LGBT Activists Accuse Companies of ‘Ghosting’ Them after Conservative Backlash

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LGBT Activists Accuse Companies of ‘Ghosting’ Them after Conservative Backlash

(Headline USA) LGBT activists are complaining that corporations are distancing themselves from leftist ideology and “caving” to conservative pressure.

“It’s just been a really stark contrast from years before,” said MI Leggetta, a self-described “non-binary” designer who runs “a gender-fluid sustainable clothing company,” of Pride month.

“Every single year, my friends and I and my colleagues always get these additional jobs,” Leggetta explained to Georgia Public Radio. 

But this year those opportunities seem to have dried up.

Several other activists agreed with Leggetta’s assessment and blamed conservative boycotts of Bud Light and Target for companies’ hesitance to go woke.

“Companies are reevaluating all of their sponsorships and partnerships, and they’re trying to foresee those that might cause the most controversy,” said Daniel Korschun, an associate professor of marketing at Drexel University. “And I think they’re pulling back on those.”

Companies are looking at the financial losses Bud Light and Target have incurred since embracing radical LGBTism and are “scared to death” that the same might happen to them, said Erik Gordon, a business professor at the University of Michigan.

“I think some companies are whispering their support into sympathetic ears, whereas last year and the year before they were standing on top of the mountain with a megaphone,” Gordon said. “If that’s your approach this year, you need less creative work … you need a smaller group of influencers,” he said.

“Non-binary” TikToker Hina Sabatine confirmed that only smaller companies were looking for Pride month partnerships, “not as many big corporations.”

Sabatine said that in years past it was normal for LGBT creators to earn $120,000 in partnerships during Pride month, but that number has been cut in half this year.

LGBT activists “rely” on corporate America pushing Pride month, Leggett admitted.

“We as queer people in business and in the entertainment industry, all kind of rely on this every year, and kind of counted for our budgeting,” said Leggett.

Whistleblower’s Book Details Top FBI Agent’s Shocking Ignorance of Basic J6 Facts

Ken Silva
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Whistleblower’s Book Details Top FBI Agent’s Shocking Ignorance of Basic J6 Facts

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Former FBI Special Agent Stephen Friend has released his memoir, True Blue: My Journey from Beat Cop to Suspended FBI Whistleblower, which includes a roughly 42-page transcription of a conversation he had with bureau officials about their mishandling of Jan. 6 Capitol Hill protest cases.

The FBI wanted Friend to redact the conversation from his book before it hit the shelves this week, but he declined. Because he did, the public can now read, among other disclosures, about a top agent’s shocking ignorance about the basic facts of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Hill protest—including the official’s demonstrably false belief that protestors had killed police officers.

Friend, who was suspended from the FBI last year after refusing to participate in SWAT-style raids of J6 suspects, began his book by outlining his personal history. A University of Notre Dame graduate who eschewed an accounting career in favor of law enforcement, Friend’s first six years in the FBI were spent tackling crime on Indian reservations and investigating child sex abuse cases.

Friend was reassigned to domestic terrorism casework in October 2021, and he became disillusioned with his work soon thereafter.

In his book, Friend expressed particular concern that J6 cases were being directed from the FBI’s offices in Washington D.C., and not the respective field offices where the investigations were supposed to be taking place.

“This is a radical deviation from FBI DIOG rules … For all intents and purposes, special agents in Washington, DC, were working as case agents in absentia,” he wrote.

Friend concluded that FBI officials in D.C. were trying to inflate domestic terrorism statistics.

“The cases were designated for investigation by all fifty-six field offices. I questioned the logic of this decision until now,” he said.

“FBI Headquarters and the Washington Field Office were still running the cases … And the artificial surge in overall domestic terrorism cases around the country backfilled statistical support for a political message ‘that domestic terrorism rooted in white supremacy is the greatest terrorist threat to our Homeland today,’” he added, quoting Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Friend’s concerns came to a head after he refused to participate in SWAT-style raids against J6 suspects. He was called into a meeting with Jacksonville’s assistant special agents in charge, Coult Markovsky and Sean Ryan, and stealthily recorded the ensuing conversation—which the FBI unsuccessfully attempted to have him redact from the book.

