Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) endorsed Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan in Minnesota’s Democratic Senate primary in May, claiming that the anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement defender of child sex-rejection surgeries “fights from the heart and knows how to win.”

Warren appears to have gifted Flanagan with something even better than her endorsement: not being a real Indian.

‘Elizabeth Warren is doing a land acknowledgment on Flanagan’s head.’

The Massachusetts senator spent decades masquerading as an American Indian for apparent personal gain. Warren:

claimed “American Indian” status on her State Bar of Texas registration card while working at the University of Texas School of Law;compelled University of Pennsylvania Law School to list her ethnicity as “Native American” rather than “white”; was identified as an American Indian at Harvard Law School; and contributed recipes to the 1984 cookbook “Pow Wow Chow,” described as a compilation of “recipes passed down through the Five Tribes families.”

When first running for the U.S. Senate in 2012, Warren told reporters, “Being Native American has been part of my story, I guess, since the day I was born.”

The sham was exposed, however, thanks in part to President Donald Trump, who famously challenged Warren, whom he called “Pocahontas,” to get a DNA test to prove she is Native American. The results revealed that she is only 1/1,024th Native American, if at all.

RELATED: Here are North America’s top 5 fake Indians

David Paul Morris/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Warren’s identity crisis has presented Flanagan with an opportunity to characterize her potential win in November as historic.

Although she was raised by her white mother, Flanagan appears to have embraced the cause of her late father, Marvin Manypenny — an American Indian sovereignty activist who grew up on the White Earth Reservation in Minnesota.

While Flanagan has certainly played up her Indian heritage throughout her political career, she is leaning especially hard into it ahead of the midterms.

The Senate candidate — who in 2020 joined Warren at the Democratic National Convention’s Native American Caucus meeting — recently donned her bead earrings and told the transvestite Minnesota state representative formerly known as Christopher Finke (DFL) that she is a member of White Earth and her “family is the Wolf Clan.”

Flanagan’s campaign site similarly emphasizes her identity, stating, “Born into an Indigenous and Irish family, Peggy is Ojibwe and a member of the White Earth Nation. Her Anishinaabe name means ‘speaks in a loud and clear voice woman.'”

In a July 15 post, Flanagan wrote, “In almost 250 years, there’s never been a Native woman serving in the U.S. Senate. I’m thinking of my daughter — who just got her first jingle dress — and whether or not she will see Indigenous women in all parts of our government.”

After Flanagan won her party’s nomination on Tuesday, her campaign fundraising operation sent out a variation of this message, stating, “Friend, in almost 250 years, there’s never been a Native woman serving in the U.S. Senate. It’s time to change that,” reported the New York Post.

Flanagan’s quest to take Warren’s unofficial former title prompted some mockery online.

“Has anybody checked on Elizabeth Warren?” the Republican Party wrote on X.

Michigan College Republicans shared an AI illustration of Warren weeping in traditional Native American attire.

“Elizabeth Warren is doing a land acknowledgment on Flanagan’s head,” joked New York Post columnist Kirsten Fleming.

Warren’s office did not respond to Blaze News’ request for comment.

The Republican set to face off with Flanagan in the general election is Michele Tafoya, an award-winning sports journalist who wants tax cuts, the deportation of foreign fraudsters and illegal aliens, stronger elections, and men out of women’s sports.

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

​Elizabeth warren, Peggy flanagan, Minnesota, Indian, Senate, Politics 

The summer before my freshman year of college, my 18-year-old brain was wholly devoted to two things: relishing the last delicious bits of time with high school friends and the equally important endeavor of curating the perfect dorm room aesthetic.

The “it” color that summer was mint green. My chosen vibe was (I giggle as I write this) “shabby chic” — because there’s nothing like a 168-square-foot cinder-block prison cell draped in lace and florals.

Hiring an interior designer to curate a perfectly polished, bespoke dorm room robs a girl of the trial-and-error experience of honing her unique brand of beauty.

Once my Pinterest mood board was created, I enlisted my poor mother, who — bless her — cheered and abetted all my fantastical pursuits, to help. I dragged her to various home goods retailers, craft stores, and antique malls until we had what we needed to realize my vision of weathered elegance

When move-in day arrived, we utterly transformed the sterile gray box into a twinkle-lit sanctuary. Floral craft paper taped over cinder blocks became “vintage wallpaper.” Ornate gold picture frames hung with Command hooks created a “gallery wall.” Gauzy fabric thumbtacked into drop ceiling tiles served as a “bed canopy.”

I know what you’re thinking: This is ridiculous.

Reader, I couldn’t agree more. It was ridiculous — but it was fun, wildly creative, and one of my most cherished memories to date.

Judge me if you must, but hold your scrutiny until I tell you what some students are doing with their dorm rooms today.

A growing trend that is delighting some and incensing most involves hiring professionals to create custom “home” designs for college students. In other words, dorm room interior design is now a legitimate professional service.

