Illinois' New Lenox Police Department announced late on Wednesday that officers had responded to a reported bomb threat at a private residence on Sojourn Road. WMAQ-TV reported that the home belongs to retired educator John Prevost, one of Pope Leo XIV's older brothers.

According to police, officers arrived on the scene around 6:30 p.m., established a secure perimeter, and ordered the evacuation of surrounding homes.

'I no longer answer the phone.'

Specialized units, including the Will County Sheriff's Office explosive detection K-9, aided in an examination of the property that turned up no signs of explosive devices or hazardous materials.

"Making false reports of this nature is a serious offense and may result in criminal charges," said the NLPD.

Authorities are investigating the bomb threat.

John Prevost revealed to WMAQ in August that many had begun treating him as a proxy for his brother in Rome, noting that he was, for instance, receiving letters daily containing prayer requests.

RELATED: Pope responds after repeated attacks by Trump over war criticism: 'I have no fear'

L-R: Nathan Howard/Getty Images; Yara Nardi/POOL/AFP/Getty Images

"I no longer answer the phone unless I know who it is," he added.

The fake bomb threat comes just days after President Donald Trump attacked Pope Leo over his criticism of the U.S.-Israeli military actions in and around Iran, writing on Truth Social, "Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician."

In the post, Trump also mentioned the pope's other brother.

"I like his brother Louis much better than I like him, because Louis is all MAGA," said Trump. "He gets it, and Leo doesn’t! I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon."

Criticism of the pope, especially by certain elements on the right, spiked in the wake of Trump's message and Leo's response. "I do not think the message of the gospel should be abused as some are doing. I continue to speak strongly against war, seeking to promote peace, dialogue, and multilateralism among states to find solutions to problems."

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Conservative legal scholar John Eastman, founding director of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, was among the lawyers whose lives and livelihoods were targeted for ruination after they provided President Donald Trump with counsel on cases dealing with election illegalities and fraud following the 2020 election.

Years later, Eastman is still fighting off attacks by liberals apparently keen to ensure that Trump's constitutionally guaranteed right to legal representation doesn't go unpunished.

'This lawfare/barfare is metastasizing before our very eyes.'

The California Supreme Court upheld a decision by a lower court's judges on Wednesday to permanently disbar Eastman in the Golden State.

The state bar accused Eastman in 2023 of violating his obligations as an attorney in two ways when working "with Trump and others to promote the idea that the outcome of the election was in question and had been stolen from Trump as the result of fraud, disregard of state election law, and misconduct by election officials."

"First, he provided legal advice, formulated legal strategies, and engaged in litigation based on, and made public statements propounding, allegations of election fraud he knew, or was grossly negligent in not knowing, were false," alleged the bar.

RELATED: The left's absurd attack on Brooke Rollins

Eric Thayer/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Eastman's second alleged violation, according to the bar, was:

He provided, and proposed actions based on, legal advice regarding the unilateral authority of the Vice President to disregard or delay the counting of electoral votes that he knew, or was grossly negligent in not knowing, was contrary to and unsupported by the historical record and established legal authority and precedent, including the Electoral Count Act and the Twelfth Amendment, such that no reasonable attorney with expertise in constitutional or election law would have concluded that the Vice President was legally authorized to take the actions respondent proposed.

Altogether, the bar alleged 11 counts of misconduct.

Eastman, who initially began working with an election integrity effort requested by Trump in early September 2020, denied many of the bar's allegations including several of those above and the claim that there was no evidence of election fraud or illegality that could have affected the outcome.

Judge Yvette Roland — appointed to the State Bar Court by former Gov. Jerry Brown (D) in 2018 — recommended in March 2024 that Eastman be disbarred for his alleged election subversion efforts, resulting in the revocation of his license.

"Eastman failed to uphold his primary duty of honesty and breached his ethical obligations by presenting falsehoods to bolster his legal arguments," wrote Roland.

While waiting for the California Supreme Court to weigh in on her ruling, Eastman, a former clerk to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, asked Roland to reactivate his law license during the appeal process, noting that he needed to be able to represent clients and pay his own legal bills.

The Democrat appointee denied his request, claiming that he had "failed to show that he poses no significant threat to the public."

The California Supreme Court ultimately denied Eastman's petition for review on Wednesday, ordering his disbarment from the practice of law in California and his name stricken from the roll of attorneys. Adding insult to injury, the court ordered Eastman to pay $5,000 in sanctions to the State Bar of California Client Security Fund.

Randall Miller, Eastman's attorney during his disciplinary proceedings, said the outcome "raises pivotal constitutional concerns regarding the limits of state regulation of attorney speech."

Miller added that Eastman will ask the U.S. Supreme Court "to repudiate this threat to the rule of law and our nation’s adversarial system of justice."

Eastman confirmed to Blaze News that he will be filing a petition for writ of certiorari with the Supreme Court and underscored that the significance of a possible win "goes well beyond my particular case."

"As we have recently seen, leftist/activist bars are targeting current attorneys at the Department of Justice for simply doing their jobs in defending President Trump’s executive orders," said Eastman. "This lawfare/barfare is metastasizing before our very eyes and will only get worse if the Supreme Court does not take decisive action to put a stop to it."

Jeff Clark, vice president of litigation at the Oversight Project, said that the California Supreme Court's decision "is a travesty."

"John represented the President in litigation challenging an election. That’s all. He lied about nothing. Reasonable minds can disagree about the 2020 election," wrote Clark. "He did what lawyers are supposed to do — represent disfavored individuals. And make no mistake, the elites, especially in bar apparatuses, disfavor and hate President Trump and anyone associated with him with a burning passion."

"No one representing Vice President Gore was disbarred for losing Bush v. Gore where the whole partial county-specific recount strategy Democrat lawyers devised there was ruled an unconstitutional violation of equal protection," continued Clark. "Two-tiered system of justice and of bar discipline."

This is hardly the only front in Eastman's battle with Democrat-aligned lawfare. In addition to having his law license suspended in the District of Columbia, he was arrested in Fulton County, Georgia, over the legal counsel he rendered to Trump following the 2020 election. The Georgia case was dropped in 2025.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Darrell Norman Williams told KTRK-TV he was riding his bike on Easter Sunday night in Wharton, Texas, when a group of boys approached him and began throwing objects at him.

