President Trump says meetings are ‘now taking place’ to end deadly conflict between Israel and Iran

Portland rioters arrested after ICE facility attack leaves officers injured

Multiple rioters in Portland, Oregon, were arrested Saturday night after planned protests descended into a riot near an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility and left four officers injured.

Three people were arrested after officers responded to “criminal activity” happening near the federal building in the South Portland Neighborhood, the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) said in a press release early Sunday. 

“The arrests were strictly focused on criminal actions, and not constitutionally protected free speech,” PPB said. “Individuals who engaged in violent activity or property destruction will be investigated and are subject to arrest and prosecution.”

The riot came after the city hosted a “No Kings” protest at 1 p.m., which officials labeled a “large-scale free speech gathering” with tens of thousands of people marching in demonstration.

GOVERNORS WARN ANTI-TRUMP ‘NO KINGS’ PROTESTERS AGAINST BECOMING VIOLENT: ‘YOU’RE GOING TO GET ARRESTED’

Police responded to the federal facility just before 6 p.m. after learning that a federal officer had suffered an injury from the crowd, PPB said. PPB told the crowd that a medical event was reported within the ICE facility, warning the crowd not to interfere with the medical response.

Police said once the situation stabilized, officers learned that the federal officer did not need medical treatment.

PPB then declared a riot due to ongoing criminal activity in the area.

Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News Digital on Saturday that a mob launched fireworks, smoke grenades and threw rocks at federal law enforcement as they broke glass and forcibly entered the ICE facility.

Four officers were injured during the attack, though federal law enforcement was able to secure the facility, Fox News Digital previously reported.

COAST-TO-COAST ANTI-ICE CHAOS CAUGHT ON CAMERA

PPB said Sabian Crisantos, 25, was arrested just after 8 p.m. for attempted assault of a public safety officer.

Tyson Kahnert, 20, was arrested around 10:50 p.m. after police saw a person throwing a rock at the ICE building, PPB said. Kahnert was charged with first-degree criminal mischief, two counts of attempted assault of a public safety officer, two counts of harassment, interfering with a peace officer and escape in the third degree.

Cory Oien, 38, was arrested around 1 a.m. Sunday after he was spotted picking up traffic control devices around the area and placing them in his truck, PPB said. Police said Oien was arrested for first-degree theft and driving under the influence of intoxicants. 

All three were booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center.

Police noted that more arrests were possible as investigations continue.

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“Just because arrests are not made at the scene, when tensions are high, that does not mean that people are not being charged with crimes later,” PPB said.

Hillary Clinton’s ‘second daughter’ weds Soros’ son in lavish Hamptons event

Former top Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin and Alex Soros, son of billionaire left-wing donor George Soros, married in a lavish wedding in New York on Saturday that reportedly drew attendance from high-profile Democrats stretching from former Vice President Kamala Harris to former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. 

The couple married in Water Mill, N.Y., at a Soros family estate on Saturday, according to the New York Times, which reported the swank Hamptons wedding drew private jets, fleets of black SUVs “and Clinton aides galore in a rare concentration of wealth and power.” 

Democrat heavyweights including Bill and Hillary Clinton, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Harris – as well as her husband Doug Emhoff – and Pelosi attended the wedding, the New York Times reported. Other celebrities and high-profile attendees included Vogue’s Anna Wintour, socialite Nicky Hilton Rothschild, and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, the outlet reported, citing attendees. 

“I’m looking forward to being a witness to their marriage; to the celebration that we all are going to be part of; to seeing so many longtime friends gathered in one place to really enjoy being part of Huma and Alex’s start of their married life. And I think we all could use some fun, so I’m looking forward to all of it,” Hillary Clinton told Vogue of the wedding in an article published Saturday. 

CONSERVATIVES MOCK DEM RHETORIC ABOUT ‘OLIGARCHY’ AS NYC LIVING ROOM PIC OF ALEX SOROS AND ABEDIN GOES VIRAL

Soros, 39, is the chairman of the Open Society Foundations, which is a massive $25 billion nonprofit founded by George Soros, 94, and helps bankroll left-wing causes and politicians across the country. Abedin, 48, is the former longtime aide to Hillary Clinton and often called the former secretary of state’s “second daughter.” Abedin was previously married to disgraced former New York Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner. 

