As Texas gears up for the end of the detrimental Senate race between Ken Paxton and James Talarico, BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales is warning conservatives against assuming the outcome is a foregone conclusion.

“People get complacent and then they get mad that they don’t have 100% of the things that they wanted to happen, happen,” Gonzales says, noting that this attitude won’t help as “these are complete lunatics that we’re up against.”

“And they could potentially take back control if we don’t pay attention,” she continues.

“I say this from real personal experience here in the state of Texas because we have this race for the Senate that we’re talking about all the time because it’s important. Because so goes Texas, so goes the country,” she explains.

Gonzales calls the “only sane pick” in the race Paxton, who is up against this “weird, low-t soy boy.”

“I thought that they were like at the bottom of the barrel when they ran Beto O’Rourke,” she says.

“But wait there’s worse,” she adds, noting that she’s already run a ton of Talarico clips in the past that are “nonsensical.”

“It turns out there’s more that just keeps coming out,” she explains, before playing a clip of Talarico that reads as “a little bit of an admittance” that “he at least maybe dabbled in some gay stuff.”

In the clip, Talarico explained that his “colleagues are limited by their experience.”

“I know that because I, as a white straight guy, you know, have the same limitations, those same blinders. Thankfully, I’ve been able to have some experiences and relationships that have helped take off some of those same blinders,” he said.

“But a lot of my colleagues still have, you know, the full set that they were born with. And so the challenge is, how do you lift those blinders for folks?” he continued.

“What are you talking about?” Gonzales asks.

“You start to wonder.”

“Are you thinking back to those experiences that have taken your blinders off, James? Huh? I’m just going to leave that one here,” she adds.

Want more from Sara Gonzales?

To enjoy more of Sara’s no-holds-barred takes on news and culture, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Beto orourke, James talarico, Ken paxton, Sara gonzales, Senate race, Texas, Blazetv show 

Thursday marks the one-year anniversary of the murder of beloved conservative leader Charlie Kirk.

Kirk was just 31 years old on September 10, 2025, when he was shot and killed on the campus of Utah Valley University.

‘The movement my husband built will not die. It won’t. I refuse to let that happen.’

The UVU event was intended to kick off a grand college tour for Turning Point USA, the nonprofit Kirk founded in 2012. With a microphone in hand, a “Freedom” message emblazoned across his chest, and a smile on his face, the married father of two was ready to do what he always did: engage with America’s youth about the importance of family, conservative values, and the Christian faith.

Everything changed at 12:23 p.m. Mountain Time that day, when a single bullet struck Kirk in the neck. Though he was rushed to the hospital, Kirk soon succumbed to his injury.

By 2:40 p.m., President Donald Trump, a personal friend of Kirk, announced that Kirk had died:

The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us. Melania and my Sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erika, and family. Charlie, we love you!

The following day, Kirk’s remains were brought aboard Air Force Two, and Vice President JD Vance personally escorted the body from Salt Lake City back to Phoenix, Arizona, for burial.

“Now that Charlie is in heaven, I’ll ask him to talk to big man directly on behalf of his family, his friends, and the country he loved so dearly. You ran a good race, my friend. We’ve got it from here,” Vance wrote.

RELATED: Tyler Robinson refuses to testify after prosecutors bury him with evidence

Rick Egan-Pool/Getty Images

At about the same time Vance brought Kirk’s body back to Arizona, Tyler Robinson was arrested in connection with the shooting. Family members reportedly persuaded him to turn himself in.

Just last week, a Utah judge found probable cause in the case, and Robinson, 23, has been bound over for trial, charged with multiple offenses, including aggravated murder. Prosecutors have said from the start they intend to seek the death penalty if Robinson is convicted.

‘I forgive him.’

Despite their grief, the folks at TPUSA had to scramble to keep the organization going in the wake of Kirk’s death. Barely a week later, his wife, Erika, was unanimously elected to replace him as CEO.

“The cries of this widow will echo around the world like a battle cry,” Mrs. Kirk said at the time. “To everyone listening tonight across America: The movement my husband built will not die. It won’t. I refuse to let that happen.”

Her words at his memorial service on September 21 were even more profound. Erika Kirk shocked and humbled the world when she publicly forgave her husband’s killer.

RELATED: Texas radical charged with making terroristic threats against Erika Kirk

Win McNamee/Getty Images

“Charlie passionately wanted to reach and save the lost boys of the West — the young men who feel like they have no direction, no purpose, no faith, and no reason to live. … He wanted to save young men just like the one who took his life,” she said.

“I forgive him.”

Erika Kirk may have forgiven the shooter, but she is still determined to see him held responsible for Kirk’s death. When the suspect’s case was bound over for trial, she called it “an important step in our family’s pursuit of justice for him.”

Meanwhile, TPUSA continues to keep Charlie’s memory alive. The day after the memorial service, the group resumed its scheduled campus tour and fulfilled each previously scheduled date, including a stop at Utah State University on September 30.

These events featured Kirk’s friends and conservative colleagues, such as BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey and Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck. Even Vice President Vance headlined a TPUSA event at the University of Mississippi.