Inside the full-service dorm design experience

What does hiring a dorm room interior designer involve? As it turns out, quite a lot.

It begins with a consultation — sometimes, depending on the company you opt for, multiple consultations. This is where the details of the project are ironed out: room dimensions, timelines, budgets, and, most importantly, vibes. Identifying and capturing one’s stated personal style is, of course, at the heart of these operations.

Then comes procurement.

But most of these designers, certainly the high-end ones, aren’t plucking knickknacks off Target and TJ Maxx shelves. “Mainstream” and “mass-produced” tend not to be in the vocabularies of the Southern belles who make up the overwhelming majority of dorm room designers’ clientele.

It’s only natural that an elevated experience would involve elevated items — and that’s exactly what most of these designers purchase or commission on behalf of their clients. A combination of custom headboards, made-to-fit cabinets, accent walls, and high-end furniture pieces paired with custom drapes, original artwork, monogrammed textiles, and specialty lighting ensure that each girl (or exceedingly rare male) gets a luxurious and one-of-a-kind living space.

Shelly Gates, the founder of Mary Margaret Designs, a design firm specializing in college dorm rooms, works directly with a “carpenter, seamstress, and handyman” to pull off her elaborate custom work.

“It definitely takes a village to get those dorm rooms together,” she told House Beautiful.

And it’s no wonder. Here’s an example of a dorm room she decorated at the University of Alabama:

Designer Ginger Curtis put it more bluntly to the New York Times: “We’re moving away from Ikea and getting the opposite of fast furniture.” Ginger is the founder of Urbanology Designs, a high-end Dallas-based interior design firm that has expanded into decorating luxury college dorm rooms because the demand is there.

Is it really, though? Is there actually a viable market for dorm room interior design?

Oh, yes — but with one critical distinction.

The demand is real — and growing

For starters, shelling out cash for dorm rooms is trending upward. The National Retail Federation projects college students and their families will spend a record $103.5 billion on back-to-school supplies this year — up from $88.8 billion the year prior. $14 billion of that is expected to be spent on dorm room or apartment furnishings alone.

Is this increase in expected spending caused by higher prices? Without a doubt — but the fact that there are now several companies specializing in transforming standard dorm rooms into luxury suites suggests that rising expectations are also a factor.

Business does seem to be booming for these niche designers, too.

Mary Margaret Designs, Gates explained in the same House Beautiful interview, started as a summer side hustle when she was a teacher. But when the business “exploded,” she made it her full-time gig. According to the Independent, she “now has a wait list stretching two to three years.”

Eden Bowen Montgomery, founder of dorm room design firm Essentials with Eden (a hilariously ironic name), had built such an empire by 2024 that she had to hire a seasonal staff of 25 employees.

But it’s important to note that this particular design service is not trending across the nation. Its popularity is specifically concentrated in the South. Montgomery, Gates, Curtis, and Dawn Thomas (After Five Designs founder and pioneer of the high-end dorm room design trend) are all based in the South and primarily serve large Southern state schools, including Ole Miss, the University of Alabama, Louisiana State University, Mississippi State, and Southern Methodist University in Texas.

It’s not lost on me that all of these schools are famous for their intense Greek-life cultures. I’m not here to cast aspersions on sororities, but I think it’s fair to say that the modern ones are not known for cultivating the values of moderation or restraint. It fits that the exclusive clubs notorious for choreographed RushTok dances and five-figure designer rush outfits would also sustain a thriving dorm-room design industry.

RELATED: This new app for new moms is a game-changer

ArtistGNDphotography/Getty Images

Delivery, installation, and the big reveal

The entire elaborate design process wraps up with transportation and installation. A delivery truck packed full of custom furnishings and décor arrives on campus along with the designer and an install team, who ensure that the lucky girl(s) has a thrilling turnkey experience. Here’s an example of the final stages from Mary Margaret Designs:

But the cherry on top, of course, is the big reveal, where the girls are often filmed reacting to their renovated dorm rooms. This filming process is worth noting, I think, because it captures what almost certainly fuels the entire dorm room design industry and the sorority culture it primarily serves: Instagramability. For a tragic majority of today’s youth, an exciting experience is only that if other people are watching.

Here’s an example of the grand finale from Thomas’ After Five Designs:

The price tag

Now for the really fun part: the bill. What do these dramatic dorm room makeovers cost?

It’s a spectrum, but on the low end, roughly $5,000 per student. According to the New York Times, a full room makeover from Essentials with Eden will run parents “about $10,000 per room ($5,000 per student)”; Curtis’ Urbanology averages between “$7,000 to $8,000, though the costs can grow much higher.”

Mary Margaret Designs, says People magazine, “charges between $5,000 and $20,000 to make over collegiate living spaces.”

As the New York Times aptly put it, college living has acquired “the Gilded Versailles Touch.”

