more open, more competitive

'Dumped 3,000 turbine blades'

armed men blocking the armored vans

'Leads to the oppression and possible persecution of minority faiths'

Divorcé philanthropist MacKenzie Scott gave $7.1 billion to various nonprofits and charities last year, a recent blog post from the reclusive giver claimed. “Since my post last December, I’ve given $7,166,000,000 to organizations doing work all over the world,” she wrote. Scott claimed she had donated $2.6 billion in 2024 and $2.1 billion in 2023. […] The post MacKenzie Scott Donated $7.1 Billion to Nonprofits in 2025, a Major Increase with More to Come appeared first on Good News Network.

News BookCon Authors Publish Open Letter Condemning BookCon Organizer’s Parent Company RELX Over ICE Ties Authors Alix E. Harrow, Olivie Blake, and more raise concerns about BookCon 2026 By Molly Templeton | Published on February 9, 2026 Photo: ReedPop Comment 0 Share New Share Photo: ReedPop Last year, it was announced that BookCon—the New York City book culture convention presented by ReedPop—would return. The event, set for April 18 & 19 at NYC’s Javits Center, is already sold out, and the website lists featured guests that include Chuck Tingle, Carmen Maria Machado, Holly Black, and Heated Rivalry author Rachel Reid, among many others. Those guests include authors Alix E. Harrow and Olivie Blake, who have put together an open letter condemning ReedPop parent company RELX for its connections to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. As the letter—addressed to RELX CEO Erik Engstrom, Nick Luff (CFO), and Paul Ashton Walker (Chair)—explains: We are some of the authors that make events like BookCon—run by your subsidiary, ReedPop—possible. Another of your subsidiaries, LexisNexis, has a $22.1 million contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), supplying them with the data they need to surveil and terrorize our neighbors, friends, and families. We condemn any collaboration with ICE and call for the immediate termination of all contracts between RELX and ICE. The letter follows growing concerns about ReedPop’s parent company. As readers and authors began to note and criticize the connection between RELX and ICE, ReedPop released a statement on social media, saying: We at ReedPop do not sell customer information to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.ReedPop/RX [Reed Exhibitions] operates entirely at arm’s length and independently. None of our data is shared for marketing or commercial use by any other entity within our parent company. ReedPop’s statement links to its privacy policy, which is less clear about what happens to users’ personal information. It reads, in part, “Depending on the Service provided, we share personal information with: Our affiliates, trading names and divisions within the Reed Exhibitions group of companies worldwide and certain RELX companies that provide technology, customer service and other shared services functions.” ReedPop also runs Emerald City Comic Con, New York Comic Con, PAX, and C2E2, among other conventions. [end-mark] The post Authors Publish Open Letter Condemning BookCon Organizer’s Parent Company RELX Over ICE Ties appeared first on Reactor.

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL — Heritage Action, a conservative grassroots 501(c)(4) organization, will key vote the SAVE America Act on its legislative scorecard. The SAVE America Act, recently introduced by Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, would institute national requirements of proof of citizenship to register to vote, as well as photo identification to vote in federal elections. “This action would hold members accountable to the conservative base that is counting on Congress to advance the President’s agenda,” Heritage Action told The Daily Signal. The designation comes as the House lines up a vote on the bill later this week. The SAVE America Act is an updated version of the SAVE Act. It adds a provision requiring individuals to present an eligible photo identification document to vote to the original voter integrity bill passed by the House in June. Roy, who first introduced the bill under President Joe Biden’s administration, told The Daily Signal that he is “encouraged to see” that Heritage Action “stands behind” the updated bill, which already included requirements for voters to provide proof of citizenship and for non-citizens to be removed from existing voter rolls. “This updated legislation reflects common sense: we must require basic proof to ensure only American citizens vote in American elections,” Roy added. Heritage Action’s decision to key vote the bill for its legislative scorecard comes after President Donald Trump urged Congress for more election integrity legislation. “America’s elections are rigged, stolen, and a laughingstock all over the world,” the president wrote on Truth Social last week. “We are either going to fix them, or we won’t have a country any longer. I am asking all Republicans to fight.” Though Pew Research recently found that 83% of Americans support voter ID measures, Senate Democrats have stated they will try to prevent the legislation from reaching the president’s desk. In a press release last week, Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., claimed that the SAVE Act would “disenfranchise millions of Americans,” and “is reminiscent of Jim Crow era laws.” Schumer added that the bill will be “dead on arrival” if it makes its way to the Senate and also threatened “another prolonged Trump government shutdown” if the legislation were attached to an appropriations package. President Donald Trump told reporters on Friday that he supports using the standing or talking filibuster to pass election integrity measures. “I’d love to use the [standing] filibuster,” the president said. “Voter ID is very important.” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., recently told reporters that “some of our colleagues in the Senate are interested in” using the standing filibuster. “We will have a conversation about it,” the majority leader added. “Nothing decided.” Despite the ambiguity over a potential vote on the SAVE America Act in the Senate, Roy remains optimistic about the growing support behind his bill. “While a small number of Democrats supported the SAVE Act last year, and I am encouraged by comments from Senator Fetterman, Democrat leadership continues to support voting by non-citizens,” Roy said. The post EXCLUSIVE: Heritage Action Makes SAVE America Act ‘Key Vote’ appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Story of Little Scottish Girl Who Took a Whack for Wielding an Axe Now Jumps Its Track