"The dudes were just chucking bottles at me and rocks and stuff," Williams, who is mentally disabled, told the station.

'They treated him like a piece of trash.'

Williams told the station the group of boys soon knocked him to the ground.

KTRK added that one of his attackers recorded video of the brutal assault, and it shows them kicking and punching Williams as he tries unsuccessfully to block the blows.

RELATED: Gang of teens caught on video beating up, robbing victim in shopping mall; similar attack happened at same mall last month

"They kicked him all in his head and all in his gut, all of that," Diondre Brown, who's cared for Williams for nearly 15 years, told the station. "They literally took the bottom half of his pants down and ripped them apart."

Brown added to KTRK that "they took his bike, they took his shoes."

Police told the station the video of the attack was sent to them four days later, and on Tuesday, police announced they had identified all six of Williams' attackers — and they're all 12 to 14 years old.

"They treated him like a piece of trash," Brown added to KTRK

Williams noted to the station that "I do nothing to them. I said nothing to them."

Police told KTRK that four of the suspects are being held in juvenile detention while the other two were released to their parents.

They're being charged with aggravated robbery and engaging in organized criminal activity, the station said, adding that their names aren't being released because of their ages.

"I feel so, so sorry," Brown told KTRK, adding that "I was sorry with myself as well because I wasn't there to protect him when he needed me most."

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Streaming may be a gut punch to the theatrical model, but it lets us catch films we missed the first time around.

The following thrillers made little noise at the U.S. box office. You likely haven’t heard of them, even if you once saw their movie posters fly by while scrolling on Netflix or Tubi. All three are well worth a look. In fact, these indie gems offer thrills that their big-budgeted peers can’t always match.

Cat-and-mouse games never go out of style. Nor do films where a put-upon heroine must do all she can to survive a deranged stalker.

Big-time studios could learn a lesson or two from these indie thrillers.

'Backcountry' (2014)

A couple head into the woods for a romantic camping trip. The problem? The besotted Alex (Jeff Roop) wants to impress Jenn (Missy Peregrym), but his survival skills aren’t up to par. Map? I don’t need a map.

Spoiler alert: He needed a map (and a few cans of bear spray).

The mood sours when the pair stumble upon an Irish hiker (Eric Balfour) who flirts with Jenn and undercuts Alex’s romantic plans. That’s just the appetizer to the main disaster course. The lovers aren’t alone in the woods, and a surly black bear is ready for his close-up.

Small cast. Tiny budget. Big, bold thrills. “Backcountry” takes its time introducing the couple in question, so when the bear makes his first, shocking appearance, the stakes are real. This isn’t a horror film in a traditional sense, but the shocks are expertly framed. And the feature’s makeup team has its work cut out for it.

The running time is a taut 92 minutes, perfect for this kind of no-nonsense thriller. Even better? Roop and Peregrym make a believable couple, credibly tender yet resourceful under duress. And said duress is extreme.

“Backcountry” isn’t for the faint of heart, and it will make audiences think twice before their next outdoor adventure. If you only see one “bear in the woods” movie (after “The Revenant”), this is it.

(Available free, with ads, on the Roku Channel.)

'Beast' (2018)

We all know how talented Jessie Buckley is after her Oscar-winning turn in “Hamnet.” This British sleeper gave the theatrically trained actress her big-screen debut. She plays Moll, a flighty woman at odds with her loving but cold family. Enter Pascal (Johnny Flynn, Lucius Malfoy in the “Harry Potter” reboot), a troubled type who rescues her when a bar hookup takes a dangerous turn.

Romantic sparks fly. So do accusations that Pascal is responsible for the death of a local woman. He’s nothing but doting to Moll, and she falls for his soulful blend of danger and sincerity despite his Samsonite-level baggage.

Is he as guilty as local law enforcement suggests? Can Moll’s family protect her from him? Or is Pascal the man who can save her from herself? She’s no saint, as a critical part of her backstory reminds us.

RELATED: King of comedy: 1988 'Naked Gun' tops list of 100 funniest flicks

Paul Kaye/Bonnie Schiffman/Getty Images

We know what Buckley can do on screen, but Flynn is note-for-note her equal in this smart, patient thriller. This isn’t a bare-knuckled story with car chases and other B-movie tics. It’s a character study that throbs with tension just below the surface. And while many modern films don't stick the landing, the final moments of “Beast” are smart, stark, and satisfying. Buckle in.

(Available free, with ads, on the Roku Channel.)

'Alone' (2020)

Cat-and-mouse games never go out of style. Nor do films where a put-upon heroine must do all she can to survive a deranged stalker.

Jules Willcox stars as Jessica, a woman mourning the death of her husband. She gets into a road-rage altercation with another vehicle. The car’s driver (Marc Menchaca) later tries to apologize for the incident, hoping they can put it behind them. The two part amicably.

He seems friendly enough, but tell that to Jessica’s Spidey-sense, which spikes during the apology chat.

When they meet again, Menchaca’s character reveals his true, cruel intentions. Once again, a tiny cast and modest budget can’t restrain a story that’s all meat and zero filler. There are no girl-power flourishes or eye-rolling escapes here, just blood-and-guts storytelling with actors who prove equal to the material.

Slick. Taut. Smart. Engrossing. And, sadly, overlooked by media outlets during its COVID-19-era release date. Streaming can right that wrong.

(Available via VOD platforms like Prime Video and iTunes.)

Local police are investigating a murder-suicide involving a Democrat who was once second in command in Virginia.

Shortly after midnight on Thursday, Fairfax County police responded to a 911 call at a home in Annandale, Virginia, finding an adult male and female deceased. The victims were later identified by police as Democrat former Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, 47, and his wife, Cerina, 49, who were reportedly going through a divorce.

His campaign was heavily eclipsed by sexual assault allegations.

The couple's son and daughter were at home at the time of the murder-suicide but were unharmed.

"Shortly after midnight, officers responded to the 8100 block of Guinevere drive in Annandale, where they located an adult male and an adult female deceased inside of a residence," Captain Chris Cosgriff said in a video statement on the scene.

"Preliminarily, it appears that the adult male shot the adult female before shooting himself in a domestic-related incident."