The part that actually bothers me

I’m not going to bore you with the obvious critique: that dorm room interior design that costs more than some home down payments is nauseatingly extravagant. Nor will I indulge in the predictable lament that such obnoxious luxury sets kids up for crushed expectations in a world where AI gobbles up industries like potato chips and home ownership is out of reach for the majority of young Americans.

Instead, I want to focus on a less evident but equally important problem. Wanting a fabulous dorm room isn’t the issue for me. I think the introduction of this article makes that quite clear. Rather, the problem is that hiring an interior designer to curate a perfectly polished, bespoke dorm room robs a girl of the trial-and-error experience of honing her unique brand of beauty.

You may think it’s not that deep, but I would argue aesthetics are actually key to a woman’s identity. Embodying and cultivating beauty in the world is central to the female experience. It’s not that men don’t care about or play a role in matters of beauty, but there’s a reason home décor shops, Sephoras, and craft stores are frequented primarily by women.

This lifelong search for our own brand of beauty starts when we are toddlers trying on our mother’s heels and lipstick. In middle school, it looks like rearranging our rooms and deciding between the leopard and the floral headband. In high school, it’s experimenting with different eyeliner styles. And in college, it’s obsessing over what our first home apart from our parents will look like. It’s a journey that never ends — and one that’s crucial for becoming a confident, original woman.

It’s not trivial to search for one’s personal aesthetic, but it is deeply hollow to outsource that creative process to someone else, especially in our formative years — trading messy uniqueness for vanilla perfection. A girl’s sense of style should be forged in hot pink fire, not in design rooms.

​College students, Dorm room interior, Female identity, Southern schools, Instagramability, Sorority, Greek life, College, Lifestyle, Culture 

A Florida male threatened and began beating up a homeowner in a Fort Pierce mobile home park earlier this week, but police said the victim pulled a gun, fired once, and ended the threat.

The shooting occurred at 9 p.m. Wednesday at the Seminole Mobile Home Park, WPEC-TV reported.

The sheriff told WFLX-TV the victim ‘shot the suspect … point blank in the chest.’

St. Lucie County Sheriff Richard R. Del Toro told the station the two men knew each other and had been involved in a dispute that included verbal arguments and threatening text messages.

Investigators said the 37-year-old suspect — who has yet to be identified — made several threats before showing up at the home of the 22-year-old man, WPEC noted.

Deputies said the 37-year-old knocked on the front door and was let inside before a brawl broke out, the station said.

Investigators said the suspect pushed the 22-year-old homeowner and punched him several times in the stomach, WPEC reported.

“The victim disengaged … pulled out a handgun, shot one time, and the threat was over,” Del Toro told the station.

The sheriff told WFLX-TV the victim “shot the suspect … point blank in the chest.”

The suspect was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead, WPEC reported.

“It’s not fair, because my son has no father now. He’s 5 years old, and what am I gonna tell him? We didn’t even get to say goodbye,” Naomi Pallarez, the girlfriend of the man who died, told WPEC.

Del Toro told WPEC the homeowner remained at the scene and cooperated with investigators; the homeowner’s girlfriend and sister also were inside the residence and provided corroborating statements.

Deputies recovered the handgun after executing a search warrant at the residence, WPEC said.

No charges have been filed against the homeowner, WPEC reported, adding that investigators are working with the State Attorney’s Office to determine if the shooting falls under Florida’s stand-your-ground self-defense law.

“Obviously, you have to be in defense of yourself, but at the same time, you have to be in fear for your life anytime you’re going to use deadly force,” Del Toro added to the station.

More from WPEC:

The sheriff said the suspect had a criminal history, including drug-related and resisting-officer charges, domestic violence-related charges, and three felony convictions. He stressed that the man’s criminal history was not a reason for him to be killed.

The suspect’s name has not been released because investigators have not yet notified his next of kin, WPEC said.

“I am very much heartbroken,” Pallarez told WPEC. “And now I’m a single mom.”

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

​2nd amendment, Florida, Guns, Gun rights, Self-defense, Fatal shooting, Mobile home, Stand your ground law, Crime 

Chinese nationals and U.S. citizens saying “I do” with their fingers crossed behind their backs, all to exploit the U.S. immigration system? The Department of Justice says it’s true.

On Wednesday, the DOJ announced it had busted one of the largest marriage fraud rings in U.S. history — over 1,000 sham marriages arranged to secure green cards for foreign nationals, primarily citizens of the People’s Republic of China, run like a business for a decade.

‘Anyone willing to lie, cheat, or steal their way to legal immigration status is a direct threat to America’s national security.’

The DOJ claims the scheme, which ran from at least 2016 through July 2026, was based in New York City with marriages arranged across the U.S. and as far away as China.

According to the DOJ, three roles kept it running: facilitators who found foreign clients, recruiters who found U.S. citizens, and assistants who filed the paperwork. Officiants, attorneys, tax preparers, and insurance agents were also in the fold — a full-service fraud economy.

