Blog

Pizzas Sent to Judges’ Homes in Name of Judge’s Murdered Son

Hundreds of pizzas have been delivered to the homes of judges and their adult children amid increasing threats to the judiciary, including some sent in the name of a New Jersey federal judge’s murdered son.

Judge Esther Salas of the District of New Jersey described the incidents during an online event on Tuesday aimed at addressing the worsening threat landscape for federal judges, who have been subject to impeachment efforts and viral threats after ruling against President Donald Trump’s actions.

Salas has spearheaded national efforts to improve security for judges since her son, Daniel Anderl, was murdered in 2020 at their home by an attorney who posed as a delivery man.

“Now Daniel’s name is being weaponized to bring fear to judges and their children,” she said during the event. “You’re saying to those judges, you want to end up like Judge Salas? You want to end up like Judge Salas’ son? These are alarming developments.”

Salas said in an interview that at least 10 pizzas have been sent to federal judges and their relatives, with her son’s name listed as the sender. These deliveries have been made across the US , including in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Los Angeles, she said.

Many of the judges who have received pizzas and other food deliveries were handling legal challenges to Trump administration actions, Salas said. However, at least one of the judges who recently received pizzas in her son’s name wasn’t, indicating the threats are part of a broader attack against the judiciary, Salas said.

Keep reading

Major European Country Enshrines Biological Sex In Its Constitution 

The government of Hungary has ratified a new amendment to the nation’s Constitution that recognises the biological scientific fact that there are only two genders.

The Hungarian parliament voted in favour of the resolution, which simply states a person is “either man or woman,” by a huge margin of 140 votes in favour to 21 votes against.

The amendment also asserts that “protection of children precedes the right of assembly” and grants police new powers to shut down gatherings such as Pride parades if they are determined to be lewd in nature and potentially damaging to “physical, mental, and moral development” of minors.

Keep reading

Man Whose Death Sentence Was Commuted by Biden in 2024 Indicted for First-Degree Murder of 12-Year-Old Girl

Thomas Steven Sanders, a convicted child murderer whose federal death sentence was commuted by Joe Biden in December 2024 through his autopen, has been indicted for first-degree murder by a Louisiana grand jury.​

Sanders was originally sentenced to death in 2014 for the 2010 kidnapping and murder of 12-year-old Lexis Roberts of Las Vegas.

He had taken Lexis and her mother, Suellen Roberts, on a trip to the Grand Canyon, during which he murdered Suellen in Arizona and then brought Lexis to Louisiana, where he killed her in Catahoula Parish.

Despite his federal conviction and death sentence, Biden commuted Sanders’ sentence to life imprisonment without parole as part of a broader move affecting 37 of the 40 inmates on federal death row.

Now, the state of Louisiana is seeking to impose its own justice.

A Catahoula Parish Grand Jury indicted Sanders for the state-level murder of Lexis Roberts.

District Attorney Bradley Burget announced that his office will seek the death penalty, emphasizing that Biden’s federal commutation does not affect state prosecution, KALB reported.

“Biden’s action to commute the federal death penalty will have no effect on the state prosecution of Sanders,” Burget stated per The Democrat.

Thomas Steven Sanders is the third individual granted clemency to end up back behind bars.

Keep reading

Archaeologists Found a 3,000-Year-Old Lost City That May Hold Secrets of a Royal Past

Just like scientific hypotheses are ever-evolving, so is our understanding of history. 15 years ago, researchers began excavating what they thought were the remains of a military outpost, built to guard against Roman attacks—but their recent findings prove to be much more exciting. The site in Northern Macedonia, known as the archaeological site of Gradishte, might actually be an entire ancient city. And not just any city; it may have a direct connection to the lineage of Alexander the Great.

Using advanced drone-deployed LiDAR and ground penetrating radar technologies, researchers from Macedonia’s Institute and Museum–Bitola and California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt (Cal Poly Humboldt) are uncovering the mysteries of this once thriving city. The team announced their findings in a university press release.

“We’re only beginning to scratch the surface of what we can learn about this period,” Engin Nasuh—curator-advisor archaeologist at the National Institute and Museum–Bitola—said in the press release.

Ancient Macedonia was a small, initially insignificant kingdom in Greece. Fighting among major powers in the region—such as between the Athenians and Persians or the Spartans and Athenians, respectively—made it easy for Macedonia (under the heavy hand of King Philip II to stake its claim to power. The kingdom eventually expanded into an empire, most notably under Philip II’s son, Alexander the Great, but eventually fell under Roman control due to internal power struggles.