RELATED: Speculation mounts over mysterious deaths and disappearances tied to US space and nuclear program

Fairfax served as Virginia's lieutenant governor from 2018 to 2022 under then-Gov. Ralph Northam (D). Fairfax launched his own bid for governor in 2021, but his campaign was heavily eclipsed by sexual assault allegations from two women.

Fairfax vehemently denied the allegations and maintained that their relations were consensual. Despite his denials, Fairfax finished in fourth place in the Democratic primary.

This is a developing story.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Rail transportation is the backbone of the American economy, and a proposed $85 billion merger between Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern threatens to overconcentrate market power in an already highly consolidated industry.

The consequences will ripple across the economy, raising transportation costs, weakening service, and squeezing industries that depend on rail, from agriculture to energy.

At a moment like this, regulators shouldn’t take merger parties at their word. They should demand evidence. That’s exactly what we have called for when it comes to evaluating this mega-merger, and we are pleased that the Department of Justice and the Surface Transportation Board have agreed.

This merger could further entrench consolidation in freight rail, reducing competitive options for shippers and ultimately increasing costs for businesses and consumers.

The Justice Department — in a notable recommendation consistent with its review of mergers outside the rail industry — urged the STB to require that Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern produce certain executive-level information regarding their internal assessments of the merger.

The STB took an important step in that direction on March 18, requiring Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern to turn over internal documents assessing how the deal would affect competition, pricing, and market dynamics.

These are the kinds of materials the Justice Department has long relied on to evaluate mergers because they reveal how companies themselves expect a transaction to play out.

Attorneys general across the country have warned that this merger could further entrench consolidation in freight rail, reducing competitive options for shippers and ultimately increasing costs for businesses and consumers.

The merging companies point to a limited “open gateway” commitment as proof that competition will be preserved. But Union Pacific itself dismissed similar promises in the recent Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern rail merger in 2023. Now it asks regulators to accept vague assurances that it will maintain open gateways at “commercially reasonable” terms without enforceable guarantees.

Union Pacific argues that the merger will drive growth, including taking 2 million trucks off the road by shifting their freight to rail. But this is an optimistic forecast that UP would face no repercussions for missing. Indeed, the recent CPKC rail merger has fallen well short of a much more modest target of 65,000 truck-to-railway conversions.

The companies also promise efficiencies and new investments but offer little detail about their pre-merger plans or whether similar gains could be achieved through other means, such as partnerships or joint ventures — much less how any such efficiencies will benefit shippers, rather than shareholders and executives.

RELATED: Digital trade corridors can fix our outdated supply chain

JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

In other words, regulators are being asked to accept sweeping claims with limited substantiation.

The STB is right to push back on the “just trust us” approach. Internal company analyses can reveal whether executives expect service disruptions, pricing power, or integration challenges that could undermine supply chains.

They can also test whether the merger’s benefits are actually realistic. This level of scrutiny is basic due diligence, particularly in an industry where reduced competition can have economy-wide consequences, and especially when the merging railroads claim that this transaction will change American railroading for the next hundred years.

At a time when businesses and consumers are still grappling with inflation and the cost of goods, it is hard to overstate the risks of this mega-merger.

As this review proceeds, the STB should ensure that all stakeholders have the information needed to assess the merger’s true impact and the time to be heard, resisting pressure to rubber-stamp a deal this consequential for the rail industry and American consumers. Anything less risks locking in higher costs and fewer choices for years to come.

The American economy runs on rail. The STB should make sure it stays on track.

Coders using Claude, AI giant Anthropic's leading large language model, discovered a shortcut that saves them money and simplifies the entire engagement with the LLM down to mere syllables.

The protocol, since made into an app, is called Caveman.

Caveman makes it possible to save money without sacrificing output by reducing the linguistic sophistication of the LLM. The logic is simple: The less the AI has to talk to you in fully conversant language, the less compute it demands. And the less compute it demands, the fewer “tokens” it costs. Like all LLMs, Claude works on tokens, which users buy with dollars to pay the chatbot’s company.

As the world of the printing press is forgotten, communication transforms.

It’s a crazy workaround, but it pays whopping dividends. If you can tolerate talking to a digital Neanderthal, you can save up to 75% on operating costs.

Devolution?

With that, we’re face to face with the raw evidence that tech doesn’t transcend our culture’s many cautionary refrains. Garbage in, garbage out. Easy come, easy go. Live by the gun, die by the gun. In other words, “It’s about the financial system and the soul,” to quote Ardian Tola, founder of the Bitcoin-powered platforms Canonic and Ark.

To give a few examples of what’s going on here, consider the coder sitting at his or her desk prompting Claude to, say, reconfigure some corporate software to the new spec. The coder used to do this work, going into the alien lines of “code language” and — using his experience, knowledge, creative problem-solving, and time — the coder could effect these alterations in various ways and to various levels of elegance. The coder for the past several decades commanded and deserved a substantial salary: It really took some substantial skill and know-how to move with speed and efficiency.

That kind of coder and tech worker is being closed out now. The 80,000 layoffs and counting in the industry this year send a pretty clear message about where this is headed. Corporate reliance (and crucially, dependence) on AI is just about baked in. Companies like Oracle and Stripe are letting go of workers right after they complete their final task — of training their LLMs to do their job.

RELATED: Trump administration has a job opportunity for adult video gamers

Emanuele Cremaschi/Getty Images

Today the coder clinging to his mid-tier salary prompts an LLM to alter the code, and he is “spending” tokens with each word and symbol required to perform these prompts. So if a prompt drags on — like “Claude, move the header up and replace it with the PayPal button, and let me see what they look like if everything is balanced in mobile view” — it is going to cost the corporation or the contract coder more than if the prompt were something closer to “Switch header w/ pay button.”

In terms of efficiency, for a while anyway, this probably adds a layer of challenge for the coder, works the old brain plasticity, and all important, looks good to accounting.

Our souls at stake

One interpretation of everything now concerning “the financial system and the soul” is that if we, as a species, determine that cost efficiency and capital concentration are the most important values, which all others will be tested against and subsumed into, we would be wise to be very honest about our view of the human soul.

That’s because we’d be saying, again as a species, that the soul is secondary to money at best and probably doesn’t matter or even exist. While individuals, you and I, may disagree immediately (and others may weigh in with seemingly very judicious but ultimately jejune statements with regards to complexity, progress, and sacrifice), the order or the value system is still cold simple: money over soul in the end. There’s no workaround.

