Author: adler

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna is demanding a full pardon for a U.S. Special Forces soldier now facing decades in prison after allegedly profiting from classified information tied to the takedown of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro.
The soldier, identified as Gannon Ken Van Dyke, was indicted by the Department of Justice on Thursday.

Multiple officials tell @CBSNews that Army Master Sgt. Gannon Ken Van Dyke was a communications specialist supporting Joint Special Operations Command, the unit that oversees Tier 1 special mission units such as Delta Force and SEAL Team Six. https://t.co/p8tQSQnsfz pic.twitter.com/nazjaFqRkR
— Jim LaPorta (@JimLaPorta) April 24, 2026

According to the DOJ, Van Dyke, an active-duty Army soldier stationed at Fort Bragg, participated in the planning and execution of a covert mission dubbed “Operation Absolute Resolve,” which resulted in the capture of Maduro earlier this year.
Prosecutors allege that Van Dyke used his access to classified intelligence to place wagers on the prediction platform Polymarket, ultimately netting approximately $409,000 in profits.

This involved a U.S. soldier who allegedly took advantage of his position to profit off of a righteous military operation.
Thank you to our agents, Intel teams, and great partners @TheJusticeDept who protected our war fighters.
Investigation ongoing. https://t.co/Adn4K19r3J
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) April 23, 2026

According to the DOJ:
As alleged, on or about December 26, 2025, VAN DYKE created a Polymarket account, funded it, and began trading on Maduro- and Venezuela-related markets. In total, VAN DYKE made approximately 13 bets from December 27, 2025, through the evening of January 2, 2026. Those bets all took the “YES” position on “U.S. Forces in Venezuela . . . by January 31, 2026”; “Maduro out by . . . January 31, 2026”; “Will the U.S. invade Venezuela by . . . January 31,”; or “Trump invokes War Powers against Venezuela by . . . January 31.” VAN DYKE bet a total of approximately $33,034 on those outcomes while in possession of classified nonpublic information about Operation Absolute Resolve.
In the predawn hours of January 3, 2026, U.S. special forces apprehended Maduro and his wife at a residence in Caracas, Venezuela, and hours later the President of the United States announced the successful operation. Following the President’s public announcement, Polymarket resolved several Maduro- and Venezuela-related contracts to “YES,” including the markets “Maduro out by . . . January 31, 2026,” and “US forces in Venezuela by . . . January 31, 2026.” As a result, VAN DYKE won his wagers on those contracts. In total, VAN DYKE allegedly profited approximately $409,881.
Following his successful trading relating to Maduro- and Venezuela-related contracts, VAN DYKE allegedly sent most of his proceeds to a foreign cryptocurrency vault before depositing them into a newly created online brokerage account. The same day of the operation, VAN DYKE withdrew the majority of his allegedly unlawful proceeds from his Polymarket account. Shortly after the announcement of Operation Absolute Resolve, reports of unusual trading in Maduro-related contracts on Polymarket appeared in the press and on social media. VAN DYKE then took steps to conceal his identity as the trader in the Maduro- and Venezuela-related markets. On or about January 6, 2026, for example, VAN DYKE asked Polymarket to delete his Polymarket account, falsely claiming that he had lost access to the email address to which the account had been associated. That same day, VAN DYKE changed the email registered to his cryptocurrency exchange account to an email address that was not subscribed to in his name, and which he had created on or about December 14, 2025.
VAN DYKE, 38, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, is charged with three counts of violating the Commodity Exchange Act, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison; one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; and one count of an unlawful monetary transaction, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Enter Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), who isn’t buying the selective outrage for one second.
Luna fired off a powerful statement on X:

“Maybe not a popular take but I am calling for this guy to be pardoned. Unless the DOJ plans on going after all the crooks in congress currently insider trading, this is simply skewed justice. There is no ‘justice’ when guys like this get the book thrown at him yet members are illegally profiting every day. I don’t agree with what he did and he should be required to disgorge all the profits however, unless the DOJ plans on doing Congress next, this is not justice.”

Maybe not a popular take but I am calling for this guy to be pardoned. Unless the DOJ plans on going after all the crooks in congress currently insider trading, this is simply skewed justice. There is no “justice” when guys like this get the book thrown at him yet members are… https://t.co/b5hFXY3Ryp
— Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (@RepLuna) April 23, 2026

