New York Post columnist Karol Markowicz indicated that the shooter who opened fire on a Minneapolis Catholic church full of children Wednesday — injuring 17 and killing two kids, ages 8 and 10 — was named Robin Westman.

Two sources familiar with the investigation told the Minnesota Star Tribune that Westman, 23, is indeed the suspected shooter.

‘I regret everything. I didn’t ask for life. You didn’t ask for death.’

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Wednesday confirmed on X that that the shooter was “claiming to be transgender.”

Indeed, conservative influencer Harrison Krank obtained an alleged court document indicating that Westman went through a name change in 2020 — going from Robert to Robin. The document notes further that Westman “identifies as a female and wants her name to reflect that identification.”

KARE-TV noted that “the shooter was 23-year-old Robin, formerly Robert, Westman.”

RELATED: Gunman opens fire at Catholic church; police say there are about 20 victims

Law enforcement sources said Westman grew up in Richfield and that Westman’s mother was an employee at Annunciation School, KARE reported, adding that records show Westman’s mother retired from the school in 2021.

The station added it’s also believed that Westman attended the school for at least one year and that Westman had visited the school in the last week, while teachers prepared for the upcoming school year.

Westman allegedly shared a video to YouTube ahead of the shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church.

The clip shows an image of Jesus Christ inside a shooting target. In addition, in the video the alleged shooter giggles effetely while showcasing his arsenal on a bed — a rifle, a shotgun, a revolver, and a handgun — and displaying statements on his weapons that include, “Where is your God?”; “Kill Donald Trump”; “I’m the woker, baby … Why so queerious?”; “pain and hate”; “f**k you, eat s**t faggot”; “Get clapped.” At least three names also are written on one of the rifle magazines.

While playing with rifle rounds, the alleged shooter states in the video, “I’m sorry to my family, but that’s it — that’s the only people I’m sorry to. F**k those kids.”

At one point in the video, the alleged shooter also states, “I regret everything. I didn’t ask for life. You didn’t ask for death.”

The alleged shooter also shows an apparent manifesto in the video while stating, “I hope you can read that.” The apparent manifesto makes an appearance in another video and appears to have been written largely using the Cyrillic or Russian alphabet. Markowicz identified some of the writing on the weaponry as Russian, including a statement that is translated as, “I’m a terrorist.”

While leafing through the apparent manifesto in the second video, the alleged shooter pauses on a drawing of what appears to be the interior of Annunciation Catholic Church — then stabs the page with a knife. He concludes the video by stating, “That’s all I do: I fall, I break, and I die.”

According to police, the shooter barricaded the church doors from the outside with 2x4s and began opening fire into the church through the windows from the outside. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara called the shooter a “coward.”

Police said the shooter opened fire with a rifle, a shotgun, and a pistol and ultimately shot himself to death in the back of the church.

Minneapolis Police on Wednesday didn’t immediately reply to Blaze News’ request for confirmation of the shooter’s reported identity as Robin/Robert Westman nor of the accuracy of the report that the YouTube video is of Westman.

The tragedy appears to parallel the 2023 Covenant School massacre in numerous ways.

A 28-year-old woman stormed into a Presbyterian elementary school in Nashville on March 27 that year armed with a rifle, a pistol, and a handgun. The trans-identifying shooter proceeded to murder three 9-year-old children — Evelyn Dieckhaus, William Kinney, and Hallie Scruggs — along with three adults — teacher Cynthia Peak, custodian Mike Hill, and head of school Katherine Koonce.

The shooter’s manifesto was replete with criticisms of religion, and she similarly expressed a revulsion for innocence.

“Kill those kids!!! Those crackers Going to private fancy schools with those fancy khakis and sports backpacks with their daddies mustangs and convertibles. F**k you little s**ts,” wrote the female shooter. “I wish to shoot your weak ass d**ks with your mop yellow hair, wanna kill all you little crackers!!! Bunch of little f****ts with your white privileges. F**k you f****ts.”

Editor’s note: This story was edited after publication to include a statement from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

This is a developing story.

