Liberal Foundations Spent Millions To Shape the 'Soft-on-Crime' Policies Now Blamed for Freeing Career Criminal Who Brutally Murdered Ukrainian Refugee

Two left-wing foundations, the MacArthur Foundation and Arnold Ventures, spent millions pushing criminal justice reform policies in Charlotte, North Carolina, that are now being blamed for career criminal Decarlos Brown walking the streets in Charlotte, where he brutally murdered Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on the city's transit system. Brown, who fatally stabbed Zarutska on Aug. 22, had 14 prior arrests, including an armed robbery that landed him five years in prison, was released without bond or monitoring in a criminal case earlier this year. Lawmakers, the Trump administration, and even Brown's relatives have blamed the soft-on-crime policies embraced by Mecklenburg County court system, which oversees Charlotte. Those policies–including a push for cashless bail, the reduction of jail populations, and an attempt to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in jails–have come to Mecklenburg County by way of the MacArthur Foundation, the country's 12th largest private charity, and Arnold Ventures, the private philanthropy of former Enron executive John Arnold, a Washington Free Beacon review has found.

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Charlotte stabbing suspect reportedly makes bizarre statements from jail: 'The material used in my body stabbed the lady'

The man allegedly seen on video stabbing Iryna Zarutska on a train in Charlotte, North Carolina, has reportedly provided an explanation for his actions.

Decarlos Brown Jr. has a lengthy criminal past that includes charges for simple assault, resisting a public officer, communicating threats, theft, and more, according to WBTV.

Brown has also been charged with murder for a stabbing that happened on August 22 on a Lynx Blue Line train in the south end of Charlotte.

'They lashed out on her. Whoever was working the material, they lashed out on her.'

A 33-year-old woman claiming to be Brown's sister, Tracey Brown, spoke to the Daily Mail and claimed that she had a phone call with Brown six days after he was arrested, on August 28.

In the recording, the man reported to be Brown is heard telling the woman believed to be Tracey, "I hurt my hand stabbing her. I don't even know the lady."

He continued, "I never said not one word to the lady at all. That's scary, ain't it? Why would somebody stab somebody for no reason?"

The rest of the alleged phone call with Brown made its way onto social media sites like X, in which Brown claims "materials" inside his body forced him to stab the woman.

"So, you said something in your body did what?" Tracey is heard asking.

"The material used in my body stabbed the lady," Brown replied.

"You know, that's not me. I'm talking about just for no reason. Well, since they did that, since they did that, now they got to investigate the material my body was exposed to. Since they want to do all that, now they got to investigate."

Tracey, trying to find reason within her brother's answer, then asked, "I'm just trying to understand, out of all people, why her?"

"Hey, I don't have nothing," Brown said back, referring to something in his body as "they."

"They just lashed out on them, and that's what happened. They lashed out on her. Whoever was working the material, they lashed out on her."

The sister also asked her brother what he was doing on the train that day and where he was going, according to the audio.

"I was going downtown to the hospital to tell them ... that I'm trying to get rid of the material ... to stop going crazy," Brown replied.

Blaze News could not independently verify the authenticity of the audio or the identities of the speakers on it.

Speaking with the Daily Mail on Tuesday, Tracey, an Amazon delivery associate, said Brown has gone from a "protective" older brother to a person who believes the government is controlling his brain with a microchip that was inserted while he was asleep.

Brown also allegedly believed 23-year-old Zarutska was reading his mind at the time of the stabbing.

Tracey said Brown has tried to get admitted into the hospital several times over the last few years, including calling police about the alleged implant in his body.

These claims are corroborated via a January 2025 charge for misusing 911, with court filings showing that Brown believed he was given a "man-made" material that controlled his eating, walking, and speech.

Screenshot/Charlotte Transit Authority

"I strongly feel like he should not have been on the streets at all," Tracey told the Daily Mail. "I'm going to be honest. I'm not blaming anyone for his actions, except for the state. I'm blaming the state for letting him down as far as seeking help."

The sister continued, "When you have mentally ill people seeking help, and you're running tests on them, and you clearly see that you are dealing with a psychosis on an acute level, you do not let them go back into society."

She added, "He was a high risk. He was not in his right mind. He was not safe for society. ... And now an innocent woman is dead."