Luna is exactly right. From Nancy Pelosi’s suspiciously timed stock trades that delivered eye-popping returns (some reports put her portfolio at over 16,000% gains in certain periods) to multiple members on both sides of the aisle getting rich off non-public information while average Americans struggle, the hypocrisy reeks to high heaven.
The post Rep. Anna Paulina Luna Demands Full Pardon for U.S. Special Forces Hero Prosecuted by DOJ for ‘Insider Trading’ on Maduro Raid – “Skewed Justice” While Congress Members Illegally Profit Every Single Day appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Florida appears ready to move forward with congressional redistricting after a warning from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries that Republicans will end up the losers.
“Our message to Florida Republicans is ‘F’ around and find out,” he said, according to Fox News, calling the potential to redraw lines on the eight Democratic districts to favor the GOP a “DeSantis dummy-mander.”
Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis shrugged off the challenge.
“Please. Be my guest. I will pay for you to come down to Florida to campaign,” DeSantis said. “I’ll put you up in the Florida governor’s mansion. We will take you fishing.”
“There’s nothing that could be better for Republicans in Florida than to see Jeffries everywhere around this state.”
“Our message to Florida Republicans is F around and find out. If they go down the road of a DeSantis dummy-mander … the electoral tide is turning in Florida,” Jeffries said.
Whatever Florida does has taken on new importance after Virginia voters approved new district lines that, based on party enrollment, would give Democrats up to 10 seats on the House and Republicans only one instead of the 6-5 party split in which Democrats have the higher number.
President Donald Trump last year called upon states to redrawn lines so Republicans would not lose control of the House in the upcoming midterm elections. That kicked off a series of state actions in which both parties tried to expand the number of seats likely to go their way.
Florida is up next, with a special session on tap for next week, according to Politico.
“This is honestly an all-hands-on-deck moment, because if you lose the House, you’re going to bring, essentially, the agenda to a grinding halt,” Florida-based GOP strategist Ford O’Connell said, adding that if the term-limited governor brings the GOP additional seats, “it could give rebirth to his political career.”
“All eyes are on Ron DeSantis and Florida now. It’s a little poetic,” one Republican Politico called an operative without using his name, said.
“DeSantis has his marching orders: Take the gloves off like Democrats did in Virginia and California and draw as many districts as you can, legally, for Republicans.”
Another said it may be too late to make a difference.
DeSantis “would still like to get something done on redistricting. But he realizes the atmospherics for the 2026 election are already in place and it will be tough for Republicans to retain the House regardless of what happens in Florida,” the source said.
In 2022, DeSantis pushed through a map that helped give Republicans a 20-8 edge in congressional seats.
No map has yet been released.
“By the time we get to Tallahassee, I’m sure there will be a map and the body will consider it at the right time,” state House Speaker Daniel Perez said.
The Virginia results are pushing Republicans to act.
“I don’t like this redistricting in the middle of the census, but in light of what Virginia is doing, we may need to respond to that,” Florida Republican Rep. John Rutherford said.
He had previously opposed redistricting.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
The post Ron DeSantis Accepts Hakeem Jeffries’ Challenge, Prepares to Fight Back Against Democrats’ Virginia Power Grab appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin did not mince words Thursday morning when asked to respond to comments that degraded ICE and Border Patrol agents.
Mullin delivered a sharp rebuke of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer during a Fox News interview, calling the New York Democrat a “scumbag.”
The exchange came after Schumer spoke on the Senate floor Wednesday night.
In those remarks, Schumer criticized funding for federal immigration enforcement agencies.
He said the country did not need to increase funding for Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and described them as agencies “that nobody respects in this country.”

Senator Schumer says “nobody respects” ICE and CBP agents.
These brave men and women risk their lives every day to keep Americans safe.
Democrats’ hatred towards law enforcement is disgusting. pic.twitter.com/uePZrsB3u8
— Senate Republicans (@SenateGOP) April 23, 2026

Fox News reporter Bill Melugin played the clip and asked Mullin to respond.
“Well, it makes my ears red,” Mullin said. “It takes a lot to get me upset.”
“But Chuck Schumer, no one respects you,” he added. “The definition of a lying scumbag politician — that is you. You would be the definition, if you Googled you right now.”

DHS Sec. Markwayne Mullin TEARS into Chuck Schumer after the Senate minority leader said NO ONE respects ICE and Border Patrol:
CHUCK SCHUMER: “Two groups… Border Patrol and ICE… that nobody respects in this country.”
MARKWAYNE MULLIN: “Chuck Schumer, no one respects you.… pic.twitter.com/TyuXjqOrdx
— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 23, 2026

Mullin also accused Schumer of avoiding the real issue, which is that the agencies are enforcing immigration laws that Democrats don’t agree with.
“I mean, why don’t you just come out and be honest with the American people?” he said.
“He wants to have open borders.”
“If you want to defund the Customs and Border Protection Agency, if you want to defund ICE,” Mullin said. “You had time to change those during the Biden administration.”
“You didn’t, because you’re for open borders, and you’re for the criminals running amok in our cities,” he added.
Mullin also pointed out the hypocritical nature of Schumer taking advantage of having security while asking Americans to risk their safety in a country flooded by illegal immigrant criminals.
“And for you to say that is so disrespectful to the law enforcement that is out there protecting you,” he said. “Because he has a detail with him. How about he walks around these city streets without a detail? I wonder how safe he would feel.”
According to Politico reporter Burgess Everett, Schumer also slammed immigration enforcement agencies as “a rogue police force” on Thursday.

