Category: blaze media

Texas pastor Dwight McKissic took to X to shockingly credit Democrats with lowering abortion rates — and suggested that God is concerned with protecting “the whole of life,” not just birth.

“God can hit a straight lick with a crooked stick. The Democrats have actually reduced abortions more so than Republicans. In the sovereignty of God he is revealing to us, his ways are above our ways. Democracy [sic] who are pro-life understand that voting for Donald Trump was not going to save one baby,” McKissic wrote in a post on X.

“Abortions have decreased when Democrats were in office, and increased when Republican presidents were/are in office. God is demonstrating to us, he is concerned about the whole of life … not just pro-birth, but all aspects of life. God moves in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform,” he added.

BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock is not buying it.

“This is a Democratic operative who calls himself a religious leader, who calls himself a Christian,” Whitlock says.

“He’s co-signed and said, ‘Hey look, you know, even when we’re putting Planned Parenthoods everywhere, even when we’re putting abortion trucks outside the Democrat National Convention, hey, this is all working in conjunction with God. And the more babies we kill, the actual less babies die,’” he continues.

“What Dwight McKissic is saying is actually reminiscent of what his contingent has been saying for a very long time,” BlazeTV contributor Chad Jackson says.

“I remember when Roland Martin said something similar. … He said that, ‘Well, Democrats are actually more pro-life than Republicans because we actually care about the entire life, the whole life. If you’re so pro-life, then why aren’t you supporting things like, you know, universal basic income?’” he adds.

“And so, what he’s saying is that the only life worth living, if you are an unborn child coming into the world, is a life that is basically socialist in nature,” he continues.

“And so, the fact of the matter is, Dwight McKissic is somebody who calls himself a pastor, but he has traded in his role as a pastor behind the pulpit for advancing a political agenda more so than advancing the kingdom of God. And it’s quite troubling because you see the same thing happening in many so-called black pulpits across this country and, I mean, they’re leading people straight to hell,” he says.

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A driver tried to run over an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who was involved in a vehicle stop in California, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

The Ontario Police Department said it provided aid to the agents after receiving a call Thursday morning about a shooting.

One of the officers fired ‘defensive shots’ at the vehicle out of fear for his life.

DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said the agents performed the traffic stop at about 6:30 a.m. on Vineyard Avenue when another car pulled up in front of them, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The officers ordered the other driver to leave, McLaughlin said, and he seemed about to comply when “the car stopped and attempted to run officers over by reversing directly at them without stopping.”

One of the officers fired “defensive shots” at the vehicle out of fear for his life, according to McLaughlin.

“The subject fled the scene and abandoned his vehicle,” she added.

Ontario police were not involved in the shooting and offered only traffic control and security while DHS investigated the incident.

Video from KTTV showed scenes recorded from a news helicopter.

RELATED: DHS has a message for ‘cowards’ threatening ICE on social media — influencer laughs in response

The FBI is also investigating the incident, according to Ontario police.

Ontario was also recently the scene of a horrific accident that took the lives of at least three people when the driver of a commercial truck plowed into stopped traffic on the 10 freeway. The driver was identified as a 21-year-old illegal alien from India named Jashanpreet Singh.

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Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky fired back after Vice President JD Vance criticized the lawmaker for constantly bucking their party.

Vance spoke at the University of Mississippi Wednesday night to continue the Turning Point USA’s college campus tour following Charlie Kirk’s assassination. In remembrance of Kirk, Vance opened the floor to thousands of students to ask questions.

‘You’re eventually going to make too many enemies.’

One attendee asked Vance why President Donald Trump went after Massie, raising concerns that this conflict would discourage independent thinking within the Republican Party.

“This one is hard for me,” Vance said. “And the reason it’s hard for me is because Thomas Massie and I — he’s one of the first people that ever reached out to me about my book or about political office. I’ve known Thomas Massie well before I ever got involved in politics.”

RELATED: Senate Republicans betray Trump, help Democrats try to block tariffs

Photo by OLIVER CONTRERAS/AFP via Getty Images

“I think the problem with Thomas — and I’ve told him this in private, and now I guess I’ll say it again in public — is it’s one thing to disagree with the party on a particular issue,” Vance added. “It’s one thing to have your independent stand on a number of questions — and by the way, some of this stuff where Thomas Massie has been independent from the Republican Party, I’ve agreed with.”

Vance went on to argue that despite their friendship, Massie’s ideological stubbornness, no matter how principled, has cost him the president’s support.

“Being independent, having your own opinions is one thing,” Vance said. “Voting against the party on every single issue, you’re eventually going to make too many enemies. And that is the problem that Thomas has had. It’s not one issue. It’s not three or four issues. It’s that every time that we’ve needed Thomas for a vote, he has been completely unwilling to provide it.”

“Politics is politics,” Vance added. “And when you always vote against the party, you can’t expect the party to actually back it.”

RELATED: Vance casts tiebreaking Senate vote after Republicans join Democrats to tank Trump’s tariffs

Photo by BRYAN DOZIER/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

Massie argued that if the party demands total compliance on every vote and leaves no room for debate, it risks alienating many voters who may not check every policy box on the party platform. Massie also did not shy away from calling out the party’s policies he objected to, saying he “won’t be their yes man.”

“The lady at TPUSA last night addressed an issue many young Republicans have with our party today,” Massie said of the attendee who approached Vance. “90% of my votes align with the Republican platform, yet there seems to be no room for dissent or debate. Our tent shrinks if party leaders demand 100% compliance.”

“When leaders of my own party protect sex traffickers, spend our grandkids into oblivion, fund endless wars, lockdown our citizens, bailout corporations, bow to other countries, and hurt small farmers … it’s true that I won’t be their yes man,” Massie said in a post on X.

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The liberal media wasted a great deal of airtime and ink over the past decade fearmongering about the Russian collusion narrative but clammed up earlier this year when the Trump administration produced receipts demonstrating that the basis of multiple investigations and numerous arrests was nothing more than a hoax perpetrated on the American people by the Obama administration.

In the wake of revelations this week about Operation Arctic Frost — chiefly about the Biden FBI’s surveillance of Republican lawmakers and indiscriminate targeting of conservatives — the liberal media has once again proven strategically incurious, evidencing the unidirectional nature of their outrage.

‘They screamed when Nixon’s “enemy list” was exposed.’

The New York Times, for instance, has concern–mongered in recent weeks about personnel changes at the Justice Department and the Trump administration’s alleged use of “the federal government’s vast intelligence gathering and law enforcement authority to cast the specter of criminality on Mr. Trump’s enemies.”

However, with the apparent exception of an Oct. 7 article focusing on Republican denunciations of special counsel Jack Smith’s covert collection of lawmakers’ phone records and an Oct. 21 article boosting denials issued on Smith’s behalf by his lawyers, the Times has avoided troubling itself with questions about Arctic Frost or the latest documents highlighting the Biden FBI’s targeting of conservatives.

The Times was far from the only liberal publication to ignore the documents released this week by Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley (R) and the House Judiciary Committee revealing the massive scope of the Arctic Frost dragnet.

The Washington Post, CBS News, ABC News, and the Atlantic similarly appear to have largely ignored the matter, publishing little to nothing this week on the latest bombshells.

