Turkish police raid a house – Screengrab Social Media/X
Turkish police are on the move.
Turkey is still reeling over two school shootings in two days, but the authorities are enacting a crackdown on people allegedly praising or spreading fake news online about the shootings.
On Tuesday (14), a former student opened fire at a high school in the southeastern district of Siverek, injuring 16 people, and just a day later, nine people died in a second school shooting in the southern province of Kahramanmaras.
“Turkish authorities have detained more than 160 people on charges ranging from spreading misleading information to praising two deadly school shootings this week online, the justice minister said Thursday.
Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said 95 people had been taken into custody and 35 more suspects were being sought. Access to 1,104 social media accounts had been blocked, he added in a post on X.”
After two school shootings in two days, Turkish police place all schools under heavy guard
At least two armed officers are now stationed at every educational institution
“Justice Minister Akın Gürlek accused accounts of sharing footage of the incidents, spreading content capable of creating fear and praising crime.
[…] Hundreds have gathered near the city’s main mosque for the funerals of the young victims, which are being held on Thursday.
One victim has been identified as 10-year-old Zeynep. Her uncle, Mahmut, told the BBC that she was a clever girl who respected others. He said: ‘Now she is an angel, she flew away’. He said he wanted more protection in schools following the attack.”
Far-left activist Analilia Mejia has just been elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District, defeating Republican Joe Hathaway in the special election to fill the seat vacated by Mikie Sherrill.
This win narrows the already razor-thin Republican majority in the House and hands a powerful platform to one of the most extreme voices in the Democrat Party.
As The Gateway Pundit reported back in March, Mejia is no moderate. This Squad-endorsed Democratic Socialist has a long history of unhinged statements, including claiming that Jesus Christ was “likely a Democratic Socialist” and bizarrely declaring that public toilets are a form of socialism that critics should stop using if they oppose big government.
Mejia, a former national political director for Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign and co-executive director of the far-left Center for Popular Democracy, ran on a full-blown socialist wishlist that reads like a blueprint for economic destruction:
Abolish ICE entirely and open the floodgates to illegal immigration.
Universal healthcare and childcare for all because nothing says “affordability” like making every American taxpayer foot the bill.
A punishing $25 federal minimum wage that will crush small businesses, spike unemployment, and drive up costs for everyone.
Massive tax increases on the wealthy and corporations to fund her giveaway schemes.
Cancel all student loan debt and provide free tuition for college
Democrats are going to continue to run these sorts of candidates because their base now demands it.
Elections have consequences, and the consequence of allowing these people to hold serious power would be the total destruction of our country as we know it.
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President Trump on Friday will deliver remarks at a TPUSA event in Phoenix, Arizona.
Trump will join Erika Kirk for a “Build the Red Wall” event ahead of this year’s midterms.
Air Force One touched down in Phoenix at approximately 4:45 pm ET.
The President briefly spoke with reporters on the tarmac in Phoenix about the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
“The blockade will end when the agreement is signed. As soon as the agreement gets signed, that’s when the blockade ends,” Trump told reporters.
WATCH LIVE:
President Trump traveled out west on Thursday and made a stop in Las Vegas, Nevada
On Thursday President Trump traveled to Vegas to deliver a speech on his ‘No Tax on Tips’ policy.
I’m on Air Force One heading to Las Vegas and Arizona for Greetings and Speeches on NO TAX ON TIPS, a WINDFALL for our Great American Citizens.
I am watching one of the Least Attractive and Talented People on all of Television, Jessica Tarlov.
Her voice is so grating and terrible, I had to “turn her off!” Her Democrat soundbites are FAKE. She makes up “Poll Numbers,” and nobody challenges her, because she is so boring. I have among the best Poll Numbers I have ever had, and why shouldn’t I, ALL THE COUNTRY DOES IS WIN.
CNN had me at 100%, saying they never saw that before. GET HER OFF THE AIR, SHE IS BAD FOR OUR COUNTRY! I hear Megyn Kelly, Tucker Carlson, and Candace Owens are dying fast. Their numbers are terrible.
Nobody believes them anymore. They were FAKE MAGA, and now they’ve been exposed! President DJT
Paper Tigers must now foot the bill: Poland’s Tusk, UK’s Starmer, Ukraine’s Zelensky, France’s Macron, Germany’s Merz
European freeloaders will now have to carry their own weight.
