U.S. Gas Prices by State — October 15, 2026

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National average: $4.33/gallon (AAA, today). That’s up over a dollar from a year ago ($3.07) and the highest autumn price on record.

Highest & Lowest (Top 10 Each)

Most expensive:

Rank State Avg/gal
1 California $6.31
2 Hawaii $5.63
3 Washington $5.45
4 Nevada $5.45
5 Alaska $5.03
6 Oregon $5.00
7 Idaho $4.89
8 Wyoming $4.89
9 Utah $4.81
10 Arizona $4.70

Cheapest:

Rank State Avg/gal
1 Georgia $3.81
2 Texas $3.82
3 Indiana $3.91
4 North Carolina $3.91
5 Mississippi $3.93
6 Tennessee $3.93
7 Louisiana $3.93
8 Arkansas $3.96
9 Alabama $3.97
10 Ohio $3.97

Full State List (Low → High)

Georgia $3.81 · Texas $3.82 · Indiana $3.91 · North Carolina $3.91 · Mississippi $3.93 · Tennessee $3.93 · Louisiana $3.93 · Arkansas $3.96 · Alabama $3.97 · Ohio $3.97 · South Carolina $3.99 · Missouri $3.99 · Oklahoma $4.01 · Kansas $4.01 · Kentucky $4.02 · Florida $4.07 · North Dakota $4.13 · Wisconsin $4.13 · Virginia $4.17 · Nebraska $4.19 · South Dakota $4.22 · Colorado $4.24 · Iowa $4.24 · Minnesota $4.25 · Delaware $4.25 · Maryland $4.26 · West Virginia $4.26 · Rhode Island $4.29 · New Hampshire $4.31 · New Jersey $4.31 · Massachusetts $4.32 · Maine $4.38 · New Mexico $4.40 · Connecticut $4.41 · Vermont $4.42 · New York $4.46 · Pennsylvania $4.46 · Montana $4.50 · Michigan $4.66 · Illinois $4.70 · Arizona $4.70 · Utah $4.81 · Wyoming $4.89 · Idaho $4.89 · Oregon $5.00 · Alaska $5.03 · Nevada $5.45 · Washington $5.45 · Hawaii $5.63 · California $6.31

What’s Driving It

  • Crude near $100/barrel — the single biggest input, and it’s been volatile all year.
  • West Coast premium — California, Hawaii, Washington, Nevada all sit north of $5. California’s the outlier at $6.31, driven by refinery constraints and its special fuel blend.
  • The South stays cheap — Georgia, Texas, and the Gulf states benefit from proximity to refineries and lower state fuel taxes.
  • Regional spread is huge — a $2.50/gallon gap between California and Georgia for the same product.

Worth Noting

The $4.33 national average is a seasonal record — fall usually brings relief at the pump, but oil market volatility has kept prices elevated. Compared to last October’s $3.07, drivers are paying roughly 41% more per gallon.

Bottom line: If you’re in the South or Gulf region, you’re paying the least. If you’re on the West Coast, bend over. The spread between the cheapest and most expensive states is over $2.50/gallon — that’s not a market, that’s a geography tax.

©2026 . All rights reserved.

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Republicans Dominate 5 Financially Healthiest State Governments, Democrats Run the 5 Worst

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Bombshell Report Exposes True Cost of Radical Democrats’ Mass Amnesty — Open Borders Agenda

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President Donald J. Trump and Republicans have delivered the most secure border in American history, with illegal crossings plummeting to record lows and U.S. Customs and Border Protection now recording 16 consecutive months with zero illegal aliens released at the border. Meanwhile, Extreme Liberal Democrats are pushing to reopen the southern border, end mass deportations, and grant mass amnesty— imposing hundreds of billions of dollars in costs to hardworking American taxpayers and putting the safety of our communities at risk.

A new bombshell report by the Council of Economic Advisers reveals the true cost of Democrats’ extreme DSA policies – warning, if effectuated, these policies would cost American taxpayers $49 trillion over ten years.

The True Cost of Democrats’ Extreme Open Borders— Mass Amnesty Socialist Policies:

  • The CEA currently estimates that the lifetime cost of an illegal alien in the United States is $166,716 per illegal alien, amounting to $1.4-$1.9 trillion in total. 
  • Democrats’ extreme socialist platform wants to give illegal aliens free healthcare and government programs— putting illegal aliens over the American people.
  • The CEA estimates that if Democrats prevail in their push for amnesty for all, federal spending for programs such as SNAP, HUD housing assistance, and Medicaid will EXPLODE in cost.
    • SNAP benefits would jump to $3.6 billion to $4.7 billion in NEW costs per year.
    • HUD housing assistance will increase by $2.3 billion to $3 billion per year.
    • Medicaid will increase from $30 billion to $40 billion per year. 
    • Together, these programs will add $36 billion to $47 billion in federal spending each year, or $361 billion to $475 billion over the next decade. 
  • Over ten years, the full suite of DSA immigration policies would cost taxpayers $49 TRILLION, over $350,000 per household – for American taxpayers over the next ten years if the Democratic Socialists of America’s top policies were adopted.

The contrast is clear: While radical Democrats push open-border policies, President Trump and Republicans are putting Americans first—securing the border, deporting the WORST OF THE WORST dangerous criminal illegal aliens, and restoring law and order. The American people voted for secure borders and rejected the radical Democrats’ lawless agenda that threatens public safety, economic security, the rule of law, and our way of life.

Under President Donald J. Trump’s Leadership, the Border is the Most Secure in History:  

  • Over 3 million illegal aliens have left the U.S. since President Trump returned to office. When analyzed further, the Department of Homeland Security estimated last year that 2.5 million illegals left the country. Maintaining that pace through 2029 would REDUCE the federal spending burden by $26.7-$33.7 billion a year. 
  • The Trump Administration has not released a single illegal alien at the border into the U.S. for sixteen consecutive months.
  • Southwest border apprehensions were down 94% in August from the monthly average under Biden.
  • CBP has seized 73% more drugs this fiscal year through August than it seized during the same period of FY 2024.
  • The number of Americans dying from drug overdoses and fentanyl poisoning has dropped as the Trump Administration saves lives by stopping the flow of deadly drugs and dismantling fentanyl networks.
  • The Department of Homeland Security conducted more than 206 million benefits eligibility checks in 2025, ensuring that public benefits are preserved for Americans.
  • ICE has arrested more than 10,000 gang members and more than 2,100 known or suspected terrorists during President Trump’s second term.
  • ICE more than doubled its number of officers and agents from 10,000 to 22,000.
  • Seven out of the 10 safest cities in America are cooperating with ICE, proving that American streets are safer when state officials work hand-in-hand with federal law enforcement. 
  • The Trump Administration returned temporary protected status to its original purpose—temporary—after Democrats allowed it to be abused as de-facto amnesty program.
  • The State Department paused immigrant visa processing for 75 countries whose migrants take welfare from the American people at unacceptable rates.
  • More than 157,000 migrant children — many of whom were lost by the Biden Administration and were victims of sex and labor trafficking — have been located.
  • The Laken Riley Act was signed into law by President Trump, ensuring illegal aliens charged with violent crimes are detained.
  • President Trump and Republicans’ landmark Working Families Tax Cuts delivered the largest-ever investment in border security — allowing the Trump Administration to permanently secure the border.
  • That success was compounded by the historic Secure America Act, Republicans’ second reconciliation bill signed into law by President Trump that ensures our agents are fully funded for years to come— blocking Democrats’ future attempts to defund federal law enforcement.

President Donald J. Trump will always put AMERICA FIRST, ensure Americans are protected, the border is secure, deportations continue, and the Radical Left running the Democrat Party will never turn the United States into a Communist country.