ALEX SOROS IN HOT SEAT AFTER LEFT-WING OUTLET EXPOSES WHAT HIS DAD’S NETWORK THINKS OF HIS ONLINE FOOTPRINT

The wedding included a live performance from Boyz II Men, the vocal harmony group behind hits such as 1991’s “Motownphilly,” according to the Times, as well as toasts from Hillary Clinton, Wintour, and the Albanian prime minister. Abedin wore two custom wedding dresses over the course of the day, Vogue reported. 

EX-CLINTON AIDE HUMA ABEDIN ENGAGED TO GEORGE SOROS’ SON

The wedding’s menu reportedly included cuts of Wagyu beef, grilled prawns and chilled English pea soup. 

Soros popped the question to Abedin in July of last year, sharing the announcement on his Instagram page at the time. 

MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR, LONGTIME CLINTON AIDE HUMA ABEDIN DATING GEORGE SOROS’ SON

“This happened…we couldn’t be happier, more grateful, or more in love,” Soros wrote in an Instagram post, accompanied by a photo of him on one knee. 

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Abedin told Vogue of her engagement: “I was shocked, not by the fact that he proposed, but it was the timing that made no sense. It was a very hectic, very chaotic day, and I was leaving for a trip the next day. I went to get my hair colored in the morning [and] I dropped something on my foot, so I was wearing sneakers.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the Open Society Foundations on Sunday morning inquiring if representatives for the couple had any additional comment to include on the wedding, but did not immediately receive a reply. 

Nebraska teen’s miraculous recovery journey after father’s tough love moment in rehab

For many young girls, their father is the childhood hero who carries their bike, puts the Band-Aid on their injuries, and – in my case – caught me when I fell off the horse. 

But when I was 15, Dad did a lot more than clean a scraped knee. On my way to softball practice, I was in a head-on collision that left me with a traumatic brain injury and in a coma for more than two weeks. 

I didn’t know it at the time, but my father, who is a first responder for our county, was on the scene. 

He stabilized my neck as the emergency team extracted me from the car and lifted me into the ambulance. For many fathers, that might be the most heroic and most difficult thing they do for a child.

A FATHER’S DAY PLEA: MY CHILD HAS BECOME A NUMBER IN HAMAS’ HELL

But a few months after the accident, Dad did something even harder: he told me that there was a bigger hero in my life – God – and that my recovery was between me and Him. 

In rural Nebraska, where I live, most 15-year-olds are learning how to drive, stressing over geometry and working on their family farms. That year, however, I was in a brain trauma rehabilitation facility, learning how to walk, identify colors and eat properly.

It was the hardest thing I’d ever done, especially as someone who had played softball, raised horses and coached Special Olympian barrel racers. Now I needed help for things as basic as brushing my teeth, getting dressed and going to the bathroom. 

One day, I was done with it all. Discouraged, exhausted and resigned to a helpless existence, I told the therapist to take me back to my room at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital. There was Dad, once again my biggest supporter, who literally had saved my life.

BUILDING YOUR ADVENTURE: CIA VETERAN SHARES AN INSPIRING STORY ABOUT COURAGE WITH GRADUATES

Only this time, he wasn’t the hero. “I can’t make you walk,” he said. “This is a conversation you need to have with God.”

I was floored, but Dad was right. I was stuck in my own misery and had never taken my circumstances to my  Father. Part of it was pride. I had been the one who was competitive and took care of others. Now I was totally dependent on others. 

In total humility, I stared at the ceiling of my rehab room, and I asked God for help. The next day, I was ready to try again and to try and stand for the first time.

Almost three years after that conversation, I don’t know why God allowed me to be in that accident. But I’ve come to realize that my story isn’t about me – but about what it can do for others. 

AMERICA IS REDISCOVERING ITS SOUL AND REVIVING THE SACRED

For example, I was ticked when I found out that 98,000 people on my Caring Bridge page saw images of me on a hospital bed. But I’ve also heard from some of those people directly that seeing my struggle gave them hope and increased their faith. 

I went to prom this spring with a young man named Carson, a friend I made at Madonna. He was in an accident like mine and is confined to a wheelchair. While his body is still struggling, it’s clear that his light is very much alive. What he needs more than anything as he continues on his recovery is to feel a real connection with other people, especially those his age.

And this summer, I’ll be going to New Orleans with 20,000 teenagers, young adults and supportive adults for the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod Youth Gathering. 

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My story won’t be plastered on the screens, but it’ll certainly come up in conversation, especially since I attended the last Gathering just months before my accident. Answering “What have you been up to?” could help kids recovering from their own traumas, impacted by family abuse, or simply stuck in the mental health challenges common in my generation. 

