This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
As Texans continue to deal with Saturday's flash flooding that has claimed dozens of lives, the lieutenant governor of the Lone Star State is urging citizens not to give up hope for those missing.
"Do not give up," said Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on "Fox & Friends Weekend." "Miracles can happen."
The death toll Sunday morning rose to 59, with 27 girls missing from Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp along the banks of the Guadalupe River in Hunt, Texas.
Five girls staying at the camp have been confirmed dead. There were 750 attendees when floodwaters rose 26 feet in abut 45 minutes, slamming into the camp.
"The miracles that have happened," Patrick continued, "it's hard for me to talk about that because I'm also taking to the families of those who are missing. And right now they're focused on that. Miracles are tough. They expect and they hope and they pray. We stand on the rock of our faith through now."
"But there have been dramatic stories … Camp Mystic where camp counselors smashed a window open, we know this story from the girl who was telling her parents because they drove her back to Dallas.
"And they went out the window in their nightgowns. They walked in bare feet in neck-high water. These are little girls. They swam for about 10 or 15 minutes. Can you imagine? In the darkness and the rushing waters, and trees coming by you and rocks coming by you? And then they get to a spot on the land. They don't even know how they got to the next spot. And the helicopter came picked them up.
"Incredible stories of a young man saved his fiancée and her children and his mother. But he cut his arm through the glass that he broke. And we don't know what happened to him. But he said to the family, 'I can't go on. You have to go.' We're are gonna have a book of stories of incredible heroic actions."
Patrick noted, "Of all of these camps along this river, Camp Mystic was in the worst spot where the water came and hit it [from] multiple directions coming down. And that's where the 27 are missing."
He also praised the efforts of those involved in search and rescue, saying, "They will not give up. They will keep working beyond their shift."
In a post on X, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott detailed the destruction of Camp Mystic, saying: "It, and the river running beside it, were horrendously ravaged in ways unlike I've seen in any natural disaster."
"The height the rushing water reached to the top of cabins was shocking."
"We won't stop until we find every girl who was in those cabins," Abbott stressed.
President Donald Trump on Sunday said on Truth Social: "I just signed a Major Disaster Declaration for Kerr County, Texas, to ensure that our Brave First Responders immediately have the resources they need.
"These families are enduring an unimaginable tragedy, with many lives lost, and many still missing. The Trump Administration continues to work closely with State and Local Leaders.
"Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem was on the ground yesterday with Governor Greg Abbott, who is working hard to help the people of his Great State. Our incredible U.S. Coast Guard, together with State First Responders, have saved more than 850 lives. GOD BLESS THE FAMILIES, AND GOD BLESS TEXAS!"
Trump has agreed to send "all available resources" to Texas in the wake of the flooding.
"The president's been engaged since everything started happening," James Blair, White House deputy chief of staff, said on "Fox & Friends Weekend."
"The federal government led by President Trump is there for the state of Texas," Blair said. "He has agreed to send all available resources that are requested down to Texas."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Iran appears to be following the path of other repressive regimes that find their path into the future clouded and uncertain: Turning to attacks on its own citizens.
A report at Fox News describes the aftermath of the 12-day war between Israel and Iran, in which the rogue Islamic regime "appears to be turning inward – escalation repression with chilling speed."
It is Kasra Aarabi, director of IRGC research at United Against Nuclear Iran, who confirmed the Islamic Republic is accelerating toward a "North Korea-style model of isolation and control."
Iran, where its nuclear weapons facilities were decimated by the recent bombings from Israel and the U.S., long has insisted on obtaining nuclear weapons in order to "wipe" Israel off the map.
That, President Donald Trump and Israeli officials both said could not be allowed.
Now, Aarabi said, "We're witnessing a kind of domestic isolation that will have major consequences for the Iranian people. The regime has always been totalitarian, but the level of suppression now is unprecedented. It's unlike anything we've seen before."
A Fox source inside Iran said the repression now is "terrifying" and Aarabi described a population under siege from its own Islamic leaders.
"He described how citizens are stopped at random, their phones confiscated and searched," the report said.
"If you have content deemed pro-Israel or mocking the regime, you disappear. People are now leaving their phones at home or deleting everything before they step outside."