RELATED:

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Ten Times Extreme Liberal Democrats in Congress Put Their Dangerous Agenda Ahead of the American People

Radical Left’s Rebuttal Will Contrast Democrat Extremism with President Trump’s Road to Prosperity

Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Ends Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders

The Secure America Act Ends Democrat Obstruction— Fully Funds CBP, ICE and President Trump’s Border Security Agenda

©2026 . All rights reserved.

Republicans Dominate 5 Financially Healthiest State Governments, Democrats Run the 5 Worst

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Republicans dominate the executive and legislative branches of all five of the financially healthiest state governments, while, at the opposite end, Democrats exercise total control of the five states with the biggest debts, as measured by the Truth-in-Accounting (TIA) nonprofit watchdog.

The TIA report — the 17th annual edition of the nonprofit’s “Financial State of the States” — compares how much each of the 50 state governments have in terms of assets and liabilities, then computes how much each resident would receive in states with a surplus, and how big a new tax bill each tax-paying resident of deficit-ridden jurisdictions would face. The compilation in this news story of partisan affiliations of the state governments involved was done by The Washington Stand, not TIA.

The healthiest state in the Union is North Dakota, which TIA topped the list despite a decline in revenues from oil and natural gas.

“In 2025, North Dakota’s financial situation improved. It ended the year with $21 billion more than it needed to pay its bills. That means the state had a Taxpayer Surplus™ of $72,300 and earned an ‘A’ grade from Truth in Accounting. North Dakota reported revenues exceeding expenses,” the TIA report said.

“While oil, gas, and coal tax revenues declined due to lower energy prices, the decrease was offset by strong investment earnings and federal grant revenue. North Dakota’s financial position continued to benefit from the Legacy Fund, a state investment fund built from oil tax revenues. Unlike many states, North Dakota maintains a strong balance sheet that provides capacity to absorb revenue fluctuations and unforeseen fiscal pressures,” the report continued.

North Dakota Republicans hold the top three executive branch positions — governor, attorney general and secretary of State — as well as controlling majorities in both the state Senate and state House in the legislative branch.

At the opposite end of the rankings is New Jersey, with just $56.8 billion to fund $219.1 billion in outstanding debt. Every New Jersey resident would have to pay $45,800 in taxes to eliminate the deficit. The biggest share of the outstanding debt is in unfunded pension and retiree health care benefits. The former debt is more than $79 billion, while the latter exceeds $91 billion.

Just as Republicans control all of the major offices in North Dakota state government, Democrats occupy New Jersey’s three most important executive branch positions, and Democrats have majorities in both chambers of the state’s legislature.

Alaska is the nation’s second healthiest state government, according to TIA, with a surplus valued at $64,200 per resident. Alaska Republicans occupy the three highest executive branch positions, and the GOP controls the state Senate, but Democrats hold the lower chamber.

Wyoming is the third healthiest of the state governments, with a surplus valued at $30,300, followed by Utah at $14,900 and Tennessee at $11,400. Republicans hold all of the top executive branch positions, as well as control of both chambers of these states’ legislatures.

Connecticut is the second least healthy state government, according to the TIA report, with every resident having to pay an additional $41,400 in taxes to restore the Nutmeg State’s financial health. Third is Illinois, with a deficit per resident of $36,900, followed by Massachusetts, where $24,100 would have to be paid by each resident, and California at $16,000.

Democrats control all three top executive branch positions and both state legislative bodies for all five of the least healthy state governments.

Some surprises are found elsewhere in TIA’s ranking of the 50 states. Texas, for example, is known for its huge fossil fuel industry and reserves, as well as for being the destination of thousands of Californians fleeing that state’s high cost of living, soaring crime, bureaucratic suffocation, and one-party rule. But the Lone Star State ranks only 27th and would require an additional $400 from each resident to balance its books.

Even so, Texas enjoyed the second biggest population increase at more than 67,000 new residents in 2025, exceeded only by North Carolina, which ranked 10th on the TIA compilation and showed a gain of more than 84,000 new residents.

Together, the top five states gained nearly 48,000 new residents, while the bottom five lost almost 350,000, with California the biggest loser at 229,000.

New York ranks 36th on the TIA ranking, with each resident having to pay another $6,700, while Great Plains and Southern states dominate the sixth through 20th positions of the healthiest states, including Iowa, Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Idaho in the central portion of the United States, and North Carolina, Arkansas, Virginia, Oklahoma, and Georgia in the South.

“Collectively, all 50 states had $2.23 trillion in assets available to pay their bills. However, their total debt, including unfunded retirement benefit obligations, reached $2.85 trillion. This debt includes $775 billion in pension liabilities and $490 billion in other post-employment benefits (OPEB), primarily from retiree healthcare costs,” the TIA report said.

“Twenty-four states still carry significant debt burdens, driven by rising costs, inflation, and ongoing pressure to fund promised pension benefits. The investment markets have also significantly affected how government debt is reported. When markets perform well, the value of investments held by public pension systems often increases. These higher valuations offset the estimated cost of promised pension benefits, making a state’s pension debt appear lower. However, these are unrealized, or ‘paper,’ gains, not actual profits. In volatile markets, these gains can quickly evaporate, causing pension debt to rise and increasing the overall reported debt burden,” the report continued.

The TIA report pointed out that every state but Vermont has balanced-budget requirements, but too often what officials present as balanced expenditures do not reflect the whole truth about their expenditures.

“How can states rack up debt while simultaneously balancing their budgets? States balance budgets by using accounting tricks such as the following:

  • Inflating revenue
  • Counting borrowed money as
  • Understating the actual costs of
  • Delaying the payment of current bills until the start of the next fiscal year so they aren’t included in the budget

“The most common accounting trick states use is hiding a large portion of employee compensation from the budgeting process. Employee compensation includes retirement benefits such as healthcare, life insurance, and pensions. States become obligated to pay for these benefits as employees earn them.

“Although retirement benefits are not paid until employees retire, they still represent current compensation costs because employees earn and incur them throughout their tenure. Furthermore, money must be put into the retirement fund to accumulate investment earnings.”

AUTHOR

Mark Tapscott

Mark Tapscott is senior congressional analyst at The Washington Stand.

RELATED VIDEO: New Jersey Senate Debate — Cory Booker vs Justin Murphy

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2026 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Public Safety Should Be the Sleeper Issue of the Midterms

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Some people might question the wisdom of putting Donald Trump on the campaign trail with his dubious approval ratings, but it’s proving to be one of the smartest moves Republicans have made. The president may not be on the ballot, but his ability to accomplish his agenda over the next two years is — and putting Trump in front of voters helps remind America of that. It’s also a rare chance to cut through the media’s criticism and highlight where the administration has delivered — i.e. the progress we stand to lose if Democrats retake control. And the crackdown on crime should be at the top of the list.

After all those months of hysteria over the National Guard’s deployment to out-of-control cities, Americans have taken it for granted that public safety has undergone a shocking revival. Sure, there are still dangerous hot spots — largely in blue states where leftists refuse to accept help or implement any meaningful reforms — but it shouldn’t be lost on voters that we’re experiencing the lowest violent crime rate in 100 years.

And yet, as The Washington Times points out, the president never seems to get any credit for this. If anything, Jeff Mordock laments, he’s “a victim of his own success when it comes to crime. In fact, the administration’s efforts have been so successful that the topic has “fade[d] from the national conversation,” replaced by complaints about affordability and the Iran war. It’s unfair when you consider the miraculous turnaround our nation is experiencing on what were once sky-high rates of murder, human trafficking, robberies, carjackings, rapes, and more.

