Blog

Jacksonville officials maintained illegal registry of gun owners, violating state’s firearm preemption laws

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has filed a lawsuit seeking a $5 million civil penalty against the City of Jacksonville, alleging that the municipality maintained an illegal registry of law-abiding gun owners.

The legal action stems from “log books” kept between 2023 and 2025 by city personnel, which reportedly recorded the personal information and firearm details of individuals carrying weapons into government buildings like City Hall.

Uthmeier argues that this practice violates Florida’s preemption laws, which prohibit local governments from creating firearm registries — a restriction designed to protect the privacy and Second Amendment (2A) rights of citizens.

While a prior local investigation by the State Attorney’s Office found no criminal intent, the attorney general’s lawsuit contends that city management was complicit in maintaining the registry, thereby triggering the multimillion-dollar fine permitted under state statute.

“We are taking the City of Jacksonville to court for knowingly and willfully keeping an illegal gun registry in violation of Florida law,” Uthmeier asserted.

Keep reading

Vancouver spends $182K on ‘gender safety’ bureaucracy for FIFA World Cup

The City of Vancouver is preparing to spend more than $182,000 on so-called “gender safety” and “vulnerable resident initiatives” tied to the 2026 FIFA World Cup, according to a newly posted contracting notice.

Under a Notice of Intent to Contract posted to the procurement site MERX, the city says it plans to award multiple vendors funding for “additional community organizations event time capacity” connected to the city’s “Host City Human Rights Action Plan.”

The contract runs from May 26 to July 19, 2026, with a listed value of $182,184.

According to the notice, the money is specifically earmarked to “implement gender safety, accessibility and vulnerable resident initiatives” during the World Cup festivities.

The timing is raising eyebrows, especially in a city that has spent years aggressively promoting gender ideology policies while downplaying public concerns about women’s spaces, public disorder, and safety issues tied to addiction and homelessness.

Now, with the eyes of the world arriving for the FIFA tournament, city hall suddenly appears eager to showcase its commitment to “gender safety” — and is paying outside organizations to help manage the optics.

The procurement notice does not clearly define what “gender safety” initiatives will involve, which organizations are expected to receive funding, or how success will be measured.

Nor does it explain why existing city staff and public safety infrastructure are insufficient to handle these responsibilities during a six-week international sporting event.

The spending falls under Vancouver’s broader Human Rights Action Plan tied to its role as a FIFA host city, a framework that has increasingly blended public event management with activist-driven social programming.

Why does a soccer tournament now require taxpayer-funded “gender safety” consultants and advocacy programming, particularly at a time when Vancouver residents continue to grapple with rising living costs, public safety concerns, drug crises, and strained city services.

The original procurement notice can be viewed on MERX procurement listing.

Keep reading

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna Fires off Preservation Letter to CIA After Whistleblower Testifies that CIA Seized MKUltra and JFK Assassination Files from Tulsi Gabbard 

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) and the House Oversight Committee issued a warning and subpoena to the CIA and Director John Ratcliffe on Wednesday. The action came after a whistleblower accused the agency of seizing documents related to the JFK assassination and MKUltra — the CIA’s experimentation on human behavior and mind control through the use of drugs — from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard.

CIA whistleblower James Erdman III testified during a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing earlier that the CIA “took back 40 boxes of JFK files and MKUltra files being processed for declassification by DNI Gabbard” in what he described as “documented efforts to circumvent oversight.”

During an interview with News Nation’s Katie Pavlich following the bombshell testimony, Luna sounded the alarm on the CIA’s alleged refusal to follow President Trump’s executive orders and its aversion to transparency.

Keep reading

Treasury Department Alerts US Banks To Suspected Iranian Money Laundering Efforts

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes ​Enforcement Network (FinCEN) on May 11 issued an alert to financial institutions warning them of efforts by ​the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to evade sanctions.

FinCEN said in a statement that the IRGC has been facilitating and laundering the proceeds of illicit oil sales using networks of financial facilitators and shell companies. The alert provides red flags on the IRGC’s oil smuggling, digital assets, and front-company abuse to aid financial institutions in detecting and reporting suspicious activity, the statement said.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that financial institutions have a responsibility to stop this activity.

“Degraded by Economic Fury, the Iranian military is desperately trying to fund its weapons programs and terrorist proxies,” Bessent said.

“Treasury will continue to deny the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps access to the financial networks it exploits to fund its terrorist acts. Financial institutions should be on notice that they have a responsibility to detect suspicious activity and stop it in its tracks.”

The Treasury network describes the IRGC as a parallel organization to Tehran’s regular armed forces, which reports directly to the leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei. The IRGC is a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization.

