An arrest is finally made on a mystery from January 6th.
An Illinois church decides to commit blasphemy in order to make a political point.
And it appears Democrats like food stamp fraud.
It’s About Time
According to Fox News:
A suspect who allegedly planted pipe bombs blocks from the U.S. Capitol on January 5, 2021, is now in federal custody after a nearly five-year investigation, law enforcement sources told Fox News Digital on Thursday.
The FBI arrested the suspect, a male living in Virginia, early Thursday morning, the sources said. The man in custody is named Brian Cole, two sources said.
Authorities discovered the two pipe bombs near the Republican and Democratic National Committees’ headquarters around the same time that thousands of protesters a few blocks away began to descend on the Capitol over the 2020 election results.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/police-arrest-suspect-dc-pipe-bomb-case-after-5-year-investigation
He Not On Your Side, Folks!
According to Fox News:
An Illinois church is facing criticism for displaying a Nativity scene that depicts baby Jesus with his hands zip-tied and guarded by figures styled as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
Lake Street Church of Evanston is displaying the scene outside on its grounds. Baby Jesus is wrapped in a thin blanket resembling aluminum foil, which the church said is a reference to the emergency blankets used in detention facilities. Masked centurions, officers in the ancient Roman army, are depicted in sunglasses and green vests labeled “ICE.”
It also shows Mother Mary wearing a respirator mask “to protect herself from tear gas,” according to the church. Joseph is also masked.
In a Facebook post last week, the church said the installation reimagines the Nativity as a scene of forced family separation, drawing parallels between the Holy Family’s refugee flight and modern immigration detention practices.
“This installation reimagines the nativity as a scene of forced family separation, drawing direct parallels between the Holy Family’s refugee experience and contemporary immigration detention practices,” the post reads.
“‘The Holy Family were refugees. This is not political interpretation, this is the reality described in the stories our tradition has told and retold for millenia,’” it continues. “‘By witnessing this familiar story through the reality faced by migrants today, we hope to restore its radical edge, and to ask what it means to celebrate the birth of a refugee child while turning away those who follow in that child’s footsteps.’”
https://www.foxnews.com/us/illinois-church-nativity-shows-baby-jesus-zip-tied-ice-agents
Then They Should Do Their Jobs
According to Perplexity:
Twenty-one Democratic-led states and Washington, D.C., have filed a federal lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s latest SNAP guidance, arguing it unlawfully cuts off food aid to certain lawful immigrants and threatens states with massive financial penalties if they do not quickly comply.
What the lawsuit challenges
The suit targets October 31 guidance from USDA that interprets provisions of Trump’s new budget and tax package (“One Big Beautiful Bill”) to make many lawful permanent residents who previously had refugee or asylum status ineligible for SNAP, despite statutes that treat those categories as fully eligible once they get green cards. The attorneys general say this reverses longstanding policy, conflicts with federal law, and was issued without a reasoned explanation or proper implementation timeline.
Who is suing and where
A coalition of 21 Democratic attorneys general plus the D.C. attorney general filed the case in federal district court in Eugene, Oregon. States joining include California, New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Washington, Wisconsin, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont, along with Washington, D.C.
What the states argue
The states argue USDA’s memo illegally denies SNAP to refugees, asylees, humanitarian parolees, and similar groups once they become lawful permanent residents, even though federal law makes them eligible on the same terms as citizens after that point. They also say USDA skipped the required 120‑day grace period and is threatening states with extreme fiscal sanctions and higher error‑rate penalties if they do not reprogram eligibility systems almost overnight.
What Trump’s changes do more broadly
The contested guidance sits on top of broader SNAP changes in Trump’s July “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which sharply tightens eligibility, expands work requirements, and shifts more administrative and benefit costs onto states over the next few years. Analysts estimate roughly 186 billion dollars in SNAP reductions over ten years, with additional future obligations for states if their payment error rates exceed new thresholds.
How the administration responds
The Trump administration defends the policy as part of a mandate to reduce “waste, fraud, and abuse” and to ensure that benefits go to citizens rather than people it characterizes as ineligible non‑citizens, while declining detailed comment on the pending case. USDA has publicly maintained that its interpretation of the law and the timing of the implementation window are correct, even as multiple Democratic‑led states simultaneously pursue a separate lawsuit over a new demand for sensitive SNAP recipient data.
https://www.perplexity.ai/search/21-states-sue-trump-over-snap-MIIkaywKTqydfovQwLaa5w
Here IS The Conflict
According to the Daily Wire:
An illegal immigrant cop who was arrested by federal authorities in October and later released has since been brought back onto the force.
The Hanover Police Department announced Tuesday that it has brought Radule Bojovic, an illegal immigrant from Montenegro, back on as an officer following his release from Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention in October. Bojovic overstayed a B2 tourist visa that required him to leave the United States on March 31, 2015, the Department of Homeland Security said at the time of his arrest.
An immigration judge granted a $2,500 immigration bond just two weeks after he was picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Bojovic returned to work Monday and will receive a paycheck for the time he missed while he was detained, the department said in a statement Tuesday.
