Imran Ahmed, the founder of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), giving evidence to joint committee seeking views on how to improve the draft Online Safety Bill designed to tackle social media abuse. Credit: House of Commons – PA Images / Contributor | PA Images
Imran Ahmed’s biggest thorn in his side used to be Elon Musk, who made the hate speech researcher one of his earliest legal foes during his Twitter takeover.
Now, it’s the Trump administration, which planned to deport Ahmed, a legal permanent resident, just before Christmas. It would then ban him from returning to the United States, where he lives with his wife and young child, both US citizens.
After suing US officials to block any attempted arrest or deportation, Ahmed was quickly granted a temporary restraining order on Christmas Day. Ahmed had successfully argued that he risked irreparable harm without the order, alleging that Trump officials continue “to abuse the immigration system to punish and punitively detain noncitizens for protected speech and silence viewpoints with which it disagrees” and confirming that his speech had been chilled.
US officials are attempting to sanction Ahmed seemingly due to his work as the founder of a British-American non-governmental organization, the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH).
“An egregious act of government censorship”
In a shocking announcement last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that five individuals—described as “radical activists” and leaders of “weaponized NGOs”—would face US visa bans since “their entry, presence, or activities in the United States have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences” for the US.
Nobody was named in that release, but Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy, Sarah Rogers, later identified the targets in an X post she currently has pinned to the top of her feed.
Alongside Ahmed, sanctioned individuals included former European commissioner for the internal market, Thierry Breton; the leader of UK-based Global Disinformation Index (GDI), Clare Melford; and co-leaders of Germany-based HateAid, Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon. A GDI spokesperson told The Guardian that the visa bans are “an authoritarian attack on free speech and an egregious act of government censorship.”
While all targets were scrutinized for supporting some of the European Union’s strictest tech regulations, including the Digital Services Act (DSA), Ahmed was further accused of serving as a “key collaborator with the Biden Administration’s effort to weaponize the government against US citizens.” As evidence of Ahmed’s supposed threat to US foreign policy, Rogers cited a CCDH report flagging Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. among the so-called “disinformation dozen” driving the most vaccine hoaxes on social media.
Neither official has really made it clear what exact threat these individuals pose if operating from within the US, as opposed to from anywhere else in the world. Echoing Rubio’s press release, Rogers wrote that the sanctions would reinforce a “red line,” supposedly ending “extraterritorial censorship of Americans” by targeting the “censorship-NGO ecosystem.”
For Ahmed’s group, specifically, she pointed to Musk’s failed lawsuit, which accused CCDH of illegally scraping Twitter—supposedly, it offered evidence of extraterritorial censorship. That lawsuit surfaced “leaked documents” allegedly showing that CCDH planned to “kill Twitter” by sharing research that could be used to justify big fines under the DSA or the UK’s Online Safety Act. Following that logic, seemingly any group monitoring misinformation or sharing research that lawmakers weigh when implementing new policies could be maligned as seeking mechanisms to censor platforms.
Notably, CCDH won its legal fight with Musk after a judge mocked X’s legal argument as “vapid” and dismissed the lawsuit as an obvious attempt to punish CCDH for exercising free speech that Musk didn’t like.
In his complaint last week, Ahmed alleged that US officials were similarly encroaching on his First Amendment rights by unconstitutionally wielding immigration law as “a tool to punish noncitizen speakers who express views disfavored by the current administration.”
Both Rubio and Rogers are named as defendants in the suit, as well as Attorney General Pam Bondi, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, and Acting Director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Todd Lyons. In a loss, officials would potentially not only be forced to vacate Rubio’s actions implementing visa bans, but also possibly stop furthering a larger alleged Trump administration pattern of “targeting noncitizens for removal based on First Amendment protected speech.”
Lawsuit may force Rubio to justify visa bans
For Ahmed, securing the temporary restraining order was urgent, as he was apparently the only target currently located in the US when Rubio’s announcement dropped. In a statement provided to Ars, Ahmed’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, suggested that the order was granted “so quickly because it is so obvious that Marco Rubio and the other defendants’ actions were blatantly unconstitutional.”
Ahmed founded CCDH in 2019, hoping to “call attention to the enormous problem of digitally driven disinformation and hate online.” According to the suit, he became particularly concerned about antisemitism online while living in the United Kingdom in 2016, having watched “the far-right party, Britain First,” launching “the dangerous conspiracy theory that the EU was attempting to import Muslims and Black people to ‘destroy’ white citizens.” That year, a Member of Parliament and Ahmed’s colleague, Jo Cox, was “shot and stabbed in a brutal politically motivated murder, committed by a man who screamed ‘Britain First’” during the attack. That tragedy motivated Ahmed to start CCDH.
