Category: Blaze Media
Gavin Newsom’s racial pandering knows no bounds
Leaders should seek to unify people. Instead, California governor and likely 2028 presidential candidate Gavin Newsom (D) embraces politics, dividing his constituents into those entitled to privileges and subventions by reason of their melanin, sex, or sexual orientation — and those who are required to fund the largesse.
He opposed race-neutral admissions to the California state university system (overruled by the people of California — twice), imposed gender and racial requirements on corporate boards (held unconstitutional — twice), required ethnic studies and ethnically dumbed-down math in K-12 curricula, and is carefully advancing a potentially multitrillion-dollar reparations plan for California’s black residents.
Whether born of intense self-loathing or kowtowing to the radical left, Newsom’s support for reparations is racist political pandering at its worst.
Newsom’s unconstitutional quest to curry favor with, undermine the confidence of, and potentially spend trillions of dollars on California’s 2.5 million black residents began in 2020 when he signed AB3121 into law, which required the state to study and develop reparation proposals for black Californians, with “special consideration” for descendants of slaves.
Then, in 2022, Newsom established a commission to develop policies that impact racial equity and disparities. The following year, it recommended payments exceeding $1 million for each descendant of slaves, as well as housing assistance, guaranteed wages, racially segregated education, and overturning California’s ban on affirmative action in college admissions, among hundreds of other racially abhorrent policies.
Now, Newsom has established a new bureau nominally to develop programs to implement the commission’s report, but with legislative authority to “expand” its mission to address remedies for the “lasting harms” of disenfranchisement, segregation, discrimination, exclusion, neglect, and violence impacting black Californians. The bureau is also authorized to collect nonpublic personal and genetic information to identify those who should obtain preferential treatment.
Newsom vetoed legislation to give admissions preferences to descendants of slaves, which he said colleges can already do; investigate racist property taxes, which is already within the new bureau’s mandate; and allocate 10% of state loans to slave descendants, which is clearly unconstitutional. An appearance of balance is important for a nascent presidential campaign.
Nonetheless, whether born of intense self-loathing or kowtowing to the radical left, Newsom’s support for reparations is racist political pandering at its worst.
Reparations are particularly inappropriate in California. The state was admitted to the Union in 1850 as a free state, in which slavery was prohibited. Its population today is about 37% non-Hispanic white, 39% Hispanic, 16% Asian, and 6% black. Over a quarter are foreign-born.
There is no doctrine in the United States that holds children liable for the crimes of their parents, much less their distant ancestors; nor do children inherit their ancestors’ debts. In 1860, there were 395,216 slave owners in the 15 states that permitted slavery and none in the other 18 states. In total, about 5%-6% of all U.S. households owned slaves.
Today, most blacks are at least middle class, live in diverse suburbs, and pursue the same careers as whites. They are doctors, lawyers, and chief executives. With about 12.5% of the population, blacks account for a somewhat larger share of U.S. House members and about one-third of the mayors in America’s 100 largest cities. Blacks have held the highest offices in government, from president and vice president to numerous Cabinet positions and 22% of current Supreme Court justices.
RELATED: Gavin Newsom lashes out at Joe Rogan for accusing him of ruining California: ‘He did horrible s**t!’
Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
In a 2002 Gallup poll, 14% of Americans favored the payment of cash reparations to descendants of black slaves. A 2019 Associated Press-NORC poll found 29% approval. In 2024, a Princeton University-Liberations poll found that 36% of Americans supported at least some form of reparations, with 15% strongly supporting cash payments. A 2022 Rasmussen poll and a 2025 YouGov poll had similar results. About a quarter of blacks oppose reparations.
At least 23 cities and states are considering paying reparations, including New York City, San Francisco, and Boston. Under most reparation proposals, the national cost would range from about $12 trillion to $20 trillion.
While polls usually ask about reparations for descendants of slaves, most commissions also consider payments to other black Americans. A Brookings Institution report justifies giving reparations to wealthy blacks and recent immigrants due to the wealth gap between black and white families.
Polls and partisan commissions aside, the 14th Amendment prohibits governments from allocating benefits based on race. The Supreme Court has been clear that our detour into justifying affirmative action and other race-based programs was a “pernicious aberration.” There have been trillions of dollars of transfer payments to black Americans through welfare, food stamps, loan payments, enterprise zones, minority contracting, and affirmative action. These giveaways deprive blacks of agency and create dependency, not a path toward self-actualization.