Schumer on the vote-a-rama: “We are going to have lots of amendments”
Says Dems will be offering cost of living amendments “and they are funding a rogue police force that is not even popular with the American people.”
— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) April 22, 2026

Mullin served with Schumer in the Senate for three years before accepting the top job at DHS last month.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
The post Markwayne Mullin Nukes Chuck Schumer Over Degrading, Anti-ICE Comments: ‘Lying Scumbag Politician’ appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

This is a Gateway Hispanic article.
The post Rental ads detected in London excluding applicants based on religion and offering “Muslims only” housing, a practice under scrutiny for potential illegality under UK law appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro just announced a massive takedown of Chinese-run slave labor scam compounds in Burma and Cambodia, operations that trafficked, beat, and enslaved thousands of victims to steal billions from hard-working Americans.
According to the Department of Justice, these weren’t just scams, they were industrial-scale criminal enterprises built on human trafficking, torture, and deception.
Federal investigators say the Chinese-run compound in Burma functioned like a modern-day prison camp.
Victims, many lured with promises of high-paying jobs, had their passports confiscated and were forced under threat of violence to run online scams targeting Americans.
Inside these compounds:

Workers were allegedly beaten, threatened, and held at gunpoint
Forced to impersonate U.S. banks and even the NYPD
Ordered to scam Americans, often elderly, out of their life savings

Authorities described the operation as one of the fastest-growing and most devastating forms of cybercrime, costing Americans billions.
The DOJ’s newly launched Scam Center Strike Force is already delivering results:

$700 million in cryptocurrency seized tied to fraud operations
503 scam websites shut down
A Telegram channel dismantled that was used to lure victims into forced labor camps

Federal agents also recovered thousands of devices used in the schemes, exposing the sheer scale of the operation.

HOLY CRAP! US Attorney Jeanine Pirro just charged Chinese bosses who ran a SCAM COMPOUND out of BURMA
“Thousands were trafficked, enslaved and forced to steal from Americans.”
“We’ve also seized a Telegram channel which lured workers into a compound in Cambodia and ordered… pic.twitter.com/4qYsdxrryE
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) April 23, 2026

According to the DOJ:
Background: Cyber-Enabled and Cryptocurrency Investment Fraud in Southeast Asian Scam Centers 
Cyber-enabled and cryptocurrency investment fraud (referred to by the scammers as “pig butchering”) is among the fastest growing and most financially devastating forms of cybercrime targeting Americans. In these schemes, victims are cultivated over time and deceived into depositing funds into fraudulent investment platforms that appear to show substantial returns. In reality, all victim funds flow directly to the scammers. The scam continues until the victim runs out of money or discovers the fraud, at which point the scammers cease contact.
According to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), investment scams became the most commonly reported crime type in 2023, with cryptocurrency investment fraud comprising 83 percent of that category. Reported losses from these scams rose from $3.96 billion in 2023 to $5.8 billion in 2024. Reported losses rose 24 percent in 2025 to over $7.2 billion, according to IC3’s newly released 2025 annual report. Those figures, based largely on victim reports, are believed to significantly underrepresent actual losses, as most victims do not report to law enforcement. According to the United States Institute of Peace, a conservative estimate of the annual value of funds stolen by scam syndicates worldwide approached $64 billion as of the end of 2023.
Many of these schemes are run out of industrial-scale compounds along the Burma-Thailand border and in Cambodia. Criminal syndicates often lure workers to Thailand with promises of high-paying technical jobs, then seize their identification documents and traffic them to work in scam compounds. Within the compounds, trafficked workers are frequently forced to conduct fraud operations against victims in the United States and elsewhere under threat of violence. Public reporting on these compounds has documented beatings, electrocutions, and murder.
Criminal Charges: Shunda Compound, Min Let Pan, Burma 
The Strike Force unsealed criminal complaints and arrest warrants against two Chinese nationals in connection with cryptocurrency investment fraud operations at the Shunda compound in Min Let Pan, Burma: two managers in the compound, Huang Xingshan, also known as “Ah Zhe,” and “Huang Xing Saan” and Jiang Wen Jie, also known as “Jiang Nan.”  They are charged with wire fraud conspiracy.

Aerial surveillance photo of the Shunda compound in Burma, where forced-labor conducted fraud operations under threat of violence.
The Shunda compound operated from at least January 2025 until approximately November 2025, when it was seized by the Karen National Liberation Army of Burma. The compound used scam websites and mobile applications disguised as legitimate investment platforms to defraud victims, including Americans. Workers within the compound were trafficked individuals who were held against their will and forced to defraud victims under the threat of violence and torture.
The FBI deployed personnel to Thailand following the compound’s seizure. Working with Thai authorities, FBI agents reviewed thousands of mobile devices and over 1,300 desktop computers recovered from Shunda. Agents also interviewed tens of former compound workers. That investigation identified a hierarchical organization of Chinese operators running the compound and supported the charges against the two defendants.

Phones seized from the Shunda compound.
According to the investigation, Huang served at Shunda as a high-level manager and enforcer and personally participated in the physical punishment of trafficked compound workers. Jiang served as a team leader directly supervising workers who specifically targeted American victims. Under Jiang’s supervision, one of the people under his command successfully defrauded a single American victim of over $3 million utilizing a fraudulent investment platform. The theft was celebrated within the organization as a paradigm of success.