He moved to the US in 2021 and was granted a green card in 2024, starting his family and continuing to lead CCDH efforts monitoring not just Twitter/X, but also Meta platforms, TikTok, and, more recently, AI chatbots. In addition to supporting the DSA and UK’s Online Safety Act, his group has supported US online safety laws and Section 230 reforms intended to protect kids online.
“Mr. Ahmed studies and engages in civic discourse about the content moderation policies of major social media companies in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union,” his lawsuit said. “There is no conceivable foreign policy impact from his speech acts whatsoever.”
In his complaint, Ahmed alleged that Rubio has so far provided no evidence that Ahmed poses such a great threat that he must be removed. He argued that “applicable statutes expressly prohibit removal based on a noncitizen’s ‘past, current, or expected beliefs, statements, or associations.’”
According to DHS guidance from 2021 cited in the suit, “A noncitizen’ s exercise of their First Amendment rights … should never be a factor in deciding to take enforcement action.”
To prevent deportation based solely on viewpoints, Rubio was supposed to notify chairs of the House Foreign Affairs, Senate Foreign Relations, and House and Senate Judiciary Committees, to explain what “compelling US foreign policy interest” would be compromised if Ahmed or others targeted with visa bans were to enter the US. But there’s no evidence Rubio took those steps, Ahmed alleged.
“The government has no power to punish Mr. Ahmed for his research, protected speech, and advocacy, and Defendants cannot evade those constitutional limitations by simply claiming that Mr. Ahmed’s presence or activities have ‘potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States,’” a press release from his legal team said. “There is no credible argument for Mr. Ahmed’s immigration detention, away from his wife and young child.”
X lawsuit offers clues to Trump officials’ defense
To some critics, it looks like the Trump administration is going after CCDH in order to take up the fight that Musk already lost. In his lawsuit against CCDH, Musk’s X echoed US Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) by suggesting that CCDH was a “foreign dark money group” that allowed “foreign interests” to attempt to “influence American democracy.” It seems likely that US officials will put forward similar arguments in their CCDH fight.
Rogers’ X post offers some clues that the State Department will be mining Musk’s failed litigation to support claims of what it calls a “global censorship-industrial complex.” What she detailed suggested that the Trump administration plans to argue that NGOs like CCDH support strict tech laws, then conduct research bent on using said laws to censor platforms. That logic seems to ignore the reality that NGOs cannot control what laws get passed or enforced, Breton suggested in his first TV interview after his visa ban was announced.
Breton, whom Rogers villainized as the “mastermind” behind the DSA, urged EU officials to do more now defend their tough tech regulations—which Le Monde noted passed with overwhelming bipartisan support and very little far-right resistance—and fight the visa bans, Bloomberg reported.
“They cannot force us to change laws that we voted for democratically just to please [US tech companies],” Breton said. “No, we must stand up.”
While EU officials seemingly drag their feet, Ahmed is hoping that a judge will declare that all the visa bans that Rubio announced are unconstitutional. The temporary restraining order indicates there will be a court hearing Monday at which Ahmed will learn precisely “what steps Defendants have taken to impose visa restrictions and initiate removal proceedings against” him and any others. Until then, Ahmed remains in the dark on why Rubio deemed him as having “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences” if he stayed in the US.
Ahmed, who argued that X’s lawsuit sought to chill CCDH’s research and alleged that the US attack seeks to do the same, seems confident that he can beat the visa bans.
“America is a great nation built on laws, with checks and balances to ensure power can never attain the unfettered primacy that leads to tyranny,” Ahmed said. “The law, clear-eyed in understanding right and wrong, will stand in the way of those who seek to silence the truth and empower the bold who stand up to power. I believe in this system, and I am proud to call this country my home. I will not be bullied away from my life’s work of fighting to keep children safe from social media’s harm and stopping antisemitism online. Onward.”
Ashley is a senior policy reporter for Ars Technica, dedicated to tracking social impacts of emerging policies and new technologies. She is a Chicago-based journalist with 20 years of experience.
Criminal Israel has violated every aspect of the “ceasefire” and made a mockery of the promises of security guarantees tRump gave Hamas / the Palestinians. It should make Ukraine really nervous of the same things he has promised them. All tRump can see or cares about is his personal profit of building on Palestinian lands making profits over the dead bodies of the Palestinians. He is OK with Israel hurrying up the slaughter to get to that profit point. I hate this. You should also. Hugs
People attend the funeral of Dr. Hussein Najjar, a member of the Doctors Without Borders team who was killed by shrapnel from an Israeli airstrike, in Deir al Balah, Gaza on September 16, 2025
(Photo by Alaa Y. M. Abumohsen/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“The humanitarian response in Gaza is already highly restricted, and cannot afford further dismantlement,” the renowned organization warned.