Tracey provided several pictures to the U.K. outlet, claiming they are of her and her brother, Brown. She also claimed that she visited Brown at Mecklenburg County Jail last week and spoke to him through a glass window.

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Tucker Carlson clashes with Mark Cuban over Ukraine stance: 'How much money have you sent?'

Former talk-show host Tucker Carlson and businessman Mark Cuban had an uncomfortable exchange over the topic of the Russia-Ukraine war earlier this week.

The two stars appeared at the All-In Summit on Monday, hosted by the "All-In" podcast, a business and technology show hosted by entrepreneurs Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, David Sacks, and David Friedberg.

'Forcing other people to help is not charity. It's vanity.'

Cuban appeared first, with the panel jumping into the topic of fixing America's health care. This led Cuban to bring up his latest venture, a pharmaceutical website that sells drugs at cost, with the URL getting at least eight mentions in about 15 minutes.

When Carlson appeared on stage, he immediately mocked the consistent plugs.

When asked how to identify the line between "democracy" and "pandering," Carlson offered a hilarious answer.

"Where is the line? I mean, I can identify it: It's at costplusdrugs.com," Carlson said, poking fun at Cuban's business.

Less than 10 minutes passed before Sacks, the White House AI and crypto czar under President Trump, asked Cuban about "whether we should be sending money to Ukraine or not."

"Were you in favor of that?" Sacks inquired.

"Honestly, I don't have a good answer," Cuban replied. "I can make an argument both ways, and half my family is Ukrainian, from my grandparents. Personally, I think we should help, but I don't have a studied answer for you."

This led to the most contentious part of the show, with Carlson cornering Cuban on his position.

"How much money have you sent to Ukraine?" the former Fox News host asked the billionaire.

"None," Cuban revealed.

This did not stop Carlson's questions.

"Oh, so what do you mean by 'we'?" Carlson continued. Cuban was silent, responding only with a shoulder shrug.

"You're the one whose family's from Ukraine. Like, why don't you send them a billion dollars?" Carlson piled on.

"Because I'm trying to fix health care," Cuban retorted.

Tucker, not standing down, then asked, "Why don't you fix their health care if you're, like, so deep? If you think we need to help, why don't you start? How about you first? I noticed that's never even an option for anybody."

The crowd erupted in applause in support of Carlson's rhetoric.

"It's like, 'We need to help!'" the podcaster added. "That's not what charity is. Forcing other people to help is not charity. It's vanity."

Calacanis then jumped in and saved Cuban with comments about the war and joked that President Trump was going to turn a profit from all the chaos in Eastern Europe.

Much of Carlson's commentary on the panel was focused on population replacement in Western countries and the unaffordability of homes, which is stagnating population growth.

Other highlights included Carlson being asked if he is anti-Semitic, if Jeffrey Epstein was a spy, and if Russian President Vladimir Putin is a war criminal.

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Wikipedia editors are trying to scrub the record clean of Iryna Zarutska's slaughter by violent thug

Iryna Zarutska, a 23-year-old refugee from Ukraine, was savagely stabbed to death late last month on a train in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Liberal media outlets that have made a habit out of sensationalizing certain deaths — like Jordan Neely's in 2023 or George Floyd's in 2020 — appear desperate not to acknowledge the horrific attack.

CNN, for instance, waited until Monday morning to report on the stabbing.

NBC News, the Associated Press, and ABC News didn't bother reporting on Zarutska's slaying until later in the day, just around the time President Donald Trump noted that he had expressed his love to Zarutska's family and his hope that her killing was a reminder that "there are evil people."

At the time of writing, the New York Times, Reuters, and the Washington Post still had not reported on the incident. Of the aforementioned publications, only the Associated Press responded to Blaze News' requests for comment but only to indicate it had just published a story on the slaying.

While liberal news outfits did their apparent best to avoid reporting on a story that has garnered significant national interest, comment from lawmakers, and further insights into Democrats' ruinous soft-on-crime policies, editors at Wikipedia tried to scrub any mention of the tragic incident from their platform.