According to the FBI, these past 20 months of Trump have yielded incredible gains compared to Joe Biden’s last year in office.

  • “The homicide rate has dropped roughly 16%, to 4.1 per 100,000 people from 4.9 per 100,000.
  • “Violent crime arrests are up 90% to 53,969, compared with 28,405.
  • “Law enforcement officers seized 7,183 pounds of fentanyl, an 8% increase from 6,651 pounds.
  • “They located and identified 11,081 child victims, a 21% increase.
  • “Lawmen arrested 5,072 child predators and human traffickers, a 13% increase.
  • “They arrested 4,260 members of foreign terrorist organizations, a 38% increase.
  • “They stopped 1,038 people from carrying out a terrorist attack.
  • “All 10 people on the FBI’s Most Wanted list on the day Mr. Trump took office were captured.”

Now, what was once a front-burner issue for Americans has fallen somewhat off the radar. Even at the end of last year, Gallup found that 49% of people consider crime “an extremely or very serious problem,” down a whopping 14 points from two years ago (63%). That shift has almost certainly been credited to Republicans, who voters rightly trust much more with crime policy (43%) than Democrats (29%).

And yet, in this major clash of ideologies we call the midterm elections, the headlines would have us believe that Americans are ready to trade in the GOP majority for a Democratic Party that wants to abolish prisons, defund the police, and reopen the border so that criminals can stream back across unchecked. What madness.

Unlike other voter concerns, public safety touches everyone — but it should hold an especially significant place in the priorities of urban families, where crime is more prevalent. For years, they’ve paid the price for the indifferent attitudes of Democratic mayors and governors who let their cities burn as some sort of misguided protest to Trump. And as much as people may have disliked the optics of sending in the National Guard and law enforcement to clean up our communities, Politico points out, “history shows they dislike feeling unsafe even more. Expanding homeless encampments and drug overdoses in plain view have left many of them fearful.”

Last year, at the height of his Make America Safer Again push, CNN’s Harry Enten combed through the polling on crime “and declared that Trump is ‘like Air Jordan towering over [former President] Joe Biden’ on crime issues. While Biden was underwater on crime by 26 points in 2024, Trump had a plus-one favorability on the matter in August, just before his National Guard moves. ‘Americans are far more hawkish on crime than a lot of Democrats want to admit,’” Enten warned.

Jeff Werniak, deputy police chief in Posen, Illinois, told the Times that the Trump administration didn’t just stop at “street policing.” He’s leveraging the full force of the federal government to take on everything from the cartels and human traffickers to violent gangs and Islamist terrorists. “They’re actually going the extra mile to find [criminals],” he emphasized. “These guys are in hunting mode, and they’re in a preventive mode. They’re going and looking for crime. I would say maybe 99% of the crime reduction is because of the Trump administration.”

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who insists the polling predicting a Democratic blowout “is wrong,” maintains that this is one area where Republicans have a serious edge. As he travels to dozens of states, meeting with locals, he underscored that people don’t want Democratic Socialists reversing all of the gains Trump and the GOP have made to make their neighborhoods more secure. “They like what they’re seeing,” he told Family Research Council President Tony Perkins on “This Week on Capitol Hill.” “They like safer streets. They like the fact that we have the lowest violent crime rate in 126 years. It makes their children and grandchildren safer, and they’re going to vote accordingly,”

AUTHOR

Suzanne Bowdey

Suzanne Bowdey serves as editorial director and senior writer at The Washington Stand.

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2026 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

This Is What Justice Looks Like

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Ilhan Omar’s Citizenship Is Now a Federal Case. This Is What Justice Looks Like.

For years justice in America felt like an urban myth. Corruption ran rampant, the connected walked free, and ordinary citizens were told that noticing the pattern made them the problem. This case may be the one that turns the tide.

Homeland Security Investigations searched Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Washington, D.C. home before dawn on October 12. Agents left with her phone, computers, notebooks, and passport. Days earlier, more than a dozen grand jury subpoenas went to relatives, including her sister, for a Minnesota grand jury. The warrant listed possible charges of immigration fraud, false statements, and conspiracy. The Wall Street Journal reports the investigation is aimed at building a case to strip her citizenship and deport her.

Omar called it weaponization of federal law enforcement. The record says otherwise.

A federal magistrate judge, Matthew Sharbaugh of the D.C. District Court, signed the warrant. He is a registered Democrat, selected by a Democrat-controlled court near the end of the Biden administration. He limited how investigators could access materials tied to her legislative work. Probable cause still cleared that bar. Similar questions about her immigration paperwork were examined under Biden. Those investigators did not move forward. This administration reopened the file and took it to a grand jury. That is not a political hit. That is a case that was previously allowed to stall.

The core question is straightforward. Omar arrived from Somalia as a refugee in the mid-1990s and became a citizen in 2000. Investigators are examining whether she or her late father misstated her age so she could derive citizenship through him as a minor instead of applying on her own. They are also looking at what her father disclosed about his military background. If those statements were false, the citizenship that followed them is open to challenge. She has denied wrongdoing. She has not been charged. The subpoenas and the search exist because a judge found reason to look.

Omar is not an outlier. She is what happens when America stops vetting who it admits. Somalia runs on clan loyalty, Islamist violence, and a political culture where the group comes before the truth. That same community in Minnesota sat at the center of one of the largest COVID fraud schemes in the country. Americans were told the real crime was noticing. The paperwork that put Omar in Congress is the same broken system that put the fraudsters on the taxpayer’s dime.

How many more arrived the same way, with paperwork that was never rigorously checked, and now sit in local offices, school boards, and federal seats? The number is not zero. The damage is not theoretical. Communities change when the people who enter them do not share the basic premises that made those communities function.

Everyday Americans are not powerless. The ballot box is still the first and most direct instrument. Vote for candidates who will enforce existing immigration law, demand real vetting, and stop treating every claim of refuge as an automatic path to permanent residency and citizenship. Demand that denaturalization be used when fraud is proven. Demand that the next administration not quietly shelve these cases again.

Omar’s office says there is no basis for this. The grand jury will test that claim. Jail time is possible if false statements are proven. Denaturalization is possible if citizenship was obtained by fraud. Deportation follows denaturalization. Those are not threats. They are the ordinary consequences the law already provides.

Americans have waited a long time to see the law applied without regard for office or origin. The search of Omar’s home, the subpoenas to her family, and the open question of her citizenship are the first real evidence in years that the wait may be ending. Shameless justice is finally here.

For God, family, and the future of America,

Brigitte Gabriel

Chairwoman and CEO Act for America

P.S. Forward this to someone who still thinks a search warrant signed by a Democratic judge is “weaponization.” The next step is not a press conference. It is a decision by a grand jury.

©2026 All rights reserved.

We’re fighting aggressively to protect America. We need you with us — make an urgent tax deductible donation today! — Brigitte Gabriel

The Discontinuous Voyager: Could We Leap to The Andromeda Leap?

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Step outside on a clear, moonless night and look up. Those few thousand stars you can see? They are a tiny sliver of one galaxy. The Milky Way stretches roughly 100,000 to 120,000 light-years and holds hundreds of billions of stars. Far beyond it, 2.5 million light-years away, glows Andromeda (M31): a spiral of about a trillion stars. Now imagine standing there.

The wall we keep hitting

Relativity does offer a ticket. Accelerate at a comfortable 1g for half the trip, flip the ship, and brake at 1g for the rest. The crew ages just 28 years. The catch? Earth ages about 2.5 million.

