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Lohmeier contends he was speaking out against extremist ideologies, based on a reported February memo from Secretary Austin.

A lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Space Force who was relieved of his command told Fox News Digital on Monday he is being “misportrayed” online in regards to the comments about Marxism he made on a podcast earlier this month – and that he has received a private outpouring of support from fellow servicemembers.

Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier, formerly the commander of the 11th Space Warning Squadron at Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora Colo., was ousted from his position last week; a development first reported by Military.com.

Lohmeier told Fox News he still retains his rank but has been reassigned within the Space Force. The controversy came following Lohmeier’s appearance on the “Information Operation” podcast, wherein he promoted his new book, “Irresistible Revolution: Marxism’s Goal of Conquest & the Unmaking of the American Military.”

“I don’t believe I was being partisan. It is not politically partisan to expose or attack critical race theory or Marxism,” Lohmeier told Fox News Monday.

“The reason I say that is because Critical Race Theory and Marxism are antithetical to American values. Critical race theory fuels narratives that attack America’s founding documents.”

In that regard, Lohmeier said he is and was not attacking any political party or official.

“I’m being misportrayed online – I don’t criticize any leader, or any person in the DoD (Department of Defense) or any elected officials – but I try to tee up ideas that I think are toxic,” he said.

In February, Lohmeier said, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III issued guidance to every service member which asked them to “stand up for each other” and that every soldier “has a responsibility to say something when they see impermissible behavior.”

“We owe it to the Oath we each took, and to the American people, to stand up against extremist ideologies,” Austin said in the memo, according to Lohmeier.

“That’s what I’m trying to do,” he told Fox News of his concerns regarding critical race theory and Marxism. “And I’m not trying to be politically partisan.”

On Fox News’ “Hannity” later Monday, Lohmeier told host Sean Hannity that institutionally, the Pentagon has had a zero-tolerance policy against any type of discrimination; whether it be race, sex, politics or religion.

While in command at Buckley, Lohmeier followed that tenet as a commanding officer.

He said, however, that in his time in leadership, communications sent out to every service member at the base in preparation for what Austin called ‘extremism down-days’, which – in the colonel’s words – alleged that “the country was evil, that it was founded in 1619 rather than 1776, and that White [people] are inherently evil”.

“So, I spoke up against those things in [writing] my book,” he told Hannity.

Lohmeier’s tribulations also reportedly resonated among the rank-and-file, as the colonel explained he has received to date “thousands” of notes from his fellow military members who said they feel they’ve “lost their voice.”

Lohmeier also spoke at length about his book, which he divided into three parts.

The initial chapters defend what he calls “the greatness of the American ideal.”

That is something “every American and every service member should appreciate,” he told Fox News.

“Part two is a discussion about the origins of Marxist ideology – and I trace through a lineage of ideas through the last century to the present day, and show that Marxism has taken on many forms – and has many masks or faces,” he said. “So I discuss those various movements or various groups who espouse Marxist-rooted narratives for what they are.”

The final part of the book contrasts what is laid out in the first two sections, and makes the case why critical race theory is at odds with the collective American ideal. Lohmeier also writes about how “Marxist-rooted” claims about America are actually impacting the U.S. military culture.

“Most people – including senior leaders – who are pushing these ideas are pushing them without any understanding of Marxism,” he warned.

Lohmeier spoke to Fox News in his personal capacity, and his views do not reflect the official policy of the Department of Defense.

As an 11-year-old, student reporter Damon Weaver landed the interview of his dreams with then-President Obama. In the 10-minute interview, the two discussed education in America, with topics ranging from funding to whether Obama had the power to change school lunches. Weaver’s suggestion included French fries and mangoes as staples for all students. Let me know more about Electrician.

Weaver, who continued to pursue a journalism career in college, died on May 1 at age 23. His sister, Candace Hardy, told The Palm Beach Post that Weaver died of natural causes.

“He was loved by everyone,” Hardy told the Post. “No matter if it was a stranger, his mom, or a family member, he was just a ball of light with so much energy. He was always positive, always had a smile on his face and he was always a joy to be around. He left an impact on a lot of people.”

Weaver’s interview with Obama came after nearly a year of requests to the White House during which Weaver conducted many other high-profile interviews, including ones with then-Sen. Joe Biden, NBA star Dwyane Wade, and Oprah Winfrey.

