U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth drew some controversy over the weekend after he called China a “real” and potentially “imminent” threat and said that the country was “credibly preparing to potentially use military force to alter the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific”.
The comments were made Saturday at the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore.
At least three members of the Kurdish Asayish security forces were killed on Sunday in northeastern Syria, according to the group. They said they were targeted by an ISIS cell during a patrol on the road between Raqqa and Hasakeh.
The patrol was targeted with a landmine, according to some sources. The official statement from Asayish also reported one person wounded in the attack, who is still receiving medical treatment.
ISIS has been launching an escalating number of attacks against northeast Syria, mostly targeting the Kurdish SDF and other Kurdish forces. It has been reported that they carried out 104 attacks so far in 2025.
Regional media details the following recent developments:
The resurgence is not limited to Kurdish-administered areas. On May 30, ISIS claimed responsibility for its first attack on the forces of Syria’s new transitional government, which took power following the ouster of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024. That attack, in Suwayda province, involved an improvised explosive device targeting a patrol from the Syrian Army’s 70th Division, killing one soldier and injuring three others.
The SITE Intelligence Group and SOHR confirmed the operation as ISIS’s first publicly acknowledged assault on the new regime.
Asayish said that “sweep operations and investigations” are being launches in the area to try to find those responsible for the latest attack. Operations against ISIS have also been on the rise in recent weeks, with the HTS government joining in on some operations targeting them.
The SDF reported that late last week they captured an ISIS cell in Deir Ezzor Governorate. They also reported that they had thwarted an ISIS attempt to plant a landmine in that area, killing one “ISIS mercenary.”
ISIS has claimed two attacks in the past two weeks targeting Syrian government forces, which are being presented as the first ISIS attacks against the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) government since they took power in December.
Meanwhile, HTS itself is not much removed from ISIS…
The current Syrian government are mix Isis with Al Qaeda (Bin Laden soldiers) that declared war on the west many times before they took over
But now they will deceive the west and play moderate to lift sanctions and get funding to build themselves and prepare for offensive pic.twitter.com/9AtDH5qrp3
ISIS said the first attack was in Suwayda Governorate, and that it killed or wounded seven soldiers. The second attack was near the first one but a week later, and targeted the US-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA), killing one and wounding three.
On the day of his second inauguration, President Donald Trump issued an executive order entitled “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship.”
Sounds innocent enough, right? But this is the infamous order declaring that birthright citizenship does not extend to children of parents who are in the United States illegally or temporarily.
“Not so fast,” said attorneys for illegal aliens and their children. “Our clients snuck across the border fair and square and they want the prize promised them by the Constitution – U.S. citizenship for all children born after they crossed the border.”
But is that really what the Constitution says? Here are the words from the 14th Amendment:
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.
As President Trump noted in his executive order, the words “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” have always been used to exclude certain classes of people from birthright citizenship. That included, for instance, children of diplomats, who enjoy immunity in their host country. For several decades, it also included Native Americans of certain tribes that had entered into treaties that provided at least partial sovereignty. Those exclusions are not in the Constitution, but they are in the law. So why can’t there be an exclusion for illegal immigrants?
Trump’s executive order correctly recognizes that the higher purpose of the 14th Amendment was to guarantee citizenship for the children of former slaves, who had not only been subject to the jurisdiction of the American government, but even subject to sale. They had earned citizenship through hardship, pain, and suffering – not through an accident of birth. Obviously, the authors of the amendment recognized the high value of citizenship, and it seems unlikely they would just hand it out willy-nilly.
Which brings us back to “subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” Were citizenship to be granted simply on the basis of where you were born, that phrase would not have been necessary. Yet there it is. As a matter of law, there is no formal, writ-in-stone definition of what “subject to jurisdiction” means. And that’s what the Trump administration hopes will provide enough ambiguity that the Supreme Court will agree that the president has the authority to declare under his executive powers that the children of illegal immigrants should not be considered birthright citizens because they fail the jurisdiction test.
