Kash Patel appears to have ripped off iconic Beastie Boys video using AI: report
FBI Director Kash Patel appears to have used an AI-generated ripoff of a Beastie Boys music video to promote the Trump administration's anti-fraud efforts, NPR reported on Tuesday.
"With President Trump’s leadership, this @FBI and our interagency partners are conducting massive fraud takedowns coast to coast — and we’re not stopping," Patel wrote in a post to X at the start of the week.
"An analysis by NPR shows at least six clips in the FBI video were frame-by-frame recreations of shots in the iconic 'Sabotage' music video, which was directed by Spike Jonze," said the report. "The clips featured vehicles, people and buildings that were incredibly similar to the original video, but with small differences that would likely be generated by AI."
"For example, in one shot where a car is spinning out, grilles are clearly visible in some of the windows in the original footage, but they are missing in the FBI version of the clip," said the report. "Another shot shows an individual with a megaphone jumping from roof-to-roof with telephone lines in the background. The lines and dirt on the building all align identically to the 1994 video, which was filmed over 30 years ago. In one frame, one of the telephone lines appears to go through the head of the character: the sort of flaw that can be common in AI video generation."
Neither representatives for the Beastie Boys nor the FBI responded to NPR's requests for comment.
This comes after former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem was fired following an awkward and blame-shifting testimony to Congress about a taxpayer-funded $200 million ad for the department featuring her on a horse, putting greater scrutiny on how agency heads under the Trump administration use public resources for self-promotion.
It also comes as Patel himself has been reported by The Atlantic to have a drinking problem, to be chronically absent, and paranoid about his own political future — claims Patel denies, and is now suing the publication over.
Red state GOP moves to throw out votes already cast without telling voters: report
Alabama GOP lawmakers moved to toss out votes already cast for its May 19 primary amid a gerrymandering push without notifying voters of the changes.
According to reporting on Tuesday by Democracy Docket, the Alabama lawmakers began taking votes on Tuesday to change the congressional and state senate maps as a primary election is underway. The legislation in front of state lawmakers would allow the state to nullify votes already cast in some of the congressional races and later hold special elections under the new maps, the Democracy Docket reported.
Alabama lawmakers have also shot down efforts to let voters know about the changes. Democratic State Sen. Vivian Davis Figures lost an effort to pass an amendment to notify Alabama voters about the changes.
"Thank you to all of my colleagues for showing me once again who you are," she said, according to Democracy Docket.
Republican state Rep. Chris Pringle, the sponsor of a congressional redistricting bill, declined to explain to Alabama voters why the Legislature is making these changes, telling his lawmakers, "I'm not an attorney," per Democracy Docket. Similarly, GOP state Sen. Chris Elliot, a sponsor for a state senate redistricting bill, was accused of confusing Alabama voters, Democracy Docket reported.
Unbelievably massive fine hits landscaper — years after he was cleared to be in US
Sanchez was already nervous about receiving a letter from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, but nothing could prepare him for seeing the dollar amount the government said he owed them: $1,820,252.00
The Cuban landscaper, who came to the United States with his family 20 years ago, was floored. The Arizona Mirror isn’t identifying Sanchez by his full name because he fears he will be retaliated against for speaking out.
Just two years prior, at a checkpoint in El Paso, Texas, immigration officials had told him he had a valid green card and sent him on his way after he was pulled into a secondary search. Now, he was being told he owed the government $1.8 million for failing to deport.
“I can’t even sleep worrying about it. What am I going to do?” Sanchez told the Mirror, adding that he is worried about being able to provide for his three children, all of whom are U.S. citizens.
His ability to work has become difficult, as he now fears Immigration and Customs Enforcement will come take him. He’s avoiding his family for their safety and taking any odd jobs he can, he says.
He said he feels like he is already in jail.
Sanchez isn’t the only immigrant facing seven figures in fines, either.
The fines are part of a new push by President Donald Trump’s administration to increase deportation figures. Critics argue it is an intimidation tactic meant to force immigrants into self-deportation and rob them of due process.
Sanchez’s case is one of thousands across the country where DHS is charging immigrants $998 a day for staying in the country. The fines can be levied for a maximum of five years, and that’s what’s happening to Sanchez and the others, who all have been saddled with the same $1.8 million fine.
“It is all about putting pressure on people, it is not about a reasonable expectation of collection,” said Hasan Shafiqullah, an immigration attorney who is part of a network of attorneys fighting back against the fines.
No lawyer, no money, no options
Sanchez came to the United States 20 years ago at the age of 18 because his family was fleeing political persecution in Cuba. His father had been outspoken against the communist Castro regime and feared retaliation in a country that has a documented history of repressing dissent.
Ever since, he has worked as a landscaper and has had no major run-ins with the law.
He has found a partner and started a family, with three children aged 3, 10 and 12, who he said he rarely sees out of fear of putting them at risk of a raid by ICE.
The letter, which the Mirror viewed, is similar to ones sent to many others across the country. The letter is signed by “Immigration Officer 1” and includes little information other than the amount of money he owes.