The Israeli government said Tuesday that Doctors Without Borders, one of the largest medical organizations currently operating in Gaza, is among the 25 humanitarian groups that will be suspended at the start of the new year for their alleged failure to comply with Israel’s widely criticized new registration rules for international NGOs.
According to the Associated Press, Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs “said the organizations that will be banned on January 1 did not meet new requirements for sharing staff, funding, and operations information.” The Israeli government specifically accused Doctors Without Borders, known internationally as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), of “failing to clarify the roles of some staff that Israel accused of cooperation with Hamas and other militant groups,” AP reported.
In addition to providing medical assistance to desperate Palestinians, MSF has been an outspoken critic of what has it described as Israel’s “campaign of total destruction” in Gaza. The group said in a report released last December that its teams’ experiences on the ground in Gaza were “consistent with the descriptions provided by an increasing number of legal experts and organizations concluding that genocide is taking place.”
Ahead of Tuesday’s announcement, Doctors Without Borders warned that the looming withdrawal of registration from international NGOs “would prevent organizations, including MSF, from providing essential services to people in Gaza and the West Bank.”
“With Gaza’s health systemalready destroyed, the loss of independent and experienced humanitarian organizations’ access to respond would be a disaster for Palestinians,” the group said in a statement last week. “The humanitarian response in Gaza is already highly restricted, and cannot afford further dismantlement.”
“If Israeli authorities revoke MSF’s access to Gaza in 2026, a large portion of people in Gaza will lose access to critical medical care, water, and lifesaving support,” the group added. “MSF’s activities serve nearly half a million people in Gaza through our vital support to the destroyed health system. MSF continues to seek constructive engagement with Israeli authorities to continue its activities.”
Pascale Coissard, MSF’s emergency coordinator for Gaza, noted that “in the last year, MSF teams have treated hundreds of thousands of patients and delivered hundreds of millions of liters of water.”
“MSF teams are trying to expand activities and support Gaza’s shattered health system,” said Coissard. “In 2025 alone, we carried out almost 800,000 outpatient consultations and handled more than 100,000 trauma cases.”
Israel’s announcement came shortly after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with US President Donald Trump in Florida, where both dodged questions about their supposed “peace plan” for Gaza after more than two years of relentless bombing. The Israeli military has been accused of violating an existing ceasefire agreement hundreds of times since it took effect in October.
Al Jazeera reported Tuesday that “Israeli forces have carried out strikes across the Gaza Strip as they continue with their near-daily violations of the ceasefire agreement, with Israel’s genocidal war on the besieged enclave continuing apace and displaced Palestinians enduring the destruction of their few remaining possessions in flooding brought about by heavy winter rains.”
Ten Bears has it correct. If we do not stand up for each another now while it is bad and hard, who will stand up for anyone later when it is far too late. Hugs
Right wing provocateur Nick Shirley has published a video claiming he has proof of fraud in Somali daycare centers. I watched the video so you don’t have to. The entire video is, in a word, propaganda. Despite this complete lack of substantiation, Vice President JD Vance praised Shirley and suggested he deserves a Pulitzer Prize. MAGA media has since moved immediately to demonize the Somali community in Minnesota as a whole—facts be damned.
That framing is not just reckless—it is intentionally racist. And it obscures the real issue entirely. Here are the critical facts they leave out, and hope Americans don’t see.Let’s Address This.
Watch my breakdown on YouTube, or read the full article below.
Let’s Address This with Qasim Rashid is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
A Propagandized Claim With Zero Evidence
Shirley begins his interview with a man named “David,” who apparently investigated this alleged fraud for years. Shirley provides no explanation of who David is, what qualifications he has, or what actual evidence of fraud he’s uncovered. Instead, while waving around documents that he never bothers to validate, David makes the following bombastic and factless claims:
“Compared to worldwide, the fraud is worse here in the Twin Cities than anywhere else ever, in history, anywhere.”
“The allegedly stolen funds are being sent to terrorist organizations.”
“We have to be careful because these [Somali] people are very violent, they’re exceptionally violent.”
“Tim Walz is guilty of misconduct with a public employee.”
Note—the above are actual quotes from David. At no point in the video does David or Shirley provide any actual evidence for the above claims. We are simply meant to believe them—even to the absurdity that in the entirety of human history, the alleged fraud in Minnesota outranks all of them. As far as the claim that “Walz committed misconduct with a public employee,” there’s zero evidence of this malicious claim. It’s especially rich coming from two men who are silent on Trump’s dozens of cases of sexual assault of women, and God only knows the full extent of his involvement in Epstein’s child sex trafficking atrocity.
