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Sunday, April 19, 2026
Be careful what you wish for!
Safari-park owner who once said he’d rather be killed by an elephant than shoot one is fatally tramped –by an elephant
Election integrity advocates praise Nebraska's ban of foreign funding of ballot issues
Election integrity advocates praise Nebraska's ban of foreign funding of ballot issues
The bill – LB 927 – was passed Friday by the Nebraska legislature and Wednesday reached Gov. Jim Pillen’s desk for a signature.
(The Center Square) -
Election integrity advocates are applauding a Nebraska measure that will stop foreign funding of ballot issue campaigns and ensure that elections are decided by American citizens alone.
Executive director of Honest Elections Project Action Jason Snead told The Center Square that “ballot measures are critical elections that can remake constitutions, redefine our rights, and rewrite the rules of our elections.”
“No foreign billionaire or foreign-funded group should be able to interfere in decisions as essential as this, and ballot measures should never be a Trojan Horse for foreign influence,” Snead said.
Snead emphasized the fact that “voters deserve to know that elections are free of foreign interference.”
The bill – LB 927 – was passed Friday by the Nebraska legislature and Wednesday reached Gov. Jim Pillen’s desk for a signature.
Snead said the bill “strengthens state law to keep foreign money out of Nebraska ballot measure campaigns and ensure that third-party groups like the left-wing Sixteen Thirty Fund cannot launder foreign money into the process.”
“Nebraska is the tenth state in just two years to pass a strong ban to ensure that all elections are decided by American citizens and the voters of Nebraska,” Snead said.
When Pillen's office was reached for comment, his media relations team referred The Center Square to a media advisory on the leader’s signing of the bill.
Executive director of Americans for Public Trust Caitlin Sutherland told The Center Square that “it is critical Americans have confidence our politics and lawmaking are free from foreign influence.”
“Yet, for far too long, foreign nationals like Hansjörg Wyss have exploited a loophole that has allowed them to funnel foreign dark money into Nebraska ballot issue campaigns,” Sutherland said.
“We applaud Governor Pillen and the Nebraska Legislature for taking steps to fully close this loophole and strengthen penalties for lawbreakers who might still try to funnel foreign money into the state,” Sutherland said.
“By enacting this comprehensive ban on foreign funding of ballot issues, Nebraska is setting a strong example for other states on how to safeguard their political process from foreign influence,” Sutherland said.
The Center Square previously reported on Missouri’s legislation that likewise banned foreign funding of ballot issue campaigns.
Prior to this legislation in the Show-Me State, foreign backing equal to $4.5 million pushed through the Amendment 3 campaign via the Sixteen Thirty Fund, which resulted in abortion being “enshrined” into Missouri’s constitution, The Center Square reported.
Iran must be freed from the darkness of fundamentalist Islam
The Pope, Iran, and My Being Sentenced to Death As a Christian in Iran
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.
Only after my release from Iran’s notorious Evin prison in 2009 did I begin to learn about the extent of the wide, grassroots support my friend and I received from around the world. At one point, one senior prison official angrily let me know about the huge number of letters of support that were sent to us in prison, though we were never given access to any of them. The number must have been vast, in that it’s believed that the widespread pressure on the Islamic regime was at least in part responsible for our being released from death row, fearing the possibility of being executed by hanging at any timeIn addition to the vast grassroots support, I learned that world leaders, including Pope Benedict, also wrote and expressed their support, adding pressure to the Islamic regime from the top down.
It’s no secret that since 1979, the Islamic Republic has used arrests, torture, and execution as a means of repressing the Iranian people. Hundreds of thousands have been slaughtered over the decades, some following fake, staged trials like mine, where the verdict was predetermined. Others have been executed in cold blood on the streets, many of whose remains “disappeared” by being buried and literally paved over, thrown in lakes with their hands bound, and other sick, inhuman acts that define the Islamic Republic.
With hundreds of thousands of Iranians executed, what made my case different? Why the international outcry from people as influential as the Pope, and why does that matter today?
