DOJ claims ICE agent made up wild 'broom' attack story after shooting — but lawyer says he's being used as a 'political pawn'



Did an ICE agent spin up a wild story after shooting a Venezuelan national in Minnesota early this year? Or has he been scapegoated by a state filled with "rage" over immigration law enforcement in general?

Both federal and Hennepin County prosecutors have formally charged Christian Castro, 52, for allegedly lying to investigators, but one of his attorneys, David Lindenmuth, told Blaze News that his client has been unfairly targeted by "rabid" officials looking for someone to blame for other controversies associated with Operation Metro Surge.

'He was in pursuit of people in a vehicle who fled. ... There was a person on that porch that apparently had a weapon at some point.'

"They went through some pretty serious things up there with the federal law enforcement being sent up there. There's a couple of high-profile deaths," Lindenmuth said. "And because of that, I think that what happened, to be quite honest ... [is] Mr. Castro is basically the one that they chose to prosecute."

Lindenmuth did not name names regarding the "high-profile deaths," but the incident involving Castro occurred just one week after Renee Good was fatally shot on January 7.

On January 14, the Department of Homeland Security reported that an unnamed federal immigration officer had "fired a defensive shot to defend his life" during an immigration operation in Minnesota.

The officer had sustained a brutal attack, during which three individuals "ambushed" him and struck him with a "broom handle" and a "snow shovel," the DHS claimed on January 14.

Now, however, the Department of Justice claims the officer made the whole thing up. On September 2, a federal grand jury indicted Castro on six counts of making a materially false statement.

RELATED: Trump threatens Insurrection Act after ambushed ICE agent shoots illegal alien: 'Put an end to the travesty'

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The federal indictment claims that on January 14, Castro told the FBI that while he was attempting to arrest one man, a second "unknown man grabbed a red broom off the front porch," "a third unknown man came out of the house, grabbed a black snow shovel," and all three ganged up on him.

Castro then claimed that "he tried to block strikes from the broom to his face with his left hand and reached for his gun," according to the indictment. The men then bolted for a nearby residence, and Castro "lifted his back off the ground and fired one round from his gun in the general direction of the men at the same time they started running."

Castro estimated to the FBI that he struggled on the ground with the original subject, identified as "A.A.," for "approximately three minutes," the indictment said.

According to federal prosecutors, none of Castro's claims are true. Instead, prosecutors claim: No one struck Castro with a broom or a snow shovel at that time; there was no third person involved; Castro was standing when he shot through the front door of the duplex residence, where the two men had already hidden themselves; and the scuffle on the ground lasted only 11 seconds.

A probable cause statement from Hennepin County indicated that, following a 911 call, Minneapolis police took "remote-control of a city camera" and angled it at the residence in time to capture much of the incident.

Castro's bullet struck one subject, identified as Julio Sosa-Celis in news reports but referred to as "J.S.-C." in the federal indictment. Sosa-Celis was wounded in the leg but has recovered from his injury.

The indictment describes J.S.-C. as a 24-year-old "citizen of Venezuela" who resided in the duplex.

The probable cause statement claimed that at the time of the shooting, Sosa-Celis and A.A. "were residing in Minnesota lawfully, having been granted 'Temporary Protected Status' by the United States Department of Homeland Security."

Sosa-Celis was arrested shortly after the incident, but all charges against him have since been dropped.

Though Lindenmuth admits that Castro "fired his weapon" that fateful night, Lindenmuth insisted that Castro is "innocent" and "had no intent to lie to federal agents."

"The federal government has to prove that Mr. Castro lied to them, and then the state government has to prove that he actually committed a crime," he explained to Blaze News. "The facts as I understand them is that he was in pursuit of people in a vehicle who fled, right? They fled. Then they fled on foot. There was a person on that porch that apparently had a weapon at some point."

In the county probable cause statement, the original subject of the operation — whom the federal indictment referred to as "A.A." — admitted to investigators on January 14 that he fled from the agents in his vehicle because "he feared for his life" and led them on a 25-minute chase. Once he arrived at his residence, he made a run for the front door but "slipped on the ice" and was then "tackled" by the ICE agent.

