An 18-year-old man allegedly paid $600 in exchange for an AK-47 and 200 rounds of ammunition before getting arrested by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud allegedly plotted a terrorist attack on non-Muslims at the Mall of America for two years, according to U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen.

‘This was a radicalized young man who needed to be watched.’

The suspect believed he was purchasing the items for his attack from a member of the ISIS terrorist group, but the person was in fact an undercover FBI agent.

Among the evidence gathered by the FBI were messages Mohamud allegedly exchanged with an FBI informant about his terrorist mission.

Mohamud was arrested on Tuesday after allegedly making the exchange, prosecutors revealed Wednesday.

“The FBI rendered the AK-47 rifle inert prior to the transaction,” the DOJ said.

“During the sale of the firearm and ammunition, Mohamud reaffirmed his plan to use the firearm and ammunition to shoot people at the Mall of America,” it added.

Mohamud allegedly indicated that he wanted to attack the Minneapolis mall on Oct. 24, the day of an arts celebration for the Hmong people, an ethnic group from China and Southeast Asia. He also allegedly claimed to have picked the site because it is owned by Jews, the DOJ press release said.

Rosen described Mohamud as an American citizen of Somali descent.

The messages obtained by the FBI allegedly showed that he wanted to go to Somalia to join ISIS but decided to attack the mall instead because he could not afford to travel. He intended to kill between 30 and 60 people at the mall, and he sought martyrdom, according to the FBI.

He has been charged with one count of knowingly receiving a firearm and ammunition in order to commit a federal crime of terrorism.

“This was a radicalized young man who needed to be watched,” Rosen said.

FBI Director Kash Patel posted a statement about the operation on social media.

“ARRESTED before he could hurt a single American,” he wrote. “This FBI doesn’t wait for terrorists to attack. We find them, disrupt them, and put them in handcuffs. Outstanding work by our Minneapolis team. We are staying on offense. America First. ALWAYS.”

RELATED: Houston gang members allegedly rapped about their violent crimes on social media — until ‘massive’ FBI arrest

The FBI said it began tracking Mohamud in Dec. 2024 and had spoken to his parents about his radicalization.

“What I would say to parents all over Minnesota, and all over America: If you get any indication — especially if you hear from federal law enforcement — that your son or daughter is being radicalized, to the point where federal law enforcement wants to come and give you that warning, those are warnings that ought to be heeded,” Rosen said.

Booking records indicated that Mohamud is 5’11” tall and weighs 120 pounds.

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​Terrorism, Federal bureau of investigation, Islam, Minnesota, Crime, Politics 

What can America’s most successful movies tell us about America itself?

Steve Deace, Todd Erzen, and Aaron McIntire set out to answer that question by examining the 25 highest-grossing films in U.S. history — when adjusted for inflation of course.

From “Gone with the Wind,” “The Ten Commandments,” and “The Sound of Music” to “Star Wars,” “Titanic,” and today’s blockbuster franchises, the list offers a window into the stories that once united the culture.

“The Graduate” made the end of the list, which Deace calls “the only intentionally subversive film on this list.”

Erzen notes that it’s a “really well-crafted” film about “people living hollow, empty lives.”

“They’re just, you know, going in any direction they can think of to find some level of meaning and purpose. That’s a conversation worth having,” he says.

“That is the conversation that’s being buried by most people. Like there’s a lot of young white men who are struggling for meaning and purpose, and they’re choosing video games over a lot of other things,” he continues.

“Today,” he adds, “it’s just about victim culture and whiny grievances and DEI, and you know, who wants to be a part of that?”

McIntire points out that there’s “a gap there from 1999 to … 2014, 2015.”

“That was the era of ‘Harry Potter,’ ‘Lord of the Rings,’ ‘Avatar.’ … Those were, I thought, cultural icons. They are cultural icons,” he says.

“And then on top of that, once you get past that 14-, 15-year gap, the movies that are on this list, the entries that are on this list, what do they have in common?” he asks, answering himself, “They’re franchises.”

“So nothing original,” Deace comments. “Everything’s a derivative.”

“That’s not a good trend line in my estimation, but it kind of fits hand in glove with not only the big picture culturally that we’re seeing, but particularly in Hollywood,” McIntire adds.

However, while the left has run Hollywood for quite some time, Deace points out that the right is gaining ground in this part of the culture war.

“To our credit, if you look at films like ‘Young Washington,’ you’re seeing us, you know, beginning to seize the opportunity,” he explains. “It does show right now, the opportunity that exists to gain a serious beachhead within the most powerful pop culture medium in the history of this entire planet.”

And this is important, he explains, because “who controls a culture’s stories and myths controls a culture every single time.”

“If we gain a serious beachhead in the storytelling realm, folks, then that’s worth five to ten Senate seats,” he adds.