It might come fast or it might take some years.

Marshall McLuhan and intellectual heirs like Walter Ong theorized decades ago that tech would impose a “new orality” as literacy fades. After all, humanity existed prior to the printing press too. Print literacy greased the wheels of our communication with respect not just to facts but to each other and our own inner reality — our soul.

Most of that theoretical work boils down to the notion that our technologically enhanced means and methods of communicating will slip away from literacy into something more offhand, flexible, vibey. The rise of “vibe coding” provides strong confirmation: As the world of the printing press is forgotten, communication transforms.

The issues here are manifold and of grave concern. You cannot vibe Mass or liturgy, though you can feel it. In this oncoming diminution of the human, where trade-offs are determined by that same money-over-soul diktat, every individual may to have fight, day in and day out, merely to preserve his value system.

Whether that system is inherited and carried over ages of ages, or is just something as temporal as a preference for '80s comedy films, the choices made at the ultra-ubiquitous-tech layer are not going to “align.”

Care must be taken when wandering into the future, wielding, as we do, these handheld high-caliber military industrial complex-made weapons. And just wait until the AI innovators deliver handsfree products intended to replace the smartphone. By itself, coders and prompters regressing to oral communication is fine, passable for certain applications, but the slackening and homogenization of human communication into sheer memery, coupled with the time pressure we all feel daily now, is powered by a force that wants to invade all human territories, including true creativity, religion, and the family. In short, it wants to invade the soul. If we let that happen, what will become of our already beleaguered society and country?

As the list of dead and missing individuals with ties to American space and nuclear programs grows, so too does the speculation about them.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said when asked about a possible trend on Wednesday, "If true, of course, that's definitely something I think this government and administration would deem worth looking into."

Missing

Steven Garcia, a 48-year-old Albuquerque resident, went missing on Aug. 28, 2025, according to the New Mexico Department of Public Safety.

The Daily Mail, citing an anonymous source, reported that Garcia — who was last seen leaving his home on foot, carrying only a handgun — was a government contractor working for the Kansas City National Security Campus.

The KCNSC manufactures 80% of non-nuclear components that go into the nuclear stockpile.

Blaze News reached out to KCNSC for comment but did not receive a response by deadline.

RELATED: Burchett claims alien 'machinery' could destroy us in 'a blink of an eye'

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Former FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker told the Mail, "I think we’ve even seen instances where nuclear scientists have been taken out. They've been assassinated."

On Feb. 27, retired U.S. Air Force Major General William McCasland, 68, similarly left his Albuquerque home never to return.

In their search, authorities found his shirt and hiking boots at his second home in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, but said that his wallet, revolver, holster, and red backpack remain unaccounted for, reported CNN.

"There's no indication, and we are not putting forward that Mr. McCasland was disoriented or confused," said Lt. Kyle Woods of the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office. "Arguably, he would still be the most intelligent person in the room that any of us would be in. Highly intelligent, highly capable."

'There's just too many of 'em disappearing.'

Some have suggested that McCasland's disappearance might have something to do with his time commanding the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base where the Pentagon conducted advanced aerospace research.

"If there was ever a center of gravity for research and development and for all the spooky things that the U.S. government works on, Wright-Patterson’s right there at the top of the list," former Pentagon intelligence officer Luis Elizondo told CNN.

The general's wife cast doubt on "some of the misinformation" circulating about McCasland's disappearance.

"It is true that when Neil was in the Air Force, he had access to some highly classified programs and information. He retired from the AF almost 13 years ago and has had only very commonly held clearances since. It seems quite unlikely that he was taken to extract very dated secrets from him," Susan McCasland Wilkerson wrote in a March 6 post on Facebook.

Wilkerson noted further that her husband had a "brief association with the UFO community" but that "this connection is not a reason for someone to abduct Neil."

"Neil does not have any special knowledge about the ET bodies and debris from the Roswell crash stored at Wright-Patt," she wrote. "Though at this point with absolutely no sign of him, maybe the best hypothesis is that aliens beamed him up to the mothership."

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department asked the public for help in finding 60-year-old rocket scientist Monica Jacinto Reza, noting that she was last seen hiking on June 22, 2025, on Angeles Crest Highway.

Reza worked at Aerojet Rocketdyne where she moved the ball forward on a family of superalloys for use in rockets across multiple NASA and Air Force contracts.

She said in a 2017 interview with SpaceNews.com, "I worked with the Air Force to scale up production, look at different processing methods and get the material ready for insertion into a rocket engine. All of that positioned us very nicely to have the alloy [Mondaloy] at a maturity level that it could be used for the AR1 and the Hydrocarbon Boost and a few other programs."

The Air Force noted in a 2016 release that an objective of the Hydrocarbon Boost program was to "help eliminate the United States' reliance on foreign rocket propulsion technology," adding that "this is key to ensuring our national security."

McCasland reportedly oversaw funding for Reza's project.

A staffer linked to the Los Alamos National Laboratory — a nuclear design and physics facility in New Mexico that is the lead agency for the B61, W76, and W88 warheads, helped develop the first atomic bomb, and produces plutonium pits — also recently went missing that month.

On June 26, 2025, Melissa Casias, 54, dropped her husband off at the Los Alamos lab where they both worked. Casias, an active administrative assistant at the lab, told her husband that she was headed to a second location within LANL to complete a work-related task, reported Dateline. She returned, however, to their home in Ranchos de Taos.

Around 12:30 p.m. that day, Casias grabbed lunch for her daughter and dropped it off at the cafe where she works. After a brief and normal encounter with her child, the mother departed.

New Mexico State Police PIO Sergeant Ricardo Breceda said that a family acquaintance "observed Melissa walking eastbound on NM518 from the Talpa, New Mexico, area towards Pot Creek." This was her last known sighting.

Breceda noted further that "all belongings, including Melissa’s purse and factory reset phones, were found inside Melissa’s home."

Dead

Deaths of individuals connected to American nuclear and space programs have also fueled speculation.

Frank Maiwald died on July 4, 2024, at the age of 61. The German-born scientist worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and, according to his obituary, contributed "to various significant projects such as AMR/SWOT, COWVR, AMR/Jason 3, and HIFI." No cause of death was publicized.