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On Father’s Day, I’m eternally grateful that I get to spend yet another one with my dad, the man who held me as a baby and also when I was being loaded into an ambulance. And I’m even more grateful to the Heavenly Father, who is still the other hero by my side. 

USA Fencing board members suing chair over ‘false statements’ made at DOGE hearing

EXCLUSIVE: Two USA Fencing board of directors members are suing the other six at-large director members, alleging chair Damien Lehfeldt made false statements to congress at a May 7 Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) subcommittee hearing on transgender athletes. 

The lawsuit, which seeks to have Lehfeldt removed as USA Fencing chair, was filed on USA Fencing’s behalf by the two plaintiff members.

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The plaintiffs, Andrey Geva and Abdel Salem, each have long ties to the sport and organization. 

Geva is a former U.S. National Coach who led the U.S. Women’s Épée Team at the 2016 and 2020 Olympics, before being elected to the board in 2024. Abdel competed for Egypt in individual and team épée events at the 1984 Summer Olympics, the former head fencing coach of the U.S. Air Force Academy, and in 1996 was named the U.S. Olympic Committee Coach of the Year.

Now, they are taking the organization to court after alleging Lefheldt falsely announced Geva’s resignation from the board at a meeting on June 7, and over several allegations involving the May 7 Doge hearing.

The May hearing was called in response to a viral incident where women’s fencer Stephanie Turner kneeled to protest a transgender opponent, and was subsequently punished by USA Fencing. Lefheldt was the lone figure to testify on behalf of the organization. 

The lawsuit claims Lehfeldt made “false and misleading claims” at the hearing, which now risk the organization being declassified as a national governing body (NGB). 

“Defendant Lehfeldt’s non-corporative demeanor in bad faith and untruthful and misleading statements at the congressional hearing on May 7, [2025] has prompted the Congress to consider decertifying USFA as an NGB, thus potentially risking Team USA’s qualification in the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympic Game,” the lawsuit states.

“His lies have alienated thousands of members in the fencing community who have provided more than 90% of USFA’s revenues.” 

Geva claims he attempted to speak at the hearing as well, but alleges he faced “threats” aimed to “deter” him from it. Geva ultimately submitted a letter to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, on May 2, expressing “opinion on biological men’s advantage over women in fencing.” Cruz’s office had recently opened an investigation into USA Fencing over its transgender eligibility policy after the Turner incident. 

The letter was then referenced during the DOGE hearing by subcommittee chairwoman Marjorie Taylor-Greene. 

“‘Transgender women’s fencers have significant advantages in women’s competitions,’ he writes,” Greene said during the hearing, reading from Geva’s letter. 

The lawsuit alleges Geva was then messaged by a fellow board member, blaming him for his honest personal opinion, and then two board members called for a “special board meeting intended to remove or otherwise discipline Plaintiff Geva.”

WHO IS STEPHANIE TURNER? WOMEN’S FENCER WHO KNELT TO PROTEST TRANS OPPONENT AND IGNITED GLOBAL AWARENESS

USA Fencing has acknowledged the lawsuit in a statement to Fox News Digital. 

“USA Fencing proudly serves its members — athletes, coaches, referees and clubs — across our community with absolute transparency and integrity. This derivative lawsuit misrepresents our organization, and we will vigorously defend the organization in court; any attempt to disparage them will be addressed appropriately,” the statement read.

“Because litigation is ongoing, we cannot discuss details. Our focus remains unwavering: advancing fencing nationwide, supporting every member’s success, and upholding the values of the Olympic and Paralympic movement.”

The organization has been under immense national scrutiny following the release of the footage of Turner’s protest on April 2. 

Lefheldt’s testimony at the May 7 hearing only intensified the criticism. 

Lehfeldt, who was subpoenaed and did not come voluntarily, made elevated the controversy ahead of the hearing with a series of Instagram stories that were later blown up and used against him on the committee floor. In one post, which went viral before the hearing, he responded to a question that asked whether he was “okay” with putting female fencers at a disadvantage with a simple, brash answer: “Yeah.” 

Then, during the hearing, Lehfeldt admitted multiple times he regretted answering that way and admitted the question required a “more-nuanced” response. 

At one point during the hearing, Lefheldt confessed to falsifying an email from a fictitious fencing mother “Dorothy” who disagreed with him and called those members with similar view of “Dorothy” “grand wizard” of Ku Klux Klan.

