@The Blaze On Monday, Sept. 23, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Royal Canadian Mounted Police invaded and occupied Universal Ostrich Farms near Vernon, British Columbia.They haven’t left. Hundreds of federal police and CFIA inspectors remain on-site, many now in hazmat suits they only donned after questions were raised about why, if the birds were truly a health threat, they had originally worn only uniforms without masks.Pasitney and her mother were arrested that same day on charges of 'animal cruelty.' Their alleged crime was trying to feed their birds.Karen Espersen and Dave Bilinski own the farm, which is managed by Espersen’s daughter, Katie Pasitney. Since an alleged H1N1 avian flu outbreak on Dec. 19, 2024, Pasitney has become the farm’s public voice. Although the ostriches have remained healthy for more than 250 days, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal government still insists that all 399 birds must be destroyed.Even interventions from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dr. Mehmet Oz have not persuaded Ottawa to reconsider.'Animal cruelty'?What frustrates Pasitney most is that the CFIA refuses to test the birds — or even allow the farmers to do so. Under quarantine orders, testing a single ostrich could result in a $200,000 fine and six months in jail per bird.After losing in the Federal Court of Appeal, the farm won a temporary reprieve last Wednesday when the Supreme Court of Canada granted an interim stay of execution while it decides whether to hear the case.But the ordeal has only worsened. Pasitney and her mother were arrested that same day on charges of “animal cruelty.” Their alleged crime was trying to feed their birds. The Supreme Court ruling requires the CFIA to remain on the farm, now responsible for providing the ostriches with food and water. “It’s like putting the foxes in charge of the henhouse,” Pasitney told Align.RELATED: Dead bird walking: RFK Jr. is the only hope for 399 healthy ostriches on Canada's chopping block David Krayden/Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images‘A classic display of punishment’Exhausted after two nights without sleep — due to RCMP patrols circling the property with headlights flooding her home — Pasitney spoke to this reporter.What you're seeing here is a classic display of punishment. This is not justice. This is punishment for standing up for what’s right. It started as a request for collaboration — we explained that we know our animals and that they’re healthy. All we asked was to test them without facing six months in jail and $200,000 fines. Instead, the government is spending millions in taxpayer dollars to persecute humble farmers who love their animals.Pasitney said political support has been slow. While some Conservative MPs have spoken out, party leader Pierre Poilievre — who narrowly lost the last federal election — has remained silent.“Where are our leaders?” she asked. “When 40 police cars came down the highway at dawn, we knew it might be the last time we stood on our own property with our animals.”Escalating intimidationPasitney recounted how she and her mother endured arrest, while hay bales were mysteriously set on fire and RCMP helicopters and drones harassed their livestock.That should never happen to anybody, especially when you have healthy animals. The world is screaming for them to be saved. … Instead, our taxpayer dollars are being used to take down law-abiding farmers while real criminals — rapists, murderers, pedophiles — roam free. https://www.theblaze.com/align/classic-display-of-punishment-canada-targets-family-ostrich-farm-for-destruction

@The Blaze Reality is hard for many people across the political spectrum to accept, especially when it comes to children being raised by their married, biological mother and father.“Before you post your caveats and your kind of exceptions to that, that is the ideal. That is in general true. That is in principle true. Every data set we have — and we’ll get into some specific numbers — shows that kids are best suited to live with their married biological mom and dad,” BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey says.While sometimes the scenarios that lead to a child being separated from both or one of his biological parents are tragic, sometimes they’re also simply because of the “sexual revolution that has occurred over the past 20 years and especially the past 10 since Obergefell.”“We are talking about intentionally creating motherless and fatherless children, intentionally taking children out of the ideal and putting them in — in the most charitable terms — a less than ideal situation, knowing that the data shows us that this is not best for their well-being,” Stuckey explains.And it’s no longer just two men or two women ensuring that children grow up in these less than ideal, fatherless or motherless situations.In Canada, three men who are in a “polycule” adopted a three-year-old girl through Quebec’s youth protection services. The “polycule” had to be approved first as foster parents, which they say required “a lot of work and openness to their relationship.”“It’s through that process that they learned that we are a little different because we’re three, but we’re not different from any other family,” one of the men said in an interview.“You actually are, though, because you’re three dudes, which tells me you have no moral limits. Like if you’re willing to not only defy nature, and you are willing to defy even liberal definitions of marriage, and you live in some kind of inherently unstable polycule situation, then you do not have the correct components to raise a child,” Stuckey says.