While US President Donald J. Trump was already disembarking from a position of responsibility in the Ukrainian war effort, the perceived open betrayal by Euro-Globalists in NATO during have apparently sped up the process.
Today, an X thread by Pentagon’s top policy official laid out this new reality in minute detail, warning that from now on, military support for Ukraine cannot depend on the US, urging European allies to take the lead.
“In remarks delivered at this week’s Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting in Berlin and published on X on Thursday evening, Elbridge Colby said Washington’s support had relied heavily on ‘drawing down finite U.S. stockpiles’, an approach he signaled is no longer sustainable.
‘Europe must accelerate its assumption of primary responsibility for the conventional defense of the continent,” Colby said. ‘This is not a matter of choice, but of strategic necessity’.
He added that continued assistance to Kyiv ‘must not rely on significant U.S. contributions’, urging allies to step up funding and production instead.”
After Zelensky (that Trump called ‘a P.T. Barnum’) got feeble Joe Biden to give him hundreds of billions to fund the Ukrainian war effort, now the US isn’t funding Kiev anymore.
There is a program (PURL) in which the US does sell weapons to NATO allies to transfer them to Ukraine.
But even that is uncertain, as right now, for example, already paid for weapons deliveries are being delayed, cause the military hardware is needed for the Iranian conflict.
The commonality among deportees is that they are in the country illegally. Many of those whom the media claim have status actually lost that status due to violations of the terms of their visas. Photo courtesy of the Department of Homeland Security.
The media spin says that a nice, intelligent PhD engineering student was arrested on the way to class because the Trump administration is evil and because of the color of his skin. In reality, federal authorities said that he lied on his visa application. He had a DUI, and he had signed a document stating that he knew his DUI might invalidate his visa. Because his visa had already been revoked, he was in the country illegally at the time of his arrest.
Doğukan Günaydın is a Turkish citizen who was enrolled as a STEM MBA student at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management. He had previously graduated from St. Olaf College on a full scholarship. He is not a PhD student in mechanical engineering, as some accounts have claimed.
On June 27, 2023, Minneapolis police stopped him for erratic driving. A preliminary breath test registered a blood-alcohol level of 0.20 percent, more than twice the legal limit. A second test at the jail registered 0.17 percent, which still qualifies as drunk driving. He pleaded guilty to a gross misdemeanor DWI in March 2024.
Notably, dashcam video from the 2023 arrest shows him asking the arresting officer whether the arrest would affect his immigration status, suggesting he understood the potential consequences even before signing his plea agreement. The plea document itself, which both Günaydın and his attorney signed, states in its 15th clause that a guilty plea by a non-citizen may result in deportation, exclusion from admission to the United States, or denial of naturalization.
On March 27, 2025, ICE arrested Günaydın outside his St. Paul apartment as he walked to class. DHS cited his 2023 DWI conviction as the basis for revoking his visa. He was held at the Sherburne County Jail in Elk River, Minnesota.
The government’s allegation that he lied on his visa application stems from his F-1 student visa application, in which he was required to demonstrate non-immigrant intent, meaning he intended to return to Turkey after his studies. The government alleged that he never had that intent and was using the student visa as a pathway to permanent residence, which would constitute misrepresentation on his application. That charge was ultimately dismissed by the immigration judge.
Immigration Judge Sarah Mazzie ordered Günaydın released on bond on April 14 and, on April 30, terminated the deportation proceedings entirely. DHS then invoked a rarely used post-9/11 automatic stay provision to override the immigration court ruling and keep him detained. A federal judge ordered his release on May 22, 2025, ruling that his continued detention violated his Fifth Amendment right to due process.
The media framed the case as a test of whether the Trump administration could use minor crimes as a pretext to deport high-achieving students. However, DWI is not a minor crime. Similar framing is being used repeatedly in the mainstream media.
Just a few days ago, the Joytu Chowdhury case appeared in several national media stories describing him as “hardworking, dedicated, and deeply committed to his education.” The headlines centered on “inhumane” ICE detention conditions, focusing on Chowdhury’s account of his ordeal. Buried in the articles is the DHS response: “Chowdhury’s criminal history includes convictions for driving under the influence and retail theft.”
Claims about Günaydın being a PhD may stem from a similar case that is sometimes conflated with his, namely that of Rümeysa Öztürk, the Turkish PhD student at Tufts University. The false media framing of her case was that she was deported for writing a pro-Palestine paper, which is, of course, not an offense and is categorically a lie.