“It was a poor attempt at humor,” Lehfeldt said. 

Rep. Tim Burhcett, R-Tenn., asked Lehfeldt whether he would let his daughter fence against “a man.” Lehfeldt suggested he would allow it while boasting about his organization’s safety precautions. 

“As long as the competitor has met all the hormonal requirements and complies with the policy, I would be okay with it,” Lehfeldt said. 

Later in the hearing, Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., suggested that Lehfeldt was “not” a man for his organization’s gender eligibility policy. 

“Real men protect women, you’re not one,” Mace said. 

Mace even asked Lehfeldt to simply apologize to Turner for punishing the fencer, to which the chair declined and pointed out that Turner received a black card for her refusal. 

Turner told Fox News Digital after the DOGE hearing that she would work to lobby leadership changes to USA Fencing after stepping away from the sport. 

“I’m going to be pushing for people to resign, to be honest. I’d like to see some people resign for the comments that they’ve made, especially publicly, ones that are harassing and meant to humiliate concerned women, mothers and daughters,” Turner said. 

Now, two members on the board of directors have joined that cause. 

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Amid the ongoing scrutiny, USA Fencing’s board voted to amend its current policy that prioritized states with LGBTQ-friendly laws for host sites for competitions and a policy that may have prevented the playing of the national anthem at some events, at its June 7 meeting.

The previous policies became one of the organization’s biggest points of criticism after Turner’s viral protest. 

USA Fencing has declined to explain the motivation behind the changes. 

“It would be inappropriate for staff to speculate on the personal motivations of USA Fencing’s volunteer Board of Directors,” a USA Fencing spokesperson told Fox News Digital. 

Former MLB star suffers devastating hamstring tear in Savannah Bananas game

Sean Casey, a former MLB All-Star with the Cincinnati Reds, reportedly suffered a serious injury while he played for the highly popular Savannah Bananas baseball team on Friday night.

Cassey suffered a torn hamstring while running the bases as the team played at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, FanDuel Sports Network broadcaster Jim Day said during the Reds’ game against the Detroit Tigers.

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“It is real when you’re running and you’re 51 years of age,” Day said, via The Cincinnati Enquirer. “He got a massive ovation. And he was at the plate. And he was rounding first base, thinking about going to second. And the crowd was cheering him on. Now he grabbed his hamstring. 

“I thought he was just playing to the crowd. You know like, ‘Hey, I’m an older guy and it’s hard for me to run.’ Turns out he completely tore his hamstring. He completely tore the hamstring off the bone. He’s got surgery this week. Took one for the team. . . . We wish Sean Casey the best. That’s a tough one right there.”

RED SOX ACE GARRETT CROCHET HAS NO REGRETS OVER ‘BEST PITCH’ VS. AARON JUDGE

The incident occurred in the bottom of the seventh inning. Casey was at the plate when the ball got away from the catcher. He took off for first.

As Casey came around first base, he started to tug at his hamstring. The Bananas sent a pinch-runner for Casey and he came off of the field.

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“What a moment to have one more AB in front of the greatest fans in the world last night in Cincinnati!!” Casey wrote on X. “Thx to @TheSavBananas n @YellowTuxJesse for the opportunity! Banana Ball is so fun, what an experience! I was hoping for one more double in the gap, but I’ll take the walk for the team n tight morning hammy.”

Former child star recalls romance scenes with much older actor on set

Alison Arngrim, who starred as Nellie Oleson in “Little House on the Prairie,” believes there’s one episode from the series that wouldn’t be made today.

On a recent episode of the “Little House 50” podcast, Arngrim spoke to host Pamela Bob, as well as “Little House” co-star Dean Butler, about an episode from the show’s fourth season titled “Here Come the Brides,” which aired in 1977.

The episode tells the tale of how Oleson is wooed by Luke Simms, a teen boy in town. The two eloped after a brief romance. However, after their parents found out, they were taken back to the Justice of the Peace to be unmarried.

‘LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE’ STAR MELISSA GILBERT SAYS BEING ‘RAGGEDY AND DIRTY’ LANDED HER ICONIC ROLE

Olesen said she had just turned 15 when they shot the episode. Her character was supposed to be 13.

“I was super… teenage [with] puberty insanity happening,” Arngrim explained. “She’s just barely 13. This cat is, he’s playing I guess 16, 17. He’s in his late 20s.”

Bob Marsic, who played Simms, was 22.

