Tag: media

Media Claim: He Fought for the U.S. in Afghanistan, and ICE Killed Him. Here’s What Really Happened

Any man who fought against the Taliban is a hero, but that alone does not mean he qualifies for a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV). On November 26, 2025, Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who had served in a CIA-backed Afghan paramilitary unit, shot two West Virginia National Guard members near the White House, killing one and critically wounding the other.

Following the shooting, President Trump ordered a “re-examination” of every Afghan national admitted to the United States under the Biden administration. An estimated 190,000 to 200,000 Afghans have been resettled in the United States since the 2021 withdrawal, most under humanitarian parole rather than the SIV program.

On March 14, 2026, Afghan national Mohammad Nazeer Paktiawal died in ICE custody in Richardson, Texas. Media coverage described him as a “special forces soldier,” wording that could be interpreted to mean he served in U.S. Special Forces. However, he was not a member of the U.S. military.

AfghanEvac states that he partnered with U.S. Army Special Forces, specifically the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne), in Paktika Province beginning in 2005, rather than serving in the U.S. military.

AfghanEvac is an advocacy and volunteer coalition formed after the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan to help evacuate and resettle Afghans who worked with U.S. forces and to advocate for their immigration cases.

The phrase “worked with U.S. forces,” as used by AfghanEvac and in much of the reporting, is a broad umbrella term. It encompasses the full range of Afghan nationals who supported the U.S. mission, not just those in combat roles. This includes interpreters and translators, logistics and transportation contractors, drivers, base support personnel, including laundry, food service, construction, and maintenance workers, intelligence and cultural advisors, as well as members of partnered Afghan military or police units.

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“I Told You So: The Manafort Black Ledger Was A Fabrication — And I Proved It In 2016”

Ten years ago, I was one of the only journalists in America willing to ask a simple question: was the black ledger fabricated?

On August 18, 2016, I published a piece in the Washington Times — “New York Times Evidence Against Trump Advisor Paul Manafort May Not Stand Up In Court“ — examining the “black ledger” that had supposedly surfaced in Ukraine, showing off-the-books cash payments to Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. The story hit like a bomb. Manafort resigned two days later. The Russia collusion narrative was off and running.

I wasn’t buying it.

What I reported then — and what the mainstream media spent years ridiculing — is now confirmed. Special prosecutor Joe diGenova’s team has obtained bombshell new evidence, confirmed this week by Paul Sperry, that the 2016 election was interfered with not by Russia, but by Ukraine and the United Kingdom.

The evidence:

• Ukrainian officials leaked false Manafort financial records to influence the election

• A Ukrainian MP has testified on tape: “I have a tape of these law-enforcement officials saying they did it — they attempted to overthrow the United States government on behalf of Hillary Clinton in 2016”

• Ukraine’s own General Prosecutor stated there was enough evidence to open a criminal investigation

• DiGenova has onboarded a dedicated federal investigator focused solely on Ukraine

The black ledger wasn’t a discovery. It was a fabrication — an intelligence operation, laundered through the New York Times.

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Tax-Payer Funded NPR Publishes Article on How to Avoid Trump’s Image on Passport

The taxpayer-funded NPR published an article Wednesday explaining how passport applicants can avoid receiving a commemorative passport featuring President Donald Trump’s image.

The special passport, released to mark America’s 250th anniversary, became available Monday at the Washington Passport Agency. It can only be obtained in person and by appointment.

Among those seeking the new design was Alabama resident John Hall, who told NPR he drove to Washington in his “MAGA red” Hyundai hoping to get one because he is a supporter of Trump and wanted the commemorative passport. He was unable to secure an appointment before returning home and said he plans to come back for one of the agency’s upcoming passport events.

Not everyone shared that reaction. Kim Zaninovich of Richmond, Virginia, told NPR she was unhappy after receiving a passport featuring Trump’s image, saying she did not realize there was another option. She described the illustration as showing an “angry look” and said she would have preferred a standard version.

According to NPR, applicants who do not want the commemorative edition can avoid it by requesting a passport with extra pages. NPR added that the State Department said the anniversary design is only offered in the standard 28-page passport book, meaning the larger version does not include Trump’s image.

Despite NPR’s claim that the commemorative passport is only available in the standard 28-page book, the State Department says the anniversary passport is issued only in the standard 26-page passport book, while applicants who request the 50-page version receive the existing design instead.

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Ex-Girlfriend of Graham Platner Calls Out NYT’s Claim They ‘Could Not Corroborate’ Allegations: Victim Says They Ignored Her Evidence and Witnesses

Scandals surrounding Maine Democrat Senate candidate Graham Platner continue to unfold.