RELATED: Damning new docs reveal who’s on Biden admin’s ‘enemies list,’ expose extent of FBI’s Arctic Frost

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images

CNN’s coverage this month appears to be limited to a piece boosting denials on Smith’s behalf and an analysis piece by senior reporter Aaron Blake, who did his apparent best to downplay the finding that Smith had covertly obtained the phone records of Republican lawmakers.

Blake claimed that the “GOP is exaggerating the evidence”; that the evidence does not “fit what is traditionally understood to constitute ‘spying'”; that the surveillance of lawmakers’ communications is not unprecedented; and that “we certainly don’t have evidence that it was done for political purposes.”

While MSNBC, NBC News, and Politico seemed interested in engaging with the story prior to this week, their efforts were apparently focused on downplaying the findings, portraying Smith as a victim, and painting Arctic Frost as an apolitical investigation and Republicans’ concerns as unhinged.

Trump ally Roger Stone noted, “They screamed when Nixon’s ‘enemy list’ was exposed. Why aren’t the media and the Democrats talking about the Arctic Frost TARGET LIST — the ultimate weaponization of the criminal justice system?”

Tom Bevan, the president of RealClearPolitics, expressed amazement, writing on Thursday morning, “No mention of Arctic Frost in the NY Times or the Washington Post. These are not ‘news’ organizations any more.”

Bevan added, “Same on CNN, ABC News, CBS News … and NBC News. Not. One. Story.”

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) said Wednesday that what is revealed in the latest document dumps regarding Arctic Frost “is nothing short of a Biden administration enemies list. I’m old enough to understand how toxic a term that was under Richard Nixon. This is far worse — far worse, orders of magnitude worse.”

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The campaign bus for the Republican gubernatorial nominee in Virginia caught on fire just five days before the pivotal election.

Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears confirmed the incident in a post on social media Thursday but offered few details.

‘I’m thinking of the Lt. Governor and her team after this scary incident.’

“While en-route to an event, our campaign bus caught fire,” she posted. “Everyone is safe. Thank you to the first responders who got to the scene quickly — we are so grateful for you.”

Her Democratic competitor, Abigail Spanberger, posted about the incident as well.

“I’m relieved to hear Winsome Earle-Sears and her team are safe after her campaign bus caught on fire this afternoon,” she wrote in a Facebook post. “I’m grateful to our first responders for their quick action — and I’m thinking of the Lt. Governor and her team after this scary incident.”

Authorities have not released any details yet about the incident.

WCAV-TV published a photograph of the fire that was sent to them by a viewer. A second photo from the scene shows that the bus was mostly destroyed by the fire.

A spokesperson with the Earle-Sears team said first responders were still at the scene at about 3 p.m. local time.

RELATED: VIDEO: Earle-Sears crushes Democratic candidate over death-wish texts during gubernatorial debate

Most polling has shown Spanberger with a lead in the race, but Earle-Sears has gained some ground and closed some of the gap as Election Day approaches.

Spanberger might have given Earle-Sears an opportunity to persuade voters into the Republican column after the Democrat refused to retract her endorsement of Democratic attorney general candidate Jay Jones, who texted death wishes against a Republican and his children.

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Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem has denied Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s request to halt immigration enforcement operations for the Halloween weekend. Noem provided her response during a press conference on Thursday in Gary, Indiana, to provide updates on Operation Midway Blitz.

Pritzker said he wants the three-day pause to keep children safe from federal agents, who have had to deploy tear gas in response to locals getting violent and interfering with operations.

‘We have individuals that we picked up off the streets with our ICE officers and CBP officers that have assault against a child, child pedophiles, rapes.’

“No, we’re absolutely not willing to put on pause any work that we will do to keep communities safe. The fact that Governor Pritzker is asking for that is shameful and, I think, unfortunate that he doesn’t recognize how important the work is that we do to make sure we’re bringing criminals to justice and getting them off our streets,” Noem said.

“We have individuals that we picked up off the streets with our ICE officers and CBP officers that have assault against a child, child pedophiles, rapes. Those individuals don’t deserve to be on our streets, and we’re certainly not going to let our kids be victimized by them,” she added.

Noem announced Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have arrested over 3,000 illegal aliens since the start of Operation Midway Blitz.

RELATED: Legal victory for Border Patrol in Chicago after judge tries to micromanage operations

Commander at Large of the US Border Patrol Gregory Bovino. Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

As the “Crossroads of America,” Indiana has been working closely with ICE to arrest illegal aliens who are driving 18-wheelers and other large commercial vehicles in the aftermath of several cases involving illegal alien semi-truck drivers allegedly causing fatal accidents.

“Through that partnership, 223 illegal aliens have been arrested and taken off of our roads. Of those, 146 of them were drivers. That includes 46 semi-truck drivers and another 82 of them that were either box trucks, buses, moving vans, vehicles such as that,” Noem explained.

The illegal aliens who were arrested were issued commercial driver’s licenses from states such as California, Illinois, and New York.

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Many are criticizing Glamour UK magazine over its choice for “Women of the Year,” but popular author J.K. Rowling is leading the pack.

The magazine is giving the award to nine transgender-identifying men, including a DJ, an author, an actor and TikTok creator, a chief executive, and several people identifying as models.

‘They’re misogynistic bullies who borrowed our clothes, put on some lipstick, and then took everything we earned. We are not costumes.’

“As trans rights face increasing threat in the U.K., Glamour honours nine of the community’s most ground-breaking voices at this year’s Women of the Year Awards,” reads the justification from the magazine. “From fashion and music to charity and activism work, these trailblazers work tirelessly to empower, uplift and celebrate trans voices.”

Rowling posted her dissent from her social media account Thursday.

“I grew up in an era when mainstream women’s magazines told girls they needed to be thinner and prettier,” Rowling wrote. “Now mainstream women’s magazines tell girls that men are better women than they are.”

Others similarly criticized the total erasure of biological women from an award for women.

“They’re not women. They’re not trailblazers. They’re misogynistic bullies who borrowed our clothes, put on some lipstick, and then took everything we earned. We are not costumes. And we are not silent,” writer Virginia Kruta of the Daily Wire responded.

“Glamour is a magazine for young girls. It was toxic enough when I was a teenager, pushing unrealistic beauty expectations. I can’t imagine what young girls must be thinking now, you hold men up as ‘Women of the Year’ erasing women and girls, an absolute disgrace,” another response reads.

“Yes, yes, they got a bunch of men with mental illness to pose for their womens magazine,” a popular response reads. “We understand that you think the best women are actually men. Thankfully the world is starting to wake up to that nonsense.”

RELATED: JK Rowling goes scorched-earth on Emma Watson’s privileged woke activism: ‘She’s ignorant of how ignorant she is’

The magazine’s social media account replied to Rowling with a mocking message.

“Better luck next year Jo x,” Glamour UK wrote.

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Jen Hatmaker’s new book, “Awake,” dives into the tragic breakdown of her marriage — but what BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey finds even more tragic is that it covers the disintegration of her Christianity.

“She has now decided to worship the god of self rather than the God of Scripture. And that is not freedom. That’s not fulfillment. That’s not satisfaction. That will lead to a dead end, but she has exchanged Christianity for these New Age beliefs that, of course, Oprah herself has represented for a very long time,” Stuckey says on “Relatable.”