“It’s young girls — children — accosting a grown man who they have not been introduced to,” said Arngrim about how the characters reacted to Simms’ appearance.

“That would not happen today, right?” Bob asked. “That casting a full-grown adult to play or even kiss — and it was an innocent kiss, but it’s a kiss — a minor.”

Filming was awkward from the start, Arngrim recalled, noting that she hadn’t met her on-screen love interest before they started filming.

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“I think we were like kissing on the first day or something,” she said. “Maybe the second — day two? It was pretty quick, it was like, ‘Hi, introduce yourself, now you’re in love.’’”

Arngrim noted that if a similar scene were filmed today, there wouldn’t be a significant age gap between the young actors. An intimacy coordinator, which didn’t exist at the time, would also be on set.

The former child star described how at one point, Marsic brought his girlfriend to the set while the episode was filmed.

“That was another of the weird moments,” said Arngrim on the podcast. “His girlfriend shows up, and it was weird because it was like … there was this vague thing of her wanting to be there for the romantic scenes.”

“I was like, does this woman think that I am a threat?” she chuckled. “Really? This 15-year-old pimply girl? No. No. I am not a threat to your relationship. I am not stealing your man.”

Back in June 2024, Butler spoke to Fox News Digital about how he had struggled with anxiety after discovering that he would be giving his co-star, 15-year-old Melissa Gilbert, her first kiss – both on-screen and in real life.

WATCH: ‘LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE’ CHILD STAR SAYS SET WAS LIKE ‘MAD MEN’

Butler was 23 when he was cast in the popular TV show, which aired from 1974 to 1983.

“You just couldn’t do it today,” the actor, who played Almanzo Wilder in “Little House,” told Fox News Digital. “There would be way too much blowback. It’s remarkable that we didn’t get more blowback than we did. . . . But I think it was handled so tastefully that people … forgot about the age difference.”

“I think the audience had been watching Melissa for years and loved her incredibly,” Butler shared. “They wanted to see when she, so honestly and innocently, declared her love for this young man. She fell in love from the first time she laid eyes on him. The audience was prepared to go right along with that.”

According to Butler, the characters from the original book series were supposed to have a 10-year age difference. He noted that Gilbert had “complete trust” in her TV dad, who carefully supervised the scene.

“That was a very powerful relationship Melissa had in her life, the one she had with Michael Landon,” said Butler. “When Michael said, ‘This is the guy for you,’ she was prepared to suspend all of her anxieties and just step into it. And Michael never led anyone wrong in the series. He really had it down. He knew what he was doing. He believed very strongly in his creative instincts. He trusted that it would work.”

“I’m just really grateful that I was the guy that he felt he could trust with this,” Butler added.

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Still, both Butler and Gilbert had to overcome their fears in attempting to bring the scene to life.

“I think a lot of young actresses might’ve folded under the pressure,” said Butler. “Melissa had no experience. She’d never been on a date. Never kissed anyone. Never did anything like that. That was still all ahead of her. So to ask her to step into that when she had no real life experience? It does speak to Melissa’s gumption and her courage. She just did it. She put all of her anxieties aside and just stepped in. She knew what she had to do to be the Laura that she was supposed to be.”

The pair smooched in the episode titled “Sweet Sixteen.” Butler said that nearly 100 people surrounded them on set to make sure the shot was perfect.

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“My job was to make it as easy for her as possible by really being the gentleman I was raised to be,” Butler shared. “There’s been no casting pairing like what they did with us since then. That casting could simply never happen today. Certainly not on a mainstream television show.”

A speeding ticket led me to Ronald Reagan’s hometown and changed my perspective

My wife, four daughters and I were driving a rented minivan from Chicago to St. Louis for my cousin’s wedding when I suddenly became aware of a police car behind me with flashing lights, signaling me to pull over to the shoulder of the road. 

A clean-cut, very young and very nice police officer looking to be in his early 20s approached my window and asked me if I realized I had been driving in a construction zone where the speed limit was 45. 

I told him I could swear the sign had just said 65. He acknowledges that the speed limit was 65 awhile back, but it had most recently been 45. It wasn’t until later that I figured out that I was the latest victim of a speed trap, and I would be charged with driving 20 miles over the speed limit. 

As the officer filled out the ticket, I noticed his hands were shaking. Must be new on the job, I figured and, sensing his weakness, I tried to see if he wouldn’t let me off with a warning. He said he couldn’t and noted I must appear in court in a month. 

