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-Lurid Crime Tales-

All-American ex-cop allegedly became Russian frontman before outrageous plot hoodwinked US Secret Service

2026-09-28

[NYPost] An all-American ex-cop and pro baseball player allegedly helped hide the Russian ownership of a tech firm to avoid sweeping U.S. sanctions – while it secured more than $2 million in sensitive U.S. federal government contracts, according to court documents.

Lee Reiber, 55, was arrested in Idaho last Sunday after federal prosecutors accused him of helping conceal the Russian ownership and development of Oxygen Forensics, a Virginia-based company that sold forensics software to the Secret Service and other federal agencies.

The U.S. Secret Service confirmed to the California Post that they previously used Oxygen Forensics software but ”immediately discontinued” use in February after security risks were identified by the agency.

Reiber, who followed his LAPD officer father into law enforcement, allegedly became the trusted American face of the company as its Russian owners disappeared from public corporate filings following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to the Justice Department.

Now, former Oxygen employee-turned-whistleblower Max Weissberg has told The Post how the ex-cop allegedly operated inside a company controlled behind the scenes by Russian nationals – and the chilling series of events that ultimately convinced him something was deeply wrong.

Federal prosecutors allege Reiber falsely represented to government agencies that Oxygen had no foreign ownership or control and that its software was developed in the US.

In reality, the Justice Department says five Russian nationals owned and controlled Oxygen through a Cyprus-based holding company, while its software was developed by a team in Russia.

One of those alleged owners, Russian national Oleg Sergeyevich Davydov, 52, was charged alongside Reiber and arrested at London’s Heathrow Airport last Sunday. U.S. authorities are seeking his extradition.

Other Russians associated with the company included Oleg Fedorov and Galina Rabotenko, according to Weissberg, who provided a picture he took that showed the group at an Alexandria bowling alley.

Reporting from Forbes in 2017 identified Fedorov as Oxygen’s CEO. The company provided tools and support to Russian law enforcement, the outlet reported, and Fedorov denied connections to Russian intelligence or the government.

”I know every person and every government has its own goals. I try to stay away as far as I can from their goals and to solve my own,” Fedorov told Forbes.

”With the history of KGB in Russia, it’s complicated, I want to stay as far as I can from them.”

Reiber was initially hired as the company’s COO in 2015 before becoming CEO, president and chairman in March 2022 — weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine and the U.S. imposed expanded sanctions, according to the Justice Department.

But the Russian owners allegedly remained firmly in control behind the scenes, continuing to make significant decisions, setting Reiber’s compensation, overruling him on payments and maintaining signatory authority over company bank accounts, according to the federal complaint.

Weissberg said Reiber, a former Boise cop from 1995 to 2009, had no “final say” on any of the company’s business decisions despite being listed as its CEO since 2022.

Weissberg believed the Russians hired him because he was a trustworthy, clean-cut American figure. The New York Times profiled Reiber in 2006 as a clever cop for his work using cellphone data to help investigate crimes.

Weissberg described Reiber, his former boss, as ”not very intellectual” and said he largely kept to himself.

Most people are not very intellectual. That, however, has nothing to do with intelligence.

Reiber also often pointed out his history as a minor league baseball player with pride, exaggerating how good he was, according to Weissberg.

Weissberg believed him to be an odd choice for Oxygen because he had no management experience and was not based in Alexandria, but in Idaho. But it made sense for the Russians, he said.

”But as a handsome, former cop far from the big city, he had the trust factor,” Weissberg said.

”In my opinion, there is no way the Russian government would allow an important company like Oxygen Forensics to be controlled by an American without direct oversight. Lee is clearly a figurehead, which is what I eye-witnessed as well.”

Reiber was reportedly paid handsomely for his position, with prosecutors saying in the criminal complaint he was paid $250,000 for his role as CEO of the company. Weissberg said Reiber’s daughter, Courtney, also worked at Oxygen.

Prosecutors allege Reiber and Oxygen’s Russian owners understood that public disclosure of the company’s true ownership threatened its lucrative U.S. government business.

He wrote in an email to Davydov and two other Russian owners that public reporting on the connection “could destroy this entire opportunity,” in reference to a pending contract with the Secret Service’s National Computer Forensics Institute, and that the “current existence of this company hangs in the balance.”

The institute nevertheless awarded Oxygen a five-year contract in September 2024.

The whistleblower told The Post that the higher-ups at the company would only refer to the Russians as the ”Europeans” in an effort to conceal their nationality. He only found out about this when a former head of sales told him about the euphemism, he said.

Weissberg — who directed Russian action movie ”Karaganda: Red Mafia” which he submitted to the 2024 Moscow Film Festival — later asked Reiber at a staff dinner whether he would ever visit Russia.

He paused and said something to the effect of: “I can’t go there. I’m one of the persons they would arrest.”

The whistleblower said the question seemed to “almost” give Reiber’s wife a ”heart attack.”

Weissberg decided to move on from the company and blow the whistle after what he described as a freak occurrence related to oil company Chevron in October 2025.

He said that he overheard an employee of the company brag about how they convinced Chevron to lower its firewall and other security features to install Oxygen’s forensic software.

A day after the installation, Weissberg said Chevron suffered a major fire at a Californian refinery in El Segundo.

Weissberg said the timing made him question whether the Oxygen installation and the fire could somehow have been connected.