According to the release, experts initially dated the city back to King Philip V’s reign (221-179 B.C.), but later archaeological findings pushed estimates further back. A coin minted between 325 and 323 B.C. points to the city’s existence during Alexander the Great’s lifetime. But other artifacts including axe fragments and ceramic vessels have led researchers to believe humans could have inhabited the area as far back as the Bronze Age (3,300-1,200 B.C.).

Of the structures uncovered at the site, a Macedonian-style theater and textile workshop are among the most notable. Archaeologists have also discovered coins, axes and textile tools, game pieces, pottery, and even a clay theater ticket at the site, suggesting that the area was a thriving city before Rome’s rise to power, according to Nasuh.

Keep reading

Attorney General Releases Police Records Detailing Abrego Garcia’s Criminal History

On Wednesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi released police records showing Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the “Maryland man” who was deported to his native El Salvador by the Trump administration, was in fact a member of MS-13 and was in the United States illegally.

Contrary to the assertions of Garcia’s lawyers (and many in the corporate press) that there’s no evidence he’s a member of MS-13 and that the cops just made it all up, the police affidavit from Garcia’s arrest in March 2019 shows that Garcia was arrested with multiple other confirmed MS-13 gang members, was wearing clothing associated with the gang, and was identified by a confidential police informant as a confirmed MS-13 gang member with a rank and a moniker.

Here’s what the police record said. Garcia and three other men were arrested outside a Home Depot by Hyattsville City Police in Maryland, and as police approached them, “two of the individuals reached into their waistbands and discarded several unknown items under a parked vehicle,” according to the affidavit. One of the men, Christhyan Hernandez-Romero, was immediately recognized by police as a member of the MS-13 Sailors Clique. Hernandez-Romero, police said, “has an extensive criminal history for multiple assault, concealing dangerous weapon, burglary and many other offenses.” They even knew his rank and moniker, which was “Bimbo.”

Another of the men, Jose Guillermo Dominguez, was covered in MS-13 gang tattoos and was identified by “a past proven and reliable source” as an active MS-13 gang member with the rank of “Chequeo” and the moniker “Maniaco.”

As for Garcia, police recognized his clothing as “indicative of Hispanic gang culture,” and that he was a “member in good standing with the MS-13.” The same confidential informant told police that Garcia had the rank of “Chequeo” and the moniker “Chele.” In addition, the arrest record shows that Garcia was by his own admission an illegal alien from El Salvador who had entered the U.S. by walking across the border near McAllen, Texas, in March 2012. At the time of his arrest in Maryland while loitering outside a Home Depot, he had $1,178 in cash on him. Several plastic bottles containing marijuana were also found near the men after their arrest. 

The fourth man was released after police were unable to determine his gang affiliation, which calls into serious question the claim by Garcia’s lawyers that the cops were just making up his affiliation with MS-13. If so, why didn’t they do so with this fourth man?

This police record is likely what multiple immigration judges, as well as the Board of Immigration Appeals, relied on when finding that “the evidence shows that he [Garcia] is a verified member of MS-13.”

Keep reading

Trump wants some illegal migrants to stay in US and help farmers pick crops – proposes they self-deport and return legally: ‘Going to give them a stipend’ 

President Trump proposed Tuesday that illegal migrants who self-deport would get priority consideration for legal status if they still want to live in the US — even saying the government would provide them a plane ticket and cash to speed the process along.

“We’re going to give them a stipend,” Trump, 78, told Fox Noticias host Rachel Campos-Duffy in an interview aired Tuesday.

“We’re going to give them some money and a plane ticket, and then we’re going to work with them,” he added. “If they’re good, if we want them back in, we’re going to work with them to get them back in as quickly as we can.”

Trump insisted that the administration’s priority is still deporting migrant criminals — not those who merely crossed the border illegally.

“We want our great people to stay,” he said in response to a question from Campos-Duffy about an illegal migrant who had been in the US for 20 years and built a family.

Keep reading

The Remarkable Rags-to-Riches Story of Stacey Abrams

By her own admission, Stacey Abrams has made a number of “personal financial missteps” in her career. Despite a history marked by bill collectors, tax liens, and ethics investigations, the Georgia politician and Democratic Party activist has managed to amass a small fortune – while working most of her career in the not-for-profit sector.

Financial records show that when she first entered statewide politics in 2018, she reported a net worth of less than $109,000. By 2022, the last year she had to publicly file a financial report, it had grown to more than $3.2 million. Abrams is probably even better off than that, thanks to her latest venture: Rewiring America, which uses federal funds to provide low-income people with free electric appliances. 