THE REAGAN MOVIE IS A TIMELY REMINDER OF WHY LEADERSHIP MATTERS

“But I’m visiting from California,” I pleaded. “There’s no way I can come back in a month.” 

He urged me to call the court and see if they’d speed up my court appearance. It was only then, as he finished writing the ticket that I looked at it and noticed that the jurisdiction in which my “crime” had been committed was Dixon, Illinois, the hometown of Ronald Reagan. 

As I tried to process this information, I was reminded of what my mother, who was just as devout as Reagan’s mother, often said, that there is a Divine Plan, and that nothing is random in a universe where God orders the steps of His children. Which in my case meant that I was being led to Dixon, against my will, perhaps for a reason. 

But I still had details to attend to: Following the officer’s suggestion, I pulled over and called a clerk at Dixon City Hall to explain my predicament. She agreed I could come and see the judge – but not until the next day. So, I announced to the family, we were spending the night in Dixon, Illinois. 

I WORKED FOR RONALD REAGAN AND I LOVE HOW LIBERAL CRITICS ARE UPSET ABOUT THE NEW MOVIE

We exited the highway at downtown Dixon and settled into the Holiday Inn. After eating some pizza, we decided to see the sights. I’ve never been to Dixon and had no idea this trip was going to take me by it, but as long as we were there, I decided to make the most of it and learn as much about Reagan as I could. 

We went to a gas station and asked for directions to two places I feel I needed to visit to better understand Ronald Reagan: the Rock River where he saved 77 lives as a lifeguard, and one of his childhood homes on Hennepin Avenue. 

We drove down a dusty trail to get to the river and spent nearly an hour looking for the famous log that Reagan was said to have carved a notch in for each life he saved. But of course, there was nothing to be found.  

After a relaxing afternoon explaining to my kids the significance of the Rock River, visiting the edge of its stony banks, and playing there as kids are wont to do, we piled into the car. 

NEW ‘REAGAN’ MOVIE SHOWS PRESIDENT’S STRENGTHS AND WHY HE IS MOST REMEMBERED FOR FIGHTING ‘EVIL’

Next stop: the home on Hennepin Avenue and more insights into Reagan. 

The home was white and small, and I stopped in the kitchen and in the upstairs room to think about what the scene looked like 75 years earlier when Reagan’s mother Nelle busied herself making a meal while her son did his homework. I also stopped to purchase some poems which had been written by Nelle – nothing fancy or even bound, but just a clump of papers which had been stapled together.

After taking some pictures in front of the home we were off again; back to the hotel to get ready for my encounter with the judge the next morning. 

As I passed through the metal detectors with my wife and four young daughters in tow, I quickly found my public defender who told me what I needed to do. I could go to jail, he said, but most likely I’d just have to pay a fine so long as I pleaded guilty. 

HOW CLINT EASTWOOD INSPIRED ME TO WRITE ‘REAGAN’ FOR HOLLYWOOD

When I explained that I had been merely traveling at the speed of the car in front of me and that there were cars behind me, he just smiled and said I should tell it to the judge – and in a few short minutes I did just that. 

In fact, I also had video footage shot on my cellphone which showed what happened when I tried to go at the speed limit  my citation. Not only were cars honking at me from behind, but one driver sped around my right side and showed me his middle finger. I had the whole thing on tape to prove to the judge that 45 mph was an unreasonable rate of speed. 

“How do you plead?” he asked as I stood before him. 

“Your honor, I’d like to show you some footage I took to show you what happened when I drove at the speed that was posted,” I said with a hopeful tone. 

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“Son, I’m not going to watch your video,” he says. “Now, how do you plead?” 

I thought about the public defender’s warning about the possibility of jail and my four young daughters who needed their dad to stay a free man. I quickly replied: “Guilty, your Honor,” and with that I was on my way to the clerk to pay a hefty $500 fine. 

The nice lady at the window listened to my story and then looked down at her clipboard. She noted that I was the 19th case that day, and without exactly saying it, something about her smile left me with the strong impression that this was how Dixon kept their city services funded. Nineteen people at $500 a head, hey, that would keep a lot of services funded, I thought to myself. 

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The fact that I fell prey to this speed trap ultimately didn’t matter much because when I got back to California, my Aunt Jeanne, who had heard about my predicament, had sent a check to cover the ticket. 

And, I had come to understand that there was purpose in what had happened and that my trip to Dixon was part of what Reagan would call the “DP” or Divine Plan, for me to better understand a man whom I thought I understood. 

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