Want more from Steve Deace?

To enjoy more of Steve’s take on national politics, Christian worldview, and principled conservatism with a snarky twist, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Dei, Hollywood, Culture war, Steve deace, Todd erzen, Aaron mcintire, Blazetv show 

Donald Trump says Democrats don’t have a “deep bench” of future leaders. BlazeTV host Pat Gray believes the party’s 2028 speculation isn’t exactly proving him wrong — especially one of the most likely contenders, Gavin Newsom.

In a recent interview, Newsom attempted to sound reflective and statesmanlike when discussing his political future — but BlazeTV host Pat Gray and his panel aren’t buying it.

“That moment will arrive when it arrives. You’ll know it,” Newsom said.

“It, you know, sort of hits you, not just here,” he continued, pointing to his head, “it hits you here,” he added, pointing to his chest.

Newsom went on with an incoherent sentence that included “congruency” and “there’s no such thing as a deadline.”

“What did he say?” executive producer Keith Malinak asks, confused.

“He’s trying to sound like he’s, you know, intelligent,” Gray says. “And, as usual, comes off the opposite.”

Jeff Fisher notes that AOC is also attempting to “sound more presidential,” before rolling a clip of the congresswoman saying, “like, whatever.”

“Newsom-AOC 2028,” Malinak says.

“She wants to be president; she doesn’t want to be vice president,” Fisher says. “So Newsom isn’t going to be her vice president.”

“She would … take that spot on the ticket,” Malinak disagrees.

Want more from Pat Gray?

To enjoy more of Pat’s biting analysis and signature wit as he restores common sense to a senseless world, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Donald trump, Gavin newsom, Pat gray, Aoc, 2028, Presidential election, Blazetv show 

A Texas mother is accused of stabbing her young children — ages 3 years and 10 months — and her husband early Tuesday morning, KXAS-TV reported.

Northlake Police officers were dispatched to a home in the 1200 block of Daylily Drive around 4:20 a.m. regarding a stabbing in progress, the station said.

‘More of a stare — didn’t really say a whole lot.’

Police said a man called 911 and reported that his wife had a knife and was stabbing him, KXAS said.

Northlake Police Chief Robert Crawford said he listened to the 911 calls and noted that the man was trying to get to the couple’s children, who were in another room, the station noted.

“He was trying to get to the children, and the children were in another room, and she was actively trying to stab him, so he had to retreat outside,” Crawford said, according to KXAS.

Arriving officers detained a woman, the station said, adding that police said the 34-year-old man suffered a stab wound to the head and is expected to recover.

Officers found the couple’s 3-year-old daughter and 10-month-old son with stab wounds to the chest, police told KXAS, adding that they were taken to a Fort Worth hospital and are expected to survive.

The detained woman, identified as 37-year-old Holly Leeann Flores, was taken to a Denton hospital for observation and possible injuries, the station said, adding that police said she was treated, released, then taken into custody and transported to the Denton County Jail.

Flores is charged with two counts of attempted capital murder and one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, KXAS reported. Flores’ jail record lists no bond or court date for her.

Crawford told the station that Flores did not say a lot to officers after she was detained: “More of a stare — didn’t really say a whole lot.”

RELATED: Mother ‘very invested’ in Lindsay Clancy case accused of killing 2-year-old son, had chilling plans for husband: Prosecutors

Police said officers had been called to the home five times since March for welfare checks, KXAS reported.

Neighbor Brittany Flores noted to the station that she was troubled that police had previously been called to the home.

“I think it’s awful that the police were here multiple times, and it sounds like something like this could have been prevented if there was some kind of intervention,” she told KXAS. “I don’t know all what was in place or her mental state or whatever. I’m just absolutely shocked.”

Neighbors added to the station that they knew the suspect through neighborhood gatherings and that she ran a balloon business.

Brittany Flores told KXAS that she and the suspect previously spoke about their common parental experiences: “It was just camaraderie, and we related to what we were going through. But there was a lot more that was going on underneath the surface than what you talk about at a birthday party.”

Neighbor Ally Barfuss added to the station that the incident has shaken the neighborhood.

“It breaks my heart for both of them — the kids and the mom,” Barfuss told KXAS. “I feel really sad for all of them. I hope everyone is OK, including her.”

Northlake Police told the station the investigation is ongoing.

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​Stabbing, Mother, Arrest, Physical attack, Family, Attempted capital murder, Texas, Crime 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last month that he has “no plans at this time” about a potential 2028 presidential run and doesn’t know “what the future holds.”

“He is still young, and smart in both policy and politics, and is keeping his options open for the future,” one person familiar with the matter recently told NBC News. “If you asked him if he’s interested in 2032 or 2036, he would probably say sure.”

‘We must win together.’

