An illegal immigrant hid in the ceiling of a women&#8217;s bathroom in a Florida church while recording video on his phone, according to authorities.
The Fort Walton Beach Police Department arrested Panamanian illegal immigrant Aquilino Sanjur Ortega on Sunday after receiving a call about a possible armed person at Grace Church during a religious service. One woman said that while she was inside the women&#8217;s restroom, &#8220;she observed a mobile phone positioned above the ceiling with its camera pointed downward in her direction,&#8221; police <a href="https://www.facebook.com/fwbpd/posts/pfbid02BeudRCiPUCdk3ycUCELR71UDLdc3pPm2gD3TxEgviCoxoXhmPNGUGVznTBJq7iPMl?rdid=GIAivwzSYIKbGnwu#" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.
The woman &#8220;immediately&#8221; left the restroom and informed church staff.
Parishioners evacuated from the building before officers arrived at the scene, according to authorities. Witnesses told the officers that a man was hiding in the women&#8217;s restroom ceiling, which they confirmed after entering the church.
Ortega, who was unarmed, was swiftly arrested.
Ortega is charged with video voyeurism and disturbing a religious assembly.
Ortega came to the United States in March 2007 with a tourism visa that expired that September, federal law enforcement sources told The Daily Wire. Because Ortega overstayed his visa by nearly two decades, he&#8217;s considered an illegal immigrant.
As a result, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has lodged a detainer with the Okaloosa County Jail. Local authorities are likely to honor the request and hand Ortega over to federal authorities for eventual deportation.
He is being held on a $250,000 bond.
&#8220;Under President Trump and Secretary Mullin, criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the U.S.,&#8221; the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told The Daily Wire in response to the case.
Upon his return to the White House, President Donald Trump stripped churches, schools, and hospitals of protections that prevented ICE from entering. They were previously considered &#8220;sensitive&#8221; locations that ICE could not enter or go near.
“This action empowers the brave men and women in CBP [Customs and Border Protection] and ICE to enforce our immigration laws and catch criminal aliens — including murderers and rapists — who have illegally come into our country. Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest,” DHS <a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-enforcement-sensitive-locations-trump-ab0d2d2652e9df696f14410ebb52a1fc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> at the time of the policy change.
Trump&#8217;s border czar, Tom Homan, has said that ICE attempts to avoid those institutions. But if an illegal immigrant criminal tries to hide inside a church, ICE may go in to arrest them, Homan <a href="https://www.facebook.com/reel/2609704789400477" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> while leading immigration operations in Minneapolis in February.
&#8220;Those locations are not off the table. I&#8217;ve said from day one, there&#8217;s no sanctuary for a significant public safety threat or a national security threat,&#8221; he said at the time.

Untitled design – 2026-05-08T095623.726

EXCLUSIVE: The Creepy Church Bathroom Discovery Now Fueling A Bigger Immigration Debate

Christianity

Church

Crime

Florida

Immigration

Across the board, trust in our institutions in the United States is at an all-time low.
Trust in the media is at an all-time low. Trust in church is at an all-time low. Trust in the scientific establishment is at an all-time low. Trust in government is at an all-time low. And, of course, trust in academia is at an all-time low.
Because of our lack of trust in institutions, Americans also mistrust one another.
You might think that it would be the opposite, that we mistrust one another, and therefore we mistrust our institutions.
That’s not the case. Our institutions shape us, and the way that we interact with the world is through the mechanism of institutions.
If you grew up in a religious community, going to church helped shape you. The rules of the church helped shape you. The people you spent time with shaped you. The institution of your family shaped you. Your school or university shaped you. 
As we lose faith in all of those institutions to shape us, we are incapable of coming together anymore.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ben-shapiro-ep-2416-2-university-of-austin-speech"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974957 aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-300x50.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-768x128.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1536x256.webp 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-2048x341.webp 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
Institutions tend to foster a common orientation, which is why Alexis de Tocqueville was such a big fan of them. It&#8217;s why in Democracy in America, he made the suggestion that one of the things that made America so different from all other countries was the plethora of social institutions in which Americans were enmeshed. He noted that in most other countries, people had formal institutions that they were forced to interact with, but in America, everybody was a member of a social institution or many social institutions — and that created this extraordinary social fabric that was durable, that allowed for innovation, that allowed for freedom. 
Without trust, there can&#8217;t be freedom at all. If the institutions that provide the shaping function that set the rules for our lives, the way we interact with the world, die, so does the social fabric. And then, when the social fabric dies, we stop attributing decent motivation to each other.
Instead, we start engaging in what the philosopher Alistair MacIntyre called “emotivism”: the belief that everybody except for you is motivated by something nefarious. Instead of having a political conversation, what you do is attribute a motive to the person&#8217;s policy.
You shouldn&#8217;t be attributing motivations to other people unless you have good evidence that their motivation is malign.
But that&#8217;s what we jump to when there is no trust.
I trust my wife. I&#8217;m not worried that when she criticizes me, it&#8217;s coming from a terrible place. I trust the people that I go to synagogue with. If they have a critique or we have a disagreement, I don&#8217;t immediately jump to, “They do it because they hate me.”
“You&#8217;re doing it because you hate me” is the death of politics, because if that&#8217;s the case, then how exactly are we supposed to live together and work together and create policy together?
Religious institutions used to be truth-making institutions, but the question of whether those institutions ought to pursue truth has been supplanted by the idea that they ought to do politics. In many cases, they have become progressive bastions where people go to eat pizza and play guitar rather than unite with some eternal value.
That is why many people don&#8217;t attend anymore. Why go there when you can go to a sports event instead?
We saw the scientific establishment move from evidence to narrative, most obviously during COVID. The result for an enormous number of people was to completely discard science in favor of nonsense that has zero evidence to back it.
The slide from truth to narrative is almost invariably followed by a slide from narrative to conspiracism or nonsense.
The move from seeking the truth at universities to “We are going to engineer a population of discontented people who believe that the system must be turned on its ear” led people to stop trusting the universities.
The American government was built to pursue one fundamental principle above all: epistemic humility, the idea that you might not be correct.
If you think you&#8217;re always correct, you might want to be a tyrant. 
Humility with regard to other people in your society, the idea that maybe they&#8217;re right on occasion, maybe you&#8217;re wrong on occasion, has to be rooted in trust of our fellow citizens.
We have checks and balances in the United States government to prevent it from swinging side to side to stop radical things from happening. That is legitimately the point of the American government. Unless we have a very broad agreement on something, it should not happen. That is why we have a bicameral legislature. It is why we have three branches of government.
But when that wears away, when we hate each other, what we end up with is a battle to the death in the blood sport of politics.
We get angry at the checks and balances because it&#8217;s not possible that people who oppose me are correct; those people are malign. “Those people want bad things to happen to me and to my family, and so I&#8217;m going to grab the government. I&#8217;m going to kill the filibuster. I&#8217;m gonna stack the Supreme Court. I&#8217;m going to add states willy-nilly to the United States Senate, and then I&#8217;m just going to run right over everybody.”
In the absence of rebuilding trust in the institutions, you end up with a war of all against all on the governmental level. And things will not go well.
When you get rid of the fundamental epistemic humility of the government, checks and balances give way to a centralized tyranny.
If you don&#8217;t trust your neighbor and you think your neighbor is taking advantage of you, you might say that the government should just do what you want it to do. Grab that brass ring and do exactly what you want with that power.
In order for a solid debate to take place, there must be a fundamental sharing of values and rules of the road. There ought not to be debate about fundamental propositions, because if you are having to debate individual value — such as the idea that individual human beings have individual worth — you&#8217;re arguing with something outside the system.
If you have to argue with somebody about the worthiness of truth, that is not an argument that can ever be won, because truth itself is an assumed value.
This is why, in the Declaration of Independence, when the Founders said that there are certain rights that are self-evident, they didn&#8217;t mean that they prove themselves. They mean that these are the fundamental building blocks of a society. And if you question them, the society crumbles.
Only a carefully cultivated moral culture that values truth and evidence and logic and moral decency, that actually protects free speech and property rights and equal rights under the law, is capable of restoring our institutions.
We shouldn&#8217;t be debating about fundamental moral matters, things like “lying is wrong.” If I have to debate you about that, there&#8217;s no debate.
Individual human beings have moral worth, and their autonomy has moral value.
Those are the values that we begin with, and those are the values that need to be embodied in institutions.