The letter includes information about setting up a payment plan with a link to a QR code to scan. When asked if he had done this, Sanchez said no, adding he was worried it was a trap.
“People are rightfully nervous,” Shafiqullah said, adding that he was unaware of any enforcement action related to fines yet.
But that didn’t quell Sanchez’s nerves. He’s worried that even if he tries to pay, he’ll be put in a detention facility, and if he can’t pay enough, he’ll be put in prison — so he’s considering self-deportation. DHS has said previously that those who chose to self-deport through their application would have their fines forgiven, but he doesn’t trust DHS to be true to their word.
“DHS is encouraging illegal aliens to voluntarily depart using the CBP Home app, which allows them to fly home for free and receive a $2,600 stipend, while preserving the option to return the legal, right way,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement to the Mirror. “Illegal aliens who do not depart will face fines of $1,000 per day, as well as arrest and deportation without return.”
With no money and no attorney to fight for him, Sanchez said he isn’t sure what other options he has and he fears being put into a facility where stories of mistreatment have become commonplace.
And it’s unclear if self-deportation would lift the burden of the fines.
“You could self deport and still have the fine out there accruing interest,” Shafiqullah said.
And that means it would be impossible to ever return to the U.S. or to send money to family members who remain in America without it being seized.
Project Homecoming
Last year, Trump signed an executive order titled “Establishing Project Homecoming” to encourage self-deportation. It talks about using fines, including garnishing wages and property, as a means of pressuring immigrants to self-deport.
In a statement to NBC 7 San Diego, DHS stood by the fines, saying they had issued fines to about 65,000 people, totalling $36 billion.
DHS repeated that same statement to the Mirror.
“Between January 20, 2025, and March 18, 2026, ICE issued 65,101 civil fines to illegal aliens totaling more than $36 billion,” DHS said. “Our message is clear: Illegal aliens in the country illegally should leave now or face consequences.”
Trump is the first president to impose the fines, though they’ve been an option for presidents since 1996, when they were established as part of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act.
And this isn’t even Trump’s first time imposing the fines. His first administration also levied fines against immigrants, though it was an unsuccessful initiative: The majority of the fines came back as undeliverable in the mail, and ICE collected a total of just $4,215. President Joe Biden did away with the policy during his term.
When Trump returned to office, DHS began implementing the fines again.
But it is unclear if they’ll even be able to get that money, and Shafiqullah is part of a lawsuit that is asking a judge to halt their implementation until the courts can decide on their legality.
Without a judgment against an individual, the government can’t do much in regards to getting the money. It can begin garnishing wages, but seizing assets would require a judgment.
Many cases end up being sent to debt collectors. Shortly after the Mirror interviewed Sanchez, his fines were sent to collections.
For Shafiqullah and the lawsuit, the fines represent the government acting in a way that is “arbitrary and capricious” — and also likely unconstitutional.
ICE has to prove that people like Sanchez and others are willfully not departing despite having orders to depart. In most of the cases, the individuals are seeking things like asylum, green cards or other pathways to citizenship.
Shafiqullah said such immigration procedures can sometimes take years through the legal process, and waiting out the process doesn’t mean someone is willfully not departing.
Additionally, the people getting these fines are often not given a chance to appeal or given a jury trial, and the notices are sent to a last known address with 15 days to respond. That violates the Constitutional right to due process, according to the lawsuit challenging their use.
But even if the fines are found to be illegal or a court imposes an injunction, it doesn’t bring much hope to Sanchez’s current reality.
“It has affected me a lot,” Sanchez said, looking down and wringing his hands.
He doesn’t want to bring danger to his family but needs to provide for them. He isn’t sure what to do.
A situation, he noted, that he knows many others are likely in, as well.
Artists Flee Trump’s State Fair, Proving MAGA Radioactive as Ever
Canceled Culture
When President Trump won his second election, MAGA celebrated as much a cultural victory as a political one.
Right-wing glee was met with left-wing despondency — this moment couldn’t be considered as a fluke, a grievous mistake only recognized later by an unwitting populace. Trump was the first Republican to win the popular vote since 2004; 49.8% of the country saw what this guy was offering and wanted more.
That feeling drove both sides to overinterpret Trump’s very narrow 2024 victory. The right’s decades of sneering at and secretly envying liberal cultural dominance — Hollywood! Fashion! Every musical artist, barring third-place American Idol contestants! — were over. Liberals mourned accordingly, and tech billionaires dutifully trooped to the inauguration, bearing their gold, frankincense and myrrh.
But in the past two years, there has been no seismic shift in artistic talent to the MAGA camp. Performers cancelled their shows at the once vaunted Kennedy Center rather than be tainted by association to Trump. Prominent architects publicly shamed the firm leading the ballroom construction project. Twice as many Americans watched Bad Bunny’s halftime show as did the “All-American Halftime Show,” featuring luminaries Kid Rock and, uh, Brantley Gilbert. Popular artists frequently threaten legal action when the Trump campaign uses their music. Even podcasts, arguably the artform (I know, relax) where MAGA made the strongest inroads, have soured on the president as his popularity nosedived.