As Blaze News previously reported, a statue of Kirk recently arrived at Utah Valley University, creating some controversy.

TPUSA is hosting an event at UVU on Thursday to commemorate Kirk’s untimely death and his enduring legacy. TPUSA is also using the opportunity of the memorial event at UVU to continue evangelizing the culture for Christ:

TPUSA Faith is leading a nationwide initiative inviting Christians of every denomination and tradition to honor Charlie’s mission to make Heaven crowded by inviting a friend or family member to church beginning Sunday, September 13, and throughout the month of September.

Americans from every corner of the country are welcome to share the moment on social media with a simple message: Charlie’s seat continues to be filled by a new generation of faith-filled believers.

UVU has closed its campus on Thursday and canceled all classes in honor of Charlie Kirk and “the tragic events” surrounding his death.

RELATED: TPUSA plans return to UVU on solemn anniversary of the Charlie Kirk assassination

Photo obtained by Blaze News

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​Charlie kirk, Erika kirk, Turning point usa, Tyler robinson, Utah valley university, Politics 

The corridors of the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, buzzed with almost as much excitement as the arena itself the first day of the 2026 Republican Midterm Convention as Republicans from all over the country convened prior to the midterm election.

The arena’s floor was filled with excited state delegations and media personalities as the first night kicked off, with a number of Republican representatives, activists, and pastors speaking in the first few hours of the event Wednesday.

‘We need to get Paxton some more money so he can win this race against Talafreako.’

Convention attendees mingled with figures such as Scott Presler, congressional candidate Brandon Herrera, and Fox News’ Bret Baier as the night began.

In the first half of the night, Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas) received one of the longest standing ovations from the crowd, which by that time filled most the levels of the arena.

The delegations on the convention floor waved American flags and signs that said, “Keep the Majority,” and “Republicans are Fixing Democrats’ Mess.”

And the excitement didn’t die down outside the arena.

RELATED: Watch live: Night 1 of the GOP Midterm Convention

Blaze News

Texas, one of the best represented states at the convention, had attendees from all over the state.

Asked who he was most excited to see at the event, convention-goer Randy told Blaze News, “Obviously President Trump. But all of them I’m looking forward to seeing.”

“And obviously we need to get [Attorney General Ken] Paxton some more money so he can win this race against Talafreako,” Randy, who came to Dallas on Wednesday from San Antonio, added in an interview with Blaze News.

The floor and arena seating continued to fill with more cowboy hats and MAGA hats as the night went on.

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​Brandon gill, Texas, Republican midterm convention, Politics, Scott presler 

The atmosphere at the 2026 Republican Midterm Convention reached a crescendo on Wednesday as President Donald Trump took the stage. The president spoke for roughly an hour and a half, touting the accomplishments of his first two years but warning against complacency going into the midterms.

“If we lose,” Trump said, in reference to the impending midterm elections in November, “you’re going to lose your border. You’re going to lose your tax cuts. You’re going to lose your safety and security. … You will be going through hell.”

‘He has a great sense of humor. People forget that.’

The crowd was fired up throughout the speech, which began just after 8 p.m. Central Time, frequently breaking into chants of “USA! USA! USA!”

Afterward, attendees said they felt energized by the president’s commitment to winning in November. Randy Berholtz, a delegate from California, called the speech “vintage Trump.”

Another attendee from Idaho told Blaze News she was encouraged by Trump’s effort to turn out additional midterm voters and added that Trump’s rhetorical style made the speech thoroughly enjoyable.

“He has a great sense of humor,” she said. “People forget that.”

RELATED: The mood is high as midterm convention gets under way

Blaze News

During the speech, Trump announced a plan to use tariff revenue to pay American adults $5,000 each, so long as Republicans maintain control of Congress after the midterms. “We’ll call it the Trump dividend,” the president said.

The announcement caused quite a stir both in the arena and online. One attendee from Washington told Blaze News he was encouraged by the dividend, adding that he thought it would be “good for families.”

The arena remained full throughout the speech, prompting the president to comment on the “fake news media” searching for empty seats to photograph.

Leaning into the energy from the crowd, Trump spoke confidently about his administration’s plan to continue pushing the GOP agenda forward through the next two years. He returned again and again to the importance of preventing Democrats from returning to power.

“America is not for sale. … We do not negotiate with communists, with socialists, or with radical left lunatics.”

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​Fake news media, Republicans, Democrats, Midterm convention, Dallas, Trump dividend, Tariffs, Politics, Donald trump 

BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales’ war on H-1B abuse is bearing fruit: Department of Labor Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito just clamped down on two major visa sponsors.

D’Esposito suspended Cognizant and Cloudera’s Program Electronic Review Management pipelines and H-1B applications on Tuesday. He sat down with Gonzales to break down the Trump administration’s progress on the foreign labor issue.

‘Handcuffs await.’

PERM is a regulatory hurdle employers must clear before they are allowed to sponsor employees’ green cards.