Despite his immigration status, Bojovic was hired in January because he had a federal work permit and passed all background checks, the department said.
Bojovic was eligible to receive a starting salary of $78,955.70 when he was hired, according to the Department of Homeland Security. His 2025 earnings were $205,707, including $9,276 for FICA/Medicare taxes.
No More Dorritos
According to the New York Times:
The San Francisco city attorney filed on Tuesday the nation’s first government lawsuit against food manufacturers over ultraprocessed fare, arguing that cities and counties have been burdened with the costs of treating diseases that stem from the companies’ products.
David Chiu, the city attorney, sued 10 corporations that make some of the country’s most popular food and drinks. Ultraprocessed products now comprise 70 percent of the American food supply and fill grocery store shelves with a kaleidoscope of colorful packages.
Think Slim Jim meat sticks and Cool Ranch Doritos. But also aisles of breads, sauces and granola bars marketed as natural or healthy.
It is a rare issue on which the liberal leaders in San Francisco City Hall are fully aligned with the Trump administration, which has targeted ultraprocessed foods as part of its Make America Healthy Again mantra.
Mr. Chiu’s lawsuit, which was filed in San Francisco Superior Court on behalf of the State of California, seeks unspecified damages for the costs that local governments bear for treating residents whose health has been harmed by ultraprocessed food.
It’s Not a Person
According to Perplexity:
Yes—prediction and betting markets currently show “Artificial Intelligence” as the frontrunner for TIME’s 2025 Person of the Year, edging figures like Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Pope Leo XIV.
What the odds say
- Polymarket contracts currently price AI as the most likely pick, ahead of Jensen Huang and Pope Leo XIV, indicating the market consensus that AI’s influence defined 2025.
- Multiple outlets summarizing prediction markets and odds boards likewise list AI at or near the top, reinforcing that AI is leading the race across speculative venues.
Context and precedent
- TIME has on rare occasions selected non-human entities when their influence dominated the year; “The Computer” was chosen in 1982, a precedent often cited in current market commentary about AI’s candidacy.
- Media coverage notes AI’s outsized cultural, economic, and political footprint in 2025 as the core rationale behind its leading odds.
Key contenders behind AI
- Jensen Huang: Frequently the closest competitor in market pricing, reflecting Nvidia’s central role in AI infrastructure.
- Pope Leo XIV: Also trading among the top spots on prediction markets, signaling notable global relevance in 2025.
https://www.perplexity.ai/search/artificial-intelligence-is-lea-.fN_xABaQ2mgx6E6.PR9Nw
Who Knew?
According to the New York Post:
New research suggests the ages at which cellphones can be most harmful to youth health.
The study, published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, found that those who had a cellphone before the age of 12 were more likely to develop depression, obesity and poor sleep habits compared to those who didn’t.
And the younger kids were when they got a phone, the greater the risk of obesity and insufficient sleep.
Researchers evaluated data from over 10,500 children who participated in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study — the most recent and largest long-term look at children’s brain development.
While the research doesn’t prove that getting a phone at a young age directly causes these outcomes, the findings, along with previous studies, suggest it could lead to less socialization, exercise and sleep.
A 2023 study found that of 11- and 12-year-olds who had an electronic device in their bedrooms, nearly 17% were buzzed awake by notifications.
Meanwhile, more than 80% of children between the ages of 11 and 17 don’t get the recommended amount of daily physical activity, thanks in part to an increased fixation on screens. Being sedentary can lead to poor health and social behavior in kids.
And since adolescence is an essential period for growth, these changes can have long-term effects on mental and physical health, according to researchers.
He Ain’t a Survivor
According to the New York Post:
Jawan Pitts is still reeling from his experience on “Survivor 49.”
The 28-year-old video editor became the fourth black player voted off in a row during Wednesday night’s episode — which he’s still processing months after filming ended.
“First off, it was a topic of discussion out there,” Pitts exclusively told The Post on Monday. “Me and Kristina [Mills] had a back and forth about it.”
“I think as a viewer, it’s hard to watch. When it happened on [Season] 42… you know, I’m a part of the community too, so I definitely felt it,” he continued. “But I think in the game it was so hard to put a pin on it. And even experiencing it, I’m going to therapy to truly kind of process. I’m like, ‘Why? Why did that happen?’”
But Pitts clarified that from his perspective, he doesn’t believe there were “any alternative motives” in how the post-merge boot order has panned out.
“I think the game was so fluid and there was so many things — advantages, variables,” he said. “So I think that’s how I feel personally.”
Pitts also told The Post he wanted to address “the elephant in the room” regarding the fact that he voted out fellow black contestants Nate Moore, MC Chukwujekwu and Alex Moore.
“I just want to step back and look at the optics of the jury and just hold space for that for a moment. And maybe anybody that’s watching it and feeling uncomfortable, I want their feelings to feel validated,” he explained. “And also more specifically with MC, I want to hold space for her hurt feelings. But I also want to use this time to share some insight into why I made those decisions.”
https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-ln-std-stigma-20180507-htmlstory.html