The interior of one of the buildings in the Shunda compound in Burma.
After the Shunda compound was seized, Huang and Jiang relocated to another scam compound located in Cambodia where they attempted to continue their cryptocurrency investment fraud operation. In early 2026, Huang and Jiang decided to return to Burma, traveling through Thailand.
Huang and Jiang were arrested on immigration charges by Thai law enforcement in early 2026 in Thailand. The case is being investigated by FBI’s New York Field Office with substantial assistance from the FBI Legal Attaché in Bangkok and Thai authorities.
Telegram Channel Seizure 
The Strike Force conducted a first-of-its-kind seizure of a Telegram channel with more than 6,000 followers that was used to recruit individuals to travel to Cambodia under false promises of high-paying employment. Once there, recruited workers were held against their will and forced to defraud victims, including Americans, as part of a sophisticated law enforcement impersonation scheme.
The Telegram channel included postings for jobs in Cambodia that were specifically for workers who spoke with “American” accents, would work a night shift (i.e., during U.S. daytime hours), and some specifically sought attractive female candidates. The Telegram channel was connected to a scam compound in rural Cambodia near the Thai border.

The Telegram channel that was used to recruit individuals to work in Cambodia.

A job post on the Telegram channel.
Once at the scam compound, the scam workers specifically targeted U.S. persons. In the fraud scheme, victims received cold calls from individuals posing as bank representatives, including impersonators of JPMorgan or other U.S. bank customer service agents, warning them that their bank accounts had been used to purchase firearms from an actual U.S. gun store website. Victims were then transferred to individuals posing as “NYPD detectives” or other supposed law enforcement, and later sent to the “New York Supreme Court” or other purported prosecutorial officials. Through sustained pressure conducted over WhatsApp and Microsoft Teams, victims were induced to disclose their bank account information and ultimately transfer their savings to the scammers.

Individuals posed as bank representatives, worked from a script, and told their intended victims that their bank accounts had been used to purchase firearms from a gun store website.
The Telegram seizure case is being handled by FBI’s Miami Field Office, USSS Headquarters, and investigators at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. As part of the Strike Forces’s efforts at public-private collaboration on the scam center threat, after being alerted by law enforcement, JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft, and Meta voluntarily took internal investigative measures to combat the fraud operating on their systems and occurring under their names.
503 Web Domain Seizures 
The Strike Force announced the seizure of more than 503 .com web domains identified through the Operation Level Up initiative as having been used to defraud U.S. victims. The seized domains all were disguised as legitimate “investment platforms,” which victims reported to law enforcement were causing them to unknowingly deposit cryptocurrency funds and view supposed “returns” on what they believed were legitimate investments.
Operation Level Up, established in January 2024, by FBI and USSS is an ongoing proactive initiative to identify and notify victims of cryptocurrency investment fraud. As of March 2026: (i) Operation Level Up has notified 8,935 victims of cryptocurrency investment fraud; (ii) 77% of those victims were unaware they were being scammed; (iii) the estimated savings to victims is $562,726,245 of monies they otherwise would have sent to their scammers; and (iv) ninety-three victims have been referred to an FBI victim specialist for suicide intervention due to the devastating nature of these scams. Some victims have reported to law enforcement that—prior to being notified by the FBI about the scam—they were in the process of liquidating their 401K, selling their home, or obtaining a sizable loan. One elderly victim was surviving on disability pay; he had already paid the scammers $1,200 and would have cut into money he needed for food to pay more. Each of the 503 .com domains seized was identified by a victim contacted by Operation Level Up and involved in laundering that victim’s cryptocurrency funds.
Visitors to these domains are now informed on a splash page that it has been seized by law enforcement. The investigation was conducted by the Operation Level Up Initiative, with the FBI’s Detroit and Phoenix Field Offices handling the seizure with support from investigators at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the U.S. Marshals Service.

