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Deadly shoot-out between off-duty cop and male who pistol-whipped him caught on police dashcam video

Milwaukee Police on Monday released dashcam video showing a deadly shoot-out between an off-duty officer and a male who pistol-whipped him just prior to the shoot-out.

Police said the officer was involved in a minor car accident in the 4800 block of West Mill Road while on his way to work just before 8:30 a.m. Thursday.

Police said video of the incident was released to the public ‘in the interest of transparency.’

Both drivers pulled over and exited their cars, police said, adding that as they were assessing the accident, the other driver approached the off-duty officer, pulled a gun, and struck the off-duty officer in the face with it.

Image source: Milwaukee Police dashcam video screenshot

The off-duty officer drew his department-issued firearm, police said, adding that they exchanged gunfire, and the 26-year-old male who struck the off-duty officer was shot and pronounced dead at the scene.

While no one else was struck by gunfire, police said the off-duty officer was taken to a hospital for treatment of injuries as a result of the incident.

Police said the off-duty officer is a 40-year-old male with over 21 years of service and was placed on administrative duty, as is routine in officer-involved shooting investigations.

Police said the Milwaukee Area Investigative Team is investigating the incident, and the West Allis Police Department is the leading agency.

Police said video of the incident was released to the public “in the interest of transparency,” after regulations requiring police to give next of kin a chance to view relevant video within 48 hours of the incident and regulations requiring police to release relevant video within 15 days of a critical incident were met.

RELATED: Gunman firing rifle while walking along snowy Milwaukee street shoots cop; 2nd officer returns fire, killing suspect

What’s more, WISN-TV reported that the family of Elijah Wilks — the fatally shot male — wanted the video released early and called the shooting justified, as they believe the clip shows everything that occurred.

WISN added that the release of the video came after grainy surveillance video was posted on social media over the weekend.

Attorney B’Ivory LaMarr, who represents the family, told the station that “Elijah pulls out a firearm with his right hand, and … he’s essentially swinging it in the direction of the off-duty officer. One time. It’s almost like a punch is what actually transpired.”

Last Thursday, a neighbor said police pulled a 10mm bullet from his living room wall, WISN noted, adding that video indicates Wilks was facing that direction. Milwaukee police noted to the station that they don’t have 10mm service weapons.

“What this family has done is made the difficult decision, while they’re grieving, to put aside their privacy, put aside their grieving, to allow again the opportunity for accountability to actually exist where the public can see what they saw,” LaMarr added to WISN. “And just try to move past the situation and heal this city.”

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NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s wife mourns pro-Hamas influencer

New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has been considered a questionable character by those on the right since he began his campaign — and now his wife, Rama Duwaji, is drawing their ire as well.

Duwaji took to social media to publicly mourn the death of Palestinian influencer Saleh al-Jafarawi, who openly celebrated the October 7, 2023, massacre in Israel.

“Beloved Jafarawi,” she wrote on her Instagram story, pairing it with four broken heart emojis.

Jafarawi was confirmed killed Sunday in clashes between Hamas and other Palestinian factions.

“This guy that his wife is so enamored with was also a crisis actor. He was showing up at all kinds of different incidents, playing all kinds of different parts, blaming Israel for certain things. And the Palestinians have a real habit of faking these events and putting them on film and doing it for a camera, and then they show it to the world,” BlazeTV host Pat Gray tells BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales on “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered.”

“And he participated in, I don’t know how many of those. And then he’s killed by some kind of Hamas, anti-Hamas gang. I guess the factions are now battling for control of Gaza right now,” he continues.

“It’s inconceivable that Zohran Mamdani and his wife are going to be the first couple of New York City,” he adds.

“It’s an insult to the history and the legacy of New York City,” Gonzales says.

“This is what happens when your other option is one of the worst people that humanity has ever provided to us, Andrew Cuomo, who is just awful in every single way,” BlazeTV host Stu Burguiere agrees.

“You’ll have to forgive me,” he continues, “for not rooting for a man who … basically is responsible for the deaths of thousands of people, and the people he left in the state, he mostly groped.”

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Federal judge shuts down Trump order for mass layoffs during government shutdown

President Donald Trump’s order for mass layoffs of federal workers was temporarily halted by a federal judge who said the administration was acting out of political motivation.