While America’s top diplomat — who recently polled third among potential candidates favored by Republicans for 2028 — is supposedly uncertain about what course he will personally chart in two years, he is confident about what direction America must take in the here and now.

In a speech Wednesday at the Acropolis in Athens, Rubio emphasized the imperative for America and other Western nations to unapologetically pursue national power; prioritize their own people; cease feeling guilty for being exceptional; and reclaim the “classical understanding” that “power requires not only having the means to defend yourself; it requires the credibility that you are willing to use it.”

With the Parthenon as his backdrop, Rubio buttered up the Greeks by emphasizing the influence that their forebears had on America and, more broadly, on Western civilization.

“The history of America, the history of my country, is covered with the fingerprints of antiquity,” said the secretary.

After first alluding to the architectural, linguistic, narrative, philosophical, and political influence that the ancient Greeks had on America and its people, Rubio noted, “The civilization of Athens and Rome transformed an infant seaboard republic into a continental empire.”

RELATED: Keeping the West’s flame burning

“The greatest Americans of every generation have carried the unmistakable features of their forefathers,” he continued, “born in Athens, formed by Rome, baptized in Christendom, hardened in the furnace of medieval Europe, endowed with the English genius for liberty, and then carried across the Atlantic to be reborn on the shores of a new world.”

The secretary’s speech was, however, about far more than tying former Greek excellence to continuing American excellence.

Rubio underscored that America and the “whole of our civilization” are at an “inflection point” — that “national interests did not vanish in the face of international institutions”; that peace is not inevitable; that there is renewed competition between great powers and a “whole universe of new threats” that must be addressed; and that it is critical now, more than ever, to rebuild institutions and alliances.

The secretary has been discussing various bilateral and multilateral alliances including NATO on a European tour that landed him in Athens on Wednesday.

During a joint press conference with Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis held just prior to his speech at the Acropolis, Rubio said that “the nations of Europe need to take on a greater share of the burden in defending their continent” and that Greece is on track to satisfy its minimum NATO obligation.

He noted further that the U.S. and Greece have signed a memorandum of understanding establishing a joint security program to bolster binational counterterrorism information-sharing and that Greece is joining the National Guard’s Bureau of State Partnership Program.

Rubio noted in his speech — which was reminiscent of his Feb.14 “civilizational erasure” speech in Munich — that the purpose of such alliances “is not to abolish the sovereignty of the nations that constitute them. It is to defend them. And nations need not abandon their distinct identities in order to recognize their common interests.”

“We want to win together,” said Rubio. “We must win together.”

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​Marco rubio, Nato, Military alliance, Western civilization, Politics, Greece 

An American may have helped facilitate a mass murder at a school in Canada earlier this year committed by a teenage adult man pretending to be a woman.

On Feb. 10, Jesse Van Rootselaar, an 18-year-old trans-identifying man, murdered his mother and half-brother, then traveled to a secondary school in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, where he proceeded to injure 25 people and murder a 39-year-old female teacher, three 12-year-old girls, and two boys, ages 12 and 13, before taking his own life.

‘I know I can like, save lives I guess but idk.’

Now it seems Van Rootselaar plotted the massacre with the help of a radical from Washington state. James Cody Bryant, a 30-year-old Bellingham resident, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with conspiracy to murder persons in a foreign country.

“The Tumbler Ridge Secondary School shooting was a horrific tragedy for that small community and for all of Canada. Indeed, here in the Pacific Northwest we felt the pain of those families devastated by this violence,” acting U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd said in a statement. “It is even more profoundly disturbing to learn that a resident of Western Washington had a role in the attack and took steps — providing counsel, technical advice, and money to the shooter planning such a tragedy.”

The FBI noted that the duo first met online on the chat service Omegle before it was shut down in 2023.

The criminal complaint alleges that Bryant began conspiring to murder innocents with the Canadian-based trans radical in August 2025; “agreed to record J.V.R.’s livestream of the planned murders and post it over the internet for the public to view”; ensured that the livestream “look[ed] solid”; and even provided the shooter with tactical advice on how best to execute the massacre.

The FBI obtained Discord messages that allegedly show Bryant and Van Rootselaar discussing optimal ways of maximizing carnage.

RELATED: ‘Our results shocked us’: HHS report confirms your darkest suspicions about trans ideology

Blaze Media Illustration

In early August 2025, the shooter allegedly discussed previous Canadian mass shootings, noting, “Getting 14 kills is a lot easier than getting 22, though if I got more than 22 it’d be simply the deadliest shooting in Canadian history period.”

After Van Rootselaar articulated his desire to best previous school shooting kill counts, Bryant allegedly responded, “Hallways also mean a lot of ways people can escape. Corners to turn. Wide open spaces mean numbers.”

Justice Department

In addition to discussing places where the shooter could play “hide and seek” with the greatest number of potential victims, Bryant advised the trans radical on which weapons to use, prosecutors alleged in the complaint.