According to Friend’s transcription of the conversation, Markovsky chastised him for not participating in the J6 takedowns. While doing so, the assistant special agent in charge falsely claimed that J6 protestors killed law enforcement.

“What happened at the Capitol on January the 6th? All those people. What they did there: the storming of the Capitol, the beating of law enforcement, the killing of law enforcement, the destruction of the Capitol. I mean, are those not criminal charges? Are those not worthy of being charged federally?” Markovsky asked.

Friend responded with a rebuttal, clarifying that protestors did not kill police officers on Jan. 6.

But Markovsky repeated the false allegations. Again, Friend explained the truth of the matter.

“There were officers that killed themselves in the ensuing days; that died of a stroke and we were told were assaulted by a fire extinguisher, which was proven to not be true. So, I mean, we can get down into the nitty gritty of each one of the them if you want,” Friend said.

Friend said that about three hours after his conversation with the two top FBI agents—the talk comprises more than 40 pages, and is the most revealing part of the 224-page book—he received an email telling him not to report to work.

After another meeting with Field Office Special Agent in Charge Sherri Onks, he was officially suspended in September.

Looking back on his interactions with the top FBI agents, Friend said in his book that he was amazed at their ignorance.

“I found Coult’s ignorance and verifiably false belief about January 6th subjects killing police officers monumental. How could a relatively high-ranking field office official and supervisor of the Joint Terrorism Task Force be so incredibly misinformed?” he wrote.

“His erroneous beliefs only spotlighted that he was either uninformed about the very cases he claimed to be supervising or he was consuming false, biased news very much like the content he accused me of relying on when I formulated my conclusions about the FBI’s case management malfeasance and politicization,” Friend added.

Since his suspension, Friend has been in the public spotlight. Democrats in Congress have attacked him as a disgruntled former agent with a political axe to grind, while Republicans embraced him for his disclosures.

Friend said in his book that he’s pessimistic about his whistleblowing leading to any meaningful reforms, writing that he believes Congress will prioritize Biden family corruption and Big Tech censorship over FBI malfeasance.

Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.

Ex FBI Official: Evidence in J6 Pipe Bomb Investigation Was ‘Corrupted’

Ken Silva
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Ex FBI Official: Evidence in J6 Pipe Bomb Investigation Was ‘Corrupted’

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Some of the evidence from the FBI’s investigation into who planted pipe bombs near the RNC and DNC headquarters the night before the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Hill protest was “corrupted.”

This is according to former FBI official Steven D’Antuono, who oversaw the bureau’s pipe bomb investigation until he retired last November.

D’Antuono was recently interviewed by House Judiciary Committee members about a slew of matters, including his role in the decision to raid Mar-a-Lago in relation to the Donald Trump classified documents case. In that interview, he also disclosed the shocking information about the pipe bomb evidence, according to a letter several House Judiciary Committee members wrote Wednesday.

D’Antuono’s disclosure came in response to questions from Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who asked him about whether the FBI tried to use geofencing technology to locate the pipe bomber. Geofencing is when investigators collect all the geolocation data from cell phones in a given area.

The retired agent said the FBI conducted geofencing, but received “corrupted data” from one of the cell phone providers.

“We have complete data. Not complete, because there’s some data that was corrupted by one of the providers—not purposely by them, right,” D’Antuono said, stammering through the interview.

“It’s just unusual circumstances that we have corrupt data from one of the providers. I can’t remember right now which one. But for that day, which is awful because we don’t have that information to search.”

The former FBI official added: “I don’t want any conspiracy theories.”

D’Antuono’s information prompted Massie and several other lawmakers to write to FBI Director Chris Wray, demanding all the bureau’s report on the pipe bomb investigation. Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., noted that the FBI has yet to respond to the Judiciary Committee’s multiple requests for a briefing on the matter.

The reason for the FBI’s stonewalling could be that the pipe bomber has a connection to the federal government, according to FBI whistleblower Kyle Seraphin.

According to Seraphin,  technicians who worked in the Joint Program Office for Countering IEDs told him that the devices left at the RNC and DNC were incapable of detonating. And in a later interview on the No Way, Jose! podcast, he said fake pipe bombs are often used in government sting operations.