The government’s stated rationale was not simply “she wrote an op-ed.” A State Department memo said Öztürk’s visa was revoked following an assessment that her actions “may undermine U.S. foreign policy by creating a hostile environment for Jewish students and indicating support for a designated terrorist organization,” with the op-ed cited as part of that assessment.
The formal deportation charge invoked immigration status grounds. The notice Tufts received stated her visa was canceled because she was a “non-immigrant status violator” and/or that her presence “would result in potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.”
StopAntisemitism posted on X that Öztürk “led pro-Hamas, violent antisemitic, and anti-American events as a PhD student at Tufts.” DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin amplified those claims. McLaughlin stated that Öztürk “led pro-Hamas, violent antisemitic and anti-American events as a Ph.D. student at Tufts.”
One of the most significant pieces of evidence against Öztürk was her Canary Mission profile. Canary Mission documents individuals and organizations that promote hatred of the USA, Israel, and Jews on North American college campuses, creating profiles by gathering content from publicly available sources and aggregating it into a searchable format.
The media stressed that she had no criminal record and that the government used a Canary Mission profile as a source of information, framing both as damning. This is misleading. One need not have a criminal record to be arrested and charged with a crime, nor to have a visa invalidated. Evidence can also come from open-source intelligence, including online profiles and aggregator sites. Using publicly available information, including social media posts, published articles, and websites aggregating public activity, is standard law enforcement and intelligence practice.
The FBI, DHS, and every major intelligence agency routinely use OSINT, and there is nothing improper about ICE consulting a website that compiles publicly available information on individuals. No part of what the government did was illegal, unreasonable, or unusual.
The relevant journalistic and legal question is not how the information was gathered but whether it was sufficient to meet the legal standard for visa revocation and deportation. When it comes to arrests and deportations overall, the relevant legal question is not whether you like Trump but rather whether the person violated the terms of their residence, which, in all of these cases, they did.
Douglas Murray, an investigative journalist and the author of The Strange Death of Europe and The War on the West, sat down with PragerU CEO Marissa Streit to discuss a variety of topics, including the dismal state of education in the Unites States.
Murray, an outspoken British conservative, told Streit, “I mean, I say this as a great lover of America, but the education system in this country is shocking. And it’s not to do with money. It’s not to do with a lack of resources.”
“If in New York State, for instance, almost $30,000 is allocated per pupil per year for their education, that’s a hell of a lot of money.”
Streit added, “Yeah, it’s not money, it’s monsters. It’s the other end.”
Murray continued, “Exactly. I mean, it is. And it’s just shocking. The unions, these people just have not done their job. They have so woefully underperformed.”
“And when you have the levels of illiteracy and numeracy in a society like this. It’s shocking.”
“The world’s number one economy, a superpower, should be able to make sure that it’s not like in a lot of areas 50% of K-12 students just don’t have basic literacy or numeracy.”
Watch:
Our kids are graduating with shocking levels of illiteracy and poor math skills. @DouglasKMurray is right, it’s not about money. It’s the unions that have continuously robbed our students and held our schools hostage. Watch here https://t.co/lnW5YVl1fkpic.twitter.com/nVTd8J3wz4
According to The Citizens Budget Commission (CBC), New York State has the highest per-pupil spending in the nation for over 20 years running.
For the 2024–25 school year, the state was projected to spend approximately $36,293 per student (total expenditures including local, state, and federal funds). This is more than double the national average of roughly $17,000–$18,000. Earlier data for 2023 showed New York at about $36,976 per pupil.
Yet according to assessments like the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and the Nation’s Report Card, New York students are not achieving grade-level mastery in core subjects at high rates, despite the massive investment.
Grade 4 Reading: 31% proficient or above.
Grade 4 Math: 37% proficient or above.
Grade 8 Reading: 31% proficient or above.
Grade 8 Math: 26% proficient or above.
Nationally, proficiency hovers around 30–39% in these categories, so New York is average-to-below-average despite top spending, and scores have shown little sustained improvement over decades, even as costs soared.
New York City students fare even worse.
New York City public schools, the nation’s largest district, spend even more than the New York state average.
According to The New York Post, for the 2025–26 school year, the NYC Department of Education is projected to spend a record $42,168 per student—the highest in the country—on a total budget of $44.6 billion.
Geopolitical midgets Macron, Merz, and Starmer are again getting trolled by Trump
‘Useless’ allies not needed anymore, says Trump.
