‘Our taxpayers will now foot the bill’: Utah County hires attorney to represent Tyler Robinson, accused in Charlie Kirk killing

Utah County officials announced Wednesday afternoon that the county has contracted with a prominent public defender to represent Tyler James Robinson, the 22-year-old man accused of fatally shooting conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

The Utah County Commission on Wednesday approved the contract for defense attorney Kathryn Nester to represent Robinson. He is accused of shooting Kirk, the controversial Turning Point USA founder, on Sept. 10 while Kirk was speaking in front of thousands at Utah Valley University.

Robinson faces a potential death penalty if he is convicted. Utah County prosecutors charged him with seven counts, including aggravated murder. He also faces charges accusing him of illegally discharging a firearm, obstructing justice, witness tampering and committing violence in the presence of children.

During his first court appearance last week, a judge found that Robinson could not afford his own attorney — so Utah County is now constitutionally required to foot the bill.

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Operation Twin Shield uncovers 275 cases of suspected immigration fraud in Minnesota, feds announce

Federal authorities announced today they have completed Operation Twin Shield, the first wave of a new crackdown on immigration fraud in Minnesota.

In a press briefing, Director Joseph B. Edlow of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said the immigration enforcement effort investigated more than 1,000 cases and its findings “should shock all of America.”

Operation Twin Shield began on Sept. 19 and involved federal authorities conducting site visits across the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area. The operation was coordinated by USCIS, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the FBI.

“Our officers encountered blatant marriage fraud, visa overstays, people claiming to work at businesses that can’t be found, forged documents, abuse of the H1-B visa system, abuse of the F-1 visas, and many other discrepancies,” said Edlow.

According to Edlow, authorities found indications of fraud, noncompliance, or public safety concerns in 275 cases.

“In one case officers identified an alien who had overstayed his visa waiver, who was the son of a known or suspected terrorist on the no-fly list,” said Edlow. “He had previously been found to have engaged in marriage fraud which resulted in the denial of several immigration benefit requests.”

Edlow said that alien was arrested and is now being sent back to his country of origin.

“In another, an individual admitted to obtaining a fake death certificate in Kenya for just $100 to prove he was no longer married,” said Edlow. “In reality, his wife is alive, living here in Minneapolis, and is the mother of five of his children. And incidentally, he has another wife living in Sweden with whom he has an additional three children.”

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Muslim Rights Groups: US Army Grooming Standards May Infringe on Religious Freedom

Muslim rights groups are concerned that new US Army grooming standards will exclude Muslims and Sikhs from serving. There are only about 10,000 – 20,000 US service members who identify as Muslim, and Sikhs appear to number only in the low double digits.

An ancillary effect of the policy is that it reinforces the elimination of accommodations for transgender soldiers, requiring them to dress and meet the standards of their birth gender.

The Army announced updated appearance, grooming, and uniform standards following a force-wide review, emphasizing professionalism and discipline as reflections of Army values. Key changes include clarified rules on hairstyles, cosmetics, fingernails, jewelry, uniforms, insignia, and body composition assessments. Developed with input from leaders across the Army, the policy is intended to realign standards with warfighting priorities and eliminate ambiguity.

The Army also reinforced its facial hair policy in July 2025 through Army Directive 2025-13, requiring soldiers to remain clean-shaven in uniform or while on duty in civilian clothes, with only temporary medical exemptions and permanent religious accommodations.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) called on the Pentagon to protect the religious rights of military personnel after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a new “no beards” policy. Hegseth told military leaders, “no more beards… we’re going to cut our hair, shave our beards and adhere to standards.” CAIR urged the Department of Defense to clarify that religious accommodations will remain in place for Sikhs, Muslims, Jews, and others.

Historically, the rule in the US Army for about 100 years has been that the Army allows religious freedom and will accommodate as much as it can. However, the priority is always the mission, followed by the men, or in Army terms, “mission, men.” While attempts would be made to accommodate religious practices, if a practice prevents a soldier from carrying out duties, then that individual cannot serve.

