'number is not coming out of nowhere'

Candace Owens Biggest Supporter Turns On Her 'Investigation'

Officials in Salem, Oregon, are facing a public backlash after appointing a man convicted of murdering a teenage girl to a city public safety and police oversight board.Kyle Hedquist was convicted in 1994 of killing 19-year-old Nikki Thrasher and served 28 years of a life sentence without the possibility of parole before then-Gov. Kate Brown (D) granted him clemency in 2022.'Oregonians… are you tired of this kind of leadership yet? Are you ready to show up and vote these criminals out?' Hedquist was 17 at the time of the crime. Prosecutors said he drove Thrasher to a wooded area, shot her in the back of the head, and left her body on a remote logging road. They described the killing as an “execution-style” murder.According to prosecutors, Hedquist believed Thrasher had discovered he had stolen items from his aunt and killed her to prevent her from reporting him. Thrasher had asked him about the stolen items, which prosecutors said he interpreted as a threat.Two years after his release, the Salem City Council appointed Hedquist to the city’s Community Police Review Board, which oversees police conduct and public safety matters. The council recently reappointed him to the position, prompting renewed backlash.Some city officials have defended the decision, citing Hedquist’s rehabilitation and community involvement since his release.Others strongly disagree. Marion County District Attorney Paige Clarkson criticized the appointment, calling it inappropriate for a public safety role.“While I acknowledge there are appropriate ways for those who have completed their sentences and demonstrated rehabilitation to give back to our community, this is not one of them,” Clarkson said. “Our police and fire professionals have a right to expect better from city leadership.”The Oregon Republican Party also condemned the decision in a statement, calling it “absurd” to place a convicted murderer on a board overseeing public safety and policing."Oregonians… are you tired of this kind of leadership yet? Are you ready to show up and vote these criminals out?" said a commenter on social media.At the time of Hedquist’s release, Thrasher’s mother said the governor’s office did not notify her that clemency was being considered.“He took the life of my daughter — in cold blood!” she told KOIN-TV. “He planned it!”RELATED: Democrat mayor hit with brutal backlash after 8-year-old girl is killed by illegal alien The Oregon Justice Resource Center, an organization that opposes mass incarceration, defended Hedquist’s appointment. In a statement on social media, the group said Hedquist has spent years contributing to his community and advocating for systemic reform.“That kind of experience brings value to public institutions,” the group said in a statement, adding that criticism of Hedquist was “misdirected.”Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

2025 was a year for the history books, and BlazeTV host Steve Deace and executive producer Aaron McIntire have the top 10 stories that made this year so unforgettable.Story number 10, McIntire announces, was the Democrats' 43-day government shutdown that lasted over a month and kept Americans across the country terrified of losing their SNAP benefits.“The media was happy to act as if a shutdown wasn’t actually happening for well over a month from October 1 till its conclusion in the middle of November, with a deal Democrats had previously turned down on numerous occasions in the process,” McIntire says. “Which begs the question: If a government shuts down and nobody noticed it, is it really a shutdown at all?”Next on the list at Number 9 is the “Department of Crashout Efficiency.”“Much had been made, probably rightfully so, about the role tech magnate Elon Musk played in the election of President Trump back in 2024. With the inauguration of Trump came the ceremonial creation of the Department of Government Efficiency,” McIntire explains, pointing out that this new entity discovered “reams upon reams of nearly unfathomable graft, corruption, and abuse.”“But the Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE, went from being a fixture in the news for much of the spring to now being relegated to ghost or legend status depending on whom you ask,” he continues.Number 8, McIntire says, is the “election of Zohran Mamdani as mayor of the nation's largest city.”“New York City, in less than a generation after the largest Islamic terror attack of the 21st century struck it to its core ... turned around and elected an Islamist to lead it,” McIntire says.Number 7 is Trump’s hard stance on immigration, with deportations not appearing to be slowing down any time soon.“The official numbers of how many foreigners have left the country is generally up for debate. But one thing that’s not is that the deportations must continue until morale improves,” McIntire says.Number 6 is "Operation Midnight Hammer."“On June 22, and in conjunction with Israel’s Operation Rising Lion against Iran, the United States carried out what is likely the most technologically and logistically sophisticated air operation in the history of warfare,” McIntire says.“The stunning operation not only sent a message to Iran, but every would-be enemy of the United States,” he adds.Number 5 centers around the passing of Pope Francis, which led to the selection of a new pope on May 8.“They shocked the world by selecting the first pope born in the United States,” McIntire says. Deace chimes in that the new Pope, Pope Leo, is “already worse than Francis.”Number 4 is Liberation Day.“On April 2, the Trump administration declared Liberation Day and enacted a series of tariffs on basically every continent, every land mass, every tiny little island in the middle of nowhere under the sun,” McIntire explains.“The administration sold those sweeping tariffs as a way to grow government revenue and/or leverage for better trade deals,” he adds.Number 3 is what McIntire calls “Trump 2.0,” which is the beginning of Trump’s second term, and Number 2 is the “future of the right” — which McIntire and Deace believe has fractured after major conservatives like Tucker Carlson have platformed, and essentially celebrated, voices they see as destructive to the right.“What’s left to be determined is whether this is a movement going through growing pains, or a stillbirth,” McIntire says, before reading Number 1.“Number one story of the year is Charlie Kirk, the American martyr,” McIntire says. “His murder that everyone saw prompted a number of moving tributes, including one of the best, I thought, from the White House.”Want more from Steve Deace?To enjoy more of Steve's take on national politics, Christian worldview, and principled conservatism with a snarky twist, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

Rubbing It in Our Faces: Somali Group Taunts Taxpayers Amid Billion-Dollar Fraud Scandal

MS NOW: Somali Community Being Scapegoated in a Way That Benefits the Far-Right

Two New Drug Traffickers Taken Out: Southern Spear Scores Again

Another “conspiracy theory” bites the dust I guess! For years, I have been warning about the dangers of Freemasons and Freemasonry. Not the low level people who join for a social gathering and think…

Democratic Virginia Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger appointed the former FBI official who oversaw the Richmond field office during the “Catholic memo” scandal as the state’s secretary of public safety…

[View Article at Source]Attorney General Pam Bondi just revealed, with a shout out to Nick Shirley (wrong @account), just how much Somali fraud the DOJ has been and is investigating in Minnesota. Here’s…