Blog

Chicago Cubs Sued for Allegedly Using Facial Recognition on Fans Without Consent at Wrigley Field

A federal lawsuit filed in Illinois claims the Chicago Cubs and their security contractors used facial recognition technology on fans at Wrigley Field without following basic legal requirements under state privacy law.

The proposed class action, lodged on September 15, 2025, says the team and two private security firms captured biometric data without proper notice or permission.

The legal complaint names the Cubs alongside Blue Star Security, LLC and Security Services Holdings LLC, which operates under the name Protos Security.

We obtained a copy of the complaint for you here.

Together, they are accused of deploying facial recognition tools at Wrigley Field that scanned the faces of attendees without providing the written disclosures or obtaining the signed releases required by Illinois law.

The suit states that this happened to “millions of fans.”

Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), passed in 2008, sets out some of the most protective rules in the country when it comes to biometric data.

The statute prohibits the collection of biometric identifiers, like fingerprints or facial geometry, unless the person is informed in writing and gives signed authorization.

Lawsuits can be brought by individuals even if they haven’t suffered financial or emotional harm, a position backed by the Illinois Supreme Court in Rosenbach v. Six Flags.

Keep reading

NASA is no longer a space agency. Its new official status is pretty shocking. Here’s what happened

A new order by the Trump administration issued late last month states that NASA will operate as a national intelligence and security agency. According to it, the space agency will now have a different set of primary functions, which includes “intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative, or national security work.” The revelation was made by NASA Watch founder Keith Cowing, as the issue didn’t exactly make headlines at the time. Keith was once a scientist at the space agency, and now closely watches everything that happens there. So, does this mean that NASA will go forward and develop spycraft instead of spacecraft? According to reports, the order is more about labour concerns rather than about the work NASA does. A report from Futurism states that the order adds “NASA to the Federal Service Labour-Management Relations Statute (FSLMRS), excluding it from collective bargaining representation.”

This sparked discontent among NASA employees, who staged a protest outside NASA’s Washington, DC, headquarters earlier this week. The change in the status of the space agency came as the president eliminated the union rights for thousands of federal employees. Several lawsuits had been filed to stop the order. As this news made headlines, the thing about NASA becoming a spy agency was sidelined. However, that is expected to have labour implications for the people working at the agency. Government Executive quoted the vice president of the Goddard Engineers, Scientists and Technicians Association, Monica Gorman, as telling those gathered at the protest, “A huge part of the reason that I have that independence, and that my colleagues do, is that as a union-represented worker I know that I am protected from unfair retaliation.”

Keep reading

America’s Free Speech Culture Is Under Attack From Within

The First Amendment is alive and well, which is a reassuring note about the basic legal protections for free speech. Unfortunately, it’s not enough. The world is full of countries with written protections for liberty that are frequently honored in the breach because people and politicians don’t really believe in them (cough, Canada, cough). The true foundation for free speech in the U.S. has always been a culture that supports unfettered expression, of which the First Amendment is just an extension.

Assassin’s Veto, and the Cheers That Followed

But less than two weeks after Charlie Kirk was murdered because an assassin apparently didn’t like what he had to say, it’s obvious that free speech culture is besieged. That murder is celebrated in some quarters, the U.S. attorney general threatened to crack down on “hate speech,” and the head of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) leaned on ABC to fire a comic who got mouthy about Kirk. That’s after years of cancel culture meant to muzzle ideas and behind the scenes government efforts to suppress dissent. The First Amendment still stands, but too many Americans seem to regret its existence.

In justifying the murder of Kirk to his roommate/lover, alleged assassin Tyler Robinson wrote, “I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out.”

We’ll be a while parsing the details of Robinson’s motives, but they seem founded in Kirk’s views about gay and transgender people. The irony is that Kirk, whatever his views, was willing to debate anything. Last week, liberal pundit Van Jones, who sparred online with Kirk, revealed that the conservative activist invited Jones on his show to discuss their differences. Kirk was killed before Jones could respond, though he added, “Please don’t give up on open debate and dialogue. Charlie didn’t. I won’t.”