Facilitators charged foreign nationals up to $100,000 apiece, paid U.S. citizens up to $30,000 in installments, and paid recruiters commissions of up to $5,000 per referral, the DOJ claimed. The DOJ estimates the alleged network collected tens of millions of dollars.

Couples would often meet for the first time immediately before getting a marriage license, then stage wedding ceremonies and photographs to make the unions look legitimate, the DOJ claimed.

Afterward, participants allegedly manufactured further evidence — staged photos, joint bank and utility accounts, joint tax filings, and insurance policies. They also submitted green card applications with false statements and were coached to mislead immigration officials during green card interviews, the DOJ claimed.

RELATED: Birth tourism is only the beginning

U.S. Department of Justice

Attorney General Todd Blanche said couples even signed prenuptial agreements waiving marital rights — no estate claims, no child support, nothing. One clause allegedly read: “Both parties live independently and must not interfere with each other.”

The defendants identified in the DOJ press release are: Amy Cheng, Xiao Mei Chan, Christine Lu, Jing Yan Ye, Xiao Yan Chen, Gang Zheng, Anthony Cheng, Michelle Duenas, Angela Duenas, Sigrid Cetino, and Erika Johnson. They range from 26 to 72 years old and represent nearly every New York City borough as well as Westchester County.

Each defendant was arrested Wednesday and faces up to 15 years combined — five for conspiracy to commit marriage and immigration fraud and 10 for conspiracy to encourage unlawful residence of aliens.

The bust also lands the week after President Trump signed a pair of executive orders targeting birth tourism — part of what officials describe as a broader push against people gaming the immigration system.

RELATED: Trump takes another BIG swing at birthright citizenship and birth tourism

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph Edlow said, “Anyone willing to lie, cheat, or steal their way to legal immigration status is a direct threat to America’s national security.”

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jamie McDonald said the government is now weighing whether to revoke the green cards it already granted through the scheme.

This isn’t the first Chinese-linked alleged sham-marriage bust the administration has touted this year. In February, 11 people were charged in Jacksonville, Florida, for allegedly paying Navy sailors up to $35,000 to marry Chinese nationals — and, in some cases, bribing base personnel for military ID cards.

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

​Birth tourism, Department of justice, Foreign nationals, National security, New york city, Us citizens, Politics 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is taking followers inside her egg-freezing journey, sharing videos of hormone injections and encouraging more women to learn about their reproductive options — but BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey believes the conversation is missing something: the truth.

While egg freezing is often presented as a path to freedom and control, it glosses over the physical side effects, financial burden, and biological limitations that women will face if they wait to start families.

“The path that she is pursuing of political ambition and hoping to have kids via egg freezing and embryo creation in her 40s. Trust me, that is not going to be the path that leads to fulfillment and happiness and satisfaction,” Stuckey says.

“In fact, it’s just going to end up leading to a lot of disappointment,” she adds, before citing several studies on the process.

“UCLA study found that only 5.7% of women who froze their eggs between 2014 and 2016 actually used them within five to seven years,” she explains.

“The whole procedure costs about $12,000 to $15,000 per cycle. This is another thing when people tell me, ‘Oh it’s too expensive to have children, like, that’s why we’re not having kids in this economy.’ And then you have someone who is touting a procedure that can cost you $15,000. It’s a lot,” she says.

There are also little-known side effects to freezing your eggs.

“The most severe side effect of freezing your eggs is ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. The ovaries become swollen and very painful,” Stuckey says, noting that up to 20% of women will experience the side effect.

And in a 2017 study that “surveyed women who had had their eggs frozen found that 16% had severe regret over the decision two years later; 33% had mild regret.”

“When you are injecting yourself with hormones, again, and you are doing things that affect your body that intimately and that seriously, you’re going to have big emotions about it. People don’t talk about it,” she says.

And when women wait until their mid-30s to start having children, the list of complications go up.

“Maternal age of 35 and older, this is according to the Cleveland Clinic, is associated with a higher likelihood of complications such as high blood pressure, preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, miscarriage, C-section,” Stuckey explains.

“And that is not just a risk for the mom, it’s also a risk for the baby. Data from the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology show that about 53.1% of women under 35 achieved a live birth after one egg retrieval cycle compared with only 4.2% of women over 42,” she continues.

“So again, you just can’t beat biology,” she adds.

Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?

To enjoy more of Allie’s upbeat and in-depth coverage of culture, news, and theology from a Christian, conservative perspective, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Alexandria ocasio-cortez, Allie beth stuckey, Biology, Egg freezing, Ivf, Pregnancy, Blazetv show 

At first glance, President Donald Trump’s latest financial disclosures look like a major scandal.