Examples of the seized domains that were disguised as legitimate investment platforms, causing victims to unknowingly deposit funds.
Restraint of Cryptocurrency Involved in Money Laundering from Scams
The Scam Center Strike Force continues its work to identify, seize, and forfeit funds involved in money laundering related to scams, so that funds can be returned to victims whenever possible. Under leadership from the FBI and the USSS, more than $701,962,392.15 million in cryptocurrency has been identified as allegedly involved in laundering of funds stolen from victims of cryptocurrency investment fraud and restrained through voluntary actions of cryptocurrency providers, as well as U.S. legal process. The Strike Force is working tirelessly to forfeit funds with its goal of returning funds to victims, and it continues to support victims who have lost homes and life savings to these schemes. FBI San Francisco, San Diego, Washington, Seattle, Phoenix, Nashville, and Honolulu Field Offices, and the USSS Headquarters, San Francisco, Nashville, and Washington Field Offices investigated these matters and conducted associated seizures.
State Department Rewards and Actions Related to Tai Chang
Consistent with the Strike Force’s whole of government approach, in a coordinated action, the Department of State today announced a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the seizure or recovery of proceeds from fraud and money laundering schemes associated with the Tai Chang scam centers in Burma’s Karen State.
The Strike Force also announced the seizure of the latest domain used by the Tai Chang scam centers, fortuneprimeglobalirts.com. The domain was a new iteration of the centers’ fraudulent investment platform and was launched after the Strike Force seized its predecessor domain, tickmilleas.com. The latest seized domain was designed and functioned similarly to its predecessor scam investment website. Visitors to the domain are now informed on a splash page that it has been seized by law enforcement, and victims are encouraged to submit complaints to the FBI. The Tai Chang scam centers were subject of web domain seizures by the Strike Force and designations by the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced in November 2025.
FBI’s San Diego Field Office is investigating the case in conjuction with the FBI Law Enforcement Attaché in Bangkok. Tips should be sent to them at TaiChangTIPS@fbi.gov.
Treasury Department Sanctions 
Also in a coordinated action, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today announced new sanctions against individuals and entities perpetrating cryptocurrency investment fraud schemes against Americans using forced labor and violence in Cambodia. The sanctions target Cambodian Senator Kok An, Cambodian businessman Rithy Raksmei, several associates, and their respective business empires, including holding companies for scam center operations.
The post US Attorney Jeanine Pirro Files Massive Charges Against Chinese Slave-Labor Scam Lords Operations in Burma and Cambodia appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Children are not born transgender, they are made transgender. pic.twitter.com/6tpDngY9I5
— Victor Nieves (@ItsVictorNieves) April 23, 2026

No child is born into the wrong body.
There is no “transgender” child, but there are plenty of adults who want to force confusion upon them.
A transgender man is being charged with international parental kidnapping for taking his 10-year-old son to Cuba for gender reassignment surgery.
The Gateway Pundit reported,
The Trump administration took the extraordinary step of sending a U.S. government aircraft to Cuba to recover a 10-year-old American child at the center of a disturbing custody battle involving gender identity and plans for medical transition.
According to court filings and a DOJ announcement, 42-year-old Rose Inessa-Ethington, the child’s biological father, who identifies as a transgender woman and previously went by Eri Ethington, along with partner Blue Inessa-Ethington, 32, took the 10-year-old boy (and reportedly Blue’s 3-year-old child) under false pretenses during what was supposed to be a family camping trip to Canada.
Instead, the pair allegedly fled to Mexico and then on to Havana, Cuba, with $10,000 in cash, raising immediate alarms that the boy was being transported for “gender reassignment surgery prior to puberty.”
A Utah court had already granted the biological mother, identified as “LB,” exclusive custody and ordered the immediate return of the child. But the trans couple ignored the ruling and went on the run.
The FBI, under the Trump administration’s direction, coordinated with Cuban authorities, who actually assisted in locating and arresting the pair on April 16, and sent a Department of Justice Boeing 757 directly to Cuba on Monday to bring the boy home safely. He has now been reunited with his biological mother.
The two suspects face federal charges of international parental kidnapping.

Adults who want to force bizarre sexual confusion onto children should not be allowed anywhere near kids.
Thank God the Trump administration helped stop the mutilation of this child.
The Democrat party is married to radical gender ideology. If they obtain power, they will no doubt continue pushing for the gender transition of little kids again.
The post Victor Reacts: No Child Is Born “Transgender,” but Adults Try to Make Them “Transgender” (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

The FBI on Thursday arrested 43 Mexican Mafia gang members in Orange County, California.
According to the feds, the gang members committed various crimes such as kidnapping, extortion, trafficking drugs, running gambling businesses, and murder.
The defendants were charged with 66 counts, including racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to operate an illegal gambling business, violent crimes in aid of racketeering, trafficking narcotics such as fentanyl, methamphetamine, heroin, and cocaine, and using firearms during a crime of violence.
“Gang members who murder, extort, kidnap, and traffic drugs and firearms are a menace to our communities and our way of life,” said First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli. “Today’s arrests highlight the continuing cooperation between federal and local law enforcement against violent felons and our unyielding determination to crack down on organized crime in our prisons and our streets.”
Per the DOJ:
Twenty-five members and associates of the Mexican Mafia prison gang were arrested today on three federal indictments charging them with committing scores of crimes in Orange County, including kidnapping, extortion, trafficking fentanyl and methamphetamine, running illegal gambling businesses, and murdering a victim last year at a gang-controlled Anaheim motel.
The defendants arrested this morning include:

Jaime Alvarado, 42, a.k.a. “Junior” and “Brian Barbas,” of Lake Elsinore;
Karina Cesena, 32, also of Lake Elsinore; and
Mario Flores, 40, a.k.a. “Happy,” of Anaheim.

Senior gang members already in state custody who are expected to make their initial appearances and be arraigned in the coming weeks include:

Luis Cardenas, 48, a.k.a. “Gangster,” “Pops” and “Tio,” an inmate at Ironwood State Prison;
Jose Antonio Ochoa Madrigal, 41, a.k.a. “Sparky,” of Santa Ana, who incarcerated in an Orange County jail.

