Over 2,490 autopenned commutations were granted on Jan. 17 in then-President Joe Biden's name — more in one day than any previous president granted over their entire presidency.

A statement attributed to Biden suggested that the clemency action was "an important step toward righting historic wrongs, correcting sentencing disparities, and providing deserving individuals the opportunity to return to their families and communities after spending far too much time behind bars."

'Crime must be met with consequences, not weakness.'

Among the supposedly "deserving individuals" who received commutations — which an associate deputy attorney general indicated at the time were legally flawed — was Khyre Holbert, a thug who pled guilty in 2018 to multiple crimes, including trafficking crack cocaine and knowingly carrying and using a firearm during a drug-trafficking crime. He previously served three years in prison for a separate felony firearm conviction.

Holbert, whom the Biden White House spared from serving the remaining 13 years of his 20-year sentence, was arrested last month in connection with a shooting in downtown Omaha, Nebraska, that sent a 28-year-old man to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

"Holbert should never have been released back into the community. I'm at complete loss as to why this administration continues to honor the directions of the Biden-era autopen," Oversight Project president Mike Howell told Blaze News. "He should have been re-arrested, as we've been calling for many months. Holbert won't be the last."

According to the Omaha Police Department, a gunshot rang out in the early hours of Oct. 4 as an officer was investigating a disturbance involving a firearm in the area of 13th and Howard streets. After additional units were called to the scene, police located a man suffering from a gunshot wound as well as a discarded firearm.

Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images

Police caught Holbert and charged him with first-degree assault, using a firearm to commit a felony, and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. He has since also been slapped with a federal firearms charge.

An unsealed complaint alleges that forensic technicians successfully identified Holbert's fingerprints on the gun and that the gun appears to be the same weapon used in numerous other violent gun offenses in the state, WOWT-TV reported.

The Omaha Police Officers Association commended officers for rushing to the scene "before Holbert could get away or hurt anyone else" and condemned Holbert's early release by the Biden White House.

"Releasing dangerous criminals before proven rehabilitative efforts, puts our communities, our families, our kids, and our police officers at risk. We're grateful our members got there fast, before Holbert could get away or hurt anyone else," the OPOA added.

Attorney General Pam Bondi echoed OPOA's frustration, noting in a statement, "The Biden administration's last-minute commutations were not only a cruel blow to victims' families, but also a fundamental failure to hold criminals accountable."

"This tragic case proves that crime must be met with consequences, not weakness," Bondi continued. "Our prosecutors in Nebraska are doing the job that the prior administration refused to do."

The Biden White House reportedly commuted Holbert's sentence despite objections from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Nebraska, which cited Holbert's gang affiliation and multiple criminal convictions.

The Oversight Project obtained damning internal emails from the Justice Department in August revealing that former Associate Deputy Attorney General Bradley Weinsheimer had taken issue with the Biden White House's apparent efforts to mislead the nation about the violent criminal nature of the individuals who received commutations.

While the Jan. 17 statement attributed to Biden characterizes the recipients of the commutations as felons "convicted of non-violent drug offenses," many of those who received commutations along with Holbert were violent thugs, including

Russell McIntosh, who gunned down a woman along with her 2-year-old child after the woman threatened to expose his drug enterprise;
Adrian Peeler, sentenced for conspiracy to commit murder involving the slaying of an 8-year-old witness and his mother; and
Plaze Anderson, a former high-ranking member of the Gangster Disciples who was personally involved in two murders, an attempted murder and kidnapping, and obstruction of justice.

Editor's note: Mike Howell is a Blaze News contributor.

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How a Walmart employee helped rescue a woman who said her boyfriend strangled her multiple times that day

Nebraska law enforcement officers said a 47-year-old woman early last week informed them that her 31-year-old boyfriend had strangled her five to six times that day and had been preventing her from contacting authorities and leaving his presence.

It turns out the alleged victim was able to finally get the attention of police — with the help of a Walmart employee.

Barnhouse didn't let her leave for the previous two days, as she was trying to get her belongings from the camper and return home to Kansas, officials added.

Gage County Sheriff's deputies around 5:45 p.m. Oct. 28 responded to the Diamond T Truck Stop Camper Row on US HWY 77 just north of Beatrice for an assault that had occurred earlier in the day, the sheriff's office said.