Michael David Hicks, another Jet Propulsion Laboratory alum, died the previous July at the age of 59. He worked on the science teams of the DART Project, the Near Earth Asteroid Tracking Project, the Dawn Mission, and the NASA Deep Space 1 Mission. Hicks specialized in the physical properties of comets and asteroids.

While no cause of death for the divorcé was given publicly, his obituary noted that donations could be made to Alcoholics Anonymous.

Carl Grillmair, a highly esteemed California Institute of Technology astrophysicist who spent over four decades researching galactic astronomy and distant planets, was gunned down on the front porch of his home in Antelope Valley, California, on Feb. 16.

Grillmair — who the Los Angeles Times reported had worked at Caltech's Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, which partners with NASA — previously had issues with his alleged killer, Freddy Snyder. On Dec. 20, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department reportedly responded to a trespassing complaint from Grillmair and allegedly found Snyder carrying a loaded rifle not registered in his name.

Nuno Loureiro, the director of MIT's Plasma Science and Fusion Center, was assassinated at his Brookline, Massachusetts, home on Dec. 15, 2025, while enjoying a quiet evening with his wife and kids. The gunman believed to have shot him — Claudio Manuel Neves Valente — is the same dead gunman alleged to have carried out the Brown University mass shooting two days later.

Investigators said that Loureiro and Valente attended the same university program in Portugal between 1995 and 2000, reported CBS News.

Among those who've expressed concerns about the deaths and disappearances is Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett (R), who said in a recent interview, "There's just too many of 'em disappearing."

"Nothing happens by coincidence in this town," he added.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Georgia police tased and pepper-sprayed a nude man near an elementary school before shooting him and then tasing him again, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Rockdale County Sheriff's Office deputies responded to a call of a man exposing himself near Peeks Chapel Elementary School in Conyers and found the nearly nude man on Benji Boulevard, a GBI press release reads.

'He did everything possible not to use his firearm,' said a witness who did not wish to be publicly identified.

The GBI says the man advanced on one of the officers, who responded by pepper-spraying him and employing a taser as well.

When those methods proved ineffective and the man continued to disobey orders, the officer shot him.

A second deputy arrived and used his taser on the man, who continued to refuse to comply with their demands.

He was eventually taken into custody and transported to a hospital for treatment. He remains in stable condition.

The man was later identified as 19-year-old Jason Marshall-Haynes.

WAGA-TV obtained cellphone video of the man walking before the shooting incident as well as afterward.

"He did everything possible not to use his firearm," said a witness who did not wish to be publicly identified.

RELATED: Home intruders use Taser on dog and threaten teenager with gun — so homeowner shoots one dead and injures the other

The witness said the officer fired two shots, but the man continued to advance on the officer. He added that he believed his neighbor was having a mental illness episode.

No deputies were injured in the incident. The officer who shot the man was placed on administrative leave, but Sheriff Eric J. Levett said it was a routine step to maintain investigative integrity.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

The Trump administration has reworked the $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program with an eye toward greater efficiency and less top-down regulation. As a result, states are projected to come in roughly $21 billion under budget on broadband deployment. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration is actively soliciting ideas for how those funds should be used.

If the administration wants an easy political win and a solution to a real problem, the funds should be used to radically modernize our air traffic control systems.

Roughly 80% of FAA infrastructure is considered obsolete or unsustainable.

Policymakers should seize the moment and invest in something the country desperately needs — something that would deliver real, tangible benefits to the flying public and the broader economy.

The FAA’s own administrator, Bryan Bedford, has been blunt: Roughly 80% of FAA infrastructure is considered obsolete or unsustainable. Controllers are still using paper flight strips and radar systems that date to the Vietnam War era.

The $5 billion Congress appropriates annually for ATC operations sounds substantial until you learn that 85% to 90% of it goes to sustaining legacy systems — patching roofs, repairing elevators, and keeping aging equipment limping along.

Congress did take a meaningful step last year, allocating $12.5 billion in the reconciliation bill toward ATC modernization. Fiber optics are beginning to replace copper wire. Radar upgrades are being compressed from a 20-year timeline into a few years.

The early results are encouraging. But by official FAA estimates, an additional $19 billion is needed to fully complete the job — to build a genuinely modern, integrated national airspace system rather than an expensive patch on a broken one.

This is where BEAD’s leftover $21 billion could make a real impact.

Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee and has long championed both infrastructure investment and Texas’ status as one of the nation’s busiest aviation hubs, is well positioned to recognize the strategic alignment here.

Texas is home to two of the nation’s largest airports — Dallas Fort Worth and Houston Bush Intercontinental — and its economy runs on the efficient movement of people and commerce. ATC modernization would be a huge benefit for Texans.

The legal question of whether this use fits within the BEAD statute’s framework is one that the NTIA will need to address carefully. The statute is written broadly enough to accommodate creative interpretation, and the administration has already demonstrated it is willing to read BEAD’s parameters with fresh eyes.

A next-generation ATC system — replacing copper with fiber, analog with digital, fragmented local computers with integrated national architecture — looks a great deal like the kind of advanced communications infrastructure BEAD was designed to fund.

RELATED: Trump is keeping his word on health care costs

Win McNamee/Getty Images

Ironically, it’s easier to make the case that the federal government should be ensuring airline safety than subsidizing broadband deployment.

The BEAD funding was part of the massive infrastructure legislation, and our airline infrastructure is in dire need of investment. And unlike many government spending programs, ATC modernization has a defined scope and measurable milestones. This is not a slush fund — it’s a known project with a known price tag.

The alternative uses being floated for BEAD’s unused funds range from the reasonable to the fanciful: broadband adoption programs, rural mobile coverage, returning funds to the Treasury, and various state-level wish lists.

Some of those ideas have merit. But none of them represent the kind of once-in-a-generation infrastructure opportunity that a modern ATC system would deliver — one that improves safety for millions of air travelers daily, reduces delays that cost the economy billions annually, and positions the United States to lead in the airspace of the future.

The Trump administration’s 2027 budget request is going to include millions of dollars in additional ATC funding, but the BEAD funds are already there, waiting to be invested. That’s the beauty of budget reform — eliminating waste and finding savings can free up funds for other critical public needs.

An investigative report found that California taxpayers are footing the bill for transition services to be provided for homeless transgender-identifying illegal aliens.