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​Politics, Murder, Mass shooting, Minneapolis, Robert westman, Slaughter, Massacre, Suicide, Anti-catholic, Catholic, Church, Annunciation, Robin westman, Crime, Transgender, Transgender agenda 

A federal judge issued a ruling temporarily blocking the Trump administration from deporting Kilmar Abrego Garcia after returning him from a terrorist prison in El Salvador to face human trafficking charges.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis said Wednesday that Garcia would be allowed to argue against his deportation to Uganda in an evidentiary hearing on Oct. 6 and that she would issue a ruling within 30 days of that hearing.

‘It is insane that sanctuary politicians chose to glorify and stand with an MS-13 gang member over the safety of American citizens.’

Garcia’s attorney also argued Monday that he should be allowed to reapply for asylum protections after he was returned to the U.S. by the Trump administration.

Xinis did not order Garcia’s release and said that should be determined by an immigration judge.

Garcia’s attorney has claimed that the Trump administration threatened to deport him to Uganda unless he agreed to plead guilty to the trafficking charges.

The Trump administration has accused Garcia of being a member of the infamous criminal MS-13 gang, but his family and attorney deny the claims. At one point, President Donald Trump presented a photograph of tattoos on Garcia’s knuckles that he claimed were symbols for MS-13.

“This is the hand of the man that the Democrats feel should be brought back to the United States, because he is such ‘a fine and innocent person,'” the president wrote.

On Monday, the Department of Homeland Security released a defiant message about the case.

“Kilmar Abrego Garcia is not and will never be a Maryland Man — he is a criminal illegal alien from El Salvador and public safety threat. It is insane that sanctuary politicians chose to glorify and stand with an MS-13 gang member over the safety of American citizens,” the statement reads.

“[President Donald] Trump and [DHS Sec. Kristi Noem] are not going to allow this illegal alien — who is an MS-13 gang member, human trafficker, serial domestic abuser, and child predator — to terrorize American citizens any longer,” the statement concludes.

RELATED: Bakery owners found guilty of harboring illegal aliens after immigration raid

Garcia had been the poster boy for Democrats’ opposition to the president’s mass deportation efforts, but some have quietly backed off of the case after further criminal accusations surfaced.

Judge Xinis has issued many rulings against the Trump administration and was nominated to the court by former President Barack Obama.

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​Kilmar abrego garcia, Judge xinis vs trump, Garcia for asylum, Trump vs kilmar garcia, Politics 

In the aftermath of the atrocious mass shooting at a Minnesota Catholic church, several Democrats jumped at the opportunity to denounce prayer.

A masked man horrifically shot and killed two children, ages 8 and 10, while they were praying in the pews of Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis on Wednesday morning. The assailant also left 17 others injured, including two in critical condition.

The shooter, who was later identified as Robin Westman, took aim at the innocent children and other Mass attendees through the stained-glass windows before taking his own life in the parking lot.

‘Stop praying for a f**king minute and demand action.’

In response to the senseless tragedy, leaders from President Donald Trump to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) conveyed their deepest sympathies and offered prayers to the families of the victims.

Although the response was largely bipartisan and unifying, some Democrats took it upon themselves to lash out.

RELATED: Gov. Walz’s condemnation of Trump’s efforts to make Democrat-run cities safe aged really poorly

Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

Jen Psaki, former press secretary for the Biden administration, managed to twist the atrocity into a political critique of the Trump administration while simultaneously dismissing prayers offered by Americans across the country.

“Prayer is not freaking enough,” Psaki wrote in a post on X. “Prayer does not end school shootings. Prayers do not make parents feel safe sending their kids to school. Prayer does not bring these kids back. Enough with the thoughts and prayers.”

“When kids are getting shot in their pews at a catholic school mass and your crime plan is to have national guard put mulch down around DC maybe rethink your strategy,” Psaki said in another post.

RELATED: Gunman opens fire at Catholic church; police say there are about 20 victims

Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) echoed Psaki, saying that prayers were an insufficient response to the atrocity that took place at the Catholic church.

“Don’t just say that this is about thoughts and prayers right now,” Frey said in a press conference following the shooting. “These kids were literally praying. It was the first week of school. They were in a church.”