On Monday, The Gateway Pundit reported that rumors are swirling that he will drop out of the race after he abruptly canceled multiple town hall events ahead of a new damaging hit piece.

Later Monday, Politico released the latest Platner sex scandal regarding a woman who said that he raped her.

Following the latest scandal, some of his prior backers, including Democrat Senator Ruben Gallego and Democrat Rep Ro Khanna, withdrew their endorsements.

One of his prior girlfriends, 40-year-old Lyndsey Fifield, a Virginia conservative who dated Platner between 2013 and 2015, called him “cavalierly contemptuous of women’s emotions, of our ‘weakness.’

On Tuesday, Fifield addressed questionable reporting by The New York Times in their coverage of Platner and their claim that they “could not corroborate” the allegations, at least where she was concerned.

Fifield describes, in detail, the multiple contacts she provided to the outlet that could corroborate her timeline, as well as specific incidents detailing disturbing behavior.  She provided friends, former roommates, and even other men she dated.

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Dana Perino Just Exposed the Real Reason Democrats Turned on Graham Platner

I’ve been a fan of Dana Perino since she served as White House press secretary for George W. Bush, and boy, did she nail it on The Five Tuesday while talking about the Graham Platner situation.

Platner’s campaign is imploding after Politico reported a sexual assault allegation against him on Monday. Even though Platner calls the allegation “categorically untrue,” establishment Democrats are finally ready to cut him loose, because, you know, everything else that had come out about him apparently wasn’t enough.

Perino zeroed in on how The New York Times handled the story before it exploded. She explained that the accuser handed the paper five sources to corroborate her account. The Times contacted only two of them, who vouched for her character, and left it there.

“They didn’t call the other three, the other three who had the contemporaneous notes from when she had detailed it,” Perino said. “So the New York Times, they call it like a catch and kill thing, right? There’s like, oh, let’s try to bury this.”

Then Perino raised the question Democrats would prefer nobody ask. “So when did the Democrats actually start to care?” she said. The answer had nothing to do with conscience. I’ve said before that this had nothing to do with the allegations and everything to do with the polls. Perino agrees.

“It’s because the recent polling shows that Graham Platner was going to lose to Susan Collins,” Perino said. “And they thought, wow, we only have two weeks to figure this out.”

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Prince Harry Loses Years-Long Privacy Lawsuit Against Daily Mail Publisher, as Controversial UK Trip Is Off to a Bad Start

A victory for free press, or a whitewashing?

We have been reporting here on how Prince Harry’s UK trip ended up mired in controversy and logistical chaos.

He was just told by Buckingham Palace that he would not be able to stay there anymore for confirming his presence too late.

And in his first public engagement, Harry was dealt a big setback, as the Duke of Sussex lost his years-long, £50 million privacy lawsuit against Associated Newspapers Limited, the publisher of the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday.

Fox News reported:

“Harry and six other claimants, including Elton John and Elizabeth Hurley, lost their privacy case against the publisher. The U.K.’s High Court dismissed their claims after finding the claimants had failed to prove their allegations of unlawful information gathering.”

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Essence Magazine Gets ROASTED for Calling Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson ‘The People’s Champion’ in Cover Story

Essence Magazine is a publication that focuses on black women, but their new cover story about U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is getting them absolutely dragged on social media.

The main criticism is that they are trying WAY too hard to turn her into some kind of celebrity, much like the liberal media did with the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

It is apparently not enough that she is a judge who sits on the highest court in the land, she has to be treated like a movie star as well.

Just look this, with the headline: ‘The People’s Champion’

Really?

FOX News reported on the fallout:

Brown Jackson’s latest spotlight moment fuels accusations she’s forgetting her day job: ‘Not celebrities’

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson appeared on the cover of the most recent issue of Essence magazine, spurring critics to argue that she is seeking publicity in ways that are inappropriate for a member of the Supreme Court.

“Supreme Court Justices are not celebrities and should not be treated like celebrities,” Andrew Fleischman, a Georgia trial and appeal lawyer, wrote of the cover.

The magazine’s cover features a picture of Jackson wearing a purple coat and smiling directly at the reader. Underneath Jackson’s photo is a caption that reads “the people’s champion.”…

Jackson’s public appearances outside the court have drawn periodic criticism from some conservatives and legal observers, who argue that events such as the Grammy Awards, Broadway appearances and a Vogue photoshoot risk blurring the line between judicial service and celebrity.

“Ketanji Brown Jackson isn’t supposed to be ‘the people’s champion,’” Billy Binion, a reporter for a libertarian magazine, wrote on X. “She’s not a politician. She’s supposed to interpret the law, not make it. This kind of thing is why so many people misunderstand how our government works at a basic level.”