Be it in the Russia-Ukraine war – where they want it to continue for as long as possible – or in the US military confrontation with Iran – where they betrayed their main NATO ally – one thing you can always expect from Euro-Globalist failing leaders: meetings – lots of meetings.
British PM Starmer, German Chancellor Merz, and French President Macron are in Paris ahead of a European summit on establishing a naval defensive force to secure shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. pic.twitter.com/2WlVpi6mZo
“Mr. Trump has again lashed out at Nato allies after the announcement that the Strait of Hormuz would be reopened.
The US president suggested that European nations and others should ‘stay away’ from the region ‘unless they just want to load up their ships with oil’.”
“He said: ‘Now that the Hormuz Strait situation is over, I received a call from Nato asking if we would need some help. I TOLD THEM TO STAY AWAY, UNLESS THEY JUST WANT TO LOAD UP THEIR SHIPS WITH OIL’.
‘They were useless when needed, a Paper Tiger’.”
LMAO! President Trump says NATO just called him offering to help with the Strait of Hormuz — MINUTES AFTER he and the Iranians announced its full reopening
Conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch on Friday released FBI records that reveal would-be Trump assassin Thomas Crooks was involved in an altercation before the shooting.
Thomas Crooks was able to climb on the roof of the AGR building, put President Trump in his scope from an elevated position, and fire his weapon at Trump.
A countersniper killed Crooks.
President Trump was shot in the ear, and firefighter Corey Comperatore was fatally shot.
According to the newly-released FBI documents, Crooks made “hateful comments” directed at Trump before he climbed on the roof of the AGR building and shot Trump.
Judicial Watch announced today that it forced the release of 27 heavily redacted pages from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit that show that would-be Trump assassin Thomas Crooks was reportedly involved in an altercation with a group of people and making “hateful comments” directed at President Trump at the Butler, PA, rally site before the July 13, 2024, assassination attempt.
A July 17 FD-302 investigative report states that a woman who attended the Trump rally was interviewed by the FBI and reported that Crooks “had an altercation with a group of people in the area [where the woman was standing] prior to the shooting.” The witness continued that “she observed Crooks climbing the building a short time after the interaction.”
The report shows that another rally attendee interviewed by agents said he also heard the altercation involving Crooks at the rally. The report states, “[Redacted] reported just before Donald Trump came on the stage, CROOKS was making ‘hateful’ comments toward Trump. [Redacted] wasn’t sure if Crooks was filming the event or speaking with someone on his cell phone.”
A July 17 FD-302 investigative report shows that a woman contacted the National Threat Operations Center (NTOC) to report that she had attended the Trump rally in Butler and that she had seen a “suspicious individual” at the rally who was acting “very nervous” in the parking lot and she took a picture of the license plate of his Hyundai vehicle.
“It should not have taken two years and a federal lawsuit to find out that the Butler shooter was involved in an altercation with Trump supporters and made hateful comments towards Trump at the Butler rally minutes before he nearly killed Trump. These new FBI documents are disturbing and astonishing, detailing more conduct by the shooter that should have gotten the attention of Secret Service,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.
BREAKING: FBI Reports Uncovered by @JudicialWatch Lawsuit Reveal Butler Shooter Got Into Altercation With @RealDonaldTrump Supporters and Made Hateful Comments About Trump Minutes Before Assassination Attempt! https://t.co/8F64teEAfT
The FBI last year concluded that Thomas Crooks acted alone.
The so-called ‘security lapses’ and circumstances surrounding the assassination attempt against Trump raise questions about how Thomas Matthew Crooks was able to pull everything off by himself.
Thomas Crooks flew a drone over the Butler fairgrounds at least twice on the day of the Trump rally.
He flew his drone at approximately 3:50 – 4:05 pm that day – during the time the Secret Service was having connectivity issues.
A photo of Thomas Crooks was taken shortly before he somehow managed to get up onto the roof of the building.
At 5:14 pm, just one hour before the assassination attempt of Trump, a member of the Beaver County sniper team took a photo of Crooks checking his cell phone.
Local law enforcement took photos of Thomas Matthew Crooks before he attempted to murder President Trump at the Butler, PA rally. (Source: Preliminary findings/Ron Johnson)
Please support Tom Fitton and Judicial Watch by clicking here.
https://t.co/OoOYDx0joo pic.twitter.com/8pKUufRPu7
LMAO! President Trump says NATO just called him offering to help with the Strait of Hormuz — MINUTES AFTER he and the Iranians announced its full reopening
