Stembridge News Digest

  • Billy Crystal no longer trusts God. Christians should listen. Fri, 16 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000


    Billy Crystal recently said he has stopped talking to God. “No, ’cause I don’t trust Him,” he told CBS correspondent Tracy Smith. His home burned in the Pacific Palisades fire, and his longtime friend Rob Reiner and Reiner’s wife, Michele, were murdered.

    Suppose you were sitting across the table when he said it. What would you say?

    We arrive at someone’s sorrow with conclusions before we’ve heard their story. We deliver our answers and leave. They’re still grieving, and now they may also feel guilty for struggling.

    I asked that question on my radio program because someone we know may eventually trust us enough to say the same thing. A neighbor who buried a child. Someone who prayed beside a hospital bed and went home alone. Would we hear their anguish or immediately start preparing our answer?

    I’ve spent 40 years caring for my wife, Gracie. Her suffering began before I met her. Over her lifetime, she has endured 98 operations and the loss of both legs. Along the way, people have told us what we should believe, how we should feel, and what God was evidently trying to accomplish. Some never acknowledged the weight of what we carried.

    Rush Limbaugh used the phrase “drive-by media” to describe reporters who rushed into a story, stirred things up, and moved along, leaving others to deal with the damage. Are we in danger of engaging in drive-by ministry?

    We arrive at someone’s sorrow with conclusions before we’ve heard their story. We deliver our answers and leave. They’re still grieving, and now they may also feel guilty for struggling. It costs considerably more to pull up a chair.

    Job’s friends managed that at first. They sat silently beside him for seven days because they saw how greatly he suffered. Most of us struggle to give someone seven uninterrupted minutes.

    Scripture makes room for anguish. David asks in Psalm 13, “How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?” Those words are in our Bibles. We ought to be able to hear them from someone sitting in our living rooms. David ultimately recalls God’s steadfast love, but the psalm lets us hear his sorrow along the way.

    I learned something about the cost of coming near in a dusty prosthetic clinic in Ghana. Through Standing With Hope, the ministry Gracie envisioned after losing her legs, we’ve provided prosthetic limbs in Ghana for more than 20 years.

    RELATED: Before pride drives the tractor through the fence

    Photo by Peter Rosenberger

    On an early trip, a young Nigerian man arrived wearing a prosthesis. Our team was occupied, so I sat down with him. We didn’t share a language, and I couldn’t find an interpreter. With gestures, I asked him to remove his prosthesis and the liner covering his residual limb.

    The smell hit me like it had reached out and slapped me. My eyes watered, and a friend sitting several feet away backed up. I feared an infection, but I found no visible wound. He hadn’t properly washed his limb and liner, and my attempts to explain what he needed to do weren’t getting us anywhere.

    I understood that he was Muslim. This was not terribly long after September 11. For all I knew, he could have been an enemy of my faith or my country. I didn’t know. What I knew was that he was missing a leg, needed help with his prosthesis, and had come to our clinic.

    So I found clean water, soap, and a towel and demonstrated how to wash his limb and liner. At first, my eyes watered from the smell. As I washed his limb, I began to weep over what Christ had done for me.

    My own stench was far worse. And mine wasn’t coming off with soap and water. It required His blood.

    I could barely keep myself together. I had come to help put legs on people, and there I sat, overwhelmed by the mercy Christ had shown me.

    Sitting with someone in anguish can leave us feeling helpless. Physical or emotional trauma makes us uncomfortable. We want to explain something, fix something, or give them something to do. Their grief may outlast everything we know to say.

    RELATED: Gavin Newsom invoked Nietzsche. I thought of ‘Blazing Saddles.’

    Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

    Jesus stood at Lazarus’ grave and wept. He knew He was about to raise him, yet He wept. That ought to shape how we approach someone whose sorrow has spilled into words that trouble us.

    I want grieving people to know Christ. I want them to know the Savior who bore our sin and rose from the dead. And when I speak of Him, I want to remember how patiently He has dealt with me.