The circumstances are not unlike what exists in North Korea, long known as one of the most repressive regimes on earth.
"During the recent conflict, Iran's leadership imposed a total internet blackout to isolate the population, blocking Israeli evacuation alerts, and pushed propaganda that framed Israel as targeting civilians indiscriminately," the report said.
Aarabi described how the government there "deliberately cut communications to instill fear and manipulate public perception. For four days, not a single message went through. Even Israeli evacuation alerts didn't reach their targets."
Israeli, in its conflicts, warns civilians around the military installations it targets so they can evacuate.
Aarabi noted the regime is terrified of a development: "The surprising bond that had formed between Iranians and Israelis."
"At the start of the war, many Iranians welcomed the strikes. They knew Israel was targeting the IRGC — the very forces responsible for suppressing and killing their own people. But once the internet was cut and fear set in, some began to question what was happening," Aarabi said.
"That might be the only way they see to preserve the regime: by really tightening the screws on the Iranian people, to ensure that the Iranian population doesn't try to rise up and topple the regime," he told Fox News Digital.
Another factor that could develop, which has been used in North Korea, is a purge of officers and military, the report said.
And terrorism.
"The regime's three pillars — militias, ballistic missiles, and its nuclear program — have all been decapitated or severely degraded," Aarabi said. "That leaves only asymmetric warfare: soft-target terrorism with plausible deniability."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
The continued collapse of Tehran's stock market indices this week, compounded by massive capital flight following the recent war, reflect deepening economic turmoil throughout Iran.
On Wednesday, July 2 alone, over 13,200 billion tomans were withdrawn from the Tehran Stock Exchange – a historic record. Reports had already surfaced of the regime's desperate efforts to curb this exodus, including deliberate technical disruptions in multiple currency exchange offices as early as Monday.
A future clouded by uncertainty
Abbas Abdi – a former student leader involved in the 1979 U.S. Embassy takeover and ex-deputy head of the Iran-based Presidential Strategic Research Center – recently wrote:
"On the surface, administrative, production and service sectors seem to have returned to normal after the war. But one thing has fundamentally changed: our perception of the future."
That perception is now defined by uncertainty and fear. Growing anxiety within the regime's inner circles reflects a deep concern that collapse is not only possible, but imminent. Many regime officials, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commanders and business elites have already secured escape plans abroad – particularly in Canada and Latin America – and arranged foreign citizenship for their children, the so-called Aghazadeh ("children of the elite"), as a safeguard should the regime fall.
A televised appearance, not a display of strength
After a full week of silence following the 12-day war between Israel and the Islamic Republic, the regime's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei finally appeared on state television on Thursday, June 26, via a pre-recorded video from an undisclosed location.
With a trembling and hoarse voice, he claimed that Iran had triumphed over Israel and the U.S., forcing its enemies "to their knees."
But this message wasn't aimed at foreign adversaries. Its real audience was the anxious and demoralized loyalists within the regime – those who cling to power through nepotism, privilege and amassed wealth in a nation stricken by poverty. His aim was to reassure them at a time when even seminary students and religious circles are no longer inspired by his long-standing slogan of "No war, no negotiation."
Once portrayed as a formidable military front, the "Axis of Resistance" today resembles little more than a scattered choir of retired ideologues – in Beirut, Baghdad and Sanaa.
The ghost of 1981 returns
What the regime fears most now – especially Khamenei – is the outbreak of a widespread popular uprising, reminiscent of the protests violently crushed in 2022. The underlying causes of public outrage remain unresolved, and conditions have only worsened. Resistance Units have begun targeting government offices and security centers across the country on an almost daily basis.
A filmmaker close to the regime's intelligence services stated on state TV on June 25:
"We are in a situation similar to 1981 – arguably the darkest year of the revolution. On June 20, the People's Mojahedin launched an armed uprising. Even the director of Evin Prison wasn't safe inside his own facility. A hundred thousand armed members took to the streets of Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz … Even the IRGC intelligence chief's office was attacked."
On that day, June 20, 1981, Ayatollah Khomeini ordered the massacre of peaceful protesters who had rallied at the call for freedom sounded by the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran, or MEK. That massacre marked the beginning of a resistance that still endures.