Shirley and David espouse obviously and demonstrably false claims. The majority of Shirley’s video then entails he and David driving from center to center, harassing employees, and attempting to enter childcare centers without permission. The employees are clearly frightened that two angry men with cameras are repeatedly yelling “where are the children!”, while trying to gain unauthorized access to spaces meant to protect children. Unsurprisingly, the employees refuse to answer questions from men they rightly see as strangers. Shirley and David therefore conclude that the employees’ refusal to answer their questions means there must be fraud.
That is the extent of their “evidence” of fraud.
Shirley Ignores What Actual Journalists Have Already Reported
Now, let’s make four points absolutely clear—points Shirley deliberately ignores, and hopes his viewers don’t realize.
First, what Shirley allegedly “uncovered” is not some new scandal. Since 2022 several of these same day care centers have been fined and shutdown for violating the law. Local media in Minnesota has already reported on that alleged fraud and reported on the subsequent FBI investigations. Even in his video, Shirley admits that the FBI is already investigating these facilities and is already aware that there may be potential fraud. You can literally see him at the exact same locations that have already been investigated and reported upon.
Top Screen grab: News report from local Minnesota reporters 1 year ago. Bottom screen grab: Shirley pretending he’s breaking new news right now.
Top Screen grab: News report from local Minnesota reporters 1 year ago. Bottom Screen grab: Shirley pretending he’s breaking new news right now.
Fourth and finally, for as much as Shirley insists fraud problems in Minnesota begin and end with Somalis, nowhere in his 42 minute propaganda piece does he admit, let alone acknowledge, that the accused ring leader who was convicted of leading the largest prosecuted fraud in Minnesota is a white woman named Aimee Bock.
Aimee Bock was found guilty in a jury trial of defrauding Minnesota $250M in an overlapping “Feeding Our Future” fraud case.
In short, Shirley hasn’t broken any new news, this alleged scheme has nothing to do with terrorism, the day care center employees themselves sounded the alarm, and Shirley ignores Aimee Bock altogether. What exactly is Shirley exposing? Will his next story reveal Watergate? It seems quite clear that Shirley saw news reports from years ago, saw Donald Trump demonize Somalis, and attempted to recreate work done by actual journalists while trying to pass it off as his own to gain clout, clicks, and views.
Here Are The Facts
Now, let’s discuss what is true.
Shirley alleges that Somalis have somehow “taken over” Minnesota. This is fear-mongering and racist propaganda. Minnesota is home to approximately 60,000 Somalis, representing a whopping 1% of Minnesota’s population of 6 million people.
Moreover, it is absolutely not the case that Somalis somehow uniquely committed fraud. It is the case that, among the people accused of fraud in Minnesota, some happen to be Somali. That is a critical distinction. Fraud, where it occurs, should be investigated and prosecuted fully and fairly—for everyone involved, regardless of race, religion, or immigration status. No person gets a pass, and no group deserves collective blame. But Shirley or MAGA figures are not interested in accountability. They are interested in scapegoating.
Shirley’s video ends with him demanding answers from a Democratic member of the Minnesota legislature—who correctly reminds him that such fraud is in all 50 states, under Democrats and Republicans, and that this is not a partisan or racial issue. Shirley never actually rebukes her. He cannot, for the very simple reason that she is absolutely correct. On June 30, 2025, The Department of Justice reported:
The Justice Department today announced the results of its 2025 National Health Care Fraud Takedown, which resulted in criminal charges against 324 defendants, including 96 doctors, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, and other licensed medical professionals, in 50 federal districts and 12 State Attorneys General’s Offices across the United States, for their alleged participation in various health care fraud schemes involving over $14.6 billion in intended loss. The Takedown involved federal and state law enforcement agencies across the country and represents an unprecedented effort to combat health care fraud schemes that exploit patients and taxpayers. (emphasis added)
If fraud were actually the MAGA concern, their outrage would not be selectively triggered only when the accused are Black, brown, Muslim, or immigrant. Yet we have overwhelming evidence that the same political movement now pretending to care about alleged fraud in Minnesota, instead openly celebrate and reward white fraudsters—at vastly larger scales—nationwide.
When MAGA Approves Fraud
And yet here’s another critical and substantive point that Shirley entirely ignores. Donald Trump has personally granted clemency or pardons to at least two dozen individuals convicted of fraud totaling well over one billion dollars. None of them are Somali. Nearly all of them are white. And this fraud has also been well reported, meaning Shirley and his supporters are either willfully ignorant, or deceptively censoring it. Among them include:
Trevor Milton, founder of an electric truck company, was convicted of securities fraud and wire fraud and ordered to pay $676 million in restitution.
Ross William Ulbricht, founder of Silk Road, was convicted of running a massive criminal enterprise facilitating drug trafficking and money laundering and ordered to pay nearly $184 million.