CBS News recently released an interactive dashboard analyzing what it called Trump’s “unprecedented” volume of investment activity during the first quarter of 2026: 1,296 sales and 2,346 purchases worth somewhere between $212 million and $695 million.

Calling it ‘potential insider trading’ is easy. Proving it requires something more than trades that sometimes came before favorable news.

The report emphasized that much of the activity involved individual stocks rather than index funds and noted that some purchases “preceded policy moves” or public statements by Trump that could affect the companies involved.

“The concern is he is in a position to make all kinds of decisions that can affect stock prices,” one government ethics expert told CBS.

“In the meantime, he could have bought or sold stocks that are affected by these decisions.”

It certainly sounds suspicious. That is exactly what Democrats are counting on. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has already demanded an investigation into “potential insider trading” as her party tries to cast Trump as an out-of-touch oligarch before the midterms.

But the scandal starts to look much thinner once you move past the insinuation and examine what actually happened.

For one thing, Trump is not personally making these trades. CBS News included a statement from the Trump Organization saying that “independent third-party investment managers” handle the president’s stock transactions without direction from Trump or his family.

Vice President JD Vance put it more colorfully: Trump “doesn’t sit at the Oval Office on his computer on his, like, Robinhood account, buying and selling stocks. That’s absurd.”

Fine. But what about the timing? Doesn’t that suggest some coordination between Trump and his money managers?

Not much, judging from CBS News’ own charts. If Trump is insider trading, he is doing a remarkably bad job of it.

Take Nvidia. CBS noted that Trump’s financial managers bought between $500,001 and $1 million of Nvidia stock on January 6. The following week, the administration relaxed export controls on some of Nvidia’s AI chips, allowing sales to China.

RELATED: Trump has media and left panicking over election national emergency threat

Jim WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

That sounds explosive until you look at the stock price. Nvidia closed at $187.24 on Jan. 6. After the policy change, it closed the following week at $186.23.

The next two purchases shown by CBS came after — not before — brief but significant drops in Nvidia’s share price. Trump’s disclosure also shows sales totaling between $1.8 million and $3.6 million in Nvidia stock during March. The stock then climbed sharply the next month.

That is not what a clean insider-trading narrative looks like.

It looks much more like ordinary portfolio management: buying dips, trimming positions, missing upside, and generally doing what professional money managers do every day — often while charging clients handsomely for the privilege.

Palantir and Eli Lilly transactions cited in the report show a similarly messy pattern rather than some obvious sequence of privileged information followed by perfectly timed trades.

One investment professional quoted by CBS even speculated that Trump’s managers may have been realizing losses for tax purposes. Maybe. If not, Trump might want to ask what exactly he is paying them for.

Either way, that theory does not establish insider trading. And neither does the mere fact that a trade happened before a policy announcement affecting the same company.

To make the case, you need evidence that Trump possessed material nonpublic information, that he communicated it to the people managing his portfolio, and that they traded on it. The disclosures and timing highlighted by CBS do not establish that.

The simplest explanation remains the least cinematic one: Trump pursues policies he believes are good for the country while outside money managers invest his fortune without his input.

If you want to understand what genuinely suspicious political trading can look like, consider the Pelosi family.

In 2024, Paul Pelosi sold roughly $500,000 in Visa stock. The following month, the Justice Department sued Visa on antitrust grounds, and the stock fell.

That timing naturally attracted scrutiny. But timing alone is not proof there, either. We do not know that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tipped off her husband, and the public evidence does not establish insider trading.

RELATED: Nancy Pelosi’s post-Congress plan: A ‘nonpartisan’ $50 million institute at Berkeley

Jim Vondruska/Getty Images

What it does show is why these stories require more than a suggestive chart. A suspicious-looking sequence is a reason to ask questions, not a substitute for evidence.

That standard should apply to Trump too.

Democrats need voters to believe Trump is using the presidency to enrich himself, his family, and his friends. That is why every financial disclosure becomes an invitation to imply corruption before proving it.

Maybe investigators will eventually uncover evidence that Trump directed trades around government policy. If they do, investigate it.

But the material CBS News has presented so far does not get us there.

Calling it “potential insider trading” is easy. Proving it requires something more than trades that sometimes came before favorable news, sometimes after price declines, and sometimes before the portfolio missed a rally altogether.

For now, there is plenty of insinuation and remarkably little proof.

​Cbs news, Democrats, Donald trump, Eli lilly, Insider trading, Investigation, Jd vance, Justice department, Nancy pelosi, Opinion & analysis, Palantir, Corruption, Stocks, Disclosure 

A Texas teacher has gone viral for breaking down emotionally during a social media post because several of his senior students struggle to read and write.

In a video that has gone viral online, Darius Williams says he assigned high school senior students to read two paragraphs and write a sentence on the second day of school.

‘Something is broken somewhere. It has to be. To see this level of engagement with students who simply don’t have literacy skills is completely disheartening.’