The Mexican Mafia, a.k.a. “La Eme,” is a U.S.-based prison gang that has immense control over Hispanic street gangs in Southern California, directing illegal activities from prisons and collecting a portion of the proceeds from drug trafficking, illegal gambling, and other crimes committed on the streets.
The case’s main indictment charges 40 defendants with a series of felonies, including racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to operate an illegal gambling business, violent crimes in aid of racketeering, trafficking narcotics such as fentanyl, methamphetamine, heroin, and cocaine, and using firearms during a crime of violence.
According to this 66-count indictment, from June 2024 to April 2026, Cardenas oversaw the Mexican Mafia’s criminal activities in Orange County and within Orange County jail and prison facilities. Alvarado, Cesena, Madrigal, and Flores held the position of high-ranking associates for Cardenas.
From his prison cell, Cardenas used an encrypted messaging application on contraband cell phones to direct Alvarado in the operation of the Mexican Mafia’s activities in Orange County.
Cardenas directed others to kidnap and assault people in bad standing with him, and Alvarado, Cesena, and others carried out his directions. Defendants operating for the Mexican Mafia shot at and assaulted victims.
The gang also sold narcotics – including fentanyl, methamphetamine, heroin, and cocaine – via slap houses (illegal gambling houses), gangs, and drug dealers in Orange County.
It ran illegal gambling businesses within commercial strip malls and private residences. The gang collected extortionate taxes and provided security, including the use of violence, to protect the illegal gambling businesses.
The post FBI Arrests 43 Mexican Mafia Gang Members in Orange County, California appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

