Excerpts Young Adult Read an Excerpt From Woven From Clay by Jenny Birch A golem must master the magic that binds her together and finds an unexpected ally in the mysterious boy sent to ensure her demise. By Jenny Birch | Published on July 17, 2025 Comment 0 Share New Share We’re thrilled to share an excerpt from Woven From Clay by Jenny Birch, a young adult contemporary fantasy out from Wednesday Books on August 12th. Terra Slater might not know anything about her birth family or where she comes from, but that’s never stopped her, and she fully intends her senior year to be her best yet. Until the dark and mysterious Thorne Wilder—a magical bounty hunter—moves to town, bringing revelations that wreck all of her plans.When Terra learns she is a golem, not born but crafted from mud and magic by a warlock, her world is upended. Worse, Cyrus Quill, the warlock who made her, is a fugitive, on the run from the witches who want to hold him accountable for his past crimes. But Quill’s sentence is death, which would unravel the threads of magic that hold Terra—and all of the other golems that he crafted—together.Desperate to save herself and her friends, Terra strikes a deal with Thorne and his coven to preserve the warlock’s life and his magic. If she can prove her worth to the coven by mastering the magic within her, the golems will survive. If she can’t, they’ll perish along with Cyrus. As Thorne helps her to see and manipulate the tapestry of magic that surrounds them, their unexpected alliance evolves into something more and Terra comes to understand the depths of her magic, her humanity, and her love for the people most important to her. I don’t know how far I have to fall, but I assume it’s going to hurt when I land. My body tenses against the impending impact—but it never comes. I’m cushioned, instead, by that whipping, gusting wind. It swirls around me, floats me back to the ground, and lays me there. My eyes stay trained on the sky, on the undulating air that looms over me, blocks me from escape. Peripherally, I see Thorne race down the porch steps. “Please,” he pants. “Stop trying to run. We can talk about this, talk about what I need and about why you…” He seems to run out of words as he flaps his hand and skids to a stop a few feet from me. The hem of his shirt flutters in the unnatural breeze that I think is still circling the yard. But I can’t tell. I don’t know if I can trust what I’m feeling and seeing. I feel like I’ve been drugged—and maybe I have been. I don’t know how or where or when, but there’s no other rational explanation for what is happening to me. Because if it’s not drugs, it means Thorne is using some kind of magic. Real, impossible, terrifying magic. The thought lingers for half a heartbeat before it’s obliterated by a crashing realization: I should have listened to my dad when he told me the world wasn’t a safe place. I curl into a tight ball, hide my head in my arms and wish I was smaller. I wish my bones weren’t so hard and unyielding. I wish I could melt and jet through the grass, slide to freedom so fast Thorne could never stop me. My breathing slows as I picture how easy this would be if I were a stream of water or a puddle of goo. If I could slither away so he’d never find me. My vision is distorting now, maybe because my tears are coming harder. The world wavers, like it does when I open my eyes underwater at the pool. My breathing becomes clogged and phlegmy. My skin feels soft and wet. And then I’m doing it. I’m sliding past Thorne, easing my way through a gap between the hard wind and soft grass. I keep my watery gaze trained on the clear sky, ignoring the mottled periphery of Thorne’s dark clouds. I’m surprised and confused and I should try to figure out what’s happening now, but there’s a voice, louder than any other feeling, screaming at me that I’m close to my car, that I should get up and jump in. Desperately, I try to push myself to my feet. But I can’t. Buy the Book Woven From Clay Jenny Birch Buy Book Woven From Clay Jenny Birch Buy this book from: AmazonBarnes and NobleiBooksIndieBoundTarget I don’t think I have feet anymore. In fact, I don’t think I have a body at all anymore. I wished to be a puddle and, in some weird way, it feels like that’s what I’ve become. I struggle against this impossible, oppressive thought until Thorne’s face swims into focus above me. “You held out longer than I thought you would. Now, come back.” I look up at him and try to blink, but nothing happens. I try to ask what he means, but all I can do is make a gross, wet, squelching noise. He shuffles his feet. “Pull yourself back together. We need to talk.” He takes a step to the side and his shoe edges a little too close to my puddle. It’s