“Even if we take religion out of it, let’s just look at this scientifically,” she continues. “Two men or two women who want to be in a relationship have to acknowledge that they do not have the parts that are needed to create a child. And therefore, because biology, not bigotry, has set limitations on your reproductive abilities, then there should be limits and restrictions and regulations around your ability to obtain and raise a child.”“I’m very sad for this little girl. … This little girl would be better off in foster care until she is 18 years old than living with three men who are living in a polycule situation. One hundred percent. Because there is no end to the confusion and instability and chaos that a situation like this can cause,” she adds.Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?To enjoy more of Allie’s upbeat and in-depth coverage of culture, news, and theology from a Christian, conservative perspective, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream. https://www.theblaze.com/shows/relatable/polyamory-adoption

@The Blaze Yesterday, 23-year-old Robin Westman fired through windows of Annunciation Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, killing two children, aged 8 and 10, and injuring 17 others, 14 of whom were children and three of whom were elderly parishioners. Westman also died from a self-inflicted gunshot.Shortly after the heinous event, it was revealed that Westman identified as transgender. Before he changed his name to Robin, his name was Robert.But before the news about Westman’s gender identity broke, Liz Wheeler, BlazeTV host of “The Liz Wheeler Show,” intuitively knew the shooter would be trans.“Before we knew the identity of this shooter, this murderer, I predicted ... that the shooter would be trans,” she says.How was Liz able to predict Westman’s gender identity with such precision?Because there’s an undeniable link between transgenderism and violence. “The transgender ideology is intended to be violent. The transgender ideology is intended to do exactly what it did to Audrey Hale in Nashville and exactly what it did to Robert Westman in Minneapolis,” she says. “It’s intended to turn vulnerable young people into kamikazes.”Transgender ideology, coupled with critical race theory, is how the left unleashes destruction, Liz explains, noting that both of these frameworks are “offshoots of critical theory” — “a Marxist theory that came out of the Frankfurt School back in the 1960s.”Critical theory, she explains, uses “relentless criticism of institutions,” using the “Marxist dialectic” of “the oppressor versus the oppressed” to sow discord and bring destruction on the culture, specifically race and gender.“So what happens when our children are indoctrinated with critical race theory and then trans ideology?” she asks.When it comes to CRT, white kids “start feeling this incredible self-loathing because they’re told it doesn’t matter how you think about people of another race; it doesn’t matter if you aren’t racist at all. ... Because the color of your skin means that you enjoy white privilege. All of your success is built on the back of those who were oppressed by people who look like you hundreds of years ago, and you bear responsibility for that.”Then they’re hit with queer theory, which tells them that if they experience “any kind of feelings of confusion or discomfort in [their] body, [they] can change [their] gender.”What is the effect of this combination? Ashamed white children, but especially boys, are damned to wear the badge of white oppressor unless they can prove that they’re also a victim. And how do they do that?“Become one of the oppressed,” Liz says.“Put on this mantle, this LGBTQIA+++ mantle. Suddenly, you’re one of the oppressed, and you’re okay. You’re not bad. You’re not toxic. You’re not evil. You’re a victim.”The final stage of grooming comes next. Once a child is blinded by the victimhood narrative, they’re told that the oppressors are Christians, conservatives, and anyone who opposes their ideology.“They’re told, ‘Watch out. You’re going to be subject to a genocide inflicted by Republicans and by Trump,”’ Liz says. “They are turned against themselves and everything around them.”Hatred consumes them, and they convince themselves that heinous acts of violence are justified. They may even see themselves as heroic — as “vanguards” of the revolution.That’s how people like Robert Westman and Audrey Hale are born, and that’s why Liz knew that the Minneapolis shooting was almost certainly a transgender-identifying person.“Christ have mercy on our nation,” she pleads.To hear more of Liz’s analysis, 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. https://www.theblaze.com/shows/the-liz-wheeler-show/why-liz-wheeler-knew-sadly-that-the-minneapolis-shooter-was-transgender