The information from D’Antuono—who also headed the controversial Whitmer kidnap case—about the pipe bomb investigation come from the same interview in which he criticized his former colleagues for raiding Mar-a-Lago.

The former FBI official’s disclosures have some conservative media members questioning his motives.

“Why would such a hatchet man, so intimately involved with the most scandalous abuses of Trump and his followers by the FBI, all of a sudden come clean and publicly object to the Mar-a-Lago raid that was the basis for the expected indictments against Trump?” Revolver News asked in a recent article.

“Perhaps he is rightfully worried that the DOJ and FBI’s complicity in the Jan. 6 Fedsurrection, as well as the Michigan Fednapping plot and now the efforts to indict Trump will catch up with him. Whatever the reasons, we predict that we haven’t heard the last of Mr. D’Antuono.”

Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.

Calif. Senator Warns Parents to Flee State or Risk Losing Kids

Jacob Bruns
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Calif. Senator Warns Parents to Flee State or Risk Losing Kids

(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) A California state senator warned parents in the far-left state that they should leave, lest they risk the state taking their children if they fail to properly affirm “gender transitions.”

According to Sen. Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, a recently-proposed California bill, AB 957, which a Democratic senator had amended on June 5 to rewrite the California Family Code to list “gender affirmation” along with the need for “health, safety, and welfare,” the Daily Signal reported.

Effectively, Wilk said, this would mean that parents could have their children taken away from them if they interfere with the child’s “desire” for “gender affirming care.”

Wilk also noted that “we have put government bureaucrats between parents, children, and doctors when it comes to medical care—and now we have where if a parent does not support the ideology of the government, [children are] going to be taken away from the home.”

He also said that he changed his mind on what Californian parents should do moving forward.

“In the past when we’ve had these discussions and I’ve seen parental rights atrophied—I’ve encouraged people to keep fighting,” the senator added. “I’ve changed my mind on that.”

Now, for Wilk, there is only one option left.

“If you love your children, you need to flee California. You need to flee.”

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee all supported the bill, which passed out of the committee by an 8-1 vote.

Erin Friday, an attorney and a mother, called AB 957 “the first bill in the nation to codify into law that a parent who does not affirm the gender identity of the child is abusive.”

For Friday, such a bill effectively signals the end of the right of parents to protect their children from the delusions of our Pride-adulating leaders.

“Family court judges will be compelled to favor the [parent] who will affirm the child’s delusion.”

Biden Admin. Spends $500K to Fight ‘COVID Misinformation’ For Hispanics

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Biden Admin. Spends $500K to Fight ‘COVID Misinformation’ For Hispanics

(Headline USA) The Biden administration spent more than a half-million dollars to fight COVID-19 “misinformation” alleged to target Hispanics.

The Department of Health and Human Services issued a massive grant to Texas Woman’s University last month “to expand research on mitigating the effect of misinformation and disinformation” in connection to “COVID-19 prevention and treatment initiatives among Hispanics,” records show. The grant program was launched May 10 and ends in April 2024, according to the Washington Examiner.

In its description of the grant, HHS claimed Hispanics face “health disparities and inequitable gaps,” which is why it is “imperative” to study and combat the rise of healthcare “misinformation consumed by the Hispanic community.”

Texas Woman’s University on this matter will include the “development of a longitudinal misinformation/disinformation index,” which HHS says “will allow estimating degrees of misinformation and disinformation impact over time and between ethnic groups.”

The mention of a “disinformation index” comes weeks after HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra came under fire for launching a disinformation tracking effort within the agency during the pandemic. Records show Becerra and other agency officials urged Twitter and Facebook to censor COVID wrongthink.

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy admitted in an August 2021 call with education groups that the agency was “working to combat misinformation in many ways, one being working with tech companies,” according to emails.

Anne Feldman, a spokesperson for HHS, insisted in a statement that the agency “does not censor speech.”

House Republicans have floated defunding any government agency that promotes censorship.