Rotten_Core

The Rot Spreading Through America’s Core

When A Nation Forgets Its Foundations

Ben Shapiro

Family Values

Federal Government

Founding Fathers

Opinion

Religion

An illegal immigrant with a rap sheet is accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl at a Kentucky church while serving as her pastor, The Daily Wire has learned.
Mexican illegal immigrant Jose Lopez-Hernandez, 52, snuck across the border at an unknown time before he landed in Covington, Kentucky, where he became a pastor, using &#8220;his position&#8221; &#8220;to lure&#8221; the young girl, the Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday.
Lopez-Hernandez was ordered last month to spend two years in prison for his crimes, but his attorney said his 862 days of time served credit covers his sentence, <a href="https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/crime/2026/03/09/covington-church-pastor-sentenced-for-sexually-abusing-teen-girl/89063982007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Authorities first learned of Lopez-Hernandez in September 2023 after receiving a report of sexual abuse at the Ministerio Jesus Liberta Church on East Ninth Street, the local news outlet reported. Lopez-Hernandez asked the then-14-year-old and her cousin to come to his office when they were attending her church with family on a Sunday.
The Mexican national eventually told the girl&#8217;s cousin to leave the office and asked the 14-year-old to stay with him, according to the report. The pastor then locked the door and began kissing and touching the girl.
She eventually pushed his hands away, leaving the office to tell her dad. The girl had a bruise on her neck that was consistent with &#8220;aggressive kissing,&#8221; witnesses told police.
The illegal immigrant then fled to the sanctuary state of California for a mission trip, skipping his return flight, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Covington Police learned that he didn&#8217;t plan to return and notified the FBI, the outlet reported.
In October 2023, federal agents arrested Lopez-Hernandez in Salinas, California, according to the report. More than two years later, he pleaded guilty to first-degree sexual abuse.
Lopez-Hernandez must now complete court-ordered treatment, register as a sex offender for 20 years, and stay away from the now-16-year-old victim, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has since lodged a detainer with local authorities, asking them &#8220;not release this sexual predator from jail to prey on more innocent children.&#8221;
Before his latest arrest, Lopez-Hernandez was previously released by police in Kentucky after two arrests for theft, forgery, and reckless and careless driving, according to DHS.
&#8220;ICE law enforcement lodged a detainer asking Kentucky to not release this sexual predator from jail to prey on more innocent children. This criminal was previously released despite multiple criminal arrests,” Acting Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement.
“These are the types of heinous criminals ICE is targeting every single day. Instead of demonizing our ICE officers and protecting criminals, Governor Beshear needs to work with our law enforcement to get these criminal illegal aliens out of our country,&#8221; she added.

Untitled design – 2026-04-07T134401.222

Illegal Immigrant Pastor Sexually Assaulted Teen Girl. Now His Lawyer Says He’s Served Enough Time.

Illegal Immigration

Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

U.S.

