No one should believe Cesar Chavez’s and Eric Swalwell’s stories were unknown to Democrats. Far more likely is that the details behind both men’s downfalls were not unknown to Democrats; they were simply unacknowledged. There’s a big difference, and it makes all the difference. Second only to the scandals themselves is the fact that Democrats stayed silent about them while letting the men who generated these continue to ascend. California values strike again.

In the 1960s American television comedy “Hogan’s Heroes,” one of the dupes of the Allied prisoners in Stalag 13 was Sergeant Schultz. Whenever he encountered, and he frequently did, evidence of the prisoners’ illicit activities, he would say, “I see nothing! I hear nothing! I know nothing!” to absolve himself from all blame. Apparently, when it comes to the myriad revelations about Cesar Chavez and Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), the Democrats are reprising the “Sergeant Schultz strategy,” only they’re not doing it for comic relief; they are dead serious. They are equally transparent.

‘I see nothing! I hear nothing! I know nothing!’

Beginning in the 1960s and continuing until his death in 1993, Cesar Chavez became a cultural icon to America’s left as he sought to organize agricultural workers, who were predominantly Hispanic, in California and the West. His tactics combined nonviolence, strikes, urging consumers to boycott produce not gathered by his United Farm Workers union, and heavy usage of Catholic imagery in his actions (pilgrimages, processions, Masses, and more) and speeches. According to a bombshell NYT expose, he was also grooming and abusing young girls who were involved with his movement. He did so for years.

Thirty-three years after Chavez died, now-former Rep. Eric Swalwell is accused of similar sexual assaults. One woman accuses Swalwell of raping her in July 2018. Four other women have also made accusations of sexual assault and harassment.

This was hardly the first time Swalwell had been involved in controversy. A decade ago, he was at the center of a story regarding Christine Fang, aka Fang Fang, a woman accused of being a Chinese operative. According to an Axios story on Fang, she was a fundraiser for Swalwell’s 2014 campaign and “interacted with Swalwell at multiple events over the course of several years.”

Swalwell also had other questionable activities. He was involved in the Hunter Biden laptop scandal. As commentator Jonathan Turley described Swalwell’s role in a Hunter Biden 2023 press conference held to thumb its nose at a congressional investigation of the laptop episode: “Swalwell was standing in front of the same building aiding and abetting both a potential crime and the obstruction of congressional proceedings.”

RELATED: The left’s Cesar Chavez problem is much bigger than Cesar Chavez

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Chávez has been dead since 1993; the first accusations against him go back decades earlier. Swalwell first began serving in Congress in 2013; accusations of questionable conduct began almost immediately. In both cases, there were many episodes and many years.

Yet during this time, we are supposed to believe that no word about these two men got out within Democrat circles. The word was certainly out about both. There were reports about Chavez’s sexual improprieties that go back to the time when he was still alive. Swalwell’s seriously questionable decisions go way back, too.

Neither the inner ring of Democratic Party nor the House of Representatives is heavily populated. People know each other. They talk to each other. Yet we are supposed to believe that none of them talked about these episodes.

Instead, Democrats were elevating both. Chávez has schools and streets named after him; there are public holidays; there is a national monument to him in California, which Senate Democrats just blocked from being abolished. Swalwell was not diverted from moving up the California Democrat ladder. Until days ago, he was the front-runner for the state’s gubernatorial nomination.

While both stories have sickening similarities, the most overlooked one is the Democrats’ ignoring them for years.

Both scandals were covered up until someone uncovered them and made all the details public. Then Democrats were forced to run for cover themselves. Now they are rushing to run from them and make us forget that they, in all likelihood, knew significant details about both.

This is nothing new in their behavior. We are supposed to believe that the same thing happened with President Biden’s incapacity. With Hunter Biden’s behavior.

The pattern of admitting only when a thing is undeniable, and despite that it was obvious earlier, is all too clear. It is not simply the product of being above the rules. It is also the product of an establishment news media that Democrats know regularly avoid covering their scandals for as long as humanly possible. And when they are forced to cover them, Democrats know they will not ask the broader question: How did you not know? And when the rumors began to swirl — as they did in both cases — how did you not bother to see if they were true?

For both Chavez and Swalwell, Democrats had to ignore evidence before their eyes. They had to ignore the evidence brought to them. They had to either explicitly or tacitly construct an excuse. And they nonetheless let both men move forward despite what they knew or would have known had they simply looked. Now they want us to believe that, in the words of Sergeant Schultz, “I know noooooothing.”

​California, Cesar chavez, Eric swalwell, Scandals, Opinion & analysis 

When most athletes look back on their glory days, it’s the game-winning plays and the intense team camaraderie they want to relive.

Not former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

‘My victory was secure on the cross … and it doesn’t matter if I win this tournament or lose this tournament.’

Ten years after he first knelt in protest during the National Anthem, the onetime culture warrior has written a book. His publisher describes “The Perilous Fight” as “equal parts memoir and manifesto.”

Kaepernick may miss that era — after opting out of his contract in 2017, he never played for another NFL team again — but it’s safe to say most fans are happy to have moved on.

In fact, there’s been a different kind of rebellion brewing in pro sports lately — quieter and less disruptive, but no less profound.

Players taking a knee today are more likely doing it to pray than posture — and they don’t seem especially concerned with who’s watching.