Susan Illston, a U.S. district court judge for the Northern District of California, sided on Wednesday with two unions that filed a lawsuit against the layoffs.

‘It has a human cost. It’s a human cost that cannot be tolerated.’

It’s been 15 days since the government shut down.

Illston accused the Trump administration of taking advantage of the “lapse in government spending and government functioning” and acting as if “all bets are off” and “the laws don’t apply to them anymore.”

Attorneys representing the administration said they would only address procedural questions about jurisdiction.

“You’re not making any statement concerning the government’s position on the merits … whether the [reductions in force] are legal?” Illston asked.

“Not today, your honor,” DOJ attorney Elizabeth Hedges replied.

The temporary restraining order halts the mass layoffs planned to be announced by the president on Friday.

“It’s very much ready, fire, aim on most of these programs, and it has a human cost. It’s a human cost that cannot be tolerated,” Illston said.

“I believe that the plaintiffs will demonstrate, ultimately, that what’s being done here is both illegal and is in excess of authority,” she added.

RELATED: Trump says a very wealthy ‘gentleman’ offered to pay troops’ wages through government shutdown

Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland praised the ruling in a post on social media.

“A judge just confirmed what has been obvious: Trump’s firings of federal workers are politically motivated and likely ILLEGAL,” Van Hollen wrote.

“He is weaponizing his shutdown to terrorize federal workers and deprive Americans of the services they provide,” he added. “These RIFs should be permanently reversed.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt blamed Democrats for the layoffs in previous comments.

“Unfortunately, because the Democrats shut down the government, the president has directed his cabinet, and the Office of Management and Budget is working with agencies across the board to identify where cuts can me made,” Leavitt said. “And we believe that layoffs are imminent. They are unfortunately a consequence of this government shutdown.”

Illston was nominated by former President Bill Clinton.

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Conservative SCOTUS justices appear skeptical about race-based redistricting

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Wednesday in Louisiana v. Callais.

The outcome of the case, which centers on the creation of a second black-majority congressional district in the Bayou State, may not only impact the Voting Rights Act and states’ corresponding ability to undertake race-based gerrymandering, but the balance of power in the U.S. House of Representatives as well.

Conservative justices on the high court — including Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who voted in 2023 to uphold the relevant VRA provision in a similar case pertaining to Alabama’s map but who warned that “the authority to conduct race-based redistricting cannot extend indefinitely into the future” — appear skeptical over the continued use of race in redistricting.

Background

Section 2 of the VRA, which the Supreme Court indicated in 1980 was a restatement of the protections afforded by the 15th Amendment, enables private citizens and the federal government to challenge allegedly discriminatory voting practices, including minority-vote dilution.

The Supreme Court has previously held that under certain circumstances, Section 2 may require the creation of one or more majority-minority districts in a redistricting map.

The Congressional Research Service noted that in its 1986 Thornburg v. Gingles decision, SCOTUS established a three-prong test for proving vote dilution under Section 2:

“The minority group must be able to demonstrate that it is sufficiently large and geographically compact to constitute a majority in a single-member district”;”The minority group must be able to show that it is politically cohesive”; andThe minority group must be able to prove that the majority group “votes sufficiently as a bloc to enable it … usually to defeat the minority’s preferred candidate.”

In 2022, a group of black voters took Louisiana to court, complaining that the state legislature adopted a congressional map where, despite the state being one-third black, only one of six districts was majority black. The plaintiffs, who alleged that the map violated Section 2, won the day.

RELATED: North Carolina Republicans will ‘follow Trump’s call’ to redistrict the state

Photo by Chip Somodevilla / POOL / AFP) (Photo by CHIP SOMODEVILLA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

A federal court agreed that the map was likely violative, prohibited its use in future elections, and told Louisiana to draft a new map, this time with two majority-black districts.

‘Explicit race-based districting embarks us on a most dangerous course.’

Obliging an order from an Obama U.S. district judge, Shelly Dick, the Louisiana legislature drew a new map last year that boasted a second race-based district that stretches roughly 250 miles from Shreveport in the northwest to Baton Rouge in the southeast, and cuts strategically through black metropolitan areas.

This proved intolerable to another group. This time, the plaintiffs were one dozen non-black voters who contended the map was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander that violated both the 14th and 15th Amendments.