However, he provided no evidence establishing such a link, and the Justice Department’s complaint does not accuse Oxygen’s software of causing the Chevron fire.

The DOJ also explicitly says its criminal complaint does not allege Oxygen software contained malicious code or was used to gain unauthorized access to customers’ computer systems or data.

Oxygen’s CEO continued at the company as federal investigators began catching on.

Prosecutors said Reiber spoke with undercover agents posing as Department of Homeland Security personnel in March of this year and told them that no Russian person had control or interest in the company and that no Russians took part in developing their software.

He then posted a statement on the Oxygen website claiming the same.

Federal investigators allege the opposite, saying Oxygen’s software was written and managed by a team working in Russia under Davydov’s direction.

The company’s website has since been seized.

Reiber also claimed in a defamation lawsuit filed against Weissberg last month — after he went public with his claims that the company had Russian bosses — that Oxygen “does not have employees, contractors, or suppliers in Russia.”

He also added that the company does not sell its products in Russia and is not controlled by the Russian government.

Officials arrested Reiber in Idaho, where he worked as the company’s CEO remotely, on Sunday.

The CEO managed to obtain more than $2 million in contracts from the U.S. government for forensic software, prosecutors said, before he was arrested.

The federal agencies identified in the complaint include the Department of War and three components of the Department of Homeland Security: the Secret Service and its National Computer Forensics Institute, Homeland Security Investigations and the DHS Office of Inspector General.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Secret Service said there was ”no evidence” sensitive information was compromised and it was used exclusively in ”air-gapped environments.”

“The U.S. Secret Service uses a variety of forensic tools to conduct its investigative mission,” they told The Post.

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“When using external programs, the agency takes cybersecurity very seriously and is committed to protecting sensitive information,” the agency added. While the Secret Service previously used Oxygen Forensics software, its use was immediately discontinued in February 2026 after security risks were identified by the agency. This program was used exclusively in air-gapped environments and there is no evidence that any sensitive information was compromised.”

If convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, Reiber faces up to 20 years in federal prison.

Reiber is expected to be arraigned in Los Angeles federal court in the coming weeks. U.S. authorities are seeking Davydov’s extradition from Britain after his arrest at Heathrow Airport.

Link

Fifth Column

American CEO accused of alarming scheme to sneak Russians into Secret Service contract

2026-09-26

[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] An American CEO has been charged with conspiring a plot to help Russian nationals infiltrate the US Secret Service, the Department of War and other critical federal agencies.

Lee Reiber, 55, CEO of Alexandria, Virginia-based digital forensics firm Oxygen Forensics Inc, was arrested on Sunday in Idaho and charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, the Department of Justice announced.

Russian national Oleg Davydov, 52, was arrested Sunday at London's Heathrow Airport and the US is currently seeking his extradition.

Both men are accused of concealing from US officials that their Oxygen Forensics was owned by Russian nationals and that its software, which was used by the US Secret Service (USSS), was developed in Russia.

They face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

In September 2024,

…back when the Biden-Harris Politburo was still gleefully running things into the ground as fast as it could…

the firm signed a five-year deal with the United States Secret Service (USSS) and its National Computer Forensics Institute (NCFI). Part of that deal included certification for Reiber that the company had no immediate or highest-level owner who would raise alarm, such as a cadre of Russian nationals.

The software is used to recover, preserve and analyze electronic data from digital devices, making its deployment at NCFI, which educates and trains law enforcement and judicial officials on combating cybercrime, a top concern of federal officials.

The affidavit identifies multiple US agencies that were affected by the Russian-linked firm, including the Department of War, the Department of Homeland Security and the department's Inspector General's office.

US prosecutors also alleged that the Russian owners had their names scrubbed from the company in recent years, around the same time that the American was installed as chief executive.

'Reiber was installed as the company’s CEO, president, and chairman of the board in March 2022. The Russian owners were then removed from the company’s public corporate filings,' the court filings state.

The software was also widely used by the Russian government's security agencies, prosecutors allege.

Developed by DavyDov in Russia in 2000, it has been previously sold to the Russian federal security service, the Russian investigative committee and the Russian ministry of internal affairs.

'In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Davydov, Reiber, and the Russian co-conspirators agreed to conceal Oxygen Forensics’ true ownership and the development of its software in Russia,' the Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said.

Reiber allegedly emailed his Russian boss Davydov that the firm's links to Russia mustn't be discovered because it could potentially 'destroy this entire opportunity,' in reference to the pending federal contract.

The company, he allegedly stated in an email, 'hangs in the balance.'

Prosecutors also allege that in March 2026 Reiber told government officials that Russians were not involved in building the software, and no one in the country had access to it.

The federal prosecutors claim that was false and the software allegedly was managed by a Russian team.

The White House referred the Daily Mail's request for comment to the USSS. The USS did not immediately respond.

Link

Science & Technology

Only America Could Have Designed the Field Jacket

2026-09-22

[WAR ON THE ROCKS] When the M-1943 field jacket was introduced at the height of World War II, it was a revolutionary garment. The jacket was the result of rigorous testing, input from an astonishingly diverse group of experts, and was produced by the most advanced textile and garment industry in the world at the time. But the essence of the M-1943 field jacket, and what made it so unique, was the very simple question it was trying to answer: "What does the soldier want?"

The success of the field jacket highlights how a diversity of thought, a mastery of logistics, and a concern for the well-being of the common soldier were foundational to America’s citizen army and the essence of a democracy’s fight against fascism.

