@The Blaze
Four years and 60 days after Thomas Edward Caldwell was thrown on the hood of an FBI sedan during a predawn SWAT raid of his Virginia farm over alleged Jan. 6 crimes, justice finally came calling — courtesy of President Donald J. Trump.Exactly 1,520 days after Caldwell was accused of being an Oath Keepers leader who plotted to attack the U.S. Capitol, President Trump signed a “full and unconditional pardon” for the service-disabled U.S. Navy veteran.'That's a DC way of saying the government got it wrong.'Caldwell, 70, of Berryville, Va., was neither an Oath Keeper nor a leader of the organization made up of military veterans, law enforcement officials, and first responders. Nor did his colorful language and pointed statements in private messages and on social media constitute a plot to attack the Capitol. But that did not stop the FBI and Department of Justice from attempting to make that narrative stick in front of a jury.Caldwell said the chilling thought is what could have happened if the November 2024 presidential election went the other way.“We are so grateful to President Trump, because if he had not been elected, this day of justice would not have arrived,” Caldwell told Blaze News. “I mean, this is almost like Old Testament day of jubilee stuff here, considering how many years we’ve been under the boot heels.”Originally received commutationWhen President Trump issued his pardon declaration on Jan. 20, Caldwell’s name was among 14 Proud Boys and Oath Keepers who were given sentence commutations. That did nothing for Caldwell, who went home from his Jan. 10 sentencing hearing a free man, sentenced to time served and a $100 fine. At the time, he expressed hope the president would “upgrade” to a full pardon at some point.Defense attorney David W. Fischer began lobbying for a pardon before President Trump took office.“Of the hundreds of J6ers who are worthy of presidential pardons, Mr. Caldwell is arguably first among equals,” Fischer told Blaze News on Jan. 14.After learning of Caldwell’s pardon, Fischer said the bottom line is the federal government simply got it wrong in its prosecution of his client.“At the time Tom went on trial, progressive D.C. juries had not acquitted a single January 6 defendant of a single count — 65 guilty counts, 0 not guilty,” Fischer told Blaze News.'Didn’t even mind the tear gas.'“Tom was acquitted of three major conspiracy counts, the Supreme Court exonerated him on a fourth count, and a federal judge sentenced him to a slap on wrist,” Fischer said. “That’s a D.C. way of saying the government got it wrong.”On Nov. 29, 2022, a jury found Caldwell not guilty of felony seditious conspiracy, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy to prevent members of Congress from discharging their duties.He was found guilty of obstruction of an official proceeding, a charge eventually dropped after a landmark 2024 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. So he was left facing a felony charge of tampering with documents for deleting his own exculpatory photos in a private message sent via Facebook Messenger. Those photos were on his phone and Caldwell said he never tried to hide them.The Caldwells went to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6 due to concerns the 2020 election had been stolen. The closest they got to inside the Capitol was the Lower West Terrace, and they retreated from there after five minutes.Caldwell said brash things in messages to friends, including a suggestion he wipe his rear end using the doorknob to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office. In his sentencing memo, Fischer described Caldwell as “more akin to a loud-mouth Walter Mitty than the Rambo-type figure the government has portrayed him.” Thomas and Sharon Caldwell at a high school reunion event in 2024.Photo courtesy of Sharon CaldwellThe DOJ originally sought 14 years in prison for Caldwell, who during the length of his case had a total hip replacement and a spinal fusion. Caldwell has a 100% service disability from a progressively deteriorating back injury caused by a mortar round while he was on a classified mission in the Philippines. He was an intelligence officer in the Navy. After the U.S. Supreme Court essentially shut down the obstruction of an official proceeding charge, the DOJ still wanted Caldwell to go to prison for four years. Fischer argued for a sentence of time served.Caldwell said he is still amazed the legacy media is parroting the same talking points as it did in January 2021. Two days after Caldwell’s Jan. 19 arrest, the Washington Post quoted one of Caldwell’s messages to friends on Jan. 6.“Us storming the castle. Please share. Sharon was right with me! I am such an instigator! She was ready for it man! Didn’t even mind the tear gas,” the message read. The so-called update Caldwell sent out was nonsense. Neither he nor Sharon went into the Capitol, and they were never tear-gassed.That same day, the New York Times published an article calling Caldwell “an apparent leader of the far-right Oath Keepers.”“It was totally nonsensical,” Caldwell told Blaze News. “And they [media] are getting all their stuff all that time directly from the DOJ.”Caldwell said four years later, nothing has changed.Same old falsehoods“It’s a little disappointing to see the same falsehoods repeated over and over and over again, even in the wake of this good news,” he said. “The AP and UPI and all these people are saying, ‘Hey, he was an Oath Keeper and he did this.’ No, that’s not true. Gosh, they can’t even get my age correct.”The Caldwells said they want to ensure that what happened to Tom Caldwell will not happen to anyone else, whether it was the abuse suffered in custody, the trial tainted with perjured police testimony, or the judge’s refusal to entertain a change of venue based on studies showing deep bias in D.C.