A new slate of artists recoiled this week after their participation in a series of concerts for Trump’s celebration of the country’s 250th birthday was announced. Of the nine acts listed (most at least 20 years past their peak popularity in the first place), at least six have bowed out apologetically.
“I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to be a voice for those who have felt like they didn’t have one,” Martina McBride said in a statement. “It greatly upsets me that any fan who has been moved by my music may now feel like I’m abandoning the meaning behind those songs. I assure you, that is not the case.”
Fascism — with its demands of conformity, propaganda, devotion to authority — stands in direct opposition to art. It’s obsessed with aesthetics but violently opposed to creativity and experimentation.
MAGA’s central tenets of excluding non-white, non-Christian, non-heterosexual, non-male people and requiring blind loyalty to Trump inherently limit its cultural reach. That was true in the first term and remains true today.
So, What’s the Move Here?
I was in college during the Great Recession so I emerged unscathed. You cannot lose wealth you do not possess. While others were licking their wounds, I was reveling in the undeserved confidence I had that next time, not only would I not lose money, I would make money. Tons of money. If Michael Burry can do it, I can do it. I didn’t just watch The Big Short, folks, no I even read the book. I got myself a shiny internship at Bloomberg where I covered U.S. Treasuries and learned how to use a Bloomberg Terminal.
Somehow, even with all this training, I have a dilemma. I’m pretty sure the entire economy is on the verge of collapse, sort of like when Wile E. Coyote runs off a cliff but doesn’t fall until he actually looks down. When does America look down? And how do I make sure I’m rich as hell shortly after?
Here are some concerning facts:
- Consumer sentiment is at an all-time low
- Thirty-year treasuries hit their highest yield since right before the financial crisis. This means fewer people are buying 30-year U.S. treasury bonds. Why? Because people are concerned about inflation and seemingly not worried about stocks.
- Oil prices are still over $100. The national average for gas is hovering around $4.50
- The price-to-book ratio of the S&P 500 is at an all-time high. This means the ratio of the price of a stock relative to the value of company assets has never been higher since this data was reliably tracked in 1999.
- But only 50% of the S&P is trading above its 200-day moving average. This means about half the stocks are trending down.
- The “bright spot” in the economy is AI, but it seems that all the AI spending is making inflation worse and inflation is clearly accelerating.
- As TPM’s Layla A. Jones reported, Black people in America did worse economically in 2025 than at any time since the Federal Reserve began its financial wellbeing survey in 2013. Typically, unemployment hits Black Americans first and hardest, and then comes for the rest of the country.
It certainly seems like dark times are ahead. Economically, it feels pretty stagflationy. High inflation, low growth. If inflation keeps rising, then Trump’s new Fed Chair is going to have quite the predicament when setting interest rates. Any increase to rates to tame inflation would negatively affect investment. I’m glad I don’t have that job.
But what if we put our thinking caps on and devised a plan to get rich? One of you readers out there has to have a scheme in the works, why not share it? We can all make a buck together. TPM has always been a community. If we work together, maybe we can upgrade to a gated community? How does that sound?
Jared Polis Confuses Censure With Censorship
Jared Polis was spotted showing off a new accessory this week. The Colorado governor has recently taken heat for his decision to grant clemency to Tina Peters, a former county clerk and staunch Big Lie proponent who is serving prison time for helping to compromise local election systems. Democrats in Congress and in his home state roundly criticized Polis for caving to pressure for President Trump and doing a favor for an election denier, with the Colorado Democratic Party voting to censure him. Per Colorado Sun reporter Jesse Aaron Paul, Polis responded by calling into a “private, internal party call” with black tape over his mouth.
The Pope vs. AI
An Interesting Ken Paxton Comp
“To call Paxton ethically challenged is to call Jeffrey Dahmer suffering from an eating disorder.” – Sen. Thom Tillis
What Legitimacy?
Balls & Strikes’ Madiba K. Dennie observed that Republicans sound like they’re starting to get nervous about court expansion, holding congressional hearings on the dangers of court packing. As Dennie puts it, “Claims that Court expansion threatens the Court’s legitimacy presuppose that the Court has any legitimacy to threaten in the first place.”
How Much of This Week’s News Do You Remember?
1) What does Trump plan to put his likeness on despite an 1866 amendment that explicitly forbids it?
2) What reason(s) did Republicans in South Carolina’s state senate give for again declining to move forward with redistricting ahead of the midterms?
3) Which U.S. Senator was pepper-sprayed by ICE agents during a protest outside a detention facility?
Answers below
Appearances By Kate Riga and Josh Marshall
Kate joined Edwin Eisendrath, host of “It’s The Democracy, Stupid” on Lincoln Square Media, to talk about her reporting on the corrupt Supreme Court and proposals for court reform currently being floated on the left.
Josh joined Ari Melber on MS Now to talk about former Attorney General Pam Bondi’s appearance before Congress.
Trivia Answers: 1) A $250 bill 2) It’s too late in the election cycle to change the maps 3) Andy Kim of New Jersey
