Jan. 6 offender speaking at Lake Station church
The cost to hear Kash Kelly is $40 at the Calvary Baptist Church, 2945 New Jersey St.
Lake Station GOP chairman Garry Trawick declined comment on the event, which coincides with Northwest Indiana Pride's celebration of Pride Month at Riverview Park, a few miles eastward.
Kelly, 36, of Hammond, was initially charged in 2021 with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol Grounds.
Kelly had posted several photos on social media while inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as insurrectionists injured police officers and destroyed Capitol property with prior encouragement from President Donald Trump at a rally.
Trump still claims, without proof, the 2020 election he lost to Joe Biden was stolen. Trump pardoned the insurrectionists early in his second term in January.
Kelly's case was complicated by the fact he was awaiting sentencing in an unrelated federal drug case as his charges stemming from Jan. 6 made its way through the court system.
Kelly was sentenced to four years on conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and marijuana during his time as a member of the Latin Kings.
He was also required to serve three years of supervised release in the matter. He was first indicted in February 2015.
On Nov. 10, 2022, he pleaded guilty to one count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building and the initial charges were dropped.
He was sentenced to 60 days of incarceration and $500 in restitution. He was released in 2024.
On Tuesday, Mayor Bill Carroll said he was unaware of Kelly's appearance.
He suggested the event might draw 12 people.
'I mean, it's America. Anybody can speak,' Carroll said.
Lake County GOP chairman Randy Niemeyer also was unaware of Kelly's appearance.
'This is the first I've heard of it. I think with these sorts of political events, people need to remember, on either side of the aisle, free speech applies to everything… I don't know much about Kash Kelly.'
He said the county GOP wasn't involved in the event.
Lake Station Democratic chairman Rick Long didn't like Kelly's appearance. 'I was raised in that church. Leave the politics out of the church. Churches are for people to go and worship the Lord.'
Long said his parents were lifelong members of Calvary Baptist. 'I'm sure they also would be disappointed… They were Republicans and would not like it.'
Meanwhile, in a 17-minute-plus social media video, Kelly reacted to the Post-Tribune asking questions about his appearance, calling the newspaper 'leftist media.'
Kelly said his talk would be about spreading unity, not encouraging violence, but he emphasized that he would defend himself if protesters 'incite' it.
'Keep the peace is all I'm asking,' he said.
Kelly said he hopes the event draws middle ground people who might be Democrats, Republicans or independents. He said he has no problem with the planned Pride event this weekend, but said if people disagree with the city welcoming the event, they should vote a different way in the next election.
'Don't show up with the intent you're going to dislike me,' he said. 'Why don't you give me a fair shake?'
Kelly did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
15 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Texas is redrawing congressional map for GOP gains, House Republicans acknowledge
Texas legislators are redrawing the state's congressional map to advantage Republican candidates, GOP lawmakers said at a state House hearing Friday, setting aside a legal justification offered by the U.S. Department of Justice and making their political motivations explicit for the first time. 'Different from everyone else, I'm telling you, I'm not beating around the bush,' Rep. Todd Hunter, the Corpus Christi Republican carrying the bill, said about the goal of the map. 'We have five new districts, and these five new districts are based on political performance.' Texas Republicans launched the redistricting effort after pressure from President Donald Trump's political operatives, who demanded state leaders redraw the map to help Republicans maintain their slim House majority ahead of a potentially difficult midterm election. The House redistricting committee released its proposed redo of the map Wednesday. It slices up districts in the Houston, Austin and the Dallas areas, yielding five additional districts that would have voted for Trump by at least 10 percentage points in 2024. In 2024, Trump won 56.2% of votes in Texas. Under the current lines, Republicans hold 66% of Texas' 38 House seats. The new map aims to push that share to 79%. 'Political performance does not guarantee electoral success — that's up to the candidates,' Hunter said. 'But it does allow Republican candidates the opportunity to compete in these districts.' Gov. Greg Abbott, in adding redistricting to the special session agenda, cited a letter from the Justice Department claiming that four Texas districts were unconstitutionally racially gerrymandered. But on Friday, state Republicans were unequivocal that their goal was not to fix racial gerrymandering — which several have testified under oath does not exist in the current map — but to give the GOP the greatest chance of controlling as many as 30 congressional districts. 'These districts were drawn primarily using political performance,' Hunter said, citing Republican gains made across the state since the Legislature last redistricted in 2021, especially among Latino voters. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that states can draw electoral maps on partisan grounds. But under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, the map cannot diminish the voting power of people of color. At Friday's hearing, Democrats argued that the proposed map unconstitutionally packed voters of color into some districts while spreading them throughout others to reduce their ability to elect their preferred candidates. 