“The 53 days that I spent being mistreated in prison were to the very limits of what this old body could handle,” Caldwell said. “I mean, I am a veteran, I’m a disabled veteran. I’m a severely disabled veteran. And it was the Lord that pulled me through and my loving wife.”Caldwell said he wants to see the FBI records of his three-hour interrogation on Jan. 19, 2021.“I’ll tell you the transcripts of that, which will never see the light of day,” Caldwell said, “are extremely telling because so much of their questioning was, ‘Well, why do you like Trump? Why do you follow Trump?’” Thomas Caldwell working on his Virginia farm before the Jan. 6 prosecution forced him to sell his animals and farm equipment. Photos courtesy of Sharon CaldwellThe Caldwells said they harbor no anger at prosecutors and do not wish any of them to be sent to jail, but the full story of what they did during the Oath Keepers trial needs to be released to the public.“We try to pray for these folks,” Sharon Caldwell said. “And honestly, I can't speak for Tom, but I can say as time has gone by, and certainly now that we have this great outcome, I really don't, when I think about them, I do not have anger and bitterness in me.”To finance Caldwell’s defense, the couple said they had to sell off their farm animals and farm equipment. The farm was saved, but they said it’s not clear how they can rebuild what they had. They have received prayers and financial support through a special Save Our Farm website, which Sharon Caldwell said would soon be updated with Tom’s pardon.“We’ve got this beautiful little piece of land that I grew up on that I worked shoulder-to-shoulder with my late parents and my sister, my widowed sister,” Caldwell said. “And we look out here and there are no farm animals. There’s no equipment. We don’t have any of that. We just don’t know how we’re going to rebuild our lives. We hope that we can.”While the federal judicial system needs reform, Caldwell said, in a way, the system worked in his case — just with a little help.“I guess you could say the system did work out, but it took our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” Caldwell said. “It took the support of people all across this country and in our local community."“And it took a guy getting elected to the presidency this past November that a lot of people think is riding to the rescue of our republic. It took all of those things to bring us freedom today.”Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
https://www.theblaze.com/news/justice-finally-arrives-for-newly-pardoned-former-jan-6-defendant-thomas-caldwell
Four years and 60 days after Thomas Edward Caldwell was thrown on the hood of an FBI sedan during a predawn SWAT raid of his Virginia farm over alleged Jan. 6 crimes, justice finally came calling — courtesy of President Donald J. Trump.Exactly 1,520 days after Caldwell was accused of being an Oath Keepers leader who plotted to attack the U.S. Capitol, President Trump signed a “full and unconditional pardon” for the service-disabled U.S. Navy veteran.'That's a DC way of saying the government got it wrong.'Caldwell, 70, of Berryville, Va., was neither an Oath Keeper nor a leader of the organization made up of military veterans, law enforcement officials, and first responders. Nor did his colorful language and pointed statements in private messages and on social media constitute a plot to attack the Capitol. But that did not stop the FBI and Department of Justice from attempting to make that narrative stick in front of a jury.Caldwell said the chilling thought is what could have happened if the November 2024 presidential election went the other way.“We are so grateful to President Trump, because if he had not been elected, this day of justice would not have arrived,” Caldwell told Blaze News. “I mean, this is almost like Old Testament day of jubilee stuff here, considering how many years we’ve been under the boot heels.”Originally received commutationWhen President Trump issued his pardon declaration on Jan. 20, Caldwell’s name was among 14 Proud Boys and Oath Keepers who were given sentence commutations. That did nothing for Caldwell, who went home from his Jan. 10 sentencing hearing a free man, sentenced to time served and a $100 fine. At the time, he expressed hope the president would “upgrade” to a full pardon at some point.Defense attorney David W. Fischer began lobbying for a pardon before President Trump took office.“Of the hundreds of J6ers who are worthy of presidential pardons, Mr. Caldwell is arguably first among equals,” Fischer told Blaze News on Jan. 14.After learning of Caldwell’s pardon, Fischer said the bottom line is the federal government simply got it wrong in its prosecution of his client.“At the time Tom went on trial, progressive D.C. juries had not acquitted a single January 6 defendant of a single count — 65 guilty counts, 0 not guilty,” Fischer told Blaze News.'Didn’t even mind the tear gas.'“Tom was acquitted of three major conspiracy counts, the Supreme Court exonerated him on a fourth count, and a federal judge sentenced him to a slap on wrist,” Fischer said. “That’s a D.C. way of saying the government got it wrong.”On Nov. 29, 2022, a jury found Caldwell not guilty of felony seditious conspiracy, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy to prevent members of Congress from discharging their duties.He was found guilty of obstruction of an official proceeding, a charge eventually dropped after a landmark 2024 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. So he was left facing a felony charge of tampering with documents for deleting his own exculpatory photos in a private message sent via Facebook Messenger. Those photos were on his phone and Caldwell said he never tried to hide them.The Caldwells went to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6 due to concerns the 2020 election had been stolen. The closest they got to inside the Capitol was the Lower West Terrace, and they retreated from there after five minutes.Caldwell said brash things in messages to friends, including a suggestion he wipe his rear end using the doorknob