HDR Global Trading Limited, operator of a cryptocurrency exchange, was fined $100 million for violating anti-money laundering laws.
Lawrence Duran, owner of a Miami-area mental health company, was convicted of healthcare fraud and sentenced to 50 years in prison with $87.5 million in restitution.
Trump pardoned them anyway. In total, Trump has pardoned at least 24 mostly white Americans (so far) for committing Medicare fraud, Medicaid fraud, and/or securities fraud. And not in his first term either—this is right now as we speak while the alleged fraud in Minnesota is taking place. And I say “so far” because Trump’s pay to pardon bribery scheme has become so open and brazen, that the Wall Street Journal reports that Trump’s handlers are now reportedly charging convicted fraudsters upwards of $1M to lobby their pardon before Trump.
Somalis face demonization on the mere accusation of a crime—yet we hear complete silence from Shirley and MAGA pundits on Trump’s open bribery to pardon convicted felons who are white. Thus the open hypocrisy—when white Americans commit fraud, they are treated as individuals. When Black, brown, Muslim, or immigrant communities are accused—even speculatively—the entire community is put on trial. One person becomes “proof” that everyone is guilty. That is de facto racism.
So let’s be explicitly clear: if you are outraged at alleged fraud involving Somali daycare operators, but celebrate Trump for pardoning white men convicted of fraud at ten or twenty times the scale, then fraud is not what you care about. What you care about is protecting white supremacy.
The Core Issue Remains Ignored
Just as importantly, we cannot forget this critical point: Racializing fraud allegations to demonize all Somali Americans of Minnesota, while ignoring the much greater fraud nationwide by predominantly white Americans, is another culture war waged by the MAGA right. And they’re waging it right now for two reasons.
One, to distract Americans that MAGA Republicans have failed to extend ACA subsidies, which means come New Year’s Day your ACA premiums will skyrocket. MAGAs will point to Minnesota to convince Americans that the “real” reason premiums are spiking is not the exploitative for profit healthcare system or the deliberate failure of MAGA Republicans to extend ACA subsidies—but the lie that it is due to Somali Americans. MAGAs will try to convince Americans nationwide that this is a “Somali problem.” Do not let them.
Two, to prevent Americans from realizing these devastating facts—that 16 years after the ACA was passed, Republicans still don’t have a healthcare plan. That Trump has pardoned far more fraud than is alleged to have happened in Minnesota. That Medicare and Medicaid fraud is a nationwide cancer caused by our exploitative for profit healthcare system, that could be addressed with a universal healthcare model, but that would cost politicians immense financial loss in campaign donations and in their stock portfolios, so they will not let it happen.
In short, MAGAs are demonizing Somali people to ensure healthcare remains a for profit exploitation scheme.
The truth is this: fraud in healthcare is not an aberration. It is a feature of a system designed to extract wealth rather than deliver care.
I have already written at length about America’s HELL Corporations, and the fraud ridden for profit exploitation business model that causes at least 68,000 preventable deaths annually. For example, UnitedHealth is being sued for denying 90% of valid Medicaid claims to senior citizens—undoubtedly enabling preventable death. Yet, we don’t see MAGA Republicans or their pseudo-journalists like Shirley accosting them to explain their billions in fraud.
Closing Points
The difference between MAGAs outraged over alleged fraud in Minnesota by some Somali Americans, and the rest of us, is this. We loudly condemn that fraud whether its committed by a Somali American, European American, Latino American, or Asian American. MAGAs only care if the alleged fraud is committed by non-white people, and celebrate the pardoning of convicted fraudsters who are white. This is not my opinion, as the above receipts show this to be true.
But we have a solution to this fraud enabled by an exploitative, for-profit insurance system. If we joined every other developed nation and guaranteed healthcare, politicians could no longer use our lives as bargaining chips. And fraud—real fraud—would be far harder to commit in a system built around care rather than profit extraction.
So when MAGA figures obsessively target Somalis in Minnesota, understand what is really happening. They are not exposing corruption. They are deflecting from it. They are protecting an exploitative system by redirecting rage toward a vulnerable community. Because two things can be and are true at once: individuals who committed fraud should be held accountable regardless of their racial background, and the overwhelming majority of fraud—and harm—comes from a corporate healthcare system that thrives on exploitation, protected by politicians who pardon billion-dollar criminals while demonizing immigrants.
Until we confront that reality honestly, we will keep repeating the same cycle: scapegoats on the margins, impunity at the top, and a system that continues to kill tens of thousands of Americans every year—quietly, profitably, and with corporate media silence.