Video of the incident also shows that prior to the shooting, Sosa-Celis "stepped onto the front lawn of the home holding a snow shovel," the probable cause statement indicated.

Castro was originally indicted by the Hennepin County district attorney back in May on four counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and one count of falsely reporting a crime.

He was arrested following the federal indictment and booked into Hennepin County Jail. Jail records show only the state charges.

Castro pled not guilty to the federal charges on Friday. He was released from jail after posting a $200,000 bond.

Castro is scheduled to appear in court again for the state charges on November 3. The DHS has suspended him without pay, Lindenmuth confirmed.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Minnesota, the DHS, the Hennepin County Prosecutor's Office, and the office of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (DFL) did not respond to requests for comment from Blaze News.

RELATED: Anti-ICE aid fund in Minnesota shuts down — and you can probably guess the reason why

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Lindenmuth characterized the charges as a miscarriage of justice against a devoted American patriot who has been turned into a "political pawn" by bad actors.

"Mr. Castro was a 13-year veteran in the Army, a combat veteran deployed to Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom, where he received a 100% disability rating as a result of his service for 70% for PTSD, 30% for traumatic brain injury, where he was hit by the last wave of a suicide bomber on the American embassy over there. And so this is a person who was injured serving his country," Lindenmuth claimed, adding that Castro has also spent a decade as an immigration officer.

"He has given his life to serving this country, and he's not [been given] the benefit of the protections of the presumption of innocence. ... Basically he's being tried out in public by the state of Minnesota, and it's sad to see.

"That's not how we're supposed to operate."

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Jenny From the Block… of Minnesota
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Jenny From the Block… of Minnesota

Anti-ICE aid fund in Minnesota shuts down — and you can probably guess the reason why



Fraud continues to plague the state of Minnesota, extending even to a program created to offset the economic impact of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Hennepin County.

Back in March, Hennepin County commissioners approved $2 million for the program meant to help small businesses that had been affected by Operation Metro Surge, which began in December and ended in February.

'Clearly, fraud and people who want to commit it are still very active, as they do not fear the penalty.'

Three hundred applications were submitted to the Hennepin County relief program, each requesting a portion of the $2 million fund. However, after a "rigorous review," the county has now ended the program, Hennepin County chief public relations officer Carolyn Marinan said in a statement to Fox 9.

Only about 80 applications had been approved, receiving a total of about $500,000. More than 200 applications were flagged for possible fraud, Fox 9 reported.

Hennepin County Commissioner Jeffrey Lunde claimed that despite the flood of allegedly fraudulent applications, no money was actually lost to fraudsters. "We caught the fraud before we spent any money," he said, according to CBS Minnesota.

RELATED: Minnesota police crack down on anti-ICE protesters, multiple arrests outside hotel

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It appears officials found many applications suspicious almost immediately, as the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office claimed it was asked to open an investigation into "potential criminal activity" back in June, according to CBS Minnesota. The sheriff's office said it requested "pertinent documents" related to the case a month later, and once it receives all of those documents, it will open an investigation.

"Clearly, fraud and people who want to commit it are still very active, as they do not fear the penalty. Thanks to county staff and our partner, we were able [to] thwart these efforts by devoting more time and effort to tighter oversight, in-person inspections, and increased scrutiny," Lunde said in a statement to FOX 9.

"As the fraudsters continue their efforts, we need to ramp up our game as well. This is the new normal for all levels of government in Minnesota."

CBS Minnesota reported that $1 million in unused funds is still available for area small businesses, while another $500,000 will be used "to provide consulting and promotional support for businesses."

County PR officer Marinan said, "We’ve moved beyond the urgent need for immediate grant relief and are focusing our efforts on strategies that support the long-term vitality and sustainability of businesses."

Of note, anti-ICE agitators also surged to Hennepin County during Operation Metro Surge. One hotel alone sustained thousands of dollars in damage during a violent anti-ICE riot in downtown Minneapolis in early January, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune.