The green-energy startup hired Abrams as senior counsel in 2023 after she helped secure federal funding for the nonprofit by putting together an umbrella group that applied for and won grants totaling $1.9 billion from the Biden Environmental Protection Agency, according to a podcast interview she gave last year. Those funds were frozen last month by the Trump administration while it investigates the grant application and award process along with Congress. 

Keep reading

Teenager Accused of Murdering Parents and Planning to Assassinate President Trump Discussed His Plans for a Drone Attack in Online Conversations With Ukrainian: FBI DOCS

Back in February, the US was shocked by the news that Nikita Casap, a 17-year-old from Waukesha, Wisconsin, was arrested, accused of killing his mother, Tatiana Casap, and stepfather, Donald Mayer.

The reason why? To gain ‘financial means and autonomy’ to implement a deranged terrorist attack against President Donald J. Trump.

According to Federal authorities, Casap planned to assassinate Trump to ‘spark a political revolution’ and ‘save the white race’, objectives that he outlined in a three-page manifesto.

The teen was connected with neo-Nazi groups like the Order of Nine Angles – and with disturbing foreign ties to Ukrainian militants.

Keep reading

Report: AI Company DeepSeek ‘Funnels’ American User Data To Red China

The Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company DeepSeek is allegedly syphoning American user data to China’s communist government, according to a new congressional report.

Released on Wednesday by the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the 16-page analysis contends that the China-based AI firm “collects detailed user data, which it transmits via backend infrastructure that is connected to China Mobile.”

A state-owned telecommunications giant, China Mobile was flagged by the Pentagon earlier this year for having ties to Beijing’s military. In 2019, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) prohibited the firm from operating within the U.S. over concerns that “unauthorized access to customer … data could create irreparable damage to U.S. national security.”

The FCC subsequently added China Mobile to its list of “national security threats” in 2022, according to ABC News.

“While the extent of data transmission remains unconfirmed, DeepSeek’s integration with China Mobile infrastructure raises serious concerns about potential foreign access to Americans’ private information,” the House analysis reads. “By relying on China Mobile’s infrastructure, DeepSeek ensures that Americans’ data is stored and transmitted through networks controlled by the Chinese government.”

Among the data DeepSeek reportedly collects from users who utilize its chatbot function are their “chat history, device details, and even the way a person types,” according to the report. The House committee cited DeepSeek’s privacy policy, which discloses that the company stores the information it gathers from users “in secure servers located in the People’s Republic of China.”

It’s worth noting that the CCP passed a so-called “national intelligence law” in 2017 granting the communist government access to data held by businesses operating in China. As noted by the Department of Homeland Security, this law “compels all PRC firms and entities to support, assist, and cooperate with the PRC intelligence services, creating a legal obligation for those entities to turn over data collected abroad and domestically to the PRC.”

Keep reading

Profanity-ridden Emails, Misuse of CDC Funds: How Big Fluoride Tries to Prevent Towns From Cleaning Up Their Water

When Washburn, North Dakota’s town commissioners decided in January to take up the issue of whether or not to continue fluoridating the water supply for the town’s 1,300 residents, they anticipated researching the risks versus benefits and putting the matter to a vote.

What they didn’t anticipate — but soon encountered — was evidence of a coordinated effort by state actors and a national fluoride lobby group, using federal money, to crush local efforts by small towns like Washburn to stop fluoridating their water supplies.

On Monday night, town commissioners voted 4-1 to stop adding fluoride to Washburn’s water supply — making Washburn the latest in a growing list of communities across the country to end the practice in light of mounting scientific evidence that the chemical harms children’s health and provides little or no dental benefit.

At the meeting, Commissioner Keith Hapip shared what he said was evidence of astroturfing by Dr. Johnny Johnson, president of the American Fluoridation Society; Jim Kershaw, Bismarck, North Dakota’s water plant superintendent and others.

“Astroturfing is when a group with money and power pretends to be regular folks supporting something, but it’s really a planned push from the top,” Hapip said. “Real grassroots come from the community naturally. And here, the oral health program used CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] cash to manufacture support for fluoridation in Washburn.”

Johnson phoned into the meeting to advocate for water fluoridation. In response, the commission also hosted a presentation by Michael Connett — the attorney who represented the plaintiffs who won alandmark ruling in a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the agency’s failure to appropriately regulate fluoride use in water supplies.

Dr. Griffin Cole, conference chairman of the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology, who has expertise on fluoride’s toxic effects, also made a presentation.

Interviews by The Defender with grassroots actors across the country revealed that for years, Johnson, one of the country’s foremost advocates of water fluoridation, has been intervening in grassroots efforts to end fluoridation in their communities.

He and colleagues — in this case, Kershaw — travel physically or virtually to meetings in towns across the country.

Keep reading