Let’s Address This with Qasim Rashid is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Why I do these posts. This is three days of Joe My God that got away way from me. So why do I do these long news posts? Because I comb the Joe My God comment section for the best memes and snarkiest comments. It dawned on me I could post his news articles for those that want to read them. But three days is a lot to go throw and it is much easier just to quickly scan and snatch the comments rather than post them. So I need some inputs from everyone. Are these posts worth it? Or would you rather go to Joe My God yourselves. Or I can keep doing these. Up to you. Hugs
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tRumps Grifts / Scams / Ripping off the rubes / tRump’s ego / tRump’s Crimes / tRump’s health / Republican grifts & payouts for supporting tRump / other trump scammers
The Trump Golf Tracker estimates that the president’s golf trips have cost taxpayers some $110,600,000 so far in 2025. But that estimate, which was based on a 2019 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on four golf trips during his first term, doesn’t even take into account the month of December.
The right wing media / the media arms of the GOP & Republican Party / The over the top thuggery and complete disrespect for common decency / Ask if you would like your child to act this way …. because maga does want their kids to be this crass as it makes them feel good / Kennedy Center debacle
The video was shared by Vice President JD Vance. FBI director Kash Patel said he is aware of the video and the FBI is investigating. The YouTuber says he is uncovering new fraud in Minnesota, but media outlets like KSTP reported more than a year ago about more than 62 investigations into Minnesota child care centers.
What this is really about is they are afraid Walz will run for office and win as he is so well liked. They are trying to gin up a fake scandal to Benghazi him like they did with Hillary Clinton. I posted yesterday how fake and full of lies / misinformation the “report” the YouTuber did was. In the article above this one you can see how the Republican Party had a hand in helping the right wing influencer to push a fake story. The state has been investigating these things for several years. Hugs
$175 billion for a “golden dome” that experts doubt would actually work, but only $2 billion in humanitarian aid for the United Nations. It’s what Jesus would want.
Space based weapons are forbidden by treaties that the US signed. That said do we have space based weapons … well I was sending commands somewhere for something when I was in the Army Sat coms / intel unit. You decide. Hugs
Maga hate fail / tRump lost in court / tRump supporters doing what they do not want you to know about / ICE lies / tRump’s DOJ / Misinformation / Trying to change history by spewing & omitting facts or what really happened
The emails, which were made public as part of a newly unsealed judicial order, largely reflected communications about the case that Robert E. McGuire, the acting U.S. attorney in Nashville, had with members of his staff and with Aakash Singh, a top official in Mr. Blanche’s office. They raised serious questions about whether the Justice Department had misled Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw Jr., who is overseeing the case, by telling him that local prosecutors had acted alone in charging Mr. Abrego Garcia.
Hate / Bigotry / DEI / White Supremacy / Christian Nationalism / US aid to only white countries or white dominated areas / US Healthcare / For Profit drug prices rip off the US public /
The civil probes are proceeding under the umbrella of the False Claims Act, which has traditionally been used to go after contractors who bill the government for work that was never performed or inflate the cost of services rendered.
The U.S. slashed its aid spending this year, and leading Western donors such as Germany also pared back assistance as they pivoted to increased defense spending, triggering a severe funding crunch for the United Nations.
U.N. data shows total U.S. humanitarian contributions to the U.N. fell to about $3.38 billion in 2025, equating to about 14.8% of the global sum. This was down sharply from $14.1 billion the prior year, and a peak of $17.2 billion in 2022.
The idea behind the legislation originated with the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian legal advocacy group that has gained prominence for its work to incorporate religion in public spaces.
West last appeared here for his bill that would create a database of abortion patients.
In 2024, we heard from West for his bill to ban Pride flags at public schools and government buildings.
He appeared here in 2023 for his bill that would make it a felony to perform drag in the view of minors. His bill called for a $20,000 fine and up to two years in prison.
West first appeared here in 2021 when Gov. Kevin Stitt signed his bill making it legal to run over protesters.
The tweet below refers to West’s attempt to pass this same bill earlier this year.
tRump’s attack on Colorado because they won’t bow to the whim of the tyrant. His withholding money is illegal but no republican will stand up to the demented king.
This is entirely about white grievance and the loss of automatic white privilege. These people believe any white person is better than any black person and they do not want people of color to rise in any company or corporation past basic level worker. They have had white privilege for so long that equality seems like oppression to them. They do not want a country where everyone is equal and all have the same rights. They are demanding a return to a white male dominated society that gave automatic superiority to white people. They also don’t want women or the LGBTQ+ to have rights or be fairly treated in the work force. Hugs
A sign on the wall of the U.S. Department of Justice building in Washington, D.C., U.S., November 14, 2025. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
The Trump administration has launched investigations into the use of diversity initiatives in hiring and promotion at major U.S. companies, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.
Google (GOOGL.O), opens new tab and Verizon (VZ.N), opens new tab are among a list of companies that have received Justice Department demands for documents and information about their workplace programs, the report said, citing people familiar with the investigations.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Verizon, Google, and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comments.