A US Army soldier was arrested and charged for using classified information to profit more than $400,00 on the capture of Maduro betting on Polymarket, a prediction marketplace.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, and FBI Director Kash Patel on Thursday announced the unsealing of an indictment charging US Army soldier Gannon Ken Van Dyke with unlawful use of confidential government information for personal gain, theft of nonpublic government information, commodities fraud, wire fraud, and making an unlawful monetary transaction.
The US Army’s Delta Force captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in January.
The feds allege that Gannon Ken Van Dyke, who participated in the planning and execution of the U.S. military operation to capture Nicolás Maduro, called “Operation Absolute Resolve,” used his access to classified information about that operation to personally profit.
“Our men and women in uniform are trusted with classified information in order to accomplish their mission as safely and effectively as possible, and are prohibited from using this highly sensitive information for personal financial gain,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.
“Widespread access to prediction markets is a relatively new phenomenon, but federal laws protecting national security information fully apply,” Blanche said.
Per the Justice Department:
As alleged in the Indictment unsealed today in Manhattan federal court:[1]
VAN DYKE has been an active-duty soldier in the U.S. Army, stationed at Fort Bragg, a military base located in Fayetteville, North Carolina. In connection with his work, VAN DYKE signed nondisclosure agreements in which he promised to “never divulge, publish, or reveal by writing, words, conduct, or otherwise . . . any classified or sensitive information” relating to military operations. Starting around December 8, 2025, and continuing through at least January 6, 2026, VAN DYKE was involved in the planning and execution of Operation Absolute Resolve, a military operation to capture Maduro, and had access to sensitive, nonpublic, classified information about that operation.
In 2025, Polymarket, a prediction marketplace operated by Blockratize, Inc., began offering binary event contracts related to whether certain events involving Venezuela and/or Maduro would, or would not, occur. Those event contracts included the future likelihood of “US forces in Venezuela by” certain dates, the future likelihood of Maduro being “out” of or removed from power by certain dates, the future likelihood of the U.S. invading Venezuela by on or before January 31, 2026, and the future likelihood of President Trump “invokeing War Powers against Venezuela” by a certain date.
As alleged, on or about December 26, 2025, VAN DYKE created a Polymarket account, funded it, and began trading on Maduro- and Venezuela-related markets. In total, VAN DYKE made approximately 13 bets from December 27, 2025, through the evening of January 2, 2026. Those bets all took the “YES” position on “U.S. Forces in Venezuela . . . by January 31, 2026”; “Maduro out by . . . January 31, 2026”; “Will the U.S. invade Venezuela by . . . January 31,”; or “Trump invokes War Powers against Venezuela by . . . January 31.” VAN DYKE bet a total of approximately $33,034 on those outcomes while in possession of classified nonpublic information about Operation Absolute Resolve.
In the predawn hours of January 3, 2026, U.S. special forces apprehended Maduro and his wife at a residence in Caracas, Venezuela, and hours later the President of the United States announced the successful operation. Following the President’s public announcement, Polymarket resolved several Maduro- and Venezuela-related contracts to “YES,” including the markets “Maduro out by . . . January 31, 2026,” and “US forces in Venezuela by . . . January 31, 2026.” As a result, VAN DYKE won his wagers on those contracts. In total, VAN DYKE allegedly profited approximately $409,881.
Following his successful trading relating to Maduro- and Venezuela-related contracts, VAN DYKE allegedly sent most of his proceeds to a foreign cryptocurrency vault before depositing them into a newly created online brokerage account. The same day of the operation, VAN DYKE withdrew the majority of his allegedly unlawful proceeds from his Polymarket account. Shortly after the announcement of Operation Absolute Resolve, reports of unusual trading in Maduro-related contracts on Polymarket appeared in the press and on social media.
VAN DYKE then took steps to conceal his identity as the trader in the Maduro- and Venezuela-related markets. On or about January 6, 2026, for example, VAN DYKE asked Polymarket to delete his Polymarket account, falsely claiming that he had lost access to the email address to which the account had been associated. That same day, VAN DYKE changed the email registered to his cryptocurrency exchange account to an email address that was not subscribed to in his name, and which he had created on or about December 14, 2025.
The post US Army Soldier Arrested For Using Classified Information to Profit $400,000 on Capture of Maduro with Polymarket Bets appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Iran has the largest ballistic missile inventory in the Middle East. Giving it nuclear weapons would endanger the Middle East, the United States, and its allies. Hossein Velayati, CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
There are nine nuclear-armed nations, and Iran wishes to be the tenth. For decades, the United States, along with European allies, has been trying to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, producing several iterations of the Iran nuclear deal, all of which failed to stop Iran’s progress. This is one of the primary reasons President Trump decided in 2025 and again in 2026 to launch strikes against Iran.
Opponents of those strikes have attempted to rewrite history by claiming Iran has no ambition to build nuclear weapons, that Iran has stopped trying, that the nuclear treaty would have prevented Iran from obtaining weapons and that Trump was wrong to withdraw, that the strikes either irreversibly destroyed Iran’s nuclear program or did nothing to it, that Iran should have nuclear weapons because other nations do, and that Iran poses a threat to no one.
None of these claims holds up. Iran’s nuclear ambitions are not recent. The country’s program drew intense international pressure starting in 2002, when an anti-regime group alleged that Iran had secretly built a pair of nuclear facilities, and the IAEA confirmed that until 2003, Iran had a “structured program” to carry out activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device.
In October 2025, former Iranian defense minister Ali Shamkhani stated, “If I returned to the defense portfolio, I would move toward building an atomic bomb,” and declared that if he could return to the 1990s, “we would definitely build the atomic bomb.” According to the Institute for International Political Studies, sources in Tehran reported that in October 2025, Khamenei had authorized the development of miniaturized nuclear warheads for ballistic missiles, despite denials issued at earlier dates.
Those who claim Iran has ceased pursuing weapons must contend with the IAEA’s own record. In December 2024, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said that Tehran was “dramatically” ramping up uranium enrichment to up to 60 percent, close to the roughly 90 percent weapons-grade threshold. By February 2025, U.S. intelligence indicated that a covert team of scientists was orchestrating a faster, though cruder, approach to creating an atomic weapon. As of the June 2025 strikes, Iran had enriched some 972 pounds of uranium up to 60 percent purity, according to IAEA estimates.
The claim that the JCPOA would have permanently prevented Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons is contradicted by the deal’s own structure. The JCPOA contained sunset provisions, including lifting limits on centrifuges after 10 years and reduced enrichment caps lasting only 15 years, leading to concerns that the deal would only temporarily delay Iran’s nuclear program. The United Against Nuclear Iran assessment said that the deal provides Iran with a clear pathway to nuclear weapons, as enrichment and plutonium-processing restrictions end between 2026 and 2031, potentially reducing breakout time to weeks, if not days.