Hundreds were killed, thousands arrested, and mass executions began.
Today, once again checkpoints have been installed across Tehran and other cities. The police have announced they will remain "until further notice." A wide-scale wave of arrests has begun. According to Fars News Agency, affiliated with the IRGC, 700 individuals have been detained for alleged involvement in a "spy network." The number of arrested in Tehran remains undisclosed. In Kermanshah Province, 115 were arrested – most accused not of espionage, but of "anti-regime propaganda." In Fars, 53 were arrested for "disturbing public order," and cyber police in Isfahan reported 60 others identified for similar offenses.
Meanwhile, executions have surged at an alarming rate. In June alone, 140 were reported, nine prisoners executed on charges of "espionage for Israel" – charges widely seen as fabricated.
The nuclear project: Not development, but survival
Today, neither mass repression, nor the regime's foreign militias and proxies, nor even its crippled nuclear program can save it.
While the nuclear program has brought only ruin to Iran and its people, for Ali Khamenei it has long been a pillar of regime survival. He has viewed it as a means to exert regional influence, gain leverage in international crises and strengthen the IRGC – the main force behind domestic repression and foreign interventions – to suppress internal unrest and deter uprisings.
As the Iranian Resistance has long stated: "The collapse of the regime's nuclear strategy will inevitably weaken this medieval dictatorship and throw its internal balance into chaos."
For many analysts, that destabilization has now passed the point of no return, the hated theocratic regime in freefall – with no way back.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
The Supreme Court just days ago declared unconstitutional a scheme by school officials in Montgomery County, Maryland, to impose mandatory LGBT indoctrination on children as young as three years old.
The practical effect of the ruling was to force school officials to allow parents to opt their children out of the offensive teachings, over the protests by the district that it really didn't have the ability to manage such a situation.
It was because of the obvious scheming in which officials insisted on feeding children a reading diet of books that "normalized" LGBT beliefs, including the scientifically impossible concept that boys can turn into girls, and the district's instructions to teachers to ridicule and correct students who disagreed.
The school, with its agenda, moved well beyond exposing children to other beliefs, according an analysis posted online at Scotusblog.
It moved into requiring students to adopt the school's "certain values and beliefs," in short, its religion.
The analysis charged, "The court didn't say that merely exposing children to ideas contrary to their faith is unconstitutional. [Justice Samuel] Alito acknowledged that not every curriculum dispute triggers a free exercise claim. The key, he explained, is the combination of normative messaging and institutional reinforcement. The majority pointed not only to the content of the books, which portrayed same-sex marriage and gender transition as joyful and self-affirming, but also to the teacher guidance documents distributed by MCPS.
"Those documents instructed teachers on how to respond to student questions or objections. If a child said that 'a boy can't marry a boy,' teachers were told to respond, 'Two men who love each other can decide they want to get married.' If a student said a character can't be a boy if he was born a girl, the teacher should say, 'That comment is hurtful.' One prompt advised teachers to explain that '[w]hen we're born, people make a guess about our gender and label us 'boy' or 'girl' based on our body parts. Sometimes they're right and sometimes they're wrong.'
"Teachers were told to '[d]isrupt either/or thinking' and were discouraged from presenting these topics as optional or neutral," the analysis said.
"In short, this was not passive exposure to diversity. It was, in the court's words, a curriculum 'designed to present certain values and beliefs as things to be celebrated, and certain contrary values and beliefs as things to be rejected.' And when combined with mandatory attendance, a lack of opt-out rights, and the young age of the students – some as young as five – the court found that this amounted to more than discomfort. It was a constitutional burden on religious formation."
The analysis noted the school was imposing "moral instruction for young children without offering a way out."
The case was brought against the school by parents who charged that the school was violating the Constitution by imposing on their protected religious rights, with which the Supreme Court agreed.
The court found the school imposed on young children "real pressure to conform" to the school's religion.