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Brutal beating: Man, 45, bumps into teen at state fair, then gang of a dozen 'kicked and stomped' on man's face, fiancée says



The fiancée of a 45-year-old man said he accidentally bumped into a teen at the Minnesota State Fair on Saturday — after which he was punched, and then a gang of as many as a dozen "kicked and stomped" on his face.

As a result, the victim's jaw reportedly was fractured in multiple places, which required emergency reconstructive jaw surgery, according to the Pioneer Press.

'It was just an absolutely senseless act of violence.'

Heather Hoffman told the paper that her fiancé, Sammy Kimbrough, was walking with two friends when he accidentally bumped into another person, “which is inevitable when you’re in a crowd."

The Pioneer Press said attendance at the Fair throughout Saturday was 198,842.

“This young man ended up getting into a verbal conversation with Sammy, becoming aggressive,” Hoffman added to the paper.

"That bump ... from my fiancé to a teenager escalated," Hoffman told WCCO-TV.

She told the Pioneer Press that “Sammy had tried to say ‘excuse me,’ ‘back up,’ when he then got punched.”

That's when others "kicked and stomped on his face," Hoffman added to the station.

She told the paper that the youth was with a group of about eight to 12 people, “and once one of them punched him hard enough and knocked him down, others came and stomped his face into the pavement when he was already unconscious, causing his jaw to be fractured in multiple places, ending up in emergency reconstructive jaw surgery."

The Minnesota State Fair Police told the Pioneer Press that no one had been arrested as of Wednesday morning.

Kimbrough was released from the hospital after two days, the paper said, adding that his mouth is bandaged shut and — because one of the fractures in his jaw was so high — there are bands to hold his jaw in place with the other side where surgical plates were placed.

“Once that that fracture heals enough for him to open his mouth, he then will have very extensive dental surgery as he has a whole lot of broken, knocked-out and loose teeth ...” Hoffman noted to the Pioneer Press.

Kimbrough works for a construction company as a mason tender and has insurance, the paper said, but Hoffman said she expects his medical bills will be expensive.

RELATED: Blaze News original: 19 nauseating times cowardly thugs ganged up on — and savagely beat up — lone victims

“He is still in excruciating pain,” Hoffman also told the paper.

"It was just an absolutely senseless act of violence.”

She added to the Pioneer Press that Kimbrough works summer security during Friday night car shows at Roddy’s Bar & Grill in North St. Paul and knows how to de-escalate situations, which is what he was trying to do Saturday.

Hoffman also told the paper that she wants arrests and prosecutions in the case; the Minnesota State Fair Police Department said anyone with information about the incident can contact them at 651-288-4500.

She added to the Pioneer Press that they go to the Fair every year and usually feel safe there, but Kimbrough has “already mentioned that he’s done with the Minnesota State Fair for the rest of his life."

Roddy’s Bar & Grill is planning a raffle for Kimbrough on Oct. 10 to raise money for his medical bills and lost wages, the paper said, adding that Hoffman is a bartender at Neumann’s Bar & Grill in North St. Paul, where they’re collecting money.

“Many of you know Sammy and our amazing bartender Heather. They are wonderful people who are always there when anyone needs, right now they need us,” the bar posted on social media, according to the Pioneer Press.

“We have a donation bucket going behind the bar, and it will keep going as long as it needs to be!”

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Is Ilhan Omar getting deported? Trump's post raises eyebrows



President Donald Trump has revived speculation about whether Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) might be visited by consequence for alleged immigration fraud. On Sunday, the president shared a provocative Aug. 12 report from Just the News with the headline "ICE refuses to disclose records on Ilhan Omar fraud probe, cites ongoing ‘enforcement proceedings.'"

Quick background

Years after coming to America as a refugee, Omar, a Somali-born ethno-nationalist, reportedly took out a marriage license to marry a man named Ahmed Hirsi. In 2002, she married Hirsi in a Muslim ceremony and had children with him but did not initially marry him legally.

'You are not allowed to marry your brother.'