Bryant allegedly told the shooter in an Aug. 26 message, “[You] should have a handgun if you can manage a print tbh,” then allegedly added, “You’ve got solid plans.”

A modified handgun and a long gun were recovered at the scene of the massacre, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Justice Department

In December, Bryant allegedly told Van Rootselaar that he “definitely would” have fans after committing the murders and suggested further that people would “probably” be mad if the shooter were romanticized after the planned massacre.

Prosecutors further alleged that Bryant provided Van Rootselaar with financial support “to purchase items for use during the attack, including the shoes Van Rootselaar intended to wear, a lighter Van Rootselaar would use to ignite an explosive device, and stickers to decorate the firearms Van Rootselaar would use to commit the murders, and discussed possibly sending the shooter a 3D-printed firearm kit and related gear.

The shooter shared an image on Discord in August 2025 showing a sticker depicting the trans flag superimposed on the planet Saturn that he had apparently put on the receiver of a shotgun. Bryant allegedly said of the picture, “Love the stickers. [] stickers would be so funny to be seen in photos of the incident.”

Bryant and Van Rootselaar also allegedly discussed whether the livestream of the attack should contain an audio feed.

After the shooter expressed concern about about how his voice might sound while slaughtering innocents, Bryant allegedly suggested silence, stating, “No lasting evidence of your voice, just a pretty girl gunning ppl down.”

When the topic of alerting the relevant authorities to the murder plot came up, Bryant allegedly emphasized on multiple occasions that he would not “snitch,” allegedly stating in one instance, “I could. I don’t want to honestly. I know I can like, save lives I guess but idk.”

Despite allegedly egging on Van Rootselaar for months and failing to alert authorities, Bryant apparently had a change of heart just weeks ahead of the shooting.

On Jan. 4, the American allegedly told the shooter, “I truly hope you reconsider today. I wish there were any other path for you, you shouldn’t have to do something like this. I wish I knew what I could say or do to change your mind.”

Despite this alleged attempt to dissuade the shooter from acting on his bloodlust, Bryant allegedly made clear that he was ready to lend his support on the day of the massacre.

According to prosecutors, Van Rootselaar allegedly sent Bryant photos of himself prepared for the attack. In one photo, the shooter is dressed in women’s clothing and the boots that Bryant allegedly bought for him and armed with a rifle that appears to be equipped with a suppressor painted in the colors of the trans-radical flag.

Van Rootselaar began masquerading as a woman roughly six years ago, and Wikipedia, the liberal media, and the Justice Department continue to falsely refer to him as a female.

Justice Department

During the shooting, Bryant allegedly confirmed that he was watching the feed — which U.S. Attorney Floyd indicated had been terminated by Twitch after approximately 20 seconds — and even allegedly counseled Van Rootselaar on how to start the vehicle that Van Rootselaar drove to Tumbler Ridge Secondary School.

If convicted, Bryant could be thrown in prison for the rest of his life.

When asked on Tuesday whether Bryant might be sent to Canada to face prosecution, Floyd noted that the alleged crimes were committed in the U.S. and that the “penalties may be higher” in America.

“On behalf of the FBI, I want to express heartfelt sympathy for the victims of this tragedy and their loved ones,” said W. Mike Herrington, special agent in charge of the FBI Seattle field office. “No investigation can undo the fear and suffering caused by the horrific events of this February or bring these individuals back to their families, school, or community. We mourn with you.”

Elija Rain, acting commanding officer of the British Columbua RCMP, said in a statement, “Today’s arrest and charge announcement by the FBI reflects the months of investigative effort, cooperation, and coordination between our two agencies”

The RCMP apparently contacted the U.S. Department of Homeland Security after receiving information from one of the online platforms used by the shooter.

“I would like to thank the FBI Seattle and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington for their partnership, professionalism, and commitment throughout this complex investigation,” continued Rain. “Their cooperation and expertise have been invaluable in advancing the work across jurisdictions and ensuring that all available evidence could be thoroughly examined.”

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​Transgender, British columbia, Rcmp, Fbi, School shooting, Massacre, Politics, Crime 

While polling suggests Democrat Abdul El-Sayed is leading the Senate race in Michigan, members of key Democrat-leaning demographics say he hasn’t earned their votes, even as absentee ballots have already begun to trickle in.

Like others in the Rust Belt, Michigan is a purple state. Michigan voted for President Donald Trump in 2016 and 2024, but went for President Joe Biden in 2020. It also currently has a Democrat executive branch and state Senate but a Republican House.

‘The exodus of Jewish and black Democrats from Conman Abdul El-Sayed’s camp exposes his crumbling coalition.’