    I cannot make sense of why Billy Crystal’s home burned or why his friends were killed. But hearing his words makes me want to pull up a chair and ask, “Tell me about your friends.” Then listen long enough to hear the answer.

    That takes time. It may cost us more than we expected. Forty years beside Gracie have taught me that some suffering will still be there when the conversation ends. But Christ has given us ample reason to keep showing up.

    He didn’t drive by. He entered.

  • Can you hear him now? Elon Musk is on the brink of revolutionizing yet another global industry Fri, 16 Oct 2026 11:00:00 +0000

  • New York City’s Jews need more than Mamdani’s security grants Fri, 16 Oct 2026 10:00:00 +0000


    I'm a Jew who lives in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and nobody on my block can tell. I don't wear a kippah. I don't keep Shabbat. On a Saturday afternoon, I can walk down Eastern Parkway without standing out.

    Many of my neighbors don't have that luxury. Their hats, coats, and tzitzit identify them from a block away. Those visible signs of Jewish life also make them targets in a city long considered one of the best places in the world to be Jewish.

    New York already publishes hate-crime figures. It should also examine the rhetoric behind those crimes.

    Mayor Zohran Mamdani says he wants to protect them. On September 29, he released New York City's first Strategy to Combat Antisemitism. Parts of the plan deserve credit. It directs $1 million to security at vulnerable houses of worship, doubles “hate-prevention” grants to $6.4 million, and expands eighth-grade visits to the Museum of Jewish Heritage. Synagogues struggling to pay for guards, cameras, and locks need the help.

    But the 33-page strategy has a glaring blind spot: It never confronts the anti-Semitism that increasingly uses the word "Zionist" as a substitute for "Jew."

    The report's concrete examples of anti-Semitic violence are Charlottesville in 2017, the Tree of Life synagogue massacre in 2018, and the Poway synagogue shooting in 2019. All were horrific. None happened in New York City. The document acknowledges that anti-Jewish crime increased after October 7, 2023, but does not examine the role of anti-Zionist agitation in that increase.

    According to the Anti-Defamation League, the share of anti-Semitic incidents in New York City involving Israel or Zionism rose from 5% in 2022 to 37% in 2023 and 58% in 2024. Yet the mayor's plan never addresses the relationship between anti-Zionist rhetoric and attacks on Jewish New Yorkers.

    It also declines to adopt a definition of anti-Semitism. The city says it can fight hatred "without needing to adopt a definition for this specific form of hate." The report discusses competing definitions, then leaves the decision unresolved. That is convenient when some of the most poisonous language comes from activists on the mayor's side of the political divide.

    In Crown Heights, we have heard that language firsthand. Last year, a group called Crown Heights Bites Back distributed free groceries near Utica Avenue and Eastern Parkway. It also distributed flyers warning that "Zionist white supremacists" would "kill us, exploit us, raise our rents and evict us." At a vigil for Gavin Cato, whose 1991 death preceded the Crown Heights riots, masked activists from the group shoved a Jewish man. The group also praised the murder of two Israeli embassy staffers.

    The accusation has spread beyond my neighborhood. Nerdeen Kiswani of Within Our Lifetime claimed that “Zionist landlords” exploited black communities to fund settlements in Palestine. Brooklyn Democrat district leader Carmella Charrington compared a family property dispute to Israeli activity in the West Bank, even though the state attorney general’s office had described the underlying matter as an inheritance dispute. In Chelsea, flyers opposing a public-housing redevelopment denounced a “Zionist occupation”; others attacked “Talmudists” and “Rothschilds.” The same reporting documented both sets of accusations.

    The housing grievance is especially perverse because Hasidic families struggle with rising costs, too. The borough president’s housing analysis identifies Borough Park and South Williamsburg among Brooklyn’s most rent-burdened neighborhoods. Some young Chabad families have moved to Brownsville because they cannot afford Crown Heights. Some Hasidic developers have grown rich in Brooklyn real estate. So have many others.