“We’re looking at different language to put on the appropriation bill that says ‘No money can be used to set up a Disinformation Governance Board, money can’t be used for federal agents or federal employees to in any way pressure social media companies to limit America’s speech and label speech [misinformation],'” House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said last week.

Formerly Depressed Fetterman Endorses Magic Mushrooms for Mental-Health Therapy

Corine Gatti
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Formerly Depressed Fetterman Endorses Magic Mushrooms for Mental-Health Therapy

(Corine Gatti, Headline USA) Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., said during a Senate Agriculture subcommittee hearing on Wednesday that psychedelics should be used as a form of therapy to address post-traumatic stress disorder, and would be a significant economic “boom” while revolutionizing mental health, the Gateway Pundit reported.

It is unclear whether Fetterman, who is still dealing with the cognitive side-effects of a debilitating stroke last year and spent several weeks this year seeking in-patient treatment for depression, had attempted to self-medicate using psilocybin mushrooms or other hallucinogens.

According to Tripsitter.com, so-called magic mushrooms have been decriminialized in the District of Columbia since December 2020.

Fetterman said during the hearing that he has “been an advocate of psychedelics in terms of magic mushrooms for PTSD and for veterans especially.”

He then asked Chris Alonzo, owner of Pennsylvania-based Pietro Farms, which grows white and portobello mushrooms, whether Alonzo was “open to thinking of that” with respect to the cultivation of psychedelic mushrooms, which are currently illegal in the state.

Alonzo testified that he was “absolutely open” to adding the trippy truffles to his repertory.

“We’re entrepreneurs, but more importantly, we’re trying to create healthy food for the community, for the U.S.,” he said.

“Anything that ties in health benefits, medical benefits, we’re open to looking at,” he added. “Obviously you have to do it within parameters of being secure and safe and and responsible, but we’re open to it.”

Fetterman’s advocacy of psychedelics drugs was met with mixed emotions on social media.

“What a dope. Literally. I have known brilliant people in my life who have completely ruined their minds by overindulging in this stuff,” one Twitter user posted.

“Fetterman is the worst possible spokesperson for this,” said another. “Recent studies say in micro doses this is a great for some depression. My only question is what is a micro dose?”

Gisele Barreto Fetterman praised her husband’s efforts.

“Yay to supporting mushroom farmers and their crops. Psilocybin mushrooms next, please?” she wrote.

Fetterman, the former lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania, has been a vocal advocate for marijuana legalization and wants more research into psilocybin, the chemical that causes  hallucinations in certain types of mushrooms. 

According to Fetterman, the mushroom industry in Pennsylvania is a significant contributor to the local economy and adding around $2.7 billion to the state’s financial output. However, “magic mushrooms” are not a part of this thriving industry, the Daily Item reported.

Harvard Employees Caught Selling Human Organs on Black Market

Molly Bruns
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Harvard Employees Caught Selling Human Organs on Black Market

(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) Employees at Harvard Medical School’s morgue have been charged with stealing and selling human remains on the black market, according to the Daily Wire.

A recent grand-jury investigation determined that morgue manager Cedric Lodge and his wife, Denise, allegedly had been stealing internal organs from the morgue since 2018.

According to the charges, Lodge allowed customers to go into the morgue and shop for the organs they wanted to buy. He also stole parts of donated cadavers—such as brains, skin and bones—and shipped them to customers by mail.

Along with the Lodges, the indictment named four other accomplices: Katrina MacLean, Joshua Taylor, Mathew Lampi, Jeremy Pauley and a mortician from Arkansas were all charged with conspiracy and transporting stolen goods across state lines. If convicted, they face up to 15 years in prison.

MacLean, an alleged customer, paid for two desiccated faces in 2020. Lodge charged her $600.

Pauley purportedly bought the remains of two stillborn babies.

Taylor allegedly purchased brains from Lodge, paying over $37,000 for those and other human remains.

One defendant posted on Instagram advertising the sale of human bones through their store, Kat’s Creepy Creations, out of Peabody, Massachusetts.

“If you’re in the market for human bones hit me up!” the post read.

Investigators gave no indication of what happened to the human remains or the defendants’ motives for purchasing them.