Brian Krassenstein, a left-wing political commentator, made similar remarks on his X account Wednesday, insisting that people “stop praying for a f**king minute and demand action by people and not just God.”

“Praying is the problem here, not the solution,” Krassenstein said. “People use prayer instead of action. If prayer worked a house of prayer wouldn’t have just experienced this tragedy.”

“Prayer becomes a problem when it takes the place of real action that could save children’s lives,” Krassenstein said in another post. “If that offends you, good, it should.”

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​Minnesota, Minnesota shooting, Annunciation catholic school, Minneapolis shooting, Robin westman, Donald trump, Tim walz, Jen psaki, Joe biden, Jacob frey, Brian krassenstein, Thoughts and prayers, Prayer, Christian, Catholic, Politics 

President Donald Trump’s plan to allow 600,000 Chinese student visas to be issued has Americans on the right outraged.

“I think it’s very insulting to say students can’t come here. Because they’ll go out and start building schools and they’ll be able to survive it. But I like that their students come here. I like that other countries’ students come here,” Trump said during a Cabinet meeting.

“And you know what would happen if they didn’t? Our college system would go to hell very quickly. And it wouldn’t be the top colleges; it would be colleges that struggle on the bottom. And you take out 300,000 or 600,000 students out of the system,” Trump continued.

“I like having — and I told this to President Xi, that we’re honored to have their students here,” he added.

Blaze media co-founder Glenn Beck is among those shocked by Trump’s move.

“You have to be close to the CCP to be able to travel to the United States, don’t you? You have to be well connected with the Communist Party,” Glenn says to investigative journalist and author Peter Schweizer.

“Yeah, that’s right, Glenn,” Schweizer answers. “I mean, look, the reason I think that Trump is allowing this to happen is because this is a top priority for Xi and they’re trying to negotiate a whole bunch of things, but I still think it is a mistake.”

“There are 600,000 Chinese students that come to the United States. American students going to China is a trickle. So this is not about an exchange of ideas,” he continues.

“The entire premise behind the student exchanges going back to the 1980s is that this would make the Chinese elite more like us, right? They get to know us, they become friendly, they become more Americanized. The vast majority of the hard-line aides around President Xi were educated in the United States, primarily at places like Harvard,” he explains.

This is why Schweizer believes “it’s not working.”

“The Chinese leadership is actually more hard-line now than it was under Hu Jintao or under Deng Xiaoping. And they’re more Western-educated,” he says.

And what these 600,000 students are studying is even more cause for concern.

“They’re not coming here to study comparative literature or sociology. The vast, vast majority, over 90%, are in the hard sciences,” Schweizer says, adding, “So it is stealing our secrets.”

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​Sharing, Upload, Video phone, Camera phone, Video, Free, Youtube.com, The glenn beck program, Glenn beck, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, President trump, China, Chinese students, President donald trump, Espionage, Chinese spies 

Western countries were rocked this week by footage of a young girl wielding an axe and large knife as she was allegedly approached by migrants.

After the video garnered over 20 million views, Scottish police apprehended the young girl and charged her for having a “bladed weapon” in St Ann Lane, Dundee, Scotland.

Rumors circulated that the girl and her younger sister were approached by a Muslim man when she is seen screaming on the video, “Don’t f**king touch us.”

“Get the f**k away from us,” the other girl yelled.

Now, Police Scotland have seemingly placed blame on the young girl and revealed the nationality of the adult involved.

‘A 12-year-old girl has been charged with being in possession of offensive weapons.’

In a statement provided to Blaze News, Chief Superintendent Nicola Russell said police were “aware of misinformation being shared on social media.”

The apparent misinformation was in relation to “an incident where a Bulgarian couple were approached by youths in St Ann Lane, Dundee, on Saturday, 23 August, 2025.”

The young girl was originally reported to have been 14 years old, but police said they were given false information and that she is actually 12.

RELATED: 14-year-old girl charged in UK after allegedly defending herself from migrant harasser

“A 12-year-old girl has been charged with being in possession of offensive weapons. She will be referred to the relevant authorities, and our enquiries are ongoing,” the statement continued. “We would like to thank the local community for their help with our investigation and would urge the public not to share misinformation about this incident or speculate on the circumstances.”