to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office. In his sentencing memo, Fischer described Caldwell as “more akin to a loud-mouth Walter Mitty than the Rambo-type figure the government has portrayed him.” Thomas and Sharon Caldwell at a high school reunion event in 2024.Photo courtesy of Sharon CaldwellThe DOJ originally sought 14 years in prison for Caldwell, who during the length of his case had a total hip replacement and a spinal fusion. Caldwell has a 100% service disability from a progressively deteriorating back injury caused by a mortar round while he was on a classified mission in the Philippines. He was an intelligence officer in the Navy. After the U.S. Supreme Court essentially shut down the obstruction of an official proceeding charge, the DOJ still wanted Caldwell to go to prison for four years. Fischer argued for a sentence of time served.Caldwell said he is still amazed the legacy media is parroting the same talking points as it did in January 2021. Two days after Caldwell’s Jan. 19 arrest, the Washington Post quoted one of Caldwell’s messages to friends on Jan. 6.“Us storming the castle. Please share. Sharon was right with me! I am such an instigator! She was ready for it man! Didn’t even mind the tear gas,” the message read. The so-called update Caldwell sent out was nonsense. Neither he nor Sharon went into the Capitol, and they were never tear-gassed.That same day, the New York Times published an article calling Caldwell “an apparent leader of the far-right Oath Keepers.”“It was totally nonsensical,” Caldwell told Blaze News. “And they [media] are getting all their stuff all that time directly from the DOJ.”Caldwell said four years later, nothing has changed.Same old falsehoods“It’s a little disappointing to see the same falsehoods repeated over and over and over again, even in the wake of this good news,” he said. “The AP and UPI and all these people are saying, ‘Hey, he was an Oath Keeper and he did this.’ No, that’s not true. Gosh, they can’t even get my age correct.”The Caldwells said they want to ensure that what happened to Tom Caldwell will not happen to anyone else, whether it was the abuse suffered in custody, the trial tainted with perjured police testimony, or the judge’s refusal to entertain a change of venue based on studies showing deep bias in D.C.“The 53 days that I spent being mistreated in prison were to the very limits of what this old body could handle,” Caldwell said. “I mean, I am a veteran, I’m a disabled veteran. I’m a severely disabled veteran. And it was the Lord that pulled me through and my loving wife.”Caldwell said he wants to see the FBI records of his three-hour interrogation on Jan. 19, 2021.“I’ll tell you the transcripts of that, which will never see the light of day,” Caldwell said, “are extremely telling because so much of their questioning was, ‘Well, why do you like Trump? Why do you follow Trump?’” Thomas Caldwell working on his Virginia farm before the Jan. 6 prosecution forced him to sell his animals and farm equipment. Photos courtesy of Sharon CaldwellThe Caldwells said they harbor no anger at prosecutors and do not wish any of them to be sent to jail, but the full story of what they did during the Oath Keepers trial needs to be released to the public.“We try to pray for these folks,” Sharon Caldwell said. “And honestly, I can't speak for Tom, but I can say as time has gone by, and certainly now that we have this great outcome, I really don't, when I think about them, I do not have anger and bitterness in me.”To finance Caldwell’s defense, the couple said they had to sell off their farm animals and farm equipment. The farm was saved, but they said it’s not clear how they can rebuild what they had. They have received prayers and financial support through a special Save Our Farm website, which Sharon Caldwell said would soon be updated with Tom’s pardon.“We’ve got this beautiful little piece of land that I grew up on that I worked shoulder-to-shoulder with my late parents and my sister, my widowed sister,” Caldwell said. “And we look out here and there are no farm animals. There’s no equipment. We don’t have any of that. We just don’t know how we’re going to rebuild our lives. We hope that we can.”While the federal judicial system needs reform, Caldwell said, in a way, the system worked in his case — just with a little help.“I guess you could say the system did work out, but it took our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” Caldwell said. “It took the support of people all across this country and in our local community."“And it took a guy getting elected to the presidency this past November that a lot of people think is riding to the rescue of our republic. It took all of those things to bring us freedom today.”Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
https://www.theblaze.com/news/justice-finally-arrives-for-newly-pardoned-former-jan-6-defendant-thomas-caldwell
A California man has offered to plead guilty to plotting to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh over the Dobbs decision draft leak and the possible expansion of gun rights. Nicholas John Roske is accused of flying across the country in June 2022 and taking a taxi to the Maryland home of the justice while armed with a handgun and a knife. He was wearing all black and had zip ties with him but turned around after encountering Kavanaugh's security detail. 'I was under the delusion that I could make the world a better place by killing him.' Authorities said that Roske then called his sister, who persuaded him to call 911 and abandon his lethal mission. His attorneys said that Roske was “acutely suicidal, visibly exhausted, and had repeatedly expressed his need for psychiatric care," according to court filings. He was scheduled to go to trial in June, but his attorneys entered the plea agreement to the court this week. Roske apparently admitted in interviews with law enforcement that the leak of the draft of the Dobbs decision reversing Roe vs. Wade pushed him into the desperate plot. “I’ve been suicidal for a long time,” Roske allegedly said after his arrest. “And when I saw that the leaked draft, it made me upset and then it made me want to — I don’t know. … I was under the delusion that I could make the world a better place by killing him.”If the court accepts his guilty plea, Roske could face life in prison. Even some on the left were outraged at the lack of coverage given to the alleged assassination plot after details were released to the public. "If this had been a liberal Supreme Court justice that someone came to kill, it would have been on the front page," said Bill Maher at the time. Roske also reportedly identified himself in online forums as a "sissy slave" and a "trans gamer girl" named "Sophie." Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