Despite overwhelming support from the American electorate, over the past month Democrats have ratcheted up attacks on Republican-led nationwide voter ID legislation. On Sunday, Sen. John Fetterman (D-Penn.) slammed the attacks from his party in an appearance on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”During the wide-ranging interview, the conversation turned toward the SAVE Act, a bill that would require voters to show government-issued identification to register to vote in federal elections. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 36 states currently have voter identification laws. ‘As a Democrat, I do not believe it’s radical or extreme to just produce ID to vote.’Host Maria Bartiromo asked Fetterman, “Why it is so difficult to get the SAVE Act into the portfolio and onto the floor? What’s wrong with having an ID to vote?”The senator responded, “As a Democrat, I do not believe that it’s unreasonable to show ID just to vote. And I remind everybody that less than a year ago in Wisconsin, they added that to the constitution by a 63%, you know, passing to put that in the constitution, that you have to show ID to vote.”Fetterman’s statement stands in stark contrast to his fellow Democratic senators, such as Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who went on ABC News’ “This Week” to fearmonger about voter ID laws by saying people "don't have the proper Real ID, driver's license, don't have the ID necessary to vote, even though they are citizens. This is another way to simply try to suppress the vote.”RELATED: 'Vast majority' of Americans of all races agree with Nicki Minaj about voter ID, says CNN analyst Fetterman responded to those sorts of attacks from members of his party by highlighting the results of a recent Wisconsin election. He said, “They also elected a very, very liberal justice into their supreme court. So it’s not a radical idea for regular Americans to show your ID to vote.”On February 2, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) labeled the SAVE Act “Jim Crow 2.0” in a Senate floor speech. The minority leader said, “Now as for the SAVE Act itself: It has nothing to do with protecting our elections and everything to do with federalizing voter suppression. The SAVE Act is nothing more than Jim Crow 2.0.”Fetterman is not buying that characterization: “Those things are not Jim Crow or anything.” The senator from Pennsylvania’s position is in line with a large majority of American voters. CNN polling analyst Harry Enten recently told his audience, “A photo ID to vote is not controversial in this country. It is not controversial by party — and it is not controversial by race. The vast majority of Americans agree with Nicki Minaj.”Minaj has also expressed support for voter ID laws.Enten’s data showed that over 75% of Americans favor a photo ID to vote, including the highest support on record in 2025 at 83%. In closing, Fetterman said, “As a Democrat, I do not believe it’s radical or extreme to just produce ID to vote.”Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