After supposedly breaking it off with Hirsi, in 2009, Omar legally married Ahmed Nur Said Elmi — a British-Somali national reportedly identified by numerous Somalis as Omar's alleged brother. Omar allegedly separated from Elmi with a Muslim divorce in 2011, reunited and had another child with Hirsi in 2012, then formally divorced Elmi in 2017, reported the Center for Immigration Studies.

The Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board revealed in 2019 that Omar and Hirsi filed joint tax returns in 2014 and 2015 — while Omar was still legally married to Elmi. The Hill noted at the time that filing a joint tax return where no legal marriage exists violates both federal and state law.

Abdihakim Osman, a self-identified friend of Omar, claimed to the Daily Mail in 2020 that Omar had confirmed that Elmi was her brother and that she married him so he could remain in the United States.

RELATED: Tennessee Republican begins impeachment process against judge who BLOCKED TPS removals to Somalia

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Omar called the marriage-related allegations "absolutely false and ridiculous" in a 2016 statement, adding that "insinuations that Ahmed Nur Said Elmi is my brother are absurd and offensive." There has been no concrete proof, DNA or otherwise, yet brought forward to verify that Omar's legal husband from 2009-2017 was her biological brother.

In December, border czar Tom Homan said that the Trump administration was investigating Omar for alleged immigration fraud. Trump stated the following month that the Justice Department was "looking at" the Minnesota Democrat.

When asked in May about a possible forthcoming indictment against Omar for alleged immigration fraud, Vice President JD Vance said both that "it certainly seems like something fishy is there" and that it was something "the Department of Justice is looking at right now."

How it's going

According to the Just the News report that Trump referenced on Sunday, Just the News filed a Freedom of Information request in January for any records related to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigation into allegations of immigration fraud by Omar.

In response to the request, the outlet learned that ICE may have "enforcement proceedings" underway in connection with Omar.

ICE told Just the News in May, "ICE has determined that the information you requested is being withheld in full pursuant to Title 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(7)(A). Disclosure of any responsive records at this time could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings."

ICE noted that FOIA Exemption 7(A) "applies to records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes when their release could disrupt such proceedings."

According to the DOJ,

Exemption 7(A) requires a two-step analysis. First, there must be a "reasonable likelihood" of a pending or contemplated law enforcement proceeding. Second, release of the information must be reasonably expected to cause some articulable harm to that proceeding.

When asked for comment, ICE and the White House referred Blaze News to the Department of Homeland Security.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson stated, "As a matter of policy, DHS does not comment on specific investigative techniques, ongoing investigations, or potential future actions. No one, including members of Congress, [is] above the law.”

The Justice Department told Blaze News, "We don't comment on the existence of investigations or lack thereof."

Trump has made no secret that he dislikes Rep. Ilhan Omar and is skeptical about her legal status in the country.

In November, for instance, he wrote, "The worst 'Congressman/woman' in our Country, Ilhan Omar, always wrapped in her swaddling hijab, and who probably came into the U.S.A. illegally in that you are not allowed to marry your brother, does nothing but hatefully complain about our Country, its Constitution, and how 'badly' she is treated, when her place of origin is a decadent, backward, and crime ridden nation."

Trump suggested further that Omar "should go back!"

Omar is fighting to keep her seat in Congress and is scheduled to face off with challenger John Nagel, a Republican who served for three decades as a state trooper, in November.

Editor's note: This article has been edited after publication to reflect that the Just the News report was published on August 12, not August 11, and to incorporate comment from the DHS and the DOJ.

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Mockery abounds after 'Wolf Clan' Democrat tomahawks Warren's origin story after receiving her endorsement for Senate



Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) endorsed Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan in Minnesota's Democratic Senate primary in May, claiming that the anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement defender of child sex-rejection surgeries "fights from the heart and knows how to win."

Warren appears to have gifted Flanagan with something even better than her endorsement: not being a real Indian.

'Elizabeth Warren is doing a land acknowledgment on Flanagan's head.'