Three district court judges have already ruled against Trump and issued “temporary nationwide injunctions” to prevent the executive order from being carried out. On May 15, the Supreme Court heard the case, partly to resolve whether district courts should have the authority to apply their rulings nationwide and, ultimately, to make its own determination on the legality of the executive order.
But even if the high court should reject presidential authority to interpret the Constitution, the argument does not end there. Section 5 of the 14th Amendment provides that “Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.” In other words, the rare trifecta of a Republican House, Republican Senate and Republican president offers a once-in-a-lifetime chance for Congress to establish once and for all that U.S. citizenship does not hinge on the ability of one’s parents to sneak past the Border Patrol before you are born.
Unfortunately, the Senate’s current filibuster rules would not allow for a simple majority to define “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” in such a way that it excludes the children of illegal immigrants. But since senators in recent years have allowed filibuster exemptions for confirmation of presidential nominations and for votes on budget “reconciliation” bills, there is no reason why some smart parliamentarian could not carve out a new exception narrowly tailored to allow a simple majority to define citizenship.
If that seems like using brute force to impose a nation-changing mandate upon the American people, so be it. As Justice Arthur Goldberg wrote in 1963, the Constitution is “not a suicide pact.” Yet allowing the children of well over 20 million illegal immigrants to become citizens of a country whose customs they ignore, whose language they often don’t understand or choose to learn, and whose laws their parents broke even before they were born, is an invitation to chaos and collapse.
If that’s not a national suicide pact, I don’t know what is.
Frank Miele, retired editor of the Daily Inter Lake in Kalispell, Mont., is a columnist for RealClearPolitics. His book “The Media Matrix: What If Everything You Know Is Fake” is available from his Amazon author page. Visit him at HeartlandDiaryUSA.com or follow him on Facebook @HeartlandDiaryUSA and on X/Gettr @HeartlandDiary.
NEW ENGLAND—On the eve of Easter Sunday, detectives in Narragansett, Rhode Island, were busy investigating crimes when messages began to pour in.
“It came from everywhere,” Detective Sgt. Brent Kuzman said, referring to the flurry of emails and phone calls to dispatch that pointed to an anonymous Facebook post on a group called New England SK (the SK referring to serial killer).
While the identity of the person behind the post was unavailable publicly, the post itself suggested the possibility of six bodies buried at Black Point near Scarborough Beach, each positioned vertically and facing the ocean.
And despite the post also stating it was a piece of fiction, Kuzman believed the message contained enough credibility to prompt further investigation.
That same day, on April 19, four detectives from the Narragansett PD and two Rhode Island State Police cadaver dog teams began searching along woodland trails and the Scarborough beachfront. The department also contacted the FBI.
The search lasted for 20 hours and yielded nothing.
“We used our whole detective division over two days,” Kuzman told The Epoch Times. “We had to put off every other case. The area we looked at was an extensive amount of land.”
Kuzman said the investigation concluded the post was a “100 percent” hoax, adding that the creator of the post has since deleted the message, canceled the account, and remains unidentified. The police declined to provide a screenshot of the post to The Epoch Times.
This, however, is just one chapter in a story of murder, conspiracy, and hoaxes revolving around a supposed serial killer, and all being played out on social media.
On the Side of Caution
Social media had been buzzing for months following the discovery of 13 bodies and skeletal remains in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island between March and April.
Most of the remains found were female, including two who had been reported missing in 2024.
In Massachusetts, three cases were identified as homicides, which led to two separate arrests on murder charges. Other causes of death are still undetermined or involve circumstances that police are unable to disclose.
Two cases involve incomplete sets of human remains.
On March 27, a hunter searching for deer antlers found a portion of a human skull in Plymouth, Massachusetts, according to Boston25 News. Police closed off the area as part of the ongoing investigation.
The department released a statement the next day, stating there was “no threat to public safety.”
On May 4, police reported the discovery of a possible human leg bone near the home of pop singer Taylor Swift in an upscale area of Westerly, Rhode Island. The remains have not been identified.
The Epoch Times contacted the Westerly police for a comment.
Linking Cases
The chatter and differing opinions on social media about a possible serial killer have continued with each grisly discovery.