Since 2021, more than 80 churches across Canada have suffered <a href="https://ccrl.ca/">arson attacks</a>. The most recent casualty is the <a href="https://x.com/RebelNewsOnline/status/2036815655941353570">reported</a> fire at the historic Christ Church Anglican in Maugerville, New Brunswick.
If Canadian media covers the fires at all, they will claim a total of 30 to 35 churches have burned across Canada, meaning churches that have burned entirely to the ground. The media will often use phrases like “arson is suspected” and “motives remain unclear.” By that description, one would think a Walmart had burned down. An attack on a house of God, however, is treated by the media as an incidental detail. This is not a stylistic tic — it is the prose of a society willfully blind to the crisis in which it is engulfed.
One need not be Socrates to see the obvious. These are not random accidents but episodes in a larger campaign: an open war being waged against the West. Our collective silence does not assuage it; it shields it and helps it spread.
Every Canadian understands, though few will confess publicly, that these burnings are half-applauded as revenge. Our previous prime minister <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2024/01/18/church-burnings-canada-unmarked-graves-246978/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CIt%20is%20sad%2C%E2%80%9D%20Horgan,%2C%20including%20against%20Catholic%20churches.%E2%80%9D">assured us</a> they are “understandable,” albeit regrettable, responses to the “discovery” of mass graves at residential schools. Except there is one problem: it was and is a lie.
Nevertheless, hints became headlines, headlines became dogma, and dogma became license.
<div id="attachment_1067267" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1067267" class="size-large wp-image-1067267" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/stat-can-1024x315.jpg" alt="Source: StatCan" width="1024" height="315" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/stat-can-1024x315.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/stat-can-300x92.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/stat-can-768x236.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/stat-can-1536x472.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/stat-can.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Source: StatCan</div>
To the Left, whether it corresponds to the truth is secondary to the permission it grants. It conceals under the guise of “justice” a hatred that long predates the tale. Much of what now presents itself as moral outrage is little more than repackaged hatred of Western civilization: of its God, its truth, and its nobility. Old resentments have now learned to call themselves righteous.
To refuse to name this as such is not neutrality but complicity. Consider Canada’s nominally Catholic Prime Minister, Mark Carney. He is known to thunder like a prophet when it comes to Trump or climate change. And yet here he is conspicuously silent. Indeed, he takes great pains to avoid invoking the terms “the West” or “Western civilization.” One gets the impression Mr. Carney prefers to deliver its eulogy rather than defend its inheritance.
This silence is instructive. It educates citizens, especially the young, that nothing is sacred, least of all its own civilization. Resentment, not reverence, becomes the proper orientation towards the highest things. Our enemies, both foreign and domestic, understand precisely what must be erased if the West is to be disarmed.
<div id="attachment_1067255" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1067255" class="size-large wp-image-1067255" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2156422264-1-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2156422264-1-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2156422264-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2156422264-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2156422264-1.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Toronto, ON &#8211; June 10: Investigators survey St. Anne&#8217;s as they begin to piece together what caused the fire. Historic St. Anne&#8217;s Anglican Church at 270 Gladstone Ave. was destroyed by a fire early on June 9th. (Photo by Nick Lachance/Toronto Star via Getty Images)</div>
These fires, however, did not begin in sanctuaries but in the seminar rooms of our universities. Our reigning orthodoxy and radical relativism, pushed by the Left, have filtered down through every institution: from our classrooms to our boardrooms and even our bathrooms. The church burnings are simply where theory meets action: where the lit match meets our steeples.
For decades, we have taught students that all ways of life are equal; that any claim to superiority is a disguised will to power; and that distinctions between noble and base, just and unjust, good and bad, and above all, true and false, are instruments of “oppression.” Relativism came promising peace. We were told that wars and persecutions arose from the conviction that one’s own way is best. Reduce all virtues to “values,” all truth to “opinions,” and civilization to “cultures,” and the source of conflict would dissolve. After all, if there is no truth, there is nothing over which to fight.
But relativism produced not gentle tolerance but a new and fanatical intolerance. “Everything is relative” except, of course, relativism. This alone is absolute and unquestionable. The one unforgivable sin is precisely what the West at its best affirms: that our way of life is superior not by race or conquest, but because it is true; therefore, it is good, just, and noble.
For these radicals, the West represents a rival claim to their tyrannical rule. The West does not simply assert that it is true: we boldly proclaim it is true by both God and nature. Our founding is constituted by the twin roots of Jerusalem and Athens: biblical revelation and reason. Despite their differences, both converge on the same point: there is the Truth; there is a best way of life; and there is a standard that stands both outside and above us.
This is why our churches must burn. Our steeples are the most visible symbol of the biblical half of our inheritance. It is no wonder these steeples were once the highest structures in cities and towns, rising above parliaments, banks, and homes. Our steeples served as silent reminders guiding our eyes, and with them our souls, upward to the highest things, higher than political power, commerce, or comfort.
When the Christian claims that Jesus is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” it is a living rebuke to these radicals. It not only condemns them as inferior or unequal, but exposes them as false. The Church testifies that there is an order and law greater than ourselves and accessible to all through our reason: we are neither our own Creators nor legislators. For leftist radicals, this is intolerable. For, when there is God and Truth, then everything is not permissible.
<div id="attachment_1067257" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1067257" class="size-large wp-image-1067257" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2156422018-864x576.jpg" alt="Toronto, ON - June 10: St. Anne's Reverend Don Beyers looks towards the remains of his church. Historic St. Anne's Anglican Church at 270 Gladstone Ave. was destroyed by a fire early on June 9th. (Photo by Nick Lachance/Toronto Star via Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2156422018-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2156422018-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2156422018-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2156422018.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Nick Lachance/Toronto Star via Getty Images</div>
Our American friends should not delude themselves into thinking this is some uniquely Canadian phenomenon. The same doctrine, the same hatred for the West, and the same fanatics are already entrenched in your universities, bureaucracies, and halls of power. They look north and see not an aberration but a guiding model. Given the opportunity, they would happily bury your churches under ashes, too.
And yet, our enemies pay us great compliments. Hatred and resentment always look upwards: inadvertently, they betray our superiority. If we were truly inferior, the proper orientation would be pity or indifference. Confident victors do not waste precious time and energy making war against defeated opponents. One does not attempt to murder a corpse.
In this way, we owe our enemies thanks. The vehemence of their rage is proportional to the threat they perceive. Our enemies declare that the West is not dead: it is alive and well and remains the greatest obstacle to the tyranny they wish to institute. Our enemies understand this; it is we who have forgotten.
The proper response is not to hide or to apologize for existing, but to regain a seriousness equal to that of our opponents. If they judge this way of life dangerous enough to burn, then it is time we judged it once more worthy of living and of defending in full.
* * *
Dimpee Brar currently serves as the Director of Engagement for Allies for a Strong Canada. She is a writer whose work can be found in the Federalist, the Western Standard, and the Toronto Sun. She appears frequently on various podcasts and radio shows. You can follow her on X: @isthisdimpeeb