“The State has engaged in explicit, racial segregation of voters and intentional discrimination against voters based on race,” the lawsuit said. “The State has drawn lines between neighbors and divided communities. In most cases, the lines separate African American and non-African American voters from their communities and assign them to Districts with dominating populations far away.”

The case was kicked up to SCOTUS after a three-judge district court agreed with the plaintiffs and blocked the state from using the second map.

The high court issued an unsigned order in May 2024 putting the lesser court’s ruling on hold, thereby setting the stage for the election of Democratic Rep. Cleo Fields in the newly drawn district.

The high court first heard oral arguments in the case in March, but in June, it rescheduled the case for reargument.

Justice Clarence Thomas noted in his dissenting opinion at the time of the order for reargument that the case should have been decided then, particularly when the court’s approach to Section 2 is “broken beyond repair,” and the conflict the high court’s Section 2 “jurisprudence has sown with the Constitution is too severe to ignore.”

Growing skepticism

The court heard oral arguments on Wednesday regarding the constitutionality of drawing majority-black districts to comply with the VRA.

While Louisiana previously supported the new map, it is now singing a different tune, suggesting that race-based redistricting is unconstitutional. The Trump administration has also weighed in, stating in a brief opposing the second map that “as Louisiana now concedes, Section 2 cannot justify the racially gerrymandered majority-minority district created to appease the Robinson court.”

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and the other liberal justices appeared largely convinced during oral arguments that race-based redistricting was not only lawful but a social good. Conservative justices, on the other hand, expressed deep skepticism over the practice.

In his colloquy with Janai Nelson, the president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund who was arguing on behalf of a group of black voters supportive of the second map, Justice Kavanaugh invoked former Justice Anthony Kennedy, noting:

He said the sorting of persons with an intent to divide by reason of race raises the most serious constitutional questions. And he added that explicit race-based districting embarks us on a most dangerous course. It is necessary to bear in mind that redistricting must comply with the overriding demands of Equal Protection clause.

Kavanaugh did not appear entirely convinced by Nelson’s subsequent argument that “Section 2 is addressing a pre-existing problem. It is not producing it, and in fact, it reduces it more broadly across society.”

‘It would be a seismic development both legally and politically.’

While Justice Amy Coney Barrett pressed the matter of whether Section 2 was itself constitutional but improperly interpreted and unlawfully applied, Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito questioned whether the redrawn maps satisfied the three-prong Section 2 test previously established by SCOTUS, specifically asking whether the new black-majority district was sufficiently compact.

Alito also insinuated that contrary to the purportedly noble cause guiding the creation of the black-majority district, the real objective appeared ultimately to be “seeking a partisan advantage.”

Meanwhile, Justice Neil Gorsuch expressed concern that states are effectively given license under the current interpretation of Section 2 to “intentionally discriminate on the basis of race” — a hard sell, especially on an indefinite basis.

Justices Coney Barrett and John Roberts played their cards closer to their chests.

It’s clear by the left’s pearl-clutching over the case that the stakes are high.

Failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams’ nonprofit Fair Fight Action claimed in a recent report that a ruling defanging the VRA provision at issue “could help secure an additional 27 safe Republican U.S. House seats when compared to the 2024 House maps” and “cement one-party control of the U.S. House for at least a generation.”

Law professor Jonathan Turley noted that “if the Court were to reject such districts or declare a sunsetting of the provision, it would be a seismic development both legally and politically.”

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Video shows Nancy Pelosi exploding with fury at reporter over Jan. 6 claims: ‘SHUT UP!’

Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California was caught on video snapping angrily at a reporter who pressed her about her acts during the Jan. 6 protests at the U.S. Capitol.

The former House speaker was walking out of the Capitol building on Wednesday when a reporter from Mike Lindell of My Pillow fame confronted her.

‘Why are you coming here with Republican talking points as if you’re a serious journalist?’

“Congresswoman Pelosi, are you at all concerned that the new January 6 committee will find you liable for that day?” Alison Steinberg asked. “Are you at all concerned about the new January 6 committee finding you liable for that day? Why did you refuse the National Guard on January 6?”

“Shut up!” Pelosi blurted out.

“I did not refuse the National Guard. The president didn’t send it,” she added. “Why are you coming here with Republican talking points as if you’re a serious journalist?”

Pelosi has been accused of failing to allow the National Guard to respond to the Jan. 6 protests after a video recorded by her daughter on that day showed her talking about the decision.