Chief Justice John Roberts said it well in the Supreme Court’s decision ending racial preferences in college admissions: “Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it. … [T]he guarantee of equal protection cannot mean one thing when applied to one individual and something else when applied to a person of another color.”
Gavin Newsom knows all this. He just doesn’t care.
Editor’s note: This article was originally published by RealClearPolitics and made available via RealClearWire.
Farewell to fake fuel efficiency stats, hello to tough future for EVs
Fake fuel economy has got to go.
That’s the message of a recent decision by the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Sent to the scrap heap: a Biden-era Department of Energy rule that critics say wildly inflated the fuel economy ratings of EVs — giving them an unfair regulatory advantage over gasoline and hybrid vehicles.
The court’s ruling was clear and direct: Federal agencies cannot manipulate timelines or definitions to advance a policy agenda without proper authorization from Congress.
This is a major correction to how the U.S. government measures vehicle efficiency, with consequences for automakers, consumers, and the future of the EV market.
Efficiency inflation
The case was brought by 13 Republican attorneys general, who argued that the DOE’s formula for calculating EV efficiency was misleading and legally indefensible. The court agreed, ruling that the Biden administration overstepped its authority by continuing to use an outdated, artificial formula that inflated electric vehicle performance under federal fuel economy standards.
At stake is the credibility of how America measures vehicle efficiency — a key driver in regulatory decisions that shape everything from automaker product lines to what cars consumers can buy.
For years, the DOE’s so-called petroleum equivalency factor has been used to translate electric power into miles-per-gallon equivalents. But the formula wasn’t based on realistic energy comparisons. Instead, it massively overstated how far an EV could travel on the energy equivalent of one gallon of gasoline — often rating electric cars above 100 MPGE, regardless of actual energy costs or grid efficiency.
Credits as currency
Rather than immediately fixing this issue, the Biden administration’s DOE planned a slow phase-out of the inflated metric between model years 2027 and 2030. That delay allowed automakers to continue claiming exaggerated efficiency numbers — and collecting fuel economy credits that made it easier to comply with the federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards.
Why does that matter? Because those credits act as a form of regulatory currency. A company that racks up credits through high-efficiency vehicles can use them to offset the sale of less efficient models or even sell them to other automakers.
In other words, the inflated EV math didn’t just look better on paper — it saved automakers millions of dollars in potential penalties while giving policymakers a talking point about “historic progress” in fuel efficiency that wasn’t based on real-world performance.
A direct rebuke
In its 3-0 decision, the Eighth Circuit ruled that the DOE had gone beyond its legal bounds. Agencies can’t rewrite laws through policy tweaks, the judges said, even under the guise of “phasing out” old rules. The DOE was required by statute to eliminate the flawed formula entirely — not stretch it over several more years of inflated numbers.
The court’s ruling was clear and direct: Federal agencies cannot manipulate timelines or definitions to advance a policy agenda without proper authorization from Congress.
That’s a significant rebuke not just to the DOE, but to a broader pattern of regulatory overreach that has characterized much of Washington’s EV push.
For the states that brought the lawsuit, the decision represents a major win for transparency, accountability, and consumer protection.
Pivoting on EVs
The implications for automakers are enormous. For years, inflated EV efficiency numbers helped carmakers meet federal fuel economy targets and avoid costly fines. Without that regulatory buffer, the industry will need to adapt quickly.
Automakers may now lose the valuable fuel economy credits they’ve relied on to remain compliant with CAFE standards, forcing them to find new ways to meet efficiency goals. That shift will require genuine engineering improvements — advances in aerodynamics, weight reduction, and hybrid technology — rather than relying on inflated paper-based advantages.
This change could also prompt a broader reassessment of electric vehicle strategy. If the regulatory math no longer tilts in favor of EVs, many manufacturers may slow their rollout plans or diversify their portfolios to include more hybrids and high-efficiency gasoline models.