Catholic church in Morinville destroyed by fire

Churches Are Burning, And The Lie Fueling It Still Holds

Arson

Canada

Catholic Church

Graves

indigenous

Leftists

Legacy Media

Progressivism

A historic Catholic church and monastery complex in western Ukraine, part of a UNESCO World Heritage site, was damaged in a Russian strike this week, underscoring the continued toll of the war on religious and cultural landmarks.
Russian forces launched <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/24/russia-strikes-civilian-areas-ukraine">a large-scale aerial assault</a> on Tuesday, striking the 16th-century Bernardine monastery complex in the city of Lviv, including St. Andrew’s Church, a cornerstone of Ukraine’s Greek Catholic community. The site, located in what has been described as the heart of Ukraine’s Catholic region, dates back roughly 400 years.
The attack comes just days before Holy Week, the most sacred period in the Christian calendar. Local officials confirmed that nearby residential buildings were also hit, with fires breaking out and parts of the monastery, including its tower, sustaining damage. 
The nearby Church of Saint Mary Magdalene was also impacted, with shattered windows and debris strewn across its interior. “Thank God it happened in the afternoon,” <a href="https://catholicreview.org/russian-drone-strikes-damage-historic-church-monastery-in-lviv-ahead-of-holy-week/">said</a> Archbishop Mieczysław Mokrzycki of Lviv, noting that the timing likely prevented fatalities. “People were still at work, children had not yet returned from school.”
Even so, the broader assault was deadly. Ukrainian officials reported that Russia launched nearly 400 drones in a single night, one of the largest aerial attacks since the war began in 2022, killing at least six people and injuring dozens more. In another strike, a maternity hospital in the Ivano-Frankivsk region was also hit.
UNESCO <a href="https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/unesco-alarmed-strikes-lviv-world-heritage-site">said</a> it was “deeply alarmed” by the damage to protected cultural sites, emphasizing that such landmarks are safeguarded under international law. For those on the ground, however, the destruction of churches is nothing new.
“This happens a lot,” said Steven Moore, executive producer of the documentary A Faith Under Siege, speaking from Kyiv to <a href="https://www.ewtnnews.com/world/europe/ukraine-monastery-hit-in-russian-missile-strike-most-historic-church-targeted-so-far">EWTN</a>. He noted that Russia has repeatedly targeted religious buildings throughout the conflict, including Orthodox churches, despite claiming to defend traditional Christian values. 
St. Andrew’s Church, he said, may be “the most historic church they have targeted so far.” The strike also comes at a moment of renewed intensity across the front lines, as both sides escalate operations ahead of the spring campaign season.
In eastern Ukraine, Russian forces have <a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-offensive-civilian-attacks-48a46d2503513c903bc3e4de31b96e00">continued grinding advances</a> in the Donetsk region, particularly around the heavily contested areas near Avdiivka and Chasiv Yar, where months of attritional fighting have yielded incremental gains at high cost. Ukrainian defenses, while still holding key lines, have been strained by manpower shortages and the constant pressure of artillery and drone assaults.
At the same time, Ukraine has expanded its use of long-range drone strikes deep into Russian territory, targeting oil depots, airfields, and logistical hubs in an effort to disrupt Moscow’s war machine beyond the front. These strikes, often carried out hundreds of miles from the battlefield, represent a strategic shift toward asymmetric pressure as Ukraine seeks to offset Russia’s numerical advantages.
Drone warfare, in particular, has become the defining feature of this phase of the conflict. Both sides are deploying thousands of unmanned systems monthly, from inexpensive first-person-view (FPV) <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/drones">drones</a> used in trench warfare to long-range Iranian-designed Shahed drones that can strike cities far from the front. The scale and speed of this technological adaptation have transformed the battlefield into a constant, low-altitude threat environment where traditional lines of safety once assumed in Western cities such as Lviv no longer hold.
The war’s international dimensions are also becoming more pronounced. Iran continues to supply drone technology to Russia, while intelligence assessments have pointed to growing cooperation between Moscow and Beijing. Reports of North Korean personnel supporting Russian operations have further underscored concerns that the conflict is increasingly drawing in actors beyond Europe.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, <a href="https://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/masshtab-ciyeyi-ataki-svidchit-duzhe-chitko-sho-nemaye-v-ros-103497">addressing</a> the latest strikes, said their scale demonstrates that “Russia has no intention of really ending this war.” Now in its fifth year, the conflict continues to reshape daily life across Ukraine. Air raid sirens, damaged infrastructure, and the constant threat of attack have become routine, even in cities like Lviv, once considered relatively safe.
For Ukraine’s religious communities, the war has taken on an added layer of meaning. Churches that once stood for centuries as symbols of faith and continuity are now being drawn into the front lines, damaged, shattered, and, in some cases, destroyed. As Holy Week approaches, the strike on one of Ukraine’s most historic Catholic sites stands as a stark reminder: the war is not only being fought on battlefields, but in the cultural and spiritual heart of the nation itself.