And the price is staggering. Even a perfect matter-antimatter photon rocket carrying one tonne needs roughly 1032 to 1033 joules, about a hundred million years of all the sunlight striking our planet. Near the end, a speck of dust hits with the force of a nuclear weapon, and the cosmic microwave background blueshifts into X-rays.

The problem is not engineering. It is the idea of moving through space at all. So what if we did not?

The leap

Here is the hypothesis: ionization-assisted discontinuous transit. The craft does not cross the gulf. It leaves one place and arrives at another, with no journey in between.

It begins with a burst of energy. A high-energy discharge strips electrons from the air around the craft, wrapping it in a dense plasma envelope. The proposal is that this envelope changes how the craft couples to its surroundings, lowering the energy needed to displace it. The cost then depends on decoupling the craft from its local frame, not on the distance.

No trajectory means no travel time to dilate. No acceleration means no dust, no radiation bath, no 1032 joule bill. Then the craft re-couples to spacetime near Andromeda, body and mind together, one continuous traveler.

Notice what we dropped. Entanglement needs two linked objects and cannot carry information alone. This idea needs one object and one event, and it avoids the unsettling copy problem of sending a mind ahead of its body.

Beyond relativity, honestly

Here is where it gets exciting, because a bold idea earns its keep by stating what it must explain.

Plasma envelopes are real; re-entry capsules glow inside them. But nothing yet shows plasma changing inertia or spacetime coupling. Ionization works in electron-volts, so some unknown mechanism would have to bridge an enormous gap.

Inertia itself is still debated. Mach’s principle, the Higgs mechanism and several fringe models all try to explain why mass resists acceleration, and some suggest the environment plays a role. Those ideas are contested and untested at this scale, but the question is open.

Relativity is not the enemy. GPS, particle accelerators and gravitational-wave detectors confirm it to remarkable precision, so a deeper theory must reproduce all of that, with new behavior hiding in a regime nobody has tested. Newton was not wrong either. He was incomplete. And instant transfer raises causality puzzles, so any successor theory needs a reason paradoxes cannot arise.

How we would know

The best part: it is testable. If ionization really matters, the signs should appear small and early. A plasma-surrounded test mass might show a repeatable shift in weight, inertia or response to force. The first clue would not be a starship. It would be a strange number on a laboratory instrument.

The traveler who cannot feel it

Now picture the traveler. No streaking stars. No sense of distance. Just a gap, like waking from anesthesia, and then a new sky. You would not feel 2.5 million light-years from home. You would have to prove it:

  • The Milky Way overhead is a faint patch a few degrees across, not a grand spiral.
  • Spectra and star clusters match the known contents of M31, and Cepheid variables confirm the distance.
  • Your logs, clocks and local observers all agree you have arrived.

And home becomes the real puzzle. If transit is instant, the Earth you left and the Earth you could return to may share no common “now.”

Why keep the dream alive

Physics grows when a barrier turns out to rest on assumptions. If a deeper theory lets a craft change location without crossing the space between, the first hints will be quiet laboratory anomalies, not starships. This is a hypothesis in the oldest sense: a definite claim, clear about what it needs, and open to being tested or broken. And if it holds, someday a person may stand under alien stars, gaze at a faint, fuzzy Milky Way, and realize, slowly and thrillingly, that they crossed the universe in a single step.

©2026  . All rights reserved.

NEVER FORGET — Ft. Hood

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On November 5, 2009 about 1:30 p.m. local time, Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Hasan entered a building at Ft. Hood, shouted “Allahu Akbar” and opened fire with a laser-sighted weapon. He fanned his weapon, spraying bullets, before taking aim at individual soldiers. Two people charged him but were killed; a third was injured. Hasan moved outside the building where he shot down a police officer and targeted fleeing soldiers. Another police officer stopped Hasan with five shots as Hasan was reaching for a new clip.  Hasan killed 13 and wounded more than 30 in his 10-minute shooting rampage. Seven victims were shot in the back.  There was so much blood on the floor in the building that nurses had trouble reaching the wounded.  The Obama administration called it an act of ‘workplace violence’ but, at his trial, Hasan told the court he was defending the Taliban against the U.S. military.  Army personnel who worked with Hasan knew he was a “ticking time bomb”. He had given presentations supporting the killing of non-Muslims, defending Osama Bin Laden, and justifying suicide bombers.  He announced that Islam took precedence over the U.S. Constitution (which he had sworn to defend).  He stated on multiple occasions that Muslims in the military could kill other service members.

Foiled Islamic State-inspired mass attack plans called for poisoning food with ricin or cyanide in grocery stores and synagogues.  Would-be attacker also planned a mass shooting — arrested with a semiautomatic rifle and plenty of ammo.

Pro-Iranian forces hack digital billboard on busy L.A. freeway, displaying link to website publishing regime’s dissident kill list

AG Todd Blanche: “Since President Trump returned to office, FBI data shows 4,260 arrests related to FTOs [foreign terrorist organizations], including 1,039 individuals prevented from carrying out alleged terrorist attacks.”

THE GREAT AWAKENING

Four anti-sharia groups unite to address Islam’s threat to America and Western Civilization. Encouragingly, the Alliance for Islamic Remigration stated, “We need to move past artificial and misleading demarcations between a ‘good’ form of Islam and a ‘bad’ corruption that has nothing to do with real Islam.”

IRS is asked to probe ISNA’s tax-exempt status after group allows El-Sayed campaign to have a booth at the group’s ISNA convention.  Nice, but these investigations generally don’t go anywhere.

Resident sues Dearborn and Mayor for discriminating against Christians and Jews.  The resident is Margot Cleveland who writes for The Federalist.  “The lawsuit alleges that City officials spent public funds and used City property to promote and celebrate the Islamic holy month of Ramadan while refusing Cleveland’s repeated requests that the City extend the same recognition to Christian and Jewish holidays — and that Mayor Hammoud and other City officials retaliated against Cleveland for speaking out about the disparity.”

U.S. POLITICS

Fatwa issued by the Fiqh Council of North America and the Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America allows mandatory Muslim charitable contributions (zakat) to be used for political campaign donations – $140 million annual windfall to Muslim candidates.

Elections Have Consequences — Mamdani has appointed 10+ Islamic activists (some with ties to terror-associated CAIR) to high positions in NYC government.  They are busy ending mosque surveillance and the monitoring of imams suspected of radicalizing youth.  They are also hiring Muslim police officers, shielding illegal aliens, and appointing judges for a more ‘equitable’ legal system.

The Republican Party in Florida is running a Pakistani candidate, Imtiaz Mohammad, who “has gone from progressive Democrat activism to appearing alongside prominent Republican leaders….”  He has made “appearances at an institution linked to persons implicated in terrorism, and past statements disparaging America…. The question is whether party officials are going to stay silent and ignore his bigoted and Islamic extremist background.”  So far, crickets.  And so the rot progresses.

U.S. ACTORS

Aggressive Muslim Brotherhood arm Muslim Student Association (MSA) converting high school students to Islam in Texas.  Query: when’s the last time Taylor High School took kids to a synagogue?

CORRUPT ENABLERS

Catholic Charities partners with Hamas-linked ICNA to bring Afghan Muslim migrants to Kansas

  • Local Catholic Charities agencies received over $2 billion in federal grants during the four years of the Biden administration, according to aggregations of USAspending.gov data. The bulk (~$1.93 billion) came from HHS, especially Office of Refugee Resettlement “Refugee and Entrant Assistance” programs. Ca-ching, ca-ching! Follow the money.

Muslim Community Network opposed 9/11 Museum funding until Islamic overseers approve exhibits, but wins millions in public funding from New York politicians, anyway

JUST SO YOU KNOW

The second-class status of women in Islam continues into Paradise which is built for the pleasure of men: “we find an emphasis on repeated sexual relations with specially created women who are always virgins when approached, regardless of the number of prior occasions, and on the amazing sexual stamina the Muslim male acquires in Paradise.”