He stated in the viral video, “I literally broke down in the middle of class.”

An emotional Williams continued, “I gave them the scenario, we annotated together, I gave them the answers before we even had the problem, and they couldn’t do it.”

“I basically completed the sentence for them in the model,” Williams said. “These are 17- and 18-year-old kids, and they couldn’t fill in four words. Four words!”

The tearful teacher added, “I don’t know. I simply don’t know where the problem is. This is only day two, and I have seniors who simply cannot read and seniors who cannot write. They cannot write.”

Williams remarked, “They can reason, they have the ability to defend their reasoning if it’s talking to their homeboy, but applying that to a written text, two paragraphs, they couldn’t do it. Our young black men, our young brown men, our young black girls, and our young brown girls. Oh, God.”

Williams wrote in the caption accompanying the Instagram video:

I thought long and hard about posting this. But we have got to do something. Something is broken somewhere. It has to be. To see this level of engagement with students who simply don’t have literacy skills is completely disheartening. Whew. Y’all did not prepare me for this. Whew.

The viral video notched more than 144,000 views on Instagram.

Darius Williams is listed in the Wheatley High School staff directory as a New Education System and Career and Technical Education teacher in a non-foundational program of study.

KRIV-TV reported, “The Texas Education Agency says a ‘non-foundational’ teacher teaches elective, specialized, or enrichment subjects instead of core academic courses.”

“The district describes CTE as a collection of courses designed to prepare students for further education and careers in current or emerging professions,” KPRC-TV reported. “The district says its CTE programs prepare students for industry certifications, while some programs also offer dual-credit opportunities that allow students to earn college credit while still in high school.”

RELATED: Texas pastor issues two challenges for men today: ‘Putting it into action bears fruit’

While the Houston Independent School District did not directly address Williams’ claims in his viral video, it said it was “proud of the progress students are making.”

“The first days of the school year are an important time for teachers to get to know their students’ academic abilities, assess their individual needs, and determine the support each student may require,” the district said, according to the Houston Chronicle.

“We see students with a range of academic needs every day,” the statement read. “As teachers and instructional leaders, it is our responsibility to identify those needs and our commitment to close the gaps.”

The HISD conceded that there are some “students who need additional academic support.”

Wheatley High School has faced academic challenges in recent years.

The Houston Chronicle reported that approximately 130 schools in the Houston Independent School District, including Wheatley High School, were taken over by the state of Texas in 2023 following seven consecutive years of failing evaluations within the state accountability framework.

Wheatley High School currently has an overall C rating and a student STAAR performance rating of 69 out of 100.

The Texas Education Agency defines STAAR Performance as standards-related “levels of test performance to the expectations defined in the state curriculum standards known as the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills.”

The school has a graduation/completion rate of 55 out of 100.

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

​High school, News, Politics, Texas, Viral video 

Jason Arday, the serial fabulist who resigned last week from Cambridge University, released his memoir “Great and Unfortunate Things” on Tuesday. As of this writing, the book had a 4.18 average from 103 ratings on Goodreads. Fully 48% give Arday five stars. Another 37% give him four. Two stars or below? A mere 7%.

The Goodreads jury, apparently, has reached its verdict: The story of a nonverbal autistic boy who could not read until 18 and then rocketed all the way to becoming Cambridge’s youngest black professor is sacred.

When the demand for underrepresented heroes outstrips the supply, fabulists and frauds have an opening. More important, they have an ecosystem.

The reviews are replete with the language of wonder. One called the book “the improbable-but-true story” and awarded five stars “for the basic premise alone,” adding: “You make this stuff up (sic).” Truer words!

Another declared that Arday becoming a college graduate a mere five years after becoming fully literate was “nothing short of amazing.” Others called his accomplishments “truly unbelievable,” his memoir “incredibly moving” and “incredibly inspirational.”

Incredible. Amazing. Unbelievable. The reviewers keep reaching for exactly the right words without quite noticing what those words might mean.

Never mind that Arday stepped down August 5 after Cambridge opened an investigation into his academic qualifications and honorary appointments. Never mind the detailed allegations of extensive textual overlap in his doctoral thesis. Forget the questions surrounding his athletic feats, fundraising claims, and résumé. Pay no attention to the rather awkward question raised by the tale of a man who supposedly learned to read at 18 and graduated from a prestigious institution five years later.

The Goodreads crowd had already rendered its rapturous verdict.

Among the first two dozen or so reviews visible on the site, nearly all awarded four or five stars. Almost nobody stopped to wonder whether the “unbelievable” story might, in fact, be unbelievable.

Why would they? The story delivers everything the contemporary literary class has been trained to admire: a black autistic man overcoming a racist and ableist system; a fierce immigrant mother redeeming her son; grit and determination carrying him into the heights of the ivory tower. It is less a memoir than a perfect machine for producing approved emotions.