“It’s a bad time to be a fraudster right now, in the Trump 2.0 America,” Gonzales said at the top of the show. “It’s actually a bad time to be any sort of abuser of our immigration system right now, because the Trump administration is doing so many things to crack down on all kinds of fraud, from H-1B fraud to discriminating against American workers.”

Tuesday’s action didn’t come together overnight, D’Esposito told Gonzales.

D’Esposito spearheaded a nationwide probe in July alongside acting Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling and the White House Fraud Task Force. Investigators manned tip lines, executed search warrants, and interviewed both victims and suspects to secure Tuesday’s DOL action against Cognizant and Cloudera.

“Threats to American workers will NOT be tolerated,” Gonzales said, reading D’Esposito’s X post that announced the action. “Alongside @WHFraudTF, we’re following facts, fraud and finances. Handcuffs await.”

Cognizant is a massive U.S.-Indian information technology firm. It’s one of the U.S.’ largest H-1B sponsors, with 3,510 applications approved in fiscal year 2026 and over 11,000 labor condition applications filed in fiscal year 2025. LCAs are part of the U.S. work visa approval process.

Cognizant recently announced it would hire just 1,500 U.S. college graduates in 2026, compared with its thousands of H-1B and LCA filings over the same period.

A 2024 federal jury found that Cognizant discriminated against non-Indians in hiring, and a Manhattan jury later awarded $8.4 million to a former executive who claimed he was fired after complaining about “race and national origin discrimination.”

In response to the 2024 verdict, a Cognizant spokesperson told Bloomberg: “We provide equal employment opportunities for all employees and have built a diverse and inclusive workplace that promotes a culture of belonging in which all employees feel valued, are engaged, and have the opportunity to develop and succeed.”

The Manhattan jury did not find that Cognizant discriminated on the basis of race or national origin, only that the company retaliated against the employee for complaining.

Cognizant and Cloudera did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Blaze News.

RELATED: DOL takes action after Sara Gonzales’ latest expose of alleged H-1B fraud: ‘Walls are closing in Mohammad’

Sara Gonzales

Gonzales dove into Cognizant’s troubles in Texas.

“For viewers who are not familiar, Cognizant has a huge track record — massive importer of foreign workers here in Texas,” Gonzales said. “And just in Texas in 2025, there were 41,571 beneficiaries approved for H-1B visas. That was across 6,137 companies. One state. That’s what I’m saying. Just in Texas.”

She noted that Cognizant received the most H-1B approvals in Texas and highlighted the 2024 discrimination verdict against the company.

“They’ve … been up to no good for a very long time now. From 2024: They were found liable for intentional discrimination against a class of terminated non-Indian and non-South Asian Americans,” Gonzales claimed.

“They’ve got a long track record of discriminating against American workers.”

D’Esposito responded that the freeze was just the opening salvo in the Trump administration’s campaign against anti-American labor discrimination.

“It’s just the beginning. For everyone listening at home, this isn’t the end,” D’Esposito said. “I’ve already seen probably a thousand tweets today on my X post saying: ‘Who else?’ ‘Why not this one?’ Give us a minute, all right? It’s two of the biggest companies in the world that were suspended today, and we’re gonna keep at it.”

Gonzales is no stranger to H-1B investigations. She previously tracked down alleged ghost offices and suspected fraudulently registered companies with Texas Senate candidate and Attorney General Ken Paxton (R).

Paxton later issued civil investigative demands to nearly 30 North Texas businesses as a result of her reporting. Paxton thanked Gonzales by name.

Gonzales and D’Esposito teamed up to track down another alleged fraudster in August, tracing green-card-scam accusations to apparently empty offices in Dallas.

“The fact is that these foreign labor visas, especially when they’re abused and extorted, are taking good-paying, fair wages away from the American people,” D’Esposito told Gonzales. “That’s why acting Secretary Sonderling and I, under President Trump’s leadership, have made this a priority.”

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​Department of labor, Green cards, Labor secretary, Sara gonzales, Trump administration, Politics 

The Pentagon is spending $11 million to turn red blood cells into cellular endurance runners. UC San Diego researchers are using CRISPR to redesign blood at the sub-microscopic level, ensuring DARPA’s future infantrymen can sprint up a mountain in 100-degree heat without running out of breath. We understandably worry about AI replacing human labor, yet the immediate biological future involves stuffing the human chassis with synthetic upgrades to keep soldiers primed and ready for action.

America is upgrading its biological hardware for a simple reason. The alternative is watching the enemy do it first. Chinese military researchers at the Academy of Military Medical Sciences have openly experimented with CRISPR technology to enhance high-altitude endurance in combat troops stationed along the Himalayan border. Kremlin-backed laboratories have continuously pursued metabolic bio-interventions and neurological stimulants to keep tank crews awake and operational for three straight days without crashing, both literally and mentally. The global arms race has moved beyond hypersonic missiles, silent drones, and stealth bombers. It is now coming for actual human arms — along with our legs, lungs, and brains.

The alternative is letting rival powers develop these technologies first.