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REPORT: Zohran Mamdani is BIG MAD at ‘The View’ After A Host Correctly Called One of His DSA Candidates an Antisemite

Zohran Mamdani is reportedly steaming mad at ‘The View’ because one of the hosts referred to Darializa Avila Chevalier, the DSA nominee for New York’s 13th congressional district, an antisemite.

Truth hurts, huh?

One of the central pillars of the DSA is their pathological hatred of Israel, and by extension, Jews. Their exclamation of ‘Free Palestine’ is nothing more than a euphemism for the destruction of Israel.

FOX News reports:

Mamdani aide unloaded on ABC executives after ‘The View’ host called socialist candidate an antisemite: report

An aide to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani reportedly lashed out at ABC executives after “The View” co-host Sara Haines called a Mamdani-backed socialist congressional candidate an antisemite.

Mamdani flexed his political influence last month after three candidates that he endorsed in New York congressional primaries — Brad Lander, Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier — won over Democratic establishment candidates.

The New York City mayor’s team had pitched the liberal talk show to have the socialist candidates on, but the show had declined, according to Semafor.

During an episode of the show on June 24, co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin and Haines pushed back on the actions and comments of some of the candidates backed by Mamdani. Haines said Chevalier was at an anti-Israel rally on October 8, 2023, the day after Hamas’ massive terrorist attack against Israel by Hamas.

“I’m gonna full-blown call her an antisemite. She would proudly call herself that, trust me,” Haines said of Chevalier.

Following the comments, an aide for the socialist mayor reportedly unloaded on ABC executives, and said the remarks by Haines could affect future appearances on the show for the mayor or the candidates running for Congress, according to Semafor, who cited a person familiar with the matter.

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‘Very irresponsible’: National Firearms Association VP blasts mainstream media coverage of Montreal shooter

On Friday’s episode of The Ezra Levant Show, Blair Hagen from the National Firearms Association spoke out against mainstream media outlets using the recent Montreal shooting as a tool to push political narratives.

While the shooter’s manifesto contained a multitude of references to former left-wing dictators like Mao and Stalin — along with lengthy rants filled with explicit antisemitism, anti-Zionist rhetoric, and communist ideology — mainstream media outlets appeared to focus almost exclusively on his hatred of women.

“Very shortly afterwards, and of course the killer’s manifesto became public fairly quickly, mainstream media outlets chose to go with a certain narrative, and it’s one we’re pretty familiar with,” Hagen said.

“That was the elements of misogyny, the hatred of women, that were part of that manifesto. But it was very, very stark that they were obviously ignoring the other parts. That manifesto was a toxic soup of really harmful ideologies and attitudes, and the fact that mainstream media and certain special interest groups would choose to ignore that to advance their own narratives certainly struck us as very, very irresponsible and something we wanted to speak out on,” he continued.

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2028 Democrat Presidential Hopeful Exposes Party Civil War Against Its Socialist Wing

Gov. Josh Shapiro sat down with Dana Bash on CNN’s State of the Union this weekend and said the quiet part out loud: his party is being overrun by its socialist and far left flank.

Bash pressed Shapiro on Darializa Avila Chevalier, who won the Democratic congressional primary in New York’s 13th congressional district last month while running as an open socialist.

Chevalier’s platform includes abolishing prisons, opening the borders, ending deportations, and granting mercy even to violent criminals. 

Bash also noted that Chevalier attended a pro-Palestinian rally on October 8, 2023, one day after Hamas terrorists slaughtered, raped, and kidnapped their way across southern Israel.

According to Bash, that rally featured antisemitic rhetoric defending the attack. Bash asked Shapiro how he feels, as a Democrat, about someone with those views heading to Congress.

Shapiro tried to have it both ways.

“Well, her district voted for her,” he said. But that statement also came with a convenient disclaimer. “But I have profound differences from that particular candidate, based on the citations that you read there. And she’s not someone who, you know, seemingly, I would agree with on many things, or that we share similar values. She ran on the Democratic ticket, I guess as a socialist; her voters in that district determined that she was the one they wanted representing them.”

Note the hedge. Shapiro was describing someone who wants to shield violent criminals from deportation and who reportedly stood in solidarity with people cheering a massacre of Jews. Yet, the strongest word he could summon was “seemingly.”

Bash followed up by asking what Chevalier’s win says about the Democratic Party. Here Shapiro dropped whatever remained of the diplomatic pretense. “I think that what our party has to go through, that will be very healthy, and something that we’ve not really done since the 1992 elections, is to have a battle over what we believe in,” he said.

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