"For advocates working at the intersection of religious liberty and public education, this case is both a warning and a roadmap. The warning is clear: Ignoring procedural pluralism – by eliminating opt-outs and dismissing religious objections as mere bigotry – risks violating constitutional protections. But the roadmap is more hopeful. If school districts want to honor inclusion without coercion, they must offer parents meaningful ways to participate and dissent. Opt-out policies, clear notice, and open dialogue with families aren't threats to diversity – they're how pluralism works in practice," the analysis found.
It said, "When public schools act as both educators and moral guides, they carry a responsibility to make space for conscience, not just as a matter of fairness, but as a matter of constitutional law."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
It often begins with a last-minute calendar invite – mandatory, with no explanation.
For many workers in the tech industry, this has become a familiar signal. As the video meeting starts, hundreds of employees log in silently. Soon, human resources and legal representatives appear. The message is read. The decision is final.
Employees are informed their positions are being eliminated.
There is no opportunity for dialogue. Years of service are sometimes brought to an end in just a few minutes.
Many of these employees had stayed late, worked weekends, mentored new team members and remained committed through difficult cycles. The meeting typically ends with a bland, impersonal, standard statement of appreciation.
Executives often describe these actions as necessary for business reasons, with public statements citing over-hiring, inflation, economic uncertainty or the need for cost control. Workers are told the decision is not personal – just business.
Still, for those impacted, the effects are significant. Many support families, carry student loans or are primary earners in their households. They return to a job market where opportunities are limited, especially when layoffs affect entire departments or industries at once.
What many laid-off employees don't realize is that the roles they once held may not have been permanently eliminated. Instead, those positions are sometimes quietly reassigned, reclassified or reopened, often without notice or transparency.
The reassignment pattern: Layoffs followed by visa hiring
While U.S.-based Microsoft workers have faced multiple waves of layoffs, including a new round expected this week targeting the Xbox division, the company has already cut over 10,000 employees across various divisions, including 6,000 in May alone, and hundreds more in June. In its defense, Microsoft claims its 2025 job cuts affect less than 1% of its global workforce.
Between May and June, Microsoft laid off 2,300 employees in Washington alone, including 817 software engineers, according to official WARN Act filings. But during the same period, Microsoft submitted 6,327 H-1B visa requests for software engineer roles matching the same job titles and location as those affected by the layoffs.
In total, the company filed 14,181 Labor Condition Applications, or LCAs – formal applications required to sponsor foreign workers for temporary employment visas, such as the H-1B – allowing them to work in U.S.-based jobs that are typically held by American workers. This made Microsoft the third-largest filer of foreign labor requests in the U.S., behind only NVIDIA and Amazon.
According to U.S. Department of Labor data, nearly 82% of Microsoft's new foreign workers were tagged at wage levels well below the median salary for those occupations. Howard University professor Ron Hira, a long-time critic of the program, observed that employers frequently pay the minimum they legally have to when utilizing the foreign guest worker program.
"Prevailing wages are set far below the market price, inviting employers to exploit the program. The result is that most of the roughly 600,000 H-1B workers are paid below market price. This is an unfair outcome for U.S. and H-1B workers alike: U.S. workers' wages are undercut and H-1B workers are underpaid."
Hira, author of "Outsourcing America," co-authored an article documenting why "H-1B wage rules need an overhaul."
In addition to undercutting wages or laying off Americans to bring in more foreign workers, current U.S. law does not require companies to prove they tried to hire Americans first. They also aren't obligated to notify laid-off employees if the same jobs are reopened through visa programs. Yet these practices are completely legal under existing immigration rules and occur with little oversight, no transparency and no protection for American workers.
Strategic shifts
The bottom line is that behind every announcement of "strategic realignment" is an American now facing uncertain days ahead, and often with no clear path back. For the American employees on the receiving end of layoff notices, the impact is deeply personal. They're not just losing a paycheck, they're losing healthcare, retirement contributions and a sense of security. That's why Microsoft's actions, while legal, remain anything but transparent. Most employees aren't told similar jobs are being filled through H-1B visa requests. For those still employed, the silence only adds to their anxiety. With little information about how decisions are made or who might be next, many are left quietly wondering if they're just one reorg away from losing everything too.
Alongside its growing number of foreign labor filings, Microsoft has continued to expand operations overseas, especially in India. In January 2025, the company announced a $3 billion investment into India's AI and cloud infrastructure over the next two years, alongside a plan to train 10 million Indian workers in AI-related skills by 2030.