The timing is significant: EV demand has cooled, dealer inventories are building up, and consumer interest has leveled off. Automakers such as Ford, General Motors, and Volkswagen have already scaled back or delayed certain EV programs in response to slower-than-expected sales and ongoing infrastructure limitations.
RELATED: Sticker shock: Cali EV drivers lose carpool exemption
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Consumer transparency
For everyday drivers, this ruling doesn’t ban EVs — but it brings more honesty to the system.
Consumers deserve accurate information about vehicle efficiency, cost of ownership, and environmental impact. Inflated fuel economy ratings distort that picture, making EVs appear more efficient than they are when accounting for charging losses, battery manufacturing, and electric grid emissions.
Now, car buyers can make more informed choices — whether that’s a hybrid, plug-in hybrid, or traditional gasoline vehicle.
In the long term, this ruling could encourage a broader mix of technology rather than a forced, one-size-fits-all transition to battery electrics.
The fight to come
This case isn’t just about EVs. It’s about how much power federal agencies should have to rewrite laws without Congressional oversight.
For decades, Washington has leaned on regulatory agencies to shape environmental and energy policy — often through complex formulas that most Americans never see. But as the Eighth Circuit emphasized, the ends don’t justify the means.
Even if the goal is cleaner transportation, the process has to respect legal boundaries. When agencies overreach, courts must intervene to restore balance.
This decision reinforces an important principle: Policy must be grounded in law, not ideology. And in a country that values free markets and consumer choice, regulations should enhance transparency, not distort it.
The ruling leaves several key questions unanswered, but it is likely just the beginning of a much larger policy fight. Congress could attempt to step in by rewriting the laws that govern fuel economy standards, giving the DOE clearer authority to define how electric vehicle efficiency is calculated. However, such legislative efforts would almost certainly face significant political gridlock in an already divided Congress.
Much-needed realism
Automakers, meanwhile, are expected to take a hard look at how they allocate their research and development budgets and how they plan future vehicle lineups.
Companies heavily invested in electric vehicles have shifted strategies, focusing more on hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and improved gasoline technologies — especially in markets where EV sales have already shown signs of slowing or flattening.
Finally, the court’s reasoning may open the door to further challenges that could include renewed scrutiny of EPA emissions standards and federal tax credits, both of which critics argue have tilted the market in favor of electric vehicles rather than allowing consumer demand and market forces to guide the transition naturally.
The Eighth Circuit’s decision is a defining moment for the future of American automotive policy. It doesn’t kill the EV market — but it forces it to stand on its own merits.
Electric vehicles have their place in the market, but consumers deserve truthful efficiency data and honest cost comparisons. Inflated numbers and creative accounting don’t serve innovation — they undermine it.
This ruling restores some much-needed realism to the national conversation about the future of mobility. It’s a win for transparency, for accountability, and most importantly, for consumers who want to make decisions based on facts rather than politics.
‘Narcosatanism’: The dark faith driving cartel horrors — ex-fed agent gives bone-chilling testimony
Everyone knows the deep-seated corruption and evil that characterize the Mexican drug cartels. But how many know just how sinister these narco syndicates truly get?
Dave Franke does. As a former Mexican federal agent who spent years conducting high-risk investigations into the country’s most violent drug cartels, he’s experienced firsthand the level of evil some of these criminal networks stoop to.
On a recent episode of “The Glenn Beck Podcast,” Franke exposed a brand of cartel so dark and nefarious that it warrants its own name: “narcosatanism.”
When Franke first started investigating cartels, he saw the typical brutality — beheadings, gunfights, torched vehicles, and targeted assassinations. But the longer he was in the field, the more exposure he got to the cartel’s dark religious underbelly.
Once he started raiding prisons and cartel lairs, Franke realized that the Santa Muerte cult — syncretic folk devotion to a female skeletal “Saint Death” figure that blends Catholic saints with indigenous death worship to justify ritualistic brutality — fuels the spiritual core of many cartels.
“We’d go in [prisons], and we’d inspect all of [the cartels’] blocks for contraband and come out with Santa Muerte carvings on clothing, drawings, on shirts, on paper, etched into wood tables — just everywhere,” says Franke, calling Santa Muerte worship “100% evil,” as the “saint” supposedly gives people permission to torture and kill in the most barbaric ways imaginable.