RELATED: How to play liberals for suckers

Blaze Media Illustration

Even reviewers who finished the book after the scandal broke offered only careful, almost apologetic caveats. One finished the memoir, Googled Arday, discovered the plagiarism reports and resignation “only hours” earlier — and still found the book “well written” and “fascinating.”

Several reviewers thanked 37INK, a Simon & Schuster imprint devoted to publishing black authors, for providing advance review copies through NetGalley. NetGalley collects volunteer reviewers whose preferences are already known. Publishers naturally use such networks to build early attention and enthusiasm around books they hope to sell.

Nothing sinister is required here. That’s practically the point.

The machinery works because everyone already knows the story he is supposed to like. The publisher finds the audience. The audience recognizes the moral cues. The reviewers supply the adjectives. By publication day, a book whose author is already engulfed in questions about his biography can arrive wrapped in a halo of “incredible,” “amazing,” and “inspirational.”

Amazon, where reviews could not be posted until the book was actually released, appears much less enchanted. Even 37INK, perhaps wisely, does not feature the book on its home page.

When the demand for underrepresented heroes outstrips the supply, fabulists and frauds have an opening. More important, they have an ecosystem.

The university hires. The publisher packages. The advance readers applaud. And by the time anyone asks whether the inspirational story is true, the five stars are already in.

​Cambridge university, Jason arday, Opinion & analysis, Memoir, Diversity equity inclusion, Fabulist, Goodreads, Amazon, Fraud 

While smearing law-abiding conservatives in recent years as “extremists,” the Southern Poverty Law Center was seemingly getting into bed with bona fide Nazis — in one alleged case, perhaps quite literally.

Heidi Beirich, the former director of the SPLC’s Intelligence Project who was indicted and arrested on Wednesday, is accused not only of getting romantically involved, cohabitating, and sharing bank accounts with a neo-Nazi informant whose work she oversaw, but also allegedly committing fraud along the way.

‘The charity that supposedly fought Neo-Nazis actually funded Neo-Nazis.’

The second superseding indictment in the SPLC’s criminal fraud case announced by the Justice Department on Wednesday sheds light on Beirich’s various alleged improprieties as well as on the SPLC-linked activities of her alleged skinhead lover.

Quick background

The Alabama-headquartered smear- and fearmongering outfit was federally charged on April 21 with six counts of wire fraud, four counts of making false statements to a federally insured bank, and one count of conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering.

The SPLC — which has been credibly accused of bankrolling leaders and organizers in the Ku Klux Klan, the Aryan Nation, the American Front, United Klans of America, the National Socialist Party of America, and the National Alliance with millions of dollars in donor funds through fictitious accounts — pleaded not guilty in May to all counts.

RELATED: Klansman allegedly on SPLC payroll was ‘true believer’ white supremacist, not reformed infiltrator

FBI

On June 2, the DOJ filed a superseding indictment against the SPLC detailing some of the ways that field sources allegedly used SPLC donor money, including to grow existing chapters of extremist groups; make donations to extremist group leaders; host extremist rallies; purchase materials for cross burnings as well as for KKK robes and hoods; and publish extremist literature for recruitment purposes.

The June indictment also told the love story about a former Intelligence Project director and a field source referred to only as “F-9.”

The second superseding indictment filed on Tuesday fills in some of the gaps in that love story — including the former director’s name, Heidi Beirich — and paints her in a particularly unflattering light.

The SPLC, Beirich, and Beirich’s attorney did not respond to Blaze News’ requests for comment.

There are three core components to the case against Beirich, who has been personally charged with wire fraud conspiracy, conspiracy to submit false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering.

1. Shell companies

Beirich is an anti-Trump liberal who served as director of the Intelligence Project from 2012 until 2019 and now serves as the chief strategy officer at the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism. In her latest capacity, she concerned-mongered before Congress in 2020 over the supposed problem of white supremacists in the military.

The indictment alleges that Beirich opened and/or modified a series of bank accounts in the name of numerous shell companies, including the Center Investigative Agency, Fox Photography, Tech Writers Group, and Rare Books Warehouse — and knowingly signed bank documents “containing false statements for the purpose of influencing banks” to open and maintain the accounts.

‘I knew it was that fat, ugly hog Heidi Beirich.’

According to the indictment, the fictitious organizations Beirich allegedly helped stand up were never incorporated, conducted no legitimate business, and had no real employees.

Funds from SPLC donors — who were led to believe they were supporting the fight against extremism — were allegedly funneled through the identified shell companies to so-called informants, including Beirich’s alleged lover, F-9.

2. Thick as thieves

Prosecutors allege that F-9 received millions of dollars in donor funds, primarily through the Tech Writers bank account, while helping the National Alliance “carry out its extremist activities.”

RELATED: Federal judge REJECTS the victim narrative pushed by the criminally charged SPLC

Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Beirich allegedly oversaw the SPLC payments to F-9 while engaged “in a romantic relationship” with him, said the indictment.