While Microsoft has laid off thousands of employees in the United States, the country where the company was founded and still earns the majority of its revenue, executives offered a different message abroad. In January 2025, the company confirmed that no layoffs were planned in India. "For all of India, more jobs are being created," said Puneet Chandok, president of Microsoft India and South Asia, during a January 2025 interview.
As Microsoft expands its commitments to the Indian government and workforce, its 14,181 H-1B visa requests reflect deepening ties with India-based firms. Notably, every single application was filed through Integreon Managed Solutions (INDIA) PVT LTD. This raises serious questions about how many of these roles are being reserved for Indian nationals, especially as American employees are laid off. With little transparency, it becomes increasingly difficult for U.S.-based workers to know whether their jobs are being relocated overseas or quietly filled at the very desks they once occupied.
A shifting workforce
These trends point to a larger shift in how companies like Microsoft manage their workforce. As layoffs hit U.S.-based employees, the company continues to scale up international hiring, infrastructure and talent development, especially in India. At the same time, the number of H-1B visa filings for foreign workers continues to grow, often for roles very similar to those recently cut in the U.S.
All of this remains legal under existing U.S. labor and immigration policies. There are no requirements to prioritize American workers, no obligations to disclose when jobs are offshored and no systems in place to alert laid-off employees that similar roles may be refilled by cheaper foreign workers.
For those affected, the result is a widening gap between where tech jobs are created and where they are lost, between American workers being displaced and foreign labor pipelines quietly expanding. What remains to be seen is whether this pattern will continue unchecked, or if policymakers and the public will reevaluate what it means to protect domestic opportunity in a global economy where American companies are increasingly driven by cost-cutting at any price, quiet partnerships and the abandonment of loyalty to their own countrymen.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A rock performer appearing at the United Kingdom's big Glastonbury music festival led the crowd in a "Death to the IDF" chant, advocating violence against Israel, and promptly discovered while his speech may be free, it is not without consequences.
Reports reveal that the rocker now has not only been banned from entry into the United States, he's apparently lost his agent, too.
Social media reports have revealed the consequences for a performer named Bob Vylan, real name Pascal Robinson-Foster, 34.
The Daily Mail revealed Robinson-Foster provided the crowd with the chant, then led the radicals who were waving Palestine flags and calling for the deaths of Israeli soldiers.
British police have begun investigating Robinson-Foster as well as drummer "Bobbie Vylan."
They were to appear in Spokane, Washington, in October, but the report confirmed the U.S. Department of State has intervened and canceled permission for them to enter to America.
"The State Department has revoked the U.S. visas for the members of the Bob Vylan band in light of their hateful tirade at Glastonbury, including leading the crowd in death chants," according to U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau.
"Foreigners who glorify violence and hatred are not welcome visitors to our country."
"Republican Senator Ted Cruz also shared a video of Bob Vylan leading 'free Palestine' and 'death to the IDF' chants at Glastonbury on X, condemning it as 'sick," the report said.
The performance was live-streamed on the BBC iPlayer but that abruptly removed.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Just hours after voting no on advancing President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful" bill and the president's vow to have him primaried, U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., announced he will not seek reelection.
"In Washington over the last few years, it's become increasingly evident that leaders who are willing to embrace bipartisanship, compromise, and demonstrate independent thinking are becoming an endangered species," Tillis said.
"Democrats recently lost two such leaders who were dedicated to making the Senate more of a functional and productive legislative body. They got things done. But they were shunned after they courageously refused to cave to their party bosses to nuke the filibuster for the sake of political expediency. They ultimately retired and their presence in the Senate chamber has been sorely missed every day since.
"It underscores the greatest form of hypocrisy in American politics. When people see independent thinking on the other side, they cheer. But when those very same people see independent thinking coming from their side, they scorn, ostracize, and even censure them.
"Too many elected officials are motivated by pure raw politics who really don't give a damn about the people they promised to represent on the campaign trail. After they get elected, they don't bother to do the hard work to research the policies they seek to implement and understand the consequences those policies could have on that young adult living in a trailer park, struggling to make ends meet.