    RELATED: Our enemies burn Israel’s flag. Our friends plant it.

    Michal Fludra/NurPhoto/Getty Images

    But the anger rarely lands on a developer. It lands on the man in the black hat waiting for the bus.

    The ADL found that Orthodox Jews were victims in 36 of the city's 69 anti-Semitic assaults in 2024, though they constitute about one-fifth of New York City’s Jews. Mamdani's own report recognizes that visibly Jewish New Yorkers bear a disproportionate share of attacks. It never grapples with the local rhetoric that can turn a neighborhood housing complaint into an accusation against Jews as a group.

    The strategy itself warns that anti-Semitism thrives on conspiracy theories that blame Jews for society's troubles. What, then, should the city call the claim that "Zionists" are responsible for a family's rent?

    The political difficulty is plain. City Hall rolled out the plan with support from progressive Jewish organizations, including Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, Bend the Arc, and J Street's local chapter. The rent-and-Zionism rhetoric comes from parts of the same political world. Naming it would require Mamdani to criticize allies as well as enemies.

    He can do so when he chooses. In December, after an incoming staffer’s old posts about “money hungry Jews” surfaced, he accepted her resignation. When offensive Chelsea flyers appeared, City Hall denounced them.

    RELATED: Mamdani boycotts NYC Israel Day Parade despite attending other ethnic celebrations

    Mamdani boycotts NYC Israel Day Parade despite attending other ethnic celebrations Spencer Platt/Getty Images

    But when Jewish Insider asked about Charrington, a Democrat district leader elected with progressive backing, the mayor refused to answer three times. His office later condemned her conspiracy rhetoric as anti-Semitic but did not say whether she should remain in party leadership. The condemnation was welcome. The refusal to confront her position was revealing.

    City Council Member Eric Dinowitz, an ally who praised the plan’s education and prevention measures, said it missed an opportunity to confront the overlap between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism. He was right. That omission leaves a serious hole in an otherwise useful effort.

    New York already publishes hate-crime figures. It should also examine the rhetoric behind those crimes, including attacks that connect Jewish identity to Israel or blame Jews for housing costs. And the city’s new prevention money should reach Crown Heights, Williamsburg, and Borough Park, where visibly Jewish residents have suffered assaults.

    Mamdani should come to Crown Heights and say the words himself: Blaming Hasidic Jews for your rent is anti-Semitism. If he cannot say that much, no 33-page strategy will close the gap between his promises and the lives my neighbors lead.

  • Teacher suspended for threatening to call ICE on middle schoolers, district says Fri, 16 Oct 2026 09:30:00 +0000


    A mother of a 12-year-old student at Rayburn Middle School in San Antonio, Texas, said he texted her to pick him up from school over alleged comments from a teacher.

    A spokesperson for the Northside Independent School District said the district is investigating a claim that a teacher threatened to call immigration officials and police on students.

    'The district takes this report very seriously, and the substitute teacher has been suspended from all district assignments pending the outcome of a thorough investigation.'

    A student reported on Oct. 6 that the unnamed substitute teacher made the threats to misbehaving students and referenced Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the threat.

    The district has suspended the teacher while investigating the veracity of the allegations, spokesperson Barry Perez said to KSAT-TV.

    The accused instructor was hired in Aug. 2024, and no previous complaints had been made against the substitute, according to the district.

    A mother of a 12-year-old student told WOAI-TV that he texted her about the incident from school.

    "He let me know that a substitute teacher threatened the classroom that he was going to call the police and ICE," Amanda San Miguel said.

    "He was scared. I got a text message from him. He wanted to be picked up early and I said, 'No, what’s going on?'" she added.

    She said she thought her child just wanted to come home early, but later received a call from the principal confirming the incident.

    "It is true, and when she said that my heart just dropped, and I was like, 'Oh my God, let me get in the car and go down there,'" she said.