Image source: Gage County (Neb.) Sheriff's Office

Upon arrival, deputies made contact with the 47-year-old woman from Hutchinson, Kansas, who told deputies that her boyfriend — 31-year-old Justis Barnhouse — had strangled her five to six times that afternoon, officials said.

Barnhouse took the woman's cell phone so she couldn't contact police about the incident, officials said. Barnhouse didn't let her leave for the previous two days, as she was trying to get her belongings from the camper and return home to Kansas, officials added.

However, officials said that when the woman and Barnhouse went to the Walmart in Beatrice, she got the attention of a Walmart employee and asked the worker to follow her to the restroom.

The sheriff's office said that allowed the woman to give the employee details about the strangulation — and the employee notified law enforcement.

When deputies arrived at the Diamond T Truck Stop Camper Row, officials said Barnhouse was there — and deputies arrested Barnhouse for assault by strangulation as well as third-degree domestic assault with two priors.

Barnhouse was lodged at the Gage County Detention Center on his charges, officials said. Jail records indicate Barnhouse was still behind bars Wednesday morning.

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Dan Osborn Campaign Staffer Called To Defund Police and Attended Anti-Cop Rally With Severed Pig Heads

Nebraska independent Senate candidate Dan Osborn, a self-described centrist, has pledged to "stand up" for police officers and to ensure the "safety and security of our communities." One of Osborn’s first campaign hires has called to defund police departments and attended an anti-police rally in Omaha that featured severed pig heads.

The post Dan Osborn Campaign Staffer Called To Defund Police and Attended Anti-Cop Rally With Severed Pig Heads appeared first on .

Shocking texts allegedly reveal sinister plan by teacher and her boyfriend to groom, sex traffic her student

Shocking text messages allegedly have revealed a sinister plan by a Nebraska high school teacher and her boyfriend to groom and sex traffic her 16-year-old student.

Police said 36-year-old Elizabeth Jamie Love and her boyfriend, 42-year-old Jarid "Jack" Krause, were arrested Friday.

'It's a huge risk. We might not find the right girl for us.'

The Phelps County Attorney’s Office charged both suspects with one count of sex trafficking of a minor (a Class IB Felony). Love also was hit with a charge of sexual grooming by a school employee (a Class IV Felony).

If convicted, Love and Krause face up to life in prison and a lifetime on the Nebraska Sex Offender Registry.

Love and Krause were booked into the Phelps County Jail and held on bonds of $250,000 cash each, police stated.

Police noted that Love had been a transition coordinator and educator in the Educational Service Unit No. 11 for several years, during which she traveled to as many as 15 schools in the south-central part of Nebraska.

The Holdrege Police Department said in a statement, "The investigation into Ms. Love and Mr. Krause began after a current high school student, whom Ms. Love was instructing through her employment as a transition coordinator and teacher in ESU-11, reported inappropriate interactions with the couple over the past few weeks."

Police said the investigation began Oct. 14 after reports of possible sex abuse of a 16-year-old student.

Authorities said Love communicated with the teen through text messages, Facebook Messenger, and non-school email addresses.

Citing the arrest affidavit, People magazine reported that the alleged victim is a girl who told investigators she and Love "developed a close relationship, which has evolved into talking about things going on in [her] life beyond the normal scope of a speech therapist/educator."

The alleged victim said she had worked with Love since she was in seventh grade, according to the affidavit.

Court documents said the teen told investigators she considered moving into Love's home in Holdrege on weekdays so she could attend a school in another district.

The student said she was in Love's car in August when Love had a phone conversation with Krause, the affidavit stated.

During the phone call, Krause said he wanted to have sex with Love, and Love later told the student she "would be willing to share" Krause, according to the arrest affidavit.

The student said she was supposed to attend the state fair with Love that day, but the conversation made her so "uncomfortable" that she called her aunt to pick her up, court documents said.

During an alleged incident on Oct. 11, Love picked up the teen from her home and took her to Love's house, court documents said.

People magazine reported, "The student alleged that while she was there, Krause led her to an upstairs bedroom and made a request she believed was for sex."

'We'll find the girl that appreciates us for what we are and provide. Someone who sees the value of our family and one that loves us both more than anything.'