For example, Franke knew of a case where a cartel gang had a defibrillator, used to bring victims back to life for the explicit purpose of torturing and killing them again. In another case, a cartel recorded itself removing a victim’s face while he was still alive.
“There’s evil that exists in every country, but in Mexico it’s just over the top,” Franke tells Glenn.
It’s a place where “everyone’s trying to one-up each other because they want to impress or send a message, not just to the government and the normal people, but to their enemies. … So you always get someone trying to invent something.”
How does someone not only stomach such unmitigated barbarity but willingly continue to enter the fray?
Franke says it’s his faith that keeps him grounded.
“I have a strong faith in Jesus, but I also have a strong faith that no one’s going to send me anywhere one minute before my maker wants me there,” he says.
To hear more, including his warning about what the Mexican cartels are doing here in the United States, watch the full interview above.
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NYC man allegedly raped 15-year-old girl he lured online while on probation for disturbingly similar attack
A man who was released on the condition of seeking mental health treatment after raping an underage girl is accused of doing the same again.
William Credle, 24, sent a rideshare driver Monday to go pick up a 15-year-old girl he met online and bring her to his apartment in the Bronx, where he raped and beat her, according to police.
He was being sought for arrest when he allegedly attacked the other victim.
Credle allegedly kept her against her will and kept her tablet device away from her, which was her only means of communication. When she begged to be allowed to go home, he raped her again and punched her in the head, police said.
After the girl’s parents realized she was not at home in New Jersey, they tracked her location using the tablet to Credle’s apartment, according to police. New Jersey police contacted police in New York City, who arrested him at Hughes Avenue near East 187th Street at about 11:40 p.m. Tuesday.
Credle was charged with a slew of crimes, including rape, sexual abuse, and unlawful imprisonment.
Bronx prosecutor Nicole Beachboard said in court that Credle made the victim “smoke marijuana and drink from a Snapple bottle containing a liquid tasting of orange soda with a strange aftertaste.”
Even more disturbing, the suspect was on parole awaiting sentencing for a conviction of a similar crime in 2023.
“The defendant, then 21 years old, sent an Uber to a 14-year-old girl, who was transported by Uber to his apartment, and he forced her to engage in anal and vaginal sex,” Beachboard said. “The complainant alleged that he had drugs and a gun in his apartment.”
Credle was released on the condition that he seek mental and rehabilitative treatment, but he violated other terms, leading to a warrant being filed for his arrest.
RELATED: 10-year-old raped in Harlem after meeting man online, NYPD releases photos of suspect
He was being sought for arrest when he allegedly attacked the other victim.
Credle had also missed four court appearances and had been arrested for other violent criminal offenses, including one for allegedly punching his mother in the head.
He was held on $50,000 bail.
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Former Capitol Police officer a forensic match for Jan. 6 pipe bomber, sources say
A forensic analysis of a female former U.S. Capitol Police officer’s gait is a 94%-98% match to the unique stride of the long-sought Jan. 6 pipe-bomb suspect, according to a Blaze News investigation confirmed by several intelligence sources.
A source close to a congressional investigation of Jan. 6 additionally told Blaze News evidence has emerged recently that pointed toward law enforcement possibly being involved in the planting of the pipe bombs.
‘They were f**king in on it.’
A software algorithm that analyzes walking parameters including flexion (knee bend), hip extension, speed, step length, cadence, and variance rated Shauni Rae Kerkhoff, 31, of Alexandria, Va., as a 94% match to the bomb suspect shown on video from Jan. 5, 2021. The veteran analyst who ran the analysis for Blaze News said that based on visual observations the program can struggle with, he personally pegged the match at closer to 98%.
Kerkhoff, who was a Capitol Police officer for four and a half years, left the department in mid-2021 for a security detail at the Central Intelligence Agency, sources told Blaze News.
In that job, she reportedly serves on dignitary protection teams for officials including CIA Director John Ratcliffe and others, sources told Blaze News.
Kerkhoff’s residence in Alexandria, Va., appeared to be under the watch of law enforcement officers on Friday night. Blaze News editor in chief Christopher Bedford was pulled over by local police after stopping to observe the home. He was then allowed to leave.