    She said she was enraged by the incident.

    RELATED: More than 100 outraged community members denounce elementary school teacher over 2-word post about ICE

    "Campus administrators took steps to immediately remove the substitute while they investigated the allegation," Perez said, according to My San Antonio.

    He also confirmed that school officials had spoken with the parent of the student involved.

    "The district takes this report very seriously, and the substitute teacher has been suspended from all district assignments pending the outcome of a thorough investigation," the district said.

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  • Steve Deace questions Talarico’s mysterious ‘flu’ absence: ‘Something smells rotten’ Fri, 16 Oct 2026 09:00:00 +0000


    Where was James Talarico — and why isn’t his campaign offering a clearer explanation?

    The Texas Democrat’s two-week absence has been explained away as “the flu,” which has set off alarm bells for BlazeTV host Steve Deace, co-host Todd Erzen, and executive producer Aaron McIntire.

  • The GOP can’t blame Biden forever for pain at the pump Fri, 16 Oct 2026 08:00:00 +0000


    A few months in Manhattan have made me part of the city’s bubble. I pay $3 for the subway, worry about rent and groceries, and rarely think about the cost of filling a gas tank. Then I went home to South Jersey and saw the price posted outside a station. I had almost forgotten what the rest of the country pays to get around.

    New York City makes that easy. Apartment renters and subway riders experience housing, transportation, and energy policy differently from families who drive to work, take their children to school, and run errands by car. Nine in 10 Americans say they drive at least sometimes. They cannot simply stop paying attention to the price of gasoline.

    The election is November 3, and voters won't grade fuel prices on a curve just because the occupant of the White House has changed.

    As of October 14, the national average for regular gas stood at $4.33 a gallon. California topped $6, and several other states exceeded $5. New Jersey, where I grew up, averaged about $4.29 a gallon. Even where prices are lower, a family's weekly fill-ups eat into money needed elsewhere.

    For years, Republicans hammered President Biden over gas prices. Motorists slapped “I Did That” stickers bearing his face on pumps. Looking at that station in South Jersey, I realized Republicans now face a similar reckoning. The election is November 3, and voters won't grade fuel prices on a curve just because the occupant of the White House has changed.

    The administration has moved to ease energy rules. For example, the EPA has repealed vehicle greenhouse gas standards. But regulations alone cannot explain the price at the pump. The conflict around the Strait of Hormuz has disrupted oil markets, and years of delayed infrastructure projects have constrained domestic capacity. A proposed diesel export ban would create its own problems rather than solve the underlying shortage.

    Yet the White House has offered little comfort to motorists. Trump called higher gasoline costs a “very inexpensive price” to pay for what the United States had done in Iran. Energy Secretary Chris Wright pointed to the end of the summer driving season and weaker demand as reasons to expect prices to fall. Seasonal demand may ease, but families still need to drive in October. They need relief, not reassurance that summer is over.

    Gas prices cannot be waved away until the next news cycle. They present a real political problem for Republican incumbents in November. Democrats bear responsibility for decades of energy restrictions that have hindered pipelines and domestic production, but Republicans now govern in Washington. Voters have every right to demand results from them.

    RELATED: Democrats may ride a blue wave on a red script

    Democrats may ride a blue wave on a red script Id-work/Getty Images

    Democrats have made public transit, walkable cities, and climate policy central to their energy vision. Republicans have sold a different promise: Families should have the freedom and means to live in safe communities, raise children, and drive the pickup truck or minivan that fits their lives. Expensive gasoline makes that promise harder to keep.

    From my Manhattan apartment, gasoline prices can look remote. For parents in Pennsylvania, Ohio, or Michigan, driving is neither a luxury nor a political statement. They cannot skip the trip to work or the school pickup because the pump reads $5. A city dweller may be able to substitute a subway ride. Most suburban families cannot.