Quick background

Footage of the Aug. 22 slaying shows Zarutska enter a train on the Lynx Blue Line in Charlotte, sit down in front of a black male in a red-hooded sweatshirt, and then look at her phone.

zmeel via iStock/Getty Images

The alleged stabber seated behind her, whom the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department has identified as repeat offender Decarlos Brown, can be seen in the footage taking what appears to be a folding knife out of his pocket, standing up, then bringing the apparent blade down in a striking motion.

A GoFundMe for her loved ones states, "Ira had recently arrived in the United States, seeking safety from the war and hoping for a new beginning. Tragically, her life was cut short far too soon."

Seventeen days after the slaying and in the face of mounting outrage, North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein (D) said he was "heartbroken for the family of Iryna Zarutska, who lost their loved one to this senseless act of violence," and "appalled by the footage of her murder."

- YouTube

Police indicated that following the slaying, Brown was transported to Atrium Health with non-life-threatening injuries and charged with first-degree murder.

According to the National News Desk, Brown was previously arrested at least 14 times, including for allegedly assaulting his sister, and he was sentenced to five years in prison for a 2014 armed robbery.

Wiki revisionism

On Saturday morning, a handful of Wikipedia editors got to work detailing what happened to Zarutska, only to find their efforts frustrated by radicals who were alternatively keen to leave the public in the dark.

The "Talk" logs for the potentially doomed page show a frantic effort on the part of some editors to conceal Brown's identity.

When one editor suggested, "It's actually standard here not to name suspected perpetrators," another responded, "Unless his name is Kyle Rittenhouse."

At the time of publication, the Wikipedia page omitted any mention of Brown's name except for where it appeared in the titles of referenced articles.

Others tried to downplay the story's significance. One editor claimed that "there is nothing in this story that is significant besides it being recent news."

"Just [because] victim was white doesn't indicate that perpetrator was intentionally racist or had some sort of racial prejudice he was a schizophrenic going through a psychotic episode and the poor girl was in wrong place/time," another editor wrote. "What's atrocious is how white supremacists are flooding this page to create some sort of narrative and trying to devalue Black American's experience of police brutality in U.S."

Photo by Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun Staff

Soon, the page bore a label that read, "An editor has nominated this article for deletion."

The deletion label linked to a discussion over whether to keep or eliminate the entry, which was prefaced with a reminder "that this is not a majority vote, but instead a discussion among Wikipedia contributors."

Although a great many contributors appear to have recommended keeping the page, others tried their best to trivialize Zarutska's demise.

"There are some people in social media and other venues who are trying to make this into something far greater than it really merrits [sic]. Nothing is remarkable about this. Even the premise of the immigrant status, nor race of either person, seems to have any indication for a hate crime even. Rather just a random act of violence," one contributor wrote.

Blaze News senior politics editor and Washington correspondent Christopher Bedford, responding to the attempted spin by radicals behind the scenes at Wikipedia, underscored the significance of the story, noting that "you've got comment coming in from the governor, you've got comment coming in from the president, and you have a perpetrator who is free in the first place only because of specific policy decisions made by governments in regard to their crimes and punishments."

"But it doesn't fit into a cozy narrative. It's a beautiful white woman killed by a black man and serial criminal," Bedford continued. "Even though she's a Ukrainian refugee, on the scale of what liberals want to communicate and narratives they want to build, she's lower than he is."

Blaze News has reached out to Wikimedia for comment.

Blaze News previously reported that editors and/or contributors at Wikipedia:

Tried to hide Vice President JD Vance's military accomplishments in the lead-up to the 2024 election;
Strategically eliminated any mention of Kamala Harris' appointment as border czar on the site's list of executive branch czars;
Advocated deleting the entry detailing the mass killings executed by communist regimes, citing an anti-communist bias;
Blacklisted right-leaning sources such as Blaze News, the Washington Free Beacon, the Federalist, RedState, the Media Research Center, and the Alexander Hamilton-founded New York Post and effectively prohibits their citation in articles, all but guaranteeing a site-wide leftist bias;
Smears right-wing figures;
Labeled Elon Musk's temporary suspension of journalists who allegedly violated his platform's terms of service as the "Thursday Night Massacre"; and
Deceived readers about the history, existence, and nature of cultural Marxism, characterizing the well-defined and well-chronicled offshoot of Marxism as a "conspiracy theory."

