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Rabbi Holly asks Talarico about stance on Israel. Talarico proceeds to do some light glazing before parroting Hamas talking points to the rabbi. https://t.co/jEeaijDxU3
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) October 15, 2026
Ed: You can read the transcript here. Jorge gives pretty much the entire exchange in this clip. He's correct in saying that Talarico is giving a slightly softer version of the same things that Zohran Mamdani and Abdul El-Sayed are saying, which is that Netanyahu is conducting a "war against civilians," which is absurd. Israel is fighting a war Hamas started from the fortified terror base that is Gaza. That's utter nonsense.
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Campus Reform: A resurfaced video shows Texas Democratic U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico telling educators that systems including white supremacy and “heteropatriarchy” have “colonized our own minds.”
“We have to understand, especially for the white educators on this call, that these violent hierarchies, these systems, white supremacy, heteropatriarchy, and economic exploitation have colonized our own minds,” Talarico said. ...
In another resurfaced video from 2020, Talarico reflected on his experience as an educator.
“I was trapped in a system that was focused purely on academics, reading, writing, arithmetic, and there wasn’t time to talk about social-emotional learning, a student’s well-being, healthy relationships with themselves and with others,” Talarico said.
“And you know, our public education system, particularly here in Texas, is not built for poor students. It’s not built for students of color,” he continued.
Ed: Talarico can pretend he's a moderate for a few weeks. He's a radical with a pleasant mien, that's all.
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Talarico is so offensive because he is trying to take our faith and turn it into a woke doctrine. Being pro life is a central tenant of being a Christian. We are children of Christ, led under his word in the Bible. This is all just gross, craven political pandering and I'm sick of it.
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) October 15, 2026
Ed: As I wrote earlier, Talarico poses as a pastor while acting like a serpent. He uses his professed faith to promote nihilism and materialistic determinism.
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Mark Tapscott at the Washington Stand: Voter enthusiasm surveys are showing signs of a gathering “Silver Wave” of older voters surging to the polls on November 3 for the 2026 midterm elections and voting in greater numbers for Republican candidates than they have in recent years, according to GOP pollster and campaign strategist Matt Towery.
Combined with the traditional huge drop-off in the number of younger voters aged 18 to 39 in midterm contests, who are among the Democratic Party’s most loyal supporters, the Silver Wave could mean a bunch of Democratic congressional candidates now making relocation plans to the nation’s capital after the election could be in for an unexpected surprise.
And, according to Towery, a key factor in bringing that outcome about would be the explosion of media coverage and enthusiasm among young people for candidates who, like New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D), identify themselves as socialists or those like Claire Valdez, who is running in New York’s 7th Congressional District, as members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).
“The Silver Wave, right now, I am seeing in poll after poll after poll. The 18-39 years old crowd, who are supposed to be dying to turn out to vote to turn everything upside down, they are about 30 points less enthusiastic about voting than the 65 years old and over, who are the most enthusiastic and for the first time in three election cycles are going for Republicans in droves,” Towery explained in an October 12 video post on X in which he elaborated on comments he’d made earlier in the day on Sean Hannity’s radio show.
Ed: I've heard rumblings about a "silver wave," and hopefully it comes to pass. It might be the result of Republicans pushing hard to make the midterms a referendum on radicals in the Democrat Party, a response to Donald Trump's full-time midterm campaign, or a combination of both. Polls may be missing it as older Americans are less likely to answer unknown callers. I'd take it with a grain of salt for now; this may be more valuable as potential context if Republicans perform above expectations this cycle. Until then, keep pushing.
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🚨 BREAKING: James Talarico's big CNN town hall answer on child gender surgeries was to call it "the silliness of a political campaign." Talarico: "Lies are going to be spread because they want to score political points." Then a voter in the room called gender surgeries on minors "essentially a non-issue" and said they were tired of the "culture war talking points" against his campaign. Texas parents don't think protecting their kids is a "culture war talking point." Talarico is about to find that out. Keep Talarico away from children.
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) October 15, 2026
Then a voter in the room called gender surgeries on minors "essentially a non-issue" and said they were tired of the "culture war talking points" against his campaign. Texas parents don't think protecting their kids is a "culture war talking point." Talarico is about to find that out. Keep Talarico away from children.