    The administration can point to two possible long-term gains. Trump has promoted a long-planned Alaska gas pipeline, although financing and other details remain unresolved. And four senators from both parties have introduced permitting reform intended to speed construction of energy infrastructure. Those are potentially useful moves, not substitutes for lower prices today. Nor should a natural gas project be confused with an immediate fix for gasoline.

    RELATED: Democrats can’t erase the price shock of the Biden years

    Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call Inc./Getty Images

    The administration has made progress rolling back regulations and encouraging domestic production. Yet Americans still face the costs of delayed projects, inadequate infrastructure, and international instability. The president cannot control every oil shipment or every price sign. He can explain what the government is doing to expand supply, make projects easier to build, and reduce costs over time.

    Republicans have spent years arguing against climate mandates and forced dependence on electric vehicles. Opposition alone will not persuade a family paying more to get to work. The affirmative case is straightforward: Americans should decide how to heat their homes, power their businesses, and travel, while government clears obstacles to producing abundant, affordable energy.

    I had to leave Manhattan to remember what a gallon of gas costs. Millions of Americans do not have that luxury. They see the cost every time they pull into a station. Republicans who want their votes in November had better see it, too.

  • Robot guard dogs with 'Indian accents' are real — and this neighborhood loves them Thu, 15 Oct 2026 23:44:46 +0000

  • Newsom is OUTRAGED over Justice Department lawsuit to block votes from 20,000 'likely noncitizens' Thu, 15 Oct 2026 23:25:16 +0000


    The U.S. Dept. of Justice is seeking an emergency injunction against California over 20,000 "likely noncitizen" people on the state's voter rolls.

    U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Justice Dept. requested that California segregate any ballots from those registered voters in order to preserve election integrity.

    'We filed an emergency court action against California seeking to ensure that noncitizens who received ballots in California do NOT vote in the upcoming election.'

    The administration filed the lawsuit after Californian officials denied the request.

    "This is of serious concern because California automatically mails ballots to every active registered voter on its voter rolls, whether a voter has requested a mail ballot or not," Blanche said in a post on social media.

    "California has refused to comply and intends to facilitate noncitizens in voting, which is a violation of federal law," he added. "So, today we filed an emergency court action against California seeking to ensure that noncitizens who received ballots in California do NOT vote in the upcoming election."

    California Secretary of State Shirley Weber responded she had "serious doubts" about the accuracy of the allegations and requested information about "the underlying data and methodology" so that her office could analyze the "vague and unsubstantiated allegations" from the Department of Homeland Security.

    She went on to claim that a similar effort in Nevada did not find one noncitizen among a list of 16,000 likely noncitizen voters provided by DHS.

    "If the federal government possesses proof that certain registered voters in California are ineligible, we will welcome the opportunity to review that evidence and any supporting data or methodology," she added.

    California Attorney General Rob Bonta also criticized the administration's demands.

    "Mail ballots are already in most voters’ hands, and Election Day is less than three weeks away," he posted in a statement on social media.

    "Every count, recount, hand count, lawsuit, and audit has found that there's no widespread voter fraud in the U.S.," he added. "The Trump Admin’s last-minute demands are meritless, and we look forward to making our case in court."

    RELATED: Man given legal status under Obama illegally VOTED in at least 15 elections, DHS claims

    California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, expressed outrage over the lawsuit in a statement on social media.

    "This is a sad, desperate attempt by Trump to use his politicized Justice Department to try to suppress California voters just three weeks before Election Day," he posted.

    "Courts have made clear the federal government has no role in running state elections," he added. "We will defend free and fair elections in the Golden State and call out every authoritarian attempt to undermine our democracy."

    Voters in California will decide the state's next governor in the November election, as well as the fate of 14 propositions. Some key congressional races will also help determine which party controls Congress.

    "Election integrity is a top priority for Americans and the Justice Department," Blanche concluded.

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  • Joe Rogan pounces on uproar over Shane Gillis joke about women dressing like 'whores' at gyms Thu, 15 Oct 2026 23:04:15 +0000


    The most popular podcaster in the world weighed in on the bitter debate over a joke about women dressing like "whores" at the gym.