Beirich is also accused of getting a taste of the action.

“During this relationship, BEIRICH and F-9 shared a house and two bank accounts,” the indictment alleges. “Between 2015 and 2021, approximately $140,000.00 in donors’ money flowed from the SPLC operating account, through the Tech Writers account, and was ultimately deposited into the joint bank accounts held by F-9 and BEIRICH.”

The then-SPLC director allegedly used donors’ money to pay for their shared living expenses, even though she does not appear to have been hard-pressed for cash. After all, when Beirich left the SPLC, she was reportedly earning $190,000 in salary and benefits.

Whether their alleged romantic relationship is ongoing is unclear.

3. Another use for the Nazi informant

According to the allegations, Beirich’s informant broke into the National Alliance’s headquarters in West Virginia in 2014 with her knowledge; stole 25 boxes of documents; transported those documents across state lines; and with Beirich’s help, copied those documents before breaking back into the National Alliance headquarters to return the originals.

Prosecutors alleged that Beirich paid for the copies with donor funds and used the stolen material for a “story to solicit more donations.”

The documents taken in the burglary appear to have served as the basis for Beirich’s lengthy March 2015 “Hatewatch” article titled “Chaos at the Compound,” where she discussed drama and mismanagement behind the scenes at the National Alliance.

Beirich then allegedly “paid approximately $6,000.00 in donors’ money” to a different field source “to falsely take responsibility for the burglary.”

After the June indictment came out and linked the SPLC to the burglary, William White Williams, National Alliance’s 78-year-old chairman, told the New York Post, “I knew it was that fat, ugly hog Heidi Beirich.”

Protest and condemnation

FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement on Thursday, “The charity that supposedly fought the KKK actually funded the KKK. The charity that supposedly fought Neo-Nazis actually funded Neo-Nazis. Heidi Beirich supposedly dedicated her career to fighting neo-Nazis. The indictment alleges she helped FUND them.”

Patel added, “The woman who supposedly fought hate allegedly helped pay the very people spreading it, used their activity to raise more donor money, and personally benefited from the scheme.”

Beirich’s lawyer denies she did anything wrong.

“Dr. Beirich is innocent, and this case is without merit,” Beirich’s attorney, Michael Proctor, said in a statement obtained by CNN. “We believe the charges against her and the SPLC are politically motivated, and Dr. Beirich has been targeted in this case because of the important work she has done to combat hate groups and extremists.”

The SPLC has already tried and failed to get the case dismissed on the basis of the claim that the prosecution is politically motivated.

Judge Emily Marks of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, a Trump appointee, said in an order rejecting the SPLC’s motion on Friday, “The SPLC has failed to offer some evidence tending to show animus on the part of the prosecutors involved in bringing this case and that such animus resulted in the prosecution.”

Proctor added, “Dr. Beirich won’t be silenced or intimidated by the government’s false and politicized allegations now.”

“The actions taken by the DOJ will not shake our resolve,” the SPLC told CNN. “We remain steadfast in our fight for justice and in our commitment to ensuring the promise of the Civil Rights movement becomes a reality for all. We are confident in our position and look forward to presenting the evidence and making our case in court.”

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

​Southern poverty law center, White supremacists, Nazis, Kash patel, Fbi, Politics 

A woman from Moldova has been stripped of her citizenship after she was discovered to have been involved a business that sexually exploited children.

Tatiana Power gained her U.S. citizenship through the naturalization process but was later convicted of crimes related to a child modeling business.

Power was one of six people who were charged with crimes related to the case, but two of those have died.

Power had been the bookkeeper for Newstar Websites, which recruited children under the guise of modeling, but instead the children were made to engage in sexual conduct for images and videos.

The organization had targeted Moldovan, Ukrainian, and other Eastern European children and then sold the child sex images and videos to customers in more than a hundred countries.

Prosecutors said they produced about 4.6 million videos and images, including children as young as 6 years old.

Some of the children were made to wear transparent underwear, pantyhose and miniskirts, or dress up in cheerleader or police costumes.

Power pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering conspiracy and was sentenced in 2022 to more than 12 years in prison.

On Tuesday, the DOJ said it had also stripped Power of her citizenship.

Power was one of six people who were charged with crimes related to the case, but two of those have died, two others were imprisoned, and one has eluded U.S. custody.

RELATED: Illegal alien allegedly bites 3-year-old’s face in horrifying random attack — DHS blames Biden

The Justice Department said it has filed 123 civil denaturalization complaints, which is the most in U.S. history.

Others who were denaturalized were Narinder Singh of India for identity fraud, Emigdio Sanchez of Mexico for lying about being arrested for domestic abuse, and Yetunde Folake Olaniyi of Nigeria for entering into s sham marriage.

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

​Immigration and customs enforcement, Child sex abuse material, Denaturalization, Immigration, Politics