Ed: Regardless of how often it happens, it should NEVER happen, and Talarico has been a champion of pediatric sex-change therapies until changing his mind after the Democrat primaries. This voter might not think it's worth discussing, but the people who are now trying to detransition from pediatric sex-change surgeries beg to differ.
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Kathryn Jean Lopez at NRO: Contrary to Talarico’s claim, abortion is clearly prohibited by the Bible. As Jodi Hunt, a University of Dallas professor of applied ministry who also heads the Neuhoff Institute for Ministry and Evangelization, made clear to him last night, we are instructed not to kill in the Ten Commandments. That means abortion is murder. It is a sin. If we can’t manage to not kill the most innocent, the unborn with no voice but that of the adults responsible for their lives, we are off to a gravely disastrous start with our stewardship of human life.
Abortion is not merely a public-policy problem, as the candidate described it. It is an existential one. ...
Jodi Hunt demonstrated what it means to be a responsible Catholic engaged in our political life, as she both challenged and schooled a candidate who manipulates religious faith for political purposes as a matter of course. She didn’t do something partisan last night. She did something Christian.
Ed: Amen. In my post on the topic, I did not do enough to acknowledge Ms. Hunt's defense of the faith. I'm glad that my friend Kathryn Jean spoke up for her.
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James Talarico looked a 22 year Navy veteran in the eye last night and straight up LIED to him about the SAVE Act. He doesn’t support it. He doesn’t support voter ID. Dude is more slippery than a wet panther. https://t.co/o37MSJvcXX
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) October 15, 2026
Ed: I wrote more about this too, but I hadn't included this clip in that post. I do have some sympathy for the counter-argument that all politicians attempt to convince voters that they agree when they don't, but that doesn't make it any more intellectually honest. And in this case, Talarico flat-out lied.
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Free Beacon: Left-wing Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed said he drew inspiration from the "excellent" works of a disgraced Oxford professor—and grandson of the Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna—best known for his diatribes against "Jewish intellectuals" and for being sentenced to 18 years in French prison for raping three women.
The Democratic Senate hopeful told the SenseSustainability podcast in a 2011 interview that he draws inspiration from Tariq Ramadan, the grandson of the Muslim Brotherhood founder al-Banna, the extremist Egyptian imam. Ramadan is the son of Said Ramadan, who was married to al-Banna's daughter and emerged as a top Brotherhood leader in the wake of al-Banna's death.
Ramadan had been scheduled to teach at Notre Dame but was barred from working in the United States in 2004 after the George W. Bush administration revoked his work visa, citing his donations to two Swiss and French-based charities linked to Hamas, the Committee for Charity and Support for the Palestinians, and the Association de Secours Palestinien. The Treasury Department designated the groups as terror fundraising organizations in 2003.
Ed: Let's not forget about the other radical Democrat running for the US Senate. For a man with no ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, well ... you know the rest.
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James Talarico is a liar who wants to DESTROY Texas oil and gas. TONIGHT: "I want to protect the good paying oil and gas jobs that support whole families." A FEW YEARS AGO: "You can't call yourself a Christian and destroy God's creation with greenhouse gases." https://t.co/CiT8E6nst9
— Senate Republicans (@NRSC) October 15, 2026
Ed: The whole town hall seems to have consisted of Talarico running away from his own positions that he held until after entering the general election for this Senate race. This particular issue may be the most important and acute, as it relates immediately and directly to energy production, national security, and economic stability. And yet again, we have a pastor leading a flock in opposite directions based on what's best for the shepherd rather than the sheep, which speaks volumes about the integrity of the pastor.
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Matt Taibbi: Brad Pitt/Mark Ruffalo/Benedict Cumberbatch/Ryan Gosling/etc. It’s too bad, but these actors and most others are the same person. Ruffalo just went viral for a midterm-rally speech in which he shouted “Hands off our fucking vote” and “I’m gonna Hulk out,” but his far more obnoxious appearances combine the Leguizamo and Harry pathologies, indicting his Italian-American upbringing as regressive in the Daily Beast in 2015, or telling people who aren’t feminists they are “ignorant little jerks” who can “kiss my ass.” Brad Pitt after he made a hundred gazillion or so went on the cover of Vogue to take on “toxic masculinity” and explain that “We were taught to be strong, not show weakness, don’t be disrespected,” but the real strength is in vulnerability.