The outlet added that the alleged victim declined Krause's advances and asked to leave.

The affidavit said the student left the house and began walking home until Love picked up the teen in a car and drove the alleged victim home.

Nebraska-TV reported, "The affidavit said the girl told investigators Love apologized to her, told her not to tell anyone, and gave her $100 in $20 increments."

When police later interviewed Love, the educator insisted the payments were not intended as "hush money" but rather a gift to help the girl purchase a new cell phone, according to court documents.

Citing text messages revealed in the affidavit, People magazine reported that Love and Krause "spoke about the student as early as April, before seemingly planning to proposition the student for sex in August" and to determine "if she's not feeling it."

The affidavit also said the couple discussed developing a "code phrase" to use that would "help [Love] know if she's interested or not."

Another text message revealed in the affidavit indicated Love told Krause she hoped the proposition "works out" and added that "if she doesn't want to, then I'll keep looking."

Krause messaged Love about "[finding] our person," according to the affidavit.

"We'll find the girl that appreciates us for what we are and provide. Someone who sees the value of our family and one that loves us both more than anything," Krause wrote to Love, according to court documents.

The affidavit claimed Love then asked Krause if they should "start the paperwork for foster care."

According to court documents, Krause replied, "Do you think it's time for that? It's a huge risk. We might not find the right girl for us."

The arrest affidavit said Love responded, "I know. But I also don't have to take them all. Even though I want to. Haha."

ESU-11 administrator John Poppert told Blaze News that Love was placed on administrative leave "as soon as the ESU learned of the allegations."

"The ESU has cooperated fully with the Holdrege Police Department investigation," Poppert noted. "The administration also contacted the ESU’s attorney. We will continue to work closely with law enforcement, and we thank them for their efforts in this matter."

During the investigation, the Holdrege Police Department received assistance from the Phelps County Sheriff’s Department, Kearney Police Department, Minden Police Department, the Nebraska State Patrol, and the Nebraska Department of Justice.

Police said investigators have yet to find any evidence that Love had inappropriate interactions with other current or former students.

The investigation is ongoing.

Anyone with information about this case is urged to contact the Holdrege Police Department at 308-995-4407.

The Holdrege Police Department and the Phelps County Sheriff’s Department did not immediately respond to Blaze News' request for comment.

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Time to pump the brakes on Big Tech’s AI boondoggle

America already learned a lesson from the Green New Deal: If an industry survives only on special favors, it isn’t ready to stand on its own.

Yet the same game is playing out again — this time for artificial intelligence. The wealthiest companies in history now demand tax breaks, zoning carve-outs, and energy favors on a scale far greater than green energy firms ever did.

Instead of slamming on the accelerator, Washington should be hitting the brakes.

If AI is truly the juggernaut its backers claim, it should thrive on its merits. Technology designed to enhance human life shouldn’t need human subsidies to survive — or to enrich its corporate patrons.

An unnatural investment

Big Tech boosters insist that we stand on the brink of artificial general intelligence, a force that could outthink and even replace humans. No one denies AI’s influence or its future promise, but does that justify the avalanche of artificial investment now driving half of all U.S. economic growth?

The Trump administration continues to hand out favors to Big Tech to fuel a bubble that may never deliver. As the Wall Street Journal’s Greg Ip pointed out earlier this month, the largest companies once dominated because their profits came from low-cost, intangible assets such as software, platforms, and network effects. Users flocked to Facebook, Google, the iPhone, and Windows, and revenue followed — with little up-front infrastructure risk.

The AI model looks nothing like that. Instead of software that scales cheaply, Big Tech is sinking hundreds of billions into land, hardware, power, and water. These hyperscale data centers devour resources with little clarity about demand.

According to Ip’s data: Between 2016 and 2023, the free cash flow and net earnings of Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft rose in tandem. Since 2023, however, net income is up 73% while free cash flow has dropped 30%.

“For all of AI’s obvious economic potential, the financial return remains a question mark,” Ip wrote. “OpenAI and Anthropic, the two leading stand-alone developers of large language models, though growing fast, are losing money.”

Andy Lawrence of the Uptime Institute explained the risk: “To suddenly start building data centers so much denser in power use, with chips 10 times more expensive, for unproven demand — all that is an extraordinary challenge and a gamble.”