Police Scotland had previously told Blaze News through Spokeswoman Lisa Smith that “no adults” were “arrested or charged” in relation to the same incident.

The troubling footage came from the Lochee area of Scotland, which the Daily Mail described as “one of the most poverty-ridden areas” in all of Scotland.

Scottish content creator Robin Alderslowe corroborated those claims in a comment to Blaze News, saying, “These kind of areas have a lot of violence, and I’ve seen weapons brandished several times like this before.”

RELATED: Musk asks: ‘Why are they allowing the rape of Europe?’ — then vows to do something about it in the UK

Space X owner Elon Musk reacted to the story on his platform on Tuesday, saying on X that he wanted to help fund legal actions against Britain’s “corrupt officials” who have aided in the “rape of Britain.”

Lewis Brackpool, the director of investigations at Restore Britain who originally commented on the story, reiterated his previous statement to Blaze News and asked, “When will liberals and progressives concede that multiculturalism has failed?”

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​News, Scotland, Dundee, Axe wielding, Western civilization, Migrants, Bulgaria, Politics 

Marc Maron is a hack. His politics are hack. His comedy is hack. Marc Maron is a hack’s hack.

“Beware,” comedian Freddy Nietzsche warned me one night at an open mic in Echo Park, “that when fighting hacks, you yourself do not become a hack.” That’s why I’m trying not to gaze too long into the Maron, but rather steal a glance here and there. The algorithm helps, throwing clips my way from Maron’s latest podcast appearances and comedy specials. Little bites. Not big enough to choke on.

To be fair, ‘End Times Fun’ came out five years ago, so I was ready to let it slide, but then a fan of mine said that Maron was giving him Doug Allen vibes.

The one that kicked it off for me was a recent appearance Maron made on “Howie Mandel Does Stuff,” where Maron went after “anti-woke” comedians.

Maron has a number of problems with the anti-woke — like the way they’ve brought back an offensive slur (let’s just call it “the R-word”) for those with intellectual disabilities. As an outspoken progressive, Maron is adamant that every person has a right to be treated with dignity and respect — after a “cool-down” period during which their mothers choose whether or not to abort them, of course.

If anything, people with Down syndrome and the like deserve extra dignity and respect, seeing as up to 85% of them in America don’t make it past this competitive first round. (In Iceland, it’s closer to 100%.) It takes a special person to beat those odds!

Your move, Mr. Drumpf

But the one Maron grievance that stood out to me was that he accused the anti-woke comics of being hacks — that is, they’re all doing the same tired material.

I found it ironic to hear Maron accuse others of being hacks when I had just watched a clip from his 2020 Netflix special, “End Times Fun,” that was so heavy with hackiness that Maron had to sit down on a stool to deliver it.

Trump is probably the most horrible human that ever lived in any capacity, doing anything. Not a political statement. That is observational. Completely observational.

To be fair, “End Times Fun” came out five years ago, so I was ready to let it slide, but then a fan of mine said that Maron was giving him Doug Allen vibes.

For those who don’t know who Doug Allen is, back in 2017, Donald Trump was such hacky material that writer Luke Spallino and I developed a fake comedy persona named Doug Allen, whom we sold as the only comedian brave enough to make fun of Donald Trump and the only comic with the guts to take on the most protected class — the one thing you are not allowed to make fun of — straight white men.

(Watch our fake trailer for Doug Allen’s comedy special “Edgy” below, and be sure to scroll through the comments to see who did and did not get the joke.)

So three years after Doug Allen “spoke truth to power,” Maron was hacking away. And now in 2025, the guy’s still hacking it.

Hit-ler or miss

This time, in a clip from his new HBO special, “Panicked,” Maron takes on comedian Theo Von for having had Donald Trump on his podcast, “This Past Weekend,” before the 2024 presidential election.

The stool is on stage — it might be the same stool from his other special — but somehow Maron, older but still looking five years younger, manages the strength to stand and deliver this: “I think if Hitler were alive today, he’d probably appear on Theo Von’s podcast …”

Von is used as an avatar for Maron’s nemesis, the anti-woke podcaster. I have to admit the bit itself is pretty good — I actually would be interested in hearing Von talk to Hitler about meth — but comparing Trump to Hitler is about as hack as you can get. C’mon, Maron.