Close to bomb suspect
The FBI, which failed to solve the case in nearly five years of investigation but indicated that it was closing in after Blaze News brought its investigation to intelligence sources, was feet from the Falls Church address of the pipe bomb suspect days after Jan. 6, according to the Blaze News investigation.
Former FBI Special Agent Kyle Seraphin realized Friday that he was doing surveillance next door to the woman now suspected of being the Jan. 6 pipe bomber.
“The FBI put us one door away from the pipe bomber within days of January 6, and we were deliberately pulled away for no logical or logically investigative reason,” Seraphin told Blaze News Friday. “And everything about that tells me that they were involved in a cover-up and have been since day one.
Former Capitol Police Officer Shauni Kerkhoff (above) playing soccer in Columbus, Ohio. The pipe bomb suspect approaches the Democratic National Committee building on Jan. 5, 2025.Columbus Eagles FC, U.S. Capitol Police
“They were f**king in on it,” Seraphin said.
Seraphin proposed doing a “knock and talk” at the door of an Air Force civilian employee whose address was tied to a vehicle that picked up the bomb suspect in Falls Church, Va., on Jan. 5, 2021.
Seraphin’s team spent two days watching the man, but Seraphin’s request to go face-to-face with the person of interest was denied. The team was pulled off the case the same night, he said.
Seraphin said he has given the same details publicly since 2021.
“There’s a personal reaction to it, which is the complete vindication that the things I’ve been saying and my recollection of being briefed on this stuff has been accurate for years and I’ve never changed my tune,” he said.
The FBI tied a DC Metrorail SmarTrip card allegedly used by the pipe-bomb suspect to an Air Force civilian employee but determined that while the man purchased the card, he did not use it. The suspect allegedly used the card to travel from D.C. to a stop in Falls Church after planting the pipe bombs. The Air Force civilian employee had purchased the SmarTrip card a year earlier.
Gait analysis
The forensic study, arranged by Blaze News, revealed that Kerkhoff is up to a 98% match to the gait of the pipe-bomb suspect. The findings were confirmed by several current intelligence sources who viewed the study results.
The source who did the comparison said the software rated the match at 94%. He put the figure at closer to a 96%-98% match, including a combination of human intelligence and the software analysis.
Samples of Kerkhoff’s gait were taken from Jan. 6 Capitol Police CCTV security video and compared to unedited video of the hoodie-wearing suspect walking through an alley near C Street to place an alleged pipe bomb behind the Capitol Hill Club about 8:16 p.m. on Jan. 5.
Two other sources familiar with gait analysis who viewed the video comparison and the software analysis told Blaze News they concurred that the video samples matched the gait of the gray-hoodie-wearing suspect.
An expert in gait analysis used a computer algorithm to compare the gait of the pipe-bomb suspect (left) to that of Officer Shauni Rae Kerkhoff and obtained a 94% match.FBI/U.S. Capitol Police
The mystery of the pipe bombs has hung over Jan. 6 for nearly five years. The FBI said an unknown subject placed pipe bombs under a park bench at the DNC and the Capitol Hill Club near the Republican National Committee building between 7:54 and 8:16 p.m. the night before the riot.
Discovery of the devices between 12:40 and 1:05 p.m. respectively on Jan. 6 drew already depleted police resources away from the Capitol just as a huge crowd breached the grounds at 12:53 p.m. A joint session of Congress convened at 1 p.m. to take up challenges to the certification of the Electoral College vote from the 2020 presidential election.
Kerkhoff was a Capitol Police officer from 2018 until mid-2021. She was a member of the department’s Civil Disturbance Unit and a training officer on the use of “less-lethal” crowd-control weapons that were extensively used on the Jan. 6 crowds.
Using lethal force Jan. 6
Blaze News reported Wednesday on Capitol Police surveillance video showing Kerkhoff and other CDU officers repeatedly using lethal force on the Jan. 6 crowd using “less-lethal” weapons. At least 16 members of the early crowd on the Capitol’s West Plaza were shot above the waistline with kinetic-impact projectiles fired from above on the Lower West Terrace.
Blaze News approached numerous intelligence officials two weeks ago with questions about findings from its investigation, which suggested that Kerkhoff matched the description and behavior of the suspected bomber, based on her distinctive walk, slight limp, 5’7″ frame, and other factors.