Now, I understand the impulse to draw a line between military necessity and human biology. But that line gets a lot harder to defend when an unenhanced Marine is carrying an 80-pound pack into combat against an opponent whose biology has been engineered for utter domination. One soldier runs out of oxygen. He builds up lactic acid, then collapses from heatstroke. The other has synthetic hemoglobin that delivers extra oxygen to working muscles on demand. The tactical advantage is absolute. Special forces, fighter pilots, high-G flight crews, deep-sea combat divers, and long-orbit military astronauts will inevitably receive these genetic upgrades first because extreme operational environments demand maximum physical tolerance. Silicon Valley spent years pitching bio-hacking as a luxury life span optimization trick for oddballs like Bryan Johnson. The Department of Defense looked at the same technology and saw something considerably more practical: a powerful weapon.

But technological advances like these come with some obvious complications. Consider the domestic logistics of integrating these apex predators back into civilian life once their service contracts expire. A veteran with genetically altered red blood cells steps into a local YMCA for a pickup basketball game, effortlessly sprinting for six continuous hours without sweating, breaking every local cardio record, while his opponents hyperventilate on the sideline. Standard drug tests at a city marathon become entirely useless when an athlete’s blood was permanently reprogrammed by the federal government 10 years prior.

Those in charge will eventually need to decide whether ex-soldiers require biological down-throttling before re-entering society or if civilian life simply includes a new sub-species of retired infantrymen.

No turning back?

Many Christians view cellular re-engineering as crossing a moral line, encouraging us to play God with the human body. As a Christian, I understand the concern. But I also think the issue gets more complicated when the alternative is letting rival powers develop these technologies first. And make no mistake: China is already well on its way.

RELATED: It’s getting harder to prove you’re human — and this ‘solution’ is only making it worse

Moor Studio/Getty Images

Survival against a hostile power, one could argue, overrides classical theological hesitation every single time. Practical military necessity routinely displaces abstract morality on the battlefield. Survival is pragmatism, and pragmatism builds better red blood cells.

Keeping these military enhancements separate from ordinary civilians won’t be easy, but it is possible with strict federal regulation, military law, and genetic tracking. Military medical commands already control every vaccine, pill, and procedure a service member receives from enlistment to discharge. Treating military gene edits as proprietary defense assets keeps the technology strictly inside base perimeters. It prevents synthetic blood overhauls from leaking into commercial cosmetic clinics, private longevity spas, or your weekly game of hoops. Civilian populations will continue operating on baseline natural biology, while the armed forces maintain specialized cellular modifications built exclusively for national defense objectives.

Future wars will require human operators who can withstand unimaginable levels of physical demands while integrating directly with automated machine hardware and AI battle networks. AI-driven combat systems move too fast for a standard human central nervous system to direct effectively. Upgrading the soldier’s blood, reaction time, muscle recovery, cellular repair, and stress response bridges the biological gap between skin and bone and high-speed digital warfare. America simply can’t afford to send ordinary soldiers into battle while its most dangerous rivals treat human genetics as another frontier of military technology.

The case for pursuing biological enhancement is straightforward. A nation either builds the most capable fighting force possible or risks surrendering the technological high ground to adversaries who would love nothing more than to see America brought to its knees.

​Bioengineering, Tech 

The family of a man who was shot three times says he nearly died while bystanders looked on and refused to help him.

21-year-old Matthew Lanske had finished having dinner with friends and family on Sunday when he found himself at a street takeover at the Belltown neighborhood in Seattle, according to his family.

The family said onlookers recorded the bleeding man but did not try to help him.

Two women and a man tried to rob one of Lanske’s friends at gunpoint, and he intervened by trying to take the gun.

“My brother tried to take it from him and then ended up getting shot,” said Lanske’s sister Rebecca Garberding.

He was shot twice in the stomach, and another gunshot struck a major artery and shattered his pelvis, according to the family.

Shanda Barney, Lanske’s mother, said he was bleeding profusely.

“My son had been shot three times. He was bleeding to death, yet somehow, he walked two blocks trying to find somebody to help him,” Barney said.

Lanske later said that he had tried to get into a 7-Eleven store while bleeding but that they refused to let him inside.

“He looked at me with tears in his eyes and said, ‘Mom, they wouldn’t let me in. They locked the doors. I begged them to let me, and there was so much blood coming out of my stomach, I thought I was going to die,'” his mother said.

Lanske eventually sat down and texted his girlfriend for help. He was transported to the Harborview Medical Center for treatment.

He was placed on life support for two days and was unable to speak, according to his mother.

The family said onlookers recorded the bleeding man but did not try to help him.

“What breaks my heart almost as much as the shooting itself is knowing that while my son was fighting for his life, people were standing around filming him, taking pictures instead of helping him,” Barney continued.

“If you were running away from that area and you didn’t do anything, feel ashamed,” she added. “Please feel ashamed right now because you didn’t help to do anything when you could have.”

Lanske has undergone two surgeries and has many more in his future before he can return to his job in construction.

RELATED: Bystanders taunted and laughed as police officers were being fired upon in Philadelphia

The family is asking for help from the public to identify suspects in the attack.