The Massachusetts senator spent decades masquerading as an American Indian for apparent personal gain. Warren:

  • claimed "American Indian" status on her State Bar of Texas registration card while working at the University of Texas School of Law;
  • compelled University of Pennsylvania Law School to list her ethnicity as "Native American" rather than "white";
  • was identified as an American Indian at Harvard Law School; and
  • contributed recipes to the 1984 cookbook "Pow Wow Chow," described as a compilation of "recipes passed down through the Five Tribes families."

When first running for the U.S. Senate in 2012, Warren told reporters, "Being Native American has been part of my story, I guess, since the day I was born."

The sham was exposed, however, thanks in part to President Donald Trump, who famously challenged Warren, whom he called "Pocahontas," to get a DNA test to prove she is Native American. The results revealed that she is only 1/1,024th Native American, if at all.

RELATED: Here are North America's top 5 fake Indians

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Warren's identity crisis has presented Flanagan with an opportunity to characterize her potential win in November as historic.

Although she was raised by her white mother, Flanagan appears to have embraced the cause of her late father, Marvin Manypenny — an American Indian sovereignty activist who grew up on the White Earth Reservation in Minnesota.

While Flanagan has certainly played up her Indian heritage throughout her political career, she is leaning especially hard into it ahead of the midterms.

The Senate candidate — who in 2020 joined Warren at the Democratic National Convention's Native American Caucus meeting — recently donned her bead earrings and told the transvestite Minnesota state representative formerly known as Christopher Finke (DFL) that she is a member of White Earth and her "family is the Wolf Clan."

Flanagan's campaign site similarly emphasizes her identity, stating, "Born into an Indigenous and Irish family, Peggy is Ojibwe and a member of the White Earth Nation. Her Anishinaabe name means 'speaks in a loud and clear voice woman.'"

In a July 15 post, Flanagan wrote, "In almost 250 years, there’s never been a Native woman serving in the U.S. Senate. I’m thinking of my daughter — who just got her first jingle dress — and whether or not she will see Indigenous women in all parts of our government."

After Flanagan won her party's nomination on Tuesday, her campaign fundraising operation sent out a variation of this message, stating, "Friend, in almost 250 years, there’s never been a Native woman serving in the U.S. Senate. It’s time to change that," reported the New York Post.

Flanagan's quest to take Warren's unofficial former title prompted some mockery online.

"Has anybody checked on Elizabeth Warren?" the Republican Party wrote on X.

Michigan College Republicans shared an AI illustration of Warren weeping in traditional Native American attire.

"Elizabeth Warren is doing a land acknowledgment on Flanagan's head," joked New York Post columnist Kirsten Fleming.

Warren's office did not respond to Blaze News' request for comment.

The Republican set to face off with Flanagan in the general election is Michele Tafoya, an award-winning sports journalist who wants tax cuts, the deportation of foreign fraudsters and illegal aliens, stronger elections, and men out of women's sports.

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Joe Scarborough freaks out after realizing who Democrats are getting into bed with



It's now dawning on some liberals that there's nothing funny about the clowns taking over the Democratic circus.

MS NOW talking head Joe Scarborough, for instance, was left momentarily speechless on Monday after sharing a video in which Megan Romer, the national co-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America, not only blames Israel for its attack by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023, but notes that she would have stood in solidarity with Hamas in the immediate aftermath of the massacres.

'I really don't want to hear from the DSA anymore.'

In an interview with the New Yorker's David Remnick released Friday, Romer detailed the DSA's platform, including its views on Israel. Romer condemned Israel and expressed support for a "one-state solution": a "free Palestine with the capital in Jerusalem."

Remnick noted that Darializa Avila Chevalier — the Islamic anti-police, anti-Israel, anti-border socialist now poised to win a congressional seat in New York as a Democrat — attended the pro-Hamas rally held in Times Square on Oct. 8, 2023, which featured signs justifying the terror attacks and was organized by radical groups, including Al-Awda New York.

When asked whether she supports Chevalier attending the rally, Romer said, "Yeah, I do," and noted that she too would have attended the rally had she been able.