an odd, violating feeling, the way his foot sinks into my side. Or what I think should be my side, where my side is supposed to be. He doesn’t seem to notice that his foot is invading my innards as he crouches next to me. He examines what’s left of me with his forearms resting on his knees. His hands dangle between his legs, a few inches above me. It would be so easy for him to plunge them into my center, right into my heart. It’s that thought—the thought of not having a say in what happens to my body—that stirs me. I think about my body, every inch of it, what it feels like, how it moves, how strong and capable it is. And then I get the weirdest drying-out feeling, like I’m being run through an industrial dryer. My body feels crusted-over, but at least it’s a body again, and I’m scrambling up onto my hands and knees, then upright on my feet, then aiming a kick at Thorne’s smug face. He deflects me with a flick of his hand that summons another gust of wind. I end up back on the ground, on my butt, legs spread out in front of me. They’re covered in caked, cracked mud. Thorne stands and holds his hand out to me. “Now that we’re finally being real with each other, maybe we can have an honest conversation.” I ignore his hand and struggle to my feet myself. My eyes dart over the dusty plain of Mr. Quill’s front yard, marred now by an irregular patch of wetness where mud clings to the dry grass. My stomach churns. “Was that from me?” I point to the stain with a trembling hand. “How did I get so wet and, and…” I spit the word out quickly, “squishy? What did you do to me?” Thorne blinks at me. The corners of his mouth twitch. A scream bubbles its way up from my chest and I swipe at my arms and legs, trying to brush off the dried mud that definitely was not part of me, it couldn’t be, because people don’t turn into mud. They just don’t. But I can feel it inside me now, just under my skin and in my stomach. It churns, eager to bubble to the surface again. It pushes through my pores with the sweat dotting my forehead. It seeps from the corners of my eyes on a wave of tears. I wipe my hands over my face, feel its slick coolness coat my palms. What is this? What am I? I don’t want this mud, I don’t want this fear, I don’t want these questions. I want to leave. But I can’t. My legs won’t move, they can’t move, they’re wobbling and melting. Skin drips and slides down my legs, turning from pale and freckled to chocolatey and thick, like a gross milkshake. I start to sink into the ground as my legs puddle around me, and this is the absolute opposite of what I wanted. I wanted the mud to be gone, not to be me. It’s spreading out around me, and now my knees are almost level with the ground and Thorne is looming above me, grinning and watching my slow descent. I don’t know what to do, so I scream. It’s hysterical and desperate and it seems to accelerate this weird melting process. I can taste mud in my mouth, hear it swishing in my ears. I don’t want this, I don’t want this, I don’t want this. I ball my fists and close my eyes, and I know that the tears I’m feeling aren’t saline, but mud, and I have to ignore how sickening that is as I focus on my body, begging it to fight whatever’s happening here. I focus on how long and strong my legs are, how they’ve made me the star setter on the volleyball team, how they’ve carried me around and around the track during gym class, how they walk me to Brick’s house when I’m invited to his family movie night. The ground shifts beneath my knees, solidifying and pushing me upward once more. I crack one eye and watch my legs reform from the mud. The higher I rise, the more quickly the mud dries. The panic dulls a little, because I push it as far down as it will go. If it rears its head again, I might melt. I take a deep, bracing breath as my feet reappear. My heart is pounding so hard and fast that I can’t even count individual beats anymore. This is impossible and terrifying and deeply disgusting. I can’t believe this is me. “What is this?” I croak. I want to run, but I’m tired. And I need an answer. He sighs. “This is you. It’s who you are. Who you’ve always been.” “What are you talking about?” My chest is tight, my heart is racing. I can barely force the words out. He leans down and peers into my eyes. “Oh.” The word is soft. It caresses my cheek like a feather, and the gentleness in the sound—which I would have never expected from Thorne—undoes me. Tears and mud and snot dribble from my eyes and nose. “You really don’t know,” he breathes. “You weren’t pretending after all. Oh, Terra. I—I’m sorry.” “Please,” I gasp. “What’s happening to me?” “All right.” He runs a hand over his face, looking weary. Devastated, almost. “If you need me to say it, I’ll say it. It’s magic. I’m magic.” He leans toward me, whispers the next part in my ear, an unimaginable secret between us. “And so are you.” From Woven From Clay by Jenny Birch. Copyright © 2025 by the author, and reprinted with permission of St. Martin’s Publishing Group. The post Read an Excerpt From <i>Woven From Clay</i> by Jenny Birch appeared first on Reactor.