Jones might not have won many friends had he responded in the affirmative. As Rhian Lubin reported for The Independent, “everyone from teachers, university staffers and media personalities, to firefighters, a U.S. Secret Service agent and a Marine is now finding themselves in hot water for reveling in the killing.”

“Hearing that Charlie Kirk got shot and died really brightened up my day,” commented John Colgan, who was both a public school teacher and a city councilmember in Cornelius, Oregon.

Keep reading

ABC Hack Jon Karl Angers Americans With a Remark Dismissing the Political Connection Surrounding Charlie Kirk’s Assassination

The corporate media is not happy after learning that a radical leftist with a transgender boyfriend assassinated conservative legend Charlie Kirk and is desperate to hide the truth.

While speaking about the Charlie Kirk murder on Sunday morning, ABC hack Jon Karl tried to ensure the audience would not know a radical leftist took out the conservative icon.

“The murder of Charlie Kirk was not a political act,” he said.

As The Gateway Pundit reported, Utah authorities last Tuesday released the text exchange between Tyler Robinson and his transgender lover, Lance Twiggs, sent shortly after Kirk’s assassination.

In the text messages, Robinson revealed why he murdered Kirk, saying, “he had had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out.” In other words, a radical, pro-trans leftist killed Kirk because he told the truth.

Americans not only called out Karl for his falsehood, but made sure to point out the rhetoric from both Democrats and the corporate media contributed to Kirk’s murder.

Keep reading

People may love freedom, but they don’t always love the responsibility that freedom demands

Alexis de Tocqueville (1805 – 1859) was a French diplomat, political philosopher and historian, best known for his works ‘Democracy in America’ and ‘The Old Regime and the Revolution’.  According to Mani Basharzad, what Tocqueville teaches us was echoed in Sir Roger Scruton, the torchbearer of conservative thought in England in the last century.

Using Tocqueville’s philosophy, Basharzad explains how freedom is lost through the lack of taking personal responsibility.

The Psychology of Freedom

The following is an extract from the article ‘Psychology, Security, and the Subtle Surrender of Freedom’ written by Mani Basharzad and published by The Daily Exonomy.  You can read the full article HERE.

Tocqueville’s special contribution lies in showing us the psychology of freedom. For him, liberty was not only a matter of institutions and individual rights, but also of the deeper attitudes that hold everything together and make freedom work. On this basis, we arrive at one of the most disturbing parts of Tocqueville’s thought: freedom can be lost in democracies through democratic means. It is not only overthrown by revolutions, coups or violent movements; it can disappear in a calm, civil and apparently legitimate way.

The shift of consciousness Tocqueville described is this: people may love freedom, but they do not always love the responsibility that freedom demands. They look for someone else to bear the responsibility that comes with freedom. And what better candidate than government? Do not trouble yourself about the uncertain future; we will decide for you. Do not worry about the consequences of your choices; we will absorb them. We will shield you from danger.All we require is a little more power, a little more of your decision-making capacity. In this world, governments do not seize liberty; people surrender it voluntarily – a ‘Brave New World’ where people love their servitude, a painless concentration camp in which, as Huxley wrote, people “in fact have their liberties taken away from them but will rather enjoy it.”

This undermines one of liberty’s strongest safeguards: community. As government replaces community, people lose the habit of solving local problems themselves and they begin to surrender their agency, expecting the state to act in their place. Eventually, they reach the condition in which, as Tocqueville wrote, “they can do almost nothing by themselves.” If citizens forget the art of cooperating with one another, of pursuing common goals and solving their own problems, Tocqueville warned that “civilisation itself would be in peril.” Citizens grow weaker, more dependent and less capable. This is not the result of brute force, but of their own choice to substitute state power for individual autonomy, community and responsibility. They give up their freedom and allow others to choose for them, lulled by the illusion that life will be easier.

At its core, the loss of freedom is psychological. It is rooted in the failure to act, the failure to exercise personal autonomy, the failure to participate in community and the constant deferral of responsibility in the hope that someone else will solve our problems. The result, Tocqueville feared, would be “an insupportable tyranny even without wishing to.” A tyranny no one wanted, yet to which everyone contributed, step by step. Freedom is lost in the same manner Hemingway’s banker went bankrupt: gradually, then suddenly.