©2026 . All rights reserved.

RELATED ARTICLE: U.S. to Livestream Army Firing Squad Execution of Fort Hood Shooter, Pentagon Says

Donald Trump Rallies Ohio Crowd in Youngstown, Weeks Before Election

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Right after coming to the Buckeye State for a rally in the Dayton area, President Donald Trump was back in Ohio on Monday. This time, he welcomed a crowd in Youngstown.

Trump has been campaigning for Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, in his special election against former Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown this November, an appearance that Husted told the Daily Signal he believes helps his campaign, especially with former NFL coach and teammate Jon Gruden showing up.

Republican chances have been improving in these “toss-up” races, Trump mentioned. So fond of Ohio is the president, who won the state three times, that he mentioned it may be the one state he’s done two rallies in this cycle.

“This is, I think, about the only one I’ve made two. That means I like Ohio. We have to get Vivek [Ramaswamy], and we have to get Jon. Better get them in,” Trump said, adding he believes they’re both “in good shape.”

Trump didn’t wait long to attack Brown, calling him the “candidate of the Marxists, the communists, the anti-American radicals who want to tear down America’s heritage.” He also reminded Ohioans that they “threw him out because he did so badly on inflation, the border, he was here with the worst border we’ve ever had, the economy,” when he was beaten in 2024 by now Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno, whom Trump called “fantastic.”

Trump also likened Husted’s special election to his support for Moreno, and said both senators have been “really up to it.”

The president was also there to support Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican nominee for governor, whom he called a “very good friend” and said “was not easy” to run against in the 2024 Republican primary for president.

Trump also focused on Ramaswamy’s “great plans,” including on taxes. Ramaswamy has already pushed the state Legislature to suspend the gas tax for 90 days, and has made it a priority to reform property taxes.

Trump later went after Ramaswamy’s Democratic opponent, Dr. Amy Acton, for her record on the COVID-19 pandemic as Ohio’s health director.

In speaking to his role in these races, Trump pointed to how candidates have improved since his rally appearance. Trump implored the crowd to act like he’s on the ballot, since there’s more turnout and Republicans “do great.”

“So, I’m asking everybody to… just pretend that I’m on the ballot. Because in a way, I am on the ballot, because they will try and destroy everything we’ve done and the country has ever done,” Trump said about Democrats.

Trump also tied Brown to former President Joe Biden, including on inflation, energy prices, illegal immigration, and transgender procedures for minors. “And if they win the midterms, they will do the exact same thing again,” Trump warned.

Trump often brought up high prices, to set the record straight and issue more warnings about Brown. “I’m bringing the high prices down that they caused. And if a guy like Sherrod Brown gets in, he was there, he was one of the guys that destroyed, almost destroyed our nation,” Trump declared.

“You know, it’s one vote but that one vote can steer Congress into a direction that you’re not going to be happy with, and it’s not Ohio values,” Trump also said about the dangers of electing Brown, as he emphasized the “respect” that Husted has, including from Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo.

The president brought up immigration throughout, mentioning the stakes for Ohio cities. “And if Dumocrats get the chance, they will immediately reopen our borders and once again flood Ohio cities and towns with migrants from the most corrupt and dangerous places on the planet,” he said.

Springfield received a specific mention. The Trump administration won a victory at the U.S. Supreme Court, allowing for an end to Temporary Protected Status, which has seen the removal of Haitians from the town. To applause from the audience, Trump pointed out Haitians are “almost going to be gone, and we’re giving the town back.”

“Springfield, a quaint little village of no crime, no problems, a beautiful place to live, 32,000 people, never a problem. Beautiful, little, idyllic place. All of a sudden, they dropped 35,000 people in from Haiti, and it didn’t work out too well. Remember during the [2024] debate I said some of the things they were doing, I was right,” Trump said.

Trump also announced key victories Husted helped secure for the state, as he announced the Department of War has selected Cleveland to be the new home of the U.S. Submarine Component Repair Center, which he emphasized is “a big deal.”

Additionally, Trump announced that he’s directing the Departments of Energy and Commerce to work to make sure that a utility company for the area will still open.

Trump not only often brought up the consequences of Democrats being in power, but also told Ohioans how to prevent that.

“On election night, Ohio is going to prove that America does not belong to those who hate it; America belongs to those who love it. Radical left Dumocrat Sherrod Brown spent 52 years in office, selling out Ohio,” he said, drawing a contrast between Democrats’ time and office and his own two terms. “Do not let Sherrod Brown slither his way back into power. You threw him out a long time ago. Vote to put Ohio first and keep Ohio first. Vote to keep America first with Sen. Jon Husted.”

Trump then brought Husted to the stage, who highlighted how Trump “flipped [Youngstown] red forever” after he ran and won in 2016. Trump has been credited with Ohio’s red state status.

Husted reminded the crowd how Ohio and his family specifically had fallen on hard times under Democrats, and saluted Trump for how he’s “helped bring this region back and this state to prominence.”

During his remarks when called to the stage by Trump, Ramaswamy thanked the president for the positive environment he has to raise his kids, pledging work with the president if elected.

“I will be a governor who proudly works with the president of the United States of America to bring more dollars into Ohio, to bring higher-paying jobs to Ohio, to put more money in your pockets so that Ohio’s best days and, sir, through Ohio, America’s best days are still actually yet ahead of us,” Ramaswamy stressed.

Concluding his speech, Trump issued a further plea for Republicans to vote, as he painted another contrast between the parties. “We have already made unbelievable progress, and now we will reach new levels of greatness, levels that we have never seen before.”

AUTHOR

Rebecca Downs

Rebecca Downs is an Ohio correspondent for the Daily Signal. Follow on X RebeccaRoseGold.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Signal column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

“Operation Clean House,” Fugitives, sex offenders among 491 arrested in HUD public housing fraud crackdown

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Sharron Angle reported today on the Conservative Commandos Radio Show about The 491 arrests during “Operation Clean House,” a nationwide federal crackdown targeting fraud, fugitives, sex offenders, and unauthorized individuals living in taxpayer-funded public housing.

  • The Operation: Announced by U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner, the sweep was led by the HUD Office of Inspector General alongside the U.S. Marshals Service and local and state authorities across 12 states (including New York and California).
  • Who Was Arrested: The 491 individuals included fugitives, drug traffickers, sex offenders, people accused of crimes against children, and individuals living in the country unlawfully who were improperly residing in HUD-assisted housing units.

©2026 . All rights reserved.

EXCLUSIVE: Meet The GOP Candidate Who Came Out Of Nowhere To Pummel Letitia James In Viral Debate

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The silence seemed to last forever.

Running for her third straight term, Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James was asked a very simple question during the lightning round of last Thursday’s debate: Which past state AG do you admire?

Stumped, James let out an “Um.”

Seconds passed, and then finally, the moderator jokingly said, “Tick-tock.”

Her Republican opponent, Saritha Komatireddy, landed a zinger before James could stumble through her much-delayed response.

“She only admires herself.”

“No, no, no,” James said. “We admire others. I admire all the past attorney generals because it’s a difficult job and you’ve got to stand up—”

The moderator cut her off and turned to Komatireddy, who rattled off an answer without a moment’s hesitation.

“Dennis Vacco,” she said. “At a time when New York State needed it, we had another former federal prosecutor become an attorney general and bring law and order to the state.”

The moment went viral on social media, as did several others from earlier in the night, including James’ gaffe in which she said, “You don’t have to look at the facts and the law,” in response to a question about prediction market platforms. It also summed up the entire debate, which has since been characterized as an “October Surprise” for the incumbent.