"As many of my colleagues have noticed over the last year, and at times even joked about, I haven't exactly been excited about running for another term."
Tillis was verbally scorched by President Trump after voting against the tax-reducing bill which advanced late Saturday in the Senate.
In several messages targeting the senator on Truth Social, Trump indicated: "Thom Tillis has hurt the great people of North Carolina. Even on the catastrophic flooding, nothing was done to help until I took office. Then a MIRACLE took place! Tillis is a talker and complainer, NOT A DOER! He's even worse than Rand 'Fauci' Paul!
"Numerous people have come forward wanting to run in the Primary against 'Senator Thom' Tillis. I will be meeting with them over the coming weeks, looking for someone who will properly represent the Great People of North Carolina and, so importantly, the United States of America. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"
Trump also praised other Republican senators for their work advancing the bill.
"Tonight we saw a GREAT VICTORY in the Senate with the 'GREAT, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL,'" Trump said," but, it wouldn't have happened without the Fantastic Work of Senator Rick Scott, Senator Mike Lee, Senator Ron Johnson, and Senator Cynthia Lummis. They, along with all of the other Republican Patriots who voted for the Bill, are people who truly love our Country!
"As President of the USA, I am proud of them all, and look forward to working with them to GROW OUR ECONOMY, REDUCE WASTEFUL SPENDING, SECURE OUR BORDER, FIGHT FOR OUR MILITARY/VETS, ENSURE THAT OUR MEDICAID SYSTEM HELPS THOSE WHO TRULY NEED IT, PROTECT OUR SECOND AMENDMENT, AND SO MUCH MORE. GOD BLESS AMERICA &, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!"
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
President Donald Trump announced on Friday after the Supreme Court ruled in his favor in a fight over nationwide injunctions from entry-level judges in the federal judiciary that a number of disputes now will be litigated.
Refugee resettlement, sanctuary cities, birthright citizenship, federal funding freezes, taxpayer money used for radical and injurious "trans" surgeries and more.
The actual dispute was over lower court judges who took over the decision-making for the executive branch and issued nationwide injunctions on Trump's birthright citizenship order. The ruling Friday didn't address that dispute.
But one senator, John Kennedy of Louisiana, put the legal controversy in terms for the common man: "Anybody who knows a law book from an L.L. Bean catalog knows that federal judges just made up the concept of universal injunctions. … If you disagree with a president or Congress, fill out a hurt feelings report – but you can't put their actions on hold because you don't like them."
The Supreme Court found that the nationwide injunctions at issue went far beyond the authority of the local judges, and those injunctions now are limited to the actual case participants.
Trump's contention is that "birthright citizenship" has been misused to deliver citizenship to any person born on U.S. soil, when the Constitution actually stipulates that citizenship goes to those who are "subject to the jurisdiction" of the U.S.
That raises the question whether those visiting in America, inside its borders with temporary permission, or even illegally, should be granted that exceptional right.
A report at the Gateway Pundit said, "DOJ Solicitor General John Sauer previously highlighted that federal judges have issued more than 40 nationwide injunctions since January, effectively stalling key executive actions, including the administration's controversial order to end birthright citizenship for children born to non-citizen parents."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A man has been convicted of a "religiously aggravated public order offense," and he's been fined more than $300, because a violent radical was so upset with the speech that he attacked him.
"That's right, a man's violent attack on another was cited as evidence of the victim's guilt," explained a report from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
The case developed in London, where Kurdish-Armenian asylum seeker Hamit Coskun was accused of burning a Quran.
"Coskun ignited a new round of debate over blasphemy in the UK after burning a Quran outside London's Turkish consulate and yelling," among other themes, "Islam is a religion of terrorism."
He has said that was a protest against the "Islamist government of Erdogan," the strong-arm leader of Turkey.
As a result of Coskun's statements, London resident Moussa Kadri attacked Coskun.
The result was that Westminster Magistrates' Court found Coskun guilty because he was attacked.
That's despite the evidence showing Kadri attacked Coskun with a knife, knocked him to the ground, and kicked him while he was on the ground.