The report from Christopher Rufo at the City Journal included firsthand accounts from Honduran immigrants at St. Vincent De Paul's MSC-South facility in San Francisco and Mexican immigrants at the Embarcadero SAFE Navigation Center.

'You have to have a process, the hormones ... go through therapy. Es un proceso.'

Rufo said the City Journal was tipped off by a whistleblower in March.

A transgender-identifying person called Jacqueline from Mexico claimed to be a lawful U.S. resident but added that illegal aliens were being given the procedures.

"Even though you're undocumented, you can get them," Jacqueline said.

Rufo reported that the man received breast implants from the state Medi-Cal program as well as transgender hormone treatments.

"You have to have a process, the hormones ... go through therapy. Es un proceso," Jacqueline added.

He added that he's waiting for "bottom surgery."

At a third homeless government-funded shelter called the Taimon Booton Navigation Center, a group of transgender-identifying illegal aliens told Rufo that they were seeking transgender medical treatment.

An employee at the MSC-South facility told the City Journal that there were transgender-identifying people from Honduras at the center. Rufo spoke to two of them who confirmed they received shelter and food from the government.

Officials at the centers did not comment on the report.

RELATED: 'It's my neighborhood': California man wrestles transgender burglary suspect to the ground at popular beach city

"Apparently, word has traveled down the continent to the transgender communities in Mexico, Honduras, and elsewhere: If you make it all the way to California, the government will pay for your shelter, hormones, and surgeries — no questions asked," Rufo wrote.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

The woman who was rescued as a child from a well decades ago has grown up and was arrested on domestic charges in Texas, according to police.

Jessica McClure Morales, who is now 40 years old and a mother of two, was arrested and charged with assault causing bodily injury involving family violence on Saturday.

After her arrest and release, she posted a cryptic message on social media.

Midland County Sheriff's Office deputies responded to a call at her home at about 10 p.m. and arrested her after an investigation. She was released after posting bond at the Midland County Detention Center.

No other details about the accusation were available.

McClure Morales gained worldwide fame when she accidentally fell into a narrow well in Oct. 1987 at her aunt's home in Midland. She was only 18 months old at the time.

It took 60 hours for rescuers to figure out how to safely rescue her from 22 feet down the 8-inch-wide shaft. They were able to drill a horizontal tunnel through the rocks around the well.

McClure Morales and her family visited then-President George H.W. Bush at the White House to celebrate the rescue that captured the nation's attention.

After her arrest and release, she posted a cryptic message on social media.

"Note to self: Happiness is letting go of what you assume your life is supposed to be like right now, and sincerely appreciating it for everything that it is," McClure Morales wrote.

RELATED: 'Horrific choice': Utah Valley University nailed with backlash for choosing Charlie Kirk critic as commencement speaker

McClure Morales recently experienced a family tragedy when her father's stepdaughter was brutally murdered in January.

Gracey Adams, 25, was found shot dead in her home in Nashville, and her 29-year-old girlfriend, Sarah Stacey, was charged for her murder.

Her parents said the couple had a tumultuous relationship because of addiction issues.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

A bet on artificial intelligence is driving a nine-figure investment in the political world ahead of the midterms.

With millions of dollars on hand, one super PAC insistent on pushing artificial intelligence is injecting cash into political campaigns across the country.

'About half of Americans are more concerned than excited about the increased use of AI in daily life.'

With the help of some generous venture capitalists, super PAC Leading the Future was just announced to have surpassed $140 million in just about a year and a half.

The latest donations have added to the $125 million raised in 2025.

Leading the Future — which says it is focused on "advancing a positive, forward-looking agenda for AI innovation in Washington, D.C." — has been willing to pump money into candidates from either party and has done so in states like Illinois, New York, and Texas.

Business Insider reports that the PAC generally pushes candidates who show broad support of AI and tech innovation, while keeping regulations light.

This included $1.4 million to Texas Republican candidates across four districts: Tom Sell, Jace Yarbrough, Jessica Steinmann, and Chris Gober.

For Democrats, $1.1 million was reportedly provided to former Rep. Melissa Bean, with $1.4 million going to Jesse Jackson Jr., both in Illinois.

The PAC is also supporting Democrat Alex Bores' run to replace Rep. Jerry Nadler (D) in New York, according to NOTUS.

RELATED: Catastrophic new iPhone threat leaked to hackers — are you safe?

Mark Felix/AFP/Getty Images

The jury is still out in terms of support from the general public on AI overall, with skepticism and lack of acceptance still floating around 50/50.

Pew polling from 2025 showed that about half of Americans are more concerned than excited about the increased use of AI in daily life. About half of respondents also said AI will worsen the ability to think creatively and form meaningful relationships.

The data also had Republicans and Democrats split on their concern. Half of respondents from both parties said they were more concerned than excited about the increased use of AI.

About 10% from both parties said they were more excited than concerned.

Favorability floats around 50% in 2026 polling from Data for Progress. It is most favored by black people (61%), those under 45 (61%), and men (57%). At the same time, it is mostly unfavorable with women (51%) and those over 45 (52%).

RELATED: Video: Why is a Chinese robot chasing wild boars in Poland?

Roberto Salomone/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Public skepticism may be the biggest hurdle for the super PAC to overcome, but it is also facing opposition money.

Another network called Public First is pledging $50 million to candidates who support regulation, in either party, in 2026.

Public First positions itself as representing American voters who have concerns about "the impacts of AI on kids, workers, consumers, and the American economy."

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

On April 7, a heroic principal prevented a tragedy at an Oklahoma school by stepping in to disarm a gunman who entered the school near his office.

Blaze News previously reported that Pauls Valley Principal Kirk Moore stopped an armed assailant from shooting up the school, risking his life for his students and taking a bullet to the leg in the process.

Blaze News acquired surveillance video from the school showing the scene unfold.

The video shows the suspect entering the building and pulling out a gun. Moore can be seen jumping into action without hesitation after he enters the hallway and identifies the threat.

Moore was shot in the leg during the struggle.

RELATED: Heroic Oklahoma principal praised for thwarting alleged 'Columbine'-inspired attack

Video shows Moore managing to restrain the suspect and pinning the hand with the gun, preventing the suspect from using it, before another man intervenes and removes the firearm from the situation.