I was arrested in March 2009 and convicted of “apostacy,” carrying an automatic death sentence. My “crime?” I converted to Christianity a decade earlier. When my friend and I were arrested, all the authorities knew was that we had become Christians. That was a crime enough for them, and reason enough to sentence us to death by hanging. They did not know that we had distributed 20,000 Bibles across Iran, that we ran two home churches, that we spoke openly about Jesus and the Gospel, bringing many other Iranians who were hungry for truth and a relationship with the true God to Christianity as well.
Since being released from prison due to the pressure on the regime and moving to the United States, I have spoken out and written widely about the need to bring down the Islamic Republic. In a dream, God once told me He was giving them a chance to repent, otherwise He would destroy them. Given the evil it represents and the death and suffering it has inflicted, no means to do so are illegitimate. I speak from my personal experiences, but also as a Christian. So it’s shocking to hear Christians directly or indirectly defend the Islamic regime by not standing up and speaking out for oppressed Christians in Iran, the Iranian people, and supporting any means necessary to eradicate the Islamic regime when Islam is at its core the enemy of Christianity.
The Koran is explicit about the status of Jews and Christians. It is incompatible with religious freedom. It requires subservience to Islam, their god, and their prophet. It does not allow non-Muslims to live peacefully alongside Islam and certainly not in any way that they deem as a conflict with Islam.
Recently, there has been friction between President Trump and Pope Leo related to the war against the Islamic Republic. The president wrote that the Pope “should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician. It’s hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it’s hurting the Catholic Church."
Pope Leo responded, “I have no fear of the Trump administration or speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do…there has also been this threat against the entire people of Iran. And this is truly unacceptable! There are certainly issues of international law here, but even more, it is a moral question concerning the good of the people as a whole, in its entirety.”
What I know as an Iranian who spent nearly a year on death row, and a lifetime subjugated by the evil Islamic regime as a woman and as a Christian, is that the threat to the Iranian people comes from the Islamic regime. Not only should pressure not yield, but pressure on the regime works. The Islamic Republic is evil. The Iranian people and Christians in Iran must be supported through all means necessary. If Pope Benedict spoke up on my behalf, I can’t imagine him not speaking up for all Iranians, and Iranian Christians in particular. Where was Pope Leo’s moral outrage when the Islamic regime slaughtered tens of thousands?
Today, the fastest-growing (underground) church in the world is in Iran. As leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Leo has not just an opportunity but an obligation to speak out in support of them, and whatever it takes to free the Iranian people. Iranian Christians live in fear of torture, imprisonment, and execution.
The Islamic regime has slaughtered tens of thousands of Iranians this year alone, injuring hundreds of thousands. The regime is evil, satanic, to its core. It must be stopped. How can the Pope do anything other than support the Iranian people, the persecuted Iranian church, and every effort to bring down the godless ayatollahs, mullahs, and IRGC, who have repressed Iranians for so long, not to mention being responsible for the death and harm to hundreds of thousands around the world?
The Pope also recently stated that God does not hear the prayers of those who make war. Forget that this is biblically unfounded, that God Himself designated people who led and fought wars to be some of the greatest Biblical role models; sometimes, war is necessary. In the case of Iran, it is. If the Islamic regime is not eliminated and Iran is not freed from the darkness of Islam, it will continue to infiltrate Western society, erode our Judeo-Christian values, and see many more victims inside and outside Iran who will not be as lucky as I was.
But if Pope Leo doesn’t believe me, hopefully he’ll listen to the words of the prophet Jeremiah (49:34-39), who says that God Himself will destroy Elam (modern Iran) and establish His kingdom there. Rather than being critical of the war to destroy the regime, the Pope should be celebrating it as a prophecy fulfilled.The war against the Islamic Republic is necessary, it is just, and the least the Pope can do is support its goals to free Iran and the world from the clutches of the ayatollahs. I pray he will change his path and stand up boldly, in support of the Iranian people, as Pope Benedict did for me. Please join me in prayer that the evil veil of darkness will be lifted from Iran once and for all.