For a decade, it’s been so bad that when a prominent advocate for people living with Trump derangement syndrome switched it up with a reference to OG fascist Benito Mussolini, I tried to nominate the poor guy for a Mark Twain Prize.

I’d love to see more Trump/Il Duce comparisons. Or at the very least, if you’re going to insist on calling anyone Hitler, how about you include the year too? Like, are we talking 1939 Hitler or 1944 Hitler? I mean, no one gets compared to art-school Hitler enough!

RELATED: The most brutal comedy show in America

Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Power hour

Marc Maron — perhaps himself acting a little bit like art-school Hitler — is upset with the power he claims anti-woke comedians and podcasters wield. It’s similar to power that Maron himself once had. Do you remember in 2015 when President Obama sat down with Maron in his garage to record an episode of Maron’s insanely popular podcast, “WTF“?

It was an interesting episode. Maron’s goal was to connect with the president as a person, which he did. Maron wasn’t there to talk policy — even though President Obama spent a good portion of the episode defending his policies, with no pushback whatsoever from his gracious host.

I get it. Maron respected Obama, supported him, and they were recording days after Dylann Roof carried out his mass murder at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

It would have been awkward for Maron to bring up — well, all the issues I had with Obama. But at no point did I think it was his job to do so. They could have talked about cocaine, though. Which would have been a good listen, considering Maron’s tales of partying with Sam Kinison. (Personally, I’d rather do cocaine with Obama than meth with Hitler.)

At the beginning of the episode, Obama says it “would be a problem if the president was feeling stressed about coming to your garage for a podcast.” It’s a funny moment. I mean, why would the president be stressed about talking with Marc Maron? Maron saves his probing for truly evil men like … Gallagher.

Anti-woke … or anti-joke?

Speaking as an anti-woke comedian, I credit Marc Maron and other members of his faith for showing me the way. While they spent years going after the same safe subjects, it gave me the opportunity to take on their sacred cows.

Now I’m not saying all jokes about Donald Trump are hack or all jokes about trans people are funny. It’s my job as a comedian — even when I’m not getting paid for it, which is often — to hold myself accountable: to go for the funny and be original. There are still strong punch lines yet to be created — they can be “anti-woke” or even woke.

But the idea, according to Maron, that the anti-woke won — that the culture and even policy have decidedly become anti-woke — is ridiculous. While Maron complains about Joe Rogan’s guest lists and scoffs at Ricky Gervais, male criminals are still serving their sentences in women’s prisons, anti-white racists still have well-paying jobs at the New Yorker, and those who don’t know history are doomed to compare everything to Hitler.

So yeah, there’s still so much woke stuff to make fun of that it’s R-word.

​Marc maron, Anti-woke comedy, Theo von, Adolf hitler, Benito mussolini, Down syndrome, Howie mandel, Lou perez, Culture, Comedy, Jokes, Hackwatch 

One of Cracker Barrel’s biggest investors criticized the company’s investment plan in 2024, saying it would damage the brand further.

Cracker Barrel’s now infamous rebrand blunder that changed its classic store model and logo could have been avoided had executives listened to Sardar Biglari, who owns over 9% of Cracker Barrel’s shares through Biglari Capital Corp.

The brand change — which the company has now reversed — all started when the new CEO, Julie Felss Masino, released her “Strategic Transformation Plan” in May 2024. The plan included a five-pillar strategy that turned out to be the source of consumer outrage.

‘Cracker Barrel Old Country Store is a history-steeped place that channels Americana.’

Along with revealing plans to spend upwards of $700 million on the rebrand, Masino sought to “evolve” the Cracker Barrel brand with a “leading branding agency” that would “delight” guests.

As well, she listed plans to implement “improved store design and atmosphere,” while “enhancing the menu” to focus on “craveability.”

The plan, which eventually failed, was highly criticized by Biglari, who owns other brands like Maxim Magazine, Steak ‘n Shake, and Western Sizzlin.