No students or other faculty were harmed during the incident.

A GoFundMe page was set up to support Principal Moore as a "token of appreciation for a man who gave everything for others."

The page reads, "Principal Moore has spent his life protecting and guiding students. In a moment of crisis, he proved just how far he's willing to go for them."

The fund has raised more than $10,000 at the time of writing.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

A clip from the newest season of "Euphoria" sent commentator Megyn Kelly into fits after seeing actress Sydney Sweeney pose sexually while wearing an infantile costume.

Sweeney portrays a woman who decides to open an OnlyFans account to fund her wedding but ends up dressing like a baby to satisfy some client's bizarre desires.

'Most normal people are going to recoil ... in response to what’s essentially the sexualization of a child.'

Kelly said she was shocked by the scene as well as the reaction to it.

"She’s dressed as a baby! She’s in a baby’s outfit. She’s sucking on a binky pacifier, and her legs are completely spread,” she said on her show.

"You can have a laugh, of course, because I was shocked, but the truth is, this is sexualizing infancy. That's what it is," Kelly added. "And some of the write-ups on this are like, 'It's a pretty common kink.' What? Getting turned on by a baby, like what?!"

"It seems to be wanting to bring down your defenses on the most disgusting crime imaginable on earth."

Video of the scene was posted to social media.

"I can’t believe she agreed to this frankly and was in this," said Kelly of Sweeney.

"I think this is another example of Hollywood not understanding at all where the line is," the commentator added. "And how most normal people are going to recoil ... in response to what’s essentially the sexualization of a child, of a baby."

Kelly went on to criticize Sam Levinson, the show's creator, for other needless scenes of nudity.

"He constantly wants women to take their clothes off for scenes that don’t require them to be nude at all," Kelly said.

RELATED: HBO's 'Euphoria' pushes child exploitation as art — and America's sickest critics agree

"All these women want to be stars, and few say no, but those that do, somehow it leaks because they’re clearly trying to tell us that this guy is, at a minimum, a jerk, and, more than likely, a problem," she added.

Sweeney became a favorite for many on the right when her presence in an American Eagle jeans advertisement made leftist woke-scolds on TikTok implode with fury. The company was accused of pushing fascist and racist propaganda, but both the actress and American Eagle have laughed off the claims.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

The House has advanced a bill to extend the Temporary Protected Status for Haiti by another three years after six Republicans voted with Democrats.

Democrats unanimously voted Wednesday to advance Massachusetts Democrat Rep. Ayanna Pressley's legislation that would give special protections to Haitian migrants. The bill ultimately advanced in a 219-209 vote with the help of six Republicans and one independent, Rep. Kevin Kiley of California, who previously served as a member of the GOP.

'If you import the Third World, you become the Third World.'

The six Republicans are: Reps. Don Bacon of Nebraska, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Carlos Gimenez of Florida, Mike Lawler of New York, Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida, and Nicole Malliotakis of New York. Notably, Salazar is also leading the charge for the bipartisan bill dubbed the Dignity Act, which critics have said is just another push for mass amnesty.

Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas called the vote to extend TPS for Haitians "absurd," echoing the concerns shared by many Americans.

RELATED: ‘Terrible betrayal’: Republican’s ‘compassionate’ immigration bill sparks intraparty clash

Brendan SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images

Earlier in April, President Donald Trump and his administration sounded the alarm after an immigrant from Haiti allegedly murdered an American woman at a gas station by bludgeoning her with a hammer. This migrant came to the United States during former President Joe Biden's administration and benefited from the same Temporary Protected Status the House is on track to extend.

"This animal was allowed to stay here because the Biden Administration granted him, and all Haitians, 'Temporary Protective Status,' a massively abused and fraudulent program which my Administration is working to terminate, but Deranged Liberal District Court Judges are standing in our way," Trump said in a Truth Social Post.

"As I've said all along, if you import the Third World, you become the Third World, and that is what happened over the four years of Democrat Control," he added.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Last Sunday, Eric Swalwell suspended his California gubernatorial campaign after reports by the San Francisco Chronicle and CNN detailed multiple allegations of sexual assault and misconduct, which he denies. He resigned from Congress the next day amid lost endorsements and staff departures.

Now Glenn Beck reads the open letter he wrote to Swalwell to illustrate the timeless law of reciprocity.

Glenn begins by rehashing Swalwell’s public opposition to Brett Kavanaugh during his Supreme Court confirmation hearings in 2018. Tweeting #BelieveSurvivors, Swalwell argued that multiple accusers meant the allegations were likely true (or Kavanaugh was the “unluckiest person in the world”) and said victims “deserve to be heard” and their allegations investigated.

“Congressman, do you feel the same way today?” Glenn asks. “Because now you have 50 women — 50 — from your office claiming the same thing. ... Should we bring them all in? Should we question them publicly, or is this time different?”

“At the time, you even pushed back on applying strict legal standards in public judgment, noting, ‘The testimony of a single witness can prove any fact,’” he continues.

“So perhaps we just bring in one woman out of the 50 and let her speak publicly and believe her because she, as you pointed out, is a survivor.”

Glenn accuses Swalwell of showing “little to no patience for caution,” putting “little emphasis on presumption of innocence,” and lending “little concern for due process in the court of public opinion” in Kavanaugh’s 2018 hearings.

“And what’s truly sad is, at the time — unlike today — you were not alone. But boy, I bet you feel alone today,” he sneers.

“Isn’t it weird and a bitter symmetry that is happening here?” he asks. “You once argued that accusations carried its own moral force, that patterns of claims pointed towards truth no matter what, and that the accused should open themselves fully to prove their innocence.”

But now, Swalwell asks for “time,” “fairness, and “restraint.”

“The very principles you minimalized are the ones you now invoke,” Glenn says.

Calling him a “destructive, dishonest, selfish, slimy ... force” who “never seemed to care about anything other than [his] own personal agenda,” Glenn grants Swalwell what he was unwilling to grant to others: “The allegations against you, however serious, however numerous, remain allegations.”

However, Glenn isn’t the least bit sorry that Swalwell’s career, ambitions, and reputation have been destroyed.

“There’s no one who deserves to feel that pain more than you,” he says.

He then points out the irony of the progressive Marxist apparatus Swalwell has been instrumental in.

