The GOP can’t ‘wield’ the administrative state without being corrupted by it



Many Americans have watched Peter Jackson’s movie trilogy “The Lord of the Rings.” And many have read J.R.R. Tolkien’s books. Some can quote whole passages and trace Tolkien’s deliberate references to the life of Christ and the horror of modern war.

Maybe House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) live in that camp. If not, they should.

The Republicans’ plan cannot be ‘use federal power while we have it, then trust the next guys.’

A crucial scene comes early in the saga. The council debates what to do with the One Ring, the ultimate source of power. Boromir makes an understandable, dangerous suggestion — a perfect expression of fallen man’s temptation: “Give Gondor the weapon of the enemy. Let us use it against him.”

Aragorn stops him with two sentences rooted in humility and truth: “You cannot wield it. None of us can.”

That is the lesson Republicans must learn now, while they still hold majorities.

Dismantle the machine, don’t borrow it

Many supporters of President Trump want Congress to act boldly. They also want something more important: They want Republicans to roll back the reach and scope of the federal government while they can. If the GOP refuses, Democrats will inherit the same machinery and use it without restraint. Not someday. Soon.

If you think I exaggerate by calling Democrats the enemy or warning that we are doomed, consider a recent message from the second-highest-ranking elected congressional Democrat in the country, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York. Jeffries posted a video of White House adviser Stephen Miller on X.com and wrote: “Donald Trump will leave office long before the five-year statute of limitations expires. You are hereby put on notice.”

Jeffries did not allege a crime. He did not explain what Miller did wrong. He did not argue facts or law. He issued a threat: We will punish you later because we can.

That is what Republicans keep forgetting. The federal government’s power does not idle in neutral. It exists to be used. If it remains in place, someone will use it — and progressives have already shown what they want to do with it.

Which raises the central point: Nobody can safely wield that power. Not congressional Republicans. Not any administration. The correct move is not to grab the weapon and promise better behavior. The correct move is to destroy the weapon.

Fraud stories shine a bright light

Start with something as basic as fraud.

Look at the unraveling of the Somali day-care scandal in Minnesota and the billions of stolen tax dollars. That story grew so large that it helped end Minnesota Democrat Gov. Tim Walz’s re-election ambitions. Yet the government did not uncover it.

Not the Government Accountability Office. Not the Congressional Budget Office. Not the Office of Management and Budget. Not House or Senate oversight committees. Not the IRS. Not the Small Business Administration. Not the armies of full-time staffers inside federal agencies reporting up to inspectors general whose job description exists for this very purpose.

All that government power — and it did nothing.

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mathisworks via iStock/Getty Images

The scandal came to light because of the tenacity of a 23-year-old guy with a camera. If the federal machine can miss fraud on that scale, imagine what else it misses.

Fraud saturates the system. Estimates run as high as $500 billion — roughly 7% of the $6.8 trillion federal budget. That budget still reflects COVID-era spending levels. In 2019, Washington spent $4.45 trillion. Why did we never return to pre-COVID levels?

Because money is power. And like Boromir, too many people convince themselves they can wield it.

Ethics are not enough

Energy policy shows the same temptation in real time.

My nonprofit organization, Power the Future, sent another letter to House and Senate oversight committees and to Attorney General Pam Bondi urging investigations into Biden’s energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm. In the final days of the Biden administration, Granholm awarded $100 billion in green-energy grants — more than the previous 15 years combined. Many recipients had previously supported her political campaigns.

Green money poured out of Washington through the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act, which allocated $60 billion for “environmental justice” — a phrase so deliberately amorphous that it has no fixed meaning. Team Biden spent $1 trillion “going green,” a statistic Vice President Kamala Harris bragged about during her lone 2024 debate with Donald Trump.

That entire structure still stands.

Nothing prevents the current energy secretary, Chris Wright, from spending billions on his favorite projects except his ethics. I believe Wright has ethics in abundance. We should feel grateful. But one man’s ethics do not qualify as a system of government.

The next secretary could be worse than Granholm. If the power remains, someone will use it.