“LE [law enforcement] still saying it is not a SK [serial killer]. I think now is when they should be most concerned. This ‘killer(s)’ is getting more brazen. They are calling out for recognition,” read one Facebook post.
Another Facebook post read: “I can understand not wanting to jump to conclusions or cause a panic, but why does it always seem like the police are just dead set against even considering the possibility of a serial killer?”
A May 1 post states: “While some of the people found have indeed been victims of foul play, there are others who seem more like a victim of their own demons.”
Kuzman believes there is no evidence linking all the cases, and that social media users have been selectively focusing on certain cases to support a serial killer narrative.
“I feel like the whole movement behind this is cherry-picking—like they have a conclusion—and they’re trying to justify whatever data they have of there being a serial killer,” he said.
“There’s been nothing [from law enforcement] about a potential suspect in a serial killing in this region at all,” he said.
But the story has developed a “life of its own.”
On April 24, Hampden County District Attorney Anthony Gulluni issued a statement addressing growing concerns after police found a woman unresponsive on a bike path near the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Meggan Meredith, 45, was pronounced dead shortly after 8 a.m. on April 22. Authorities have classified her death as a homicide.
“We understand the unease that comes with such acts of violence,” Gulluni said, “and we want the community to know that each of these cases is being thoroughly investigated in close coordination with our law enforcement partners.”
He advised people to exercise caution when sharing social media posts that aim to spread fear and misinformation.
“Unverified claims can compromise active investigations and contribute to a sense of chaos that does not reflect the full picture,” Gulluni said.
Serial Killers Everywhere
Multiple law enforcement agencies across the country have expressed similar concerns about social media posts claiming that serial killers are active throughout the United States.
Law enforcement classifies a serial killer as someone who murders two or more individuals in separate incidents. Usually, it’s for psychological pleasure, thrill-seeking, attention, or financial gain.
On Dec. 5, 2024, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department addressed social media claims about a serial killer targeting individuals as part of a nationwide “scam.”
“Please be assured that we would inform you immediately of any potential threat to your safety or the safety of our community. Your safety is our greatest priority,” the department posted on Facebook.
On Dec. 9, 2024, police in Odessa, Texas, posted a similar warning on Facebook about a possible serial killer “knocking on doors in Odessa.”
“These posts are intended to cause unwarranted public harm and have been determined to be false,” the post added.
The Eastland Police Department in Texas also addressed allegations of a serial killer, determining them to be false.
“Please be assured that there is no credible threat to our community. Similar posts have appeared in various regions and are designed to create panic and fear,” the department wrote on its Facebook page.
“We urge everyone to verify information through your local law enforcement departments before sharing.”
On Jan. 31, police in Camden, South Carolina, warned residents about a scam circulating on social media that falsely claimed serial killers were targeting several states.
The posts included random names and mugshots to lend credibility to the misinformation.
“Once the post goes viral, they edit the content to promote scams (fake rental listings, phishing links). Do not share or engage these posts,” the notice added.
“Stay informed and always verify information from trusted sources.”
Serial killings make up less than 1 percent of all homicides, according to the World Population Review.
Since the 1990s, the rate of serial killings has declined, with California having the highest number of known victims at 1,777 between 1992 and 2019. Texas had the second highest number of victims with 984, followed by Florida with 933, Illinois and New York round out the top five.
Spreading or discussing false information or rumors on social media is generally not considered a crime under federal law. However, it can lead to legal consequences if done with malicious intent or if it causes harm.
Under Title 18 U.S. Code 1038, known as the false information and hoaxes law, it is a federal offense to engage in any conduct intended to convey false or misleading statements about a major crisis to incite fear and panic.
Kuzman noted that the Facebook post mentioning a gravesite in Narragansett seemed intended to provoke reactions from social media users. Nonetheless, investigators determined it did not constitute a crime.
A committee was appointed to review and evaluate existing research on the topic in order to “reach some definitive conclusions on the relationship between smoking and health in general.”
And, as Statista’s Felix Richter reports, while it may seem absurd from today’s point of view that the adverse effects of smoking were ever in doubt, 60 years ago the “tobacco-health controversy” was exactly that: a controversy.