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement illegal-alien detention facility standards “are among the highest in the nation,” the agency insists.   Images of a library, doctor’s office, a gym with kids playing dodgeball, and a clean cafeteria are featured in a new video ICE released Thursday touting the conditions of illegal-alien detention facilities in the U.S. “Democrats and the mainstream media love to spread lies about ICE detention facilities, but this video shows the truth: ICE detention facilities have the highest standards,” Abigail Jackson, White House spokeswoman, told The Daily Signal. ICE detention facilities “are safe, clean, and hold illegal aliens who are awaiting final removal proceedings,” Jackson added. “The mainstream media shouldn’t be so quick to believe lies from criminal illegal aliens complaining about ICE facilities when we can all see the truth.” On Monday, NBC News ran a story with the headline, “Immigrants in overcapacity ICE detention say they’re hungry, raise food-quality concerns.” The New York Times reported on July 1: “Mass immigration arrests have led to overcrowding in detention facilities, with reports of unsanitary and inhumane conditions.” In June, NPR ran a story highlighting claims of overcrowding and a lack of food at detention facilities. “We do have the highest detention standards out of any other prison system here in the United States,” Todd Lyons, acting ICE director, says in the video released on the social media platform X.   “ICE does not detain punitively,” according to Lyons. “We detain to remove people. We don’t want to have people in custody,” the acting director explained, adding that because of the high cost of detention, it is the goal of ICE to quickly and safely return illegal aliens to their home countries.   ICE’s detention standards are among the highest in the nation.Detention isn’t a punishment. We detain removable aliens while they await final removal proceedings. pic.twitter.com/R56zFxyUqD— U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (@ICEgov) July 17, 2025 “ICE has higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens,” Tricia McLaughlin, Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary, said in a statement.   Illegal immigrants in detention facilities “are provided with proper meals, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with lawyers and their family members,” McLaughlin added.    Detainees are provided medical care, according to the DHS assistant secretary, including mental health screenings and dental care within 12 hours of arriving at an ICE facility. They also receive “a full health assessment” in the first two weeks of their detention and have access to 24-hour emergency care.   “Ensuring the safety, security, and well-being of individuals in our custody is a top priority at ICE,” McLaughlin said.   Since the start of the Trump administration’s second term, more than 273,000 illegal aliens have been arrested and over 239,000 have been deported, according to the DHS. Because the deportation process takes time to carry out, and legal challenges to deportations have further slowed removals, DHS is operating multiple detention facilities to house illegal aliens until they can be removed from the U.S.   In early July, the Trump administration opened a new detention facility in the Florida Everglades commonly referred to as “Alligator Alcatraz.” A bipartisan group of lawmakers toured the large facility on July 12. “It’s gross and disgusting,” Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., said of the facility.   “What I saw made my heart sink,” Frost said, describing what he called “cages,” each holding 32 illegal aliens. According to Frost, the detainees were not getting enough food, “being fed, essentially, a small sandwich and a bag of chips.”  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, was critical of Democrats in Florida who are speaking out against the facility.   “They want to basically put the thumb on the scale for folks here illegally to just stay in the state of Florida,” DeSantis said, questioning why some Democrats in his state are “fighting for foreign nationals that came into the country illegally.”  The post ‘Detention Facilities Have Highest Standards’: ICE Releases Video Aimed at Rebutting Democrats’ Claims appeared first on The Daily Signal.