1c09c4b99505fd9954fc0fe360424c20.jpg

Russia Bombs Iconic Centuries-Old Christian Landmark

Christians

Holy Week

Russia

Ukraine-Russia War

This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/introducing-upstream-a-lifestyle-and-culture-section-of-the-daily-wire" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream,</a> The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.
***
Dating back to the first Thanksgiving, Americans have formed community around the shared enjoyment of food. While ours is not the only country that does so, Americans’ traditional enjoyment of the potluck is in many ways characteristically democratic — the medley of tastes and textures shared at a potluck speaks to a national character that is less concerned with aesthetic refinement and a hefty price tag than with full bellies and good conversation.
If you are unfortunate enough to never have enjoyed a hearty potluck — unlikely if you were raised as an evangelical, particularly Baptist — it’s important that you envision the most opulent hodgepodge of sides and mains and desserts you have ever seen. The dishes are as diverse in tastiness as the loving hands that prepared them are diverse in personality and life story. Some people bring a bag of chips and salsa. Others bring their grandmother’s famous chili. Still others bring the dishes that will be wiped clean before second-rounders jostle their way to the front of the line with Costco-sized paper plates in hand.
Dessert comes in two courses: first, the cookie you teeter on the edge of your mountain of dinner food, and second, the more serious dessert helping. It&#8217;s the one you grab after throwing out your paper plate and making your way back to the potluck line after allowing a polite pause following everyone’s first helping. Every Sunday that a church hosts a potluck, no electrical outlet is left unused as the church’s mothers line the halls with steaming crockpots of barbecue meatballs and seven-layer Mexican dip. The intriguing medley of smells makes its way to your nose just as the final hymn’s refrain is sung.
The seminal 2000 book &#8220;Bowling Alone&#8221; by Robert D. Putnam could easily have a companion volume titled &#8220;Eating Alone.&#8221; For many Americans, even many who live with spouses and children, food is eaten over phones or across from TVs. The attention of the eater is split between screened entertainment and the food itself, rather than his own family and the food itself. Faced with a culture where enjoyment of food is no longer a social activity, individuals, particularly mothers and homemakers, are less likely to spend time cooking a meal that is consumed with such casual dismissal. From this, the culture of Uber Eats and single-serve microwave dinners has taken hold, further cementing our lonesome culture of eating. The American potluck bucks the trend of eating alone.
In a world where social gatherings, when they do occur, are built around the coming Instagram post about the event, the idea of setting up white folding tables and mismatched crockpots for your friends to eat a delicious meal that has no common theme may seem out of place. And it is. We are starved for socialization, but the perfection thrust upon us by curated lives on Instagram can make it seem like only people who have their lives, homes, and cookbooks in order can socialize around food that isn’t bought at a restaurant.
But the American potluck allows you to socialize with a large crowd in a low-pressure environment. You can contribute to the gathering without the entire planning and execution of the event falling on you. With the potluck, your only task is to bring one dish, a dish you would probably have cooked anyway if you had stayed home (assuming you weren’t planning to order in again). Maybe your house really is way too tiny to host, and your cooking skills really are too lacking to draw a crowd. Even so, the potluck lets you form community around food while only contributing a cheese, salami, and cracker platter from the grocery store.
For those who can cook, or who are interested in learning how, the potluck fosters community around home-cooked food. It is different in this way from a group of friends who make a habit of trying the best Thai restaurants the city has to offer every Thursday night. It’s not that this might not be a great way in itself to avoid a culture of lonely eating, but it is too expensive for most and unrealistic for families with young children. The democratic genius of the American potluck lies in the fact that every income level, family size, and age can enjoy what it has to offer with equal vigor.
What’s more, the potluck fosters a community of recipe-sharing, a phenomenon that is dying out with older generations of parents. There is something far more personal and friendship-inducing about asking Mrs. Johnson for the recipe for her au gratin potatoes than asking her for the name of the restaurant you saw her at on Instagram. Recipe-sharing expands our abilities as cooks while encouraging a community that offers distinct food options that we have created ourselves in our own home kitchens.
Churches are perhaps the most obvious place where potlucks can and should happen. But any group can host a potluck. The host need only provide some plastic cutlery and paper plates, instructing each guest to bring enough to feed his or her family and a few more. If you have never enjoyed a potluck, let me be the first to assure you that it is the most low-risk yet high-reward way to begin investing in real relationships that build lasting communities in a uniquely American way.
***
Sarah Wilder is a wife and mom living on a small homestead in Michigan. She is a cultural commentator and a writer, and her work is regularly published in outlets such as Chronicles Magazine, 1819 News, and American Mind.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

GettyImages-2165942839

Grandma’s Favorite After-Church Tradition Might Be The Cure For America’s Loneliness