While Trump won Michigan in 2024, Vice President Kamala Harris carried Wayne County, which includes Detroit, and Oakland County, which has a high Jewish population. That same year, Democrat Elissa Slotkin barely squeaked by Republican Mike Rogers in the U.S. Senate race by just 0.34%.

So it’s no wonder that in 2026, El-Sayed and Rogers are in a tough battle for the open seat soon to be vacated by Democrat Sen. Gary Peters.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Blaze News Poll Watch has El-Sayed with an edge of 2.6%, and, according to CNN, El-Sayed has already predicted he will win by seven points.

Yet frank admissions by high-profile Michigan Democrats as well as black and Jewish voters suggest he may actually have some ground to make up in his own party.

RELATED: ‘Not someone who can be trusted’: Anti-Trump Detroit newspaper rips El-Sayed in Rogers endorsement

Democrat Rep. Hillary Scholten, who represents a district in Western Michigan, was caught on a video dated September 26 admitting that the El-Sayed campaign still has a lot of work to do “to connect with the black community.”

In an MS NOW clip that went viral this week, one black female said, “We don’t know him,” while another said: “He’s taking advantage that we, as black people, are Democratic, and he think we’re gonna vote for him anyway, and I’m like, ‘No, sir.'”

An MS NOW panel of pro-Israel Democrats similarly expressed skepticism of El-Sayed — with good reason.

A former staffer for his campaign is under federal indictment in connection with anti-Semitic attacks, his family members have been linked to Islamic terrorist groups, and he infamously responded to the Hezbollah-inspired attack on Temple Israel in March by saying, “Hurt people hurt people.”

“I can’t vote for Abdul El-Sayed because, once again, he’s going against something that’s innately me,” said one Jewish mother.

“I might go to Mike Rogers,” said another.

Lansing Mayor Andy Schor, who is Jewish, indicated that the El-Sayed team has not made overtures for his support and that he may ultimately not vote for him. “If he doesn’t need me, he doesn’t need me,” Schor stated, according to CNN.

Democrat Attorney General Dana Nessel, who is also Jewish, initially distanced herself from El-Sayed but ultimately endorsed him.

In the last week, Blaze News has received multiple text messages from Nonnegotiable Michigan, a group of Democrat-voting Jews in Michigan who launched a month ago in part to “call on El-Sayed and Democratic candidates to affirm baseline commitments to Jewish safety and identity.”

“We’ve always shown up overwhelmingly for Democrats — but our support requires us to feel safe and valued in the party that has been our political home,” read a message delivered Sunday.

Scholten and the El-Sayed campaign did not respond to requests for comment from Blaze News.

RELATED: Obama rushes to rescue Abdul El-Sayed in Detroit — GOP issues scathing response

Blaze News

Greg Manz, senior communications director for the Michigan GOP, characterized El-Sayed as a “conman” who “has repeatedly brushed off concerns from black voters” even as he is being “bankrolled by elements tied to the Muslim Brotherhood.”

“The exodus of Jewish and black Democrats from Conman Abdul El-Sayed’s camp exposes his crumbling coalition,” Manz said in a statement to Blaze News.

“The panic is palpable.”

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​Abdul el-sayed, Democrats, Michigan, Mike rogers, Politics 

History can tell you what happened at Lepanto. G.K. Chesterton can make you hear it.

On October 7, 1571, a fleet of the Holy League met the Ottoman navy off western Greece in one of the largest galley battles ever fought. The Christian victory halted Ottoman naval momentum in the Mediterranean and became one of the defining military events of early modern Christendom.

We are not observers of a glorious Christian past.

Four hundred and fifty-five years later, the battle itself is rarely discussed outside history books and Catholic circles. Chesterton’s “Lepanto” helps explain why that is a loss.

The poem does something a chronology cannot. It takes an old battle and makes it present.

That distinction matters because we have largely forgotten how to teach history as inheritance. Too often, the past arrives as a clinical sequence of dates and events — or worse, as a catalog of embarrassments for which the living are expected to apologize. Our ancestors understood that memory had to be cultivated.

I was fortunate enough to grow up partly outside that system. My homeschool education included memorizing and reciting some of the great poems of the Western canon.

Memorization itself was useful. But those poems did more than exercise the mind. They taught me to love and remember the heroes, soldiers, saints, and scholars who built the civilization I inherited.

A textbook can explain the Crimean War. Tennyson makes you hear the cavalry moving: “Half a league, half a league, half a league onward.” A history of Rome can tell you the legend of Horatius at the bridge. Thomas Babington Macaulay puts the choice in the mouth of the man himself:

Then out spake brave Horatius
The Captain of the gate:
“To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late.
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers
And the temples of his gods.”

The same is true closer to home. A paragraph about the British march on Concord can explain what happened. Longfellow’s “Listen, my children, and you shall hear” makes a child want to remember it.