    Shane Gillis talked about his experience going to the gym in New York City during his monologue for his third time hosting "Saturday Night Live."

    'I have no problem with women dressing like that. Have fun. God bless you. If you have a great body, especially, show it off to the world. Who cares?'

    "I haven't been to the gym in so long, I didn't know women just dress like whores now? Look, I'm sorry. There's no other way to describe it," Gillis said.

    "Have you seen it? I've seen it. The shorts. Have you seen the shorts?" he added. "Those neon, they're like artificial bait-colored. And the wrinkles go around the cheeks, and all combine at the butthole. And don't look. You're not allowed to look. For real, don't look because they are filming. I'm in the background of like 10 TikToks right now."

    Many on the left were outraged at the joke they said was misogynistic. Among those was comedic actor Dan Levy, who said in a video on Instagram that the joke would lead to more sexual assaults against women.

    Joe Rogan defended Gillis, who is his friend and has appeared on Rogan's podcast numerous times, on the Thursday episode of "The Joe Rogan Experience."

    First, he pointed out that the subject of the joke was Gillis himself, not the women at the gym.

    "The joke is on Shane, 'cause the joke is that he looks like a creep in the background of all these TikToks, watching these ladies that are wearing nothing doing these exercises," Rogan said.

    "I've seen ladies at the gym that wear essentially sheer pink, really small shorts with no underwear on, and they're doing deadlifts. And when they're bending over, they're sticking their vagina with the thinnest of cloth out into the air!" he added.

    "Oh, I knew one of them was pregnant before she did. I'd say you're about six weeks!" digital content creator Cody Tucker joked.

    Rogan offered a serious defense of the joke and his friend.

    "Real misogyny actually exists. ... Real men who hate women do exist," he said. "And so, when you see a guy joking around about a woman dressing like a whore, you connect it to horrible thoughts, like horrible actions. Real, actual evil men that — 'cause there's a lot of men that genuinely hate women. Shane Gillis is not one of them. And he's a great guy. It's just a joke."

    RELATED: Actor MELTS DOWN over jokes about women in Shane Gillis' 'SNL' monologue

    He went on to say that he didn't care what women wore to the gym.

    "I have no problem with women dressing like that. Have fun. God bless you. If you have a great body, especially, show it off to the world. Who cares?"

    Spotify reportedly renewed its contract with Rogan, worth an estimated $250 million. His show is the top podcast in Spotify's chart, with over 18 million followers. He has another 21.1 million followers on his YouTube channel.

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  • Jason Whitlock: Deion Sanders dodges accountability, and Stephen A. takes affirmative action to avoid it Thu, 15 Oct 2026 21:00:00 +0000


    Instead of taking accountability, men like Deion Sanders and Stephen A. Smith, Jason Whitlock argues, would rather find someone else to blame.

    On "Fearless," Whitlock puts the Colorado football coach and ESPN personality on what he calls the “Mount Rushmore of entitlement,” accusing both men of deflecting criticism instead of owning their mistakes.

    “Stephen A. Smith put out some, I mean, just really hard-to-understand, ridiculous video about the Atlanta Dream in the WNBA and how the WNBA wasn’t prepared because they ... didn’t have an arena big enough to host the WNBA Finals,” Whitlock explains.

    “And he’s ranting and raving ... but then he turns it into something about himself and critics and apologizing and making mistakes, and he turned it into the mistakes that he’s been making, and the apologies he’s been making are proof of how good he is or how righteous he is,” he continues.


    This attitude is why Smith, Whitlock says, belongs on the “Mount Rushmore of entitlement” alongside Deion Sanders.

    “Deion, in their last game two weeks ago against Texas Tech, made coaching blunder after coaching blunder. His team looked unprepared. Deion looked unprepared. They lost their third straight game to Texas Tech,” Whitlock explains.