RELATED: Nuke the filibuster or brace for the next impeachment campaign

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Empty the arsenal

Just as in Tolkien’s masterpiece, our enemies do not wait quietly. They scheme. They train. They amass armies of lawyers, activists, operatives, and bureaucrats. They build institutional pipelines that outlast elections. They do not go home after losing once. They plan the return.

Republicans need to plan as well — and their plan cannot be “use federal power while we have it, then trust the next guys.”

One party will not hold Washington forever. When conservatives lose power, they should make sure the left inherits a reduced federal government: weaker, narrower, stripped of the patronage systems and enforcement tools that now function as political weapons.

That is why it is incumbent upon congressional Republicans to do everything in their power — everything — to destroy the Ring.

America’s founders envisioned a weak federal government for this reason. In America’s 250th year, Congress should act like it understands the danger of concentrated power. If Republicans keep the machinery intact, they will regret it. If the Ring finds its next master, it will not spare the people who once held it.

'Ripped the camera out of my hand': Minneapolis cops shrug after Nick Sortor claims 'Somali thugs' rob him, drag him by car



Independent conservative journalist Nick Sortor has in recent weeks shone an unflattering light on the thuggery of anti-ICE rioters and imported grifters in Minneapolis.

The efficacy of his reportage — which led on Thursday to at least one arrest — appears to have made him a prime target for radicals who have circulated his image for street-identification purposes, mobbed his vehicle, and attacked another journalist whom they mistook for Sortor.

'At least Minneapolis Police haven't erroneously arrested me ... yet.'

Sortor shared footage taken by fellow journalist Cam Higby on Sunday revealing the latest lengths radicals have gone to stop him: stealing his camera and dragging him down the sidewalk.

"A group of Somali thugs just ROBBED me of my $1,000 camera in the Cedar Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis," Sortor indicated in a Sunday evening X post. "Then they DRAGGED ME DOWN THE STREET as my hand got trapped in their door handle."

Footage of the incident shows a black-clad woman wearing a face covering approach Sortor's vehicle on the driver's side, grab the journalist's camera through his open window, and take off running.

RELATED: 'You are on notice!' Don Lemon backs anti-ICE radicals who stormed Saint Paul church — but DOJ vows reckoning

Photo by STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images

In the video, Sortor — who told Blaze News the "Somali thief reached IN to my vehicle and ripped the camera out of my hand, breaking the wrist strap" — quickly exits the vehicle and chases the woman on foot.

"The Somali mob then ran interference for them as I tried getting it back, giving the thief time to flee," said Sortor.

Video confirms that while attempting to capture the apparent thief — who climbed into a red Kia — Sortor is obstructed by multiple shrieking onlookers and then nearly tackled to the ground by a black male wearing a mask.

Sortor appears to get his hand stuck in the door handle of the fleeing suspect's vehicle such that when it accelerates down the sidewalk, the journalist is dragged alongside it for a considerable distance.

After the suspect flees the scene, a shaken up and bloodied Sortor tells his associate, "They just stole my camera."

Women in face coverings and other apparent critics of Sortor encircle the journalist as he makes his way back to his vehicle, ordering him to leave. One of the women admits on camera that they followed Sortor to the scene.

Footage shows a Minneapolis police officer telling the journalist after the incident that he should leave the area and that individuals were calling the department to accuse Sortor of harassment.

"We don't need this stuff to keep happening," says the officer. "This level of hostility, obviously, it's not going away."

When asked how his treatment by radicals and police in Minnesota has compared with his treatment in Portland, Sortor told Blaze News, "Much like Portland Police, Minneapolis Police submit to the mob and have been completely neutered by the left-wing government out here. However at least Minneapolis Police haven't erroneously arrested me ... yet."

Sortor was arrested when covering an anti-ICE demonstration on Oct. 2 in Portland, Oregon. After determining that it couldn't make a disorderly conduct charge stick, the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office declined to pursue the case. Sortor indicated last month that he plans to sue the City of Portland for allegedly violating his civil rights when targeting and arresting him.