RELATED: Remember the Battle of Lepanto

Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images

These works are literary masterpieces, but that is not the whole of their value. They are meant to stir the imagination. They give history rhythm, voice, courage, tragedy, and glory.

Chesterton’s “Lepanto” belongs in that company.

He wrote it in 1911, before World War I and more than a decade before he formally entered the Catholic Church. Yet the poem’s religious imagination is already unmistakable. Chesterton does not treat Lepanto merely as a naval engagement. He presents it as civilizational and spiritual combat, with Don Juan of Austria riding into a struggle that reaches backward through Christian history.

The poem’s movement is part of its power: drums, gongs, guns, trumpets, waves, banners, and cannon fire. Chesterton does not ask the reader to stand at a safe academic distance. He drags him onto the deck.

At one point, the Ottoman side hears something older than the fleet approaching it:

But a noise is in the mountains, in the mountains, and I know
The voice that shook our palaces four hundred years ago:
It is he that saith not “Kismet”; it is he that knows not Fate;
It is Richard, it is Raymond, it is Godfrey in the gate!

Chesterton uses “Kismet” to dramatize what he saw as a contrast between fatalism and the Christian refusal to surrender to supposedly inevitable defeat. Richard the Lionheart, Raymond of Saint-Gilles, and Godfrey of Bouillon appear not as museum pieces but as members of the same inheritance. Godfrey, leader of the First Crusade, became ruler of Jerusalem under the title Advocate of the Holy Sepulchre.

The poetry lets the reader place himself in that line. Christian history ceases to be a collection of remote episodes and becomes a living inheritance — something received, loved, defended, and handed on.

That spirit has become difficult for the modern West to summon.

One line from the poem has always stayed with me. Describing a Europe divided by religious conflict while the Ottoman threat advanced, Chesterton writes: “And dead is all the innocence of anger and surprise.”

He was writing about a particular historical moment, but the line captures something recognizable now: spiritual exhaustion disguised as sophistication. We have seen so much, mocked so much, qualified so much, that conviction itself begins to look embarrassing.

Chesterton’s Europe is divided, distracted, and half-convinced that resistance is pointless. The pope calls for “swords about the Cross,” while other rulers hesitate or look elsewhere. Even the Christian captives below the Ottoman decks have nearly stopped expecting deliverance.

Then comes Don Juan.

Dim drums throbbing in the hills half heard,
Where only on a nameless throne a crownless prince has stirred,
Where, risen from a doubtful seat and half attainted stall,
The last knight of Europe taketh weapons from the wall.

That is the great appeal of the poem. Don Juan does not enter because victory is guaranteed. He enters because something must be defended.

RELATED: After 800 years, why do we still treat St. Francis as a glorified garden gnome?

Mondadori Portfolio/Getty Images

Chesterton reminds the reader that courage often arrives from an unexpected quarter. Don Juan, the illegitimate son of Charles V, was hardly born into the tidy life of a storybook hero. Yet he became the man who took command when command was needed.

That is what the old poems can still teach us. We are not merely observers of a glorious Christian past, reading about better men in safer times. We inherit what they defended, and inheritance creates an obligation.

We owe a debt to the saints and heroes who came before us. Honoring it does not require pretending we are Don Juan of Austria. It requires the willingness to take responsibility for what has been handed to us — and the courage to defend what is true when resignation would be easier.

History can tell us that Lepanto happened.

Chesterton reminds us why anyone should care.

In that enormous silence, tiny and unafraid,
Comes up along a winding road the noise of the Crusade.

​Courage, Gk chesterton, Heroes, History, Inheritance, Jerusalem, Western canon, Europe, Islam, Ottoman empire, Poetry, Civilization, Opinion & analysis 

The gubernatorial debate in Davenport, Iowa, turned a corner when Republican Zach Lahn unleashed a torrent against State Auditor Rob Sand, his Democratic competitor.

The Republican went on the attack Tuesday night against criticism from Sand about whether Lahn meets the residency requirements to qualify for the race.

‘I will spend whatever effort necessary to defend my children from people who’d like to exploit them like you. And my promise to the voters of Iowa is this: I will also defend your children from people who’d like to exploit them.’

Lahn excoriated Sand for making the residency issue the “central lie” of his gubernatorial campaign.

“He’s been spreading this lie using money that his family has given him to do that all over the airwaves. People see it all the time,” said Lahn.

“But here’s the deal. Rob, you’re now encountering somebody who’s not going to intimidated by how much money your family has. It just won’t happen. I can’t be intimidated like that. The truth is I’m a sixth-generation Iowan. I live in Iowa today. I have lived in Iowa. Rob has been lying about this, and the issue is I have a blended family, and my kids split time. That’s the issue,” he added.

“But Rob has chose to make this issue the primary focus of his campaign,” said Lahn.