“We have responsibility, Terri. We did not have any accountability for what was going on there — and we should have,” said Pelosi to her chief of staff, Terri McCullough, on the recording released by HBO in 2024.

“This is ridiculous. You’re gonna ask me in the middle of the thing, when they’ve already breached the inaugural stuff, ‘Should we call the Capitol Police?’ I mean, the National Guard. Why weren’t the National Guard there to begin with?” she added.

McCullough says that they believed there were “sufficient” resources to handle protesters.

“It’s not a question of how they had — they don’t know,” Pelosi replied. “They clearly didn’t know, and I take responsibility for not having them just prepare for more.”

Critics have used the footage to accuse Pelosi of falsely claiming President Donald Trump was to blame for the lack of National Guard resources, though she has denied the allegations.

“Numerous independent fact-checkers have confirmed again and again that Speaker Pelosi did not plan her own assassination on January 6,” a spokesperson for Pelosi said in June.

RELATED: Pelosi has unbelievable response to Dem candidate who issued death wish against Republican

“As the footage in its entirety plainly shows, Speaker Pelosi sprang into action in response to the attack on the Capitol — mobilizing the defense of the Capitol, urging the administration to deploy the National Guard, and coordinating the continuity of government,” the spokesperson continued. “Cherry-picked, out-of-context clips do not change the fact that the Speaker of the House is not in charge of the security of the Capitol Complex — on January 6 or any other day of the week.”

However, as many as 20,000 National Guard troops were authorized by Trump for duty on Jan. 6, but Democratic D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser rejected the offer one day before the protests.

The LindellTV account mocked Pelosi for her reaction.

“No answer. Just insults. This is how the democratic so called Speaker of ‘the people’ treats the press when they don’t fall in line,” the post reads. “@SpeakerPelosi’s meltdown says everything. What is she trying to hide?”

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Glenn Beck issues chilling warning: ‘This is the new nuclear weapon’

While the Israel-Hamas ceasefire is dominating the news cycle and letting citizens of the world breathe mass sighs of relief, Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck believes there’s something brewing silently — and we should remain on our toes.

“Beijing just tightened its grip on rare earth elements. These are the minerals that make absolutely everything possible: your smartphone, your electric car, your missile defense system, your refrigerator. Everything depends on these rare earth minerals,” Glenn says.

“China, because of our inaction and stupid policies over the last couple of decades, control now 80% of the world’s supply chain. That cannot stand. Now, what they’re doing is they’re choking it off. They are now closing it up, and they are threatening the West, ‘No more rare earth minerals,’” he explains.

“If that happens, we cannot defend ourself,” he adds.

Glenn also notes that out of nowhere, the Pentagon has made a billion-dollar emergency order for those same rare earth minerals.

“That’s not normal. That’s not paperwork. That is the sound of a military quietly preparing for something — a shortage, possibly in a storm,” Glenn says.

In addition, JPMorgan Chase has just announced a $1.5 trillion investment plan in security and resilience.

“That’s not going to mom-and-pop shops. That’s not going to community loans. That money is being funneled straight into AI, defense manufacturing, and critical minerals. It’s as if the Pentagon and Wall Street just linked arms and decided to build a fortress economy together,” Glenn explains.

And interestingly, Glenn notes that the Dutch government has seized control of the Chinese-owned chipmaker on its own soil.

“They invoked emergency powers and nationalized the company to stop the Chinese influence over the semiconductor industry,” he says.

“That’s not good. Four stories, four continents, four quiet tremors in the ground. When you weave them all together, that’s when you begin to understand what all of this means,” Glenn continues.

And what it means is that “the old world as we know it is dying.”

“The world of free markets, the world of open trade, individual enterprise, the world that lifted billions out of poverty is being replaced now, slowly but surely, by something new. And this one is being done in the name of security,” he explains.

“This is the government aligning themselves with tech, rare earth minerals, et cetera, et cetera, to be able to win the AI war. All of this is a single unspoken motive, and that is the race to dominate artificial intelligence,” he continues.

“This is the new arms race. This is the new Manhattan Project, the new nuclear weapon, except this is a million times more enslaving than nuclear weapons could ever hope to be,” he adds.