Hatmaker asserted in her book that her body holds infinite wisdom, explaining that women especially “contain a deep wisdom that not only leads us well but could heal the earth.”

“When my internalized misogyny asserts its conditioned response to defend abusive systems, my body overrides it immediately. She knows. She tells me the truth. She always tells me the truth,” Hatmaker said.

Stuckey points out the absurdity of the idea that a woman’s body is always telling the truth.

“Sometimes my body, my hormones, my hunger, my lack of sleep, the million things that go on in the world that affect our bodies tell us things that are not true. … They give us cues that don’t actually point us in the right direction,” Stuckey says.

“Our body is not a source of truth. Our bodies are made in the image of God, but they are not like God. Now, gosh, what did the serpent say to Eve in the Garden of Eden? ‘You can be like God. … You will not surely die if you take a bite of the fruit of this tree which the God who created you and loves you strictly forbade you from eating,’” she continues.

“Jen Hatmaker has taken a bite of the apple, and she believes that her body is like God, has this kind of gnostic, transcendent knowledge,” she adds.

Hatmaker goes on to say, “Our life’s work is to reject those capitalistic, patriarchal narrative systems that have conspired to keep us at war with our bodies.”

“If we hate how we look, these systems own us. If we hate what we want, they dominate us. If we hate what we crave, they control us. They get to master us with impunity when we despise ourselves; we do their dirty work and, in so doing, become their most powerful co-conspirators,” she writes.

While Stuckey notes that Hatmaker “sounds really eloquent” and “catchy” because the “pacing is right and the cadence is right,” but it doesn’t actually mean anything.

“That’s actually the hallmark of really good propaganda, of effective propaganda,” Stuckey says, noting that Hatmaker has also been 100% supportive of transgenderism, even in children.

“She’s been outspoken about this: ‘Protect trans kids.’ People who are mutilating their bodies through hormone blockers, puberty blockers, and cross-sex hormones and double mastectomies — that is literally bloody war with your body,” Stuckey says.

“So, she doesn’t even agree with what she’s saying,” she adds.

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President Donald Trump announced that the United States has reached a deal with China to restart the purchase of soybeans after months of boycotts that hurt American farmers.

‘I was extremely honored by the fact that President Xi authorized China to begin the purchase of massive amounts of Soybeans, Sorghum, and other Farm products.’

China, the world’s largest soybean buyer, attempted to use the boycott as a powerful bargaining chip in trade negotiations. It resumed purchases ahead of Trump’s meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, buying two cargoes of soybeans, Bloomberg reported.

Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins called the recent purchase “a great start.”

“Today’s purchase by China of multiple ships of American soybeans signals [President Trump’s] strong dealmaking and a positive step forward for our farmers,” Rollins wrote. “This purchase, coming directly ahead of the Trump-Xi talks, shows that America means business and that we will restore balance, give U.S. producers the opportunities they’ve earned, and send a message that when America leads in agriculture, the world listens.”

Trump told reporters on Thursday that China has plans to buy “tremendous amounts of soybeans and other farm products immediately.”

While the president did not specify the scale or timing of those purchases, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated that China had agreed to buy 12 million metric tons of soybeans by January, according to Fox Business. China is expected to purchase at least 25 million metric tons each year over the next three years, he added.

RELATED: Our farmland is saved — China BANNED from buying US land

Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

Bessent estimated that Trump’s recent trip to Asia could yield $2 trillion in U.S. investments, Fox Business reported.

“Our great soybean farmers, who the Chinese used as political pawns, that’s off the table, and they should prosper in the years to come,” Bessent told the news outlet.

Trump called his meeting with Xi “truly great,” writing in a post on social media, “There is enormous respect between our two Countries, and that will only be enhanced with what just took place.”

RELATED: Trump nails China with massive tariffs after ‘extraordinarily aggressive’ action

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

“We agreed on many things, with others, even of high importance, being very close to resolved,” Trump continued. “I was extremely honored by the fact that President Xi authorized China to begin the purchase of massive amounts of Soybeans, Sorghum, and other Farm products.”

Trump noted that farmers will “be very happy” about this trade development and encouraged them to “immediately” purchase “more land and larger tractors” to keep up with the expected demand.

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​News, Donald trump, Trump, Trump administration, Trump admin, China, Trade, Xi jinping, China trade deal, China trade war, Trade deal, Soybeans, Farmers, American farmers, Agriculture, Scott bessent, Brooke rollins, Politics 

Actor Kelsey Grammer, best known for his roles in “Frasier” and “Cheers,” weighed in on the competitive gubernatorial race in New Jersey, announcing his support for one of the candidates.

‘There’s a lot of famous folks who grew up in Jersey, but some of them seem content to let you guys go on livin’ on a prayer.’

Grammer, who grew up in New Jersey, voiced a campaign video last week for Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli, a former New Jersey state representative, who is going head-to-head with Mikie Sherrill (D), a current U.S. representative.

“When I was a boy, folks would stand up for what’s right and not wait for someone else to fix our problems,” Grammer stated in the video. “This last decade or so, it seems we’ve lost our way.”

The actor cited increased taxes, a surge in crime, and politicians making promises they fail to keep.

“Jack Ciattarelli will lead with strength, decency, and respect for all who love New Jersey and call it home,” Grammer concluded. “We waited long enough. It’s time.”

Ciattarelli, who has received several endorsements from local Democratic leaders, shared the campaign video on social media.

RELATED: NJ’s blue wall may be cracking in governor race, new poll shows — GOP hopeful racks up Democrat endorsements

Jack Ciattarelli. Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images

“It’s time to bring back honest leadership, lower taxes, safer communities, and pride in our state,” Ciattarelli wrote. “It’s time for real change.”

Ciattarelli also shared a video on Monday of Grammer endorsing him. In the video, Grammer referenced song titles by those from or with ties to New Jersey, including Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen, and Taylor Swift.

“Hi, Kelsey Grammer, here,” he said. “You already know I’m from New Jersey. That’s why I’m talking to you right now. There’s a lot of famous folks who grew up in Jersey, but some of them seem content to let you guys go on livin’ on a prayer.”

RELATED: Trump DOJ to monitor polling sites in 2 blue states in response to concerns about voter fraud, ‘irregularities’

Kelsey Grammer. Photo by Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for SCAD

“Others have just forgotten that you were born in the USA too,” Grammer continued. “But once Jack wins, and I think he’s got a good chance of winning, it’s gonna make it a lot easier to just shake it off.”

Grammer has endorsed conservative candidates in previous elections. Last year, he announced his support for Curtis Bashaw, a New Jersey Republican Senate candidate who campaigned against Andy Kim (D) to replace Sen. Bob Menendez (D). Kim ultimately won the election by 9.7 points.

Grammer has also been vocal about his support of President Donald Trump.

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A 15-year-old New York City boy spoke out from his hospital bed this week after police said a group of 13 suspects — also teenagers — attacked and stabbed and robbed him on Oct. 22.

Police said the boy was on his way home from school in Jamaica, Queens, when the broad-daylight attack occurred at the intersection of 160th Street and Hillside Avenue, WCBS-TV reported.

‘What happened to my son is horrific.’

With his mother by his side, the victim recounted to the station the words of one of his attackers.