The Department of Homeland Security announced it would update its U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services policy manual to recognize only two genders.The USCIS Policy Manual, which is described by the agency as a centralized online repository for immigration policies, said in a press release that it is returning to its historical policy of recognizing two biological sexes."There are only two sexes — male and female," DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin declared. "President Trump promised the American people a revolution of common sense, and that includes making sure that the policy of the U.S. government agrees with simple biological reality."'Our immigration system is ... not a place to promote and coddle.'DHS said it was remaining consistent with one of the president's first executive orders from January, titled Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.The order stated that ideologues across the country have denied the "biological reality" of sex through increased legal battles, as well as social coercion. The goal, the executive order continued, is to stop men's access to single-sex spaces and activities designed for women. This includes domestic abuse shelters, prisons, and even "workplace showers."McLaughlin added, "Proper management of our immigration system is a matter of national security, not a place to promote and coddle an ideology that permanently harms children and robs real women of their dignity, safety, and well-being."USCIS will henceforth determine sex by what is labeled on a person's birth certificate, or failing that, by using secondary evidence. Secondary evidence is defined as evidence that may demonstrate a fact is more likely than not to be true but does not derive from a primary, authoritative source.Examples of secondary evidence would be supplemental documentation, or sometimes, testimony alone.The department also noted it would not issue documents that have a blank sex field or have a sex different than what is labeled on a person's birth certificate.This issue becomes more complex as it pertains to immigration due to the vast number of countries that allow one's sex to be changed on official documents. These countries include many in the European Union, such as: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, and Sweden.Canada and most South American countries are included in this list, but changes remain illegal in Russia, most African countries, and several Central American countries as well.According to Equaldex, which maps the legality of legal gender changes across the world, 60 countries allow such changes, with 29 requiring gender surgery in order to gain recognition.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Yesterday, the Atlantic published an article titled "An ‘Administrative Error’ Sends a Maryland Father to a Salvadoran Prison.” The story claims that the Trump administration accidentally deported an innocent father living in Maryland with protected legal status, but now that he’s in an El Salvadorian “megaprison,” there’s nothing the courts can do about it. According to the article, the Trump administration acknowledged in a court filing that it made a mistake. “It’s absolutely fake news,” says Liz Wheeler. “This shouldn’t surprise us in the least given that this headline was generated by the Atlantic ... the same organization whose editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg is a notorious anti-Trump liar.” This story, she says, “is the exact same playbook that the left uses every time the Trump administration does anything related to immigration.” In Trump’s first term, “every time there was a border security bill that came before Congress, anytime there was a criminal illegal alien who committed a crime, anytime there was even the whisper of a deportation that would happen, we would suddenly get inundated with pictures of little children wrapped in tinfoil,” Liz recalls, noting that many of these images were taken during the Obama administration. This Atlantic story is just another media lie intended to thwart the president from carrying out his mandate. What’s the truth about this Maryland father then? “He’s an MS-13 gang member.” MS-13, Liz reminds, lives by the following motto: “Kill, rape, control.” “MS-13 gang members are known to cut out the living, beating hearts of live victims just for the fun of it, just to prove that they are more brutal and inhumane and demonic than anybody else,” she says. This “Maryland father” — Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, who “came from El Salvador [illegally] in 2011” — was “a ranking member of this gang.” During his immigration court proceedings back in 2019, ICE deemed him to be “a danger to the public” and “a flight risk.” “He was given final deportation orders, and yet those orders were never carried out” because the Biden administration operated under a “maximum acceptance” policy and so Garcia “was never kicked out of our nation,” says Liz. To hear more about Garcia and the heinous media plot to paint him as a victim, watch the episode above. Want more from Liz Wheeler?To enjoy more of Liz’s based commentary, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.