Sleuths have alleged that the vehicle in which the suspect fled the scene is registered to an individual whose address is listed as the SpectrumWorks Center in Spring Lake Park, Minnesota. Blaze News was unable to reach the autism support center for comment.

Cam Higby noted that "it's the owner of the vehicle who's address is allegedly the autism center. The robber may have hopped in someone else's vehicle."

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From 911 to broadband, criminals are unplugging America



Imagine calling 911 and no one answers. A hospital loses internet access mid-surgery and your child is the patient. You can’t work, access your bank, or contact your doctor — all because a few thieves ripped copper wiring from the ground to sell for scrap.

These aren’t distant hypotheticals. They’re happening across the country right now. In recent weeks alone, copper wire thefts darkened 5,500 streetlights in Tucson, shut down Denver’s A-Line train, and caused $1.25 million in losses in Bakersfield, California, where thieves stripped wiring from electric-vehicle charging stations.

Broadband is critical infrastructure — the digital lifeline of daily American life. Protecting it is not a corporate issue but a consumer one.

The problem isn’t slowing down. Two new reports reveal a stunning rise in theft and vandalism against America’s broadband and wireless networks. Between June 2024 and June 2025, more than 15,000 incidents disrupted service for over 9.5 million customers nationwide. In just the first half of 2025, incidents nearly doubled from the previous six months.

Hospitals, schools, 911 dispatch centers, even military bases have been hit — exposing a growing national vulnerability.

Not just a local nuisance

The cost of stolen wire is trivial compared with the damage it causes. Between June and December 2024, theft-related outages cost society between $38 million and $188 million in losses. California and Texas took the biggest hits — $29.3 million and $18.1 million — while smaller states like Kentucky suffered millions too. Every cut cable ripples outward, silencing entire communities.

These aren’t weekend thieves looking for beer money. They’re organized, brazen, and increasingly strategic. Some know exactly which copper or fiber-optic lines to hit. Others destroy fiber cables by mistake, assuming they contain metal. Either way, the result is the same: chaos, cost, and danger.

Consumers pay the price. Each attack disrupts 911 access, paralyzes small businesses, and stalls health care, banking, and remote work. Broadband expansion — especially in rural and underserved areas — slows to a crawl.

When vandalism becomes sabotage

Some of these attacks are so severe that investigators now treat them as potential acts of domestic terrorism. Charter Communications reports a 200% increase in felony attacks on its Missouri fiber network this year. In Van Nuys, California, vandals cut 13 fiber lines in one night, knocking out 911 dispatch, a military base, and hospitals for 30 hours. These were no petty crimes. They were coordinated strikes that endangered lives.

Businesses, taxpayers, and consumers have invested billions to build these networks. Letting criminals dismantle them for pocket change is unacceptable.

Yet under current federal law, destroying broadband infrastructure isn’t punished like attacks on pipelines, railways, or power grids. In many states, penalties are outdated or nonexistent — effectively giving vandals a free pass to cripple critical systems.

A bipartisan fix

Congress has begun to respond. Reps. Laurel Lee (R-Fla.) and Marc Veasey (D-Texas) have introduced H.R. 2784, the bipartisan Stopping the Theft and Destruction of Broadband Act. The bill would amend federal law to explicitly criminalize the destruction of broadband infrastructure, giving law enforcement the tools needed to act.

Adding broadband systems to the list of protected critical assets under Title 18 of the U.S. Code would send a clear message: This isn’t scrap-metal scavenging — it’s sabotage, and it will be prosecuted as such.

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Liudmila Chernetska via iStock/Getty Images

To defend consumers and our connected economy, lawmakers must:

  • strengthen penalties for theft or destruction of communications infrastructure, matching protections for other critical sectors;
  • crack down on black-market copper sales by holding scrap dealers accountable;
  • increase funding and coordination for law enforcement to investigate and prosecute network attacks; and
  • support industry-led security upgrades without adding regulatory burdens that slow innovation.

States like Florida, South Carolina, and North Carolina have already moved to deter these crimes. Congress should follow their lead.