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Exclusive: DOT withholds $40M from blue state for flouting English requirements for truckers

Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced on Wednesday that he is withholding significant funds from a blue state that has failed to comply with English language proficiency standards for commercial drivers, Blaze News has exclusively learned.

Last month, Duffy shared the results of a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration audit, which found “systemic non-compliance” among state driver licensing agencies in California, Colorado, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, and Washington.

‘California is the only state in the nation that refuses to ensure big-rig drivers can read our road signs and communicate with law enforcement.’

Duffy warned that there would be consequences for states that failed to comply with ELP standards.

This issue within the American trucking industry was thrown into the national spotlight in August when an illegal alien truck driver was accused of making an unlawful U-turn and killing three people in Florida. The Indian national obtained his license in California.

The DOT previously described California as “the most egregious” offender in meeting the English proficiency requirement for commercial driver’s license holders.

“My message is very simple,” Duffy warned. “Get into compliance now, or we’ll pull funding and we’ll force you into compliance.”

RELATED: ‘Imminent hazard’: Trump administration shuts licensing loophole after illegal alien trucker allegedly causes fatal crash

Photographer: Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images

In addition to demanding immediate compliance, the DOT also paused California’s issuance of non-domiciled CDLs in September. The state was required to identify all unexpired licenses that failed to comply with regulations.

Duffy indicated Wednesday that California had failed to comply and, as a result, the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program — which provides grant funding for roadside inspections, traffic enforcement, safety audits, and public education campaigns — would withhold $40,685,225 from the state, according to a press release obtained by Blaze News.

“I put states on notice this summer: Enforce the Trump administration’s English language requirements or the checks stop coming. California is the only state in the nation that refuses to ensure big-rig drivers can read our road signs and communicate with law enforcement. This is a fundamental safety issue that impacts you and your family on America’s roads,” Duffy stated.

“Let me be clear: This is valuable money that should be going to the great men and women in California law enforcement, whom we support. Gov. [Gavin] Newsom’s insistence on obstructing federal law has tied my hands,” Duffy remarked.

RELATED: American trucking at a crossroads: Deadly crash involving illegal alien exposes true cost of Biden’s border invasion

California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

To receive the now-withheld federal funding, the state “must adopt and actively enforce a law, regulation, standard, or order that is compatible with the federal ELP requirement for commercial drivers,” the press release read.

“This means state inspectors need to begin conducting ELP assessments during roadside inspections and place those who fail out of service,” it added.

The California Highway Patrol indicated to Overdrive in July that it had no plans to place truck drivers out of service for failing to meet ELP standards.

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Chinese SIM farms are radicalizing Americans and destabilizing society, intel experts say

Swarms of sophisticated chatbots enabled by China are embedded in platforms like Reddit and Discord to radicalize America’s youth, foment political division, and encourage violence, according to intelligence experts.

The ability to create millions of online personas to invade chat groups and social media sites to, in essence, destabilize American society is one of the sinister uses of the Chinese-built SIM farms like the ones shut down around New York City in September, Blaze News has learned.

‘Our population is being literally divided and radicalized to destroy our nation.’

“They’re able to use this [SIM] network to initiate social media accounts by the millions,” said one intelligence analyst familiar with the ongoing SIM farm investigation by the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Secret Service, and other federal agencies.

“Social media accounts by the millions,” the analyst reiterated. “Because all of them have the ability to do multifactor authentication, they can create millions of digital personas that are real.”

So far, he said, the American government is “clueless.”

“Our biggest issue is that both the American political class and U.S. government officials are completely clueless on this threat,” he said. “Our population is being literally divided and radicalized to destroy our nation. This is provable, but I think it would require so much more investigation to be able to show people, even on our side, how bad the problem is.”

SIM farms pair with AI

The process is started manually in China. It can have a deep reach into American society.

“It appears they have thousands of people in China that set this up manually. And then they use really sophisticated AI like ChatGPT to spread certain themes and certain messages — all designed, obviously, to divide our country and to create division,” the analyst said.

Election-themed chat threads are often flooded with nefarious bots pushing anti-Trump propaganda. From the outside, these often look like U.S. voters engaged in simple political debate.

However, the threats are not limited to chatbots.

After a series of high-profile swatting incidents targeting senior Secret Service officials and Secret Service protectees last spring, an investigation discovered the presence of SIM farms that are likely spread across America to carry out cyber terrorism and threaten cellular networks and internet access.