@The Blaze Approximately 3 million people have signed a petition in support of Harjinder Singh, an illegal alien truck driver accused of killing three Americans on a Florida highway.Last week, the nation was rocked when video appeared to show Singh attempting a U-turn on the Florida Turnpike while driving an 18-wheeler, pulling the rig across two lanes of traffic and killing three passengers in a minivan that crashed into his truck.Singh has been charged with three counts of vehicular homicide and three counts of manslaughter, jail records show. He also has been placed on an immigration hold.Now, a Change.org petition has popped up in support of the illegal alien driver, which contains bizarre requests and even more strange messages of support.'I know it was an accident. He made a terrible mistake, not a deliberate choice to harm anyone.'The India Times reported that Singh failed an English proficiency test, answering just two of 12 questions correctly while also being unable to identify more than one of four road signs.The petition, however, claims that Singh should get lenient sentencing because he has no prior "criminal intent or history," despite being an illegal immigrant. The petition does not mention his failures in the post-crash testing.Instead, the petition suggests a "proportionate and reasonable sentence" or "alternative sentencing measures," such as "restorative justice, counseling, or community service."The comments in support of Singh are also garnering attention, as many appear to be pre-prepared and identical.RELATED: License to kill: The nationwide scam turning America's highways into death traps The petition highlights three featured comments on the page, chosen by creator Manisha Kaushal. Two of those comments are exactly the same, word for word (archived here).The page also includes video testimonies from supporters, many of which are also identical, as pointed out by an X user. Account XJosh showcased four different supporters reciting the following: I am in support of Harjinder Singh. I know it was an accident. He made a terrible mistake, not a deliberate choice to harm anyone. He was working hard to support his family like so many of us. One wrong decision changed everything. A 45-year prison sentence is not justice. Other comments, such as "shame on your white injustice" and "please save our brother," revealed that some supporters harbor racist sentiments.Blaze News reached out to the petition's creator and asked for clarification on the possible "alternative sentencing measures," as well as Singh's immigration status and his failure to properly communicate in English. No reply was provided.RELATED: American trucking at a crossroads: Deadly crash involving illegal alien exposes true cost of Biden’s border invasion ICE officers and Florida Lt. Gov. Jay Collins escort Harjinder Singh toward a waiting plane for Singh's extradition to Florida. Dean J. Condoleo/The Modesto Bee/Tribune News Service via Getty Images As previously reported by Blaze News, the Department of Transportation says 1,500 illiterate drivers have been taken off the road since June. Department of Homeland Security official Tricia McLaughlin has also noted that Singh's work authorization was rejected in 2020 under President Trump but granted under President Biden in 2021.Singh was granted a commercial driver's license in both California and Washington.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/indians-read-off-script-trucker

@The Blaze Yesterday, in yet another act of mass violence, a gunman identified as Shane Tamura killed four people, including an NYPD officer, and critically wounded another in a shooting at 345 Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan before taking his own life.“You're going to hear all kinds of things,” says Glenn Beck. “You're going to hear ‘more gun control,’ yada yada yada. But will we ever talk about the real issues here?” The real issue, he explains, is not guns but mental illness, which Tamura had a “history of.”According to a handwritten note found in his pocket, Tamura targeted the office building on Park Avenue specifically because the National Football League headquarters are located there.“He wanted to express his grievance with the NFL,” says Glenn. Tamura claimed to suffer from chronic traumatic encephalopathy — a degenerative brain disease linked to repeated head trauma.Thus far, police have found no evidence to confirm whether Tamura had CTE, but it was confirmed that he played football in high school.In his suicide note, Tamura requested that his brain be studied.“This is a tale of insanity,” sighs Glenn. It’s “a tale of evil, a tale of broken minds, a tale of innocence destroyed in the place where it was least expected, a skyscraper in New York turned slaughterhouse and a Monday night that turned to mourning.”And it’s no isolated tale. Around the same time as Tamura’s murderous rampage, another gunman killed three people and injured three others in the valet area and parking lot of the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada. The suspect was shot by police and taken into custody in critical condition.While “no motive has been determined so far,” it’s clear that “we have an epidemic of mental illness in this country,” says Glenn.Just a couple of months ago, Glenn experienced this personally when he and his wife were in Manhattan.“A black guy on a bike rides towards us, and he begins to circle us on his bike on the sidewalk … all the while looking me right directly in the eye and pointing with one hand, the other on the handlebars, saying, ‘I'm going to kill me a white man today,”’ Glenn recalls.“Luckily, he noticed that I had two armed security people behind us. He recognized maybe they might kill a black man on a bike today. He rode away. The man was clearly unstable.”“We have become a society that has gone into madness. … How much more madness will it take before we stand up and say enough is enough?”To hear more of Glenn’s commentary and analysis, watch the episode above.Want more from Glenn Beck?To enjoy more of Glenn’s masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis, and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream. https://www.theblaze.com/shows/the-glenn-beck-program/glenn-beck-manhattan-and-reno-killing-sprees-are-proof-that-we-re-in-the-throes-of-a-mental-health-crisis