“We are asking for accountability, answers, and justice,” said Garberding.

“Somehow, someone out there knows something. Maybe you saw something. Maybe you heard something. Just please come forward,” she added.

The family set up a GoFundMe account to help them pay for his medical bills.

“To my baby brother, I love you. We love you. Keep fighting. You’re not alone,” his sister added. “We’re right here and we’re never going to give up on you.”

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​Street takeover, Seattle, Shooting, Bystanders, Crime 

The Romans had a phrase for when wine starts talking: In vino veritas.

In wine, truth.

‘Good person’ is not a diagnosis, a legal defense, or a Christian understanding of the human heart.

The phrase is linked to Pliny the Elder, who wrote that drunkenness brings out “the secrets of the mind.”

His examples included lust, anger, reckless words, violence, and lost memory.

When restraint disappeared, wisdom did not show up.

Wine is not a truth serum. Alcohol clouds judgment and weakens self-control. We do not get drunk before driving, watching children, or making important decisions. Impaired judgment rarely produces better choices.

Still, nobody says, “He got drunk and spent the evening showing patience, wisdom, and self-control.”

Take away the guardrails, and something besides goodness often comes out.

What does this say about free will? We often talk as though the will sits above our desires. Christianity teaches something different.

The Fall did not make us puppets. We make choices, but sin has bent what we want.

We can do what we want. Our problem is what we want.

Fallen man cannot turn himself toward God. God must renew the will.

Pelagius was a fifth-century monk who taught that people could obey God without first being changed by His grace. Semi-Pelagianism offered a softer version. It admitted that sin damaged us and that we need God’s help. But it still claimed we could reach toward God first. God would then complete what we started.

The church rejected that teaching at the Second Council of Orange in 529 AD. Scripture teaches that even our desire to reach for God begins with Him. God does not merely help willing people save themselves. He makes unwilling sinners willing.

RELATED: Gloria Steinem is gone. Lindsay Clancy is still here.

Greg Derr/POOL/AFP/Getty Images

Why does that ancient argument matter? Because our culture still assumes an untouched pocket of goodness remains inside us. Remove the wounds, diagnoses, and poor choices, and the good person underneath will finally come out.

Total depravity does not mean utter depravity. People can love, sacrifice, work hard, and show courage.

But much of what keeps us from becoming worse is restraint.

Conscience, families, laws, reputations, consequences, and God’s common grace restrain us.

Those things help keep a lid on the pot. They do not clean what is in it.

Restraint is not redemption.

That’s why the conversations following Lindsay Clancy’s mistrial trouble me.

I am not asking whether Clancy met the legal standard for criminal responsibility. That was the jury’s task. I am asking why so many people outside the courtroom seem determined to acquit human nature itself.

Clancy does not deny killing Cora, Dawson, and Callan. Her defense argued postpartum psychosis left her not legally responsible. Prosecutors disagreed. The jury divided.

Clancy’s attorney described her as strong, brave, wonderful, and loving. His admirers joined in. A lawyer should defend his client, but a legal defense cannot declare the human heart innocent.

Someone can show love while remaining capable of terrible evil.

Past good behavior does not erase present horror.

Scripture makes this clear in the life of David. He was called a man after God’s own heart. Then he committed adultery with Bathsheba and arranged the murder of her husband.

When confronting him, Nathan the prophet did not defend David by listing his courage, worship, or service to Israel. He looked at the king and said, “Thou art the man.” David did not point to all the good he had done. He said, “I have sinned against the Lord.”

David returned through repentance, not reputation. He was forgiven, but Uriah remained dead. Severe consequences followed David and his family from that moment on.

My father used to say, “God forgives instantly. Man takes a while. Nature never does.”

Sometimes what we do in a few minutes establishes a lifetime of consequences.

RELATED: ‘That far’ always becomes here

Erhui1979/Getty Images

“Good person” is not a diagnosis, a legal defense, or a Christian understanding of the human heart. Nor should three dead children become background characters in the tragedy of the adult who killed them.

Before a holy God, we stand fully exposed. No lawyer can reshape the record. No diagnosis can turn evil into good. No list of past virtues can erase present sin. God knows every illness, impairment, pressure, and intention, and He judges perfectly.

But if I use this case only to point at Lindsay Clancy, I have missed the doctrine entirely. Human depravity gives me no place to stand and announce that I am one of the good people.

I do not need to imagine what I might do without restraint. I see enough of my own sin with every guardrail God placed around me still standing.

The gospel is not God placing a better lid on a basically good heart. Christ gives us new hearts. He renews our minds. He changes what we love.

Alcohol and other mind-altering substances may expose some of what restraint keeps hidden. Stress and pain may do the same. The cross reveals the deepest truth about us. Our sin is worse than we think, but we are not beyond the reach of Christ.

Restraint can limit depravity. Only redemption through Christ can rescue us from it.