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From Silicon Valley to Moscow, a supply chain of death

As Ukrainian cities suffer under the escalating Russian missile and drone attacks, an unsettling truth has emerged: The weapons killing innocent Ukrainians are powered by components sold by European and even U.S. companies. Confirmed across multiple investigations, these Western-made electronics are frequently found in wreckage from Russian attacks.

The Ukrainian National Police document war crimes, and in the wreckage of Russian jets and drones, they’re finding Western-made sensors, microchips, and navigation systems.

Companies whose products powered Russian weapons may find that in the court of global opinion, they’re the next Switzerland.

This is a modern echo of an old disgrace: Switzerland’s wartime profiteering during World War II. While claiming neutrality, Switzerland sold munitions to Nazi Germany. Today, many Western firms appear similar on paper — even as their products power violence in practice.

Ukrainians pay the price

The consequences, then and now, are devastating. Ukrainians bury their loved ones while billions of dollars move through “innocent” supply chains — supply chains that ultimately help lead to the very funerals and heartbreak we see today.

A 2023 study by a Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty investigative unit found more than 2,000 different electronic components — many made by U.S., Japanese, and Taiwanese firms — inside five types of Russian Sukhoi warplanes.

Friends of mine in the Ukrainian National Police confirmed that Western-made parts routinely show up in missiles and surveillance gear recovered after attacks. These items often pass through intermediary nations, such as China, Turkey, and even some EU member states, shielding the original suppliers.

‘Out of our hands’

How do the companies respond when questioned? Most point to legal compliance, third-party distributors, and plausible deniability. “We didn’t know,” they say. “It’s out of our hands.”

But when a buyer in a Russia-aligned country suddenly orders 2,000 units of a component normally purchased in batches of 100, it shouldn’t just raise a red flag — it should sound a blaring siren, a warning no one can miss.

Imagine you’re the CEO of an imaginary company, East Elbonian MicroSystems, a U.S.-based manufacturer of high-frequency guidance chips used in both civilian drones and industrial automation. For five years, you’ve sold 100 units annually to a Turkish buyer.

Suddenly, your Turkish buyer places an order for 2,000 chips. The order comes with an up-front payment and a request for expedited delivery. You have recently read reports that chips identical to yours have been recovered from the wreckage of Russian missiles that struck Ukrainian hospitals and apartment buildings.

You don’t wait. You send a senior compliance officer to Istanbul, unannounced. “We need to see where these chips are going,” the officer says upon arrival at your Turkish buyer’s office. “We’ll need full documentation within 24 hours — sales logs, shipping manifests, end-user agreements.”

If your Turkish buyer can’t provide a legitimate explanation for the spike in orders, you terminate the relationship immediately. No more shipments. No more plausible deniability.

Legacies of shame

This is not radical. It’s standard practice in sectors like pharmaceuticals and banking. Robust end-use documentation, site visits, and statistical audits are basic components of ethical commerce. So why not in defense-adjacent tech?

The answer is as old as Switzerland’s wartime banks: profit. Tragically, the cost of not taking action is measured in shattered lives. It means more orphans growing up without parents, more widows mourning at fresh graves, more families torn apart by midnight missile strikes.

It means children losing limbs to drone shrapnel, hospitals overwhelmed with burn victims, and schools reduced to rubble. Each shipment of unchecked components contributes to a growing ledger of human suffering — paid for in blood, grief, and futures stolen before they begin.

Photo by Vitalii Nosach/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images

In the U.S., politicians from both sides of the aisle ideally would write laws mandating that all firms producing dual-use components publish regular audits and require reporting on statistically unusual purchases.

Companies would have incentives to comply. History offers a powerful cautionary tale. After World War II, Switzerland faced global outrage for war profiteering. In 1998, the complicit banks agreed to a $1.25 billion settlement. The reputational damage led to public boycotts and a tainted legacy that persists to this day.

Come clean now, or face justice

Legal consequences loom for any U.S. company complicit in war profiteering. Ukrainian investigators, particularly in the National Police, are meticulously cataloging dual-use components from other countries.

When the war ends, expect publicity and accountability to follow. Companies whose products powered Russian weapons may find that in the court of global opinion, they’re the next Switzerland.