Why does Section 230 exist? Section 230 shields tech companies from liability for the user-generated content they host. If you listened to the 230 absolutists here (one of whom even has a 230 tattoo), the story of 230 might sound like a divine creation story.In the beginning, God created Section 230. Now, the internet was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the blessings of liberty were hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be Section 230,” and there was Section 230.So why would Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) even think about sunsetting this law, potentially returning the internet to the world of darkness? In the real story of Section 230, the government created Section 230. And that story begins with good intentions but ends with government overreach.Let us begin with the good intentions. Imagine that, hypothetically, a rapist and human trafficker becomes a popular social media influencer on X. And one of his victims tweets that he is a rapist and human trafficker. The influencer then files a frivolous defamation lawsuit against not just the victim—but also against X for hosting her tweet.In that situation, X can invoke the legal shield of Section 230, and the judge will dismiss the lawsuit. But that is only where the story begins, not where it ends.Imagine that you’re in high school, and you learn from your classmates that there’s child porn of you on Twitter. Multiple people contact Twitter to take it down, and you even provide Twitter a copy of your ID when asked, but it still doesn't take it down — until a federal agent intervenes.You sue Twitter, alleging that it violated federal child pornography laws. Twitter does not even attempt to contest that allegation. Instead, it invokes the legal shield of Section 230, and the judge dismisses your claim.That, in a nutshell, is the real story of Doe v. Twitter: “Twitter does not argue that Plaintiffs have failed to allege a violation of Section 2252A but contend this claim is barred by CDA § 230 immunity. The Court agrees.”In tech policy, we must analyze the full scope of a law. In Moody v. NetChoice (2024), the court chided both sides for confining their battle to the “heartland applications” of a law and for ignoring the “full scope” of the law’s coverage.And while the 230 absolutists will defend Section 230 based on its heartland applications — defamation and other forms of tort liability — the full scope of Section 230 touches every single federal and state law, including federal child pornography laws.Section 230 is the government. It’s a special immunity for the tech industry that’s created by the government. Under normal circumstances, the story of Doe v. Twitter should be a story where injustice triumphs because of government overreach.Yet, when Sen. Graham and Sen. Durbin attempted to narrowly reform Section 230 for child porn alone, they were met with an apocalyptic reaction from both D.C. lobbyists and D.C. think tanks. And the worst culprits were the (corporate) libertarians who supposedly hate government overreach.Perhaps that explains why both senators are now trying to sunset Section 230: to obtain leverage for 230 reform. In D.C., the easiest path is one where the Congress does nothing. Today, Section 230 stays the same if nothing happens. Sen. Graham and Sen. Durbin lack meaningful leverage — even if they are attempting to reform 230 for child porn alone.But if Section 230 sunsets on January 1, 2027, it gets repealed if Congress does nothing. Now Sen. Graham and Sen. Durbin hold the leverage. And while I could speak for hours to debunk the bad (or even bad-faith) arguments against 230 reform, those bad arguments also lose their power when the people making them lose their leverage.No immunity for child porn does not mean, for example, that a tech company would be directly liable for every piece of child porn that a user posts. No federal or state law imposes such strict liability — in part because that would be unconstitutional under Smith v. California (1959). For all this talk of how Section 230 is “the Internet’s First Amendment,” repealing Section 230 would not repeal the actual First Amendment.No immunity for child porn does mean, however, that if any incident like Doe v. Twitter were to repeat itself, government overreach would not block the victims from seeking justice.
A California man has vowed to "make an example" of a masked vandal who wrecked his Tesla Cybertruck while it was parked in his driveway while his family was sleeping. Jason Bedell bought his first Tesla, a Model S, in 2015 and still drives it to this day. 'It's not a political symbol. It has nothing to do with my political views. It's just a car.'When the Tesla Cybertruck was initially released, Bedell was one of the first people in his town of Novato to buy a Cybertruck in February 2024.Bedell purchased his Cybertruck for the love of the Tesla brand and not for any political reasons. "I'm just such a fan of Tesla that I had to have one," Bedell said."It's not a political symbol. It's just a car," Bedell told Fox News.However, Bedell has apparently become the latest victim of the surging vandalism of Tesla vehicles by left-wing dissidents seething with fury at the electric car brand headed by Elon Musk.At around 4:22 a.m. on March 29, a person dressed in all black with a mask and a hood appeared to "case" the home of Bedell and his family, police said. Home security cameras caught the suspect leaving and then returning at about 5:41 a.m. with a concrete rock in his hands. The Novato Police Department said in a statement: "The suspect placed duct tape over one of the security cameras and proceeded to vandalize the vehicle, throwing the concrete at the windshield multiple times, slashing all four tires, and leaving a yellow piece of duct tape with a handwritten note advising the tires had been damaged."Bedell said the suspect picked up a "giant cement brick and threw it two or three times against the front windshield, smashing [it]."The suspect then fled the crime scene. The Novato Police Department released video of the incident. — (@) 'I'm trying to save the environment and be environmentally conscious, and now I'm getting backlash for it.' "I have a 4-year-old son that was sleeping in the house at the time," Bedell stated. "So it's really unsettling that somebody came to my house to do this."Bedell stressed that someone launching an attack at his