As James repeatedly tried to portray her opponent as Donald Trump’s puppet and inject national politics into a state race, Komatireddy stayed disciplined, highlighting her resume and experience as a former federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York who focused heavily on counterterrorism following the September 11 attacks.

Overall, it was largely a direct, unsparing, no-frills performance — unsurprising for a prosecutor who oversaw cartel prosecutions involving the Sinaloa cartel and led successful convictions of an al-Qaeda bomb maker and an ISIS sniper — but still peppered with moments of spontaneity, such as when Komatireddy admitted that the last book she had read was “The Little Blue Truck,” her child’s favorite. James said hers was Jamie Raskin’s book, “Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy,” the kind of response concocted in a comms laboratory by Democratic consultants.

In an exclusive interview with the Daily Caller, Komatireddy explained how New York crime has affected her personal life, including an alleged assault on one of her family members, an incident she briefly alluded to during the debate.

“A member of my family was assaulted on the subway,” Komatireddy told the Daily Caller. “They were taking my older boys to school, not my younger ones. But a couple of years ago, our situation was that we lived several subway stops away from where they went to school. And so that was part of the daily commute. I don’t want to specify the member of the family just because I want to respect their privacy, but that’s the issue: this is something that we did every day.”

During the first half of 2026, most major crime categories saw a downward trend in New York City, with rape and felony assault standing as the sole exceptions. Murder dropped by 21 percent; burglary fell 15.2 percent; robbery decreased 11.8 percent; and car theft dropped by almost 10 percent, according to NYPD statistics. While homicides and shootings respectively declined by 12.9 percent and 11.3 percent compared to 2019, overall major crime remains 25 percent above its pre-pandemic baseline.

Yet many New Yorkers whom Komatireddy has spoken to on the campaign trail in the city and upstate still feel unsafe.

“One of our family friends had a stray bullet come through her bedroom while she was sleeping,” Komatireddy told the Caller. “She’s okay; it went above her head. But that’s scary. And I remember talking to her afterwards, and she just said, ‘What happened? I lived here for 30 years. The neighborhood has never been like that before.’”

She also detailed an encounter with a homeless man during a walk with her son through Central Park.

“I used to walk him across the park pretty regularly for a weekly class. It was around this time, October or November, chilly in the evening, and there was a man lying down in the park with a bunch of stuff around him,” Komatireddy explained. “We both looked over and thought, ‘Oh, I wonder if that man’s okay.’ Just as we were going to go over that way, a police car showed up, and two cops came out of the car. I was relieved that they had come. They went and checked on him, and then they got right back in the car and drove away. My son turns to me and says, ‘Why is that man not in a hotel? Why is he not inside? What just happened?’”

“When they confirmed that he wasn’t dead, then they went on their way, because they’re now under instructions not to remove that person and take them to a shelter or a place where they’ll have a warm bed at night — try explaining that to a seven-year-old,” she continued. “That is not what we teach our kids is the kind thing to do. And yet, as a society, that is what we are doing right now. We are leaving severely mentally ill people out on the streets. We are abandoning drug-addicted people. And not just abandoning them, we are actually giving them the tools to use more drugs. We’re using taxpayer money to get them sicker instead of getting them treatment.”

A long shot, Komatireddy is trailing James by double digits, according to a September poll from Siena University. However, she told the Daily Caller that since the debate, more New Yorkers are beginning to recognize her on the street. She believes her non-partisan approach to the “80/20” issue of crime, locking up repeat offenders, providing residential treatment for the homeless, and rooting out fraud, will resonate with enough voters to pull off an upset.

Notably, Komatireddy was a political appointee under former President Joe Biden, serving as Chief of Staff of the Drug Enforcement Administration from 2023 to 2024; yet she was also nominated by President Donald Trump to United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York at the end of his first term, and clerked for Justice Brett Kavanaugh before he was nominated to the Supreme Court.

“I want to find common-sense areas where most people agree. Almost every New Yorker will agree that it’s important to enforce the law. Public safety transcends all of politics. Whether you’re a Democratic Socialist or not, you want to feel safe on the buses,” she said in reference to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

The Daily Caller also asked Komatireddy whether there is a book besides “Little Blue Truck” that has shaped her worldview.

“You want a different answer to that question? I gave that answer because it’s the truthful answer. It’s the last book I read. I read it to my two-year-old son every night, whether he’s awake or asleep, because it’s his favorite book,” Komatireddy said.

After thinking it over, Komatireddy landed on “The Alchemist,” a 1988 novel by Brazilian author Paulo Coelho.

“Many people know this book. I actually read it at New Year’s every year, and I find that it grounds me,” she said. “It’s an allegory of someone who’s trying to achieve something that everyone else thinks is impossible, but he achieves it. It’s an important reminder that if you believe what everyone else thinks is true, then nothing changes in life. No one invents anything new, no one makes new strides, no one does anything groundbreaking.”

“It’s important to be the person who reimagines how life can be, believes in something that everyone thinks is a pipe dream, and just goes for it.”

AUTHOR

John Loftus

Editor at Large

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

The Democratic Party has moved so far-left and is well beyond the vast majority of American voters

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Co-Hosts, Rick Trader and George Landrith, and Guests, Horace Cooper and Steve Milloy, discuss: Affordability as a campaign issue in which Democrats pretend that they are good at affordability issues

The Democratic Party has moved far-left and is well beyond the mainstream of American voters.

A ton of Democratic Policies with clear majority opposition or limited support.

Midterms, high fuel prices, and the affordability squeeze prosecutorial overreach and weaponization of the justice system.

Rule of law, consistency, and selective enforcement.

China supply-chain dependence and national-security risks.

Climate claims versus natural variability (hurricanes and El Niño).

Regulatory burden, outdated environmental laws, and permitting.

Green-energy policies and their practical failures.

©2026 . All rights reserved.

The Media Is Suddenly Less Sure About a Democrat Wave

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THE WASHINGTON STAND—After months of flooding the zone with glum predictions for Republicans, there’s been a quiet but meaningful shift in major media headlines. Left-leaning outlets desperate to make the GOP’s demise a self-fulfilling prophecy seem to be subtly hedging their bets against another polling embarrassment. In the last handful of days, even the big dogs—The New York Times, Washington Post, and Newsweek—are conceding that maybe the election forecasts aren’t as lopsided as they’ve been leading voters to believe.

Suddenly, readers are clicking on stories that paint a very different picture of the apocalyptic landscape for Republicans they’d come to expect. Articles like “Democratic Optimism in Six Senate Races May Be a Mirage,” “3 Bright Spots for the G.O.P.,” and “How Much Can Republicans Outrun Trump’s Approval?” are popping up in the same pages that have urged Americans to don galoshes for the Blue Tsunami. And while there certainly are very troubling signs for Speaker Mike Johnson’s, R-La., party, one lesson everyone should have learned by now is that polls are an incredibly flawed measure of public opinion.

In the modern age, Republicans have consistently outperformed the industry’s numbers in presidential and midterm elections. Pollsters have frantically tried to solve this puzzle, especially after a string of national humiliations. After a lot of head-scratching, two theories for this unpredictability revolve around the GOP.

“First, Republicans are becoming more distrustful of institutions and society, and that may be extending to how they feel about pollsters. Second, suburban Republican college graduates are more likely to fear professional sanction for their views and are therefore self-censoring more, including in surveys,” FiveThirtyEight’s Emily Ekins suggests. Most experts estimate that conservatives underpoll somewhere between 3-5%—a massive swing for anyone trying to prophecy close races.