Defend what we built

Broadband is critical infrastructure — the digital lifeline of daily American life. Protecting it is not a corporate issue but a consumer one. Americans shouldn’t have to wonder whether their connection will work when they need it most.

We built the connected economy. Now we must defend it — before the vandals win.

Silicon Valley’s new gold rush is built on stolen work



Lawmakers and the public have long grown tired of Silicon Valley’s "move fast and break things" ethos. But Big Tech hasn’t learned its lesson.

In the mad rush to roll out artificial intelligence, companies have cast aside basic corporate responsibility. Meta’s chatbots allowed children to engage in sexual conversations. OpenAI’s ChatGPT helped a child plan and commit suicide. And mounting evidence shows AI chatbots harming mental health, particularly for children.

OpenAI has created a copyright infringement factory.

The latest example of Silicon Valley’s negligence? Mass copyright infringement.

The wild digital west

When AI products like ChatGPT were new, copyright infringement — while potentially common in AI training — was more opaque. The early versions of today’s large language models weren't really capable of producing realistic copies of original copyrighted works that could compete with the originals. Moreover, training data was hidden from public view.

But new releases, particularly OpenAI’s Sora 2, have smashed that paradigm. This past week, X and other social media platforms have been flooded with Sora 2 users’ reproductions of TV shows like “Family Guy,” “South Park,” “SpongeBob,” and more. While these clips are not yet perfect replicas, they are extremely close, and it is likely a matter of years — if not months — before users can produce copyright-infringing content that is essentially indistinguishable from the originals.

Flipping the script

OpenAI initially put the onus on copyright holders to “opt out” of their creations from being used in Sora 2. But this simply is not how copyright law works. In fact, it violates the express purpose of copyright law: to ensure that your work stays yours. Others have to ask you for permission to opt in to using your work; reversing that would render copyright law toothless.

After the understandable outcry from copyright holders and actors’ guilds, OpenAI changed its copyright policies, switching from the opt-out model to opt-in. Rights holders now choose whether to have their creations included in Sora 2.

CEO Sam Altman seemed to imply that he was surprised at the backlash. “I think the theory of what it was going to feel like to people, and then actually seeing the thing, people had different responses,” he told the Verge. “It felt more different to images than people expected.”

This dubious claim is not an excuse to violate copyright laws wantonly. In waiting days to change course, Altman has also opened a Pandora’s box: the idea that AI can create entire seasons of your favorite shows. Altman knows that users will want it and may hope that the pressure will force copyright holders to take a deal that doesn’t fully represent the value of their intellectual property.

Altman has said as much. “We are going to try sharing some of this revenue with rights holders who want their characters generated by users,” he wrote recently. His questionable usage of “try” notwithstanding, the game he is playing is clear: Audiences are going to want this. You either give us permission — after which we will “try” to compensate you — or people will likely use AI to violate your copyright anyway.

RELATED: Does anyone think we’re up to the task of controlling AI?

Mininyx Doodle via iStock/Getty Images

Congress must act

None of this will eliminate AI’s chilling ability to generate lifelike images of people. While the Trump administration cracked down on some of the worst offenders with the Take It Down Act — which bans involuntarily created AI porn — you can still easily create false images of people doing all sorts of things.

For now, the predominant use case may be “funny” videos of SpongeBob fleeing from police. But it would be a simple task, for example, to replace SpongeBob with realistic videos of innocent people committing crimes.

OpenAI and other AI companies have, in essence, created a copyright infringement factory that puts the onus on copyright holders to vindicate their rights, while signaling that they may leverage a rabid user base if copyright holders don’t get in line. This isn’t right, and it shouldn’t be how the law works. Given how flippantly OpenAI and other Big Tech companies have treated the law, Congress needs to consider legal clarifications that force these firms to change their behavior.

Heartless: Male accused of stealing from paraplegic's apartment — and right in front of defenseless victim



A paraplegic man in Oklahoma City said he's been robbed twice in the space of a month and fears for his safety, KWTV-DT reported.

Alan Prudhome noted to the station he believes those who stole from him did so believing that his disability makes him an easy target.

'I wake up to somebody trying to take my bag off me that I keep everything in.'