For example, Jewish soldiers were allowed to wear a yarmulke under their helmet because it did not interfere with equipment. But a beard, even for religious reasons, was not permitted because a protective mask would no longer seal. Similarly, a Sikh turban could not be worn with a combat uniform because it interfered with the helmet and other equipment

From 1948 to 1984, Sikh men were permitted to serve in the US military while wearing beards and turbans. That changed in 1984, when Gen. John A. Wickham Jr., then Chief of Staff of the Army, eliminated the exception for Sikhs and others who wore “conspicuous” items of faith, citing health and safety concerns. The official reasoning was that turbans and uncut hair interfered with helmets and equipment, while beards prevented protective masks from sealing properly.

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Trump administration confirms another federal agency involved in weaponization: the TSA

Move over FBI and IRS,  a new federal agency is garnering attention for alleged weaponization against Americans.

The Homeland Security Department announced Tuesday that an internal investigation uncovered “widespread abuses” carried out by the Biden administration’s Transportation Security Administration to make air travel “weaponized” against certain Americans.

The revelation that U.S. citizens were kept from flying over their political views drew immediate condemnation from Congress.

“It’s not American …. It’s another example of weaponization of our government that took place under the Biden administration,” Rep. Mark Harris, R-N.C., said. “It’s absolutely unacceptable.”

In a joint announcement with the TSA, Homeland Security said its investigative findings are being referred to the Justice Department.

In the announcement, acting agency TSA Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill, said the Biden-era officials “under the direction and leadership” of previous TSA Administrator David Pekoske had “systematically watch-listed and denied boarding to those who exercised their individual rights and resisted mask mandates on airplanes nearly six months after the CDC relaxed its indoor mask mandate.”

The TSA also said the Biden TSA used the Capitol riot of January 2021 “as an excuse to target several dozen U.S. citizens” and that “these Americans were watch-listed and harassed despite there being no evidence of wrongdoing or illegal behavior.” 

The TSA said that “this targeted campaign of harassment continued through June 2021, six months after the events in question, despite no clear or immediate threat to aviation security.”

“These Biden-era officials continued to target Americans even after career intelligence officials and even Biden’s TSA Chief Privacy Officer sounded the alarm over these abusive actions,” the TSA said. “The Biden-era TSA’s actions demonstrate clear political bias. For example, these officials chose NOT to flag individuals who attacked law enforcement, burned down cities, and destroyed property during the widespread and violent George Floyd protests in 2020. During this abuse of power, some TSA officials raised serious concerns about these privacy violations and political targeting. They were ignored.”

“Biden’s TSA Administrator Pekoske and his cronies abused their authority and weaponized the federal government against the very people they were charged with protecting,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said on X on Tuesday. “Biden’s TSA wildly abused their authority, targeting Americans who posed no aviation security risk under the banner of political differences. President Trump promised to end the weaponization of government against the American people, and we are making good on that promise. I am referring this case to the Department of Justice and for Congressional investigation.”

Noem has directed TSA and DHS to refer the findings to DOJ’s Civil Rights Division and to Congress for further investigation, to remove “five senior leaders” who had “betrayed the trust of the American people” from their leadership positions, and to reorganize TSA’s Intelligence & Analysis office to hold senior officials accountable and to provide more extensive oversight on TSA’s watch-listing powers. TSA on Tuesday said that the removals included the executive assistant administrator for operations support and the deputy assistant administrator for intelligence and analysis.

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‘Male pitcher’: Minnesota’s transgender radicalism lands state in violation of Title IX

The transgender radicalism in the state of Minnesota, run by Democrat Gov. Tim Walz, has landed the state in violation of federal law.

Officials there have been given 10 days by the Department of Education to comply with the federal Title IX statute or face a Department of Justice referral.

It’s because the state’s transgender agenda that infringes on the rights of girls has allowed a boy to be on a girls’ high school softball team.

The violation notice also confirmed that the state has let males into girls’ alpine skiing, girls’ Nordic skiing, girls’ lacrosse, girls’ track and field and girls’ volleyball teams.

“For too many years, Minnesota’s political leadership has found itself on the wrong side of justice, common sense, and the American people. Now the Minnesota Department of Education and the Minnesota State High School League find themselves on the wrong side of Title IX by allowing males to compete in women’s sports,” explained Craig Trainor, the DOE acting assistant secretary of civil rights.

“The Trump Administration will not allow Minnesota or any other state to sacrifice the safety, fair treatment, and dignity of its female students to appease the false idols of radical gender ideology. Once an education program or entity takes federal funds, Title IX compliance becomes mandatory. And the federal government will hold Minnesota accountable until it recognizes that fact.”

