The State Department began laying off more than 1,300 employees on Friday as part of a sweeping reorganization aimed at reducing waste and eliminating redundancy.

The layoffs, which began on Friday, resulted in the elimination of 1,107 civil service worker positions and 246 foreign service officer positions, according to internal notices obtained by multiple outlets.

Moving scenes at the State Department today—something I’ve never witnessed in over two years of covering the Department. Employees packed up years of service into cardboard boxes, leaving the building with tears, hugs, and applause. https://t.co/Wooyr2s50t pic.twitter.com/rHQn5JMWdM

— Rabia İclal Turan (@iclalturan) July 12, 2025

In all, 1,353 positions were eliminated in this initial wave, with officials signaling that this is only the beginning of a larger effort to cut as many as 3,000 jobs.

According to a report from the New York Post, “Employees began receiving termination notices in the morning informing them that their positions were being ‘abolished.’”

“Headcount reductions have been carefully tailored to affect non-core functions, duplicative or redundant offices,” a message sent to the fired staffers said.

“By afternoon, several laid-off staffers were spotted tearfully departing the State Department’s headquarters. They were met by a crowd of clapping supporters outside the Harry S. Truman Building, near the White House,” the Post report continued. “Affected foreign service officers will be placed on administrative leave for 120 days before officially losing their jobs. The separation period for civil servants will be 60 days.”

State Dept employees in solidarity with their more than 1,300 colleagues who have been fired today holding an impromptu clap-out at the Department’s C street entrance. Lots of people in tears. pic.twitter.com/7wNVmrhyMS

— Hümeyra Pamuk (@humeyra_pamuk) July 11, 2025

Videos of the tearful and dramatic departures were posted to social media.

BREAKING: STATE DEPT BLOODBATH: DIPLOMATS CLAPPED OUT IN TEARS

Decades of service, gone in a flash.

Tonight, the State Department lobby turned into a farewell graveyard.

Laid off. Hugged out. Clapped into unemployment. pic.twitter.com/Ha0evT6CKk

— HustleBitch (@HustleBitch_) July 12, 2025

WATCH! Employees carry out belongings after over 1300 fired at the State Dept pic.twitter.com/sLpwiYWPZk

— Alex Raufoglu (@ralakbar) July 11, 2025

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the layoffs will make the department “more efficient and more focused.”

“It’s not a consequence of trying to get rid of people. But if you close the bureau, you don’t need those positions,” Rubio said while speaking to the press on Thursday. “Understand that some of these are positions that are being eliminated, not people.”

The post DRAINING THE SWAMP: Laid Off Staffers Filmed Crying as State Department Cuts Over 1,300 Bureaucrats (VIDEOS) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

That there is a dinosaur fossil in a museum filled with such things might not seem like news, but the latest find in the Denver Museum of Nature and Science came from under its own parking lot.

In January, the museum drilled some holes to see about the feasibility of geothermal energy, leading the scientists to drill some core samples 763 feet below the surface.

One stood out, until the realization hit that they had found some vertebrae from a dinosaur.

“My jaw fell on the floor,” geology curator James Hagadorn said, according to The Washington Post. “My eyes were about as big as saucers.”

“In my 35 years at the museum, we’ve never had an opportunity quite like this, to study the deep geologic layers beneath our feet with such precision,” said earth sciences research associate Bob Raynolds, according to CBS. “That this fossil turned up here, in City Park, is nothing short of magical.”

The hole drilled was only a couple of inches wide, according to the Associated Press.

“Finding a dinosaur bone in a core is like hitting a hole in one from the moon. It’s like winning the Willy Wonka factory. It’s incredible, it’s super rare,” Hagadorn said.

“Wow, what are the chances?” he told ABC News.

Scientists believe the dinosaur whose vertebrae were found in the core sample lived about 67.5 million years ago. Fossilized vegetation was also found in the hole, according to AP.

“This animal was living in what was probably a swampy environment that would have been heavily vegetated at the time,” Patrick O’Connor, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, said.

The find was the “deepest and oldest dinosaur fossil ever found within the city’s limits,” the museum said in a news release, according to ABC.

The vertebra was from a plant-eating dinosaur, with the experts tossing out the possibility that it was a Thescelosaurus or Edmontosaurus.

“It was absolutely incredible. The first thing you say is, ‘Are you sure? Is this real? Are you playing a joke on me?’” Hagadorn said. “That’s like finding a diamond deposit under the world’s largest gem store or an archeological site buried underneath the parking lot of an archeological museum.”

Hagadorn noted that dinosaur fossils were found in the building of Coors Field and the Denver International Airport, he said.