Keep reading

Letitia James Indictment: Here’s the Prosecution Memorandum for Federal and State Charges

A Prosecution Memorandum is an internal legal document prepared by prosecutors that summarizes the facts, law, and reasoning supporting (or recommending against) bringing criminal charges.

It is not filed in court, rather it’s an internal document the prosecutors use to guide decision-making. Below is a mock Prosecution Memorandum that could easily be used to consider charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James.

PROSECUTION MEMORANDUM

Re: United States v. Letitia James
Prepared for: Eastern District of Virginia, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York and Special Prosecutor’s Office

Date: September 21, 2025

I. Introduction

This memorandum addresses potential federal, Commonwealth of Virginia, and New York State charges against Letitia James, Attorney General of New York, arising out of an alleged 43-year pattern of mortgage-related fraud and false filings. The investigative reporting of Joel Gilbert (The Gateway Pundit), as well as Sam Antar (White Collar Fraud), provides documentary evidence and witness analysis suggesting that James repeatedly misrepresented the legal status of her properties, particularly a five-unit apartment building at 296 Lafayette Avenue in Brooklyn, as well as a residential home in Norfolk, Virginia in order to obtain loans and preferential loan terms she was not entitled to. James also is harboring a wanted fugitive in the Virginia home.

If corroborated, these acts constitute violations of both federal statutes (bank fraud, false statements to financial institutions, wire fraud, RICO) and New York State statutes (residential mortgage fraud, offering false instruments for filing, scheme to defraud, enterprise corruption).

Keep reading

Cuba’s Shadow Army in Ukraine: Havana’s Silent Alliance with Moscow

In Miami, we recently spoke with a Ukrainian citizen who was blunt: “A significant number of Cubans are fighting on behalf of Russia.” His certainty echoes what is now surfacing through intelligence leaks, investigative journalism, and testimonies.

This is not hearsay alone. It fits a wider pattern: a regime under economic collapse, an ally in need of soldiers, and a recruitment network that stretches from Havana to Tula.

For the first time since Angola in the 1970s, large numbers of Cubans are again fighting in a foreign war—not under their flag, but under Russia’s.

Evidence of Cuban Fighters in Ukraine

  • Initial reports (2023): In May 2023, Russian outlets in Ryazan reported Cubans signing contracts with the Russian Army in exchange for citizenship. By summer, videos surfaced of young Cubans claiming they had been deceived into combat.
  • Recruitment networks: In September 2023, Cuba’s government announced it had uncovered a trafficking ring and arrested 17 individuals.Yet evidence of continued flows emerged soon after, raising doubts about Havana’s sincerity.
  • OSINT confirmation: RFE/RL’s investigative unit Schemes documented Cuban recruits training at Russia’s 106th Guards Airborne Division in Tula, using social media geolocation and satellite imagery.
  • Ukrainian estimates: A Ukrainian diplomat told The Wall Street Journal in February 2024 that around 400 Cubans were on the front. Another MP cited 1,500–3,000. By June 2025, El País, citing Ukraine’s GUR intelligence, reported a cumulative 20,000 recruits since 2022, with 6,000–7,000 active at any given time. These figures remain unverified by Western intelligence but indicate the scale of concern.

Keep reading

Sorry: Firing teachers who cheer Charlie Kirk’s murder isn’t embracing ‘cancel culture’

Listen to the mainstream media, and you’ll hear that conservatives, once stalwart opponents to censorship, are now themselves the censors.

“Is the right embracing cancel culture after the Charlie Kirk assassination?” Newsweek asks.

Poppycock.

No one has ever argued that expression should never face consequence of any kind.

Were I tomorrow to openly insult my boss and pen a column praising the finer points of “Mein Kampf,” my employer would be well within its right to show me the door.

If a pastor of a Christian church espoused atheism, the elder board would be wise to keep him from preaching.

In this case, if a teacher celebrates the murder of a father, it’s only normal that parents might email their principal requesting action.

The issue with left-wing crusades for cancellation over the previous decade isn’t that individuals faced social consequences for their speech but that the speech itself comprised innocuous opinions or inconvenient facts.