While faith has always had its place in sports, this boldness is something new. These aren’t symbolic gestures or vague references to “the man upstairs” but unabashed statements of conviction: Christ comes first.

Here are five Christian athletes proudly living their faith.

1. C.J. Stroud

Stroud doesn’t treat faith as a postgame add-on. The Houston Texans quarterback consistently credits his success to God.

Even after a career-worst performance led to a crushing playoff loss against the Patriots, Stroud kept it in perspective: “Before I do anything, I want to give God the glory — my Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. Without Him, I’m nothing. I just appreciate Him giving me this opportunity, this platform to play this great game with this great organization.”

2. Brock Purdy

Brooke Sutton/Getty Images

49ers quarterback Brock Purdy may have been last pick in the 2022 NFL draft, but his subsequent success has shown he’s no “Mr. Irrelevant.” His legendary predecessor Steve Young says that makes sense, considering that the greatest QBs aren’t flashy, but “at peace.”

The secret to Purdy’s serenity? Founding his identity on faith, not football: “No matter what I’m going to face moving forward … football, God, and Jesus are going to be my identity.”

3. Scottie Scheffler

Andrew Redington/Getty Images

For someone who’s the highest ranked golfer in the world, Scottie Scheffler doesn’t seem too interested in keeping score.

After his second Masters victory in 2024, the 29-year-old made it clear that he’s got his eyes on a higher prize.

“My buddies told me this morning, my victory was secure on the cross,” he said. “And that’s a pretty special feeling to know that I’m secure for forever, and it doesn’t matter if I win this tournament or lose this tournament. My identity is secure for forever.”

4. Clayton Kershaw

Michael Chisholm/Getty Images

Clayton Kershaw was always the kind of player who let his performance do the talking. Over 18 years pitching for the Dodgers, the left-hander racked up three Cy Young awards, 3,000 strikeouts, and three World Series titles — including last year’s, his final season.

He brings that quiet excellence to his life as a Christian as well, putting his time and energy into Kershaw’s Challenge, the Christian charity he and his wife run. When the Dodgers insisted on holding “Pride Night” in 2025, he countered by writing “Genesis 9:12-16” on his hat — drawing attention to the rainbow’s older, sacred meaning.

5. Stephen Curry

Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

Stephen Curry may have been born into basketball — his father played for the Charlotte Hornets — but it was his family’s deep faith that formed his life.

Early in his career as a Golden State Warrior, the gifted point guard made his priorities clear:

The Holy Spirit is moving through our locker room in a way I’ve never experienced before. It’s allowing us to reach a lot of people, and personally I am just trying to use this stage to share how God has been a blessing to my life and how He can be the same in everyone else’s.

More than a decade later, Curry is still at the top of his game — and making sure his three kids get the same faith-first upbringing he did.

​Sports, Christianity, Colin kaepernick, Stephen curry, Scottie scheffler, Clayton kershaw, C.j. stroud, Brock purdy, Entertainment, Lifestyle, Religion, Faith 

An old comment from Pope Leo XIV is circulating widely again on social media amid his ongoing apostolic journey to Africa, where he has been meeting with Muslim leaders and visiting Muslim holy sites, including the Grand Mosque of Algiers.

In December 2025, during an in-flight press conference on the papal plane returning from his trip to Turkey and Lebanon, the pope said, “I think one of the great lessons that Lebanon can teach to the world is precisely showing a land where Islam and Christianity are both present and are respected and that there is a possibility to live together, to be friends.”

He added: “I think those are lessons that would be important also to be heard in Europe or North America. We should perhaps be a little less fearful and look for ways of promoting authentic dialogue and respect.”

Liz Wheeler, BlazeTV host of “The Liz Wheeler Show,” is deeply disappointed to hear “the successor of Saint Peter [articulating] leftist political opinions.”

Liz shares some harrowing statistics: “93% of the 4,849 Christians who were murdered for their faith last year were murdered by Muslims, by Islamists, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa.”

“The pope is visiting Africa as we speak, and I would wonder if he visited the mass graves of the Catholics slaughtered in Africa,” she says, playing a video clip of a Nigerian Catholic priest pleading for Western intervention, as he stands behind the body of a woman murdered for her faith by Muslim radicals.

“[The pope] put a wreath on a Muslim grave yesterday in Algeria to commemorate Algerians that were killed in their war of independence. What he didn’t mention was these Algerians who were killed were fighting Catholics. They murdered Catholics,” she continues.

“It is discouraging to hear the pope tell us to be less fearful of Islam as if we’re in sin for this — for recognizing the fanatical nature of their religious belief in jihad, which is based on our observation that our differences with Muslims are not relegated to something in the past,” she says.

“It wasn’t just a battle during the Crusades centuries ago, but it’s happening now. The massacre of Christians is happening today in Africa at the hands of Islamists who are killing in the name of their religion.”

To hear more, watch the video above.

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​Algiers, Blaze media, Blazetv, Catholics, Christianity, Extra ecclesiam nulla salus, Grand mosque, Invincible ignorance, Jihad, Leftist political opinions, Liz wheeler, Muslim leaders, Muslim radicals, Nigerian catholic priest, Nostra aetate, Persecution, Pope leo xiv, Subsaharan africa, The liz wheeler show, Vatican ii, Western intervention