Uniforms are often overlooked in discussions of military technological advancements or force multipliers. It is easy to understand that the ability to put an M1 Garand rifle in the hands of every infantryman in World War II was a massive industrial undertaking that only the United States could have accomplished, and the firepower it gave a U.S. Army infantry platoon shaped tactical outcomes. The same can be said for uniforms, whose design and quality had an appreciable effect.

The M-1943 field jacket and the modular layering system designed to work with it kept U.S. soldiers warmer and drier, reducing cold-weather casualties that could seriously undercut the combat effectiveness of units without it. Similarly, for much of the history of warfare, the winter months meant an end to campaigning, with both sides hunkering down to winter quarters and waiting for the spring fighting season. Just as night-vision technology enabled American dominance of the dark on 21st-century battlefields, the field jacket allowed U.S. troops to own the cold. The impact of U.S. Army uniform development is as important to the story of the United States in World War II as the M1 Garand.

Much of this essay is based on archival research conducted at either the National Archives in College Park, Maryland, or the Quartermaster Corps Museum at Fort Lee, Virginia. Many of the quoted documents, memos, and histories are, unfortunately, unavailable online. A key source, quoted throughout, is Designed for Combat: The Army’s Field Jackets by Norman E. Roberts, an internal history of the Army’s wartime field jacket development and production commissioned by the Philadelphia Quartermaster Depot in 1946. Another is Clothing the Soldier of World War II, published by the Quartermaster Corps as part of their postwar historical series, by Dr. Erna Risch, a prolific historian who would eventually become the chief of the Historical Section of the Quartermaster General.

The development of the first military field jacket began in late 1939 when the War Department Uniform Board was directed to develop "some type of windbreaker or lumberjacket for field service." The job of designing such a jacket was taken up by Maj. Gen. J. K. Parsons. Parsons envisioned that instead of soldiers going to war in their service coats — woolen jackets with brass buttons, better suited for dress but customarily worn in the field as well — they should wear a jacket specifically for field use. He settled on a lightweight cotton jacket with a wool shirt lining, about waist-length, based largely on golf jackets. The result was what would become the M-1941 field jacket.

Link

Fifth Column

Socialist, communist groups coordinate, promote 'spontaneous' anti-ICE protests in Austin

2026-09-22

[FoxNews] Democratic Socialists of America and Party for Socialism and Liberation mobilized within hours of the shooting

Watching the “spontaneous” thing roll out in real time — I wonder if Nick Shirley or one of his imitators was on the ground, recording. Though the feds can do an awful lot with the kind of self-aggrandizing photos and video that lot love to post of themselves…

Media accounts reported that protesters "quickly organized" a spontaneous anti-ICE protest at an Austin, Texas, intersection following the shooting of a Venezuelan man by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.

But a Fox News Digital investigation shows that the protests are being promoted and organized by a coordinated network of far-left socialist and communist groups, including the Democratic Socialists of America, the Freedom Road Socialist Organization and the Party for Socialism and Liberation, which works closely with nonprofits funded by Neville Roy Singham, a communist American-born tech tycoon living in Shanghai.

Congressional lawmakers are investigating the Singham network for allegedly fomenting the image of "chaos" in the U.S., including anti-ICE protests from Minneapolis to the Delaney Hall detention center in Newark, N.J. Sure enough, Sunday evening, BreakThrough News, a pro-communist media platform operated by BreakThrough BT Media, a nonprofit funded by Singham, published a "BREAKING NEWS" report from Texas with the headline: "Austin erupts in protest…"

The shooting occurred Sunday afternoon at about 12:56 p.m. Central Time near Anderson Square and Research Boulevard in Austin. Authorities said an ICE officer shot Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, a 28-year-old Venezuelan national, during a traffic stop. Perez was hospitalized in serious but stable condition and later placed in federal custody. Local officials said Austin police weren’t involved in the shooting, which is being investigated by federal authorities with assistance from the FBI.

About four hours after the shooting, local socialist and communist activists were already at the scene, waving flags of Mexico,

…never mind that the dead man was Venezuelan — what matters the truth when there’s a cause to promote?

pushing the incident through their national and Texas social-media networks and broadcasting footage of the growing crowd and confrontations with Austin police.

The headlines and descriptions of the demonstration have focused on the protest’s anti-ICE message without identifying the political or ideological infrastructure that helped organize and promote the event. Local media headlines included KVUE reporting that "North Austin ICE shooting draws large protest as tensions escalate," describing a spontaneous outburst: "What began with a handful of people gathered across the street from the scene grew into a much larger crowd over the course of several hours."

But the details of the Austin protest are important because they reveal that the demonstrations represent more than an unplanned gathering of residents responding to a breaking-news event, much like the protests in Minnesota and New Jersey and Minnesota.

Indeed. It’s astroturf all the way down.

The shooting provided the immediate trigger, but the mobilization was amplified by organizations with explicit revolutionary socialist and communist ideologies, established propaganda outlets and long-standing ties to international movements aligned with the communist governments of Cuba and Venezuela. They each have pre-existing activist networks and online audiences that organized and promoted the protests.

The event also illustrates how rapidly established activist networks can convert a law-enforcement incident into a larger political action. Within hours, the groups distributed nearly identical claims, promoted the same location and used dramatic language describing the shooting as "ICE terror," "police violence" and part of a pattern of killings.