The state was allowed 10 days to change its policies to comply with federal law.

A report from Fox News said it also must comply with President Donald Trump’s “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” order.

The determination of violation came from both the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services.

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Lunatic Who Set Virginia City Councilman Lee Vogler on Fire Reveals Why He Tried to Kill Lawmaker

The deranged man who set Virginia City Councilman Lee Vogler on fire over the summer told police he tried to kill the lawmaker because he was having “an affair with his wife.”

In July, Danville, Virginia, City Councilman Lee Vogler was doused in gasoline and set on fire in his office.

According to reports, the attacker, identified as Shotsie Michael Buck Hayes, 29, of Danville, threw five gallons of gasoline on Vogler before setting him on fire.

At the time of the attack, Danville police said the attack appeared to be personal and not related to Vogler’s position as a city councilman.

The Daily Mail reported that Shotsie Michael Buck Hayes’ wife filed for divorce just two weeks ago.

Showcase Magazine’s Andrew Brooks said Shotsie Hayes forced his way in the magazine’s office as Vogler was visiting and poured a five-gallon container of gas on him.

“Lee attempted to flee, ran to the front of the building,” Showcase Magazine owner Andrew Brooks said in a Facebook video. “The individual followed him and set him on fire.”

Vogler was flown to the UNC burn unit in Chapel Hill, according to WSET.

Lee Vogler is reportedly still in the hospital recovering from severe burns to more than 60% of his body.

It was revealed in court on Tuesday that Shotsie Hayes attacked Vogler over his alleged affair.

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Here are 9 alarming signs that the US and NATO are both preparing for war

 The only way that Russia could possibly be defeated in Ukraine would be if western forces get directly involved in the conflict. Sadly, it appears that events are rapidly taking us in that direction.

When long-range missiles that are provided by western countries and that are guided to their targets by western countries start slamming into Moscow, it is likely that the Russians will respond with overwhelming force.

That will give western countries all the justification that they need to officially enter the war, and then we will be just one step away from a nuclear apocalypse. The following are 9 signs that the United States and NATO are both preparing for war…

#1 Keith Kellogg has told Fox News that President Trump has given Ukraine authorization to conduct long-range missile strikes deep inside Russian territory…

“Are you saying it is the President’s position that Ukraine can conduct long-range strike into Russia? That that has been authorized by the President?” the Fox News host asked Kellogg.

“I think reading what he has said and reading what Vice President Vance has said as well as Secretary Rubio, the answer is, yes,” Kellogg said in response.

#2 According to the Wall Street Journal, the Pentagon is asking firms that produce missiles for the U.S. military to “double or even quadruple production rates”…

The Pentagon, alarmed at the low weapons stockpiles the U.S. would have on hand for a potential future conflict with China, is urging its missile suppliers to double or even quadruple production rates on a breakneck schedule.

The push to speed production of the critical weapons in the highest demand has played out through a series of high-level meetings between Pentagon leaders and senior representatives from several U.S. missile makers, according to people familiar with the matter.

Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg is taking an unusually hands-on role in the effort, called the Munitions Acceleration Council, and calls some company executives weekly to discuss it, some of the people said.

#3 It has been confirmed that the U.S. is strongly considering sending long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine…

U.S. Vice President JD Vance has acknowledged that the White House is actively considering proposals to sell Tomahawk missiles to European allies for use in Ukraine.

Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Vice President Vance said that the Trump administration is “looking at” sending long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, as Washington seeks to ramp up pressure on Moscow to come to the negotiating table and come to a peace agreement to end the bloody conflict.

“It’s something the President’s going to make the final determination on,” Vance said of the Tomahawks. “I’ll let the president speak to it, but I know that we’re having conversations this very minute about that issue.”

Tomahawk cruise missiles can travel 1,000 miles, and they would be a very serious threat to the city of Moscow.

It is expected that Vladimir Putin is expected to address this threat during a “major speech” that he is scheduled to deliver next week…

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Report: PA Dem House Candidate Funneled Money Meant to Help Recovering Opioid Addicts to Bring Kids ‘LGBTQ+ Youth’ Center Offering ‘Medical Transition’ Seminars

According to a disturbing report from the Washington Free Beacon,  Democratic House candidate in Pennsylvania, Bob Harvie, funneled money away meant to help recovering opioid addicts and instead sent them to push an LGBTQ agenda.

