms remain both necessary and widely popular. But a serious conservative health care agenda must recognize that Medicaid’s regulatory architecture is undermining progress against opioid addiction — and America cannot afford to lose ground now.

    Conservatives champion individual responsibility — but responsibility also requires ensuring that systems designed to help people reclaim their lives aren’t working against them. Addressing Medicaid’s regulatory failures is not just good policy; it is essential to sustaining progress in one of the most consequential public health fights of our time.

    Editor’s note: A version of this article was published originally at the American Mind.

  • 14- and 16-year-old boys arrested for brutal murder of 14-year-old girl, Florida police say Sat, 06 Dec 2025 10:30:00 +0000


    Two teenage boys have been arrested for allegedly shooting and killing a 14-year-old and then lighting her body on fire.

    Danika Troy was reported missing by her mother on Monday, according to Santa Rosa County Sheriff Bob Johnson, who conducted a media briefing on Thursday.

    'The evidence pointed to them immediately. They took them into custody immediately.'

    A day later, the girl's badly burned remains were found by a man walking near Kimberly Road in Floridatown.

    Police said they identified the remains as belonging to Troy because her mother had reported that she left with a scooter, and it was found near the remains. They also found shoes that matched those she was wearing.

    Johnson said that a witness told police that 16-year-old Gabriel Williams and 14-year-old Kimahri Blevins had planned the murder of the girl.

    In an interview with police, Blevins allegedly said he blocked Troy after they had a falling out on social media. Williams also said he was upset with something Troy had said, according to police.

    But a possible motive is still undetermined.

    "They have been interviewed, but the motive that we're getting doesn't fit the forensics or any facts of the case," Johnson said.

    The sheriff said Williams stole the gun they used from his mother.

    "It's bad enough that you kill a 14-year-old; you're 14, you're 16, you shoot her multiple times, and then you set her on fire," Johnson added.

    The state attorney's office said a grand jury will determine whether the boys should be tried as adults.

    RELATED: California man convicted of brutally attacking his son with a sledgehammer while he slept

    "This is what major crimes calls a ground ball," Johnson said. "The evidence pointed to them immediately. They took them into custody immediately."

    Williams and Blevins were each charged with first-degree premeditated murder. They both are in custody at the Santa Rosa Juvenile Detention Center.

    "It shocks me," neighbor Sue Petrisch said. "It's always been so quiet here, and it's getting bad. It's terrifying, in fact."

    A candlelight vigil is planned to honor the victim on Monday at Avalon Baptist Church. A GoFundMe account has been set up to help pay for her burial costs.

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  • Glenn Beck BURIES the 5 biggest Hitler myths circulating right now with original Nazi documents Sat, 06 Dec 2025 10:00:00 +0000


    The idea that Adolf Hitler was some misunderstood or even "good" figure while Winston Churchill was the real WWII villain was once confined to the extreme fringes and unknown to almost everyone else. Today, however, the idea has resurfaced with disturbing visibility — no longer limited to neo-Nazi forums but now defended or entertained on major podcasts, viral social-media threads, and platforms with tens of millions of listeners and viewers.

    Glenn Beck, a lover of history and collector of historical artifacts, is appalled that this revisionist narrative is being taken seriously.

    “I really don't get it. History, real history, is not a choose-your-own-adventure kind of thing. It's ink on paper, orders in filing cabinets, telegrams, diaries, bodies. It's what actually happened, not what we hope happened,” he says.

    On this episode of “The Glenn Beck Program,” Glenn sets the record straight about Hitler, Churchill, and WWII.

    Lie #1: Poland wasn’t part of Hitler’s conquest plan

    “Let me just say this calmly, factually, and finally: Germany's plans for Poland were not reactive. They were premeditated,” he asserts.

    The faulty idea pushed by Hitler rehabilitators that Britain conned the West into going to war by promising to defend Poland is easily debunked with an artifact Glenn has in his possession. “It’s called Fall Weiss,” he says. “It's Hitler's operational blueprint for the invasion of Poland, drafted in 1938, a year before [British Prime Minister Neville] Chamberlain said, ‘We're going to guarantee [Poland’s] safety."’

    “Hitler's explicitly stated road map [targeted] Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, then the East,” he explains. “Britain didn't pull Germany into war. Germany was already marching toward war — global war.”

    Lie #2: Hitler had no Western ambitions

    The second WWII fallacy that demands debunking, he says, is the idea that Hitler had “no Western ambitions” and actually wanted peace with Britain.

    “Really? Because we have the paper trail again,” Glenn retorts.