“And I’ll tell you, yes, I travel. I travel for business, I travel for family. You know who else travels? Rob. Rob traveled to Aspen, Colorado, to their $77 million mansion there. Rob travels to their multimillion-dollar home in northwest Iowa,” he added.

“Rob travels around the state in a Ford F-150 — when he gets home, he gets in the $200,000 Mercedes G-Wagon. Rob is not telling the truth about who he is,” said Lahn.

“And he’s definitely not telling the truth about who I am. But I’m going to tell you this right now. This issue is about one thing. It’s about my children. That’s it. I have a blended family, and they split time. And I’m going to tell you right now, I am not going to be intimidated on this,” he added.

“I will spend whatever effort necessary to defend my children from people who’d like to exploit them like you,” Lahn concluded. “And my promise to the voters of Iowa is this: I will also defend your children from people who’d like to exploit them, like Rob Sand.”

RELATED: Iowa Democratic Party corrects ‘minor’ mistake on partial vote tally — Bernie Sanders blames racism

Lahn’s campaign posted the video of the beatdown during the debate, and he received great praise online.

“My phone was blowing up with excitement last night from conservatives all over Iowa ecstatic to see [Zach Lahn] humiliate Rob Sand in the Iowa Governor’s debate. This might be the most decisive feedback I’ve ever received in an Iowa debate,” BlazeTV host Steve Deace wrote on Facebook.

“I will run through a wall for @ZachLahn right freaking now,” he added on the X platform.

“A total destruction of the lies coming from leftist Rob Sand. We can not allow Iowa to be turned over to these leftwing frauds!!!” responded Donald Trump Jr. on social media.

Sand also shared clips of the debate online Tuesday night. In one post, he wrote: “This race is between a change candidate, and a change of address candidate. 10 years of one-party control has given us a cancer crisis, a water quality crisis, and has left Iowa families strapped to afford gas & groceries. It’s time to rotate the crops here in Iowa.”

The election will decide whether Democrats can pick up the governor’s office in Iowa after Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds retires.

Iowa Governor polls 2026: Sand vs. Lahn

Iowa Governor polls 2026: Sand vs. Lahn pollwatch.theblaze.com

Every public poll of the 2026 Iowa governor race, Rob Sand (D) vs. Zach Lahn (R), and the Blaze polling average. From Blaze News.

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​Zach lahn, Iowa, Gubernatorial election, Debate, Politics 

An allegedly drunk female is accused of flipping out on an arresting police officer with a repeated violent physical attack over the weekend in Southeastern Pennsylvania.

Hatboro Police said officers were dispatched Sunday to Hatters Court in the Woodwinds Condo Complex for a report of a domestic disturbance in progress. Hatboro is about 45 minutes north of Philadelphia.

‘$1,000? Seriously?? … Seems like she should have been held to a higher bail.’

While officers were responding, police said they received information about approximately seven individuals engaged in a fistfight in the parking lot.

Arriving officers didn’t encounter a large-scale fight, but police said 23-year-old Emily Abbruzzi was in violation of statutes regarding disorderly conduct as well as public drunkenness.

When officers attempted to take Abbruzzi into custody, police said she purposefully kicked an officer in the leg.

Police said after Abbruzzi was placed in handcuffs and was being placed in the back of a patrol vehicle, she attempted to kick the same officer in the chest.

As she was being seat-belted into the patrol vehicle, police said Abbruzzi attempted to kick the same officer in the face.

RELATED: Female college senior allegedly punches cop, interferes with arrest — and pays for it

Image source: Hatboro (Pa.) Police Department

Abbruzzi was arrested and charged with:

Aggravated assault on policeSimple assaultResisting arrestHarassment Public drunkennessDisorderly conduct

Abbruzzi was arraigned Monday; bail was set at $1,000, police said, adding that a preliminary hearing is pending.

One commenter under a Facebook post from the Hatboro-Horsham Patch about the incident said, “$1,000? Seriously?? This woman kicks or attempts to kick a police officer three times? Seems like she should have been held to a higher bail.”

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​Physical attack, Female attacks police, Pennsylvania, Arrest, Aggravated assault, Crime 

The U.S. government recently launched its first consumer-facing AI chatbot at America.gov. If you’re not sure exactly what it does or how it could be useful to you, Blaze News has you covered. I asked it a ton of questions, and here are the big things it can do so far.

America.gov is the government’s attempt to streamline the various websites, forms, and information it offers to the people on the web. Before we dive deep into its capabilities though, you should know that the chatbot isn’t derived from a second-rate LLM or an open-weight model from China. America.gov is actually powered by a combination of Google Gemini and Grok by SpaceXAI.

The service functions more like a massive data repository than an innovative chatbot.