At about 4:19 p.m. local time, the Party for Socialism and Liberation’s national account, @PSLNational, posted an explosive message on X, announcing the shooting and shouting in capital letters, "BREAKING. MAN SHOT BY ICE AGENTS IN AUSTIN. It called on residents to protest ICE, declaring, "ICE OUT OF AUSTIN NOW!"

Right about then, the group’s Austin chapter shared the dramatic "BREAKING" graphic on Instagram, collaborating with its national headquarters and four Texas chapters in Houston, San Antonio, Dallas-Fort Worth and Waco. By early Monday evening, about 24 hours later, the post had 5,402 likes, 2,016 reposts and 2,391 shares/sends.

Soon after on Sunday, at about 4:30 p.m. local time, the Austin chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America posted a graphic labeled "Emergency Demonstration/Vigil" calling on supporters to gather at 8121 Research Boulevard from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday for a "spontaneous" protest.

"Join us at 8121 Research Blvd from 5-8 p.m. for a spontaneous protest and vigil against yet another instance of ICE and police violence," the post said.

The group later reposted the notice with an updated location and said the demonstration would continue until 7 p.m.

Right about then, the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, an openly Marxist-Leninist group that has sent delegations to support communist regimes in Cuba and Venezuela, and its Austin chapter published its own hyperbolic material about the shooting. One graphic said, "ICE SHOOTS AN UNARMED CIVILIAN," while another described the incident as part of a broader pattern of "ICE violence and killings." Within 24 hours, the post garnered 620 likes, 214 reposts and 156 shares/sends.

The Freedom Road Socialist Organization openly says it is working to build "a new, revolutionary, communist party." In its own program, the group says it wants to replace capitalism through a socialist revolution. The group's program describes the organization as part of the communist movement. In July, the group said it "salutes the Communist Party of China" on the 105th anniversary of its founding.

For years, it’s also supported the Communist Party of Cuba, declaring, "Stand with socialist Cuba," as it praised the Cuban Revolution and called for an end to U.S. sanctions against Cuba.

Videos posted by the group showed demonstrators chanting, holding signs, blocking the roadway near the shooting scene and lighting fireworks.

The Party for Socialism and Liberation official manifesto describes itself as a "revolutionary socialist" movement that "will open the way to communism and the end of class society." The program describes the police and state institutions as tools of capitalist rule and calls for a workers’ government to replace the current system.

The Party for Socialism and Liberation functions as a key boots-on-the-ground mobilizer within the broader activist ecosystem, working alongside Singham-funded organizations such as the People’s Forum, BreakThrough News, CodePink and the ANSWER Coalition on protests, media campaigns and international solidarity efforts.

The Party for Socialism and Liberation also overlaps with the Freedom Road Socialist Organization through shared "anti-imperialist" pro-communist coalitions, while the Democratic Socialists of America often provides a broader layer of street-level organizing and political amplification.

The Party for Socialism and Liberation has participated in international "solidarity" efforts involving Cuba and Venezuela, along with the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, according to a communist publication, Fight Back! News. A self-described communist co-founder of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, Brian Becker, has said the delegation traveled "as comrades in solidarity."

The facts surrounding the shooting remain under investigation. Austin officials have called for transparency and an independent review, while federal authorities have said the ICE agent’s use of force is being investigated. But the protest organizers’ social media posts leave little ambiguity about the political and ideological objective of the protest.

Link

-Land of the Free

Turning Point at a Turning Point: One Year After Charlie Kirk’s Murder, Three Legacies Are in Limbo

2026-09-20

[PJMedia] By all accounts, Charlie Kirk never considered stepping down. Not even once.

And why would he?

Turning Point USA was his baby. His creation. His magnum opus. He built it from the bottom up — transforming TPUSA from a teenager's pipe dream into a political juggernaut. Every inch of it reflected his values, passions, and one-of-a-kind personality.

Which is why Charlie intended to lead it ’til his dying day: The only succession plan he ever considered was posthumous.

Tragically, his dying day came far earlier than he deserved.

As we approach the one-year anniversary of Charlie Kirk’s liquidation, Turning Point itself is at a turning point: Three legacies are now in limbo.

The first is Charlie’s.

Complaining about click-whores, liars, cretins, and clout-chasers on social media is a waste of time. It’d be like complaining about nudity in a strip club: That’s kinda-sorta the M.O. when you enter.

But even by social media’s cesspool standards, onlookers were stunned by how quickly Charlie’s murder was exploited. Within days, some of the biggest, most influential podcasters wore Charlie’s corpse like a skin suit, repurposing his legacy for their own agenda.

Once upon a time, Charlie Kirk was just a man. That ended on Sept. 10, 2025.

Today, he’s a symbol.

And symbols have propaganda value. It’s why waving the bloody shirt is so effective.

Symbols are a cheat code for emotional communication. It’s why redefining symbolism has always been a top priority for revolutionaries: It lets them capture hearts — while bypassing brains.

In life, Charlie wasn’t exactly coy with his beliefs:

Charlie Kirk says the Left will use Islam to bring down America

“The spiritual battle is coming to the West and the enemies are woke-ism or Marxism combining with Islamism to go after what we call the American way of life”

“The American way of life is very simple. I want to be… pic.twitter.com/n89lBtIkZn
— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) September 8, 2025

… I want to be able to get married, buy a home, have kids, allow them to ride their bike till the sun goes down, send them to a good school, have a low crime neighborhood, not to have my kid be taught the lesbian, gay, transgender garbage in their school. While also, not having them have to hear the Muslim call to prayer five times a day. That's important.”