After consulting more than 7,000 articles about the relationship between smoking and disease, the committee did come to a definite conclusion, however, making its report “Smoking and Health” a landmark study in the fight against smoking.
“On the basis of prolonged study and evaluation of many lines of converging evidence, the Committee makes the following judgement: Cigarette smoking is a health hazard of sufficient importance in the United States to warrant appropriate remedial action.”
(Smoking and Health, 1964)
The report found that smoking is a cause of lung cancer and laryngeal cancer in men, a probable cause of lung cancer in women, the most important cause of chronic bronchitis and a contributing factor to cardiovascular diseases, resulting in a higher death rate from coronary artery disease among male cigarette smokers. After its release, it dominated newspaper headlines for days and was later ranked among the top news stories of 1964.
And while some tobacco control measures, such as warning labels on cigarette packs, were implemented promptly, cigarette sales in the U.S. continued to rise until the early 1980s, which is when they peaked at more than 630 billion cigarettes per year.
Over the past four decades, measures to discourage smoking and protect the public from second-hand smoke have become more and more strict and wide-ranging, resulting in falling tobacco use prevalence in the United States and large parts of the world. Looking at the U.S., the CDC considers the antismoking campaign a “public health success with few parallels in history”, as it achieved its goal despite “the addictive nature of tobacco and the powerful economic forces promoting its use.”
According to WHO estimates, 21.7 percent of all people aged 15 and older used tobacco in 2020, down from 32.7 percent at the turn of the millennium. As the cvhart above nicely illustrates, the tobacco use rate is highest among 45- to 54-year-olds at 27.5 percent, while it’s just 13.8 percent among 15- to 24-year-olds and 13.5 percent among those aged 85 and older.
Judy Sowers is the matriarch of a family that has seen generations work at “the Mead,” which is what the paper mill in Chillicothe is known as by many locals.
On May 8, Sowers gathered around a kitchen table with two of her daughters, her brother, and her son-in-law in a house across the street from the mill and its red-and-white striped tower.
Their conversation was on a topic that is on the minds of residents, business owners, and local officials in this community of 21,895 in the Appalachian foothills of southern Ohio.
Pixelle Specialty Solutions—and its parent, private equity firm H.I.G. Capital—announced on April 15 that it would be shutting down its paper mill in Chillicothe.
The company said the closure was necessary as part of its effort to “align its operation footprint with long-term business objectives.”
Jobs are on the line for around 830 workers. The company originally intended to shut down the mill in phases over the weeks that followed the announcement.
The decision was delayed after freshman Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) secured a commitment from H.I.G. Capital, which bought the mill in 2022, to pause the facility’s closure until the end of the year.
Chillicothe is known as the “Paper City.” The mill was opened in 1812.
Sowers’s grandparents worked at the Mead. So did John Angus Sr., Sowers’s father. Several other family members have spent their careers at the mill.
“If you didn’t work there, you had family work there, or you knew someone who worked there. Kids grow up hearing stories from generations of family members about working at the mill,” Sowers, 74, said.
John Angus Jr., Sowers’s brother, recalled his 42-year career that stretched from his early 20s to retirement age.
“It took me five years to get on there after I graduated from high school. At the time, it was a job many people wanted to have if they wanted to stay here,” John Angus Jr. told The Epoch Times.
“I worked shift work for almost 43 years, so I missed a lot of stuff with the family, but it put bread and butter on the table. It would be a shame to see it close.”
Chillicothe became the first capital of the Northwest Territory in 1800 and Ohio’s first capital in 1803.
Chillicothe’s downtown has been revitalized over the past decade and serves as the centerpiece of the city, featuring an ambience reminiscent of a Norman Rockwell painting.
Restaurants, antique shops, coffeehouses, taverns, and Grandpa Joe’s Candy Shop occupy historic buildings reflecting an architecture from a bygone era.
With its downtown and attractions such as the amphitheater, where an outdoor drama about Shawnee Indian Chief Tecumseh still plays every summer, Chillicothe draws outside visitors.