home is "really scary," especially since he lives in a "very private neighborhood at the end of a cul-de-sac."Bedell noted, "This person made a planned attack and came to my house and executed that plan. That's basically declaring war on me and my property.""I don't know if they're going to come back. I don't know what they're going to do," Bedell said. "This person is dangerous."Bedell told KABC-TV, "I think somebody either followed me home or maybe one of my neighbors."The Tesla owner said he felt "violated," but vowed to get the suspect "caught." "I'm sure I'm not the first person, and I'm not going to be the last person [they are] going to do it to," Bedell declared. "I am set on getting this person caught and making an example out of this person."The attack on his Cybertruck came on the same day as the "Global Day of Protest" organized by the "Tesla Takedown" movement to coerce Tesla owners to sell their electric vehicles and press others not to purchase any new Tesla vehicles. Bedell believes the timing of the attack was not a coincidence. "I do believe the timing had something to do with this big weekend of protests," Bedell said.There were reportedly anti-Tesla protests in at least 253 cities around the world on Saturday, with protesters demonstrating against Elon Musk and his role in cutting wasteful and fraudulent government spending. "Most people bought these cars way before the election, way before Elon Musk, before any of this happened," Bedell explained. "It's not a political symbol. It has nothing to do with my political views. It's just a car.""I'm trying to save the environment and be environmentally conscious, and now I'm getting backlash for it," he continued. "It's just the wrong target for people’s hostilities, frustrations, and anger."Bedell added, "Some people might be mad at Elon or the government, but they're taking it out on their neighbors, and they're taking it out on their friends, on people who have nothing to do with it."Bedell is offering a $25,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest of the Cybertruck vandal.Anyone with information on this case is urged to contact the Novato Police Department at 415-897-4361 or email police@novato.org.The Novato Police Department noted that this is the second incident in which Tesla vehicles were targeted by vandals. Police did not specify if the two incidents are connected. The investigation remains ongoing.Several suspects accused of committing acts of vandalism on Tesla vehicles and dealerships have been arrested. As Blaze News reported this week, a Pennsylvania man is accused of scrawling a swastika on the side of a Tesla. The owner of the electric vehicle confronted the suspect and shared a video of the encounter. The Colorado man who is accused of firebombing has been arrested and hit with federal charges. Attorney General Pam Bondi said of the arrest, "Let this be a warning — you can run, but you cannot hide. Justice is coming."The FBI has responded to the terrorist threats against Tesla by launching a task force.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the State Department had revoked more than 300 student visas. The move allows the Trump administration to deport noncitizens who participated in pro-Palestinian protests at universities across the country. Rubio defended the decision when asked about concerns over free speech — specifically, whether protesting or writing about foreign policy issues could justify a visa revocation. No serious nation should defend the rights of foreign nationals actively working to harm it under the banner of ‘free speech.’ “If you are in this country on a student visa and are a participant in those movements, we have a right to deny your visa,” he said. “We are not going to be importing activists into the United States. They’re here to study. They’re here to go to class. They’re not here to lead activist movements that are disruptive and undermine our universities. I think it’s lunacy to continue to allow that.” Rubio is right. Whether someone supports Israel, supports the Palestinian cause, or criticizes both, that debate is beside the point. No one has a right to a U.S. visa — student or otherwise. If a visa-holder engages in speech or activism that violates the terms of the visa — such as promoting violence, disrupting public order, or engaging in unauthorized political activity — the government has the authority to revoke the visa and deport the individual. A free people's suicide The Trump administration has made this position clear, particularly in cases involving pro-Palestinian protesters who have expressed support for Hamas, which the United States designates as a foreign terrorist organization. But the issue of foreign student activism extends beyond the Israel-Hamas conflict. An analysis by the Capital Research Center found that many “pro-Palestinian” groups share ties with broader movements that oppose the United States and the West in general. These groups frequently advocate violence to achieve their goals, including the destruction of the U.S., which they label an imperialist “settler-colonial” state. Revoking the visas of foreign students who disrupt public order or seek to undermine American society is both legal and necessary. But the issue goes beyond campus protests. With hundreds of thousands of student visa-holders from adversarial nations like China, the threat is not just ideological — it’s also a national security concern. No serious nation should defend the rights of foreign nationals actively working to harm it under the banner of “free speech.” The Constitution does not guarantee the right to a U.S. education. Attending an American university is a privilege, not a right. Ideological takeover Understanding the difference between rights and privileges is essential — especially considering the influence universities have on shaping American political discourse. While student visas are intended for academic study, today’s universities increasingly promote ideological activism over traditional education. And that shift is happening at the same time as the number of international students in the U.S. has grown to over 1 million annually. At Columbia University, more than 55% of students are foreign nationals — an 18% increase between 2017 and 2022. NYU’s student body is 42% international, up 24% over the same period. This trend is just as pronounced at the graduate level. In 2023, international