The cracks are already beginning to show. GPT-5 has been a bust for the most part. Meta froze hiring in its AI division, with Mark Zuckerberg admitting that “improvement is slow for now.” Even TechCrunch conceded: Throwing more data and computing power at large language models won’t create a “digital god.”

Government on overdrive

Yet government keeps stepping on the gas, even as the industry stalls. The “Mag 7” companies spent $560 billion on AI-related capital expenditures in the past 18 months, while generating only $35 billion in revenue. IT consultancy Gartner projects $475 billion will be spent on data centers this year alone — a 42% jump from 2024. Those numbers make no sense without government intervention.

Consider the favors.

Rezoning laws. Data centers require sprawling land footprints. To make that possible, states and counties are bending rules never waived for power plants, roads, or bridges. Northern Virginia alone now hosts or plans more than 85 million square feet of data centers — equal to nearly 1,500 football fields. West Virginia and Mississippi have even passed laws banning local restrictions outright. Trump’s AI action plan ties federal block grants to removing zoning limits. Nothing about that is natural, balanced, fair, or free-market.

Tax exemptions. Nearly every state competing for data centers — including Virginia, Tennessee, Texas, Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, Illinois, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Nebraska — offers sweeping tax breaks. Alabama exempts data centers from sales, property, and income taxes for up to 30 years — for as few as 20 jobs. Oregon and Indiana also give property tax exemptions.

Photo by the Washington Post via Getty Images

Regulatory carve-outs. Trump’s executive order calls for easing rules under the National Environmental Policy Act, Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and other environmental statutes. Conservatives rightly want fewer burdens across the board — but why should Big Tech’s server farms get faster relief than the power plants needed to supply them?

Federal land giveaways. The AI action plan also makes federal land available for private data centers, handing prime real estate to trillion-dollar corporations at taxpayer expense. No other industry gets this benefit.

Stop the scam

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) put it bluntly: “It’s one thing to use technology to enhance the human experience, but it’s another to have technology supplant the human experience.” Right now, AI resembles wind and solar in their early years — a speculative bubble kept alive only through taxpayer largesse.

If AI is truly the innovation its backers claim, it will thrive without zoning exemptions, tax shelters, and federal handouts. If it cannot survive without special favors, then it isn’t ready. Instead of slamming on the accelerator, Washington should be hitting the brakes.

‘I shot him in the head point-blank’: Democratic council president reveals jaw-dropping dark secret

A Pennsylvania Democrat made a chilling confession during a Wednesday city council meeting that may invite a criminal investigation.

The Erie City Council held its bi-monthly meeting earlier this week, during which council members addressed the recent death of Marchello Woodard, a man who was fatally shot.

'You know, Nick, I could blow your head off.'

During the meeting, council President Mel Witherspoon (D) explained why he had not attended the man's funeral or the rally held in his honor, claiming that the events "brought some things back to me that I thought was gone."

Witherspoon stated that when he was 17 years old, he lost a friend who was "shot with a double-barrel shotgun at close range."

He noted his involvement at the time with "the largest gang in Newark, New Jersey."

"I organize. We go over [to] Jersey City looking for the person," Witherspoon said, likely referring to the suspect. "Well, when we got there, we didn't realize it was a family. And when you talk Jersey City, and you talk family, you're talking the mafia."

Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

He explained that at the time of his high school graduation, he "had" to move, leaving the city and his parents, presumably because he was unable to cope with the death of his friend.

Witherspoon said that he went to Nebraska, where he continued going to school. He also noted that he purchased a gun once he arrived in the state.

"I played football and basketball. And the tackle, good guy, nice guy. And the guys came to my room, and we got high," he continued. "They left. I had the clip in my gun."

"Nick came in my room. I said, 'You know, Nick, I could blow your head off.' He said, 'Go ahead.' And I did," Witherspoon admitted.

“I shot him in the head point-blank," he declared.

Witherspoon did not provide Nick's full name or clarify his relationship to the individual.

Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Witherspoon claimed that he spent only one night in jail and never went to court due to his familial connections.