​Christianity, Consequences, Courage, Criminal responsibility, Drunkenness, Forgiveness, Lindsay clancy, Postpartum psychosis, Redemption, Opinion & analysis 

Republicans seek office while Democrats seek power. That explains our politics in a nutshell. It also explains why nothing ever changes — at least not for the better.

The four years of Biden’s presidency were among the most miserable in recent American history in terms of culture, affordability, freedom, and America’s standing in the world. But any critically thinking person should ask: Why didn’t we enjoy the residual effects of Trump’s first term?

Republicans warn voters that Democrats will wield power aggressively if they win, while demonstrating that Republicans themselves are reluctant to wield it while they have it.

On the surface, that observation sounds sophomoric. Of course Biden countermanded policies from Trump’s first term. That was to be expected. But dig deeper and you realize that nearly every auspicious conservative policy was implemented through executive action rather than codified into law. It could therefore be reversed by a succeeding administration or challenged in court.

That is why every ounce of Trump’s political capital should have been focused on codifying his core campaign promises into must-pass legislation so we would not repeat the same history when the pendulum eventually swings back toward Democrats.

Instead, Republicans have blown through nearly the entirety of what is likely Trump’s second and final governing trifecta with almost none of their core immigration or economic promises codified into permanent law. Now they are canceling most of the remaining legislative days before the election under the guise of giving members more time to campaign for another term in a majority they are struggling to defend.

They are also staging a first-of-its-kind midterm convention to scare Republican voters about Democrats — all while ignoring, and in some cases relinquishing, the power they currently possess.

What is the point of campaigning to retain power while you hold it but refuse to use it? What changes after the election even if Republicans retain the House? And why, with the party facing serious political headwinds, would Trump and congressional Republicans not use every remaining legislative day to focus on popular issues that could inject some momentum into an otherwise listless campaign?

Last week, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) announced that the House would return for only a one-week session in mid-September and then adjourn until after the election. That leaves House lawmakers just four more legislative days before November 3.

I suppose one could argue that given how bad they have been, it is better to keep them out of Washington.

But if that is our attitude, why should anyone vote to send them back?

RELATED: Washington must not forget the grassroots

Leon Neal/Getty Images

It didn’t have to be this way. Following the Supreme Court’s ruling on birthright citizenship, Republicans could have used the budget, the National Defense Authorization Act, or reconciliation to try to prohibit federal funding for citizenship documents issued under circumstances they oppose. They could have pursued legislation changing how noncitizens are treated in congressional apportionment. They could have attempted to defund sanctuary jurisdictions or restrict programs that allow foreign workers to compete with Americans for jobs.

In other words, they could at least have attempted to use their final legislative days before the election to fulfill their mandate. That itself would have been a stronger campaign message than the languid narrative they currently offer.

After all, what is the point of clearing the schedule for extra campaign days if you have nothing positive to campaign on?

Instead, Republicans returned last week and quickly passed a continuing resolution funding the government through December 11 with virtually none of the immigration or economic reforms conservatives spent the past two years demanding. The House passed it 370-48.

“Well, they don’t want to rock the boat close to the election, so they opted for a clean CR,” you might retort.

Except it was not really clean in the sense conservatives usually mean when they use that term.

The bill contained at least two significant policy provisions. One delays new restrictions on intoxicating hemp-derived THC products that Congress enacted last year. The restrictions were scheduled to take effect November 12 and would have barred many products containing more than 0.4 milligrams of THC or other intoxicating cannabinoids per container. The CR now pushes that deadline to December 11.

The hemp industry lobbied heavily for that reprieve, and the White House supported the delay. Republicans who objected argued that Congress was postponing restrictions aimed at increasingly potent and easily accessible products.

Unfortunately, Trump is well-connected to the hemp and marijuana industries, so naturally he is willing to fight for them more than any of his immigration or economic promises.

RELATED: Dallas is the GOP’s last chance to remember why Trump won

JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

The continuing resolution also temporarily blocks the Office of Management and Budget from finalizing a proposed rule that would significantly change federal grant-making by giving political appointees greater authority over grants and allowing agencies broader power to modify or cancel awards.

That reform cuts to the heart of one of the central complaints conservatives have made about the administrative state: Federal grant-making often finances organizations, universities, nonprofits, and programs that advance ideological priorities long after the voters who elected the current administration have changed course.

Yet Republicans allowed the stopgap bill to block one of the administration’s more consequential attempts to bring that grant-making under direct political control.

Why?

This is the recurring problem. Republicans routinely decline to codify their own executive actions, then permit temporary spending deals to constrain the executive authority they actually possess.

Meanwhile, they campaign for more power.

The larger record is difficult to ignore. Republicans have controlled the House for 24 of the past 32 years. Yet many of the policy victories conservatives celebrate remain vulnerable to the next president, the next court case, or the next appropriations fight because Congress never secured them in statute.

Holding office becomes the achievement.

The irony is almost perfect. Republicans warn voters that Democrats will wield power aggressively if they win, while demonstrating that Republicans themselves are reluctant to wield it while they have it.

Then they leave Washington to campaign for another chance.