It’s also private. Conversations aren’t saved to train data, and your precise location is never logged, though depending on what you need, it might request your general position. Lastly, there aren’t any ads, and you don’t even have to sign up with an account.

Still, you should know that AI chatbots — including this one offered by the federal government — don’t come with legal confidentiality agreements, so it’s best not to get too personal with America.gov, especially if you’re navigating legal troubles. Consult the bot responsibly.

To see what America.gov can actually do, I looked at the top five reasons people usually need information from the government. These include:

Filing taxes with the IRS.Obtaining a license (such as a driver’s license or marriage certificate) or a permit.Accessing public services and benefits, like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and more.Voting, both to register and to cast a ballot.Applying for a passport for international travel.

Then I pelted it with questions designed to test the limits of America.gov. Here’s what I found.

RELATED: Trump launches new AI-powered website to streamline access to the federal government

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Taxes

The dream of any American, aside from paying as little in taxes as possible, is to have someone else do your taxes for you. Unfortunately, America.gov can’t fill out your documents or file on your behalf. It also can’t review your return for accuracy, make suggestions on what to include, or offer tax advice.

It can, however, divulge some surface-level information. When prompted, America.gov can tell you the tax day deadline, offer a link to free filing options, and point you toward the website to file an extension if needed.

That’s about it. Don’t count on America.gov offering much more help by tax season.

Licenses

As expected, America.gov can’t issue a license on behalf of the government. It does, however, offer some interesting information to make the process a little easier.

If you need to get a driver’s license for the first time or renew your current license, America.gov provides a neat checklist of all the items you’ll need before you head to the DMV, including proof of identity, proof of residency, and in some states, you’ll also need your Social Security number. Unfortunately, when I asked it which states require an SSN at the time of renewal, it couldn’t tell me for certain. America.gov is mostly geared toward answering federal questions instead of state-specific queries.

As for a marriage license, it offered another handy checklist for items you’ll need, including a photo ID, proof of age, and a marriage license fee — information first-time spouses may not know before applying.

Public services and benefits

If you want to know all the public services that the U.S. government supplies to the people, America.gov can give you a whole list of options.

Need to apply for unemployment? America.gov will tap into your general location and provide links to your state’s claims page, along with the basic requirements needed to qualify for benefits.

Ready to apply for Medicare? America.gov can’t fill out your form, but it can show you the fastest way to sign up online, plus it can provide phone numbers for assistance and enrollment period information.

Need welfare benefits? America.gov will tell you which benefits are available in your state and provide links and phone numbers to apply.

Ultimately, America.gov was most helpful in the public services and benefits category. This is easily the place where it shines.

RELATED: Blaze News Poll Watch: Your new home for tracking the 2026 midterms

Blaze News

Voting

Midterms are coming up, and voters will want to find more information about the issues that impact them and their communities.

While America.gov is largely a federal resource, it can still tell you the local deadlines to register to vote and cast your ballot, which offices are up for election in your state, and which candidates are running for each position. It can even provide some county information for specific issues on the ballot, though your mileage may vary.

What it won’t do is tell you who to vote for.

America.gov is strictly nonpartisan. It won’t pick sides or try to sway you toward one ideology. It’s virtually neutral, exactly what you want from a bot that will be operated by both sides of the political aisle as power changes over time.

Passport

Like the forms before, America.gov can’t fill out your passport documentation for you. However, it will show you where to go online to start the process, and it offers a list of all the items you’ll need, like proof of citizenship, a photo ID, and a 2×2 inch color photo for the passport itself.

Most importantly, America.gov can remind you to print out your form and sign it only once you’re in front of a passport agent — something that first-time passport holders may not know.

Verdict

America.gov is a brand-new chatbot service, and its young age shows. The service functions more like a massive data repository than an innovative chatbot. It has no agentic capabilities, and it can’t really do much more than point you toward another place on the web with more information.

Furthermore, its instructions as a federal service limit the information it can provide, making it less useful than consulting a third-party frontier model on the same topics. This is even more obvious when you remember that America.gov is a mix of third-party LLMs, albeit with restrictions.

That said, America.gov’s easy account-free accessibility and basic privacy features may be enough to convince you to choose it over ChatGPT, Grok, or Gemini.

There’s also the promise of more features in the future.

For anything that America.gov can’t do today, updates are coming in 2027. The site says that “for the first time you’ll be able to complete forms, applications, renewals all in one place. America.gov will integrate across agencies so you can safely, securely, and quickly get it done and get back to what matters most.”

Several of the upcoming features include Medicare enrollment, passport forms, and job applications to work for the federal government.

For this initial release, America.gov offers a sturdy foundation in what is easily one of the federal government’s most ambitious citizen resources to date. Personally, though, I’m more excited to see what comes in version two next year.

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​Ai chatbot, Artificial intelligence, Tech, America.gov