    Sanders took two weeks to give a press conference, which Whitlock notes didn’t help.

    “With two weeks of preparation, he could offer no explanations for anything,” Whitlock says.

    “It’s been reported, and Deion copped to it, that someone on the Colorado coaching staff or players left their playbook at the team hotel and Texas Tech fans found it. Deion had no explanation for that two weeks ago,” he explains.

    “I’ve been around coaches my entire life. Losing your playbook is not an option,” he says.

    “He won’t take responsibility for it. He won’t be held accountable for it,” he adds.

    Want more from Jason Whitlock?

    To enjoy more fearless conversations at the crossroads of culture, faith, sports, and comedy with Jason Whitlock, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

  • Season 6 trailer of hit show 'The Chosen' promises explosive retelling of Jesus' crucifixion Thu, 15 Oct 2026 20:57:14 +0000


    Fans of the popular multi-season show dramatizing the life of Jesus Christ were thrilled when the trailer for the latest season was released Thursday.

    "The Chosen" famously received support from one of the largest crowdfunding campaigns ever and has become a hit with hundreds of millions of viewers.

    'Season Five was the powder keg. In Season Six, it explodes.'

    "This is it. We’re at the toughest part. Season Six covers the 24 hours of the events surrounding Jesus’ death," read the description from show creator Dallas Jenkins on social media.

    "It was painful to shoot, and it’s painful to contemplate," he continues. "But if there’s one thing I want you to take away from this season, it’s that Jesus chose this path. He even tells the apostles he could be rescued from it if he wanted. He chose surrender and humility and sacrifice. Knowing that should make this story a little less painful."

    Jenkins concludes, "Season Five was the powder keg. In Season Six, it explodes."

    The show's creator told BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey that he began writing about the life of Jesus after his bright future as a director appeared to collapse along with a box office disaster.

    "It was in 2017 that my feature film came out that completely bombed at the box office," Dallas said in the 2022 interview.

    "In just a couple hours, I went from being a director with a very bright future to being a director with no future," he explained.

    He said he received a message from a stranger on Facebook about the biblical story of Jesus feeding 5,000 with fish and loaves that changed his life.

    "Remember, it's not your job to feed the 5,000. It's only to provide the loaves and fish," the message read.

    RELATED: Did Jesus really pray for Judas? 'The Chosen' faces backlash over 'super unbiblical' scene

    "In that moment, my life changed. I felt more than ever like God was present. ... I felt more cared for in that moment than ever," Jenkins added.

    Season 6 of "The Chosen" will be released on Prime Video November 15.

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  • VIDEO: Abdul El-Sayed IMPLODES under media pressure as Muslim Brotherhood allegations won't go away Thu, 15 Oct 2026 20:33:23 +0000


    The Muslim Democrat running for Michigan's open seat in the U.S. Senate did not do well under pressure when questioned again about ties between his family and the Muslim Brotherhood.

    In a video posted Wednesday, Abdul El-Sayed appeared outraged that NBC News anchor Tom Llamas continued to ask him to clarify whether he and his family support the terrorist group in light of comments made by his maternal half-sister, Eman Abdelhadi, on social media.

    'Are you serious? ... Do you think, you think, are, are you, are you insinuating that somehow I was lying?'

    The X posts from Abdelhadi include:

    • "Had an amazing talk with my mom about her activism in the Muslim Brotherhood during the early 70s while she was in college #respect."
    • "My family has long been MB, but I've always felt that it has navigated the political sphere poorly/destructively."
    • "Although I lean towards the Leftists; conversations with my #MB family in Egypt revealed respect for individual liberties & secular state."

    Although the posts were written more than a decade ago, El-Sayed has been unable to fully explain them.

    "These tweets have emerged now," said Llamas, who read the content of some posts. "Can you just explain it?"

    "Yeah, Tom. It's funny to me," El-Sayed responded, visibly irritated.