The probes are being conducted under the False Claims Act, the report said, adding that companies under scrutiny include sectors like automotive, pharmaceuticals, defense, and utilities, and some have met in person with Justice Department officials.
The False Claims Act is a federal civil law that allows the government to recover funds lost due to fraud.
President Donald Trump moved quickly after taking office in January to eradicate federal DEI programs and discourage them in the private sector and education, including by directing the firing of diversity officers at federal agencies and pulling grant funding for a wide range of programs
Reporting by Mihika Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Ronojoy Mazumdar and Rashmi Aich
Ellie House and Mike Wendling Gainesboro, Tennessee
BBC/Ellie House
Real estate developer Josh Abbotoy on the site of his planned future development outside Gainesboro. Abbotoy’s customers, including two self-described Christian nationalists, have caused controversy locally
As Josh Abbotoy gazes out at lush green woods and pastureland nestled among Tennessee’s Appalachian hills, he describes what he intends to build here: a neighbourhood with dozens of residential lots, centred around a working farm and, crucially, a church.
“A customer might very well buy and build roughly where we’re standing right now,” he says as we hike up to the top of a ridge.
Mr Abbotoy is founder of the real estate company Ridgerunner, which has bought land here and in neighbouring Kentucky. But his is no garden-variety housing development.
Mr Abbotoy is prominent in US conservative circles and describes his development as an “affinity-based community” – marketed to people not only interested in the peace and quiet of rural life, but in a constellation of right-wing ideals.
“Faith, family and freedom,” he says. “Those are the values that we try to celebrate.”
BBC/Mike Wendling
Josh Abbotoy points to a map of his development in the Ridgerunner offices in Gainesboro
Initially he didn’t attract much local attention after setting up shop in Jackson County.
But in late 2024, a local TV news report broadcast controversial statements made by two of Mr Abbotoy’s first, and most outspoken, customers: Andrew Isker, a pastor and author originally from Minnesota, and C Jay Engel, a businessman from California.
They are self-described “Christian nationalists” who question modern values, such as whether female suffrage and the civil rights movement were good ideas, and call for mass deportations of legal immigrants far in excess of President Donald Trump’s current plan. Another thing they sometimes say: “Repeal the 20th Century.”
The TV report raised an alarm bell amongst some local residents.
“You don’t know who these people are, or what they’re capable of,” says Nan Coons, a middle-aged woman who spoke in a firm southern accent during a recent interview near the town square in Gainesboro – of which this land is a part.
“And so it’s scary.”
Although Abbotoy himself does not identify as a Christian nationalist, he says concerns about his tenants are overblown.
The Ridgerunner development has since drawn national attention. And people in Gainesboro, home to around 900 people and one traffic light, have now found themselves in the middle of a dispute that is a proxy for much bigger political battles.
Podcasters move in
Mr Isker and Mr Engel announced their move to Gainesboro last year on their podcast Contra Mundum – Latin for “against the world”.
On their show, which is now recorded in a studio within Ridgerunner’s Gainesboro office, they have encouraged their fans to move into small communities, seek local influence, and join them in their fight to put strict conservative Christian values at the heart of American governance.
“If you could build places where you can take political power,” Mr Isker said on one episode, “which might mean sitting on the [board of] county commissioners, or even having the ear of the county commissioners and sheriff… being able to do those things is extremely, extremely valuable.”
Contra Mundum
C Jay Engel (l) and Andrew Isker (r) shown during an episode of their podcast
On X, Mr Engel has popularised the idea of “heritage Americans” – a fuzzy concept but one that applies mainly to Anglo-Protestants whose ancestors arrived in the US at least a century ago. He says it is not explicitly white, but it does have “strong ethnic correlations”.
He’s called for mass deportations of immigrants – including legal ones – writing: “Peoples like Indians, or South East Asians or Ecuadorians or immigrated Africans are the least capable of fitting in and should be sent home immediately.”
In their broadcasts and writings they have also expressed anti-gay sentiments. The podcasters deny they are white nationalists.
Both are Ridgerunner customers, and Mr Isker’s church will move into the community’s chapel when it’s complete.
The ‘resistance’
Their hardcore views have alarmed residents, with some locals setting up an informal resistance group.
“I believe that they have been attempting to brand our town and our county as a headquarters for their ideology of Christian nationalism,” says town matriarch Diana Mandli, a prominent local businesswoman who until recently owned a pub on Gainesboro’s central square
Late last year, Mandli led the charge by writing a message on a chalkboard outside her business: “If you are a person or group who promotes the inferiority or oppression of others, please eat somewhere else.”
BBC/Mike Wendling
More signs opposed to the new development followed. When people caught wind that the Ridgerunner guys were holding a meeting at a nearby fast food joint, dozens turned up to confront them.