“These two threats are combining forces to come after us.”

"Charlie Kirk was killed because he was turning on Israel."

Charlie Kirk 5 days before he died: "They have no idea what Israel is up against. Which is these Islamic barabarian monsters. The more they understand Islam the better Israel looks." pic.twitter.com/FMvYTeJgEv
— Nathan Livingstone (MilkBarTV) (@TheMilkBarTV) June 22, 2026

The sad truth is, Charlie’s image has changed. The propagandists are winning.

For millions of Americans, when they close their eyes and think of Charlie Kirk, their first thought isn’t conservatism, Christianity, or youth politics anymore.

It’s bat[feces]-crazy conspiracy theories, antisemitism, political violence, and Candace Owens.

Symbols aren’t static. They’re constantly moving, constantly changing, perpetually vulnerable to outside forces. And the more powerful the symbol, the bigger the PR payoff in its manipulation.

Which means symbols must be protected. Vigilantly and aggressively.

Look, I get it: Clearly, it’s not the execs at TPUSA’s fault. They’re not the ones who associated Charlie’s image with low-life creeps like Owens and Tucker Carlson. They’re not the ones who hijacked his brand.

If anything, they’re the victims. (Especially, of course, TPUSA’s current chairwoman and CEO.)

But on the other hand, they also haven’t done enough to protect Charlie’s image. Their hearts are in the right place, but PR tactics determine PR success. That’s just how it goes in an outcome-based world.

TPUSA would be wise to recalibrate its PR plan ASAP — because protecting Charlie’s legacy is its responsibility.

Charlie’s earthly mission ended on Sept. 10; an assassin’s bullet made sure of it. But he remains — by far — TPUSA’s most valuable symbol, brand ambassador, and emotional lightning rod. His soul rests in God’s mighty arms, yet his spirit still guides the organization he cherished.

He deserves a better legacy than this.

And so does his successor, Erika Kirk. She assumed the title of chairwoman and CEO — and less than a year later, her metrics are jaw-dropping: TPUSA grew from 410 college chapters to 1,095 (including at James Madison University in Virginia, where my 19-year-old son is an active member). TPUSA exploded from 454 Club America (high school-aged) chapters to 3,102.

The trouble, however, is that it’s unclear how much credit Erika Kirk deserves, since TPUSA’s dramatic growth was triggered by an outpouring of organic love and support after Charlie’s death. Arguably, any CEO at the helm would’ve achieved similar results.

One week after Charlie was killed, 32,000 people contacted TPUSA to join. (That’ll getcha lots of new members.)

Which doesn’t negate Mrs. Kirk’s leadership or courage. She steadied the ship during the darkest, deadliest days, providing clarity, consistency, and continuity. Forged by tragedy, her authenticity spoke for itself.

And she paid a horrific price for it, too.

Since then, she’s been attacked. Ridiculed. Subjected to an absurd list of conspiracy theories.

Her enemies on the left were foreseeable: The same people who hated Charlie now hate her. She inherited her husband’s enemies.

What wasn’t foreseeable was how bitterly she was attacked by Charlie’s so-called friends.

Let’s be clear: Erika Kirk’s tenure as CEO has NOT been a failure — it’s been a monumental, unprecedented success. TPUSA is bigger, more powerful, and more influential than ever before. In just one year, her organization has 4.86 times as many chapters!

But just like symbols change over time, so do a CEO’s responsibilities. Your mission in year one is different than in years two, three, and four. It requires different skill sets — and different visions.

Which is why, for the sake of Erika Kirk’s legacy, Charlie Kirk’s legacy, and Turning Point USA’s legacy, the one-year anniversary of her husband’s assassination would be the ideal time to appoint a new CEO.

There’s nothing wrong with being a transitional CEO. After all, that was one helluva transition: TPUSA’s survival wasn’t guaranteed.

Amidst an unspeakable heartache, Erika preserved her husband’s dream, quadrupled TPUSA’s outreach, and blazed a path for long-term, sustainable growth. She represented the organization with class and dignity.

And because of her success, TPUSA’s challenge has evolved. It’s no longer an organization that needs saving; it’s an organization that needs to expertly manage its dramatic growth — while actively feeding its new membership pipelines.

TPUSA now needs a full-time, hands-on CEO who’s closer to the Charlie Kirk model: a social media maestro, a natural-born showman, and a charismatic dynamo who can mesmerize college audiences.

And that’s not Erika Kirk. She’s a momma with two little babies — and a husband who was stolen from her.

Now grant her the grace to save Charlie’s other legacy, too.

Nick Shirley’s age, moxie, and knack for media attention would make him an intriguing fit (sans the charisma), but in my opinion, the dream candidate for TPUSA’s next CEO is Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Tex.).

He’s only 32. Too young to be president — yet he’s already outgrown his congressional seat. Taking the reins of TPUSA, traveling the country, headlining college events, growing membership, and going viral on social media wouldn’t just elevate Gills’ profile; it would take TPUSA to dazzling new heights.

And it would ensure the legacies of Charlie, Erika, and the organization they love.