One day, a young woman named Sarah walked through the doors of the pregnancy center I help run and told me she wanted an abortion.  As we talked, it became clear that while Sarah didn’t truly want to end her pregnancy, she believed it was her only option. She had fought hard to escape a home filled with years of abuse. She had a job, her own apartment, and for the first time, a sense of freedom and stability. To Sarah, having a baby meant she could lose everything she had worked for: her career, her budding romance with the baby’s father, and the first safe home she had ever known.  When a woman like Sarah walks into a building like ours with the promise of receiving care, the unspoken expectation is that she will leave better or healthier than when she entered. And after hearing of our resources at Aim Women’s Center and having a community of women walk alongside her, love her, and support her, Sarah decided to keep her child—what she truly wanted all along.  Yet every day, across the county, thousands of women walk into abortion clinics in the name of ‘health care’ in search of similar compassion and healing. Instead, the harsh reality is that these women are broken and battered and returned to the world with irreparable damage.  In a recent Colorado tragedy, a young woman sadly lost her life in an abortion clinic. She was just 18-years old and suffered severe complications from her second trimester abortion. Sadly, it was not just her baby’s life that was taken, but hers as well, all in the name of ‘health care’.  In Illinois, a woman is suing an abortionist for the botched procedure she received which left her fighting for her life in an emergency room. Her unborn child, the aborted fetus, was left in her womb which caused severe health complications. The woman, known simply as Jane Doe, now suffers a lifetime of trauma, with severe mental and physical challenges ahead. What’s more, she will likely never be able to have children in the future.  Sadly, tragedies like these are nothing new. Even the New York Times recently called out the mistreatment and horrendous conditions that occur inside abortion clinics, namely Planned Parenthood. As the headline read: ”Botched care and tired staff, planned parenthood in crisis.”  The story was told of another woman, this time in New York, who had an abortion at eight weeks pregnant. Just like Jane Doe in Illinois, it wasn’t until the woman was sent to the emergency room with severe complications and bleeding that she learned the horrific truth: Her baby was still in her womb. Twelve weeks later, the woman went into labor and delivered the baby, who later died.  In my work as the Director of Advocacy at Aim Women’s Center I hear stories of trauma and suffering like this from women all too often. Even the ones that never follow through with an abortion still struggle with the shame and judgment they experienced when walking into an abortion clinic. They are never met with open arms and compassion, and their worries and fears are never addressed. Instead, they are only offered an abortion as a “solution” to their “problems.”  My heart breaks for the hundreds of women like them. Not only do they lose a child, but they lose a part of themselves in the process. Thankfully, centers do exist to offer women true quality care, medical resources, and loving support. When women walk into my center, no matter their background or situation, they are greeted with compassion and understanding. They are given free ultrasounds, which for many is the first beautiful moment when they can hear their baby’s heartbeat.  We offer pregnancy tests, STI testing and treatment, options counseling, sonograms, abortion pill reversal, healthy pregnancy classes with a registered labor and delivery nurse, and doula classes.  More important however, our center, and centers like mine are giving women the resources to address the very reason they are considering an abortion to begin with. For those who don’t want to bring a child into an abusive marriage, we help with counseling and domestic violence protection. For those who worry about the financial burdens of another mouth to feed, we offer monetary resources, job training and assistance, as well as food, clothing, and supplies. On top of our exemplary medical care, we are working to care for the woman as well—because we want her to leave better than she came. Happy, whole, supported, loved, financially independent, with a roof over her head, and her beautiful baby by her side.  That is the difference between pregnancy resource centers and Planned Parenthood. Each woman will always leave better than when she came into our doors. You can’t call abortion clinics ”health care” when all they do is harm vulnerable women, and their precious children.  We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post Planned Parenthood Does Not Provide ‘Care’, Their Defunding Was Long Overdue appeared first on The Daily Signal.

BOOM: HHS To End Medicare/Medicaid Funding for Providers of Pediatric Sex Changes

PolitiFact's Mamdani 'Fact Check' Is Hilarious, In Retrospect

On Monday evening, hours before the U.S. Senate passed 51-48 President Trump’s rescission proposal to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which would end taxpayer funding for PBS and NPR, PBS News Hour aired something that was more lobbying for taxpayer dollars than it was news.  Guest host William Brangham hosted Tom Abbott, general manager of KFSK Radio in Petersburg, Alaska, a low-population state that has received high amounts of attention from journalists rallying around the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (which funds PBS and NPR) in the interest of preserving federal funding. Brangham had his propaganda down pat before introducing his guest remotely from Alaska, a state painted by legacy media as one in particular need of emergency warnings that only public broadcasting can provide (false). There was, of course, no rebuttal aired from a supporter of the rescissions package. Brangham: Among the programs targeted for cuts in this rescissions package is the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, or CPB. It's the independent nonprofit created by Congress to distribute federal funds to non-commercial TV and radio stations across the U.S. Today, it funds more than 1,500 public stations, many of which produce local news, music shows, but also buy national content from NPR and PBS....Tom Abbott, tell us a little bit about your community and the station and who you serve. Abbott gave a homespun geography lesson about Petersburg, Alaska, before Brangham segued to PBS’s trump card (pardon the pun), public safety. Brangham: ….You also play an important role with regards to public safety. Can you explain that? Tom Abbott: In the event of an emergency, we are the one that is going to receive the alert, whether it's coming from a national source, a state source, a regional source, or, if it's local, we're the ones that are firing it off…. Brangham: If these cuts go through coming out of Washington, D.C., what does that mean for your ability to do all of these