“Give me all your clothes, whatever you’re wearing, your shoes,” the boy recalled one of the mob members telling him, WCBS noted.

He then told the station, “I [started] running. After that, they pushed me and stabbed me.”

The vicious attack left the 15-year-old with severe stab wounds, broken bones, bruises — and needing surgery, the station said.

After all that, WCBS said the suspects stole the victim’s sneakers — worth $350.

“I was shocked to see my son in this condition,” the boy’s mother told the station in her native language of Punjabi. “What happened to my son is horrific.”

RELATED: Video: 5 thugs repeatedly stomp, punch boy, 15, on busy NYC street — and steal his sneakers. Crime expert says there’s ‘basically nothing you can do to these kids.’

Local activist Japneet Singh told WCBS the attack took place on “a major avenue, major corridor” and that “if that can happen to this boy, it can happen to any of our children. We have to make sure we protect our kids.”

While the boy has months of recovery ahead of him — including three surgeries — his mother told the station she hopes those responsible are caught. Meanwhile, she added to WCBS that she’s not leaving his side: “Ever since he was attacked, I’ve been here with him day and night.”

Police told WNYW-TV that detectives are reviewing surveillance video from the area to identify those involved.

Those with information about the attack are urged to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers hotline at 800-577-TIPS (8477), WNYW said, adding that tips can be submitted confidentially online or by text.

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For nearly two decades, Bill Gates has been sounding the alarm on climate change, framing the issue as the most dire existential threat to humanity.

But seemingly overnight, his alarmism softened. On October 28, the tech mogul published an essay titled “Three tough truths about climate” on his Gates Notes blog. One particular sentence raised eyebrows: “Although climate change will have serious consequences — particularly for people in the poorest countries — it will not lead to humanity’s demise.”

Later that day, Gates joined CNBC’s “Squawk Box” for an exclusive interview, during which he reiterated this apparent reversal. “Climate is a super important problem, [but] there’s enough innovation here to avoid super bad outcomes.”

“As we go about trying to minimize [rising temperatures], we have to frame it in terms of overall human welfare—not just, everything should be solely for climate,” he added.

Glenn Beck was shocked when he heard the longtime climate fearmonger utter these words.

“This is the narrative flipping here,” he says, reminding his audience that not that long ago, the Microsoft co-founder wrote a book on the importance of getting to net-zero emissions and funded solar geoengineering initiatives that attempt to play God by hacking the planet’s thermostat.

What gives? Has Gates just seen the error of his ways, or did something else cause him to reverse course?

Glenn’s theory: The billionaire “philanthropist” hasn’t moved an inch. His sudden shift in tone is nothing more than a pragmatic pivot triggered by Donald Trump’s 2024 election win.

“Donald Trump won, and Donald Trump is dismantling his global dream. Donald Trump is taking apart the World Economic Forum and the United Nations and all of these things that he was for,” Glenn says.

Now that disposing of the world’s “stupid useless eaters” in the name of planetary salvation is no longer a viable option with Trump in power, Glenn says Gates needs a plan B that keeps his influence intact. That’s why he’s suddenly pro-affordable energy for the masses he once felt free to sacrifice.

Glenn urges his audience to not let Gates off the hook for this sudden pivot. “You were spending us into oblivion. You were destroying the Western way of life. You were scaring our children. You told us we’re all going to die. And now you have the balls to just casually reverse yourself?” he berates.

“No, we should not listen to him. We should not listen to any of these people. They have been designing a steel cage for anybody who is not in their class.”

To hear more, watch the clip above.

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George Clooney has it all. The villa on Lake Como, the Hollywood halo, the tequila fortune.

And now — apparently — a farm. He grows olives, you see. Presses them into artisanal oil. Talks lovingly about “the land.”

In Ireland, farmer suicide rates are among the highest in the country. In America, it’s even worse. Farming isn’t just lonely — it’s a daily battle against debt, drought, and despair.

It’s the sort of thing the lifestyle press laps up. The movie star who’s “gone back to nature,” barefoot among the groves, a rake in both senses of the word. But as someone raised on an actual farm in Ireland, I can’t help but laugh. Calling Clooney a farmer is like calling yourself a surgeon because you once removed a splinter with tweezers.

Knee-deep in muck

My father’s a real farmer. He’s the kind of man who measures days in chores, not hours. He’s out there in rain, shine, or two feet of snow, wrangling 100 cattle and 300 sheep with saintly patience. Starting at age 7, I spent 10 years doing the same thing. The man’s hands could sand a doorframe just by clapping. His back has carried more than hay bales. It’s borne the heavy burden of being taken for granted. Farmers feed everyone, yet everyone forgets them. They’re the engine of every economy and the punchline of every town.

The romantic idea of farming — what I call the “Clooney complex” — is built on Instagram filters and feckless fantasy. A celebrity buys a few acres, plants some lavender, adopts a goat named Aristotle, and suddenly it’s “sustainable living.” They wear linen shirts and wax lyrical about the “spiritual rhythm” of rural life, just before jetting back to L.A. in a jet that could single-handedly melt a glacier.

Meanwhile, the real farmer down the road is up at five, knee-deep in muck, coaxing a calf into the world in sideways sleet. The rhythm of real rural life sounds less like “peaceful simplicity” and more like an industrial power washer.

We don’t name our sheep. That’s something people who’ve never farmed don’t understand. When you’ve got 300 of the woolly little delinquents, sentimentality is a luxury you can’t afford. I’ve seen enough lambs die in winter to know why farmers are wary of names. We remember numbers. The birth tags. The weight. The cost of feed. The constant arithmetic of survival. Romanticizing farming is like romanticizing trench warfare — fine for those who’ve never experienced it firsthand.

Debt, drought, and despair

And yet, people love the image. The noble tiller of soil, weathered but wise, standing in a sunset, surrounded by his empire. They never show the invoices, broken fences, silage bills, oppressive environmental regulations, or the bank statements.

They don’t show the nights you lie awake wondering whether the mart price will rise or fall. They don’t show the hours spent alone, the silence broken only by the rattle of a gate or the cough of an animal on the way out. Farming is isolation dressed as independence. You’re your own boss, yes — but your employees are cows, and they never take a day off.

In Ireland, farmer suicide rates are among the highest in the country. In America, it’s even worse. Farming isn’t just lonely — it’s a daily battle against debt, drought, and despair.

Each season, costs climb higher: cement for sheds, grain for feed, diesel for tractors, even medicine for the herd. Profits shrink, pressure builds, and hope thins out like soil after too many harvests. American farmers are now three and a half times more likely to die by suicide than the average worker. The farm devours what it earns. It’s less a business than a benevolent parasite — you feed it in the hope it feeds you back.

RELATED: AI isn’t feeding you

Photo by Nikada via Getty Images

Learning from the land

But to the celebrity farmer, it’s a lovely way of life. Clooney can pose with his olives, Chris Pratt with his chickens, or “Top Gear” legend Jeremy Clarkson with his camera crew and call it “a return to roots.” Fine, let them have their fun. But real farming isn’t less a return than a sentence. It’s 70-hour weeks, constant pressure, and the faint but familiar panic of wondering what happens if you get sick. No stand-in. No understudy. Just you and the land, locked in an ancient marriage of necessity.