Link

-Lurid Crime Tales-

‘Out of control' killings in Spanberger's Virginia reach ‘insane' point as migrant charged in stabbing spree

2026-09-17

[FOX] Anger is boiling over at Virginia Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger and sanctuary-friendly politicians over "out of control" killings in the state after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) asked the state not to allow the release of yet another illegal immigrant charged with carrying out a stabbing spree.

ICE sent a request to Spanberger and "her fellow sanctuary politicians" not to release Mexican illegal immigrant Freddi Chigo Mil following his arrest for allegedly stabbing two women on the streets of Staunton, Virginia, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Police responding to the incident found Mil at the scene along with two stabbed women, one of whom was pronounced dead while the other was transported to a local hospital.

Mil is charged with second-degree murder and aggravated malicious wounding causing permanent impairment, according to Middle River Regional Jail records. The same day, ICE arrested Salvadoran illegal immigrant Yinmi Molina-Zepeda in Woodbridge, Virginia, after it was discovered that he is wanted in his home country for aggravated homicide and other crimes.

Commenting on the growing list of illegal immigrants accused of violent crimes in Virginia, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin remarked that "this is what the Commonwealth of Virginia has become under the sanctuary policies of Gov. Abigail Spanberger and her fellow sanctuary politicians."

Link

Government Corruption

The Real Problem In Government - Under the Radar Sabotage - Government Employees Fight Trump's Reforms From Within the Executive Branch

2026-09-09

[DailySignal] Who ultimately decides how the executive branch works? Is it the president, elected by the American people, or career federal employees and the unions that represent them?

The American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union representing federal employees, sued the White House’s Office of Personnel Management last month, aiming to block new rules governing how federal employees are evaluated, disciplined, and removed.

The lawsuit represents only the latest in a long series of legal challenges the union has brought against President Donald Trump’s administration since January 2025. According to a July roundup AFGE posted on its website, the union had filed 18 lawsuits against the administration before the latest case.

These lawsuits have targeted a wide range of administration initiatives, including government-wide reorganizations, workforce reductions, collective bargaining restrictions, employee classification reforms, and changes to federal personnel rules.

AFGE has been far from alone in these cases. Democracy Forward,

…Democrat Party-affiliated group launched in 2017 to fight President Trump with lawfare. The Marc Elias-led group brags that it took Trump to court more than 100 times in his first term in office...

a left-leaning legal advocacy organization that has represented plaintiffs in numerous lawsuits challenging Trump policies, has represented AFGE or other plaintiffs in these cases. Such challenges have involved broad coalitions, including advocacy groups and local governments, alongside labor unions.

Critics argue that these cases amount to more than traditional labor litigation, representing a form of institutional resistance from federal employees and their allies against an elected administration’s effort to reshape the executive branch.

AFGE rejects that characterization. A union spokesman told The Daily Signal that issues involving “politicization of government, corruption, and the refusal to recognize legally valid union contracts” are inseparable from “the everyday experience of federal workers.” The spokesman also accused the administration of engaging in “illegal and retaliatory union-busting” and broader efforts to “rig the system.”

Unions such as AFGE have every right to represent the interests of their members, but these cases concern questions extending beyond wages, benefits, or traditional workplace conditions. They challenge the administration’s attempts to reorganize agencies, alter personnel systems, and change how the bureaucracy operates.

Michael Watson, research director for the Capital Research Center, told the Daily Signal that “it should not be surprising that the professional Left and the AFGE are working hand-in-glove,” given the ideological bent of the labor movement.

He said AFGE’s moves amount to “the representative organ of the federal civil service attempting to enact its own policy preferences through litigation.” He also noted, however, that the Trump administration “is attempting to weaken the power of unions like AFGE to carry out their own policy preferences against the policies laid out by the people’s elected representatives and the executive officers who have been chosen to carry out the laws made by Congress.”

Four cases illustrate the nature of this litigation.

Details at the link.

1. The DOGE Lawsuit
In April 2025, AFGE led a large coalition in suing to block Trump’s Executive Order 14210, which established the Department of Government Efficiency and aimed to reduce the federal workforce to increase efficiency in the executive branch.

2. A National Security Decision
In April 2025, AFGE sued to block Trump’s Executive Order 14251, which exempted certain agencies from collective bargaining rules due to their “primary function” of “intelligence, countertintelligence, investigative, or national security work.”

3. Schedule Policy/Career
In January 2025, AFGE, AFSCME, AFL-CIO, and other unions led by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, sued to block Trump’s Executive Order 14171, which created a new category for federal workers called “Schedule Policy/Career.”

4. Performance Standards
This summer, the Office of Personnel Management finalized two rules regarding how federal employees are evaluated and can be removed.

Link

Home Front: Politix

This Red State Is Betting It Can Abolish Its Income Tax

2026-09-05

[ZERO] West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey (R) has unveiled seven principles aligned with 2025 legislation to reduce and eventually eliminate state income tax. Under the plan, West Virginia would set aside 50% of its revenue from approved hyperscale data center projects towards the elimination of the state personal income tax - though let's be clear: the poor, rural residents they'll be building the DCs next to don't pay income tax - so no benefit to them. Middle class voters (and up), however, will have all sorts of reasons to support the move.

"Today, as the world stands on the cusp of a new digital and economic frontier, West Virginia is stepping forward once again to lead, not by repeating the mistakes of other states, but by implementing a proactive, 20-year development strategy on our terms," Morrisey said in a statement obtained by Fox News.