Harvard Medical School had no direct involvement in the scheme and fired Lodge on May 6, ending his 28-year tenure.

“We are appalled to learn that something so disturbing could happen on our campus — a community dedicated to healing and serving others,” the school’s medical dean of faculty and dean for medical education said in a statement.

“The reported incidents are a betrayal of HMS and, most importantly, each of the individuals who altruistically chose to will their bodies to HMS through the Anatomical Gift Program to advance medical education and research,” they added.

Transgender Sickness Infects Trump’s Once Proud Space Force

Molly Bruns
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Transgender Sickness Infects Trump’s Once Proud Space Force

(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) Even as President Joe Biden summarily unraveled many of the Trump administration’s hard-fought policy achievements through executive fiat in a matter of just a few days, unleashing turmoil on the border, the economy and the energy sector simultaneously, one legacy endured.

President Donald Trump’s establishment of the Space Force, although scoffed at by some, promised to keep the U.S. military on par with its geopolitical rivals in the next major theater for international conflict.

Yet, Biden’s newly woke military—which has opted to prioritize identity politics over military readiness—has turned Trump’s final legacy into a disgrace, forcing out serious leaders and replacing them with overtly political hacks.

Space Force Lt. Gen. DeAnna M. Burt confessed during a Department of Defense “Pride” event Wednesday that she would prioririze the recruitment of those seeking sex-change surgeries over qualified candidates.

According to the Daily Wire, Burt mentioned the many states that have started banning so-called “gender affirming care” for minors, which includes procedures like chemical castration and genital mutilation.

Referring to those procedures as “critical healthcare,” Burt claimed that in addition to job qualifications, she must consider the safety of her soldiers and the safety of their families.

“When I look at potential candidates, say for Squadron command, I strive to match the right person to the right job,” she said.

“I consider their job performance and relevant experience first. However, I also look at their personal circumstances, and their family is also an important factor,” she continued. “If a good match for a job does not feel safe being themselves and performing at their highest potential at a given location, or if their family could be denied critical health care due to the laws in that state, I am compelled to consider a different candidate, perhaps less qualified.”

It is unclear whethe the decision to pass over the preferred candidates with transgender “personal circumstances” for “less qualified” candidates with more stable family lives would constitute a violation of Title VII equal-opportunity protections.

However the transgender candidate’s desire to avoid relocating to a red state may outweigh the lack of advancement—and perhaps serve as a warning to other transgender cadets hoping to ascend the ranks of the Space Force without being stationed in middle America that they may wish to seek out an different branch of service.

Regardless, the military’s newfound concern with its service members’ access to sex-changes for minors sounded alarm bells for some Twitter users.

 

Space Force veteran Lt. Col. Matt Lohmeier, who faced dismissal from the force after discussing Marxism in the U.S. military in an off-duty podcast interview, weighed in on the controversy.

“I was once fired from command in the @SpaceForceDoD for allegedly ‘being politically partisan while acting in an official capacity,’” he said. “… Lt. Gen. Burt here demonstrates what being politically partisan while acting in an official capacity really looks like.”

This is not the DoD’s first foray into gender ideology, as they recently updated the dress code for their taxpayer-funded schools to be gender neutral to be more “positive” and “equitable.”

Headline USA’s Ben Sellers contributed to thise report.

Survey: Only 51% Claim to Support BLM, Lowest Since George Floyd Riots

Ezekiel Loseke
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Survey: Only 51% Claim to Support BLM, Lowest Since George Floyd Riots

(Ezekiel Loseke, Headline USA) Only 51% of Americans now espouse support for the beleaguered Black Lives Matter, according to a survey by Pew Research Center.

This is the lowest level of support since the nationwide race riots that followed George Floyd’s death while in the custody of Minneapolis police in May 2020.

At BLM’s peak, in the summer of 2020, the proportion of American adults who identified themselves as supporters of the pro-Marxist activist group was as high as 66%.

The decline follows the revelations of internal mismanagment, financial scandals and investigations into tax fraud, as well as accusations from the families and communities of prominent police-brutality victims that they saw very little of the windfall that BLM raised.

