Aggregator

Radicals beware: Florida to hit top Islamist and leftist groups with new 'terrorist' label

The Blaze
2 days 23 hours ago


Florida is taking action against nearly 100 organizations that will likely soon have a new "terrorist" designation under Florida law.

On Wednesday, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that some significant legislation, which provides a stronger framework for declaring groups terrorist organizations, took effect on the first day of the month.

'We are not going to fund terrorism in our great state.'

During his announcement, DeSantis said that officials "are not going to waste any time" before beginning the "initial tranche" of domestic terrorist designations in Florida, suggesting more to come in the future as well.

"Based on the recommendations of Florida's domestic security professionals and the authority, the newly established authority in law, my office and the [C]abinet are poised to officially designate the first slew of terrorist organizations under the new law," DeSantis said in the announcement.

RELATED: Florida AG calls for impeachment after judge acquits mother who killed baby and blamed COVID

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Among those organizations designated, DeSantis named familiar Islamic groups like the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations, but also mentioned the addition of Antifa to the list. He also named a couple of groups affiliated with drug cartels, like Cartel de Sinaloa and Tren de Aragua.

Notably, DeSantis added that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran would also be added to the list among "more than 90 Foreign Terrorist Organizations."

Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Mark Glass, who also serves as the state’s chief domestic security officer, explained that the new law gives more tools to prevent taxpayer dollars from reaching those organizations that have been designated as terrorist groups, Florida's Voice reported.

"We are not going to fund terrorism in our great state," Glass told Florida's Voice. "We’re just not going to do it."

Glass added that the new framework will allow greater transparency for the public to see where taxpayer dollars are being distributed: “It’s actually even a public service campaign to ensure that you know where you’re receiving dollars or you’re giving dollars."

These actions, however, have been under legal threat for months, dating back to before the legislation was signed. DeSantis acknowledged to Florida's Voice that "we'll definitely get sued," though he believes the outcome "will be beneficial."

The new law, which went into effect on Wednesday, builds upon an executive order from DeSantis on December 8, which laid the groundwork for legislation to be drafted and signed by the governor in early April.

The December executive order singled out CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood. As a result, CAIR sued the administration over the executive order, arguing that its rights had been violated.

On March 4, United States District Judge Mark Walker granted the motion for a preliminary injunction, freezing the use of the executive order. The DeSantis administration appealed the injunction two days later in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The law, signed almost exactly a month later, will likely be used as a new legal support in the ongoing legal fight over the executive order.

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

Cooper Williamson

Sabo returns to Denver — this time with Jeffrey Epstein hanging on the wall

The Blaze
3 days ago


Has Sabo gone mainstream?

Not exactly. But considering that the last time he came to Colorado it was to stand before a judge, an invitation to hang his work in downtown Denver counts as a career boost.

"It is nothing short of a miracle that a person like myself can show art in such a liberal city where so many people can see them."

On Friday, July 3, the public art provocateur will unveil his completed "American Tarot" series at the VFW Gallery in downtown Denver as part of the city's First Friday Art Walk.

In the cards

The series includes four tarot-card-style pieces depicting some of the darkest and most divisive episodes in modern American history:

  • "The Towers" — September 11;
  • "The Fool" — January 6;
  • "Death" — COVID-19; and
  • "The Hanged Man" — Jeffrey Epstein.

As Sabo tells Blaze Media, "Each card represents an event in our country's past that greatly affected the American story, the country's psyche, the soul of America."

The newest addition, "The Hanged Man," depicts the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein suspended from the tarot card's traditional gallows.

For Sabo, the Epstein story is about far more than one depraved man.

"I believe the story of Jeffrey Epstein goes deep into how so many — from the entertainment industry to science, politics, finance, power — became influenced or compromised."

Unsavoryagents.com

Hidden influence

In Sabo's view, the affair helped fuel a growing distrust of elite institutions and raised uncomfortable questions about how influence is exercised among the world's most powerful people.

Through the decades, Sabo says, he assumed celebrities and artists simply leaned left politically. Now he wonders whether some cultural figures may have been manipulated into advocating these views in ways the public still doesn't fully understand.

"And then we saw how the music industry was influenced by the Diddy sex parties," he said. "How many in the music industry were also swayed to speak in a way that helped support the leftist narrative?"

The questions only became more urgent during COVID, he argues, when public trust in institutions suffered another profound blow.

RELATED: Sabo's story: Guerrilla street artist opens up in career-spanning 'Unsavory Agents'

Unsavoryagents.com

Back for more

The former Marine has spent more than two decades producing some of America's most powerful political street art, skewering everyone from Hollywood celebrities to corporate media and progressive politicians.

That makes the location of Friday's exhibition all the more remarkable.

Sabo's relationship with Colorado's liberal-leaning authorities has been strained, to put it mildly. In October 2024, he appeared in a Denver courtroom after being charged for posting anti-illegal immigration artwork around Aurora, the Denver-adjacent city that had become a national symbol of the migrant crisis amid reports of violent Venezuelan gangs taking over apartment complexes.

The signs — which criticized unchecked illegal immigration and highlighted the plight of legal immigrants and struggling working-class communities — earned Sabo a fine and community service. Representing himself in court, the artist argued that his work was protected political speech and noted the irony that, while authorities struggled to contain far more serious crimes, they managed to find the time to prosecute a man for hanging posters.

Sabo admits he's still getting used to the life of a respectable artist: "In street art I hit and run; no one to have a conversation with. In a gallery I feel out of my element." But he's grateful for the opportunity.

"It is nothing short of a miracle that a person like myself can show art in such a liberal city where so many people can see them," Sabo says now.

Sabo's work is available for viewing or purchase on his website.

And if you're not a Sabo fan yet, check out our coverage of his previous missions here.

Matt Himes

Federal Judge Blocks Postal Service from Implementing Trump Executive Order on Mail-In Ballots

Breitbart
3 days ago

A federal judge blocked the United States Postal Service (USPS) from carrying out President Trump's executive order requiring, in part, USPS to only transmit ballots for states that follow a list of election integrity rules detailed in the order, which includes providing voter rolls — or a list of mail-in voters — for that state.

The post Federal Judge Blocks Postal Service from Implementing Trump Executive Order on Mail-In Ballots appeared first on Breitbart.

Hannah Knudsen