‘We have conducted all logical investigative steps.’
Footage of the pipe-bomb suspect walking with a backpack on the night of Jan. 5 was compared to Jan. 6 security video of Officer Kerkhoff in various places on Capitol grounds and footage of her playing professional soccer in Columbus, Ohio, in 2017.
The pipe-bomb video that Blaze News used in its analysis was not the footage released by the FBI. A video sleuth who embarked on a more than yearlong investigation told Blaze News the footage made public by the FBI was manipulated to downsample the frame rate. Although it shows the same scene as the FBI video, the clip used by Blaze News came from another source and is demonstrably clearer with much smoother motion.
Former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund told Blaze News he is eager to learn the results of the pipe-bomb investigation. But he said he had no awareness of any Capitol Police officer involvement in the pipe-bomb planting.
The pipe bombs were placed near the Democratic National Committee building (left) and the Capitol Hill Club (right). The bombs were discovered on Jan. 6, 2021.FBI photos
“I had no knowledge that it was being carried out, nor were they carrying it out with any authorization from the chief’s office,” Sund said. “I’m unaware of any legitimate reason that any Capitol Police or other law enforcement officer would be involved in the planting of those pipe bombs.”
The possible solution to the pipe-bomb mystery could have far-reaching reverberations.
Several officials familiar with the government’s investigative efforts said a new work is urgently needed to determine whether there were co-conspirators who aided and abetted the crimes, and to learn if federal agencies or employees knew who was involved in the bomb hoax and participated in a nearly five-year cover-up.
The FBI has faced questions over its failure to make meaningful investigative progress despite offering a $490,000 reward with the ATF, along with a $10,000 reward from the Metropolitan Police Department. Former FBI Director Christopher Wray claimed the bureau conducted an exhaustive investigation.
In congressional testimony, Wray said Jan. 6 was an indictment of right-wing domestic violent extremists. He said white-supremacy-fueled domestic violent extremism is one of the major threats to the nation.
The prospect of a Capitol Police officer being the perpetrator, if confirmed, could recast the entire story of Jan. 6. It could start to unravel the carefully crafted, zealously defended Democrat narrative that massive crowds of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol as part of an insurrection to keep Trump in office and deny Joseph R. Biden Jr. the presidency.
At the same time the FBI was not solving the pipe-bomb mystery, it was carrying out the largest investigation in its history to hunt down the thousands of Americans who went to the Capitol after Trump’s Jan. 6 speech at the Ellipse. The FBI under Wray worked in concert with the Biden Department of Justice to put hundreds of Trump supporters in prison.
Secret Service reaction to bomb
The U.S. Secret Service response to discovery of the pipe bomb under a park bench at the Democratic National Committee building drew fire from congressional investigators and the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General.
Speculation that the Secret Service knew the DNC pipe bomb was a dud began when U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) released Capitol Police security footage showing agents acting nonchalantly after a Capitol Police counter-surveillance officer informed them that he found a pipe bomb in the bushes behind the DNC building.
Agents stayed in their SUV eating lunch for two minutes before getting out to investigate. They stood feet from the suspected bomb and allowed pedestrians to walk past and vehicles to continue driving within feet of the device. Commuter trains that pass directly next to the DNC building continued to run.
‘The FBI put us one door away from the pipe bomber within days of January 6.’
Two weeks ago, Blaze News reported on the yearlong investigation of a video sleuth who found evidence he said showed the FBI was misleading the American public about the pipe bombs.
A user known as Armitas on social media said the videos released by the FBI had been manipulated to reduce the frame rate. He also provided evidence that the pipe bomber first tried to plant the devices outside the Congressional Black Caucus Institute and a congressional rooming house on C Street the evening of Jan. 5.
Shortly after Blaze News’ report on his findings, the FBI released higher-quality footage of the pipe-bomb suspect.
Armitas said he believes the device planted next to a bench in some bushes at the DNC building at 7:54 p.m. Jan. 5 was retrieved at 4:40 a.m. on Jan. 6 and replaced shortly before or nearly simultaneously to discovery of the bomb at 1:05 p.m. The device appears to have been broken by the bomb suspect outside the Congressional Black Caucus Institute on Jan. 5.