“The exciting thing to me is that there’s the potential to find more, and that’s both thrilling in the sense of discovery, but it’s also interesting because these things are good for science, they tell us about our place, they tell us about our ecosystems [and] they tell us how the plane has changed. So it’s a win, win, win,” he said.

Although the fossil pieces found will go on display, the rest of the dinosaur will remain where it is.

“In order to go that deep, you’ve got to dig a very big hole and then hold that hole open either by lining it or making it tapered. If we think about a tapered hole that goes down that deep, that would probably consume all our parking lot and maybe part of the museum, too. So, boy, it’s fun to think about, but I think it’s unlikely,” Hagadorn said.

But the wonder of what lies down there intrigues him.

“The layers of Earth underneath us tell us stuff that’s useful, whether that information is from a fossil or a mineral or some water that’s flowing underfoot,” he said. “Imagine what’s underneath your house or mine. Who knows?”

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.

The post ‘Hole in One from the Moon’: US Museum Makes Rare Find In Its Own Backyard appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has issued a statement vowing to prosecute criminals and Antifa militants doxing the personal information of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers to the “fullest extent of the law.”

Several websites viewed by The Gateway Pundit have been published by far-left activists with photos and personal information about ICE agents, including their home addresses.

In a press release on Friday, DHS said, “ICE law enforcement is facing a nearly 700 percent increase in assaults against them. These doxxing websites that attempt to reveal ICE officers’ identity, and even their families and children, put our law enforcement grave danger as highly sophisticated gangs like Tren de Aragua and MS-13, criminal rings, murderers, and rapists can use this information to carry out attacks on federal law enforcement and their families.”

“We will prosecute those who dox ICE agents to the fullest extent of the law. These criminals are taking the side of vicious cartels and human traffickers,” said Secretary Noem.“We won’t allow it in America.”

Federal law enforcement and immigration officers have been under attack nationwide as liberal lawmakers demonize them over their efforts to remove illegal aliens.

DHS noted that just over the Fourth of July weekend, gunmen opened fire on Border Patrol and ICE officers in Texas on two separate occasions, seriously wounding two.

“Multiple organizations appear to be responsible for doxing these federal officers, including an anarchist and Antifa-affiliated group based in Portland called ‘Rose City Counter-Info’ and another called ‘The Crustian Daily,’” DHS said. “Both of these groups have published the names, pictures, and personal address of ICE officers on their websites.”

Fliers have also been posted in the neighborhoods of officers, displaying their names, addresses, and photos of them and their families. DHS provided example photos of the fliers, which read, “NO PEACE FOR ICE” and “CHINGA LA MIGRA,” which translates to “f-ck immigration services.”

“Others have trespassed on an official’s personal property, dumping trash on their front lawn and directly threatening this officer by name,” DHS said.

The department placed the blame at the feet of Democrat politicians.

“Prominent politicians are actively encouraging these attacks by demonizing federal law enforcement, refusing to cooperate with lawful immigration enforcement, and even assaulting law enforcement themselves,” the press release concluded. “In addition, sanctuary cities like Portland prevent local city and state police from working with federal law enforcement. Not only does this leave their own communities vulnerable to crime and violence, but it creates an unsafe environment on the ground as federal and local law enforcement are unable to coordinate their activities.”

The post DHS Secretary Kristi Noem Vows to Prosecute Antifa Militants Doxing ICE Agents to the Fullest Extent of the Law appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Tucker Carlson unloaded on Ben Shapiro during his speech at Turning Point USA’s Conservative Student Action Summit in Tampa on Friday night for his “absurd” dismissal of concerns over the Jeffrey Epstein files, accusing him of blindly trusting the government and discouraging tough questions.

Earlier this week, the Department of Justice said that Epstein had no secret “client list” of elite pedophiles and reaffirmed his 2019 death was a “suicide.” When questioned about the findings by a reporter, President Donald Trump grew irritated and asked, “Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein?”

The handling of the case has prompted calls for Attorney General Pam Bondi’s resignation and massive discontent within the MAGA movement.

In a video about the news, Shapiro urged his followers to move on and parroted the government’s claims about what happened.

“I don’t have any reason to believe those people are lying to me, and they have better information than I do,” Shapiro said. “All I can do, rationally speaking, from my own perspective, is say that I believe them.”

Ben Shapiro fully accepts the DOJ and FBI’s official account of Epstein’s death and urges his audience to trust it as well.

Follow: @AFpostpic.twitter.com/0eawgY3Zml

— AF Post (@AFpost) July 8, 2025

Carlson took issue with Shapiro’s take and made it known to a room packed with young conservatives.

“I watched Ben Shapiro yesterday,” Carlson began as the crowd booed.