Most of the businesses rely on local traffic, though, provided by major employers such as Adena Regional Medical Center, two state prisons, a VA Medical Center, a Kenworth semi-truck manufacturing plant, and the mill.
Trent Fannin and his wife opened Rost Coffee in downtown Chillicothe in 2016. The shop buzzes with traffic from mill workers, employees from downtown businesses, and high school and college students.
“Downtown Chillicothe has a lively pulse that downtowns in most towns across southern Ohio don’t have. It’s a destination, and hopefully, we don’t find out the impact of losing the mill. We’re concerned, but hopeful,” Fannin said.
Residents and local and state legislators are hopeful that Pixelle finds a way to keep the mill open long term or sell it to a company committed to making a long-term commitment to Chillicothe.
It was purchased by Col. Daniel Mead of Dayton, around 75 miles northwest of Chillicothe, in 1890. The Mead was one of the largest paper manufacturers in the country for more than 100 years.
In 2002, the Mead merged with Westvaco in a $3 billion stock transaction.
The headquarters of MeadWestvaco was relocated from Dayton to Connecticut, and then to Richmond, Virginia.
After learning about the plan to shutter the mill, Moreno wrote a letter to H.I.G. CEO Sami Mnaymneh, charging the executive with “selfish business decisions and corporate greed.”
“H.I.G. Capital is an investment firm with $69 billion of equity capital under management, riddled with Wall Street executives, including Mr. Mnaymneh, a billionaire five times over and one of the wealthiest people in the world,” Moreno wrote.
The firm’s business model is “to suck the proverbial blood out of companies it acquires until the companies declare bankruptcy, leaving the employees and communities it decimates behind,” Moreno said, pointing to the outcomes of some of the other transactions the private equity firm has made.
Ukrainian Drone Swarm Attack Marks Grim “Inflection Point In History Of Warfare”
Western Intelligence agencies have long raised concerns over the potential for adversaries to hide and deploy missile systems inside standard shipping containers, making virtually any cargo ship, truck, or rail car an undetectable covert mobile launch platform.
This past weekend, those fears were officially realized when Ukrainian forces launched a fleet of suicide drones deep inside Russia using shipping containers transported by tractor-trailers — effectively bypassing early warning missile defense systems.
We found a warehouse where containers with drones were collected.
Chelyabinsk, Sverdlovsk tract 28A. It was rented for 350,000 rubles. That’s why the truck in the Amur region had Chelyabinsk license plates – they were leaving from there. pic.twitter.com/rf5DJy8RDa
— Elizaveta Igorevna 🇷🇺 🇷🇺 (@ElisaIgorevna) June 1, 2025
The mobility, deniability, and camouflage of these containers made it a nightmare for Russia, with several long-range bombers at various air bases destroyed by $100 drones with warheads.
“Ukraine just mounted an attack that marks a turning point in the history of warfare Hundreds of drones were pre-deployed and then struck 40+ aircraft 1000+ km inside of Russia >$1B in damage by <$1m of drones Critical infra is no longer safe,” Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire wrote on X.
Ukraine just mounted an attack that marks a turning point in the history of warfare
Hundreds of drones were pre-deployed and then struck 40+ aircraft 1000+ km inside of Russia
Castle Island Ventures’ Nic Carter responded to Maguire’s post with, “Trying to think through the implications of this. Asymmetric/ irregular warfare just became way more viable. Traditional organized militaries are toast.”
Trying to think through the implications of this. Asymmetric/ irregular warfare just became way more viable. Traditional organized militaries are toast.
The nightmare scenario for military and homeland defense planners is intermodal shipping containers outfitted with weaponized kamikaze AI drones that can blend in on commercial transport modes (cargo ships, trucks, trains).
Containerized drone systems significantly obscure the line between commercial and military assets, enabling strategic deception and surprise.
The next containerized drone-based attack is not a question of if, but when. This is the new face of warfare — covert, mobile, and nearly impossible to detect until it’s too late.
Also, the U.S. now faces growing vulnerabilities, not only from irregular warfare but also from internal security lapses after the Biden-Harris regime flooded the nation with ten-plus million illegal aliens, some of whom are linked to terror.