Much public discussion in the case dealt with the rare Nike Air Max Speed Turf sneakers the suspect wore — and whether the person was familiar with the areas around the DNC building and Capitol Hill Club.
A commuter train runs past the Democratic National Committee building on Jan. 6, 2021, while a pipe bomb rests under a park bench behind the DNC.U.S. Capitol Police
Armitas said he believes the suspect knew to take a mini-shortcut at the corner of 1st and C streets and escaped through a well-hidden church garden gate after planting the second device behind the Capitol Hill Club.
Gait analysis software can get accurate results even if the subject is walking at a faster-than-normal speed. It can also recognize gait on video shot from a long distance. It does not require the kind of video resolution needed for facial recognition, the analyst said. The bombing suspect’s head was covered by a hoodie and a COVID-19 face mask on Jan. 5.
The jerky motion seen on video released by the FBI would normally make gait analysis more difficult, the analyst said.
Long-stalled investigation
The FBI’s lack of progress in solving the pipe-bombs case drew increasing criticism from Republican members of Congress. In a July 2023 hearing, Massie grilled Wray about video Massie unearthed showing the man who apparently discovered the bomb at the DNC building.
Blaze News later learned that person was a plainclothes Capitol Police counter-surveillance officer.
“Have you interviewed that person?” Massie asked.
“We have conducted all logical investigative steps and interviewed all logical individuals at this point,” Wray replied.
Wray repeatedly stated that he would not discuss details of an active investigation, which prompted a rebuke from Massie.
“We can handle classified information and we fund your department, and so you need to provide that,” Massie said.
“Nine hundred days ago is when this happened, and you said you had total confidence we’d apprehend a subject,” Massie said. “We’ve found video that looks like somebody, a passerby, miraculously found this pipe bomb at the DNC and then notified the police. Miraculously, I say, because it was specifically the same, the precise time, to cause the maximum distraction from the events going on at the Capitol.”
Wray replied, “Well, again, I don’t want to speculate about specific individuals. I will tell you that we have done thousands of interviews, reviewed something like 40,000 video files, of which this is one. Assessed 500-something tips.”
FBI Director Christopher Wray was heavily criticized by members of Congress for not being more forthcoming with Jan. 6 pipe-bomb information. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call Inc. via Getty Images
In May 2024, Massie grilled Steven Dettelbach, then-director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, for not providing information about the pipe bombs or what ATF agents did on Jan. 6.
“Are you willing to confirm that the pipe bombs planted at the Capitol Hill Club and the DNC on January 6 couldn’t have gone off with the 60-minute kitchen timer if they were placed the day before?” Massie asked.
“Respectfully, Congressman, I do believe that this does go into the area of the investigation, which is ATF is supporting, the FBI is leading that investigation, and I cannot comment,” Dettelbach said.
Dettelbach would not answer which ATF official was the incident commander for the pipe bombs or whether the devices were planted as part of some training exercise.
In an interview with the House Committee on the Judiciary on June 7, 2023, the head of the FBI Washington Field Office said it would be “Investigation 101” to interview whoever found the pipe bomb at the DNC.
‘That’s just Investigation 101.’
“In any investigation, whoever discovers the device is somebody you need to talk to, right, because they could be the one that planted the device in the first place,” said Steven D’Antuono, assistant FBI director. “You know, so that’s just Investigation 101. So, but I am not aware of that video. I’m not aware of that person.”
Thirteen months before taking office as FBI director, Kash Patel seemed to raise the possibility that the pipe bombs were fakes.
“If the allegations [about the bomber] aren’t true,” Patel said on “The Benny Show,” “or there was some government ruse, or some FBI rogue source or whatever, I don’t know because I don’t have the case files, then there’s another corruption scandal on and around an election-time narrative.”
Ohio soccer star
Kerkhoff was born in November 1993 in Hamilton, Ohio, the youngest of three daughters of Brandt James Kerkhoff and the former Patricia Marie Hennin. Patricia Kerkhoff died in August 2024 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.
Among her skills, Shauni Kerkhoff said she can solve a Rubik’s Cube in less than a minute. She completed the 2018 Boston Marathon in 3 hours, 34 minutes, 9 seconds.