    “How do you explain Operation Sea Lion — Hitler's detailed plan to invade and occupy Great Britain?” he asks. “You don't draw up amphibious landing schedules across the English Channel just in case.”

    But before this plot was even fathomed, Hitler had already tried to tee himself up to dominant Britain. In May 1941, Hitler’s second in command, Rudolf Hess, secretly flew a plane to Scotland with a mission of trying to make a “peace deal” with Britain. The offer, Glenn says, was this: “Let Hitler dominate Europe, and Germany would leave Britain alone.”

    He had Nazi sympathizers in high British society — including the ex-King Edward VIII, who had openly praised Hitler and was willing to be put back on the throne as a Nazi puppet if Germany invaded.

    “The Nazi files recovered after the war show explicit German plans to reinstall him after an occupation,” says Glenn. “Hitler was not avoiding conflict with Britain; he was planning its subversion.”

    Lie #3: Hitler was initially friendly toward America

    The idea that Hitler admired America and never wanted to go to war with her is another idea that easily crumbles under the weight of basic logic.

    Hitler’s ideology stands in contrast in every way possible to that of the United States.

    “Hitler believed the state was supreme, that the German people existed for the Reich. In America, the Constitution is supreme, and it exists to limit the states. Rights come from the furor and the government in [Nazi] Germany; in America, rights come from God, and the government is the servant, not the master,” Glenn differentiates.

    “The individual in Germany: expendable. The West is built on the sanctity of the individual. Racial hierarchy is destiny in [Nazi] Germany. The West, at its best, rejects racial supremacy. The Declaration starts with ‘all men are created equal’ — not ‘some races are destined to rule.’ Nowhere in our documents does it say the state must expand endlessly,”’ he continues.

    Lie #4: The US should’ve sided with Hitler over Stalin — the greater evil

    “People are arguing now that the Allies should have sided with Hitler instead of Stalin. No rational reading of history supports any of that,” says Glenn.

    While “Hitler and Stalin were both monstrous,” the U.S. was forced to choose “survival.”

    “The question for us was no longer, ‘Hey, which dictator is better?’ The question was, ‘Which outcome prevents Hitler from ruling all of Europe?’ Because if Hitler defeated the Soviet Union, the resources of the East — all the oil, all the grain, all the industry, all the manpower — would have made the Third Reich unstoppable,” Glenn corrects.

    But even still, “We knew at the time Stalin was just as bad. We knew we were going to be in war with Stalin at some point.”

    Lie #5: Winston Churchill was the real WWII villain

    Nobody could see Stalin’s wickedness more than Winston Churchill, says Glenn. “He was the one saying, ‘We can't have this guy as an ally."’

    Even still, it’s “not about defending Churchill, who I think is a hero; but it's about defending the record, the truth, so in our moment of confusion and upheaval and ideological extremism, we don't lose our footing on the bedrock of fact.”

    “When we begin to question whether the West should have resisted Hitler, where are we going? When we entertain the idea that freedom and tyranny could have co-existed, you're not just rearranging interpretations; you're reopening a door millions died to close,” Glenn warns.

    “Be very careful when someone tells you the villain wasn't really the villain. Woe unto him who makes evil good and good evil.”

    To hear more of Glenn’s commentary, watch the video above.

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  • Redistricting bill passes Indiana House but will face opposition in Senate — from some Republicans Sat, 06 Dec 2025 00:05:12 +0000


    The Indiana House of Representatives passed a controversial bill that would redistrict the state and possibly flip two seats to the Republican column in the midterm elections.

    Fifty-seven members voted for the bill, while 41 voted against it. The bill will go to the Indiana Senate, where some Republicans have said they oppose the redistricting effort.

    'Fair maps are essential to protecting Hoosiers' voices in Washington, and today the House voted to do just that.'

    Republican Indiana Gov. Mike Braun urged the Senate to pass the bill.

    "Fair maps are essential to protecting Hoosiers' voices in Washington, and today the House voted to do just that, delivering a strong congressional map," Braun said. "I commend Speaker Huston and his caucus for having the courage to protect Hoosier voters. I urge the Senate to move quickly next week and adopt this map so Indiana can move forward with confidence."

    However, efforts to persuade state Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray, a Republican, to support the bill have failed so far.

    Another Republican said that she received a threat over her opposition to the redistricting bill.

    "Unfortunately, my house was the target of a pipe bomb threat on Saturday evening. This is a result of the D.C. political pundits for redistricting," state Sen. Jean Leising wrote on social media.

    Trump has blasted those Republicans as "RINOs," an epithet meaning "Republican in name only."