When Lord Acton, the great nineteenth-century historian and champion of liberty, visited Harvard in 1853, he found that the college’s philosophy was common sense realism. Acton wrote that by “the third year, Reid becomes a textbook.” The Reid in question was Thomas Reid, author of An Inquiry into the Human Mind on the Principles of Common Sense (1764). The common sense realist philosophers—especially Reid, Adam Smith, and Francis Hutcheson—fundamentally shaped the thinking of America’s Founders and provided the foundation for teaching and learning in American colleges until Acton’s visit and beyond.
Harvard was not alone in its dedication to Reid and common sense realism. In fact, as Arthur Herman notes, common sense realism was “virtually the official creed of the American Republic.” Allen Guelzo puts it this way:
“Before the Civil War, every major [American] collegiate intellectual was a disciple of Scottish common sense realism.”
In his book Scottish Philosophy in America, James Foster states that it provided the “philosophical orientation… at Princeton, Harvard, and Yale, as well as newly founded colleges stretching from Rhode Island to Texas.”
By the time of Acton’s visit to Harvard, although it was then—and is still today—referred to as Scottish, America had become the real home of common sense realism and the center of its continued development. James McCosh, president of Princeton from 1868 to 1888, is a prime example of this trend. McCosh published prolifically, was admired for his clear and readable style, and was one of many American thinkers who kept common sense realism strong in the nineteenth century.
The core idea of common sense realism is that self-evident truths exist and can be known through common sense; common sense enables us to recognize what is self-evidently true. Read the Founders, and you will find them constantly referring to self-evident truths. They drew their understanding of self-evidence from Reid. Because the Founders’ thinking relied on Reid’s conception of self-evident truth, Harvard, Princeton, and other institutions at the time aimed to teach American college students how to think like Americans.
We have heard and read these words— “We hold these Truths to be self-evident…”—all our lives. To understand the Founders’ conception of self-evident truth is to approach the very heart of the American founding. Jefferson and the other Founders held that “all men are created equal” is self-evidently true. According to Lincoln, it is “an abstract truth, applicable to all men and all times.” For more than a hundred years, American colleges dedicated themselves to teaching the philosophy that the Founders and Lincoln relied on in making that declaration.
Things have changed at Harvard and virtually every other American university. As in the early days of the Republic, American universities today share a philosophical orientation.
Postmodernism rejects truth and common sense. This explains how a Supreme Court Justice can declare that she does not know what a woman is; Justice Jackson received her bachelor’s degree from Harvard College and her law degree from Harvard Law School. But postmodern academics are often not content simply to teach their students to reject truth and common sense—the foundation of the Founders’ idea of America. They also frequently indoctrinate students in Progressivism, the systematic rejection of the Founders’ idea of America itself. This is the explanation for all those fabulously privileged young Americans demonstrating their violent rejection of the American way of life by rioting in the streets and chanting anti-American slogans. They could not make their anti-Americanism any clearer—and, for the most part, they were taught this anti-Americanism in American schools and universities.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on June 1 removed a previously published list of so-called sanctuary jurisdictions across the United States, which were accused of failing to comply with federal immigration law.
The move comes following criticism from a national sheriffs’ group that has mostly been supportive of Trump’s tough-on-crime policy approach.
In a statement, National Sheriffs’ Association President Sheriff Kieran Donahue said, “This list was created without any input, criteria of compliance, or a mechanism for how to object to the designation. Sheriffs nationwide have no way to know what they must do or not do to avoid this arbitrary label.”
On May 29, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, acting under the direction of President Donald Trump, published a list encompassing jurisdictions across 35 states—including city, county, and state government—that Noem said were “endangering Americans and our law enforcement in order to protect violent criminal illegal aliens.”
Following the criticism, the page where the list had been published was taken offline.
According to Donahue, DHS and other officials had not provided sufficient details on the methodology and criteria used to determine which jurisdictions qualified as sanctuaries.
The publication of the list “has not only violated the core principles of trust, cooperation, and partnership with fellow law enforcement, but it also has the potential to strain the relationship between Sheriffs and the White House administration,” the statement said.