Food

Friends

Upstream

The following is an edited transcript excerpt from <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1916-they-just-made-elmo-muslim?elementPosition=2&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=Recent+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel">The Michael Knowles Show</a>.
* * *
A woman who presents herself as a “priestess” — a role that does not exist in Christianity — just went viral. This priestess puts on a collar and a stole and pretends to be a priest. And to make the whole presentation even more satanic, she includes the Planned Parenthood logo on the priestly stole.
Here is her defense of the Left&#8217;s highest sacrament, abortion:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Headline: RELIGION MEETS PLANNED PARENTHOOD
A female pastor is sparking a firestorm after claiming she &#8220;felt God’s presence&#8221; while deciding to end two pregnancies—all while wearing a Planned Parenthood stole at the pulpit <a href="https://t.co/sUvgk7HIRz">pic.twitter.com/sUvgk7HIRz</a>
— BuzzBrief (@_BuzzBrief__) <a href="https://twitter.com/_BuzzBrief__/status/2023078105242640722?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 15, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Credit: @_BuzzBrief_X.com &amp; @OilLondonTV/X.com
<blockquote>In the abortion imaginary, all people of faith are against abortion. This imaginary has colonized our minds, traumatizing many people with its toxic theology and shaping a culture of stigma and shame that has silenced millions of women and people who have had abortions, erasing their voices, their stories, and their witness from the public sphere. As a child of God, I can certainly appreciate the lyrical beauty of this text, as well as the descriptions in Jeremiah and Job of their certain knowledge that God was with them in the womb. I too feel that I am known by God in these ways. As a woman who has borne two children, I can affirm that I felt something sacred happening in my gestating body during those pregnancies. I can also attest that I felt God&#8217;s presence with me as I made the decision to end two pregnancies, and I felt no guilt, no shame, no sin.</blockquote>
Okay, this is horrifying. 
But you have to give this murderous woman, this truly sacrilegious heretic, some credit for honesty. She is openly acknowledging something that most pro-abortion Christians will not: something sacred was going on in my womb when that baby was being knit there. 
She goes on to basically say, Jeremiah and Job describe being knit in the womb. And yeah, that&#8217;s all real. I totally grant that. And I felt it. I personally know it&#8217;s real — but I chose to kill my kids and I felt that that was cool too.
So, of course, the difference between real Christianity and a lot of pagan cults is that Christianity is a definitive religion. Our Lord is a real person who lives in real time and space and picks real people to build his Church with and upon, like Saint Peter, to whom he gave the keys to the kingdom of heaven and the power to bind and to loose. It is a religion that has real, visible authority in the world throughout history.
During that history, our Lord says, I will send the helper, I will send the Holy Spirit to you, and I will be with you always, even until the end of the age, because our Lord is the bridegroom and the Church is the bride. It is a real, definitive religion.
We can definitively say Christianity outlaws abortion.
We can definitively say Christianity has a real view of marriage, and it doesn&#8217;t change.
We can really say all of that.
And this woman kind of admits that, which is why you have to give her points for honesty. She says there was a divine thing happening when babies were being created in her womb. But she killed them anyway because her autonomy trumped even the spark of the divine. In other words, her autonomy trumps even God himself.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1916-they-just-made-elmo-muslim?elementPosition=2&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=Recent+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel">WATCH: The Michael Knowles Show on DailyWire+</a></h3>
And it&#8217;s nuts when you hear it that way from a forthright liberal woman. But that is the premise of liberalism today — nothing is more important than my autonomy. I will make of myself the highest god.
We saw this in the Biden administration. Joe Biden believed he could be a liberal and a Christian, he was happy to do it. He called himself the most devout Catholic in the world. However, when his liberalism conflicted with his Christianity, he always chose liberalism.
And this is what liberalism tells us to do. We can believe a wide number of things. We can engage in a wide number of behaviors. We can even join many political parties. But the highest good is my autonomy. I&#8217;m really number one. I will make a god of myself. It&#8217;s a fulfillment of what the serpent promises to our first ancestors in the garden: “You will be like gods.”
You don&#8217;t have to listen to him.
And that&#8217;s what this woman is saying. It&#8217;s all the more shocking because she admits: Jeremiah and Job talk about the divine spark in the womb. I felt it too — and I killed them.
Press them on that.
Press the Democrats and the liberals on that: If you&#8217;re a Christian, what happens when Christianity contradicts your liberalism? Which side do you pick?

MixCollage-20-Feb-2026-05-00-PM-2889

WATCH: Liberal ‘Priestess’ Gives Viral Sermon On Abortion

WATCH: Liberal 'Priestess' Gives Viral Sermon On Abortion

Abortion

Michael Knowles

Planned Parenthood

Don Lemon has been arrested by federal agents.
The former CNN talking head, who went out on his own and formed his own podcast, either trailed or was involved with a protest that pretty clearly violated the FACE Act, which was designed to guarantee access to abortion clinics for people who didn&#8217;t want to go through protests, and also designed to protect churches in their actual attempts to perform their services.
The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/us/don-lemon-arrest-minnesota-church-protest.html">reported</a>: 
<blockquote>“The former CNN anchor Don Lemon and three other people have been arrested on charges that they violated federal law during a protest at a church in St. Paul, Minn., this month, lawyers and Justice Department officials said on Friday, reviving a case that was rejected last week by a magistrate judge.”</blockquote>
Lemon was arrested late Thursday night on charges that he violated federal law. The case had been rejected last week by a magistrate judge. Lemon claims that he was simply reporting as a journalist when he entered Cities Church on January 18 to observe a demonstration against immigration crackdowns in the area. The protesters then got up and disrupted the service, where an ICE official serves as a pastor, chanting ‘ICE out!’”
The Trump administration attempted to charge eight people over the episode, including Lemon. The magistrate judge approved charges against three of the eight people and rejected the evidence against Lemon and the others as insufficient. So the DOJ petitioned the federal appellate court to force the judge to issue the additional warrants they were denied.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2358-don-lemon-arrested?elementPosition=0&amp;row=2&amp;rowHeadline=Jump+Back+In&amp;rowType=Continue+Watching+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974957" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-300x50.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-768x128.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1536x256.webp 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-2048x341.webp 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
The claim being made by the Trump administration is that when these people invaded a church and disrupted services and started shouting at the pastor in violation of the FACE act, Lemon wasn&#8217;t just a person who followed them in there with a microphone, or even a journalist who knew beforehand that he was complicit in the organization of the event. He was involved in a conspiracy to disrupt services here for political purposes, they claim.
Lemon insists he “didn&#8217;t even know they were going to this church until we followed them there.” It appears that this is not true.
Lemon said, “Once the protest started in the church, we did an act of journalism, which was report on it and talk to the people involved, including the pastor, members of the church and members of the organization. That&#8217;s it. That&#8217;s called journalism.”
Again, doesn’t seem particularly true. Lemon claims that once the action started, he did not join them; he was simply reporting on it. Pretty clearly, they&#8217;re blurring the lines.
To be fair to Lemon and speaking legally, there is a fine line between a journalist doing a ride-along, even with people who are committing criminal acts, and journalists being involved in the planning and commission of the crime, which is what he’s accused of.
Naturally, people are claiming that this is a crackdown on the First Amendment. They are suggesting that this is an attempt by the Trump administration to “silence people.” That seems like a stretch to me. We&#8217;ll have to see what evidence they have, particularly in terms of prior planning from Lemon and the people involved in this.
Was he involved in recommending sites they should go to? Was he involved in organizing transportation? Was he involved in determining how they should protest? Those will be the questions that come up in court.
But it&#8217;s pretty clear that Lemon was involved in some capacity. I&#8217;m not going to prejudge this case legally, but for people to claim that the federal government has no case at all, that they&#8217;re just arresting him for being a journalist on the scene, is a stretch to me.
I&#8217;m not going to assume his guilt or innocence for the alleged crime. We&#8217;ll have to see the evidence of that.
But the attempt to treat this as a violation of the First Amendment, as an attempt to destroy journalistic capability and all the rest — that’s not accurate either.