​Federal funding, Midterm convention, Gop, Democrats, Trump, Mike johnson, Washington, Save act, Opinion & analysis, Congress 

On September 3, Messianic rabbi and bestselling evangelical author Jonathan Cahn was flying home to New Jersey from Dallas on an American Airlines flight when, he says, a casual conversation with his seatmate — 67-year-old Arizona realtor Arthur Lundeen — turned into chaos.

According to Cahn’s account, conversation was flowing normally between them until Cahn mentioned his new book and the gospel, at which point Lundeen allegedly flipped in an instant and began cursing Jesus before allegedly hitting Cahn’s laptop and grabbing at him.

Other passengers described the outburst turning violent, with Lundeen allegedly shouting a slew of profanities, including racial and homophobic slurs, allegedly biting one of the passengers who stepped in to help restrain him, and bleeding from wounds passengers said he inflicted on himself from struggling.

After Lundeen was restrained with zip ties and duct tape, the flight was diverted to Baltimore, where police arrested him and charged him with second-degree assault and disorderly conduct.

On a recent episode of “The Glenn Beck Program,” Cahn told the Blaze Media co-founder that news reports covering the incident are heavily focused on “side things” and are missing the much bigger story behind what he describes as “the flight from hell.”

“What happened was demonic. It was real spiritual warfare,” Cahn tells Glenn, noting that this wasn’t the first time he’s been caught up in the cosmic war between light and dark.

“Every time … I put out a book there’s crazy attacks,” he says, “and that makes sense … because the books reveal the spiritual realm.”

Cahn’s newest book, “The Altar of Pergamon: The Mystery of the Dark Angel and the Future of the World,” which his publisher billed as his most “explosive revelation” yet, released on September 1 — just two days before Lundeen allegedly attacked him.

“I get on the plane, and the guy is to my left — friendliest guy in the world. By the way, Glenn, I wasn’t supposed to be on that seat. Last minute, I’m switched to that seat,” Cahn recounts.

He says their conversation about family and life went on for “two hours” and was so amicable the flight attendants thought they “knew each other.” But the second Cahn turned the chitchat to spiritual matters, the warmth vanished.

“I wanted to get work done, but I figured, OK, maybe God wants me to talk to this guy … and then I said, ‘God, give me a chance to share Your love with him, Your salvation with him,’ and so it happens,” says Cahn.

Lundeen, according to Cahn’s account, explained that he had “rejected” Christianity “as a kid” because of things he didn’t like about “Christians.” When Cahn then tried to explain to him that Christianity isn’t about Christians but about “you and God,” “God’s love,” and being “born again,” Lundeen allegedly got defensive.

“He says, ‘How do you know God is real?’ and I said, ‘Well, I was an atheist. I saw biblical prophecy coming true, and I couldn’t argue with it,”’ he recounts.

“Everything’s great, and then it turns. That moment, I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like this in my life. It was like his face changes, his voice changes. … He’s cursing God. … He’s cursing Jesus. It’s blasphemy on the airplane. They didn’t put that in the articles,” Cahn recaps.

Lundeen’s vehement reaction to the gospel, Cahn says, then began to spiral out of control.

“He’s saying vulgar things. People all around are getting disturbed. … Then the flight attendants come over … and then he stands up, and he goes to the people in front and says, ‘Do you believe in Jesus?’ And then he starts talking about hell,” he says.

“Imagine a demonic manifestation … and then suddenly, he turns friendly again like he’s a different person.”

But the sudden shift back to amiability didn’t last long, says Cahn.

He explains that earlier that week before he went on his book tour, a small “black patch” had unexplainably appeared on his computer screen. According to Cahn, when Lundeen saw the black patch, he “[tapped]” it “three times,” and it immediately “[spread] across [his] screen.”

“Then he puts his hands around me … and he’s laughing like it’s a joke,” he tells Glenn.

But what triggered the “ultimate escalation,” he says, is when Lundeen saw an image of his book’s cover — which features a hooded, winged “dark angel” representing Satan — on the computer screen in the area the black patch hadn’t covered.

“Then he starts shouting … ‘What did you do? What did you do?’ like I did something wrong,” says Cahn.

“You will never see this in any newspaper, but … he says, ‘I’m going to punch your blanking Jewish face in.’ … Then he starts hitting me.”

At this point, it dawns on Cahn that dark spiritual forces are trying to destroy his computer, which stores his life’s work as a Christian author.

“I take my computer, I start closing it up. … At that moment, he lunges at me, and he lunges at my computer, and he grabs my computer with all his might, and he’s trying to wrest it from me and undoubtedly to destroy it,” he says, adding that this struggle turned into a “wrestling” match that he ultimately won but not without reinjuring his newly healed arm.

At this point, other passengers got involved, leading to Lundeen being restrained and the plane’s diversion to Baltimore. This is part of the story news outlets have honed in on, says Cahn, adding that some articles he’s seen even frame Lundeen as a “Christian who is racist.”

Glenn confirms that the articles he’s read frame the incident around Lundeen’s alleged racist, sexist, and homophobic comments. “None of what you said was in that story — none,” he tells Cahn.