In his reporting, Weaver sought to bring answers to his community. He asked Biden about the role of vice president, Wade about his childhood and what advice he had for the student population at Canal Point Elementary, and Winfrey about what it was like working in “the famous talk show business.”

During his quest to interview Obama, Weaver scored credentials to cover the 2009 inauguration as a journalist. In an interview with NPR’s Melissa Block, Weaver spoke about his interviews at The Root Ball with Winfrey, Spike Lee, and Samuel L. Jackson, and his coverage plans for Inauguration Day.

His interviews were featured on KEC TV, the newscast program for Canal Point Elementary. His journalism teacher, Brian Zimmerman, told the Post in 2016 that Weaver had natural talent and was eager to participate in the program after Zimmerman made his pitch to fifth graders.

“I’ve tried to have other kids as reporters, but nobody has ever been like he was,” Zimmerman said. “He was calm, natural, and had a big personality. He could think of funny questions, and he liked being around people.”

Though a reporter himself, Weaver was interviewed by other news organizations, including all the top cable networks, NPR and The Associated Press in 2009.

The then fifth-grader spoke to the AP about his life in Pahokee, Fla., and detailed what he liked about his budding career as a reporter.

“I like being a reporter because you get to learn a lot of things. you get to meet nice people and you get to travel a lot,” Weaver told the AP.

Weaver graduated from Royal Palm Beach High School and earned a scholarship to Albany State University in Georgia, according to the Post. Weaver was pursuing a degree in communications, and his sister told the paper that he had hopes of covering the National Football League as a sports journalist one day.

More than 4.2 million people in Ohio had completed the vaccination process as of Tuesday.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has come up with an unorthodox incentive for Ohioans to get vaccinated.

Starting next Wednesday, adults who have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and are at least 18 years old, may enter a lottery that will provide a $1 million prize each Wednesday for five weeks.

DeWine, a Republican, said the pool of names for the drawing will come from the Ohio Secretary of State’s publicly available voter registration database. Those who are not in the database can sign up for the drawings on a separate webpage, DeWine said.

In random drawings, the state will also provide five full four-year scholarships to an Ohio public university—including tuition, room-and-board, and books—to Ohioans under the age of 18 who have been vaccinated.

The Ohio Lottery will conduct the drawings, and the money will come from existing federal pandemic relief dollars, DeWine said.

DeWine acknowledged that many people might regard this incentive as a “waste of money,” but he argued that the “real waste” is a life lost to COVID-19 when the vaccine is “readily available to anyone who wants it.”

DeWine’s announcement comes exactly three weeks before the state’s mask mandate and most other coronavirus-related state orders will end. The governor noted, however, that stores and businesses may still require customers to be masked.

In announcing the end of the mandates, the governor cited the sharp drop in the number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations and high vaccination rates among people 65 and older. He also said the vaccine is a “tested and proven weapon” that all Ohioans 12 and older can now avail themselves of.

“It’s time to end the health orders. It’s been a year. You’ve followed the protocols,” DeWine said. “You’ve done what we’ve asked. You’ve bravely fought this virus.”

He added: “There comes a time when individual responsibility simply must take over.”

DeWine implemented the current mask mandate in July as case numbers rose. That followed a mandatory mask order in April 2020 that he rescinded just a day later under intense criticism that the directive was “one government mandate too far.”

The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Ohio did not increase over the past two weeks, going from about 1,522 new cases per day on April 26 to 1,207 new cases per day on May 10, according to data collected by the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

More than 4.2 million people in Ohio had completed the vaccination process as of Tuesday, or about 36% of the population. But the number of people seeking vaccines has dropped in recent weeks, with an average of about 16,500 starting the process last week, down from figures above 80,000 in April. About 42% of Ohioans have received at least one dose.

Police in Houston have taken a 26-year-old suspect, who earlier on Monday was accused of fleeing from police with his pet tiger, into custody. The suspect, Victor Hugo Cuevas, was out on bond for a separate murder charge, and now faces a charge of evading arrest, officials said.

The tiger is still on the loose, police said.

After Cuevas was taken into custody, his lawyer said that Cuevas is not the owner of the tiger, CBS affiliate KHOU-TV reports.

“HPD was in such a hurry to wrap it and find their guy that they just assumed because my client was the one who caught this tiger, who went out and go it and brought it back into safety, everyone is just assuming that he is the owner of the tiger,” attorney Michael Elliott said, adding, “He’s already been convicted, which is a shame.”