According to the report, the funds went to transport minors to an “LGBTQ-youth” center that offers “medical transition” seminars for kids as young as 14.

The Washington Free Beacon reports:

The Bucks County, Pa., Board of Commissioners, which Harvie chairs, approved a $13,500-grant in December to Planned Parenthood Keystone for “Expanding Services and Transportation” to the Rainbow Room, a local center that caters to gay and trans youth. The grant was used to transport high school students to Rainbow Room functions, the Delaware Valley Journal reported earlier this year. Its funding came from the county’s Opioid Settlement Fund, which is due to receive $70 million from drug distributors and pharmacy chains over the next 18 years.

Rainbow Room functions include seminars like “SEX ED NIGHT / M*STURB*TION,” which the center held in May 2024. A pamphlet advertising the event shows a photo of a woman’s hand massaging a watermelon designed to represent the female anatomy. In 2023, the Rainbow Room hosted a “Queer Prom,” where attendees as young as 13 were given goody bags with condoms, lubricant, and dental dams, used to prevent the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases during oral sex.

Earlier this week, meanwhile, the center held a “translating transition” seminar meant to teach kids as young as 14 “the basics of transgender identities, social transition, medical transition, and more!” In 2020, it hosted representatives of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Gender Clinic to discuss “transition issues for trans kids.” The hospital has faced intense scrutiny for providing hormone treatments like puberty blockers to young trans children, and for performing “gender-reassignment” procedures, more commonly known as sex-change operations.

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Scottish Police Arrest Serial Speaker: Elderly Woman Charged After Holding Sign Offering to Discuss Abortion

Rose Docherty is what they call a criminal recidivist in the United Kingdom. The 75-year-old woman has been arrested for a second time for the same fiendish act: offering to speak to women considering an abortion. She was arrested  outside the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow for carrying a placard which stated “Coercion is a crime, here to talk, only if you want.” Fortunately, she and her sign were quickly seized by the local police to protect the public.

Free speech literally does not have a prayer in the United Kingdom. We previously discussed the case of Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, who was arrested for standing near an abortion clinic while silently praying. Police asked what she was doing standing at the location and when she said that she was praying in her head, they arrested her.

How Docherty ended up in the hoosegow in Glasgow is a chilling tale of how censorship can consume a nation.

The Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Act came into force last September. The architect of the law, Scottish Green MSP Gillian Mackay, denounced protests of abortions as “totally unacceptable abuse and obstruction” outside hospitals. So it is now a crime to behave in ways that could influence the decisions of women and staff to access services within the buffer zones.

In other words, it is a crime to exercise free speech. In this case, the “unacceptable abuse” was offering to speak with other women about abortion.

The United Kingdom shows how limiting speech can create an insatiable appetite for greater and greater speech controls. I discuss the UK as a cautionary tale for the United States in my book, The Indispensable Right.

A man was convicted for sending a tweet while drunk referring to dead soldiers. Another was arrested for an anti-police t-shirt. Another was arrested for calling the Irish boyfriend of his ex-girlfriend a “leprechaun.” Yet another was arrested for singing “Kung Fu Fighting.” A teenager was arrested for protesting outside of a Scientology center with a sign calling the religion a “cult.”

British censorship now extends to not just silent prayers but toxic thoughts.

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Tomahawks for Kyiv: a dangerous idea

The US is poised to “sell” Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine. The US special envoy to Ukraine, retired general Keith Kellogg, says only the final decision has to be made. The US has already agreed, Kellogg said, for deep attacks on Russian territory, and only the release of the Tomahawks is pending, a decision left to US President Donald Trump.

While it may be regarded as an open and shut case by Washington, that does not take away the decision as reckless and escalatory. It puts the US on a direct collision course with Russia, one that could lead to a war in Europe.

The Tomahawk cruise missile was originally intended to give the US nuclear triad a system that could successfully deliver nuclear weapons against the USSR. The idea was to create a system that was nearly impossible for Soviet air defenses to counter, after it became clear that conventional bombers – especially the B-52 – could not operate from high altitude over Soviet territory.

Tomahawk was designed to fly “nap of the earth: missions. That is, once it was over Soviet airspace, it was designed to drop down to near tree-top heights and follow the contours of the earth, making timely detection difficult if not impossible.

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