The Department of Justice's publication last month of over 3 million additional pages, 2,000 videos, and 180,000 images from the Jeffrey Epstein files provided the public with new insights into the child sex offender, his degeneracy, his business dealings, and his international network of affluent friends.The files, which are replete with odd and in many cases damning communications — already triggering at least one criminal investigation in the United Kingdom — have prompted renewed interest in a number of theories about Epstein.While many sleuths poring over the files have zeroed in on references to cannibalism and accusations of Epstein and his inner circle allegedly engaging in "ritualistic sacrifice," others appear more focused on what the files have to say about the sex offender's reported death at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City.Citing discrepancies in the official narrative, admissions about falsified records, and viral claims on social media, skeptics have long theorized that Epstein did not kill himself but was murdered or possibly even secreted away in August 2019.Despite the newly available autopsy photos and details, these theories are enjoying a second life due in part to certain details in the new files, a viral image of a bearded look-alike, and signs of activity on a video game account name associated with the sex offender.Epstein in Tel AvivAn image went viral earlier this month purportedly showing a bearded Jeffrey Epstein alive and well in Israel. On closer examination, however, the image — which was popularized in part by a self-described "unapologetic Muslim Palestinian" and by a Middle Eastern-based news account — showed signs of AI manipulation and/or generation.For starters, the wording on the street signs is reportedly "gibberish," providing not only incorrect Hebrew and Arabic lettering but in one case referencing a road that doesn't appear to exist.RELATED: Bill Clinton accuses GOP of setting up 'kangaroo court' over Epstein testimony — and demands public hearing The Metropolitan Correctional Center. Photo by Don Emmert / AFP via Getty Images.The supposed photograph of Epstein in Tel Aviv also appears to be a cropped version of an image that appeared days earlier bearing a Gemini AI watermark on the subreddit r/hardaiimages — a destination for AI-generated images designed to give viewers pause.The pre-emptive death noticeIn line with the official narrative, the newly released FBI New York Field Office report regarding Epstein's death — which includes images of paramedics apparently attempting to revive the sex offender, an image of his corpse without his arm tattoo visible, images of his broken hyoid bone and breaks in his thyroid cartilage, and images of his apparent scene of death — asserts that Epstein was found unresponsive and died as the result of an apparent suicide on the morning of Aug. 10, 2019.However, one of the other newly released files suggested that Epstein died a day earlier.In the document, which is dated Aug. 9, 2019, then-U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey Berman stated, "Earlier this morning, the Manhattan Correctional Center confirmed that Jeffrey Epstein, who faced charges brought by this Office of engaging in the sex trafficking of minors, had been found unresponsive in his cell and pronounced dead shortly thereafter."'Someone's been having fun renaming their Fortnite account.'"Today's events are disturbing, and we are deeply aware of their potential to present yet another hurdle to giving Epstein's many victims their day in Court," Berman added.The date on the release as it appears now with an "updated" note on the Justice Department website is Aug. 10, 2019.The DOJ did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.While the incorrect date might simply be a typo in a draft release, many online have speculated it is an indication of foreknowledge of Epstein's real or faked death.Gaming from beyond the graveSome sleuths who dug into the new trove of Epstein files found mention of the child sex offender's YouTube username, "littlestjeff1." They also found possible evidence that Epstein was active in the video gaming ecosystem after his permanent ban from Xbox live in the form of a May 7, 2019, email highlighting a $25.95 charge for the virtual currency in the game Fortnite. Justice Department.In a massively viral and widely shared tweet, the X user @Truthpole noted that some individuals "matched this exact username to a Fortnite profile on Fortnite Tracker ... which showed stats like Silver 1 rank in Chapter 5 Season 1 (post-2019), wins into 2025, and past activity flagged in Israel."The suggestion that Epstein may have been active on Fortnite after his supposed death was not only advanced in viral posts by other accounts on X but on other social media platforms, including Instagram.The claim was all the more provocative after littlestjeff1's stats were set to private earlier this month, according to archived page captures highlighted by Snopes.Tim Sweeney, the CEO of Fornite's developer and publisher Epic Games, weighed in on Feb. 6 to pour cold water on this particular theory, writing, "Someone's been having fun renaming their Fortnite account, but it's recent and not connected to the email addresses in the archive."The official Fortnite Status account similarly piped up, stating, "This was a ruse by a Fortnite player.""A few days ago, an existing Fortnite account owner changed their username from something totally unrelated to littlestjeff1, following the revelation of littlestjeff1 as a name on YouTube," the official Fortnite account said. "These Fortnite trackers only display your current name, not any prior changes to it."The Fortnite Status account noted further, "We have no record of the subject's email addresses referenced in the public document existing in the Epic account system. Since the public document releases, people have created Fortnite accounts with similar-looking email addresses and user names."When challenged on this explanation and prompted to account for why the apparent Epstein handle appeared to be associated with the game user in a third-party, year-end recap detailing player results in 2025, Fornite Status noted, "Fortnite gg Wrapped shows the account's current name with stats from 2025."Skepticism still abounds about the explanation from Epic Games, given the mention of the digital Fortnite currency purchase in the Epstein emails; however, in that email, both the sender and the recipient's addresses were redacted. Snopes suggested that other correspondences in the files indicate the game currency purchase pertained to a mother and her child.Besides eyebrow-raising video game activity, fake sightings, and a questionable DOJ memo, skeptics have also raised questions about other findings in the files, including the mention in an FBI memorandum of a "flash of orange" spotted on surveillance footage heading toward the isolated prison tier where Epstein was housed the night before his body was reportedly found.A 2023 report on Epstein's death released by the Department of Justice's Office of the Inspector General identified the "orange shape" as a corrections officer carrying linen or inmate clothing.Video forensic experts expressed to CBS News in August that they were "skeptical about that interpretation and suggested that the shape could be a person dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit climbing the stairs."Like Blaze News? 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