Don’t get me wrong — I love the land. There’s a holiness to it that city life can’t touch. I understand why people are drawn to it, even why they imitate it. But farming isn’t a hobby. It’s not therapy. It’s work in its rawest form — bone-deep, back-breaking, Sisyphus-like labor. And while actors can play at being farmers, farmers can’t play at being actors. When a calf’s stuck halfway out, the only thing rolling is your sleeves. There are no retakes.

If George Clooney wants to plant crops, fine. Let him. But I’ll believe he’s a farmer when he’s up at dawn to dig a drain, when his hands smell permanently of disinfectant. I’ll believe it when his holidays depend on the lambing schedule and not the film schedule. Until then, he’s just a gardener with glorious lighting.

Farming is a philosophy in itself. It teaches humility, patience, and a genuine appreciation for the good times. You learn to solve problems with what’s at hand — wire, hope, and plenty of profanity. It’s not glamorous, but it’s brutally honest.

So when I read about Clooney’s olives, I smile. Until he has scraped muck from his boots with a stick, yelled at a stubborn sheepdog that won’t listen, and worked from first light to last, I’ll save my applause for the real ones: the men and women who work the land not for show, but for the soil itself. Owning a field doesn’t make you a farmer any more than starring in “The Perfect Storm” makes you a fisherman.

​George clooney, Ireland, Hollywood, Farming, Farmland, Entertainment, Suicide, Mental health, Lifestyle 

“Arctic Frost” was an FBI operation greenlit in April 2022 by former Director Christopher Wray and ex-Attorney General Merrick Garland that targeted various individuals supportive of President Donald Trump and/or skeptical of the results of the 2020 election.

The investigation, which was formally assigned to special counsel Jack Smith in November 2022, ultimately resulted in the four-count indictment Smith filed in August 2023 accusing Trump of attempting to disrupt the lawful transfer of power.

It turns out that the partisan nature of the investigation was baked in at the outset — right into its name.

‘They were so out of control, and thought they never would get caught.’

Following Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley’s (R) publication of documents on Friday showing that Wray, Garland, and former Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco approved the opening of Arctic Frost, Mike Howell, president of the Oversight Project, stated that “what you should know is that they were so out of control, and thought they never would get caught, that they named this investigation after an orange to mock Trump.”

RELATED: Damning new docs reveal who’s on Biden admin’s ‘enemies list,’ expose extent of FBI’s Arctic Frost

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Arctic frost is the name of a satsuma mandarin orange hybrid. Early in its investigation into Operation Arctic Frost, the Oversight Project revealed that “the corrupt FBI agents who opened this case named it this to mock” Trump.

Many of Trump’s detractors — including disgraced former FBI Director James Comey — have in years past suggested that he has an orange pigmentation.

In addition to serving as a nod to fellow Trump antagonists, the alleged naming of the operation as an intended insult to Trump signals that it was, from its very inception, nothing more than a partisan campaign aimed at the ruination of the president and his allies.

Blaze News has reached out to the FBI for comment.

Editor’s note: Mike Howell is a contributor at Blaze News.

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​Arctic frost, Oversight project, Mike howell, Grassley, Fbi, Orange man, Donald trump, Bias, Weaponization, Politics 

Failed Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris was confronted in a tense exchange with a journalist who called her out for evading questions about former President Joe Biden’s “frailties.”

Harris was challenged by Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Sarah Ferguson on Biden’s decline that all Americans witnessed yet no Democrat leaders publicly acknowledged. Because of the party’s silence on the issue, Ferguson asked Harris how the cover-up affected her campaign.

‘Are you still reluctant to criticize the former president?’

“Wasn’t [Joe Biden’s] refusal to recognize his own frailties the reason that you faced a nearly impossible task?” Ferguson asked.

Rather than admitting to the frailties that the American public saw with their own eyes, Harris retreated by changing the subject to Trump.

RELATED: CNN brutally fact-checks Jasmine Crockett for peddling debunked ballroom hoax

Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

“I ran against Donald Trump for president,” Harris responded. “And Donald Trump ran on a platform that was, in large part, I believe, misrepresenting his intentions to the American people. I do believe that there are a fair number of people that voted for Donald Trump who believed him when he told them that his first priority on day one was going to be to bring down prices. And he didn’t. And you combine that misrepresentation of intention with also what was at play in terms of massive amounts of mis- and disinformation.”

In the middle of Harris’ rambling response, Ferguson called out the failed candidate for avoiding her question entirely.

“I want to interrupt you because that is a world-class pivot,” Ferguson said, “but it is not the question that I asked you, which is about Joe Biden’s failure to recognize his own frailties and what that did to you. The question is about Joe Biden. Are you still reluctant to criticize the former president?”

RELATED: Kamala Harris’ 2028 trial balloon on BBC goes horribly bad

Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

As Ferguson pointed out, Harris and even former staffers from the Biden administration seem reluctant to point out the obvious weaknesses of the former president.

“He was not frail as president of the United States,” Harris replied.

“But he had frailties,” Ferguson pushed back. “We all saw the debate.”

Harris, with a stunned expression, made a last-ditch attempt to defend Biden’s fitness for office.

“I do believe that Joe Biden had the capacity to be president of the United States, and I’ve never doubted that he had the capacity to be president of the United States,” Harris said.

“If you want to talk about whether he had the ability to endure what a race for president of the United States would require in that political environment, in 2024, as I’ve said in the book, I had concerns.”

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​Kamala harris, Donald trump, Joe biden, Biden decline, 2024 election, Biden coverup, Biden autopen, White house, 2028 election, Sarah ferguson, Presidential debate, Disastrous debate, Politics 

As New York City heads into its next mayoral election, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is doing few favors for the campaign of Zohran Mamdani — at least not for those who value coherence. Her remarks at a recent rally could serve as a Logic 101 case study in contradiction.

The problem isn’t limited to her message. The Democratic platform itself, and Mamdani’s campaign in particular, now rests on foundations so incoherent that one almost blushes to analyze them.

The modern left doesn’t appeal to reason. Instead, it appeals to envy, resentment, lust, and the eternal promise of something for nothing.

Behind AOC, a man waved a sign that read: “Free Buses.” A perfect summary. She may imagine the crowds came to hear her and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) thunder against injustice, but the truth is simpler: Promise free things to people indifferent to truth, and you can fill any arena.

As a logic professor, allow me to walk through the highlights of her address. Think of it as a guided tour through the labyrinth of leftist reasoning — or rather, unreasoning.

The new party of contradiction

AOC’s positions directly contradict what Democrats like Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer, and Nancy Pelosi said 30 years ago about immigration and public safety. The irony? In attacking Donald Trump, she’s also attacking them.

Her first contradiction concerns ownership. AOC claimed that New York City “belongs to the people of this country” but moments later insisted it “belongs to immigrants.” Well, which is it? Either she contradicted herself within two sentences, or she truly believes the city belongs to citizens of other nations. That would make sense only if you’re an international socialist calling on the “workers of the world” to unite.

She also called herself “a fascist’s worst nightmare” because she defends immigrants. Yet the fascists of the 1940s didn’t allow people to leave their countries. Republicans are merely asking migrants to follow the law. No fascist ever demanded less government power. Conservatives do. Fascists didn’t defend free speech; yet Elon Musk — whom AOC routinely attacks — is now a hero of speech and open debate.