Marziyeh Amirizadeh is an Iranian American who immigrated to the U.S. after being sentenced to death in Iran for the crime of converting to Christianity. She enduredmonths of mental and physical hardships and intense interrogation. She is the author of two books (the latest, "A Love Journey with God"), a public speaker, and a columnist. She has shared her inspiring story throughout the United States and around the world, to bring awareness about the ongoing human rights violations and persecution of women and religious minorities in Iran, www.MarzisJourney.com.
She is also the founder and president of NEW PERSIA, whose mission is to be the voice of persecuted Christians and oppressed women under Islam, to expose the lies of the Iranian Islamic regime, and restore the relationships between Persians, Jews, and Christians. www.NewPersia.org.
Twice-Deported Illegal Alien Gets 14 Years for Flooding Wisconsin With Cocaine
Twice-Deported Illegal Alien Gets 14 Years for Flooding Wisconsin With Cocaine
An illegal alien who has been deported twice snuck back into the country with about 30 kilograms of cocaine. Now, he's sentenced to 14 years in prison.
On April 14, 2026, United States District Judge Byron B. Conway sentenced Ruben Salgado-Espinoza, 51, to 169 months of imprisonment for conspiring to distribute cocaine and illegally re-entering the United States after being removed.
Court records say that Salgado-Espinoza, a twice-deported Mexican National, led a large-scale drug trafficking organization responsible for distributing hundreds of kilograms of cocaine.
He operated from a compound in Rockford, Illinois, where he received bulk shipments of cocaine from a source of supply in Mexico. Salgado-Espinoza also modified vehicles to include sophisticated hidden compartments—commonly referred to as “trap cars”—designed to conceal and transport illegal drugs. He sold these vehicles to other drug distributors to facilitate distribution.
On April 22, 2025, during an undercover operation, Salgado-Espinoza was arrested in Green Bay, Wisconsin, in possession of about 30 kilograms of cocaine, which constitutes the largest cocaine seizure in Green Bay's history. Following his arrest, the defendant admitted that he was unlawfully present in the United States and had distributed between 18 and 35 kilograms of cocaine per month over the past 18 months. The cocaine attributed to the defendant has an estimated street value of several million dollars.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Brad D. Schimel stated, “This case demonstrates why we must keep our border secure. The United States twice deported this defendant, and he came back again, bringing with him the largest amount of cocaine ever seized in the history of the Green Bay area. He should have been prevented from setting foot on U.S. soil again. The drugs he trafficked delivered great suffering to countless people struggling with addiction, as well as the pervasive violence and other crime that accompanies the illegal drug trade. This time, the defendant will rightly serve a very long time in prison before he will be once again removed from our country. Hopefully, this time we will ensure he never returns.”
Salgado-Espinoza unlawfully entered the United States and was previously removed in 1998 and 2002. Upon completion of his 169-month sentence, he will again be removed to Mexico.
“This sentence sends a clear message: those who lead large-scale drug trafficking operations will be identified, prosecuted, and held accountable," said John McGarry, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of Drug Enforcement Administration Milwaukee District Office. "The DEA remains steadfast in working with our partners to dismantle these organizations and protect our communities.”
This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Green Bay Resident Office, with assistance from the Brown County Drug Task Force, the Lake Winnebago Area Metropolitan Enforcement Group – Drug Unit (LWAM), the Wisconsin Department of Justice – Division of Criminal Investigation, the Wisconsin State Patrol, and the DEA Phoenix and Rockford Divisions. Assistant United States Attorney Alex Duros prosecuted the case.
The administrative state has a very cozy relationship with unions
LA Teachers Score Massive Contract Win After Union VP's Brother-in-Law Is Named Acting Superintendent
Anyone with information on the people pictured is asked to contact Detective Cade Burma at cburma@iowa-city.org or call 319-356-5275.