"One day after the slaughter of 1,200 people and taking of over 200 hostages, you would've come and rallied behind Hamas?" asked Remnick.

"I think that October 7 was largely inevitable," answered Romer. "If you put people in an open-air concentration camp, and you deprive them of rights, of dignity, of food, of the ability to live in safety, you have to expect that they are going to not take that for that long."

"You cannot put people in a cage and expect them not to revolt," added the socialist.

RELATED: Mike Rowe nukes DSA commies, then takes a moment to bask in the fallout

Spencer Platt/Getty Images (R)

After playing a clip of the exchange on "Morning Joe" on Monday, Scarborough appeared stunned.

He broke the silence to state, "The co-chair of the DSA supported going to a pro-Hamas rally the day after Hamas gleefully slaughtered more Jews on October 7 than any day the Jews were slaughtered since the Holocaust. Women raped. Young children shot in front of their parents. Parents shot in front of young children. The DSA co-chair, which means the DSA, supports that."

'This is about the Democrats once again fumbling the football on the 2-yard line.'

"I really don't want to hear from the DSA anymore," added the liberal host, "that they're about economic justice or health care. This would be like going to a pro-Al-Qaeda rally on September 12, which I'm sure many people in the DSA would say, 'Well, that would be perfectly fine because look at the U.S. policies throughout the years.'"

The talking head who officially left the GOP in October 2017 — for supposedly abandoning its fiscal principles — implored the Democratic Party to reject the DSA ahead of the primary elections on Tuesday in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

In Wisconsin, Francesca Hong — a card-carrying DSA member who has expressed a desire to abolish the police, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the U.S. Senate — is likely to win the Democratic Party's nomination in the state's gubernatorial race.

In Minnesota, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan — who does not identify as a socialist but is nevertheless a leftist similarly extreme in her views — is up against establishment Democratic Rep. Angie Craig in the Gopher State's Democratic Senate primary.

"There's nothing wrong with the Democrats supporting economic justice. There's nothing wrong with the Democrats supporting, you know, cutting taxes, or getting rid of the Trump taxes and making billionaires pay more in taxes," said Scarborough. "That’s a legitimate mainstream debate for people to have."

He suggested, however, "I don't need people telling me, 'Oh, you have to just turn a blind eye to people saying that women getting raped on October 7 didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.' Americans aren't going to support that."

"This is about the Democrats once again fumbling the football on the two-yard line when they have the chance to make great gains but being ... too woke to call out the obvious," said Scarborough.

Scarborough underscored that it's prudent for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) to call out the extremism of the DSA and those socialists making inroads in the Democratic Party — or to, at the very least, call pro-terrorist rape apologetics "despicable."

"It's crazy that we're even having this conversation!" he shouted.

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Shiloh Hendrix took the bait — prosecutors took it too far



I don’t love Shiloh Hendrix as a First Amendment martyr. Then again, most First Amendment martyrs aren’t especially lovable.

Maybe Hendrix is a great gal in person. I don’t know her. But on April 28, 2025, she was at Roy Sutherland Playground in Rochester, Minnesota, with her toddler when an 8-year-old black boy allegedly took an applesauce pouch from her diaper bag. Hendrix chased him, retrieved the pouch, and, according to witnesses, repeatedly called him the Very Worst Word in American English™.

A free country doesn’t need to convert every ugly human encounter into a criminal proceeding.

The row got the attention of Sharmake Omar, a Somali immigrant who began recording her on his phone. Hendrix told him it was “none of [his] f**king business” and walked away. Omar challenged her to say the word again.

Hendrix obliged.

“F**k you, n*****. N*****, n*****, n*****.”

Omar posted the video online, sans asterisks. Fifteen months later, an Olmsted County jury acquitted Hendrix of disorderly conduct toward the child — and convicted her of disorderly conduct toward Omar.

Say what?

For good or ill, Hendrix has now joined some august company: Eugene V. Debs, Charles Schenck, H.L. Mencken, Upton Sinclair, Henry Miller, Clarence Brandenburg.