RELATED: Patriots targeted by hoax SWATs react to China’s role in shocking SIM farm operations

A New York City SIM farm raided by federal officials in September is tied to China.Photos by U.S. Secret Service

Homeland Security Investigations and the Secret Service raided five SIM farms in the greater New York City area. They disabled and seized more than 300 SIM servers operating from nondescript corporate office locations.

The farms use hundreds of thousands of SIM cards to create online cell numbers that can send out mass texts and synchronized attacks to lay siege to America’s critical infrastructure.

Among the more chilling aspects of these SIM farms is the ability to mimic humans to carry out sophisticated propaganda campaigns to promote progressive causes and radicalize people against the government and each other, intelligence officials told Blaze News.

“They actually groom you. Believe it or not, there’s a chatbot that can pretend to be 27 personalities and is designed to groom you, to groom anybody that asks certain questions or that mentions certain topics,” one expert said. “It’s just a chatbot, and it has very little human supervision.”

Having a real mobile telephone number associated with the SIM cards gives the system flexibility and secrecy. Each server can have up to 512 SIM cards to send texts, make calls, and run apps. Millions of the SIM cards are likely engaged in this SIM farm network at any one time. Each farm location likely has racks and racks of servers and modems working in tandem.

’It allows you to assume someone else’s identity, their phone, their phone number.’

“Having a real phone number that can be associated to a social media account and having that avenue with multifactor authentication capability makes for a nearly undetectable bot account,” he said. “As long as your AI can avoid repetitive or ‘bot-like’ messaging, you will be undetectable.”

A real phone number that can continuously be associated with a particular social media account is a key, he said.

This activity has developed “under the radar,” he said, and the U.S. government is not aggressively seeking out and destroying this nefarious system. The need is urgent.

“Here’s the problem,” he said. “Despite the fact that foreign governments are radicalizing our sovereign nation’s citizens to destroy this country, they are not doing it in a way that the government employees can feel is so important that they would investigate it.”

Private companies that do social media and open-source intelligence can detect the bots, “but nobody is paying them to investigate or report it,” the analyst said.

RELATED: While the lights are off, let’s rewire the government

By adopting the $8 per month blue-checkmark authentication system, X has greatly limited the penetration of chatbots, experts say.Photo illustration by Cheng Xin/Getty Images

The bots have dynamic and parallel capabilities that allow such subtle messaging. The War Department’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency ran a “Defeat Disinfo” project that identified the best way to create a subtle social media messaging system “to brainwash an entire population in a completely undetectable way,” he said.

The bot technology is especially prevalent on platforms like Reddit and Discord, the analyst said. After Elon Musk purchased Twitter and rebranded it X, the prevalence of nefarious chatbots on that platform dropped precipitously, he said. By charging $8 a month for an authenticated blue checkmark, X limits the ability of fake accounts to penetrate its huge user base.

‘Our own telecoms are hosting a Chinese act of war against us.’

On Oct. 12, X announced it had purged 1.7 million bot accounts for engaging in reply spam.

“You should start experiencing improvement in the coming days,” Nikita Bier, head of product at X, wrote. “We will be focusing on [direct message] spam next.”

The analyst estimated that X is no more than 20%-30% bots. Reddit, however, “is like 80% bots,” the intelligence analyst told Blaze News. “It’s absolutely horrible.

Foment violent division

“The open-source intelligence community, who are mostly contractors that monitor and look for bots, estimate Reddit is about 80% bots. All designed to push a Democrat narrative or a very highly progressive narrative towards the left, but also to foment violent division. Violent division.”

The bots have built-in safeguards so as not to be flagged by the system for “bot-like behavior,” the analyst said. “So they usually don’t mention firearms. They’re normally very, very subtle. It’s so subtle. You would never know. You might be responding to the same dude that’s just hitting likes on your thing for three years.”

While the SIM farms create massive numbers of new identities, each with its own phone number, they can also co-opt existing accounts.

“A lot of these SIM farms allow you to clone an identity,” the analyst said. “So it allows you to assume someone else’s identity, their phone, their phone number.”

Homeland Security Investigations agents led September raids on five SIM farms tied to a secret nationwide network built by the Chinese communist government.Photo by Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

The SIM farm networks are used by China, but also by criminal syndicates, drug cartels, and other malefactors, allegedly including Antifa. No matter who the user is, all of the data from the transactions is copied back to China, he said. The Chinese communist government requires all manufacturers of telecommunications equipment and computers to spy on behalf of the Ministry of State Security.

