Trump Admin Moves To Strip Alleged Foreign War Criminal Of Citizenship
'When we find you, we will take action'
'We are not doing this any more': Rubio to strip billions in foreign aid from 'NGO industrial complex'
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the U.S. is moving away from funneling foreign aid funds through non-governmental organizations after criticism of fraud and incompetence.
Rubio explained that the U.S. government has used NGOs to try to accomplish foreign policy goals but that many have become far too costly and inefficient. The first benefactor of the new policy is the government of Kenya, which will receive foreign aid funds directly instead.
'That is the model that we are breaking. We are not doing this any more. We are not going to spend billions of dollars funding the NGO industrial complex while close and important partners like Kenya either have no role to play ...'
"The United States has spent billions of dollars over the years in helping with health strategies all across the world," explained Rubio in a speech last month.
"What we learned over time, especially after coming here, is that oftentimes — and I am oversimplifying it, but this is an accurate description — what would happen is we would go to a country and say, 'We're going to help you with your health care needs.' Then we would drive over to Northern Virginia somewhere, find an NGO, one of these organizations, give them all the money, tell them: 'Go to this country and do their health care program for them,'" he added.
"That NGO would then take some percentage of that money for their overhead and administrative costs, and by the time it got down to it ... only a percentage of the overall money ever actually reached the patients and the people on the ground that we were trying to help because of these costs," Rubio said.
"This makes no sense," he said.
The compact reached with Kenya includes the Kenyan government's agreement to increase spending on health care by $850 million over the next five years.
"So why are we hiring American and international NGOs to go into other countries and run health care systems that are parallel and sometimes in conflict with the health care systems of the host country?" Rubio continued.
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"If we're trying to help countries, help the country. Don't help the NGO to go in and find a new line of business," he added. "So that is the model that we are breaking. We are not doing this any more. We are not going to spend billions of dollars funding the NGO industrial complex while close and important partners like Kenya either have no role to play or have very little influence over how health care money is being spent."
He concluded, "Bottom line is if you want to help a country, work with that country."
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Trump amplifies call for pausing 'all legal immigration of any kind'
While almost all Republicans can agree that the United States needs to halt illegal immigration, more public figures have been raising the alarm about legal immigration through the "broken" visa system as well.
Early Monday morning, President Trump reposted on Truth Social a clip of an interview with Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) talking about immigration reform.
'We need to restructure our legal immigration system to only allow people who love America, share American values, want to add value and assimilate to America, and don't want any free stuff.'
The interviewer asked Fine what legal changes need to be made in Congress.
"I think immediately we need to stop it all — all legal immigration of any kind, because clearly it's out of control. People coming here on tourist visas protesting the country; people claiming that they're refugees but then scamming the system and going on vacation to the countries they supposedly fled from; people coming and taking American jobs," Fine said.
He continued, "We need to restructure our legal immigration system to only allow people who love America, share American values, want to add value and assimilate to America, and don't want any free stuff."
Fine then referred to Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy's Pausing All Admissions Until Security Ensured Act, which was introduced in mid-November.
The bill seeks to freeze all legal immigration until certain conditions are met, effectively forcing an open-ended moratorium on legal immigration.
When the bill was introduced, Roy said, "The problem isn’t just illegal immigration; it’s also legal immigration. While the Biden administration opened our borders and allowed millions to flood into our country, they also rubber-stamped millions more arriving through convoluted legal schemes, completely overwhelming the system."
A White House spokesperson declined to give further comment when contacted by Blaze News.
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Lindsey Graham dons 'Make Iran Great Again' hat amid raging protests against Khamenei regime
Protests have rocked Iran since late December, and some American leaders, including Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), have voiced support for the cause.
On an appearance on Fox News on Sunday night, Graham donned a black baseball cap that read: "Make Iran Great Again."
'I pray and hope that 2026 will be the year that we make Iran great again.'
As he put on the hat, Graham said, "I pray and hope that 2026 will be the year that we make Iran great again."
Last Friday, President Trump warned Iranian leaders that there will be hell to pay if any protesters are killed: "If Iran [shoots] and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue. We are locked and loaded and ready to go. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"
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Protests have reportedly broken out in more than 220 locations in 26 of the 31 provinces in Iran. According to the Associated Press, more than 20 people have been killed, and nearly 1,000 people have been arrested.