Lessons for the willfully ignorant

Next came her invocation of the Confederacy and Jim Crow. Someone should tell her: The Confederates were Democrats. The segregationists were Democrats. The architects of slavery, redlining, and resistance to civil rights — all Democrats. Why should anyone believe the same party now represents moral progress? The left ruins the cities it governs and then blames everyone else. It’s the political version of DARVO: deny, attack, and reverse victim and offender.

Then came her favorite populist line — that her opponents are “funded by billionaires.” Public records tell a different story. Plenty of billionaires bankroll her and her fellow radicals. How does she say it with a straight face? Remember our friend with the “Free Buses” sign: He’s not there for philosophy — he’s there for freebies.

The left’s new theology

AOC then delivered a sermon on intersectionality, the academic creed of Kimberlé Crenshaw: all “oppressed” groups united by one great villain — the white, Christian, heterosexual male.

Picture a wheel: The hub is the white Protestant man, the spokes are every “marginalized” group on earth. AOC’s list was textbook: “This city was built by the Irish escaping famine, Italians fleeing fascism, Jews escaping the Holocaust, black Americans fleeing Jim Crow, Latinos seeking a better life, Native people standing for themselves, Asian Americans coming together.”

For AOC and the radical left, grievance is the very air they breathe. Humanity divides neatly into identity blocs, locked in eternal conflict — and at the center of every injustice stands the Christian West. She closed the circle by declaring that American history is defined by “class struggle,” the dialectic Marx demanded.

AOC contradicts herself, defines ‘the American people’ as everyone but American citizens, and divides humanity into tribes of grievance.

Her introduction of Bernie Sanders confirmed it. “Senator Sanders,” she said, “is the foremost leader and advocate for labor and class struggle in the United States.” At least she’s honest. Sanders is an international socialist — otherwise known as a communist — and AOC’s crowd now wears that label proudly.

But a 1990s-era Hillary Clinton would instantly see the contradiction: You can’t be both pro-American worker and pro-open borders. Clinton was a national socialist (minus the genocidal agenda); Sanders and AOC are international socialists. The alternative to both isn’t fascism — which is also a species of national socialism — but the American republic: constitutional rule, checks and balances, a Bill of Rights, and a government that protects its citizens from threats foreign and domestic.

‘Acceptance’ without love

For those wondering whether any theology slipped into AOC’s secular revival meeting — it did, but only in parody.

In older times, an evil spirit could be tested by whether it could quote scripture correctly. By that standard, AOC’s spirit fails. She told the crowd we must “accept our neighbor as ourselves.” Not love — accept. The difference is enormous.

To love your neighbor is to will his good. To “accept” your neighbor, in AOC’s lexicon, is to affirm whatever destructive path he chooses. When a neighbor wants to mutilate his body for a sexual fetish, love warns him against harm. AOC’s “acceptance” cheers him on. Her mercy kills.

The Christian calls sinners to repentance and faith in Christ. The radical left calls that “hate speech.”

RELATED: Why Gen Z is rebelling against leftist lies — and turning to Jesus

Photo by David Ryder/Getty Images

The logic of the new faith

By now, any logic student would have learned the lesson: AOC contradicts herself, defines “the American people” as everyone but American citizens, and divides humanity into tribes of grievance. Her creed depends on intersectionality — a doctrine that scapegoats not just white men, but all Christians who refuse to bow before the new secular orthodoxy.

If that student left disappointed by the quality of public rhetoric, he’d still leave wiser. Over the gates of hell, Dante wrote: “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.” Over the platform of the radical left, one might inscribe a similar warning: Let none who expect coherence enter here.

The modern left doesn’t appeal to reason. It despises reason as a tool of “European colonialism.” Instead, it appeals to envy, resentment, lust, and the eternal promise of something for nothing — free buses for all.

The American republic will not survive if its citizens trade reason for rage. To preserve it, we must expose the incoherence at the heart of the left’s new religion. Free buses to a ruined city are no substitute for freedom itself.

​Opinion & analysis, Alexandria ocasio-cortez, Zohran mamdani, Bernie sanders, Hillary clinton, Socialism, Free buses, New york city mayoral race, Kimberlé crenshaw, Billionaires, Karl marx, Marxism, Class struggle, Confederacy, Immigrants, Religion, Marginalized, Free speech, Hate speech, Elections, Leftism 

Nearing the one-month mark, the government shutdown has caused increased anxiety as Republicans stand fast against Democrat demands. However, new polling shows some surprising shifts in public opinion.

Explaining the results of new polls from AP-NORC and Quinnipiac, CNN data analyst Harry Enten demonstrated that Republicans have little to no reason to “give in” in this battle in the Senate.

‘This is, in fact, the worst position Democrats have been on a generic ballot at this point in a midterm when there was a Republican president in the last 20 years.’

To begin, Enten showed that the Republican brand in general gained two points in popularity: “That’s within the margin of error, but clearly it hasn’t dropped.”

Approval for congressional Republicans has also increased by five points since the shutdown began, according to Enten’s analysis.

RELATED: Mike Johnson calls out Schumer for continuing government shutdown

Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images

“You might think, given that the Republicans are in charge of both the House and the Senate, that a government shutdown might actually hurt the Republican brand — but in fact, it hasn’t.”

Enten demonstrated that the shutdown has not only significantly rallied the Republican base — it has also done well with independents.

“Something could rally the base but alienate those in the middle — or something could rally those in the middle but alienate the base. But the truth is, we’re not seeing that. What we’re seeing is that the Republican brand has actually gotten better among independents, and it’s also gotten better among Republicans as well.”

Enten also showed that Democrats are in a “considerably worse” position ahead of the 2026 midterms. While still ahead of Republicans on the generic congressional ballot, Democrats are up only three points now, compared to +11 points at this point in 2017, a year before the 2018 midterms.

“This is, in fact, the worst position Democrats have been on a generic ballot at this point in a midterm when there was a Republican president in the last 20 years.”

“So again, what’s the electoral reason that Republicans would give in at this point?” Enten repeated.

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​Politics, Republicans, Democrats, Ap-norc, Quinnipiac, Harry enten, Public opinion, Public opinion poll, Government shutdown, Democrat shutdown, Independents, 2026 midterms 

Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino will not have to directly report to Judge Sara Ellis on a daily basis after the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals overruled Ellis’ orders set in place this week.

Ellis’ strange order came after Border Patrol agents in the Chicago metro area were accused of violating a temporary restraining order on the use of tear gas during confrontations with violent anti-Border Patrol crowds. Bovino threw a tear gas canister toward a violent mob while his agents were working in the Little Village neighborhood, which prompted Ellis to order Bovino to her courtroom.

‘The order significantly interferes with the quintessentially executive function of ensuring the Nation’s immigration laws are properly enforced.’

Bovino said he was willing to comply with going to the courthouse every day, but the circuit court intervened, calling the demanded daily reports an “extraordinary and extraordinarily disruptive requirement.”

The circuit court also determined that Ellis’ ruling would “significantly” impede federal enforcement of immigration law.

“The order significantly interferes with the quintessentially executive function of ensuring the Nation’s immigration laws are properly enforced by waylaying a senior executive official critical to that mission on a daily basis,” the ruling said, according to 25 News.