Shadow Banking

FinCEN says the IRGC can make money from oil sales by misrepresenting its commercial activities. It smuggles oil using a “shadow fleet” of vessels that operate outside normal maritime rules and are often owned and operated by companies outside Iran.

Proceeds are then laundered through “shadow banking” networks to sell their oil and commodities abroad.

“By using front company accounts outside Iran to receive and remit payments, sanctioned entities like the IRGC are able to conduct transactions through the international financial system without repatriating funds to Iran,” FinCEN said.

The network says that with these proceeds, Iran can fund the procurement and development of weapons, as well as fund terrorist activity abroad.

Keep reading

Billionaire Friend of Swalwell and Dem Donor Stephen Cloobeck Arrested in Los Angeles

Lefty casino and timeshare mogul Stephen Cloobeck, who once called Swalwell his “little brother” and poured over $1 million into his failed campaign for California governor, was arrested in Los Angeles on Tuesday on a felony charge of attempting to prevent or dissuade a witness from testifying.

Last month, Cloobeck dramatically cut all ties and kicked Swalwell out of his luxurious $26 million Beverly Hills mansion.

Cloobeck also demanded every penny of his cash back after explosive allegations that Swalwell sexually assaulted multiple women, including a former staffer who claims the Democrat raped her while she was too drunk to consent.

The Gateway Pundit previously reported that Swalwell had missed votes in Congress while running for California governor, spending his time hanging out at a multimillion-dollar Beverly Hills mansion owned by one of his top campaign donors.

Swalwell visited the lavish 9,700-square-foot estate on Roxbury Drive on at least 10 different days since September.

Cloobeck’s property features six bedrooms, seven bathrooms, a tennis court, double gates, and luxury artwork that Swalwell has used as a backdrop for social media videos and TV interviews.

Congressional records show Swalwell missed House floor votes on at least three days when he posted content from the mansion.

Swalwell missed more votes in 2025 than any other active member of Congress, more than even the late Rep. Raúl Grijalva, who died in March.

Cloobeck was a major backer of Swalwell’s gubernatorial campaign. He contributed $1 million to a supporting committee, provided resources from his own short-lived 2025 governor bid, and previously spent $31,000 on a trip flying Swalwell to Nice, France, according to congressional gift reports.

Cloobeck publicly referred to Swalwell as his “Little Brother” and confirmed the use of his home for campaign work, saying of one televised hit, “That’s my backdrop. Mi casa, su casa.”

On Tuesday, Cloobeck was arrested in Los Angeles just weeks after booting Swalwell from his mansion.

Keep reading

Ireland Convicts 78-Year-Old Preacher For Preaching Near Abortion Clinic

Ireland is finally safe.

Clive Johnston has been convicted and can no longer menace the public.

Johnson, 78, is a retired pastor who committed the heinous offense of preaching near the Causeway Hospital in Coleraine.

That was considered within the “safe access zone” under Northern Ireland’s Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Act.

The Act prohibits “influencing,” “preventing or impeding access,” or “causing harassment, alarm or distress” to a protected person within 100 meters (about 328 feet) of facilities where abortions are performed.

So Johnson was found guilty of “influencing” inside the protected zone and fined 450 pounds (about $614).

Northern Ireland’s Public Prosecution Service told Fox News Digital, “The defendant was found guilty and convicted by the court of doing an act in a safe access zone with the intent of or being reckless as to whether it had the effect of influencing a protected person attending the premises; and failing to comply with a direction to leave a safe access zone.”

The language of the law is absurdly vague and abusively broad. What constitutes an “influence” is undefined and could include any religious, political, or social exchange. Would it include encouragements to have abortions?

It is equally perverse to treat praying or preaching the same as blocking or impeding access to a clinic. Finally, a hospital engages in a wide array of activities that raise religious or political issues that can be the subject of free speech.

We previously saw several cases in the United Kingdom where people were arrested for silently praying near abortion clinics.

For its part, Ireland has been a leader in censorship and the criminalization of speech. As the leader of the Irish Green Party proclaimed, “We are restricting freedom for the public good.”

By the way, his offense was reading John 3:16, including “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

What could perish in Ireland and the United Kingdom is free expression as speech regulators target bad influences under time, place, and manner laws.

Keep reading

EV Pollution: Converting the World to EVs Would Be an Environmental Disaster

In 2024, President Biden said he wanted 56% of all new cars sold in the United States to be electric vehicles by 2032. California Governor Gavin Newsom similarly mandated that 35% of new 2026 model cars sold in the state be zero-emissions vehicles, rising to 68% in 2030 and 100% in 2035.