"Someone had pried the door open, went in and stole my TVs, my laptop, my computer," Prudhome told KWTV regarding what went down at this apartment. "Took a bunch of random things."

Also stolen were cash and medicine — and even Prudhome's wheelchair, as well as hand controls he used to help him drive it, the station said.

Photo by: Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Prudhome filed a police report believing it was a one-time incident, KWTV reported — but just a week later, an even worse incident occurred.

"I wake up to somebody trying to take my bag off me that I keep everything in," Prudhome recalled to the station. "I was like, 'What are you doing?'"

Prudhome told KWTV a second individual later identified as Johnny Johnson walked out of his closet with a box of his belongings.

"I said, 'Why are you [doing] this to me?'" Prudhome noted to the station. "He said, 'It happened to me,' and I said, 'You're not paraplegic; you can do for yourself.'"

After Prudhome called police, officers arrested Johnson in the area but never located the second suspect, KWTV reported.

Prudhome told the station the two suspects from the second burglary live in the same apartment complex as him, but he wasn't sure if they were involved in the first break-in.

Johnson was charged with one count of first-degree burglary and remained in custody Tuesday at the Oklahoma County Detention Center, jail records show. His bond is $15,000, and his next court date is Oct. 23, jail records also indicate.

Prudhome set up a GoFundMe to help him make up for his losses, and it's raised just over $11,000 of a $16,000 goal.

Then over the weekend, more good news came his way.

After hearing Prudhome’s story, Stacy Reddig — owner of Wheelchairs for Veterans — told KFOR-TV, “I just cannot believe that somebody would steal this man’s medical equipment, so we jumped all over it."

Redding's organization donated a brand-new manual wheelchair to Prudhome, which will help him get around easier, KFOR reported.

“I can go where I need to go, and I don’t have to worry about not being able to get to appointments,” Prudhome added to KFOR.

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Crooks need only 5 minutes to steal $90,000 in merchandise from Detroit clothing store in predawn heist, owner says



The owner of a Detroit clothing store said it took crooks only five minutes to steal $90,000 in merchandise from his place of business in a predawn heist Monday, WDIV-TV reported.

“When I get here, the police was already here, but the damage has already been done," Waheed Ahmed, owner of J-Bees on Gratiot Avenue for 26 years, told the station. "Merchandise was gone."

'You know, when you’re in the community, you’re trying to bring good brands to the community, try to bring good quality things to the community, and you build a relationship with certain customers. So it’s like, what you gonna do? You gonna shut it down, or you gonna stay open?'

Ahmed, 57, told WDIV that security video showed the crooks arriving in a white minivan and a black pickup truck at 4:49 a.m.

At least a dozen individuals quickly exited the minivan while another group got out of the pickup, the station said.

By 4:53 a.m., the crooks smashed a window and door, forced open the storefront gate, and went inside, WDIV reported, adding that the crew emptied tables and shelves, destroyed mannequins, and broke into a back office.

The thieves were gone by 4:56 a.m., the station said — just five minutes to steal an estimated $90,000 worth of clothing, the station said.

RELATED: Crooks try getaway after daytime smash-and-grab heist of Rolex watches in downtown Chicago — but time runs out on them

“They moved quick. They had an idea what they wanted," Dee, the store’s general manager for the last 15 years, told WDIV.

Dee added to the station that “they had, like, 12 to 15 guys. This is a routine. This is probably something that they do on the daily.”

WDIV noted that this incident is the second time this year that the store had been robbed in such a brutal fashion.

“I feel like someone came in and scoped the store out,” Dee added to the station. “They took a look around and seen where everything was at, where everything was set up — like the high-end merchandise — and that’s what they went after."

More from WDIV:

Dee said that robberies like this are tiresome, and he feels the store needs more security and better protection with the help of Detroit police.

Both Ahmed and his general manager are frustrated with this type of crime, as they want to keep businesses like this in the neighborhood.

“You know, when you’re in the community, you’re trying to bring good brands to the community, try to bring good quality things to the community, and you build a relationship with certain customers,” Dee noted to the station. “So it’s like, what you gonna do? You gonna shut it down, or you gonna stay open?”