Tucker: I watched Ben Shapiro yesterday — before you boo him I thought he made a solid point. He was like It happened a long time ago, who cares — by the way, we should trust the government and whatever the bureaucrats tell us and it is wrong to ask questions. I want to go on… pic.twitter.com/ixrnGiVsQI

— Acyn (@Acyn) July 12, 2025

Carlson continued, “No, before you boo him, I thought he made a really solid point. He’s like, ‘It happened a long time ago. Who cares? And by the way, we should trust the government and whatever the bureaucrats tell us. And by the way, it’s wrong to ask a lot of unauthorized questions.’”

“I just wanna go on the record to say that, no, that’s absurd. And it’s exactly the kind of thinking that I personally voted against in the last election,” Carlson said.

During his speech, Carlson also asserted that Epstein was working on behalf of the Israeli government.

NOW – Tucker Carlson says Epstein was “working on behalf” of Israel and Israel was “committing crimes” on American soil. pic.twitter.com/txbMbJCzzj

— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) July 12, 2025

Carlson explained:

I think the real answer is Jeffrey Epstein was working on behalf of intel services, probably not American. And we have every right to ask, on whose behalf was he working? How does a guy go from being a math teacher at the Dalton School in thelate 70s with no college degree to having multiple airplanes, a private island, and the largest residential house in Manhattan? Where did all the money come from? And no one has ever gotten to the bottom of that because no one has ever tried. And moreover, it’s extremely obvious to anyone who watches, that this guy had direct connections to a foreign government.

Now, no one’s allowed to say that the foreign government is Israel because we have been somehow cowed into thinking that’s naughty. [cheers] There is nothing wrong with saying that. There is nothing hateful about saying that. There’s nothing anti-Semitic about saying that. There’s nothing even anti-Israel about saying that…

And you have the right to expect your government will not act against your interests, and you have a right to demand that foreign governments not be allowed to act against your interests. [cheers] That’s not creepy. It shouldn’t be forbidden. And yet all of us have trained ourselves to believe that you can’t say that somehow. That that’s like too naughty and forbidden. And the effect of making that off-limits has been to create a lot of resentment and I’ll say it, hate online, where people feel like they can’t just say, “What the hell is this? You have the former Israeli prime minister living in your house? You have all this contact with a foreign government. Were you working on behalf of them? Were you running a blackmail operation on behalf of a foreign government?

By the way, every single person in Washington, D.C. thinks that. I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t think that. I don’t know any of them that hate Israel. But no one feels they can say that. Why? And I think the longer we play along with it, the more subterranean and creepy and hateful the conversation becomes. So, I think it’s better just to say it right out loud.

The post WATCH: Tucker Carlson Blasts ‘Absurd’ Ben Shapiro for Urging People to Get Over Epstein Case appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

A Kentucky school board chairman has resigned after social media posts were uncovered in which he allegedly called for people to “shoot Republicans.”

Jeffrey Miller had been the chairman of Erlanger-Elsmere Independent School District since 2016, and the post in question was made in 2018.

The post was a reaction to a mass shooting in Jacksonville. Miller wrote, “i’d be ok with the NRA if these psychos were just once the victims of a mass shooting. WINK WINK: please shoot republicans.”

Kentucky Republican State Representative Steven Doan told Fox News that he was receiving complaints about Miller after the post was unearthed and circulated throughout the community.

“This began with a request that the school reopen a track at the High School,” Doan said. “I made a post about it on my Facebook page to see where the community stood. This is when I began receiving social media messages from community members. They said that they wanted to publicly support me and my position, but they feared retaliation.”

Doan then received a text message about Miller from a constituent who feared retaliation. The message read, “I cannot make it to the meeting tonight and I fear for my son’s graduation if I post something public. I hope you know the kind of men Chad Molley and Jeffery Miller are for this meeting. The superintendent is allowing a board member to stay on the board after threatening mass shootings against Republicans by the NRA.”

The message continued, “Yes, he apologized but as a hush-hush, so kids could play football in 2020. It was a concession. Yes, it is old news, but as a public figure, he is, well should be, held to a higher standard, especially to affect children. I spoke with a member of the board already and was informed he has to not be elected again. I do not think enough people know what he did in 2020.”

In June, Doan called for Miller’s resignation. After he did so, he was informed of other posts by Miller, including ones that said “f-ck the police” and expressed other far-left extremist views.

On Thursday, Miller stepped down.

It took the entire community to remove this man, now we must find a replacement who will stand up for our children and community. https://t.co/G5RG7x2QoM

— Steven Doan (@SteveDoanLaw) July 11, 2025

Doan posted about it on X, writing, “It took the entire community to remove this man, now we must find a replacement who will stand up for our children and community.”

The post Kentucky School Board Chairman Resigns After Calling for People to ‘Shoot Republicans’ on Social Media appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.