RELATED: Far-left congressional candidate hit with reality check after allegedly impeding ICE operations

Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

Will Chamberlain, senior counsel to the Article III Project, previously slammed Ellis’ ruling as “ridiculous.”

“This ruling is ridiculous because it entails a district court judge becoming the supervisor of a senior DHS official on her own initiative. The executive power belongs to the president of the United States — not to Article III judges. Judges have the right to issue lawful injunctions; they do not have the right to micromanage law enforcement,” Chamberlain previously told Blaze News.

Before Bovino testified to Ellis, the Department of Homeland Security released footage taken from body cameras and drones showing the attacks Border Patrol agents faced when they were in Little Village. Ellis complained that she did not see agents giving the required two warnings before using crowd-control measures like tear gas.

Bovino has been on the front lines in both arresting operations and crowd-control actions, such as at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in nearby Broadview.

Following Ellis’ ruling, Bovino said, “We’re going to go out there. We’re gonna accomplish the mission. We’re closing in on 3,000 apprehensions as we speak. … We’re even going to go even harder, and I’m not worried about it all.”

— (@)

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​Politics 

Halloween was never something I thought that deeply about until recently. If I’m being honest, for years I rolled my eyes at the rigid Christian parents — holier-than-thou stick-in-the-muds — who refused to let their kids participate in any Halloween traditions, especially costume-wearing and trick-or-treating.

I grew up in a Christian home with parents who had strong convictions about darkness but still allowed me and my siblings to enjoy Halloween festivities. Our parameters were simple: no horror movies, no haunted houses, no costumes that represent evil, and no trick-or-treating at homes with macabre decorations.

‘So many people think Halloween is about candy and it’s about dress-up, but they don’t question the meaning behind it.’

Some of my favorite childhood memories are from Halloween.

When she could find the time, my mom, a skilled seamstress, would handmake our costumes. One year, she hand-stitched me a sequin and tulle fairy dress. Another year, she made my little brother Larry the Cucumber from “VeggieTales.” He looked like Shrek’s awkward cousin, and I was forced to let him tag along for trick-or-treating — a total vibe kill when you’re 11 years old and going as a fierce leopard queen of the savanna. Twenty years later, my family still howls in laughter at the image of the two of us, a majestic jungle cat trailed by a strange pickle.

After returning home with pillowcases bursting with candy, my brother and I would stay up late sorting through our plunder and making valuable trades. He liked the fruity stuff; I was a chocoloholic, so it worked out. We made these exchanges while we watched “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” and “Casper.”

When I grew older, I would help my mom get my little sister ready for trick-or-treating. I’d curl her hair, paint her nails, and delicately apply sparkly eyeshadow until she was the best princess in the neighborhood.

By all measures, Halloween at my childhood home was sweet and fun.

In my early adult years before my husband and I had a child, we kept the same guidelines. Our front porch was decorated exclusively with pumpkins and orange string lights. If we went to a costume party, we dressed as something benign, like Peter Pan and Wendy (he’s still salty with me about the green tights). We handed out candy and hyped up every princess and Power Ranger who came to our door. If our friends invited us to see a horror movie or go to a haunted house, we politely declined.

For years, this is how we did Halloween, and I always arrogantly assumed that we were doing it right — threading the needle perfectly so that no darkness got into our bubble.

But everything changes when you have a child. The second your doctor places that perfect baby in your arms, the lens through which you see the world morphs. Suddenly, there is danger lurking around every corner. Your mind is incessantly flooded with bone-chilling what-ifs. Your spirit gets more sensitive and begins picking up on things — lyrics, innuendos, hidden agendas — it never noticed before.

The weight of responsibility gets 1,000 times heavier as you realize: I am not only responsible for protecting this human being physically, I’m also charged with nurturing and guarding their soul.

And so when Halloween rolls around, you start asking questions you never asked before.

Questions like: What if my toddler sees a scary costume or yard display and has nightmares? What if allowing him to trick-or-treat exposes him to terrors he otherwise would’ve remained ignorant of? What if I start traditions I regret later?

These questions gave way to deeper spiritual inquiries: Is there an uptick in demonic activity on Halloween (even in well-lit suburban neighborhoods)? Am I sending my son out onto demon-infested streets by allowing him to trick-or-treat? By participating in Halloween in any capacity, am I attempting to whitewash a day that glorifies darkness? Is it possible for Christians to partake in Halloween and still glorify God? At what point have we crossed the threshold from innocence to fraternizing with evil? Is there such a threshold when it comes to Halloween?

These queries then birthed a whole different set: By only partaking in the innocuous parts of Halloween (granted those exist), might we be a positive example for others who don’t know Jesus? Could setting parameters around Halloween teach my child how to be light in the darkness — in the world but not of it? Might the plastic monsters in people’s yards eventually be a tool to introduce our son to the real monsters? Are candy and costumes wholesome practices 364 days of the year but grave moral evils just on October 31? If that’s the standard I hold to, am I not being a bit legalistic?

RELATED: Why Christians should stop running scared from Halloween

kajakiki/Getty Images Plus

Full transparency: I’m not sure where I fall on this issue. I am struggling because I think my parents did an exceptional job protecting us from darkness while still allowing us to have fun and make awesome memories.

If possible, I would like to re-create the same experiences for my children.

However, we were kids in the 1990s. We didn’t have access to global information in the palm of our hands. My mom wasn’t privy to the dark pagan origins of trick-or-treating and costume-wearing.

But today, we can find the answers to literally anything in mere seconds thanks to high-speed internet, smart devices, and artificial intelligence — another big moral question mark. Many discerning Christians have begun looking into the origins of things they thoughtlessly engaged in for years, including Halloween. They’re deeply disturbed by what they’re finding.

Social media has also given everyone who wants it a platform. Practicing witches are all over Instagram and TikTok. They’ve busted the myth that witches wear pointy hats and concoct bubbling potions in the dark forest. Turns out, they’re sitting next to you at the coffee shop, browsing grocery store aisles in your hometown, and creating spreadsheets in the cubicle next to yours.

Halloween is a frequent subject on “WitchTok,” a virtual community that has amassed billions of views. Oct. 31 is a day when modern witches revive the ancient pagan rituals that influenced Halloween. And they’re doing it boldly — consulting with demons, worshipping at satanic altars, and casting curses and spells. One can only guess what they’re doing off camera.

This is all going on while children stuff themselves with Snickers and Skittles.

On the flip side, social media has also given voice to ex-occult members who are exposing the dark art’s sinister secrets. These Christian converts pull no punches about Halloween: It’s a hard no.

Many of them describe personal experiences with rituals, hauntings, and “demonic weddings” on Oct. 31. They almost unanimously implore believers to abstain from the holiday to avoid opening spiritual doors to evil.

I recently saw this Instagram post from Christian music artist Forrest Frank:

In the video, ex-occultist and former satanic church leader Riaan Swiegelaar warns that Halloween is “the highest day on the satanic calendar” and “the night of the year where there is the most human sacrifice on the whole planet.”

“So many people think Halloween is about candy and it’s about dress-up, but they don’t question the meaning behind it,” he said.

Swiegelaar went on to suggest that anyone who participates in Halloween by opening their doors and engaging in the traditions will be “affected” by the darkness.