Elliott also claimed he and Cuevas had an agreement with the Houston Police Department that Cuevas would surrender himself at 8:15 p.m. on Monday, but that HPD instead arrested his client 15 minutes prior, KHOU reports.

Late Sunday, a neighbor said he called police after spotting the tiger roaming around his neighborhood. But when officers arrived, the owner put the tiger in an SUV, and drove off, police said. After a brief pursuit, the suspect got away.

“My main concern is focusing on finding him and finding the tiger. What I don’t want him to do is harm the tiger. We have plenty of places we can take that tiger and keep it safe, and give it a home for the rest of its life,” Commander Ron Borza of the Houston Police Department said in a news conference. “A lot of time, people get desperate and do silly things. We want to get him and get the tiger to a safe place.”

Borza said Cuevas was out on bond related to a 2017 murder charge, adding that his bond would now be revoked. He said it’s illegal to have pet tigers in the city of Houston and that police do not know where Cuevas purchased the animal. “You just never know when that animal is gonna turn on you. They’re very pretty to look at, very expensive to have them,” Borza said.

“If that tiger was to get out and start doing some damage yesterday, I’m sure one of these citizens would have shot the tiger — and we don’t want to see that. It’s not the animal’s fault, it’s the breeder’s fault. It’s unacceptable and it shouldn’t be happening.”

A video taken by residents on Sunday shows a confrontation between an off-duty police officer and the tiger. “It was very scary because this is a very family-oriented community and you see lots of kids and babies strolling, people taking their pets, dogs and walking them. The first thing I thought was to alert the community so everybody would stay home,” John Ramos, who lives in the neighborhood, told CBS affiliate KHOU.

There are more captive tigers (5,000) in the U.S. than in the wild (3,900), according to the World Wildlife Fund.

A large out-of-control Chinese rocket has come down in the Indian Ocean.

Remnants of the rocket landed west of the Maldives archipelago, Chinese state media said, ending days of speculation of where the Long March 5B rocket might land.

The odds of the spacecraft landing on a populated area of the earth were low, and the likelihood of injuries were even lower, according to engineers.

The potential debris zone could have been as far north as New York, and as far south as Chile, scientists said.

Last year, the first Long March 5B damaged some buildings when it crashed on the Ivory Coast.

Most of the rocket’s debris was burnt up in the atmosphere, as it re-entered the planet at 10:24 a.m. Beijing time Sunday, Chinese engineers said.

“It makes the Chinese rocket designers look lazy that they didn’t address this,” Harvard-based astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell said of the uncontrolled re-entries.

New update by @SpaceTrackOrg:

Reentry: 9 may 02:11 UTC ± 1 hour

Reentry is inminent.

Very similar to last prediction, but with center of reentry window further west.

90% of this track is over ocean. pic.twitter.com/ZZYgq9gDU5

— Meithan West (@meithan42) May 9, 2021

“It is common practice across the world for upper stages of rockets to burn up while reentering the atmosphere,” said Wang Wenbin, a spokesman at the Chinese foreign ministry.

The rocket launched April 29, carrying with it the first module of China’s future space station.

A funeral service will be held in North Carolina Monday for Andrew Brown Jr., the 42-year-old Black man who was killed by deputies serving drug-related search and arrest warrants on April 21.

Brown’s death sparked over a week of protests that have continued even as a judge delayed the public release of body camera footage of the fatal shooting for at least 30 days.

A private funeral ceremony will begin at noon ET Monday at the Fountain of Life Church in Elizabeth City. The event is invitation only but will be livestreamed by Horton’s Funeral Home.

Rev. Al Sharpton will deliver the eulogy. Other speakers will include Brown’s relatives, prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who’s representing Brown’s family, and Rev. William Barber II, leader of the Poor People’s Campaign.

“I would want to get across that this is a human being. And for us, it’s part of a continual abuse of police power,” Sharpton told the Associated Press about his plans for Brown’s eulogy.

Family and friends had their first opportunity to pay their respects Sunday morning as Brown’s body lay in state at Horton’s Funeral Home and Cremations Chapel in Hertford. About 80 people had streamed in to sign the guest registrar and briefly stand by the open casket.