Then-President Obama acknowledged in 2015 that after those restrictions expired, breakout time would fall to “almost down to zero.” RAND summarized the structural problem: the original JCPOA was not a permanent limitation but a pause, after which Iran could drop the Additional Protocol and sprint to develop a nuclear weapon.
Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018 for precisely these reasons. The White House announcement stated that the JCPOA enriched the Iranian regime and enabled its malign behavior, while at best delaying its ability to pursue nuclear weapons and allowing it to preserve nuclear research and development. Trump called it “the worst deal ever,” so terrible it could lead to “a nuclear holocaust.”
On the question of whether the 2025 strikes fully destroyed or had no effect on Iran’s nuclear program, both extremes are false. On March 3, 2026, the IAEA confirmed that while recent bombings had failed to destroy the Natanz nuclear facility, significant damage to its entrance buildings had made it inaccessible. Iran was simultaneously working to reconstitute its program.
According to the Alma Research and Education Center, Iran was using the opening of negotiations to transfer centrifuges and sensitive equipment to protected production lines deep underground, while parallel excavation of a new facility south of Natanz continued with greater intensity. The full extent of damage to Iran’s enrichment program remains unclear, as the IAEA withdrew inspectors in June 2025 and has not been able to inspect the attacked facilities.
The argument that Iran poses no threat to other nations is refuted by its documented record. The Iranian regime is responsible for the deaths of at least 603 American service members in Iraq since 2003, accounting for 17 percent of all U.S. personnel deaths in Iraq from 2003 to 2011. Iran prosecutes this campaign primarily through the IRGC, which reports directly to the Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah, who is currently assumed to be Mojtaba Khamenei, and operates independently of Iran’s regular military.
The IRGC supports the operations of a vast network of proxy militias, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza, and the Houthis in Yemen. The United States designated the IRGC a Foreign Terrorist Organization in April 2019 under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. In January 2026, the 27-member European Union formally designated the IRGC as a terrorist organization at a meeting of EU foreign ministers.
Washington considers Iran the foremost state sponsor of terrorism, spending more than $1 billion on terrorist financing annually. The Defense Intelligence Agency reported that Houthi maritime terrorism resulted in a 90 percent drop in container shipping through the Red Sea, which under normal conditions accounted for up to 15 percent of international maritime trade.
In February 2026, the IRGC launched 21 confirmed attacks on merchant ships in the Strait of Hormuz and reportedly laid sea mines. It then declared the strait closed, prompting Maersk, CMA CGM, and Hapag-Lloyd to suspend transits and triggering the largest oil supply disruption since the 1970s energy crisis.
Between 2019 and 2025, Iran or its proxies were responsible for the drone and missile attack that destroyed five percent of global oil production capacity at Saudi Aramco’s Abqaiq facility. They also carried out sustained campaigns against U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria that resulted in American casualties. Houthi interdiction of Red Sea shipping disrupted global supply chains.
Following the February 2026 U.S.-Israeli strikes, Iran fired ballistic missile barrages at U.S. military installations across Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Iraq, Oman, and Jordan, while NATO forces intercepted Iranian drones and missiles near Turkey’s Incirlik Air Base.
Iran has the largest ballistic missile inventory in the Middle East, with its longest-range missiles reportedly capable of striking targets up to 2,000 kilometers away, covering all of the Middle East and part of Europe. Nuclear weapons under this behavioral pattern would not change Iran’s strategic objectives; they would remove the constraints on pursuing them.
Granting nuclear weapons to a state whose own military force is a designated terrorist organization would, by definition, place nuclear capability in the hands of terrorists, an outcome prohibited under U.S. law and incompatible with any reasonable standard of international security.
The post Why Iran, a State Sponsor of Terrorism, Should Never Be Allowed to Have Nukes appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Idalia Isabel Morales-Mejia/Image: Courtesy of ICE
On April 22, U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) announced the arrest of Idalia Isabel Morales-Mejia — a criminal illegal alien wanted in El Salvador for aggravated homicide and a documented associate of the violent MS-13 gang.
In October 2013, authorities in El Salvador charged Morales-Mejia with aggravated homicide and illicit associations.
On an unknown date, she illegally entered the United States without being inspected, admitted or paroled by a U.S. immigration official.
According to ICE, in February, the Security Alliance for Fugitive Enforcement Task Force in El Salvador provided updated information regarding Morales-Mejia’s possible presence in Northern Virginia.
After receiving the information, Officers with ICE Washington, D.C., worked to locate her and, on March 12, she was arrested in Woodbridge, Virginia.
ICE Washington, D.C. Field Office Director Robert Guadian shared, “Idalia Isabel Morales-Mejia is not only a known associate of the notorious MS-13 transnational criminal organization, but she apparently attempted to flee justice in her native country by illegally residing in Virginia.“
“The media would consider her to be a ‘non-criminal’ because she has no known criminal history in the United States — despite the fact that she is facing charges for aggravated homicide in El Salvador.”
“ICE Washington, D.C. will continue to prioritize public safety by arresting and removing criminal alien offenders from our Washington, D.C. and Virginia communities.”
In January, four suspected MS-13 gang members were arrested and are facing murder charges in Maryland after killing a 14-year-old boy from Washington, DC.
The corpse of Jefferson Amaya-Ayala was discovered with multiple injuries in what the medical examiner ruled as a homicide on November 3, 2025, at Indian Creek Stream Valley Park in College Park, Maryland, months after he was last seen in Washington, DC, on August 2, 2025.
In February 2025, the Department of State (DoS) announced the designation of Tren de Aragua (TdA), Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), Cártel de Sinaloa, Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), Cártel del Noreste (CDN), La Nueva Familia Michoacana (LNFM), Cártel de Golfo (CDG), and Cárteles Unidos (CU) as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) and Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs).
According to DoS, ” MS-13 is a transnational organization that originated in Los Angeles but shifted to Central America as individuals were deported there from the United States. MS-13 actively recruits, organizes, and spreads violence in several countries, primarily in Central America and North America, including El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, and the United States.”
“MS-13 has conducted numerous violent attacks, including assassinations and the use of IEDs and drones, against El Salvador government officials and facilities. Additionally, MS-13 uses public displays of violence to intimidate civilian populations to obtain and control territory and manipulate the electoral process in El Salvador.”
“Terrorist designations expose and isolate entities and individuals, denying them access to the U.S. financial system and the resources they need to carry out attacks.”
As a result of these actions, all property and interests in property of those designated today that are in the United States or that are in possession or control of a U.S. person are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them. Moreover, designations can assist law enforcement actions of other U.S. agencies and governments.
 
The post ICE Arrests MS-13 Gang Member Wanted for Murder — One of the Media’s “Non-Criminal” Illegals appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.