An ex-satanic priest turned evangelist named John Ramirez, who spent over two decades engaging in unspeakable horrors on Halloween, warns that participation in any capacity is like having a one-night stand with Satan. He even goes so far as to claim that pumpkins, not even Jack-o’-lanterns, outside our doors are an invitation for demons to enter.

Do I take their word for it? Even though my childhood memories don’t align?

Do I lean harder into the Christian or pagan roots of Halloween? Can I participate in some traditions given they were shaped by All Hallows’ Eve, the vigil before All Hallows’ Day, a Christian feast established by the early church to honor saints and martyrs?

Or do I turn my porch light off and barricade my family indoors because Halloween was also influenced by the pagan fire festival of Samhain, a night steeped in death and the demonic? Ancient Celtic peoples made offerings and sometimes even sacrifices to the dead, practiced divination and necromancy, and danced around great bonfires to keep evil spirits at bay. Samhain is where costume-wearing and trick-or-treating got their start.

However, both traditions are a bit of a mixed bag. Ancient pagan practices blended with medieval Christian traditions to eventually become the candy-driven, costume-obsessed hallmarks of modern Halloween. Samhain was the night Celts believed the veil between the living and the dead was thin. Spirits that crossed the barrier needed appeasement, so people offered gifts, usually food, to quell their wrath — a precursor to passing out candy.

One could argue that Christians, by turning demonic practices into veneration and community-oriented festivities, brought light where there was darkness.

However, British and Irish Christians then put their own spin on these practices with “souling,” where the poor went door-to-door on All Hallows’ Eve, offering prayers for the dead in return for food, which further shaped the trick-or-treating we know today.

The tradition of costume-wearing has a similar trajectory.

During Samhain, Celts would disguise themselves using animal skins or masks to confuse or ward off malevolent spirits. By the medieval period, after Christianity had spread across Ireland and Scotland, these practices were reshaped into what became known as “guising.” Children dressed up and went door-to-door, performing songs, poems, or tricks for food or coins. This was widely accepted by Christians as part of All Hallows’ Day festivities.

So while Samhain birthed the concepts of trick-or-treating and dressing in costumes, Christians had the final say. The early church redirected pagan impulses of worshipping and fearing the dead to honoring them as part of the “communion of saints.” Or did they merely sanitize sin? I guess it depends on how you look at it.

Many Christians who condemn Halloween today point back to the pagan origins of these traditions as evidence of why believers should abstain. They’ve definitely got a point. Samhain was — is — dedicated to the demonic.

However, one could argue that Christians, by turning demonic practices into veneration and community-oriented festivities, brought light where there was darkness. Again, it depends on how you look at it.

I do find it interesting that the majority of Christians who are bent on seeing the entirety of Halloween as irredeemably evil don’t bat an eye when December rolls around and Christmas trees go up. Christmas trees have the exact same history as Halloween’s favorite traditions: It began as a pagan practice of worshipping nature spirits, and then Christians adapted it into a “holy” holiday tradition.

I asked a close friend of mine who falls in this category (no Halloween but Christmas trees are fine) her thoughts on this. She told me Halloween in general is a celebration of darkness, whereas Christmas is not.

It’s a fair point, but I still wonder if mainstream Christmas is not a celebration of a different kind of darkness — greed and materialism.

“It’s just the whole Halloween vibe. It doesn’t sit well with my spirit,” she told me.

There, I think, is where everyone should find their answer: in the Spirit, which convicts us all differently. I’m reminded of the apostle Paul’s words to the early Gentile Christians in Romans 14, who were arguing over disputable matters of conscience, like consuming food offered to idols and observing certain holidays. He told them, “Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.” Perhaps the same wisdom applies here.

This year, my husband and I have decided to abstain from Halloween and use this time when our son is still too young to remember anything to pray about what our future Octobers should look like.

My spirit is certainly disturbed when I see our next-door neighbor turning his yard into what I can only describe as a temple of darkness — monsters and fiends of all varieties awash in a sickly red glow. I then look over at the cluster of pumpkins on my own front porch and wonder: Are he and I guilty of the same crime?

Until I have my answer, I’ll keep pondering, praying, and letting the Spirit — not the season or even my cherished memories — tell me what belongs in our home.

​Christianity, Christian, Samhain, All saints day, Halloween 

A 48-year-old mother boarded a Florida school bus Monday morning and threatened a student and cursed out the bus driver, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office said.

But the mother — identified by authorities as Latanya Rowe — allegedly was just getting started.

‘These police ain’t gonna be able to protect you!’

The bus was supposed to be taking students to Davenport High School, but Rowe apparently had some business to take care of first.

The sheriff’s office said Rowe began cursing at and threatening a student on the bus about a Friday incident between the student and Rowe’s son and daughter. The student victim recorded video of Rowe’s profanities and threats, officials said.

“Yeah, record me!” she yelled to start things off. “I know where you live!”

She also cursed out the bus driver, accusing him of not “handling the situation” between her kids and the student, authorities said.

The bus driver told Rowe to get off the bus, but she refused, officials said, adding that when he told her he was contacting law enforcement, she left.

The sheriff’s office said Rowe’s actions caused the bus to be delayed by about 50 minutes.

Before the clip ended, Rowe was heard hollering — apparently at the student — that “these police ain’t gonna be able to protect you!”

RELATED: Mom and her 17-year-old daughter board middle school bus, start slugging 8th-grade boy: Report

The sheriff’s office said that when deputies went to Rowe’s home, she told them through her Ring camera that she was at the high school.

Indeed, the two school resource deputies went to the high school’s front office where they found Rowe cursing, yelling, and causing a disturbance, officials said. When the deputies attempted to take Rowe into custody, she resisted, the sheriff’s office said.

What’s more, Rowe’s daughter was standing nearby and was told multiple times to move back, officials said, adding that she repeatedly refused and told deputies that she wanted to go to jail too. The sheriff’s office said she was taken into custody for violation of the “Halo law” after warnings and resisting arrest.

Deputies investigating the original dispute between the three students on the bus — Rowe’s son and daughter and the student victim — learned through several witnesses that Rowe’s son had been bullying the student victim for a week and calling the victim racial slurs, officials said.

When all three students got off the bus Friday afternoon, the victim attempted to talk to Rowe’s son and daughter, but they both punched the victim, officials said, adding that the victim fought back until another student separated them.

“The irony of this situation is that this woman’s two children were found to be the aggressors in a fight that took place on Friday, yet she was screaming at the victim and accusing the victim of hurting her kids,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said in the aftermath. “The victim’s parents declined to press charges and preferred that the school handle that internally, but we are moving forward with charging this mother for her criminal conduct. You cannot go onto a school bus or onto school property and cause a disturbance — schools are meant to be safe places where children learn.”

RELATED: ‘You talkin’ s**t to my daughter?’ Mom allegedly boards school bus, repeatedly punches 64-year-old driver, drags her by hair

Rowe was charged with disrupting a school function, trespassing on school grounds, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest, officials said, adding that she was released after posting $1,750 bond.

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​Florida, Polk county sheriff’s office, Sheriff grady judd, Mother, Arrest, School bus, Verbal assault, Bullying, Student victim, Bus driver, Davenport high school, Crime