“You were destroying the progressive enemies, and so they protected you. And in that, your arrogance grew. ... You were untouchable. You were invincible — until you become an inconvenience,” he says. “And then Marxists and progressives do what they always do. Ends justify the means. You are expendable.”

The rise and fall of Swalwell, Glenn says, is a perfect example of God’s eternal law: “As you judge, so shall you be judged.”

To hear more of Glenn’s savage open letter to Eric Swalwell, watch the video 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.

Vice President JD Vance, who chairs the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, declared that “no amount of fraud is too big or too small” and stated that the task force plans to target bad actors regardless of the amount of money they have stolen from taxpayers.

During a Turning Point USA event at the University of Georgia on Tuesday, Vance highlighted the task force’s early victories.

'If you’re defrauding the taxpayer, you ought to go to prison, and anybody who’s helping you ought to go to prison too.'

President Donald Trump established the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud by executive order in mid-March. Since then, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has worked with the task force to close hundreds of allegedly fraudulent health care providers.

On Tuesday, Vance discussed the issue of widespread fraud in the Minneapolis area, stating that the task force had turned off a government assistance program for autistic children that was being widely exploited.

“We’ve completely stopped the funding to that program. And we basically told the state of Minnesota, ‘You don’t get any more of our money unless you’ve verified that you’re taking fraud seriously,’” he stated, and the crowd responded with applause.

The federal government announced in February that it was withholding $259.5 million in Medicaid funding from Minnesota.

RELATED: Vance's task force shutters 221 hospices in 'fraud king' Gavin Newsom's California

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

During Tuesday’s event, Vance commended CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz for his work on eliminating fraud.

“We had our weekly fraud check-in call two weeks ago, and Dr. Oz called in, but he’s like, ‘Hey, I got to go because I’m about to hop on the bus, and we’re going to go arrest a bunch of fraudsters in Los Angeles.’ And I was like, ‘That’s exactly what I want you to do. By all means, get off the phone.’ So we’re doing a lot of that stuff.”

Vance explained that under the Biden administration, the federal government overlooked fraudsters who stole smaller amounts of money from taxpayers. He stated that this approach has changed under the Trump administration.

“No amount of fraud is too big or too small. If you’re defrauding the taxpayer, you ought to go to prison, and anybody who’s helping you ought to go to prison too,” Vance remarked.

RELATED: How a California crook committed $178 million worth of health care fraud — in just one year

Alex Wong/Getty Images

As of Wednesday, the task force has suspended 447 hospices and 23 home health agencies in Los Angeles, with an estimated fraud total exceeding $600 million.

“With @VP’s leadership, we’re crushing fraud faster than ever,” Oz stated.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

An American livestreamer who angered the nation of South Korea for his disrespectful and disruptive actions in the country has finally learned his fate in court.

Ramsey Khalid Ismael, better known online as Johnny Somali, was sentenced to six months in prison by a Seoul court on Wednesday.

'The defendant repeatedly committed crimes against unspecified members of the public to generate profit via YouTube.'

Johnny Somali sparked widespread outrage after livestreaming a series of provocative stunts, including kissing and dancing on a statue honoring victims of World War II sexual slavery.

The Independent reported that Ismael later apologized for the video of him dancing on the Statue of Peace and subsequently removed the clip.

RELATED: Trump reveals which world leader called Biden 'mentally retarded'

SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg/Getty Images

"I want to apologize to the Korean people. I was not aware of the significance of the statue," he said at the time.

He was found guilty on eight charges on Wednesday, including obstruction of business and distributing fabricated sexually explicit content, CBS News reported.

"The defendant repeatedly committed crimes against unspecified members of the public to generate profit via YouTube and distributed the content in disregard of Korean law," the court said, according to the Independent.

The Associated Press reported that Ismael was barred from leaving the country while the proceedings were pending.

Ismael faced additional accusations of disturbing the peace during his livestreamed stunts.

He was accused of harassing people at an amusement park, playing loud music and upending noodles onto a table at a convenience store, and causing similar scenes on a bus.

The court said he demonstrated a "severe" disrespect for South Korean law, and prosecutors sought a three-year sentence for his crimes.

However, the judges handed down the lighter sentence due to the "absence of severe harm to victims."

Ismael was found guilty on all eight charges and handcuffed in court after the verdict came down.

Many commentators like Atozy and even Tim Pool, who have covered the ongoing story as it unfolded, appeared glad to see Johnny Somali finally get the "sweet, juicy justice" he deserved. Tim Pool called him a "smug, nuisance lunatic" in his reaction video.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Billionaire Tom Steyer was sitting pretty after one of his main competitors in the California gubernatorial race dropped out — and then Steyer was caught in an embarrassing "mistake."

Steyer has told Californians that Immigration and Customs Enforcement "should be abolished," but it turns out that a hedge fund he founded invests in detention centers.

'It was also a big wake-up call that I was in the wrong place, that I was in a business that was taking me to places I absolutely didn’t want to go.'

"We never had anything to do with running the company," said Steyer about the revelation. "But it was a mistake to think that that was a place where it was decent to make money."

Farallon Capital Management was founded by the billionaire in 1986 and went on to invest up to $89.1 million in CoreCivic, a company that runs the largest detention center in California.

Two of the five centers run by CoreCivic house federal immigration detainees in Kern County and San Diego.

Steyer sold off his stake in CoreCivic in 2012.

At a town hall event in March, he said that the incident taught him to get out of the hedge fund business.

"It was also a big wake-up call that I was in the wrong place, that I was in a business that was taking me to places I absolutely didn’t want to go," he said. "And there’s a reason I walked away from that business and walked away from a ton of money."

Steyer has surged into the lead in the California governor's race as the top Democrat, with 21% support in one poll after Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) abandoned his gubernatorial campaign and then resigned from Congress over sexual harassment and assault claims.

Republican candidate Steve Hilton comes in second place with 18% of the vote. The top two vote-earners in the June 2 primary, regardless of party, will advance to the general election in November.

RELATED: USC accused of racism after minority candidates don't qualify for gubernatorial debate

Steyer's opponents are trying to damage his campaign by emphasizing the hypocritical business investments.

"Those investments were 20 years ago, and I left my firm over a decade ago and pledged most of my earnings to charity," the billionaire has fired back.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!