students made up 42% of Princeton University’s graduate program. As foreign student enrollment rises alongside campus political activism, the Trump administration has the authority and obligation to respond decisively to the growing influence of ideological movements within universities. In a series of aggressive actions, the administration has withheld hundreds of millions in federal funding from institutions like Columbia University for what it calls “inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.” It has also launched investigations into other universities over allegations of race-based segregation and transgender athletic policies. Through executive order, the administration has taken steps to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education — a long-standing goal for many conservatives since the department’s establishment in 1979. Whose ‘political will’? Unsurprisingly, the left has responded with swift opposition, deploying both legal challenges and familiar media outrage. Several academic groups have filed lawsuits against the Trump administration to stop the deportation of foreign students. Teachers’ unions have sued to block the administration’s move to revoke federal funding from Columbia University, while others have challenged its attempt to shutter the Education Department. Mainstream media outlets have framed these actions as an “authoritarian power-grab,” accusing the administration of trying to “impose its political will on American universities, which foster curiosity and independent thought.” Some critics have gone even further, likening Trump’s efforts to confront anti-American activism on college campuses to the Nazi-era program of Gleichschaltung — a system of totalitarian “social control.” While American universities may be called many things, bastions of “independent thought” are not among them. Claims that Trump is seeking total “social control” are difficult to take seriously, given how heavily university faculty skew left. A 2023 Harvard Crimson survey found that just 0.4% of Harvard faculty identified as “very conservative,” while 31.8% described themselves as “very liberal.” A broader study of 51 leading liberal arts colleges revealed a 10.4-1 ratio of Democrat to Republican faculty, underscoring a deep ideological imbalance. This dominance of progressive ideology on campus doesn’t stay confined to the classroom. It flows into national politics, funding Democratic candidates and fueling an activist pipeline that often promotes anti-American narratives. According to OpenSecrets, Democrats have received more than 70% of all political donations from the education sector in every election cycle since 2002. In 2018, donors from the education industry gave over $64.5 million to Democrats and just $7.8 million to Republicans. Teachers' unions show an even sharper tilt. In the 2024 cycle, the National Education Association contributed 98.48% of its donations to Democrats and only 0.79% to Republicans. Employees of the U.S. Department of Education gave zero dollars to Republican candidates. Rooting out radicals Given the dominance of left-wing ideology on college campuses and the steady stream of campaign donations from the education sector to Democratic politicians, it’s no surprise that Democrats are fiercely defending what functionally operate as their institutions. Trump’s actions threaten not just campus activism but a political pipeline that helps sustain the left’s long-term dominance. Far from representing an “authoritarian power-grab,” the Trump administration’s efforts mark one of the first serious attempts by the political right to challenge a system that has traded education for progressive indoctrination. If the country hopes to reclaim its universities — a goal critical to the republic's long-term health — rooting out radical activism and defunding ideological strongholds must continue and accelerate. Republicans cannot afford to hand over the nation’s future to those who openly disdain it.
Climate alarmists are future-oriented in their activism. It turns out, however, that their obsession may, in some cases, ensure that they will never meet the imminent world they tried to shape with demonstrations, public tantrums, ruinous leftist policies, and vandalism. A paper by European and Canadian researchers published Friday in the journal Nature Medicine examined the "associations between climate-related hazards and the spectrum of suicidal behaviors, from suicidal ideation to self-harm and suicide mortality." Citing previous studies, the researchers noted that, unsurprisingly, people directly exposed to extreme weather events may experience an increased risk of post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation. Slow-moving albeit similarly devastating environmental phenomena appear to similarly have an emotionally destabilizing impact on some individuals — the Indian farmer, for instance, who is driven to despair by drought, low crop yields, and the prospect of destitution or even starvation. The study suggested, however, that individuals who are not directly impacted by changing weather patterns have also been observed getting bent out of shape to the point of depression and suicidality. "Negative psychological responses related to the observed and anticipated impacts of climate change, such as climate anxiety, eco-anxiety and climate-related guilt have also emerged as a potential risk factor for poor mental health and suicide-related behavior," said the study, adding that international surveys have indicated "concern about climate change is associated with feelings of despair, hopelessness, anger, frustration, and guilt, especially among younger populations." 