Biglari sent scathing letters to shareholders, including in October 2024, when he pointed to the company’s poor returns and noted Cracker Barrel’s share price had dropped over 50% since Masino became CEO in 2023.

He called the opening of new stores “unnecessary and costly” and declared “Cracker Barrel is not a broken brand, but it has a broken board.”

Biglari also put together a 120-page slide deck that not only showed he believed the company was going downhill but that he knew customers would not like the rebrand.

RELATED: Cracker Barrel caves to outrage against rebranding

Perhaps the most eye-opening portion of the presentation was the revelation of the company’s minuscule operating income margins, which were just 1.3%. This was just a tenth of companies like Dave & Buster’s or Darden, which owns Olive Garden and Cheddar’s. Denny’s was also light-years ahead of Cracker Barrel in this regard.

Biglari also showed key figures like guest traffic being down nearly 20% in the last five years. He linked product quality and portion sizes, showing a comparison to a sirloin steak from 2021 to “steak tips” in 2024.

The presentation even went after some of the shareholders, showing one in particular seemingly tanking her own brand in six years.

The last slides of Biglari’s package were dedicated to customer feedback, which displayed customers calling the food overpriced and showing disgust with the restaurant remodels.

Comments that took issue with the decor and the company losing the “home feeling” were seemingly spot-on given the recent loss of revenue.

All of these points led to Biglari escalating his rhetoric in a November 2024 letter to shareholders.

RELATED: Cracker Barrel desperately rewrites ‘inclusion’ and DEI web page after backlash

MUNCY, PENNSYLVANIA, UNITED STATES – 2023/11/22: Photo by Paul Weaver/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

“If you had $100 in Cracker Barrel stock in January 2019, five years later it is worth about $30. Therefore, there is just $30 to go before the entire investment is lost,” Biglari’s November letter began.

The investor mocked the company’s costly “big strategy” and urged shareholders to vote for himself and Milena Alberti-Perez, former CFO of Getty Images, as directors, not Carl Berquist and Meg Crofton, “who have overseen a loss of about 70% during their tenures as board members.”

He told other investors that CEO Masino could “use our help” to avoid falling into the “trap” of overspending on remodels.

“Cracker Barrel Old Country Store is a history-steeped place that channels Americana; there are a few brands like it, and none require wholesale changes to their aesthetic,” Biglari wrote. “The day Cracker Barrel opened, it was already old — its theme derived from the 1920s. … Let me make my position clear: The company’s $700 million remodel plan will not work!”

— (@)

In the end, Berquist and Crofton were indeed elected as directors with 30% of Cracker Barrel’s stock — which subsequently sank — shutting out Biglari, who was proven to be right.

According to Fox Business, Biglari is still one of the company’s largest investors alongside BlackRock, GMT Capital, the Vanguard Group, and AllianceBernstein.

His ownership of Steak ‘n Shake is likely the reason behind the company firing shots at Cracker Barrel on social media, where the brand called Cracker Barrel’s remodel “insane” and “soulless” while also thanking President Trump for his remarks on the matter.

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​News, Politics 

While Democratic operatives maintain an optimistic front going into the 2026 midterms, one high-profile adviser says there are plenty of warning signs.

Doug Sosnik, a political analyst and former adviser to President Bill Clinton, said that although certain factors would suggest Republicans are at a disadvantage going into 2026, Democrats are unlikely to actually seize the moment and secure significant wins.

‘For Democrats, it’s all about consolidating their base which has atrophied since they lost the 2024 elections.’

In his annual big-picture memo, Sosnik noted that President Donald Trump’s approval rating is lagging, and his support among independents has dipped. At the same time, Sosnik predicted that “it is unlikely that [Democrats] will have anywhere near the level of success that the out-of-power party has had in previous midterm elections with such an unpopular incumbent president.”

“The reason for this has less to do with the Democrats’ historically low approval rating than with a political realignment that began forming long before Donald Trump ever ran for president,” Sosnik added.

RELATED: The brutal reality Democrats can’t ignore

Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Sosnik partially attributed this realignment to education level, which has become a new political fault line. For decades, Democrats had consistently experienced a “steady erosion” of support from rural, working-class voters, prompting the party to lean on college-educated Americans to win elections. This shift puts Democrats at a massive electoral disadvantage since the majority of eligible voters in the country do not have a college degree.