MixCollage-30-Jan-2026-03-55-PM-1994

Don Lemon Arrested. Journalist Or Co-Conspirator?

Don Lemon

FACE Act

Minneapolis

Minnesota

Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, is considering litigation against the anti-ICE activists who disrupted a Sunday worship service on January 18.
The DOJ arrested three activists who disrupted the service: Nekima Levy Armstrong, Chauntyll Louisa Allen, and William Kelly. Federal authorities charged them under a law that bars obstructing access to houses of worship and related conspiracy statutes for interfering with constitutionally protected religious rights.
DOJ officials, including Attorney General Pam Bondi and civil-rights leadership, framed the action as enforcement of federal protections for places of worship, emphasizing that disrupting a service violates federal law. Bondi stated, “If you protested and went into that church on the Sunday and you terrorized the parishioners, we are coming after you. &#8230; We are coming after you if you participated in that. I don&#8217;t care who you are. If you&#8217;re a failed CNN journalist, you have no right to do that in this country. We don&#8217;t live in a third world country. We’re going to protect our houses of worship in this country.”
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon <a href="https://x.com/AAGDhillon/status/2014798844463112512">echoed,</a> “The JusticeDept will identify &amp; hold accountable every person who unlawfully interrupted this church service. @AGPamBondi  and I will not tolerate harassment of Americans at worship—especially from agitators posing as ‘journalists.’”
Renee Carlson, General Counsel for True North Legal, which represents the church, <a href="https://x.com/EricLDaugh/status/2015777060422053953">told</a> Fox &amp; Friends on Monday morning, “What I would say here is we have a situation where rights were violated, those rights have to be protected, and there is a law here that can be accessed to ensure those protections. We are thankful that the Department of Justice is moving swiftly to make sure that happens, and the church will continue to evaluate their legal options to make sure that churches in Minnesota, and especially Cities Church, are protected.”
Last week, Carlson issued a statement in which she said, &#8220;The First Amendment does not allow premeditated plots or coordinated actions to violate the sanctity of a sanctuary, disrupt worship, and intimidate small children. There is no &#8216;press pass&#8217; to invade a sanctuary or to conspire to interrupt religious services. The Constitution protects citizens from threats against fundamental rights by the government, but it also requires government to protect those same rights when they are jeopardized by private actors.”
Doug Wardlow, director of litigation for True North Legal, added, &#8220;The First Amendment protects the God-given rights of every American to assemble and to worship God. It does not give anyone the right to invade a church and terrorize worshippers. That&#8217;s a federal crime: the FACE Act prohibits intimidating or interfering with people worshipping in a church. It is outrageous that, instead of doing their jobs and protecting Minnesotans&#8217; rights, state officials like Keith Ellison choose to mock the invasion of a church. &#8230; We are thankful for the Justice Department&#8217;s swift action, and we are exploring all legal options to protect the church and prevent further invasions.&#8221;

Gavel on desk

Cities Church Weighs Legal Action Against Anti-ICE Protesters Who Stormed Sunday Service

Anti-ICE

The Department of Homeland Security revealed new details about last weekend&#8217;s invasion of Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, including an account from one victim who broke her arm while fleeing the building, reportedly telling local police, &#8220;they were terrorized, our children were weeping, college students and young women were sobbing, it was impactful and it will take time to work through.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
USA: New details have emerged, and the invasion of Cities Church in Minneapolis was even worse than originally believed.
For example, Leftists blocked stairs so Christian parents couldn’t get to their children at Sunday School.
One Christian child was told their parents were… <a href="https://t.co/WK0ZFMLOQz">pic.twitter.com/WK0ZFMLOQz</a>
&mdash; Christian Emergency Alliance (@ChristianEmerg1) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChristianEmerg1/status/2015574277081497759?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 25, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Three people were arrested over the incident: activists Nekima Levy Armstrong and Chauntyll Louisa Allen, who reportedly organized the invasion, along with William Kelly, an anti-ICE activist. All three were <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/church-protest-arestees-released-nekima-levy-armstrong/">released</a> from custody on Friday.
Another church member said congregants tried to reach their children in a downstairs childcare area but were blocked from using the stairs by agitators, preventing parents from getting to their children, according to a report from DHS special agent Timothy M. Gerber. The report adds that “Victim 4 recalled one agitator was threatening, aggressive, and intimidating towards parishioners. Additionally, this agitator was screaming and getting in people&#8217;s faces, to include women and young children.”
“Victim 6 was scared the agitators were not going to let people leave and that they were going to harm victim 1&#8217;s family for harboring victim 1,” Gerber noted. “Victim 6 later stated protesters followed and surrounded them in their car and would not let them leave. Victim 6 informed agents that their face is on the Cities Church website, and they are afraid people will try and come to their house at night. Victim 6 recalled his child stating to him ‘Daddy, I thought you were going to die.’ Victim 6 ended the interview and acknowledged that his children are traumatized.”
“Victim 6 recalled Kelly screaming ‘Nazi’ in people&#8217;s faces, in addition to confronting children, saying, ‘Do you know your parents are Nazis, they&#8217;re going to burn in hell,’” he noted.
“During the course of the investigation, agents discovered a flyer posted on Instagram by &#8220;racialjusticemn&#8221; and &#8220;nekimal,&#8221; advertising Operation Pullup on Sunday January 18, 10:00 a.m. sharp, at Cub Foods Parking Lot (Midway Area, St. Paul),” Gerber wrote. “Nekimal is Armstrong’s personal Instagram account.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
🚨HORRIFYING NEW DETAILS
The invasion of Cities Church was even worse than we thought. 
Agitators blocked stairs so &quot;parents were unable to get to their children&quot; at Sunday School.😡
One told a kid, &quot;Do you know your parents are Nazis, they&#39;re going to burn in hell?&quot;
🧵1/7 <a href="https://t.co/DUNPRdECGa">pic.twitter.com/DUNPRdECGa</a>
&mdash; Tyler O&#39;Neil (@Tyler2ONeil) <a href="https://twitter.com/Tyler2ONeil/status/2015520247898427874?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 25, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&nbsp;