“Everything that’s happening on those devices is all going back to China,” he said, “even when the cartel uses them; or even when the United States government uses them; or even when the swatting people are using them; when the terrorists are using them; even when Antifa is using them.”

The SIM farms can be used to recruit radicals who are ready and willing to engage in violence outside immigration facilities — as is happening in Chicago and Portland.

‘We’re in a difficult position. It’s a catch-22.’

The analyst said there’s a good chance that China has been behind the establishment of Antifa chapters in the United States.

“It’s possible that they’re coordinating all of these chapters so that there’s a good chance that Antifa is actually a foreign terrorist organization,” he said. “In other words, it is a distributed terrorism network being unwittingly influenced by a Chinese sabotage network.”

Getting serious about stamping out these SIM farms will require the involvement of regulatory agencies including the Federal Communications Commission, he said.

A recent Reddit discussion on the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.Reddit

“The FCC should be engaged to fine $100 million or $200 million per telecom until they get rid of every single one of these [farms] they are hosting. Our own telecoms are hosting a Chinese act of war against us.”

The effort will also require action by Congress, he said, to make radicalizing American citizens by foreign actors a crime.

“The U.S. Secret Service subpoenaed Google to get the MFA short codes for the Google voice accounts that the bad guys were using,” he said. “But until we make ‘intentionally radicalizing U.S. citizens to destroy their own country’ something that is illegal and also important to prosecute, the U.S. government will never even look into it.”

Major resources are needed to analyze each SIM farm in hopes of finding more of the estimated 80-100 sites operating in the United States.

“You could start up a whole new government program office just to deal with the forensics and to find the rest of these sites,” he said.

“So we’re in a difficult position. It’s a catch-22,” the analyst said. “We won’t discover how urgent and destructive this problem is until we investigate it. We won’t investigate it until they discover how urgent and destructive it is.”

Blaze News reached out to Reddit, Discord, and the U.S. Secret Service for more comment.

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​National security 

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ICE accuses LA officials of giving ‘a middle finger to the law’ after county paves way for illegal aliens to receive funding

Los Angeles County officials have declared a state of emergency over federal deportation raids, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement fired back immediately.

Four of the members of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted in favor of the declaration Tuesday, while only one voted against.

‘Perhaps the board should “supervise” funds to support law-abiding fire victims who still haven’t recovered instead of criminal illegal aliens.’

The resolution said that the raids have created a “climate of fear” for residents and caused them to be “fearful of leaving their homes to go to work, take public transportation, and access County services.”

The motion will allow officials to request state assistance as well as federal resources to protect the communities affected by the immigration operations.

“What’s happening in our communities is an emergency, and Los Angeles County is treating it like one,” said Supervisor Lindsay Horvath. “Declaring a local emergency ensures that the full weight of county government is aligned to support our immigrant communities who are being targeted by federal actions.”

Supervisor Janice Hahn called the raids a “man-made” disaster similar to an earthquake.

“I want our residents to know that we are in this crisis with them — and I want us to have every tool at our disposal in this effort,” she added. “For that reason, I think this emergency proclamation is not just symbolically important as a message to our residents, but critical to our response moving forward.”

ICE spokesperson Emily Covington released a statement criticizing the declaration and accusing the officials of insulting law enforcement officials.

“The only state of emergency is the one the residents of Los Angeles face after electing officials who give a middle finger to the law. Perhaps the board should ‘supervise’ funds to support law-abiding fire victims who still haven’t recovered instead of criminal illegal aliens seeking refuge in their sanctuary city.”

RELATED: Outrage ensues when 13-year-old is arrested by ICE — then DHS releases devastating accusations

The board said the state of emergency would continue until the board decides to terminate it.

The Trump administration’s increased focus on deporting illegal aliens has led to some violent attacks from anti-ICE protesters and rioters. At least one Democrat lawmaker has accused the administration of faking some of the violence in order to justify invoking the Insurrection Act.

Trump has mentioned invoking the Insurrection Act but as of Wednesday afternoon has not yet done so.

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​Los angeles county board of supervisors, State of emergency, Deportation raids, Ice vs la, Politics