This realignment is ultimately reflected in the Democrats’ political class. As Sosnik noted, over half of the current Democratic senators come from the 12 states with the highest levels of four-year college degrees. Similarly, two-thirds of House Democrats come from the 100 most highly educated districts across the country.

“More than a president’s job approval or the candidates on the ballot, the breakdown by education level of the electorate is what matters in determining the outcome of American elections,” Sosnik said.

RELATED: Defeated Democrat senator attempts a long-shot political comeback: ‘Voters will reject him again’

Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Another disadvantage staring down Democrats is the reality that the political focus is increasingly national and decreasingly local. In Congress, 419 House members and 90 senators are from the same party as the presidential candidate who won their district in 2024.

Because of this realignment, over 80% of congressional races are no longer considered competitive, narrowing Democrats’ political opportunities. To add insult to injury, Sosnik predicts that the Republicans’ overwhelming success in the most recent presidential election will “further tilt” the playing field in 2026.

“For Democrats, it’s all about consolidating their base which has atrophied since they lost the 2024 elections,” Sosnik said. “Luckily for them — when it comes to the midterms, anyway — their strongest supporters are college graduates, who are most likely to vote in off-year elections.”

“The one thing that is clear is that the results in next year’s midterms will tell us very little about the 2028 presidential election,” Sosnik added. “That election will be a referendum on America’s future as we finally move away from Politics in the Age of Trump.”

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​Doug sosnik, Bill clinton, Joe biden, Donald trump, House republicans, Kamala harris, Senate republicans, Senate democrats, House democrats, Education, College educated voters, Rural voters, Urban voters, Working class voters, 2026 primaries, Congress, Redistricting, Politics 

Inevitably, a family holiday arrives when Grandpa’s seat at the table is empty, or when those weekly calls from Mom suddenly stop. Grieving a deceased loved one is among life’s most difficult rites that we all must endure … or so we thought.

AI startups are offering a work-around: Instead of saying farewell, you can “keep talking.”

Digital avatars may resemble the dead, but they cannot love us and cannot be loved in return.

In China, tech companies are building interactive avatars of the dead, dubbed “digital resurrection.” This isn’t a static photo or a recorded message that you might find on your phone. These are lifelike AI deepfakes — complete with voices, facial expressions, even the ability to respond in conversation. For as little as 20 yuan (around $3), mourners can have their loved ones “come back” in digital form.

Digitizing the dead is big business. According to the Guardian, estimates placed the market value at 12 billion yuan ($1.7 billion USD), with forecasts suggesting it could quadruple by 2025. Zhang Zewei — founder of Shanghai-based Super Brain, one of the first companies to market — has charged each of his clients up to $1,400 to make digital replicas of a deceased loved one.

Even funeral operators in China have leaped at the economic opportunity, advertising that the dead may “come back to life in the virtual world” — for a significant sum of money. This includes avatars that can converse with the bereaved, using voice recordings, emails, and even old photos to power their responses.

How this technology emerged is not hard to guess. AI uses digital remains (texts, voice notes, photos) as lived-in sources to train on, making the “surviving” avatars disturbingly realistic.

What is surprising, however, is the technology’s popularity, especially among young people.

The Christian think tank Theos conducted a survey that found 14% of respondents already felt comforted by the idea of addressing a digital version of a loved one — especially younger users. The younger the user, the more willing to talk to a digitized corpse.

Ethics without elegy

Though developers like Zewei claim this technology is for therapeutic purposes, psychologists warn that it may be having the opposite effect.

Digitally immortalizing the dead can create psychological dependency — creating a crutch that blocks true emotional closure. In her article for the Guardian, Harriet Sherwood quotes Edinburgh University “grief philosopher” Michael Cholbi, who warns that such “deathbots” can derail grief, offering the illusion of presence where absence must be acknowledged.

She also quotes Louise Richardson, a grief researcher from the University of York’s philosophy department, who maintains that digital avatars “get in the way of recognizing and accommodating what has been lost, because you can interact with a deathbot in an ongoing way.”