Examples abound of individuals facing professional sanction for the most trivial of expression.

Analyst David Shor lost his job for noting data that found riots actually helped the right.

A professor had to pack up his office for teaching the proper pronunciation of a Chinese word that sounded like an English slur.

Keep reading

She was shot dead two days after her 21st birthday… now murder of Miss Teen beauty queen linked to others


Just two days before she was killed, former Miss Teen San Diego winner Mimi Barraza had been celebrating her 21st birthday.

Barraza was talking with a group of friends outside one of their homes in the early morning of September 4, 1993, when a white Chevy Astro-Van pulled up and an occupant began shooting, San Diego police said.

Barraza, who was mother to a two-year-old daughter, was struck in the head and killed.

Police said the van sped away from 1600 South 39th Street and was found ‘several hours later that morning’ on the intersection of 19th and G Street in San Diego.

The vehicle had been reported stolen one day earlier. Police found casings from ‘several different caliber weapons’ in the van, as well as at the crime scene.

Now 32 years later police believe the beauty queen’s killing could have been part of a crime spree in which a dozen people were shot.

Police told Daily Mail that around the same time as Barraza’s killing there were several other shootings using the same type of assault rifle.

In one case, a 16-year-old boy was shot dead and nine people were wounded in National City that is about 10 minutes from San Diego.

The perpetrators used ‘the same type of assault rifle’ as in Barraza’s murder.

Police say the suspects in all of the cases were believed to be Hispanic males affiliated with a street gang from Logan Heights.

Benita Perez, Barraza’s mother, told NBC 7 San Diego: ‘Know something, see something, say something. Help us. Help us parents. Help the loved ones that need the justice for our family, for someone that you love.’ 

She also spoke fondly about her daughter saying: ‘Beautiful smile, beautiful personality. Everything that she did, she did with love.’

Perez took to Instagram earlier this month to mark her daughter’s birthday and shared an emotional tribute. 

She posted: ‘Happy Heavenly Birthday to my Beautiful daughter Mimi. May all the Angels sing and dance to celebrate your day. Today we love and miss you so very much. Love, Mamita and family.’ 

San Diego police said that anyone with information about Barraza’s murder or the other cold cases should call their Cold Case Unit at 619-531-2293 or Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477, which is offering up to $1,000 reward to anyone with tips leading to an arrest.

Keep reading

The Biden FBI was worse than we knew

Americans paying attention have long known Biden’s Handlers weaponized the DOJ/FBI against Normal Americans. They’ve also known Joe Biden was their doddering, stumbling, little girl and woman groping, barely conscious mouthpiece. President Autopen was the man that very nearly wasn’t there.

The FBI surveilled and harassed parents who expressed their concerns about the political and sexual indoctrination of their children to local school boards. Likewise, were Catholics branded “radical traditional Catholics” surveilled. Then FBI Director Christopher Wray serially lied about that, claiming those tactics were confined to a single FBI field office and he immediately ended the practice, so shocked was he by such a political deviation. We now know multiple field offices were involved and among the practices that so alarmed easily alarmed FBI agents was Catholics enjoying the Latin Mass.

The FBI’s social media/Internet censorship efforts were vast, and Douglass Mackey was convicted over a joking Hillary Clinton meme. Normal Americans were certain that was only the tip of an oppressive iceberg that would have made Stalin proud. They had no idea.

The FBI’s investigation into President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election was far broader than previously known — encompassing 92 Republican organizations and individuals, newly released records show.

The “Arctic Frost” investigation into Trump targeted Republican groups, including the late Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA, the Republican National Committee, and the Republican Attorneys General Association, according to records released by Senators Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) and Ron Johnson (R., Wisc.) Tuesday morning. Numerous pro-Trump political operatives were also placed under the scope of the Arctic Frost investigation, the records show.

The investigations which included subpoenas, warrants and all manner of overt and covert techniques, were part and parcel of Rogue prosecutor Jack Smith’s lawfare efforts against Donald Trump. It was an unprecedented effort to criminalize legitimate political expression and to ensure eternal, one-party, Democrat rule.

Keep reading