Ahmed added to WDIV that "I love this neighborhood. It’s been 26 years, so I am seeing a third generation in my place, so I get connected with the third generation.”

But the crime is taking a toll on him, too.

“I really enjoy doing business with them,” Ahmed noted to the station. “But I say it’s getting frustrating.”

Detroit police detectives arrived Monday afternoon to gather information about the robbery, WDIV said.

Between the damage and the stolen merchandise, Ahmed told the station that even with insurance, he could be looking at a total loss of at least $200,000.

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Bed Bath & Beyond Joins Countless Other Companies Ditching Bad-For-Business California

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D.C.’s Murder Rate Is More Than 500% Higher Than The Average State

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The DC nobody talks about — and Trump finally did



President Donald Trump’s emergency declaration — placing the D.C. police under federal control — cited a now-famous stat: Washington, D.C., has higher violent crime, murder, and robbery rates than all 50 states.

Yes, even higher than my home city of Los Angeles.

DC is bigger than the Mall, and outside the quaint Capitol Hill and Eastern Market townhouses, the city sings a much different tune.

The order also noted that the city’s homicide rate — 27.54 per 100,000 residents — surpasses that of Havana, Cuba, and Islamabad, Pakistan.

Left-wing media immediately scoffed. They downplayed the numbers, pointing to D.C.’s “declining violent crime” stats — conveniently reported right after city leaders reclassified crimes like felony assault and carjacking as non-violent offenses.

It’s a neat trick to save face at the expense of victims.

In Georgetown, Woodley Park, and Chevy Chase, the chaos hides well. But walk through Columbia Heights or Dupont Circle and men strung out on drugs sprawl across the sidewalks. At Union Station, homeless people bathe in the historic site’s iconic fountains, just a few blocks from the Capitol.

“All cities have a homeless problem,” they say. Sure. But not all cities are the capital of the free world.

D.C. is bigger than the Mall, and outside the quaint Capitol Hill and Eastern Market townhouses, the city sings a much different tune.

A tale of two DCs

Take Anacostia.

This historically black neighborhood in Southeast D.C. has been ravaged by decades of violent crime and neglect in the overwhelmingly Democratic city. Today, it holds an “F” public safety grade and ranks in the seventh percentile for safety nationwide. The neighborhood sees 12.3 violent crimes per 1,000 residents annually, with assault topping the list, followed by robbery, rape, and murder.

As D.C.'s cost of living explodes, many young residents — like my friends — are pushed into cheaper, more dangerous areas. They often choose Anacostia.

I’ve stayed with them several times. It’s the kind of place where you don’t stop at a red light. Homeless men stagger toward your car. Groups of young men tail you from stop sign to stop sign. If you're catching an early flight, you’ll see prostitutes walking home from the night before.

Residents of this once-vibrant neighborhood mourn what it has become. Times were never easy, but now crime has made it unlivable.

One neighborhood, a larger pattern

Anacostia isn’t an outlier. It’s the blueprint.

It’s the story of every community that doesn’t fit the left’s narrative and so gets ignored. As more staffers and young professionals move into these neighborhoods, perhaps they’ll finally draw some media coverage. But reform shouldn’t wait until political aides feel unsafe.

D.C. was meant to be the crown jewel of American cities. In many ways, it still is. But beauty doesn’t excuse such damning crime statistics.

Unchecked crime in forgotten neighborhoods is spilling into tourist hot spots and government grounds. Elites can’t ignore it any more.

RELATED: The capital of the free world cannot be lawless

Photo by ClassicStock/Getty Images

President Trump’s order is delivering what Anacostia residents — and so many others — should have received years ago: law, order, and the simple freedom to walk outside without fear.

That’s not too much to ask. That’s the bare minimum.

It’s a promise every American deserves.

So thank you, President Trump, for doing what should have been done long ago. I hope D.C. is just the beginning. Do L.A. next.

Washington, D.C., Feels Neither Safe Nor Clean Because It’s Not

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