The First Amendment has always had lousy taste in clients. Still, Hendrix hardly belongs in that group. Schenck went to prison for distributing anti-draft leaflets with the Bill of Rights printed on one side. Sinclair was arrested for reading the First Amendment aloud. Brandenburg, a Klansman, gave us one of the great protections for political advocacy.

Hendrix doesn’t even rise to the level of “F**k the Draft.” She got angry in a park, took the bait, and said an ugly word over and over.

Should she have exercised more self-control? Probably. But since when did criminal law punish bad manners?

Which brings me to Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire.

The 1942 Supreme Court case gave us “fighting words”: face-to-face insults punishable when likely to provoke an immediate breach of the peace and forming “no essential part of any exposition of ideas.”

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Libertarians mostly hate Chaplinsky. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression calls the doctrine “quaint” and notes that the Supreme Court has not upheld a fighting-words conviction in 80 years.

True enough. Give government power to punish offensive speech, and it will abuse it. That’s why I’m against hate-speech laws. But that does not require pretending every noise made by a human mouth is an “argument” worthy of First Amendment protection.

Hadley Arkes, the constitutional scholar who has influenced my thinking for decades, suggests an admirably simple test:

The soundness of the test can be confirmed again instantly whenever we give a panel of people this set of words and ask if they can identify the terms clearly established as terms of insult, as opposed to words that may be on the borderline of insult, or perhaps even terms of approval and commendation: 1) kike, 2) wop, 3) n*****, 4) urologist, 5) meter maid, 6) saint. People will not show the slightest puzzlement here in fixing on the words used as insulting or "fighting words."

Exactly. Nobody wonders whether “urologist” is the slur. A blind man could see the difference.

“F**k you, n*****” directed at a black man advances no proposition about race. It is an epithet. Threats, extortion, perjury, provocation — all are words, and all can be actionable.

I made a related argument 16 years ago in Snyder v. Phelps. Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church had every right to preach that America was damned. I argued that they did not have the right to commandeer a dead Marine’s funeral. Mencken called the boundary “the last limits of the endurable.”

So two cheers for Chaplinsky.

But that’s a long way from concluding that Hendrix committed a punishable offense.

She was carrying her child and walking away. Omar was recording and baiting her. He practically announced the consequence: The internet was going to see this. It did. Hendrix was identified, doxxed, and condemned by millions.

Omar had counter speech. He had a camera. He had the internet. He won.

Why did the state need to pile on?

Nothing about the encounter suggested an “imminent breach of the peace.” Yet the jury convicted Hendrix for insulting Omar while acquitting her over the nastier conduct alleged toward the 8-year-old.

RELATED: Two Americas, under Fauci, with liberty and justice for none

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Hendrix’s attorney, Brian Karalus, says the judge excluded exculpatory evidence and mishandled witness disclosures. He called the proceeding a “fraud” and a “circus” and has filed an appeal. Maybe the appellate court says he is wrong, but I hope he wins.

Chaplinsky does not give prosecutors a permission slip. The state still must prove that these words, in this context, were likely to provoke a fight in the moment.

That’s what angers me about this case. It was needless.

Hendrix behaved badly. She said something vicious to a little kid and allowed herself to be provoked when she should have kept walking.

At the same time: So what? A free country doesn’t need to convert every ugly human encounter into a criminal proceeding.

Again, two cheers for Chaplinsky and the “fighting words” doctrine. It’s good law. We should keep it and use it — sparingly. But thank God for every last constitutional protection Shiloh Hendrix has coming to her.

Trump claims 'incompetent' Minnesota responsible for cyberattacks, not Iran



Officials say they are investigating cyberattacks against municipal systems in Minnesota for possible links to Iranian groups.

Minnesota officials previously revealed that state water operations were targeted by cyberattacks on Sunday and Monday.

'I don't think there was an Iranian cyberattack. I think Minnesota ought to get its act together.'

On Thursday, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency warned water and wastewater operators that they could be similarly attacked.