Companies that pretend not to know where their components end up still have time to redeem themselves. But that time is running out. Remember — journalists like me may be eager to tell the world exactly what you knew and when you knew it.

Mainstream media turns a blind eye to vicious stabbing of young Ukrainian woman

The mainstream media made their bias known after refusing to cover the fatal stabbing of a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee.

Iryna Zarutska was brutally victimized on a train in North Carolina on August 22, suffering stab wounds in the throat before eventually being declared dead at the scene. Zarutska's alleged stabber was later identified as 34-year-old Decarlos Brown, who was charged with first-degree murder in relation to the case.

'This is a greater outrage than the death of every BLM martyr combined times a thousand.'

Records from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department show that Brown has repeatedly been arrested and convicted of serious offenses, including armed robbery and felony larceny.

News of Zarutska's death rapidly spread online and sparked outrage, yet mainstream media outlets outside of local news have continued to ignore the story entirely.

Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Critics have pointed to the media's double standard when it comes to covering politically convenient tragedies. Mainstream outlets amplified the death of George Floyd in 2020, writing tens of thousands of articles related to the incident. The same publications that gave wall-to-wall coverage of Floyd's death are now turning a blind eye to Zarutska's.

"Despite the release of an explosive video that has received massive public outcry, as of 4:45 pm eastern today, NONE of our major news outlets except @FoxNews have covered the murder of Iryna Zarutska," the Daily Wire's Megan Basham said in a post on X on Sunday. "Not one."

"This is a greater outrage than the death of every BLM martyr combined times a thousand," the Daily Wire's Matt Walsh said in a post on X.

Photo by Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images

Other commentators like Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk have pointed to race as a predominant factor in the media's selective coverage. Kirk argues that the difference in coverage between Zarutska's murder and Floyd's death ultimately comes down to whether the narrative is politically convenient.

"Dear CNN, WaPo, NYT, ABC, NBC etc etc," Kirk said in a post on X Sunday. "If you want to know why your ratings are in the tank and no one likes you, look no further than the brutal murder of Iryna Zarutska who moved to US to escape war in Ukraine, a story you refuse to tell.

"Sadly she couldn’t survive the Democrats’ criminal justice system," Kirk added. "Yet you wouldn’t shut up or stop villainizing Daniel Penny, a hero, who probably stopped a murder just like [hers]. Why? Because he was a straight white American male and the perp was black. Shame on you. Genuinely."

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Liberal Foundations Spent Millions To Shape the 'Soft-on-Crime' Policies Now Blamed for Freeing Career Criminal Who Brutally Murdered Ukrainian Refugee

Charlotte stabbing suspect reportedly makes bizarre statements from jail: 'The material used in my body stabbed the lady'

Tucker Carlson clashes with Mark Cuban over Ukraine stance: 'How much money have you sent?'

Stephanopoulos Suggests Trump DOJ Could Tamper With Epstein Evidence (And Other ABC’s This Week Questions)

Margaret Brennan Blames CDC Critics For Shooting (And Other Face The Nation Questions)

Wikipedia editors are trying to scrub the record clean of Iryna Zarutska's slaughter by violent thug

Quick background

Wiki revisionism

Journalists Pounce on Republicans for Noticing Crime

From Silicon Valley to Moscow, a supply chain of death

Ukrainians pay the price

‘Out of our hands’

Legacies of shame

Come clean now, or face justice

Mainstream media turns a blind eye to vicious stabbing of young Ukrainian woman

Man admits to raping girl thousands of times and impregnating her — he has agreed to unbelievable plea deal

Alex Jones’ daring infiltration of Bohemian Grove unmasks elitist pagan rituals and occult secrets

Qatar’s Double-Sided Diplomacy Crumbles in Israeli Airstrike

California may defy Trump with new statewide EV credits

VIDEO: Erika Kirk makes first public remarks since the death of her husband, Charlie Kirk

He May Have Pulled The Trigger, But Charlie Kirk’s Suspected Killer Didn’t ‘Act Alone’

Liberals spew hatred against moment of silence for Charlie Kirk on Thursday Night Football

Quick background

Wiki revisionism

Ukrainians pay the price

‘Out of our hands’

Legacies of shame

Come clean now, or face justice

We’ll keep you informed with top stories for conservatives who want to become informed decision makers.