Ms Coons, whose ancestors have lived in Gainesboro since around the time of the US Revolutionary War, says she engaged Mr Engel in conversation.
“He explained to me that what they’re promoting is what he called ‘family voting’… one vote per family, and of course, the husband in that family would be the one voting” with women frozen out of the electorate.
Mr Engel has since said publicly that it’s not “wrong” for women to vote, although he does support the idea of household suffrage.
BBC/Mike Wendling
Local residents put up a billboard outside of town
In a county that voted 80% for Donald Trump in the last election, Ms Coons is used to living next door to neighbours with conservative views.
But she and others came away from the protest convinced more than ever that the beliefs of their new neighbours were too extreme.
They say they don’t want to run them out of town, but intend to sound the alarm about what they say are extreme views, as well as thwart any future attempt to take over the local government.
“This is where we have to draw the line,” Ms Coons says.
What is Christian nationalism?
Christian nationalism is a nebulous worldview without a single coherent definition.
At the extreme end, as outlined by theorists including author Stephen Wolfe, Christian nationalists advocate for rule by a “Christian prince” – an all-powerful religious dictator, who reigns over the civil authorities and leads his subjects to “godliness”.
Less extreme versions take the form of calls for Christian law to be explicitly enshrined in American legal codes, for religious leaders to get heavily involved in politics, or simply for an acknowledgement of the Christian background of America’s founding fathers.
This multiplicity of definitions has created a strategic ambiguity that experts say has helped Christian nationalism seep into the mainstream.
Big ideas or far-right plan?
Mr Abbotoy’s development is still in the early stages – his company is building roads and organising sanitation infrastructure. When the BBC visited in November, workers were busy knocking down a decrepit old barn, one of many that dot the Appalachian landscape.
But business is brisk. Around half of the lots are already under contract. Mr Abbotoy anticipates that the first houses will be built and new customers will begin moving in at the beginning of 2027.
BBC/Ellie House
Building on the Brewington Farms site will start within months, with new residents moving in soon, in just over a year
Many of his customers, he says, are moving to heavily Republican Tennessee from Democratic-majority states like California and New York.
“People want to live in communities where they feel like they share important values with their neighbours,” he says.
Mr Abbotoy says he doesn’t call himself a Christian nationalist, but describes the criticism of his customers as “absurd” and says they have no intention to try to take over local government.
“They’re talking about big ideas and books,” he says. As for some of their more controversial views, he insists that “rolling back the 20th Century can mean a lot of things. A lot of conservatives would say we took a lot of wrong turns.”
Mr Isker and Mr Engel did not respond to multiple requests for comment and a list of questions.
BBC/Ellie House
Nan Coons belongs to an informal group of Gainesboro residents who are alarmed at their new Christian nationalist neighbours
Small-town fight goes nationwide
The fight here in Gainesboro has drawn in players far from small-town Tennessee.
Mr Abbotoy, who was educated at Harvard Law School, is also a partner at a conservative venture capital fund, New Founding, and a founder of the American Reformer, a website that has published the writings of a number of other prominent Christian nationalists.
His opponents meanwhile have received research assistance and advice from a national organisation, States at the Core, established last year to tackle authoritarianism in small communities. It is funded by a constellation of left-wing organisations. States at the Core declined our request for an interview.
The men of Ridgerunner have pointed to the organisation as evidence that the pushback against their project has been orchestrated by powerful liberals. The locals say this is ridiculous.
“Nobody’s cut me a cheque to say anything,” Ms Coons says.
In Gainesboro, people on all sides see a much bigger story – one of large-scale political fights playing out in rural America.
Republicans have made huge gains in rural areas this century, and in 2024 Trump stretched his lead in rural communities, winning 69% of the vote. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee recently announced a reported eight-figure investment ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, a chunk of which will be dedicated to winning rural voters.
“There’s definitely a renewed, [Democratic Party] focus on rural engagement,” Mr Abbotoy says. “And at the same time, there’s been a wave of people moving to small town America precisely because they like the Bible Belt, they like the conservative traditional culture.”
But Nan Coons and her allies say they aren’t ready to concede rural areas like her hometown to Christian nationalists.
“If we are going to turn this tide, it starts on your street, it starts in your neighbourhood, it starts in your small town,” she says.
“I have to stand for something, and this is where I stand.”
BBC/Ellie House
Real estate developer Josh Abbotoy on the site of his planned future development outside Gainesboro. Abbotoy’s customers, including two self-described Christian nationalists, have caused controversy locallyBBC/Mike Wendling
Contra Mundum
BBC/Mike Wendling
BBC/Mike Wendling
BBC/Ellie House
BBC/Ellie House
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