The protests began springing up in December 2025, supposedly in response to mounting economic pressures, including the collapse of the Iranian currency, a new policy that raised the price of gas, and inflation rates as high as 40%.
On Saturday, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reportedly warned that "rioters must be put in their place," but the protests have shown little sign of slowing down in the first week of 2026.
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‘Get your children out’: Utah State Board of Education member blasts anti-Christian corruption, GOP sellouts in fiery message
A Utah school board member announced she will not seek another term, citing pervasive corruption, and urged parents to immediately remove their children from the state’s public schools.
Christina Boggess was elected to the Utah State Board of Education in 2022 to represent District 8, which encompasses parts of Taylorsville, Kearns, and West Jordan. She announced on Friday that she plans to leave public office at the end of her term in January 2027.
'Real change is not coming. The system is not broken — it is working exactly as the corrupt intend it to work.'
Boggess explained her reasoning behind the decision in a post on X.
“Today I declare, without apology or hesitation, that I will not seek re-election to the Utah State Board of Education. I am done lending my name, my vote, and my silence to a broken, corrupt, and morally bankrupt system that no longer serves the children or families of this state,” Boggess wrote.
She claimed there is “corruption” within the local board of education and the broader education system, adding that “nearly every decision is now driven by not-so-hidden agendas, political cowardice, financial kickbacks, and raw personal ambition — not by what is best for students.”
“I ran for this office to fight for you — your children, your values, your right to be heard. Instead, I have been forced to watch as even the loudest ‘conservative’ voices fold, trade their votes for favor and money, or abandon every promise they made on the campaign trail,” Boggess continued.
“The Republican Party platform means nothing inside those walls. The Word of the Lord means even less.”
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Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images“Your concerns — about pornography in libraries, radical gender ideology in classrooms, the erosion of academic excellence, and the assault on parental rights — are mocked, ignored, or drowned out by the shrill demands of special interests and the timid silence of those who fear losing their seat more than losing their soul,” she added.
Boggess shared a final urgent message with parents.
"Get your children out of Utah's government schools as quickly as possible," she declared. “Real change is not coming. The system is not broken — it is working exactly as the corrupt intend it to work. Your children’s minds, hearts, and futures are not safe inside it."
Boggess had previously criticized the board for refusing to sign a letter from the Trump administration that stated it would not support diversity, equity, and inclusion programs or training, KUTV reported.
During an August meeting, Boggess shared a message highlighting her Christian faith and expressing concerns about the threats of communism in America.
“What God sees in comparison to the standard He sets, I think, should horrify everyone. And I don’t know what causes some to be so fearful to walk as Jesus did and lead the way He led,” Boggess stated during the meeting. “It is odd to me that even those with a clear biblical understanding that Satan is the father of lies, that governments are corrupt, and that Satan is the ruler of this world, will also assert that publicly questioning the government narrative, their practices, and universal truth is somehow un-Christian.”
Neither the school board nor the superintendent of public instruction responded to a request for comment.
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Maduro proclaims his innocence in first court appearance on American soil
Nicolas Maduro pled "not guilty" during his first appearance in a United States court on Monday.
Just days after being captured from his home in Caracas, Venezuela, Maduro appeared in a New York City court for the first time alongside his wife, Cilia Flores. During the hearing, Maduro maintained that he is a "decent man" who is innocent of the charges levied against him by the United States.
'They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.'
"I am innocent," Maduro said. "I am not guilty.”
Flores' attorney also claimed that she sustained "significant injuries during her abduction" over the weekend, with journalists present in the courthouse reporting that she was seen wearing bandages on her head during the hearing.
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Following his capture, the United States indicted Maduro in the Southern District of New York on charges of "Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States."
"They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts," Attorney General Pam Bondi said of Maduro and his wife. "On behalf of the entire U.S. DOJ, I would like to thank President Trump for having the courage to demand accountability on behalf of the American People, and a huge thank you to our brave military who conducted the incredible and highly successful mission to capture these two alleged international narco traffickers."
The operation that captured both Maduro and Flores took place in the dead of night on Saturday, and they were both then transported to New York by American officials. The operation left Americans and Venezuelans with questions as to who would govern Venezuela while Maduro — whose presidency is not recognized by many countries, including the U.S. — faces legal battles in the United States.
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Just hours after the capture, President Donald Trump told reporters that "we're going to run" Venezuela.
"We can't take a chance that somebody else takes over Venezuela that doesn't have the good of the Venezuelan people in mind," Trump said Saturday. "We've had decades of that. We're not going to let that happen."