Much of it went, instead, to friends and family members of BLM’s co-founders, who have maintained luxury lifestyles in affluent areas like Malibu, California, far away from the urban, inner-city decay they claim to advocate on behalf of.

The current approval numbers varied by race: 81% of black adults reported supporting the movement; 63% of Asian adults supported the movement, with 61% of Hispanic adults and 42% of White adults supporting the movement, respectively.

Age groups also varied in their support for BLM: 64% of 18 to 29-year-olds support the movement; 52% of 30 to 49e-year-olds back BLM; and only41% of those over 50 support the movement.

Ultimately, partisanship was the best predictor of a person supporting or opposing BLM. A whopping 84% of Democrats supported BLM, while 82% of Republicans opposed it.

The nosedive in approval was joined by a rise in opposition to Black Lives Matter, according to Axios. Today, 46% of Americans voice their open opposition to BLM, whereas only 31% did three years ago.

The movement’s loss in popularity should not be surprising, as the movement’s leaders have regularly misbehaved and financially exploited their followers.

  • The movement itself is broke, but its leaders continue to collect millions from the brand.
  • The organization paid over $4 million to one of the co-founder’s baby-daddy.
  • The movement’s co-founder lost a contract with Warner Brothers because her contract “did not result in any produced shows.”
  • A co-founder of the movement owns a $6 million mansion which was purchased by the organization in 2021.
  • A BLM leader in Boston was indicted on over 20 charges of fraud.
  • The movement was so fraudulent the IRS threatened to revoke its charity status.
  • A BLM leader intentionally released hundreds of cockroaches in a New York City Courthouse.
  • A BLM activist got another student expelled from the University of Virginia by fabricating hateful statements.
  • Black Lives Matters rioters destroyed a statute of a Catholic saint in California.

‘Disgraceful’: N.Y. Subway Hero Indicted for Trying to Save Lives

Mark Pellin
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‘Disgraceful’: N.Y. Subway Hero Indicted for Trying to Save Lives

(Mark Pellin, Headline USA) A grand jury at the direction of Soros-funded Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg indicted former Marine Daniel Penny for the chokehold killing of Jordan Neely, a mentally disturbed homeless man with a long and violent criminal history, during a subway confrontation last month.

The indictment delivered Wednesday leaves Penny, 24, facing one charge of second-degree manslaughter and another charge of criminally negligent homicide. The manslaughter charge could land him in prison for up to 15 years, while the negligent homicide charge could add another four years.

Penny’s attorneys said they were committed to “aggressively defend” their client and to clear his name and reputation. The former Marine is free on $100,000 bail.

“While we respect the decision of the grand jury to move this case forward to trial, it should be noted that the standard of proof in a grand jury is very low and there has been no finding of wrongdoing,” Steven Raiser, of the law firm Raiser & Kenniff, said in a statement.

The indictment was met by a wave of criticism from Penny’s supporters, many calling him a hero. Prosecutors claim that Penny last month had used what they allege was a lethal chokehold to wrest Neely to the floor of a subway car after the homeless man became violently unstable, spewing profanities, throwing trash and telling his fellow passengers that he was “prepared to die.” 

Penny said he was acting to protect others after being plunged into a “scary situation” when Neely entered the subway car.

“The man stumbled on, he appeared to be on drugs, the doors closed, and he ripped his jacket off and threw it down at the people sitting next to me at my left,” Penny said in a series of videos posted Sunday.

“I was listening to music at the time, and I took my headphones out to hear what he was yelling,” he continued. “The three main threats that he repeated over and over again were ‘I’m going to kill you,’ ‘I’m prepared to go to jail for life’ and ‘I’m willing to die.’”

“A NYC grand jury has indicted Daniel Penny for protecting innocent bystanders from Jordan Neely, a dangerous madman New York was too cowardly to do anything about. He now faces 15 years,” wrote Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk.

“If you try to stand up to a criminal in Blue cities, your ‘leaders’ will find every excuse they can to side with the criminal. Disgraceful.”

Attorney and conservative commentator Mark Levin offered stark advice to New Yorkers.

“Hero indicted,” he tweeted. “Law-abiding citizens, get the hell out of NYC as fast as possible. Your liberty and life depend on it.”

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