Over the last handful of days, the media seems to be making an intentional effort to temper their excitement, noting that as optimistic as Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., may be, “history offers a warning to Democrats, as polls in recent elections underestimated Republicans in key states. Control of the Senate could come down to just a handful of races where polls show razor-thin margins.”

In places like Alaska, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Ohio, and Texas, Newsweek warns, Democrats appear to have a polling edge. “But Republicans have outperformed polling averages in many of those same states over the past few elections. Polling errors are not necessarily repeated from cycle to cycle. But a similar pro-Republican polling error this cycle would not bode well for Democrats’ chances of flipping the Senate.”

Frankly, it’s “impossible to know for sure” what the polling error could look like this year, Syracuse Political Science Professor Grant Davis Reeher acknowledged. “There are some pretty big known unknowns in this election, which could throw off polls,” he said. “A primary one is turnout. Polls must make educated guesses about who is most likely to vote. It’s a little trickier in midterms.”

National Review’s Jim Geraghty, who hasn’t exactly been a glass-is-half-full prognosticator, offered what he called “the cheeriest midterm take for Republicans you’re going to find,” urging readers to second-guess the excitement surrounding Democrats in cherry-red Kansas, South Carolina, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Florida. Despite the media’s insistence that GOP candidates are in trouble, the polling doesn’t necessarily bear that out. “There’s good reason to not believe the hype; we’ve seen this sort of narrative before.”

He ticks off the numbers for each key race, along with historical trends, dismantling the idea that conservatives are in trouble. “The lesson of this is not that all the polls are always wrong, or that every prediction of an upset Democratic win is always wrong,” Geraghty cautions. “But there’s an extremely familiar narrative of ‘this Democrat really has a shot in a deep red state!’ that rarely pans out; when it does, it’s usually because of a spectacularly flawed Republican candidate.”

Americans should be wary of a blue wave, he writes, if only because “certain left-of-center media voices always tell them there will be a blue wave every November.”

An unlikely source echoes NR’s guardedness: The New York Times. Despite what pundits say, “there is also quite a bit of good news for Republicans,” Ruth Igielnik wrote late last month. For starters, “Republican Senate candidates are running ahead of the party. … Each of [them] is outrunning President Trump’s popularity in their states, sometimes by double digits. … And in each of the races, Republican candidates are winning some voters who otherwise say they want Democrats to control the Senate. Taken together, these are signs that in these competitive, Democratic-leaning states, Republicans have nominated strong candidates who appeal beyond their base.”

Then, of course, there’s the Left’s ugly infighting. “As Democrats are divided,” the Times points out, “Republicans are united. … We asked Democrats across the country if they felt the party was united or divided. About half said the party was united, and half said divided. Those numbers are nearly identical to a survey we ran in 2016. Republicans, on the other hand, are feeling very unified. In our most recent national survey, 70 percent of Republicans said they felt the party was united. That is a dramatic departure from 10 years ago. In 2016, more than 80 percent of Republicans said they thought the party was divided.”

Over at The Washington Post, Scott Clement reiterates that a “poll of two key House districts shows good signs for Democrats, but no tsunami.”

As for the bluster that even Hispanics are abandoning the GOP, Rasmussen Reports soundly beats back that narrative. In results released Monday, Hispanic voters favor Republicans by a 50 to 42% margin over Democrats.

“The poll also indicates a tightening battle for control of Congress, as the Democrats’ lead over Republicans decreased for the second week in a row, according to the company. Overall, voters said if the election was held today 47 percent of likely voters would vote for the Democrat candidate, while 44 percent would vote for the Republican. Four percent of voters said another party’s candidate and just 4 percent were undecided.” In other words, Republicans have slashed the Democrats’ lead in half since just mid-September, “particularly with independent voters.”

But as encouraging as those signs are, leadership is clear-eyed about the hill they have to climb this November. “Now listen, this is going to be a very close election,” Speaker Johnson underscored Tuesday.

His Senate counterpart, Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has been cautiously optimistic about his side of the Capitol. “I think we can keep the majority,” he told Politico this week. “I think all of these races are margin of error, at least the ones that we have to win. And historically, at least if you look at polls, we tend to outperform them.”

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., made that same point in a conversation with Family Research Council President Tony Perkins on “This Week on Capitol Hill.” When Cook Political Report, a widely respected organization, moved more seats to the toss-up or Democratic-leaning column, the House’s second-in-command wasn’t worried. In his mind, there’s more to the story. “You know, the polling really is interesting when you dig into it. You’re seeing an undersampling of Republicans, and we’re digging into some of these. Let’s be clear too. There are a lot of close races, not just Republican races.”

He pointed to a few states like New Hampshire where GOP candidates are making a dent in Democratic areas too. “There [are] about 35 seats across the country that are truly swing districts,” Scalise observed. “Twenty of them are held by Republicans that are close right now, but 15 are held by Democrats that are also close, that we have a real chance to flip. And so, turnout is going to be a big factor. Who really does show up?”

The GOP has another secret weapon this election—in large part thanks to President Trump and Speaker Johnson—and that’s campaign cash. As Perkins highlighted, conservatives “have a strong edge on the fundraising to get their message through in these final days.” Scalise nodded. “We really do. You know, it’s rare that we outraise Democrats in a lot of these seats. We have now. And again, I think people are seeing what’s at stake, and they’re donating money.”

The media, he thinks, “[is] counting on Republicans, especially traditional conservative voters, to just stay home. And I don’t think that’s going to happen, because I think more and more people are seeing this sharp contrast [between the two parties].”

With the rise of the Democratic Socialists, Scalise warns, “This isn’t like two candidates [who] are similar. This is common sense versus crazy. And some of these candidates … [don’t just want] to defund the police — they want to disarm the police. They actually advocate for taking guns away from police officers. You were a police officer. Could you imagine approaching a criminal who’s got a gun and saying, ‘Hey, let’s have a conversation and try to talk this out?’ He shoots you, and it’s over. This is insanity. And that’s beyond crazy. But if people stay home … [these radicals win]. And that’s why people can’t stay home.”

At the end of the day, Scalise insisted, Democrats are trotting out polls “to make it look like they’re doing better than they are, because they want to depress conservative voters. Because if conservative voters stay home, guess what? Socialists will actually win. They can’t win if you show up and vote on November 3rd.”

That’s right, Perkins stressed. “The only poll that really counts is Election Day when people turn out and vote.”

Originally published by The Washington Stand.

We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of the Daily Signal.

AUTHOR

Suzanne Bowdey 

Suzanne Bowdey is editorial director and senior writer at The Washington Stand.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Signal column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Diversity of Thought Trumps Diversity of Demographics

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I’m reposting a fine op-ed that appeared in our local paper (with minor edits).

A quiet but significant shift is underway in corporate America. A large majority of Fortune 500 companies have stepped back from formal DEI programs in recent years. Many will not return, not because they oppose diversity, but because they’ve realized that the current framework of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is itself inherently discriminatory.

Recent diversity efforts have focused almost exclusively on race, gender, and ethnicity. While these characteristics matter, they have proven too narrow. Research has consistently shown that teams balanced by race and gender often produce results virtually indistinguishable from less diverse teams when the individuals share similar ages, education, socio-economic backgrounds, and cultural experiences. In short, surface-level diversity frequently fails to deliver meaningful differences in how people think and solve problems.

The real power of diversity lies in something much harder to measure but far more valuable: diversity of thought, personality, perspective, spiritual beliefs, and problem-solving style.

Graphic Citation

When everyone in the room sees the world through a similar lens — even if they look different — true innovation suffers. Companies that limit their definition of diversity to demographic checkboxes often end up with people who think remarkably alike. That’s not diversity. That’s conformity wearing different faces.