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‘Seize private property’: NYC’s socialist mayor taps communist sympathizer to lead office to ‘Protect Tenants’
New York City's newly sworn-in Democratic Socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani, has already started taking steps to advance his radical agenda by selecting an anti-private-property extremist to lead the Mayor's Office to Protect Tenants.
Mamdani announced on January 2 that Cea Weaver would join his team, noting that she had previously led Housing Justice for All, a coalition of groups representing tenants and homeless New Yorkers, and its sister organization, the New York State Tenant Bloc.
'Private property including any kind of ESPECIALLY homeownership is a weapon of white supremacy.'
Mamdani credited Weaver for helping to pass "landmark legislation that closed loopholes landlords used to raise rents and push apartments out of stabilization."
"Now she'll work with us to hold landlords accountable and ensure New York City tenants are living in safe, clean homes," Mamdani wrote.
Following Weaver's appointment, an undated video resurfaced on social media of the activist discussing her goal to eliminate private property ownership.
"I think the reality is, is that for centuries we've really treated property as an individualized good and not a collective good," Weaver stated in the video. "And transitioning to treating it as a collective good and towards a model of shared equity will require that we think about it differently. And it will mean that families, especially white families but some [people of color] families who are homeowners as well, are going to have a different relationship to property than the one that we currently have."
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Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon reacted to the resurfaced video of Weaver.
“I don’t think so,” Dhillon wrote. “We have federal housing laws that trump any collective Marxist fantasies.”
Weaver once urged Americans to "elect more communists" in a 2017 post on her now-deactivated X account, the New York Post reported.
She also called to "seize private property."
"Private property including any kind of ESPECIALLY homeownership is a weapon of white supremacy," Weaver reportedly wrote in 2019.
Weaver has previously expressed support for freezing rent, writing in a January 2025 post on Bluesky, "There are lots of things the mayor CANT [sic] do on housing, but freezing the rent is one of the only things they can unilaterally do for 2.4 million New York renters. Policy plans are great, so is a rent freeze."
According to New York City's Tenant Protection Cabinet, 65% of the city's residents are renters.
Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul's office did not respond to a request for comment.
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'Reckless and seditious': Hegseth issues brutal demotion of Democrat senator over 'illegal orders' video
The Department of War is ramping up its efforts to punish Democrat Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona over his involvement in what President Donald Trump and his administration have described as a "seditious" video.
At Secretary of War Pete Hegseth's direction, the department is set to cut Kelly's military retirement pay for an alleged "pattern of reckless misconduct," namely the video of Democrat lawmakers calling for servicemen to disobey "illegal orders" from the president. The DOW also issued a letter of censure to Kelly, which "outlines the totality of Captain (for now) Kelly’s reckless misconduct."
'Kelly’s status as a sitting United States Senator does not exempt him from accountability.'
"Six weeks ago, Senator Mark Kelly — and five other members of Congress — released a reckless and seditious video that was clearly intended to undermine good order and military discipline," Hegseth said in a post on X. "As a retired Navy Captain who is still receiving a military pension, Captain Kelly knows he is still accountable to military justice."
"And the Department of War — and the American people — expect justice."
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Hegseth justified the response by arguing that Kelly's prominence as a senator does not give him special privileges, citing specific articles Kelly may have violated.
"Captain Kelly’s status as a sitting United States Senator does not exempt him from accountability, and further violations could result in further action," Hegseth said. "These actions are based on Captain Kelly's public statements from June through December 2025 in which he characterized lawful military operations as illegal and counseled members of the Armed Forces to refuse lawful orders."
"This conduct was seditious in nature and violated Articles 133 and 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, to which Captain Kelly remains subject as a retired officer receiving pay."
Kelly fired back at Hegseth, calling him unqualified and accusing him of targeting lawmakers for simply opposing the administration.
"Over twenty-five years in the U.S. Navy, thirty-nine combat missions, and four missions to space, I risked my life for this country and to defend our Constitution – including the First Amendment rights of every American to speak out," Kelly said in a post on X. "I never expected that the President of the United States and the Secretary of Defense would attack me for doing exactly that."
"Pete Hegseth wants to send the message to every single retired servicemember that if they say something he or Donald Trump doesn’t like, they will come after them the same way," Kelly added. "It’s outrageous and it is wrong. There is nothing more un-American than that."
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