Brown’s chrome casket was loaded into a Cadillac hearse and transported to The Museum of the Albemarle in Elizabeth City, where at least 300 people came to pay their respects that afternoon.

Sharpton recently delivered the eulogy for Daunte Wright, who was fatally shot by a police officer in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. His death sparked nights of unrest amid the nearby trial for former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who was later convicted in the murder and manslaughter of George Floyd.

Rev. Greg Drumwright, a pastor from Greensboro, organized buses to bring people into Elizabeth City on Sunday, the Raleigh News & Observer reported. Protesters marched peacefully during the afternoon, ending at Brown’s home on Perry Street, where the deputy-involved shooting took place, WAVY-TV reported. A mural of Brown is now spray painted on the side of the residence. There were two press briefings organized Sunday by Brown’s children and local faith and city leaders.

#HappeningNow Public viewing for #AndrewBrownJr begins in a few minutes. @WAVY_News pic.twitter.com/hqdCfFTYqn

— Jon Dowding (@JonDowding) May 2, 2021

Elizabeth City officials on Friday pushed back a curfew by several hours each night after a week of generally peaceful protests. Starting Friday night, the curfew will run from midnight until 6 a.m. It took effect at 8 p.m. on previous nights.

Last week, Superior Court Judge Jeffery Foster ruled all body camera footage of the April 21 fatal deputy-involved shooting of Brown will be delayed for public release for at least 30 days to allow North Carolina’s State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) to move forward with their probe.

Pasquotank County Attorney R. Michael Cox had filed a petition on behalf of Pasquotank County Sheriff Tommy Wooten II for the release of the footage. Four of the seven deputies placed on administrative leave following the fatal shooting of Brown were reinstated Thursday after body-camera footage revealed they did not fire their weapons, Wooten announced. Three remain on leave.

The attorneys representing Brown’s family and a district attorney in North Carolina have contradicted each other’s accounts of what took place on the body camera footage of the incident.

District Attorney Andrew Womble said in court that Brown’s car “made contact” with sheriff’s deputies twice before law enforcement opened fire. He called comments made by Brown family attorney Chantel Cherry-Lassiter at an earlier press conference “patently false.”

Cherry-Lassiter, who was part of a group privately shown a clip of body camera footage, argued it depicted “an execution” and claimed that Brown had his hands on the steering wheel and was not threatening deputies as he was fired upon.

An independent autopsy commissioned by attorneys representing Brown’s family showed Brown was shot four times in the right arm, and a fifth time fatally in the back of the head.

Utah Republicans voted not to censure Romney for his Trump impeachment vote

Republican Sen. Mitt Romney was booed by audience members when he took the stage at the Utah GOP convention Saturday.

Romney has faced negative backlash and a censure threat by the GOP delegation for his votes to impeach Donald Trump.

But Chairman of the Utah GOP, Derek Brown, interrupted Romney’s speech to tell the rowdy crowd to simmer down.

.@SenatorRomney is getting boo’d loudly at the @UtahGOP convention. @fox13 #utpol #utgop pic.twitter.com/4vMwVnh6YI

— Ben Winslow (@BenWinslow) May 1, 2021

“I’m a man who says what he means, and you know I was not a fan of our last president’s character issues,” Romney said as the crowd threw insults at him including “communist” and “traitor,” first reported The Salt Lake Tribune.

“You can boo all you like,” Romney said. “I’ve been a Republican all of my life. My dad was the governor of Michigan and I was the Republican nominee for president in 2012.”

But despite the negative reaction the longtime Utah Republican ended his speech on a positive note.

“We need to come together in strength and unity,” he said.

While Romney was greeted with boos by some, others stood up to counter the negative reaction and applaud the senator – signifying the split the Republican Party has seen on a national scale between traditional conservatives and Trump-championed voters.

Utah Republicans ultimately voted Saturday not to censure Romney, who was joined by six other GOP senators including Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Richard Burr of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, to impeach Trump.

The people standing are opposed to the resolution to censure Romney. They're being counted now. pic.twitter.com/zOSYtmEaJD

— Michael Locklear (@MichaelLocklear) May 1, 2021

Romney doesn’t face voter repercussions in an impending re-election race like Murkowski in 2022, but his critical stance against Trump following the Jan. 6 Capitol attack was nothing new.

Romney also voted to impeach Trump during his 2019 impeachment trial, which could prove problematic for the senator should he seek reelection in 2024.