things you're describing? Abbott: Well, it's going to make it very difficult for us to continue providing a meaningful local service here, because 30 percent of our budget comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.... Brangham advanced the useful myth that even in the age of the internet and digital communication, only public radio and television can inform people of local emergency situations. Brangham: You're in Alaska, which is -- because of the sparse geographic nature and people spread out, public radio and TV are particularly important, but you're also -- there's other parts of the country in the South and the West that are very much the same. What is the argument that you make if someone asks you as to, why should we be funding public media? Abbott talked about blank spots without cellphone coverage that FM radio (aka NPR) can reach. Brangham finally sidled up to the key issue, one MRC has been hammering for decades: Bias. Brangham: You live in a community that is -- Republicans outnumber Democrats quite a bit. And there has been an allegation that Republicans largely make that public media is biased and taxpayers shouldn't support it. I know that's been an issue with regards to donations for your own station. How do you respond to that critique? Abbott hesitantly conceded the bias point before downplaying it. Abbott: Well, I like to sit down and talk with people one-on-one and hopefully have a good conversation about that, because, sometimes, they have got a point. And I will grant them that. There have been times where I could see their opinion on it or their point of view on a particular piece. Overall, it's very good reporting…. “Very good reporting”? The Media Research Center has years of research that shows the opposite, including a June 2024 study that found “pro-Hamas” label was never used on PBS, a December 2024 study showing only 162 far-right labels vs. just six for the far-left on PBS and a study just last week showing 36 liberal guests on NPR’s Fresh Air vs. zero conservatives.  This self-serving segment was made possible by BNSF Railway and taxpayers like you. A transcript is available, click “Expand.” PBS News Hour 7/16/25 7:18:36 p.m. (ET) William Brangham: Among the programs targeted for cuts in this rescissions package is the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, or CPB. It's the independent nonprofit created by Congress to distribute federal funds to non-commercial TV and radio stations across the U.S. Today, it funds more than 1,500 public stations, many of which produce local news, music shows, but also buy national content from NPR and PBS. Collectively, public media stations give 99 percent of the U.S. access to public broadcasting. Nearly 250 of those stations are considered rural stations. Joining us to discuss what's at stake with these potential cuts is Tom Abbott. He's the general manager of KFSK, the public radio station based in Petersburg, Alaska. So, Tom Abbott, tell us a little bit about your community and the station and who you serve. Tom Abbott, General Manager, KFSK Radio: Well, KFSK is located in the central part of the Southeast Panhandle of Alaska. We're on the coast of British Columbia, on an island. We're accessible by air or boat only. It's primarily a commercial fishing fleet here with a population of 3,400. And we have a 24/7 service that provides companionship to people, vital news and information, broadcasting, assembly meetings live, school board meetings, hospital board meetings. And then there's the lighthearted just everyday things of who's celebrating a birthday today. William Brangham: I know you also do local news, national news. You also play an important role with regards to public safety. Can you explain that? Tom Abbott: In the event of an emergency, we are the one that is going to receive the alert, whether it's coming from a national source, a state source, a regional source, or, if it's local, we're the ones that are firing it off. And then we become the public information officer in the event of that emergency to relay the pertinent and important information to the public from the first responders of whatever that emergency may be. And, recently, it was about two years ago on a Halloween evening when there was — we had a week of heavy rain and the mountainside here had a slide, a landslide on it, and it blocked off the one road that we have, cutting the island in half. We were the ones on the air that night telling people to stay clear of that area while the workers were there clearing the rubble. William Brangham: If these cuts go through coming out of Washington, D.C., what does that mean for your ability to do all of these things you're describing? Tom Abbott: Well, it's going to make it very difficult for us to continue providing a meaningful local service here, because 30 percent of our budget comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting; 60 percent of our budget is our personnel cost. The other things that are sort of static expenses that we can't do without, paying the electricity bill, the heating in the wintertime, the upkeep of the building, the upkeep of the broadcast equipment, it's all very expensive, and those are pretty much sort of a static budget William Brangham: You're in Alaska, which is — because of the sparse geographic nature and people spread out, public radio and TV are particularly important, but you're also — there's other parts of the country in the South and the West that are very much the same. What is the argument that you make if someone asks you as to, why should we be funding public media? Tom Abbott: I will take anyone on a tour of this area and you will go to blank spots or dead spots where there is no cell phone coverage here. And it's not very far. It can just be as matter of three miles away. And the FM signal is delivered to that area, but the cell phone coverage is dead in that spot. William Brangham: You live in a community that is -- Republicans outnumber Democrats quite a bit. And there has been an allegation that Republicans largely make that public media is biased and taxpayers shouldn't support it. I know that's been an issue with regards to donations for your own station. How do you respond to that critique? Tom Abbott: Well, I like to sit down and talk with people one-on-one and hopefully have a good conversation about that, because, sometimes, they have got a point. And I will grant them that. There have been times where I could see their opinion on it or their point of view on a particular piece. Overall, it's very good reporting. But I believe that it's the best service we can provide here. We have had tremendous support in this community. I mean, it was 2-1 voted for Trump over Harris in this most recent presidential election. But it's about 2-1 that also support KFSK as far as a conservative or a liberal goes. The service that we provide is vitally important. And that's why I think we do get support. William Brangham: Tom Abbott, general manager of KFSK in Alaska, so great to talk to you. Thank you very much for your time. Tom Abbott: Thank you.

Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO) bashed NPR and PBS for their rampant bias and disturbing lobbying tactics as the end of federal funding for the networks becomes more and more imminent.  During a Tuesday interview on MRC UnCensored, Schmitt specifically called out Democrats for using the Texas floods in a bid to justify federal funding to public radio. “The Democrats’ willingness to weaponize this and politicize it within hours is just really sick. And I think speaks to how… what terrible position that they're in.” He added that the left is “glomming on to anything to try to score political points, and they should be ashamed of themselves.”  [Story Continues on MRC Free Speech America] 

There's more news on embattled Republican Rep. Cory Mills of Florida.Blaze News can confirm that back in April on a joint trip with Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.), Mills made the highly unusual move of taking a private car from Damascus, Syria, to Beirut, Lebanon. Depending upon conditions and the number of checkpoint stops, that drive could take anywhere from 2.5 to four hours through territory that is dangerous and hostile to Americans.Furthermore, according to an intelligence source from the region, Hezbollah controls much of the borderlands in both Syria and Lebanon, and Mills would have needed an authorized "pass" from the militant group to cross the border.For some reason, Mills, a sitting US congressman, chose to drive through a region and across a border largely controlled by Hezbollah with no security detail.Independent journalist Roger Sollenberger also reported that Mills requested to meet with Syrian President Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa in private and spent 90 minutes alone with al-Sharaa and Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani. The men discussed a range of "sensitive" topics, including "U.S.-Syria relations, humanitarian concerns, and regional stability," according to a screenshot of part of Mills' travel filing.In 2013, the U.S. designated al-Sharaa a global terrorist for his association with the rebel group al-Nusra. The State Department revoked the terrorist designation against al-Nusra earlier this month.Kyle Shideler, the director and senior analyst for homeland security and counterterrorism at the Center for Security Policy, described Mills' private meeting with al-Sharaa as "worrisome," claiming that the mere "appearance of impropriety ... could be exploited by foreign adversaries.""Generally speaking, U.S. officials should just not be meeting alone with foreign dignitaries or leaders," Shideler told Blaze News. "Even phone calls with foreign leaders include staffers and translators to help brief and keep the meeting on topic and in line with official U.S. policy. Even professional U.S. diplomats who actually have the responsibility to have such meetings don’t hold them alone but bring witnesses."Though Stutzman and Mills traveled to Damascus together on a joint itinerary, Stutzman did not participate in the private meeting with al-Sharaa and al-Shaibani. Stutzman also did not join Mills in the private car ride. In fact, screenshots of travel filings indicate that Stutzman flew from Damascus to Istanbul, Turkey, the day before Mills' road trip.RELATED: Cory Mills leaps into another scandal — this time with a 5-figure price tag and eviction notice Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call Inc. via Getty ImagesBlaze News has confirmed that neither Mills nor Stutzman received dignitary protection details from the State Department or Capitol Police for their official trip. Their only security came from Syria. Yet for some reason, Mills, a sitting U.S. congressman, chose to drive through a region and across a border largely controlled by Hezbollah with no security detail.The purpose of Mills' side trip to Lebanon is unclear. A spokesperson for Mills did not respond to Blaze News' request for comment.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Adam Schiff Did the Meme By Trying to Post a Meme and It Went Even More HILARIOUSLY Wrong Than You Think

AP Reports ICE Will Gain Access to Medicaid Enrollee Info and Rep. Jayapal Is Triggered for SOME Reason