'Every citizen should have equal access to choose their representation, instead of crowding Black people to the point that all the Black people in the state only have two representatives, and all the Latinos in the state are crowded up to the extent that their voting power is diminished,' U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Dallas told state lawmakers during the hearing. Though people of color make up most of Texas and have driven almost all of the state's population growth in recent years, the new map creates 24 districts that are majority-white — two more than the current map, which is under trial for possibly violating the Voting Rights Act. Republicans rejected the idea that the proposed map would suppress voters of color, noting that it would create one new majority Hispanic district and two new majority Black districts. But all three are almost precisely 50% Black or Hispanic, which Democratic lawmakers said at the hearing is not enough to ensure they're able to elect their candidates of choice. U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey of Fort Worth, whose seat would be partially dismantled under the new lines, noted that his district was drawn by a federal court 'to ensure that communities of color, Black and brown Texans, could finally have a voice in Congress.' 'Now, that voice is again under threat,' he said. 'This is a map that was drawn behind closed doors — as we've heard here today — to dismantle representation and weaken our power in turn.' It could take months, if not years, to resolve any legal challenge against the proposed map. A lawsuit against Texas' current maps, passed in 2021, finally went to trial last month, almost four years and several election cycles after they went into effect. In the meantime, Republicans in the Legislature have the votes to pass the map as it's drafted. Chairman Cody Vasut, an Angleton Republican, said the committee, which has 12 Republicans and nine Democrats, will vote to advance the map Friday evening or Saturday. It could be on the House floor as soon as Tuesday, he said. Democrats, locked out of power in the statehouse, have few tools at their disposal to fight the map's passage. The nuclear option is to flee the state and deny Republicans a quorum to pass any legislation — an expensive and politically tenuous move that state House Democrats were still considering ahead of the full chamber vote. At Friday's hearing, the only time the public would have to comment on the House's proposed map, Democrats begged Republicans to slow or stop redistricting entirely. 'This is not a Texas map. It is a Trump map,' said U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, an Austin Democrat. 'It was imposed by President Trump, who has a stranglehold on Congress, and the only question here is whether he also has a stranglehold on this Texas Legislature.' The lineup for The Texas Tribune Festival continues to grow! Be there when all-star leaders, innovators and newsmakers take the stage in downtown Austin, Nov. 13–15. The newest additions include comedian, actor and writer John Mulaney; Dallas mayor Eric Johnson; U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota; New York Media Editor-at-Large Kara Swisher; and U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso. Get your tickets today! TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.
New York Post
16 minutes ago
- New York Post
Dems' grim outlook for '26, ‘Palestine' is a made-up cause and other commentary
From the right: Dems' Grim Outlook for '26 'November 2026 may not go the way conventional wisdom suggests,' and Dems may lose, warns the Washington Examiner's Michael Barone. During midterm elections, 'the president's party almost always loses the House and, slightly less often, Senate seats.' But this time around, 'it looks like the Democrats' baggage, especially from the Biden years, is heavier than the loads Trump Republicans must juggle.' Black marks like 'the Russia collusion hoax, COVID-19 school closings, 'transitory' inflation, the Hunter Biden laptop, and open borders immigration' have too deeply damaged' Dems' credibility. Trump and Republicans are also becoming widely popular, with 'Republican gains' being 'widespread while Democratic gains are scarcely visible.' 'Nothing's inevitable in politics, but so far, the Democrats have not gotten up off the floor.' Mideast beat: 'Palestine' Is a Made-Up Cause Advertisement Westerners should 'understand that the George Soros-funded agents of Jew Hate and chaos' in the streets 'have zero to do with the overwhelming majority of Muslims around the world,' argues Christopher Messina at Messy Times. As Dalia Ziada, an Egyptian political analyst notes, protesters claim ' 'Palestine' is the cause of all Muslims,' but there's 'no trace of anything called 'Palestine' or anything similar to it in the Quran or the Prophetic Hadiths!' Indeed, the 'Palestinian Cause' was 'invented by the Pan-Arabist communists,' who 'attached it to Islam' to 'fool ordinary Muslims' and gain 'legitimacy' to commit crimes against nations 'in the East and the West.' 