Federal Agents Descend On Minneapolis For Immigration Enforcement Operations

Anti-ICE Protest At Minnesota Church Blocked Parents From Their Children, DHS Says

St. Paul

St. Paul Democratic Mayor Kaohly Her made excuses for the protesters who crashed a church service on Sunday, arguing that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents had effectively set the precedent by enforcing federal immigration law in &#8220;sacred&#8221; spaces like public schools.
Her, who was just elected mayor in November, spoke with CNN anchor Erin Burnett on Tuesday&#8217;s broadcast of &#8220;Erin Burnett Outfront,&#8221; and although she initially tried to claim that she did not support protesters disrupting Sunday worship services, she immediately pivoted to blame ICE for scaring the community to the point that they felt they didn&#8217;t have a choice.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
NEW: St Paul&#8217;s mayor, Kaohly Her, speaks for what is believed to be the first time publicly about the Christian church that was stormed in her city, days after it happened, when asked about it on CNN. Saying ICE lead the way by going into sacred places&#8230;
&#8220;I don’t ever… <a href="https://t.co/9xtmCwKqFa">pic.twitter.com/9xtmCwKqFa</a>
— Matt Finn (@MattFinnFNC) <a href="https://twitter.com/MattFinnFNC/status/2013943896733024353?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 21, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;I will say that ICE has led the way in their charge of going onto school properties and detaining people from places that should be just as well kept sacred,&#8221; she began. &#8220;And so we responded the exact same way we would have at any place of worship.&#8221;
Her noted that local police had arrived at the scene, but then said that she could not make additional comments because the investigation was still ongoing. She once again declared that the situation would not have been handled any differently at any other place of worship.
Burnett asked then if Her&#8217;s claim — that ICE had effectively started the tit-for-tat — meant that she thought it was acceptable for the protesters to do the same.
&#8220;I don’t ever believe that it is OK for us to cross the line in which there are spaces in which people have certain rights and freedoms,&#8221; Her said, but immediately pivoted to add, &#8220;But I will say that if this government wants us to obey rule of law that they also need to follow that as well and that they cannot expect residents who are feeling terrorized and sieged to be operating under any different circumstances or any different rules than they are operating in.&#8221;

Kaohly Her, St. Paul, Minn. mayor-elect

St. Paul’s Democrat Mayor Makes Excuses For Church-Crashing Protesters

St. Paul Mayor Makes Excuses For Church-Crashing Protesters

Media

Politics

Protesters

After a group of leftist activists and ex-CNN host Don Lemon disrupted a church service in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Sunday, on Monday Lemon hosted Minnesota attorney general Keith Ellison on a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXtqt_ovbsQ">podcast</a>, where Ellison insisted that the activists had a right to disrupt the service.
The Daily Wire reported:
<blockquote>
Dozens of protesters crowded into Cities Church in St. Paul on Sunday as part of a “clandestine operation” to “disrupt business as usual,” activist leader Nekima Levy-Armstrong told Lemon, who embedded with the protest group. The protest lasted roughly 30 minutes and effectively ended the church service as it drove congregants out.
</blockquote>
Lemon asked Ellison about the church invasion, prompting this response:
<blockquote>
The protest is fundamental to American society; this country started in a protest. It’s freedom of expression; people have a right to lift up their voices and make their peace. None of us are immune from the voice of the public. Quite honestly, I think that you got the First Amendment, freedom of religion and the freedom of First Amendment and freedom of expression. I think it’s just something you gotta live with in a society like this.
</blockquote>
Ellison ignored the 1994 FACE Act, which made it to prevent people from exercising religious freedom at places of worship. It<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/248"> states</a>: “Whoever by force or threat of force or by physical obstruction, intentionally injures, intimidates or interferes with or attempts to injure intimidate, or interfere with any person lawfully exercising or seeking to exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship” could be prosecuted under the law.
“This administration is real tender about things when it comes to their own interest,” Ellison claimed. “But they don’t care about the same things when the things don’t lie in their favor. So they’re getting tender about a church service now.”
“They’re arresting people in clinics, schools, churches, anywhere they choose to do it,” he alleged. “They don’t really care about sacred and sensitive places unless it works in their favor.”
Ellison somehow segued to President Trump’s criticism of Jimmy Kimmel for his remarks about the death of Charlie Kirk, then threw in this completely unrelated remark about Trump: “The mad king won’t let you say jokes about him.”
Tim Pearce contributed to this article.

Keith Ellison

Keith Ellison Defends Disruption Of Minnesota Church Service After Leftist Protest

Menu