CISA said there was a significant increase in the attacks on "programmable logic controllers" involving outside actors changing passwords and locking out the operators. The agency urged operators to remove the PLCs and other operational technology from the internet as soon as possible.

"This activity has resulted in boil water notices and sustained manual operations," CISA said.

The CISA warning did not mention Iran or Minnesota, but U.S. officials told ABC News that investigators were trying to determine if the hostile regime was responsible for the cyberattacks.

The preliminary suspicion was first reported by the New York Times.

CISA recommended even the most rudimentary of digital security practices, including enabling password protections and changing default passwords.

President Donald Trump, when asked about the possibility of the attacks coming from Iran, blamed Minnesotan officials instead.

"I don't think so. I think that Minnesota is behind it," the president said to reporters. "You know who is behind it? Minnesota. Because they're grossly incompetent. I don't think there was an Iranian cyberattack. I think Minnesota ought to get its act together."

He went on to say there would be more revelations about corruption in Minnesota coming from his administration.

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"Cyberattacks against critical infrastructure require a coordinated, whole-of-government response," said John Israel, Minnesota's chief information security officer, in a statement.

"This incident demonstrates why Minnesota has invested in strong cybersecurity capabilities and partnerships" he added. "Our response worked as intended, enabling agencies at every level of government to rapidly coordinate, contain the incident, and help prevent more serious impacts to critical services."

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Sexually harassing the chief? Self-admitted illegal alien Democrat mayor embroiled in new scandal



The Democrat mayor of St. Paul who once confessed on the floor of the Minnesota House that she is "an illegal in this country" now finds herself at the center of an entirely new controversy.

In June 2025, then-state Rep. Kaohly Her (DFL) told her colleagues that her father got her family into America from Laos by falsifying immigration paperwork. A few months later, Her — now a U.S. citizen and a vociferous critic of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — was elected mayor of St. Paul.

'The mayor has deep respect for city employees.'

Like her father, Her also apparently has a strained relationship with the law — or at least with law enforcement.

The City of Saint Paul has hired Resolute Law, an outside law firm, to investigate Mayor Her over allegations of sexual harassment against St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry and other city employees, reported the Minnesota Star Tribune.

Chris Madel, the attorney who is representing Chief Henry, noted in an April 1 letter to City Attorney Irene Kao that the police chief had decided to designate himself as a formal complainant against the Democrat mayor "for illegal employment practices against City employees, including himself."

The letter accuses Her of using "one or more mobile phones to communicate inappropriate, and, indeed, unlawful text messages" to city employees, including an alleged message — accompanying an image of a police officer's face superimposed on a baby's body — about giving someone "a good weinering."

Her's office did not immediately respond to Blaze News' request for comment.

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Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Madel demanded that the city take "all steps necessary to perform a full filesystem extraction" of each of Her's mobile phones, which would provide investigators with access to her text messages, photos, videos, and emails.

Madel said that Henry had made the decision "after becoming aware that the Mayor's conduct has extended beyond isolated incidents and has included sexual harassment of subordinate City employees, including members of the Saint Paul Police Department. Recognizing both the seriousness of that misconduct and the vulnerability of those directly affected, he is concerned that, absent a formal complaint, the behavior will continue unchecked and may expose others to retaliation for speaking out."

Henry's attorney told Alpha News that the chief is attempting to hold the leftist mayor accountable "because it's the right thing to do. And he just helped crack a triple homicide in under four hours — that’s the work he’s focused on right now: keeping citizens safe."

A spokeswoman for the foreign-born mayor's office told KSTP-TV, "To protect confidentiality and the integrity of the process, the City will not comment on an active investigation. The mayor has deep respect for city employees and regrets any unintended impact her actions may have had."

While Her is now supposedly remorseful, this may not be her first rodeo.

Shirly Yang, who apparently served with Her for years on the board of the National Kidney Foundation in the Gopher State, recently sought a restraining order against Her for alleged intimidation and harassment. According to Yang, whose petition was ultimately denied by a Ramsey County court referee in January, the mayor allegedly inundated her with inappropriate messages, frequently of a sexually explicit and intrusive nature.

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