The European Union announced in 2023 that, from 2035 onward, all new cars coming onto the market could not emit any CO2. The United Kingdom similarly announced a 2030 ban on the sale of new diesel and petrol cars.

The reaction from the U.S. auto industry was blunt. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation said it “will take a miracle” for all states following California’s rules to reach 100% new zero-emission vehicle sales by 2035.

They are correct. The environmental impact would be devastating. The people claiming to save the world with electric cars could end up destroying it.

Replacing every vehicle on Earth with an EV, all 1.5 to 1.6 billion of them, would be effectively impossible. There are not enough minerals to manufacture all of the batteries required. In addition, there is not enough global processing capacity, and such a transition would require incredible amounts of labor. Many of these minerals are already being mined by children and by workers laboring under hazardous and toxic conditions that amount to modern slavery.

Keep reading

The Autism Question Medicine Refuses to Answer

RFK Jr. told Tucker Carlson the CDC buried its own internal study showing a 1135% INCREASE in autism risk from hepatitis B vaccination.

The researchers were shocked.

So they covered it up.

How?

“They got rid of all the older children essentially and just had younger children who are TOO YOUNG TO BE DIAGNOSED [with autism],” Kennedy explained.

Imagine discovering evidence of catastrophic harm and making sure no one ever found out.

Then, telling everyone it’s “safe.”

If health authorities are willing to keep a signal this alarming hidden from you, what else are they not telling you about vaccines?

Is it possible that your child’s allergies or chronic immune issues didn’t appear organically, but were triggered by vaccination instead?

Keep reading

EU Climate Cultist EXPLODES in Unhinged RAGE at Renowned Geologist During Brussels Lecture – Calls Opponents “Criminals,” Then Fires Off Midnight LinkedIn Meltdown to the Professor!

Brussels, the beating heart of the European Union’s bureaucratic empire – where “science” means whatever the green agenda demands and dissent gets you labeled a heretic. In a jaw-dropping display of totalitarian intolerance straight out of the climate cult playbook, a top EU official completely lost it during a public lecture by one of Europe’s leading geologists.

The incident unfolded Monday night at the end of a conference featuring Professor Alain Préat, a respected geologist and one of the finest scientific minds of his generation. Préat had just delivered a measured, fact-based presentation painting an encouraging picture of the evolving climate debate. Including the IPCC quietly ditching some of its most hysterical alarmist scenarios.

You know, the kind of inconvenient truth that doesn’t fit the EU’s trillion-euro “climate emergency” grift.

Enter Philippe Tulkens, Director of the European Commission’s Climate & Planetary Boundaries unit (and apparently self-appointed High Priest of the Green Inquisition). Under the flimsy pretext of “asking a question,” Tulkens launched into a foaming-at-the-mouth tirade. Screaming like a man possessed at the elderly professor.

Witnesses described him as red-faced, sweating, and completely unhinged as he ranted about the sacred “climate urgency” while insulting Préat and fellow professor Samuele Furfari – who tried to step in and restore order – as “old” and “flat-earthers” (platistes in French). He even took a bizarre swipe at Belgium’s classical-liberal MR party, calling it “far-right” for no apparent reason other than pure ideological derangement.

Keep reading

The Ascent of Mediocrity

Regular readers of Brownstone Journal have been graced with insight provided by many authors of diverse backgrounds and experiences. As a physician, I have found those authored by Dr. Joseph Varon to be exceptionally helpful in their insight into the state of medicine today. In particular, his essay, “When Physicians are Replaced With a Protocol,” struck a chord with me.

Perhaps it was my conscience, as I probably bear some responsibility for furthering this viewpoint, at least on a local level. You see, I once was a True Believer. It was plausible. It seemed so believable, so “scientific,” so simple. But it was a vicious hoax that, I am ashamed to say, took me in. Let me tell the story:

In the early 1990’s, medicine was under siege. The cost was rising at a steep rate, and some people saw an opportunity. Rather than looking at the rapid corporatization of healthcare and the proliferation of administrative costs, it was easy to shift the blame to the “providers. We were no longer “physicians,” but providers of a service. In truth, that is what we had become. The Health Equation had been shifted, whether intentionally or by accident. Just a few years before, physicians had directed patients to hospitals. Now, some bright businessperson, probably from The Wharton School or other such academic Ivory Tower, had seen the profit if the hospitals (or other corporate entities like insurance companies or A COMBINATION OF THE TWO) directed the patients to the physicians. It was like some financial martial arts reversal move…A perfect Sumi Gaeshi.

Keep reading