"I went back to basketball. How did that happen? Because I had a family member, one of my uncles, he was involved with one of the [mafia] families. That family made a call from Newark, to New York, to Omaha ... where I was at, and I was out the next day," he said. "So that's having the right contact at the right time."

Witherspoon stated that it "all came back" to him when he heard about the death of Woodard.

Gannon University in Erie lists Witherspoon as one of its basketball hall of famers, noting that he played on the team for two years after transferring from Nebraska's Scottsbluff Junior College.

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Veteran Dem Operatives Behind ‘Conservative’ Group Supporting Nebraska Independent Dan Osborn

Dan Osborn, the independent Nebraska Senate candidate who presents himself as a centrist, has two longtime Democratic Party operatives serving as treasurers for both his campaign and a "conservative" political committee that the campaign has launched to reach voters in the deep-red state.

The post Veteran Dem Operatives Behind ‘Conservative’ Group Supporting Nebraska Independent Dan Osborn appeared first on .

'They were part of our family': Illegal worker accused of pulling box cutters on ICE agents during raid on meatpacking plant

A raid on a meatpacking facility in Nebraska led to nearly half of the workforce being apprehended by immigration agents.

Glenn Valley Foods in Omaha saw 107 of its employees targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agentsl; 70 eventually were detained by ICE regarding their immigration status.

Some of the illegal workers took extreme measures in an attempt to evade the sweep. One allegedly threatened federal agents.

'These are good, good people. They really truly are, and they’re part of our family.'

Some of the meatpacking employees hid in rafters of the building, which is located in an industrial area. Other workers hid in walk-in freezers and required emergency medical assistance to check for any immediate safety concerns, NewsNation reported.

One man took it upon himself to allegedly threaten federal agents with box cutters when they attempted to remove him from a wall compartment into which he had apparently barricaded himself.

The man is now facing charges for assaulting a federal officer.

An ICE agent told NewsNation that the civil search warrant was executed due to "fake IDs, fraudulent IDs, or some type of combination of IDs that weren't real" among workers at the facility.

However, Glenn Valley Foods President Chad Hartmann mourned the exodus of his illegal workers, saying some had worked there for more than 15 years.

"There's no playbook" on how to move forward, Hartmann told NBC News. The company president then compared hiring new employees to replace the illegal workers to replacing a family member.

"They were part of our family, and they were taken away," Hartmann said.

— (@)

According to NewsNation, Glenn Valley Foods owner Gary Rohwer said he used the government's E-Verify system to check the status of his employees, but claimed he was deceived by those who used stolen identities.

"I don't understand why in the hell they were using false ID when they can get a visa," Rohwer said, according to NewsNation. "I was dumbfounded. These are good, good people. They really truly are, and they’re part of our family."

A federal agent told the outlet that Rohwer was indeed a "victim" of workers presenting fraudulent documents and that the government hoped to teach the company how to better process potential hires.

The business owner is not facing charges.

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'Won't be the last': Felon freed by Biden autopen arrested after Omaha shooting

How a Walmart employee helped rescue a woman who said her boyfriend strangled her multiple times that day

Dan Osborn Campaign Staffer Called To Defund Police and Attended Anti-Cop Rally With Severed Pig Heads

Shocking texts allegedly reveal sinister plan by teacher and her boyfriend to groom, sex traffic her student

Time to pump the brakes on Big Tech’s AI boondoggle

An unnatural investment

Government on overdrive

Stop the scam

‘I shot him in the head point-blank’: Democratic council president reveals jaw-dropping dark secret

Veteran Dem Operatives Behind ‘Conservative’ Group Supporting Nebraska Independent Dan Osborn

'They were part of our family': Illegal worker accused of pulling box cutters on ICE agents during raid on meatpacking plant

$500 million in SNAP funds is reportedly spent on fast food because of state program

Campbell's Soup VP recorded ridiculing 'poor people' for eating 'bioengineered meat' in 's**t' product: Lawsuit

Elderly NYC man fatally shoots career criminal who allegedly lunged at him — and gets prison sentence for infuriating reason

Trump Admin Revokes Visa From South African Official Who Spearheaded 'Genocide' Case Against Israel

Exclusive: Lawsuit Claims Leftist Benson Is Breaking Michigan Election Law

An unnatural investment

Government on overdrive

Stop the scam

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