Kerkhoff attended Olentangy Orange High School in Lewis Center, Ohio, about 20 miles north of the capital city of Columbus. She was a soccer standout and top academic achiever who earned National Honor Society membership. She was the starting varsity goalie all four years.
She earned second-team All-State honors in 2011 and first-team All-Conference her junior and senior years. She allowed only 12 goals in her senior season. Kerkhoff was also goalie for the Blast FC Girls Academy in Delaware, Ohio, for six years.
She went on to play goalie for the Division 1 Temple Owls in Philadelphia. She started nine games as a freshman and recorded the highest save percentage in the Atlantic 10 Conference. She started in the next 45 games across three seasons. She also won academic honors, including the Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area Women’s Soccer Team.
Two U.S. Capitol Police counter-surveillance officers walk toward the Democratic National Committee building on Jan. 6, 2021. One of the officers would discover a pipe bomb under a park bench behind the DNC.U.S. Capitol Police
In the sixth game of her senior season in 2015, she collided hard with University of Pennsylvania midfielder Allie Trzaska and went down face-first in the grass.
“To hear someone scream like that, I knew instantly it had to be something serious,” teammate Shannon Senour told the Temple News.
Kerkhoff underwent five hours of surgery at the University of Pennsylvania for a broken tibia, one of the two bones running from the knee to the ankle. Her mother, Patti, later said that when she saw her daughter’s face turn “beet red” on the field, it could not be good. Once she saw Shauni on the sidelines, “I knew it was probably over.”
The American Athletic Conference Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year suddenly faced the end of her college soccer days. The injury and surgical repair left Kerkhoff with a slight limp in her right leg. That would become a fateful thing a decade later, when investigators studied her movements on Jan. 5 and 6, 2021.
The season-ending injury ended up being a blessing in disguise, Kerkhoff said. She had long been interested in Temple’s ProRanger program, a partnership with the National Park Service to produce park ranger law enforcement officers. Weeks after her broken leg, she was offered an accelerated track in the program.
Kerkhoff played a season in the Women’s Premier Soccer League with the Columbus Eagles Football Club.
“This is going to sound so demented when I say this, but I’m grateful that I broke my leg,” Kerkhoff told the Temple News. “Because had I not, I wouldn’t have pursued my dream job.”
Kerkhoff was hired by the Capitol Police in 2018. She testified in a Jan. 6 criminal trial that she applied for her current job before Jan. 6 and left the United States Capitol Police in good standing.
The Capitol Police did not respond to Blaze News’ request for comment on the pipe-bombs case. Blaze News also reached out to the FBI and DOJ, but did not get a reply by time of publication.
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PELOSI’S PICKS? Scott Jennings Jokes Trump Should Tap Wall Street Nancy, ‘We Could All Retire in Six Months!’ [WATCH]
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CNN’s lone GOP panelist Scott Jennings joked this week that President Trump should hire Nancy Pelosi to run Americans’ retirement accounts; “We could all be retired in six months!
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Despite a staggering 8,000% spike in death threats, more than 200,000 Americans have stepped forward to join U.
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Jay Jones made history this week as the first person to be elected attorney general of Virginia after fantasizing about murdering a political opponent’s children and urinating on their graves. So it makes sense that Jones would seek the counsel of another Virginia politician who knows what it takes to overcome a scandal involving moral depravity. (Step 1: Refuse to step down. Step 2: Be a Democrat.)
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Revealed: Iran Orchestrated Plot To Assassinate Israel’s Ambassador to Mexico
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targeted Israel’s ambassador to Mexico in a thwarted assassination attempt last summer, according to U.S. and Israeli officials cited in an Axios report.
The post Revealed: Iran Orchestrated Plot To Assassinate Israel’s Ambassador to Mexico appeared first on .
California Congressman Who Campaigned on No Corporate PAC Money Pledge Takes Tens of Thousands of Dollars From Corporate PACs
As a fresh-faced political candidate, Rep. Derek Tran (D., Calif.) promised voters he wouldn’t accept donations from corporate PACs. But once elected, he broke his word and accepted tens of thousands of dollars from corporate benefactors, campaign finance records show.
The post California Congressman Who Campaigned on No Corporate PAC Money Pledge Takes Tens of Thousands of Dollars From Corporate PACs appeared first on .