That’s because the “real story” of the gospel triggering a “demonic manifestation,” says Cahn, is one the media would never dare touch.

To hear more wild details from Cahn’s “flight from hell,” watch the full interview above.

Want more from Glenn Beck?

To enjoy more of Glenn’s masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis, and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Glenn beck, Spiritual warfare, American airlines, Blazetv show 

President Donald Trump believes he can defy history and maintain control of Congress in the midterms — and he just announced the policy that could pull it off.

The president was in high spirits as he championed his first two years in office, especially his economic success, at the Republican Midterm Convention in Dallas on Wednesday night. In fact, Trump said the country is doing so well that he’d be returning the profits to the American people.

‘We’ll call it the Trump Dividend.’

“I will issue a dividend to every citizen in the United States of America for 5,000 dollars, very much like a successful company will do a cash distribution to its shareholders,” Trump said.

The $5,000 payout, however, is conditional on a certain result in November’s midterm elections.

“If Republicans win the United States House and Senate, I will issue a dividend to every adult in the United States of America for $5,000,” the president said. “You gotta spend the money in the United States of America.”

The president claimed that Democrats couldn’t pull off such a payment because “they don’t do tariffs.”

RELATED: The mood is high as midterm convention gets underway

Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images

“Because we’ve done so well, because our country is making so much money, only I can make this promise to you,” Trump said before promising the post-election payment. “If the Republicans win, you win with us and you get $5,000. It will be called the Trump dividend. We’ll call it the Trump dividend.”

The president also vowed to make all of his tax cuts permanent, putting even more cash back into voters’ pockets. Trump tied the proposed dividend to the “over $20 trillion in foreign investment” he’s recruited from allies, his tariffs, and Vice President JD Vance’s war on fraud.

“He’s doing a great job, by the way,” the president said.

With the midterm elections only 55 days away, Trump and the Republican Party are pulling out all the stops to make history.

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​Congress, November elections, President donald trump, Republicans, Politics, Midterm convention, Payout 

On Wednesday, Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio) took the stage at the Republican Midterm Convention to represent hard-working Ohio families.

During his speech, he touted his conservative record while slamming his 2026 Democratic opponent, former Sen. Sherrod Brown, for allocating constituents’ money to illegal immigrants and other Democrat programs.

‘A job isn’t just a paycheck. It’s dignity.’

Husted reminisced about how times were tough growing up, and the Democrats of his youth didn’t make that experience any easier.

Brown, he said, was first elected to office when Husted was only 7 years old. Surprisingly, Brown is still running today, 50 years later, as a career politician who has failed to help the working-class families of Ohio.

“A job isn’t just a paycheck,” Husted proclaimed. “It’s dignity. It’s pride. It’s the ability to provide for your family. It gives you a sense of self-worth.”

That’s part of the reason why Husted worked with President Donald Trump to pass the Working Families Tax Cuts Act, a law that he said lets Ohio workers keep more of their money in their pockets instead of government programs. Husted went on:

[The Working Families Tax Cuts Act] prevented a huge tax increase, cut taxes on tips, overtime, and Social Security and gave working families expanded child-care credits and helped with child care and Trump accounts to help our little ones get a good start in life. It was the biggest tax cut for working families in history, and every Democrat in the Senate voted against it.

Brown was one of those Democrats who attacked the bill, Husted claimed. Ohio residents, however, had a different perspective.

RELATED: Sen. McCormick: The Republican Party is the home of American workers

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

Husted noted that, so far, the Working Families Tax Cuts Act has helped:

delivery drivers and waitresses keep more of their tips to pay off cars and student loans.factory workers put a down payment on their first house, thanks to more money kept through overtime.senior citizens stay in their homes longer with the money saved from no taxes on Social Security.

As the Biden administration gave Americans open borders and sanctuary cities – where tax dollars were allocated to illegal immigrants – Democrats voted to take more of Americans’ money to fund these programs, Husted said.

Husted emphasized the injustice of it all with a question: “Why do Democrats seem to fight harder for people who are in this country illegally than they do for American citizens and families?”

There is no good explanation, he said. Former President Joe Biden and Brown raised taxes on citizens while illegal aliens received benefits and jobs slipped away to China. Even worse, Husted claimed, Brown “put Shanghai over Steubenville and Beijing over Brunswick,” spurning Ohio citizens.

Brown also supported the usual Democrat policies of the age, like allowing men in women’s sports and renaming mothers to “pregnant people,” which he wanted to stamp into law, Husted added.

Husted closed with several questions aimed at the root of the issue:

Do you want to keep more of what you earn? Or do you want to see more of your hard-earned money go to Washington for failures and fraud?

Should we let working families keep more of what they earn? They earned the paycheck. It’s theirs, isn’t it?

Well, I won’t stop fighting for that principle. I will not stop fighting for you. May God bless Ohio, and God bless the working families of the United States of America.

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​American workers, Illegal immigrants, Senior citizens, Sherrod brown, Tax dollars, Joe biden, Donald trump, Jon husted, Rnc