The judge justified the conviction by claiming the disorderly nature of Coskun's protest "is no better illustrated than by the fact that it led to serious public disorder involving him being assaulted by two different people."
A report by Reuters said the verdict effectively reinstated an abolished blasphemy statute, which fell in 2008.
Judge John McGarva claimed, "Burning a religious book, although offensive, to some is not necessarily disorderly. What made his conduct disorderly was the timing and location of the conduct and that all this was accompanied by abusive language. There was no need for him to use the 'F word' and direct it towards Islam."
The nation's Conservative Party said, "Britain has no blasphemy laws. Yet this verdict creates one de facto. Parliament never voted for it. The British people do not want it. This decision is wrong."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
President Donald Trump says the U.S. pilots who bombed three nuclear sites in Iran Saturday are "devastated" by negative news reports in American media minimizing the damage inflicted on the Islamic Republic's nuclear weapons development.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday at the NATO Summit in the Netherlands, Trump said: "I got a call that the pilots and the people on the plane were devastated because they (the media) were trying to minimize the attack. And they all said it was hit."
"They were devastated. They put their lives on the line and they have … real scum come out and write reports that are as negative as they could possibly be. It should be the opposite. You should make them heroes and heroines.
"There were so devastated when they heard this news. And you know what they said? I spoke to one of them. He said, 'Sir, we hit the site. It was perfect, it was dead-on!'
"Because they don't understand fake news because they have a normal life, except they have to fly very big, very fast planes. But it's a shame. You should be making them heroes."
At another press availability earlier in the day, Trump said: "This was an unbelievable hit by genius pilots and genius people in the military, and they're not being given credit for it because we have scum … CNN is scum. MSDNC is scum. The New York Times is scum. They're bad people. They're sick.
"What they've done is, they're trying to make this unbelievable victory into something less. Now even they admit that it was hit very hard. But it wasn't hit hard. It was hit brutally, and it knocked it out."
Appearing with Trump at The Hague was U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who stressed Iran's nuclear weapons program is indeed "obliterated."
"Those that dropped the bombs precisely in the right place know exactly what happened when that exploded," Hegseth said.
"And you know who else knows? Iran. That's why they came to the table right away because their nuclear capabilities have been set back beyond what they thought were possible because of the courage of a commander in chief who led our troops despite what the fake news wants to say."
He continued: "The skill and the courage it took to go into enemy territory flying 36 hours on behalf of the American people and the world to take out a nuclear program is beyond what anyone in this audience can fathom.
"And then the intact, the instinct of CNN, the instinct of the New York Times is to try to find a way to spin it for their own political reasons to try to hurt President Trump or our country. They don't care what the troops think. They don't care what the world thinks. They want to spin it to try to make him look bad based on a leak."
"What do leakers do? They have agendas. And what do they do? Do they share the whole information or just the part that they want to introduce."
"Why is there low confidence [in the damage assessment]? Because all of the evidence of what was just bombed by twelve 30,000-pound bombs is buried under a mountain, devastated and obliterated. So if you want to make an assessment of what happened at Fordow, you better get a big shovel and go really deep, because Iran's nuclear program is obliterated."
As WorldNetDaily reported Tuesday, CNN reported that three sources indicated the U.S. attack Saturday "did not destroy the core components of the country's nuclear program and likely only set it back a few months."
The network claims the information was based on a bombing assessment report done by the Defense Intelligence Agency after the strikes.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt rebutted the report on social media, pointing out the CNN story was put together "by the same 'reporter' who wrote the very first FAKE NEWS story claiming the Hunter Biden laptop was disinformation."
That reporter is Natasha Bertrand.
On Monday, President Trump named other names of the worst fake news giants in the Iran conflict: "Working especially hard on this falsehood is Allison Cooper of Fake News CNN, Dumb Brian L. Roberts, Chairman of 'Con'cast, Jonny Karl of ABC Fake News, and always, the Losers of, again, Concast's NBC Fake News."
Trump's mention of "Allison" Cooper of CNN is actually a reference to Anderson Cooper, the openly homosexual anchor for the Cable News Network.
"It never ends with the sleazebags in the Media, and that's why their Ratings are at an ALL TIME LOW — ZERO CREDIBILITY!" Trump concluded.