This is especially alarming given the younger demographic composing its main user base.

Grief is not a product

All societies long have found ways to tend grief — photos, heirlooms, letters, memorial sites. But grief is meant to be endured, not postponed. To routinize grief with AI risks replacing memory with mirage.

These companies may claim they are selling comfort, perhaps with altruistic intentions. But they’re really commodifying grief — and postponing closure.

RELATED: No slop without a slog? It’s possible with AI — if we’re not lazy

Rawpixel/Getty Images

Grief, at its best, teaches us to live more gratefully, to cherish the impermanence of life, and to love people as they are — not as perfectly animated projections. Digital avatars may resemble the dead, but they cannot love us and cannot be loved in return.

When we confuse likeness for presence, we lose not only the truth of who someone was, but also the beauty of what it means to say goodbye. The ache of loss is not a glitch to be debugged. It’s a mark of love — and love, not illusion, is what we are meant to carry.

​Digital grief, Deathbots, Digital resurrection, Ai, Ai deepfake, Deepfake, Tech, Culture 

Two dozen elected officials have come forward to recommend harsher rules against China and other foreign countries to protect U.S. markets.

Twenty-four state treasurers, comptrollers, and auditors submitted a letter urging the Securities and Exchange Commission “to make change to the qualifications for foreign private issuer (FPI) status by prohibiting any issuer based in a country designated by the United States government as a foreign adversary, including the People’s Republic of China.”

‘There are significant risks for US investors in China-based companies, including Chinese companies’ roles in furthering the Chinese Communist Party’s “military-civil fusion” strategy.’

“This letter is a matter of common sense and urgency. Adversaries of America should not be allowed to exploit our markets. With China accounting for the largest share of opaque foreign listings, the Chinese Communist Party poses a direct threat to U.S. investors,” Utah Treasurer Marlo Oaks said in a statement obtained by Blaze News. “The SEC must act decisively to protect American citizens.”

The request to the SEC takes aim at the “most common foreign private issuer (FPI) filers” who “are no longer incorporated and headquartered in Canada and the United Kingdom, but rather are incorporated in the Cayman Islands with their headquarters in China.”

RELATED: Red states deal huge blow to BlackRock and Vanguard, impose strict rules on investment firms

Paul S. Atkins, chairman of the Securities and Exchange CommissionPhotographer: Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The secretary of commerce lists China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and “Venezuela’s Madura regime” as “foreign adversaries.”

This shift, the letter argues, underscores concerns that U.S. investors are not being protected: “There are significant risks for U.S. investors in China-based companies, including Chinese companies’ roles in furthering the Chinese Communist Party’s ‘military-civil fusion’ strategy and the risks that China-based issuers will violate the disclosure, auditing, or other antifraud provisions of the Securities Exchange Act due to the Chinese government’s actions to prevent transparency.”

In a statement obtained exclusively by Blaze News, State Financial Officers Foundation CEO OJ Oleka said: “The SEC should accept these recommendations without delay. We already know the CCP will exploit every opportunity to spread its malign influence. At the very least, companies based in adversarial nations like China should have to follow the same rules and requirements as American companies. This is about protecting the American people from those we know mean us harm.”

“FPI status allows select issuers to follow loose regulatory guidelines, and so it makes no sense at all to grant this relaxed status to issuers based in countries that are our adversaries, like China. The last thing we should do is make it easier for the CCP to wage its war on us,” Oleka said in another statement.

Michael Lucci, founder and CEO of State Armor, emphasized the harm that the CCP has done to U.S. markets: “The Chinese Communist Party has infected the U.S. financial system with systemic risks that can no longer be ignored. They violate the disclosure, auditing, or other antifraud provisions of the Securities Exchange Act, and should no longer enjoy the privileges of being a Foreign Private Issuer in our markets.”

Signatories include the treasurers from Arizona, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming; the auditors from Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming; and the comptroller from Indiana. Nineteen states are represented in the letter.

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​Politics, Sec, Securities and exchange commission, China, Ccp, Us investors, Us markets, Military-civil fusion, Marlo oaks, People’s republic of china