Officials: 5 injured, including 3 University of Iowa students in shooting at Ped Mall near university
Police ask for help in identifying persons of interest
IOWA CITY, Iowa (KWQC) - The Iowa City Police Department is investigating a shooting that happened early Sunday morning at the Ped Mall near the University of Iowa campus. Police say five people were injured in the shooting.
In an update from Iowa City Public Safety, police said they have identified five victims in the shooting, one of which is in critical condition.
University officials confirmed three students were injured in the shooting.
The shooting happened around 1:46 a.m. when a large fight broke out in the 100 block of East College Street, police said in a statement. As officers were arriving, they heard gunshots.
Several people were injured and sent to the hospital, police said.
So far, nobody has been arrested.
As part of the ongoing investigation, investigators are trying to identify persons of interest associated with the shooting, police said. The persons of interest have been numbered to assist in the sharing of information.
Anyone with information on the people pictured is asked to contact Detective Cade Burma at cburma@iowa-city.org or call 319-356-5275.
The University of Iowa Office of the President sent out the following message Sunday morning.
Glam Iranian businesswoman busted at LAX, charged with helping regime sell drones, bombs and ammo
Glam Iranian businesswoman busted at LAX, charged with helping regime sell drones, bombs and ammo
A glamorous Iranian businesswoman with a US green card was arrested at the Los Angeles International Airport for allegedly trafficking arms on behalf of Tehran.
Shamim Mafi, 44, of Woodland Hills, was taken into custody on Saturday night and charged with brokering deals for Iranian drones, bombs, and millions of rounds of ammunition bound for Sudan, according to the office of the US Attorney for the Central District of California.
“She is charged with a violation of 50 U.S.C. § 1705 for brokering the sale of drones, bombs, bomb fuses, and millions of rounds of ammunition manufactured by Iran and sold to Sudan,” First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli said Sunday, announcing the arrest.
Mafi posted glam pics of herself traveling the world — including posing in a $100,000 Mercedes-Benz roadster.
Mafi, who left Iran in 2013 and became a permanent resident of the US in 2016 under the Obama administration, allegedly used an Oman-registered company, Atlas International Business, to broker weapons deals as recently as 2025, according to court records.
Among the sales was a contract for more than $70 million for Iranian-made Mohajer-6 armed drones from Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics.
The drones, along with 55,000 bomb fuses, were transferred in deals with the Sudanese Ministry of Defense, which has been fighting in a bloody civil war since 2023.
Iran has been repeatedly accused of violating a United Nations arms embargo amid the Sudanese civil war, with its drones spotted in use by the government forces.
The civil war has claimed between 61,000 to hundreds of thousands of lives as it enters its fourth year, with the UN’s fact-finding mission identifying the recent mass deaths in Darfur as having the “hallmarks of genocide.”
The conflict has also displaced nearly nine million people, making it one of the worst displacement criseson the planet. Phone records indicate that Mafi had direct contact with Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) between December 2022 and June 2025.
Prosecutors say Mafi had no legal requisites to oversee such dangerous sales.
Mafi and her company were also accused of purposefully going through channels in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates to conduct the sales so as to skirt US detection.
Mafi’s social media accounts show her living the lap of luxury in California and showing off her business trips in Turkey.
Mafi told investigators that she has never been tasked by the MOIS to conduct any activities for Tehran in the US.
A probe into Mafi’s past showed that Tehran had seized properties that she inherited from her father in 2020, with MOIS then directing her to open a business in the US to buy the properties back from the Iranian government, according to the court records.
MOIS had offered to buy for the start-up costs, officials noted.
Mafi had allegedly said that she is “more useful” to MOIS in Iran than in the United States.
The businesswoman was scheduled to fly to Istanbul on Saturday when she was met by law enforcement officers who took her into custody.
Mafi is ultimately accused of violating the Conspiracy to Violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which if convicted of, would lead to a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
The suspect is scheduled to appear at the US District Court in downtown LA on Monday, prosecutors said.
A representative for Mafi could not be immediately reached for comment.
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