    RELATED: Supreme Court allows Texas redistricting map for midterm elections; liberals dissent

    Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita cited the Supreme Court's temporary approval of the Texas redistricting map for the midterms to justify his support of the bill.

    "This specific map is legally solid. If any group or individual is silly enough to sue, we will defeat their attack in court," Rokita said. "As the United States Supreme Court emphasized once again last night, redistricting for political reasons is constitutional. In fact, the Court has said that redistricting belongs in the legislature — in the hands of the people's elected representatives, not judges."

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  • Somali fraud inspires Democrats to assimilate to Somalian culture Sat, 06 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000


    When BlazeTV host Christopher Rufo penned an exposé on the rampant Somali fraud in Minnesota — which saw billions of taxpayer dollars go to Somalia and terrorist groups — he wasn’t aware the story would blow up like it did.

    “The Somali fraud story that we’ve been talking about for the last few weeks is, to my great surprise, still dominating the headlines. And oftentimes when you’re talking about the news, you go week by week by week,” Rufo explains on “Rufo & Lomez.”

    “Stories have a trajectory where they hit orbit, and then they are spinning and gaining power for weeks and in some cases more than a month. And this is one of those stories. ... We launched it, and now it’s really taken on a life of its own,” he continues.


    And the Democrats, like Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, are not only refusing to realistically address the fraud; they’re making sure the story never dies.

    “To our Somali community, we love you, and we stand with you. Our police, many of whom are Somali themselves, are trusted partners in keeping people safe. They will not collaborate with any federal agency around doing immigration enforcement work,” Frey announced following the news of fraud.

    “Our city staff and our law enforcement will not ask the question as to whether an individual is documented or not. That’s not American. That’s not what we are about. And we’re going to do right by every single person in our cities,’ he continued.

    Frey then attempted to speak in what appeared to be very painful Somali.

    “That really sums it up,” Rufo jokes, before pointing to something co-host Jonathan “Lomez” Keeperman said regarding assimilation.

    “You had a great point. You said the liberal myth is that these groups come and become American. But in this case, it’s the precise opposite,” he says. “These groups come, and the Americans become Somalian.”

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  • Democrat claims she was pepper-sprayed by ICE — but her video and DHS say otherwise Fri, 05 Dec 2025 23:45:00 +0000


    A Democratic U.S. representative appeared to undermine her own accusations against federal agents when she posted a video of herself claiming to have been pepper-sprayed at a protest.

    The newly sworn-in Rep. Adelita Grijalva of Arizona said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials pepper-sprayed her during a raid at a taco restaurant in Tucson on Friday.

    'If her claims were true, this would be a medical marvel. But they're not true. She wasn't pepper sprayed.'

    "ICE just conducted a raid by Taco Giro in Tucson — a small mom-and-pop restaurant that has served our community for years," reads a post from the politician. "When I presented myself as a Member of Congress asking for more information, I was pushed-aside and pepper sprayed."

    She said in the video that there had been about 40 agents in vehicles, most of them masked, but that the community stopped them. She claimed she and her staffers were pepper-sprayed and she was pushed, despite identifying herself as a member of Congress.

    "While I am fine, if that is the way they treat me, how are they treating other community members who do not have the same privileges and protections that I do?" she added.

    Many on social media pointed out that she didn't have the appearance of someone who had been pepper-sprayed.

    Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, gave a spirited response to the Democrat's claims.

    "If her claims were true, this would be a medical marvel. But they're not true. She wasn't pepper sprayed. She was in the vicinity of someone who *was* pepper sprayed as they were obstructing and assaulting law enforcement," McLaughlin wrote.

    She went on to say that two agents were seriously injured by the mob that Grijalva joined.

    RELATED: Church worker pretended to be ICE agent to extort $500 from massage therapist, police say

    "Presenting one's self as a 'Member of Congress' doesn't give you the right to obstruct law enforcement," McLaughlin added.

    Grijalva said she happened to be getting lunch at the taco place when the raid operation began. She coughed once in the video and said it was because of the pepper spray.

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  • RFK's alleged sexting partner splits with another publication amid scandal-ridden book release Fri, 05 Dec 2025 23:18:00 +0000


    Olivia Nuzzi's fall from grace continues as she parts ways with another magazine.

    Once a rising star in the journalism world, Nuzzi was first fired from the New Yorker in 2024 after news broke of her alleged sexting with then-presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., breaking the most basic forms of journalistic ethics and collapsing her engagement to then-Politico reporter Ryan Lizza. Nuzzi was later picked up by Vanity Fair to be West Coast editor.

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