During meetings between the group and administration officials, “no political appointee for the administration could explain who compiled, proofed, and verified the list before publication,” Donahue said.
The list came in response to an April 28 executive order signed by Trump requesting that the DHS produce “a list of States and local jurisdictions that obstruct the enforcement of Federal immigration laws.” Jurisdictions identified as sanctuaries could be eligible to lose federal funding.
In some cases, entire states were marked sanctuaries, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, as well as the District of Columbia.
Some of the jurisdictions labeled sanctuaries fell in traditionally Republican states.
These include Anchorage, Alaska; Atlanta and surrounding counties; Boise, Idaho; Monroe County, Indiana; Douglas County and Lawrence, Kansas; Louisville, Kentucky, and four counties in the state; New Orleans; 10 counties in Nebraska; five counties in North Carolina; seven counties in North Dakota; and Nashville and one county in Tennessee.
Other states identified as having at least one county or city in violation of federal law include Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
Trump’s earlier executive order called for department chiefs and other relevant officials to “identify appropriate federal funds to sanctuary jurisdictions, including grants and contracts, for suspension or termination, as appropriate.”
It also called on the attorney general and DHS secretary to “pursue all necessary legal remedies and enforcement measures to end these violations and bring such jurisdictions into compliance with the laws of the United States.”
The push to strip these jurisdictions of federal funds aligns with a long-held Republican objective to tighten border security and enforce immigration law.
The results of a chromosome test on Olympic gold medalist Imane Khelif at the World Boxing Championships in March 2023 confirm the Algerian boxer is, as many have suspected, a biological male.
In 2023, Khelif was disqualified by the International Boxing Association (IBA) for “failing gender eligibility tests.”
The leaked medical report, first published by 3 Wire Sports on Sunday, showed Khelif’s DNA showed “markers with male karyotypes.”
A separate medical report in June 2023 found that Khelif was born with a deficiency in his sexual organs known as “5-alpha reductase type-2,” showing XY chromosomes, internal testes and a “micropenis.”
The results of a hormone test showed that Khelif had a “male-type testosterone level of 14.7.” In females, testosterone does not exceed the level of 3.
According to the National Library of Medicine, many people with 5-alpha reductase are “assigned female at birth,” but are in fact, “genetically male.”
Despite this, Khelif was deemed eligible to compete at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics, where he “won” the women’s boxing gold medal representing Algeria.
World Boxing on Friday declared that in the future, Khelif will need to undergo sex screening to be eligible for any further boxing matches against women.
Khelief had previously expressed interest in competing at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
World Boxing, which is set to run testing for the Los Angeles Games, requires any person over 18 required to undergo PCR testing to determine their sex. The tests will reportedly be “conducted by nasal/mouth swab, saliva or blood.”
In a letter to the Algerian Boxing Federation, World Boxing stated that Khelif will not be able “to compete in the female category at the Eindhoven Box Cup or any World Boxing event” until he undergoes the sex testing.
“Imane Khelif may not participate in the female category at the Eindhoven Box Cup, 5-10 June 2025 and any World Boxing event until Imane Khelif undergoes genetic sex screening in accordance with World Boxing’s rules and testing procedures,” the letter read.
“To all the people that insisted Imane Khelif was a woman because his passport said so, you were wrong. We were right. Sincerely, People with functioning eyes and a shred of honesty,” wrote women’s sports advocate Riley Gaines on X.
Author JK Rowling posted on X that Khelif’s ban from boxing is “a win for women because they won’t be battered to death in the ring by men.”
“I never said and never believed Khelif was trans. I knew* he was a man. The gender activists who created a political climate in which sex testing was seen as ‘bigoted’ are as culpable as the IOC for the travesty that ensued. *via a highly credible source who saw his test results,” Rowling wrote.
Broadcaster Piers Morgan also weighed in on X: “The biology-denying woke brigade abused and shamed me for saying it was outrageous and dangerous for Khelif to be beating up women at the Olympics. I’m ready for their apology, but won’t hold my breath.”