Cumberbatch said “we need to teach our sons to be feminists,” Chris Pine said it’s “high time” for a “wave” of female empowerment to come in, and so on. All these dudes say the same nine or ten things repeatedly: I had to unlearn (X), My traditional household [something bad derp], Blah blah do the work, We need to redefine [whatever]. Sadly most of these guys aren’t that smart and don’t realize other men who have the misfortune to hear these interviews immediately recognize that they’re just scared, half-wit company men mouthing agent-generated platitudes to keep studios happy.
Worst of all, it comes across onscreen. As Sasha Stone put it in her excellent review of The Odyssey, every movie with a male lead now shows a “protagonist who is in charge of everything but feels bad about it,” and this is “the only place for the male protagonist to be in American culture in 2026.” Boys had plenty of role models to emulate onscreen once upon a time — I remember wanting to be as cool as Takashi Shimura in Seven Samurai — but men in American movies now are pretty much entirely wimps, afraid not just of women, but everything.
Things are too stupid to continue as they are.
Ed: I've been meaning to add this for the last several days. Be sure to read it all; Taibbi nails Trump's appeal to young men in this era, although he's not endorsing it either. James Talarico fits in well with this set from Hollywood, though, and may be the best explanation for his inexplicable rise among Texas progressives.
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NEW: President Trump tears into Texas Democrat James Talarico, slamming him as a "total con man" and calling into question his extended absence from the campaign trail. Trump questions Talarico’s claim of being sick with the flu and slams him over past remarks about religion. "The guy in Texas is a con man. Total con man. Guy gets lost for 12, 14 days. He says that he's got the flu." "He said bad things. Talked badly about Jesus. Talked badly about many things. Now he says, 'Oh, well, I was only kidding.'"
— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 15, 2026
"The guy in Texas is a con man. Total con man. Guy gets lost for 12, 14 days. He says that he's got the flu." "He said bad things. Talked badly about Jesus. Talked badly about many things. Now he says, 'Oh, well, I was only kidding.'"
Ed: I liked Scott's description better – Talarico is slipperier than a wet panther.
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The Crimson Hub: The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) talk a good game about opposing politicians, the politically-connected, and corporations who donate to political campaigns and hire high-priced lobbyists from profiting off the system.
But if Democrats win back either or both chambers of Congress in next month's election, a collection of DSA confidants will be poised to cash in.
Meet the lobbyists set to make bank if and when the DSA-dominated Democratic Party takes the reins in Washington, DC.
Ed: The grift is real, and it is spectacular.
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WATCH: @MrShermichael makes the great point that the Jubilee format gave Talarico an opportunity to flip-flop all over the place without major pushback on a number of issues https://t.co/WeCrOczj1L
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) October 15, 2026
Ed: That's why CNN used the format. It's also why Paxton should have agreed to participate, however.
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Nioh Berg on X: IRGC thugs, basijis, regime linked clerics and foreign proxy terrorists are all being killed at a growing rate. Police stations, bases and checkpoints are raided. Patrols come under attack as they drive through cities. There's been at least one case of fighting reaching the Kerman region. Today, a female basiji commander was assassinated in front of her house. Yesterday, dozens of Afghan proxy terrorists were wiped out. Last month, a regime linked sunni cleric was shot dead. Many of the assassinations are very high ranking.
I don't know what suddenly changed, but it's gotten very deadly and dangerous to be an islamic regime figure in S&B.
What does all of this mean?
1) The islamic regime is losing control.
2) Regime thugs used to feel safe and protected. Now they don't. Psychologically this will do serious damage, especially to lower ranking demoralised basijis who aren't receiving their blood money salaries anymore due to sanctions.
3) If this keeps up, the islamic regime will have to send large forces from other regions to go fight in S&B. I shouldn't have to explain that this will benefit the rest of Iran when the next uprising happens. Thousands of IRGC terrorists forced to fight in the South East means thousands fewer IRGC to oppress Iranians in other provinces. It means evening out the playing field.
Ed: More at the link. This gives more context to the story posted in last night's Final Word and the scope of the unrest facing the regime at the moment. Take from it what you will, but if true, the foundation of this regime is eroding in real time. Stay tuned, even if you stay skeptical.
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Hollywood actor makes a SHOCKING admission. #metoo https://t.co/bH2BEhHl6a
— Steve Hilton (@SteveHiltonx) October 15, 2026
Ed: Hilton may not win the gubernatorial election, but he's having a hell of a good time running.
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Last night's lyric: "All I Want to Do" by Heart.
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