3 Stories You Missed While The White House Pimps Its UFC Bread & Circus On The Front Lawn
It truly is amazing what takes center stage for “news” today. There is no doubt that the criminals who are tolerated in the US government and those in the Mockingbird Media are providing the bread and circuses of Roman times in order to keep the population entertained and distracted from the crimes they are committing against the People. The latest is charlatan Donald Trump’s UFC fight on the White House lawn, but it’s a distraction from far more important things, such as the continued cover-up of pedo-vampires, eugenics, and a host of disgusting things in the Epstein files and bringing those named in them to justice.
However, there were three stories of importance that are flying under the radar, and Don Via, Jr. points them out.
The second-century Roman satirical poet Decimus Junius Juvenalis once famously said: “Give them bread and circuses, and they will never revolt”. An astute observation of how the Roman populace became complacent in the face of abuses by their government, placated with free grain and spectacles rather than exercising their civic duties.
This phrase has been oft repeated in the centuries since, applied to numerous governments across the world. But perhaps nowhere is it more prevalent than in present-day America.
In the lead up to the much anticipated 250th anniversary of the founding of our nation, and in the midst of a wave of the worst presidential scandals in over 100 years, the Trump administration is doing everything in its power to shift attention away from the disastrous Iran War and the fact that The sitting president of the United States is implicated hundreds of times in the sexual exploitation and abuse of minors.
Whether it be by continuing the limited hangout of selective UFO disclosure, or by hosting the Ultimate Fighting Championship on the White House front lawn in some sort of weird hyper-masculine MAGA charade, the political theatrics only continue to intensify.
That being said, here are a few worthwhile stories that actually matter.
Pro-2A Pushback In Virginia
In March, the Free Thought Project reported on a massive anti-gun crusade being pushed by legislators in Virginia under the new Democrat administration of former CIA analyst Abigail Spanberger. Among the myriad of infringements to Virginia’s Second Amendment rights were proposals seeking civil liability for firearms manufacturers, expansions of the already blatantly unconstitutional red flag laws, attempts to prohibit 3D printed firearms, the implementation of gun buyback programs, ending the right to open carry, and an outright ban on so-called “assault weapons”.
The most egregious of these, the “assault weapons” ban, was signed into law on May 14th, 2026.
Thankfully, however, this callous disregard for the Constitution was immediately challenged, with several gun rights groups, including the Second Amendment Foundation, as well as the National Rifle Association, Gun Owners of America, and the Virginia Citizens Defense League, all filed lawsuits in response to the new legislation.
Additionally, at least four Virginia prosecutors have publicly come out in opposition to the new legislation, signaling their intent to refuse to enforce the law. According to the Washington Times:
Prosecutors in Spotsylvania, Smyth, Powhatan and Pulaski counties argued that it violates Second Amendment protections, citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s rulings in District of Columbia v. Heller in 2008 and New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen in 2022.
Religious Liberty Remains Under Threat
Under the current administration, spearheading their particular brand of technocratic techno-fascism, Christian nationalist ideology promoted by the evangelical right has intensified exponentially. The extremists of this administration, including Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and others, continue to push a version of Christianity that insists upon ahistorical biblical literalism and a kind of theocratic influence over government policy that presents a persistent threat to civil rights.
In October, The Free Thought Project authored a report on the rise of Christian nationalism, highlighting a series of recent instances of attacks or harassment against individuals and groups of other faiths.
Unfortunately, in the months since, the sentiment has only grown. The recent Rededicate 250 rally in Washington DC, attended by the aforementioned figures, the likes of Speaker Johnson, Secretary Hegseth, Secretary Rubio and others continued to assert blatantly pseudohistorical narratives of the nation’s founding, promoting the false claim of an exclusively Christian fundamentalist national foundation — Despite founding fathers the likes of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison expressly stating the opposite in their own words during their lifetime.
Other speakers at the rally would continue to promote the idea of “spiritual warfare”, a concept within the evangelical right that positions Judeo-Christian fundamentalism as the one and only faith of America, at odds with all other religious beliefs and determined to suppress any other such beliefs to establish cultural dominance. The fact that so many members of this administration openly espouse such views hostile to individual liberty and the principles of pluralism should be considered a great concern.
ICE Abuses Skyrocket
Since the Trump administration began using Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the broader Department of Homeland Security as his political attack dogs to chill political dissent and enact a campaign of racial and ethnic cleansing through American cities, The Free Thought Project has remained vigilant in documenting the abuses of ICE/CBP officers.
Our two previous reports, the first from October 2025 (ICE: The Rogue Agency Terrorizing America’s Streets) and the latter from January 2026 (ICE: The Rogue Agency’s Wave of Terror Continues) highlighted dozens of accounts of abuse committed against American citizens and immigrants alike by heavy-handed agents enacting a campaign of brutality against America’s marginalized communities.
Despite the harsh rhetoric and aggressive approach against America’s immigrant population, official data reveals that the overwhelming majority of those detained have no criminal record.
Recent reports have shed light on escalations of abuses and inhumane treatment inside ICE detention centers. Data shows that 2025 was the deadliest year for ICE in two decades, as 32 people died in custody. Notably, a new investigation from the Associated Press has revealed that suicide rates among detainees are rising at an alarming rate, primarily driven by mistreatment or neglect in the facilities.
Numerous instances of abuse have been reported taking place in facilities throughout the country. A recent report from The Intercept exposed excessive use of force and cruelty against detainees in Newark New Jersey’s Delaney Hall Detention Facility as a retribution for ongoing hunger strikes protesting the facility’s inhumane treatment.
Elsewhere, several detainees and rights groups have filed lawsuits against Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of Homeland Security, and other relevant bodies for rampant human rights violations at Camp East Montana, the nation’s largest ICE detention facility converted from a World War II concentration camp on the grounds of Fort Bliss, Texas.
Meanwhile, in California, inspections found that numerous facilities in the state were in violation of basic standards of care, guilty of cruel, inhumane, and unacceptable conditions.
The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman, a watchdog office intended to safeguard detainees from abuse and address grievances, was abolished by the Trump administration earlier this year.