'I am a Muslim,' but Palestine 'will never be my cause,' because it hinders 'peace' — 'a divine obligation of all Muslims.' Former U.S. President Joe Biden speaks at the National Bar Association's 100th Annual Awards Gala in Chicago on July 31, 2025. REUTERS Capitol watch: Rep's War on DC Dementia Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.) wants a 'way for Congress to evaluate whether some politicians are no longer fit to serve,' reports The Free Press' Gabe Kaminsky. Most Dems 'would rather talk about anything other than the Biden cover-up — and the wider problem of the gerontocracy that runs the party and Washington.' But, Gluesenkamp Perez is pushing'an amendment that would direct the Office of Congressional Conduct to develop a standard to determine House members' 'ability to perform the duties of office unimpeded by significant irreversible cognitive impairment.' ' Some Democratic colleagues took her move 'personally,' and it 'failed in her first attempt to tuck it into a federal spending bill, with Democrats and Republicans all voting against its inclusion.' But her office is 'still exploring avenues to build a coalition.' Advertisement Liberal: Democrats' Best Way Back 'The Democratic Party faces a conundrum,' observes the Liberal Patriot's John Halpin. Despite President Trump's struggles with voters on 'his overall job approval rating' and among specific issues, 'Democrats are doing even worse with Americans.' They've tumbled 'from roughly a 3-point net unfavorable rating just before [Joe] Biden was elected in 2020 to a 30-point net unfavorable rating today.' With polls showing more than half of voters believe 'Congress isn't doing enough to keep Trump in line,' a 2026 message 'arguing for divided government to stop Republican overreach' may help 'Democrats to retake the House.' Ahead of 2028, Democrats should offer 'new voices without cultural baggage' and a message of 'economic uplift for America's working- and middle-class families.' Advertisement Foreign desk: Chinese Dam's Regional Threat China has 'officially acknowledged' that it's building 'the biggest dam ever conceived,' gasps Brahma Chellaney at The Hill. The structure will 'generate nearly three times as much hydropower' as the massive Three Gorges Dam but 'portends a looming geopolitical and environmental crisis.' The new dam 'is on a geologic fault line — a recipe for catastrophe.' Moreover, 'capturing silt-laden waters before they reach India and Bangladesh, the dam will starve' farmers of crucial riparian nutrients. While China's dam-building 'has long alarmed downstream nations, from Vietnam and Thailand to Nepal,' this project 'raises profound questions about regional stability.' By seizing control over regional water, 'China is methodically locking in future geopolitical leverage.' — Compiled by The Post Editorial Board
Gizmodo
16 minutes ago
- Gizmodo
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting Is Shutting Down
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting will start winding down operations, purging most of its staff by Sept. 30, according to a press release, after nearly 60 years in operation delivering public media in the United States. The news comes after Republicans, led by President Donald Trump, stripped the non-profit company of its funding over claims of bias against conservatives. CPB President and CEO Patricia Harrison says that a small transition team will be in place through Jan. 2026 to make sure the closing of operations is orderly and to make sure things like music rights and royalties or long-term financial agreements are addressed. But after losing almost $500 million in federal funding for public media, money clawed back by Congress during a vote on a rescissions package on July 17, the institution can't survive. 'Despite the extraordinary efforts of millions of Americans who called, wrote, and petitioned Congress to preserve federal funding for CPB, we now face the difficult reality of closing our operations,' Harrison said in a statement published online. 'CPB remains committed to fulfilling its fiduciary responsibilities and supporting our partners through this transition with transparency and care.' The Corporation for Public Broadcasting was created by Congress in 1967 to oversee the federal government's contributions to public media. There were concerns in the mid-1960s about the way that commercial media was creating perverse incentives, especially for children, when it came to using the public airwaves. Another goal in creating public media was to help underserved communities, including rural areas where it doesn't make much economic sense for media companies to have a presence or devote resources to local journalism. Public broadcasting in the U.S. is supported by a mix of federal dollars, local money, sponsorships from private foundations and commercial advertisers, as well as financial contributions from viewers. Which is to say that your local public TV or radio station may still exist in the future, just in a diminished form. The most rural stations are the most dependent on funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, according to NPR. Trump and his army of dipshits have argued that NPR and PBS have a liberal bias, despite concerted efforts by public TV and radio stations in recent years to make conservatives happy. But nothing would ever be enough, as the fight against public media has always been more of an ideological project than a desire for political 'balance.' The MAGA movement simply believes there is no such thing as the public good and virtually everything needs to be financed by for-profit entities. Attacking and defunding public media was all laid out in Project 2025. 'Public media has been one of the most trusted institutions in American life, providing educational opportunity, emergency alerts, civil discourse, and cultural connection to every corner of the country,' Harrison said. 'We are deeply grateful to our partners across the system for their resilience, leadership, and unwavering dedication to serving the American people.'