Real diversity challenges assumptions. It brings together people who approach problems differently, question conventional wisdom, and offer competing ideas. This kind of cognitive diversity is what actually drives better decisions, creativity, and adaptability in a global marketplace.

The same pattern is now visible at the local level. In Apex, North Carolina, town officials reported that people of color on staff rose from 6% to 23% in roughly a year, while 45% of leadership roles were held by women. During the same period, the town’s workforce expanded from about 368 employees to between 647 and 762. Meanwhile, the resident population grew from roughly 47,000 to 80,000±, and the White non-Hispanic share of residents fell from about 76% to about 67%, with Asian residents rising sharply. The demographic composition of the workforce shifted faster than the community it serves, yet there is no public evidence that this produced better decisions, stronger services, or more innovative problem-solving.

Organizations serious about real diversity should follow four practical steps:

First, measure not just demographics but prevailing attitudes, assumptions, and barriers to different thinking styles.

Second, define clear goals for what broader diversity should achieve.

Third, change hiring and promotion practices to actively seek people with different personalities and approaches rather than hiring clones of those already in the organization, including not hiring people that are radically different from the ones they are replacing.

And fourth, measure results based on actual business outcomes, not just representation numbers.

This broader view of diversity does not replace concern for race and gender. It expands it. The goal is to create teams where people genuinely see problems differently and are willing to challenge one another’s assumptions. That is the environment where real innovation happens.

Corporate America is at an inflection point. The more recent model of diversity driven by DEI no longer works. The companies that will thrive in the coming decade are those willing to pursue a more honest and ambitious form of diversity: diversity of thought.

Leaders who understand this distinction and act on it will build stronger, more innovative, and more adaptable organizations. Those who don’t will continue to chase demographic targets while wondering why their results remain mediocre.

In recent news, Nike is an obvious example of “failing up” by making their diversity numbers while simultaneously losing record profits to the point of being removed from S&P 100.

The choice is no longer between diversity and merit. The real choice is between superficial diversity that checks boxes and meaningful diversity that delivers results.

Stephen Xavier is a business consultant and executive coach who has worked with America’s Fortune 500 corporations for nearly two decades. He has been widely published and his media credits include The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Financial Times, and Forbes.

©2026 All rights reserved.

Here is other information from this scientist that you might find interesting:

I urge all readers to subscribe to AlterAI — IMO the absolute best AI option for subjective questions.

I will consider posting reader submissions on Critical Thinking about my topics of interest.

My commentaries are my opinion about the material discussed therein, based on the information I have. If any readers have different information, please share it. If it is credible, I will be glad to reconsider my position.

Check out the Archives of this Critical Thinking substack.

C19Science.info is my one-page website that covers the lack of genuine Science behind our COVID-19 policies.

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Christopher Columbus’ Little Known Jewish Connection

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Two days ago, President Trump led our nation in remembrance of Christopher Columbus “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” Before there were the 13 colonies there was the North American Continent to be discovered, and there was Christopher Columbus.

Christopher Columbus was born in the City of Genoa, Spain. His family was Columbo, which is an Italian from of Colon, and Colon was Hebrew. Jews were persecuted unless they converted to Catholicism, the state-recognized religion. In this regard, Columbus was referred to as a converso.

Regardless of the outward appearance, various documents, mostly Columbus’s letters and associated writings, demonstrate that Christopher Columbus maintained his Jewish beliefs, heart and spirit. He would recite the learned views of rabbis. He frequently quoted from the Tanach (the Old Testament), especially from Isaiah and Ezekiel, not an easy task, and one must appreciate that most likely these books were written in Hebrew at that time.

Most telling was how often Columbus compared himself to King David, who stood strong representing the Jewish people. Columbus recognized King David as a deliverer of his people, the Jews. It was this thought of delivering Jews from constant danger and persecution that began to consume Christopher Columbus to save the Jews and get them away from the ever-increasing attempts to eradicate them altogether. He even began to plan a mission to liberate Jerusalem from Muslim control, Providence intervened, and God had other plans of destiny for Christopher Columbus.

A strong believer in prophecy, Christopher began to reset his vision as he focused his energy for freedom on North America. His biblical reference was Isaiah 24:15 – “So in the east, honor Adonai; in the coast lands, honor the name of Adonai, the God of Israel” (Isaiah 24:15).

Hashem (God) continued to guide and establish divine appointments for Christopher Columbus in his studies of preparation for the now decided journey to North America. The stars as navigational instruments were presented to him by a Jewish astronomer, Abraham Zacuto. An introduction to the heir of the Spanish throne, Princ Juan, was made by – get ready for this – the powerful and influential Catholic Bishop and personal tutor to Prince Juan, Diego de Deza, who himself was a Marrano (a Jew who outwardly or publicly converted to Christianity as a form of preservation from political persecution and death). Is God capable of bringing His will to fulfillment or what?

God continued to guide Christopher Columbus by arranging financial blessings to underwrite the building of ocean-worthy vessels for a journey to the New World, as well as to cover ALL expenses related to the journey. To accomplish this, Hashem Adonai (the Lord God) brought about a meeting between Columbus and one of the wealthiest people in the world at that time. Don Luis de la Cerda, the Duke of Medinaceli. Over coffee and bagels (I just threw this in to see if you were still awake)), these two mapped out a strategy which they could present to the King and Queen of Spain, whose permission was required to build the ships in the first place. By the way, the duke’s family heritage was Jewish!

The influential duke was granted an audience with King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. Christopher Columbus, the duke, and their Royal Highness’s met at Cordoba, Spain in May of 1486, for a long series of conversations with a decision to: “Refer the request to the Royal Scientists for further study.” You’ve got to love it – government passing the buck and bureaucracy way back then. Four years later, this committee issued an unfavorable report to the King and Queen not to proceed with this wild idea.

HOLD ON: This is PART I

©2026 All rights reserved.

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Who’s the new White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia?

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Your New White House Press Sec, Katie Zacharia

Katie Zacharia — Incoming White House Press Secretary

Katie Zacharia is a conservative commentator and communications professional whom President Donald Trump named on Friday, October 9, 2026 to be the next White House Press Secretary, succeeding Karoline Leavitt.

The Basics

  • Current role (before the appointment): Senior Communications Adviser at Trump Media & Technology Group, the company behind Truth Social
  • Prior government stint: Spokesperson at the Department of Homeland Security (roughly February–March 2026)
  • Media background: Frequent fixture on Fox News and Newsmax as a conservative commentator
  • Age: 42
  • Political roots: Interned for the Republican National Committee and worked in the White House Office of Political Affairs during the Bush administration (2006)

How It Was Announced

Trump made the announcement on Truth Social, calling her “a loyal and brilliant supporter, right from the beginning” and saying he was confident she’d “deliver strong results.”

She becomes Trump’s sixth chief spokesperson across his two administrations.

The Handoff

  • Karoline Leavitt announced her departure August 12, 2026 and left the post August 27
  • She cited wanting to spend more time with her young children (she gave birth to her second child in May)
  • Leavitt has reportedly moved to a role at Fox News

Why the Timing Matters

The appointment lands less than four weeks before the midterm elections — a period when the press secretary’s podium becomes one of the most visible megaphones in the country. Expect a combative briefing-room dynamic; Zacharia’s background is in partisan communications, not neutral press coordination.

Note: This is drawn from recent reporting (AP, BBC, Politico, WaPo) — treat any single-source detail on her DHS tenure with the usual skepticism, since the mainstream outlets covering it have their own framing incentives.

©2026 . All rights reserved.

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