The second listed "principle" in Morrisey’s plan says all West Virginians should benefit from data center projects approved through Charleston’s "High Impact Data Center Designation (HIDC)" process and the revenue they generate. The process was established under a separate 2025 state law.

Morrisey’s plan includes "direct tax relief for citizens," with none of the HIDC revenue entering the state general fund.

"By law, 50 percent of project revenue is dedicated directly to reducing and ultimately eliminating the State Personal Income Tax," reads the plan.

Counties would benefit also - with those hosting data centers receiving 30% of the revenue for schools and local government, and 10% of the revenue distributed to all 55 counties. Another 10% will fund infrastructure upgrades, which include public water systems in a state that's struggled since the decline of the coal industry.

"This shared framework gives us the exact blueprint we need to attract billions in private investment, create thousands of high-paying construction and technology jobs, lower taxes for our citizens, and revitalize economically distressed regions, all while preserving the wild and wonderful state we call home," said Morrisey.

The anti-data center movement, meanwhile, has become quite vocal in neighboring Virginia's Jefferson and Berkeley counties - as residents have taken note of sprawling data centers in Loudoun county.

"We are a cautionary tale for the rest of the country," Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA) in recent remarks. "[I]f my district were a country, it would have more data centers than almost every other country in the world."

Link

Afghanistan

Afghanistan's United Front allegedly shot and killed a Taliban member in Jalalabad.

2026-08-31

#Afghanistan 🇦🇫: “Afghanistan United Front” allegedly shot and killed a Taliban member in Jalalabad.

The perpetrator appears to be armed with an unidentified pistol which was very notably fitted with suppressor. pic.twitter.com/fJ372ALkGx
— War Noir (@war_noir) August 30, 2026

The Afghan United Front was founded by former Afghan National Army (ANA) special forces Lieutenant General Sami Sadat after he arrived in America and settled in Virginia in 2023 after the NRF rejected him as a competitive power center or something. He originally worked on advocacy and information in the U.S., just beginning the military campaign this month.

Wikipedia’s new Afghan United Front page lists the attacks against the Taliban in August — reformatted for ease of reading:

The AUF began its military campaign against the Taliban government in August 2026, around the fifth anniversary of the Taliban returning to power, under 'Operation Muharib'.[3]

On 1 August 2026, Sadat claimed the AUF's first attack in Kandahar which killed two Taliban fighters. A second attack occurred in Lashkar Gah, Helmand.[2][3]

On August 2, it claims to have killed in Badghis Province two Taliban members it claims were involved in torturing former Afghan security force personnel, and whilst carrying out an attack in Ghor Province in retaliation for the death of a woman who was a former Afghan National Police officer.

On August 3, it claims an attack on a police centre in Kandahar that killed two Taliban guards in retaliation of torture.

On August 4, it claims to have killed a member of the Taliban's intelligence centre in the Qaysar district of Faryab Province.

On August 6, it claims two separate attacks again in Kandahar Province that killed Taliban intelligence officers in Spin Boldak and Kandahar City.[2]

On August 26, AUF fighters targeted a Taliban checkpoint at Daman district, Kandahar.[13]

Link

Cyber

West Virginia looks to AI data center boom to help eliminate state income tax

2026-08-30

[FOX] West Virginia leaders are escalating the debate over data centers, with Gov. Patrick Morrisey unveiling a seven-point plan developed with lawmakers to reduce and eventually eliminate the state income tax while addressing concerns about natural resources and infrastructure.

The plan comes as data centers are becoming a political flashpoint nationwide, with states looking to cash in on billions of dollars in investment and new jobs while communities raise concerns about utility costs, water use and local control. The massive facilities needed to power the artificial intelligence boom are also driving electricity demand higher, putting new pressure on power grids across the country.

Under the plan, West Virginia would dedicate 50% of revenue generated by approved hyperscale data center projects to reducing and eventually eliminating the state personal income tax, while directing some remaining revenue to counties and infrastructure projects.

Link

Home Front: Politix

Homeland Security warns of Chinese parts in election machines, will require paper ballot audits

2026-08-30

[Just the News] The Homeland Security Department will require random audits of paper ballots in the midterm elections, citing long-simmering concern that the nation’s largest voting technology companies use Chinese parts in their voting machines, according to a letter from Secretary Markwayne Mullin released Thursday.

Mullin sent the letter to the White House Transparency Task Force earlier this week outlining the dangers posed by Chinese components in American voting machines and the way that these components could be exploited by hackers or other malicious actors.

At least now the responsible parties have been warned…

The letter highlighted longstanding concerns first raised in a bipartisan manner before the 2020 election, but which officials appear to have taken little action on in the intervening years.

"Voting machines with components manufactured by foreign adversaries introduce significant security risks," Mullin wrote. "These vulnerabilities mean that malicious actors could potentially compromise election infrastructure at any stage of the supply chain, even before the machines are assembled or deployed."

The secretary explained, "If a component is tampered with during manufacturing, it could serve as a point-of-entry for hackers, allowing for the possibility of synchronized attacks across multiple machines and jurisdictions."

Two Biden administration Intelligence Community memos in 2024 identified China as "the most active and persistent cyber threat" and assessed that China, along with Iran and Russia, has "the technical capability to access some U.S. election-related networks and systems."