@The Blaze I didn’t want to write this. I still don’t.The push notification lit up my phone while I was working out — campers swept away as the Guadalupe River surged dozens of feet in under an hour. I walked out of the gym and teared up in my truck.Now I’m stuffing sunscreen and swimsuits into two trunks. My older two kids head off to sleepaway camp next week. How do I tell them the adventure they’re so giddy about just turned fatal for other families? What can a keyboard jockey like me offer when other parents are living a nightmare? My first instinct was to close the laptop, whisper a prayer, and stay quiet.But silence isn’t always the faithful response.Entire campsites — from Kerr County to the back roads of Texas Hill Country — have been wiped away. Parents who expected mosquito bites and ghost stories are now scanning riverbanks for anything recognizable. They don’t need punditry. They need the rest of us to witness their grief without turning it into the next battleground in the culture war.That’s the part I dread most.Within hours of the first siren, the internet erupted in blame. Was it climate change? Outdated flood maps? Local negligence? Federal failure? Pick your camp, rack up your retweets, move the score marker. The bodies weren’t even identified before the hashtags started trending. It’s as if we’ve forgotten how to mourn without also trying to win.'Where was God?' feels like the only honest question when the water rises. But storms don’t mean vengeance, any more than sunsets are God’s apology.Then there’s that phrase believers lean on — “thoughts and prayers.” “Ts and Ps,” as Gen Z sneers. If I lost one of my kids, those words would feel like a whispered lullaby in a room suddenly emptied of breath — tender, well-meaning, and painfully inadequate.Not because prayer is pointless. Because the cliché is.When calamity struck, Job’s friends “sat with him on the ground seven days … and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.” No carbon emissions debate. No X threads. Just presence. Silence. Solidarity.Maybe that’s the posture we need now — especially along a river whose name, Guadalupe, traces back to “river of the wolf.” Creation still has teeth. Even waters we picnic beside can turn predator in a single thunderstorm. Wolves hunt in packs. They also protect their own. Maybe that’s the symbolism: The same river that devoured so many calls the rest of us to move as a pack — toward the survivors, not away.Real faith doesn’t show up as a hashtag. It comes in the form of casseroles and chain saws, spare bedrooms and Venmo links. It hauls soggy photo albums into the sun. It listens more than it lectures. When Jesus met Mary and Martha at the tomb, He wept before He preached. Maybe that’s the order we’ve lost.RELATED: Liberal women quickly learn what happens when you say vile things about little girls killed in the floods Photo by Jim Vondruska/Getty ImagesSo what can we do from a distance?Give until it pinches — money, blood, bottled water, even unused PTO if your workplace allows donations. Relief crews will need support for months, not days.Go if you can. Student ministries, church groups, skilled contractors — this work doesn’t end when the cameras leave.Guard these families’ dignity. Share verified donation links, not drone footage of recovered bodies. If you wouldn’t show the image to your child, don’t post it.Grieve aloud. Let your kids see adults who don’t numb tragedy with mindless scrolling.And yes, pray — not as a substitute for action, but as its source. Prayer is oxygen for those on their feet. When the apostle James said, “Faith without works is dead,” he might as well have been looking out the window of a rescue chopper.I get the temptation to shake a fist at heaven. “Where was God?” feels like the only honest question when the water rises. But storms don’t mean vengeance, any more than sunsets are God’s apology. Scripture calls Him a refuge and redeemer, not a puppet master yanking strings to break hearts. Turning away from God now is like fleeing the only lighthouse in a gale.If grief makes prayer sound hollow, answer the hollowness with action — and with the stubborn belief that the Creator remains good, even when creation feels cruel.I still don’t want to write this. I’d rather tuck my kids in tonight and pretend rivers respect property lines and holiday weekends. But if this piece offers anything, let it give permission to mourn without politicizing. For one day — one hour even — let grief be grief. Let dads hold their kids tighter. Let moms remind us that safety doesn’t come with a zip code. Let the church prove it’s more than a Sunday address.With the sparklers of Independence Day barely cooled, maybe the most patriotic thing we can do is recover the lost art of compassionate presence. No monologue — including this one — can fill a bunk bed left empty. But through gifts, sweat, silence, and prayer, maybe we can shoulder a sliver of the weight.If you’re reading this in a dry living room, remember the families whose furniture is floating somewhere downriver.Before you post, pause.Before you debate, donate.If “thoughts and prayers” still feel hollow, add two more words: “Here’s how.”Then go do it. https://www.theblaze.com/columns/opinion/sometimes-the-most-christian-thing-to-do-is-shut-up