'Exposure to the report had a weaker association with perceived threat and climate change concern among politically right-leaning individuals.' A study published in the Annual Review of Environment and Resources noted that while so-called climate change "has long been seen as psychologically distant from many people and therefore as a rather non-emotional problem," this view has changed in recent years, partly as a consequence of climate alarmist propaganda pushed in the media and in schools — propaganda that inevitably oversells bad news and overlooks good news, such as carbon emissions' greening of the planet. "Many people experience climate change and other global environmental problems indirectly, or vicariously, through media representations rather than from direct exposure," said the study. "Exposure to climate change information through the media plays an important role in determining how worried people are about climate change." A 2019 study found that Norwegians' exposure to an alarmist United Nations report on climate change was associated "with greater perceived threat from climate change and increased climate change concern." The induction of concern worked particularly well with left-leaning individuals: Exposure to the report had a weaker association with perceived threat and climate change concern among politically right-leaning individuals, compared with their left-leaning counterparts, and there was no association between exposure to the report and climate change concern among individuals who self-identified as being on the far-right end of the political spectrum. These manufactured concerns can turn malignant and metastasize. A 2020 American study published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology found that climate change anxiety is not uncommon, particularly among younger adults, and is correlated with emotional responses — responses that apparently drive some victims of propaganda to swear off having children. A 2021 Lancet-published survey of 10,000 youths ages 16-25 indicated that 39% of respondents expressed hesitancy about procreating on account of climate change. The study published last week in Nature Medicine identified various pathways from "climate-related hazards to suicidal behaviors." For those in the camp of the indirectly impacted, such as the Norwegian cohort confronted with the U.N. concern-mongers' report, chronic, vicarious exposure to climate change can result in lowered well-being, which in turn sets the stage for suicidal behaviors. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent was held in contempt by a Boston judge after he detained an illegal alien who was about to face charges at trial. On Monday, Boston Municipal Court Judge Mark Summerville accused ICE agent Brian Sullivan of violating the right of Wilson Martell-Lebron to a fair trial when he was taken into custody outside of the courthouse on Thursday. 'If he had been brought to court on Friday morning by ICE, we would not have moved to dismiss. We would not be asking for sanctions. We would have just finished the trial.' Boston officials have been feuding rhetorically with the Trump administration over whether local law enforcement must cooperate with ICE detainers on suspects believed to be illegal aliens. Boston police commissioner Michael Cox argued that police are not authorized to enforce federal immigration law and are bound to follow state law against offering aid. Martell-Lebron had been accused of making false statements on a driver's license application, but Summerville dismissed the charge after the man was unable to appear in court due to the ICE detention.“It’s a case of violating a defendant’s right to present at trial and confront witnesses against him,” Summerville said from the bench. “It couldn’t be more serious.”Martell-Lebron's attorney, Ryan Sullivan, called the ICE detention "reprehensible" because it violated his client's ability to defend himself in court. “Law enforcement agents have a job to see justice is done," he said. "Prosecutors have a job to see justice is done. There is no greater injustice in my mind than the government arresting someone, without identifying themselves, and preventing them from exercising their constitutionally guaranteed right to a jury trial.”The Associated Press said a spokesperson for ICE did not return a call seeking comment. Sullivan said that ICE agents pounced on Martell-Lebron without identifying themselves and sped away with him just after his trial had begun with opening statements Thursday. He said his client was from the Dominican Republic with family in Massachusetts. “What we were challenging is that they arrested him in the middle of his trial and did not return him,” Sullivan added. “If he had been brought to court on Friday morning by ICE, we would not have moved to dismiss. We would not be asking for sanctions. We would have just finished the trial.”State troopers said they neither assisted nor obstructed the federal action. The contempt case was referred to the Suffolk district attorney’s office. Martell-Lebron is being held by ICE at the Plymouth County Correctional Facility. To further complicate the debate, Martell-Lebron had reportedly pleaded guilty to cocaine and heroin charges in 2009, but those were vacated and dismissed with prejudice in 2017 over a drug lab misconduct scandal that cast doubt on thousands of drug cases. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
When five armed males forced their way into a residence in Los Banos, California, late last month, the homeowner also got himself a gun — and won the confrontation, shooting two of the intruders.Police Chief Ray Reyna told KFSN-TV that "the homeowner approached the intruders with a gun he legally owns," after which the chief said a shoot-out ensued at the dwelling near the area of Edward Street and San Luis Street.'It was very scary.'The homeowner shot two of the suspects, Reyna added to the station.A dispatcher on police scanner audio indicated that one suspect was wounded in the leg and another was wounded in the stomach, KFSN reported.The two suspects were in custody at a Modesto area hospital, where they were expected to survive, the station said. Los Banos is about an hour south of Modesto.KFSN said police are searching for the other three suspects, who escaped the home through a bedroom window and then took off in a car.The chief told the station that at least four people were inside the home at the time of the incident, and they weren't hurt.Reyna added to KFSN that he has reason to believe the intruders are not from the area, and he said police are looking into a possible motive."It was very scary," Sergio Juarez told the station before adding that the neighborhood usually is quiet.KFSN noted that hours after the shoot-out an apparent bloody handprint had stained a gate."I moved here because it was a safe neighborhood," Juarez added to the station. "But looking at it right now, it's very scary."Reyna added to KFSN that there is no outstanding threat to the community, but he's asking for more information from the public.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!