You can read Mullin’s letter below:

08.20.2026 - WHTF Letter Commerce - S1 SIGNED.pdf

Earlier this year, the Trump administration took drastic action to ban the import of all internet routers manufactured in foreign countries because of the unacceptable security risks posed by Chinese hacking capabilities.

Internet routers connect computers, cellphones, and other electronic devices to the internet, the backbone of the modern economy.

According to the agency, Chinese hackers have exploited vulnerabilities in Chinese-manufactured systems to extensively burrow into U.S. critical infrastructure networks, affecting industries like communications, energy, transportation and water supply, Just the News previously reported.

Mullin noted major U.S. voting machine companies have acknowledged that some of their components cannot be sourced from any American manufacturers, requiring them to rely on foreign suppliers. Three of those vendors which make up the vast majority of election systems in the U.S., "more than 80%," are ES&S, Hart InterCivic, and Dominion.

Each of these vendors has previously said that their machines have parts made in China.

Ahead of the 2020 election, the big three came under public and political scrutiny as worries mounted that foreign powers could interfere in U.S. elections.

Voting machines were widely seen as a vector for such interference, including through potential hacking or tampering. According to documents previously declassified by President Donald Trump and made public by the White House Transparency Task Force last month, the U.S. Intelligence Community also harbored concerns after vulnerabilities were exposed by a Venezuelan regime plot to manipulate its own election machines.

The Trump administration has declassified several tranches of documents outlining concerns about election vulnerabilities, seeking to bolster its efforts secure American elections ahead of the midterms. These include:

Evidence that China has obtained 220 million American voter registration files, some of which include non-public data, through buying, stealing or hacking. The administration’s intelligence chiefs later said that this represents "election interference."
Assessments from spy agencies beginning in 2020 that at least five foreign powers -- China, Russia, Iran, North Korea and Venezuela -- possess the ability to hack voting machines.
Evidence gathered by the Homeland Security Department that hundreds-of-thousands of likely illegal foreign voters were on the voter rolls states—and estimated the total across the whole country to be higher.
Documents that show the FBI investigated a breach of voter registration data in Arizona’s largest county in the days before the 2020 election. In that incident, a self-described hacker foiled security and obtained 633,000 voter registration files, but the Biden Justice Department and local prosecutors declined to bring charges.

The scrutiny on American election machines used to be bipartisan.

Four Democratic lawmakers wrote a letter to the private equity firms that own the election machine vendors in December 2019 asking them to ultimately disclose ownership and finances, citing concerns that these firms have skimped on election security measures.

Earlier, in 2017, Democratic senators also sent letters to the three major voting machine manufacturers inquiring about their cybersecurity practices.

NBC News interviewed ES&S’s chief executive, Tom Burt, in December 2019 about concerns that the company sources election machine parts from China.

Burt told the outlet that the company’s facilities overseas in China and the Philippines were "very secure" and that ultimate assembly takes place in the United States. In a separate letter to the outlet, ES&S said all components "are trusted, tested and free of malware."

In 2020, the executives of all three companies testified before the House Administration Committee—the panel tasked with overseeing federal elections—and acknowledged that some of their voting machine components were made in China. The then-president and CEO of Dominion told lawmakers that his company sources parts from China because "in some cases, there are simply no alternative suppliers."

The Homeland Security Department first outlined its plan to tie its Homeland Security Grant Program funding to state performance in implementing several election security measures in July.

The agency said that it would require all states to "submit a plan for transitioning away from unsecure electronic voting systems" using bar codes and QR codes to count votes, "conduct a manual audit of at least 5% of all ballots cast," reconcile the number of voters with the number of ballots cast, and use the department’s SAVE system to verify the citizenship of voters.

Documents previously declassified by the president and released by the White House Transparency Task Force show that the U.S. Intelligence Community developed concerns about the security of American voting machines beginning in 2004 when it first detected plans by the Venezuelan government to electronically manipulate their country’s own voting machines, including the use of substituting false votes, to secure victory for the ruling socialists.

The plans raised alarm as early as 2006 among U.S. officials as a potential avenue for the Venezuelans to attempt to "undermine confidence in, or manipulate the electoral process in, the United States," according to a June 2026 CIA summary of prior intelligence reporting on Caracas’ capabilities.

By 2020, the CIA had obtained reporting on Venezuelan plans to swing the country’s election that year by manipulating electronic voting machines in a way that would make false votes appear legitimate and leave no trace of the changes.

The intelligence raised questions about whether some U.S. voting machines could be vulnerable to similar types of manipulation.

Link

Home Front: Politix

Virginia AG Launches Office To Protect Illegals And Bureaucrats From Federal Accountability

2026-08-28

[The Federalist] On the same day Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced a successful operation to arrest more than 1,300 illegal aliens throughout Virginia and Maryland, Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones launched a legal team to stop federal activity in the commonwealth.

Jones’ "Legal Unit to Confront Unprecedented Trump Administration Overreach" covers more than just immigration enforcement, and will insert itself into issues including "federal funding, elections, healthcare, immigration, environmental protections, consumer issues, constitutional rights, tariffs and other economic policies, and the continuing fallout from DOGE’s cuts to the federal workforce.

"Virginia is a major hub of federal workers, with its northern region bordering Washington, D.C., and it houses the Department of War, CIA, TSA, and many more federal agencies. Many of those permanent, unaccountable bureaucrats become important constituents for Democrats and often help them carry the state.

Link

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