    "I was born in 1984 down the street in Rochester Hills," he added. "I was raised here in Michigan, went to the University of Michigan, rebuilt the health department in the city, led the health department in this county. And you want to ask me about what was happening in Egypt in 1970? Are you serious?"

    "I get it, but you were asked a question, and you gave an answer —" Llamas said before getting interrupted.

    "This is kind of like the same. Yeah. I'm telling you, like, I have no ties. We have no ties," El-Sayed rambled.

    "So your mother had no ties?" Llamas asked.

    "I've never had these conversations with my mother. I wasn't raised by my mother," he replied.

    "So you were unaware —" Llamas asked.

    "But, but, but I'm just telling you that, like, you're using hearsay evidence from a tweet. It's ... not serious. It's just not serious," El-Sayed stammered.

    "But you've also gone after the president for truthfulness," Llamas said. "So when people ask you a question, they all do expect the truth."

    "And do you think, you think, are, are you, are you insinuating that somehow I was lying?" El-Sayed stammered.

    "I don't know. That's why I'm asking you," Llamas replied.

    "And I'm telling you I was not," El-Sayed angrily responded.

    RELATED: WATCH: 9/11 hero's father narrates powerful ad against Abdul El-Sayed

    After a debate last Thursday against Republican Mike Rogers, El-Sayed similarly snapped at a reporter who asked about the different standards he has for President Donald Trump and for Hasan Piker, an anti-American radical who campaigned with El-Sayed earlier this year.

    "That's a serious question?" El-Sayed shot back with obvious disdain.

    "Well, Donald Trump is the president of the United States, which means he has significant power, including holding the nuclear football. And when he makes war, which he has the power to do, it's a very different thing than a streamer in California. I'm not sure if that's clear to you, but like, when it's the president of the United States, who is literally the most powerful person in the whole world, to equate the most powerful person in the world with a streamer in California seems to me to be just a little — I'm not going to use the word — but silly."

    El-Sayed's campaign did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

    Rogers has hammered away at El-Sayed by using El-Sayed's own extremist statements and positions.

    Former President Barack Obama has signed up to campaign for El-Sayed, which many critics take as a sign that Democrats are worried that their candidate won't be able to cross the finish line.

    The race is pivotal in deciding which party will control the U.S. Senate after the midterm elections.

    The contest is still very tight in the last month of before the election, as can be seen in the Blaze News Poll Watch average of polling below.

    Michigan Senate polls 2026: El-Sayed vs. Rogers

    Michigan Senate polls 2026: El-Sayed vs. Rogers pollwatch.theblaze.com

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  • John Doyle: If life has infinite value, then murderers must die Thu, 15 Oct 2026 19:30:00 +0000


    The death penalty remains a deeply divisive issue among Christians. Some hold that it is a biblically justifiable punishment, proven by Old Testament endorsements of capital punishment for serious crimes and Romans 13’s affirmation of governmental authority. Others argue against it, pointing to New Testament teachings that emphasize mercy, forgiveness, and the sanctity of life.

    This divide was most recently exemplified by the announcement from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that Nidal Hasan — the radicalized Muslim U.S. Army psychiatrist who killed 13 people and wounded more than 30 others in a mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009 — would be executed by firing squad in December, with initial plans to livestream the event.

    Some Christians have condemned the planned execution — especially those initial livestream plans, which President Trump ultimately decided against. Others have publicly supported the public execution on biblical grounds.

    BlazeTV host John Doyle, a Catholic, falls into the latter camp. On this episode of “The John Doyle Show,” he not only argues that Hasan should be publicly executed but also that “we should be killing criminals far more often, far more expediently, and far more legally and coolly.”

    Doyle argues that conservatives who claim to stand on the principle that “life has infinite value” but oppose the death penalty are contradicting themselves.

    “When you murder an innocent person, you have now taken from the world something of infinite value. The only way to approximate righting that wrong would be to take your life from you,” he explains.

    “It's to say we can never repair what has been stolen. We can never bring it back. We can never make the balance sheet squared, but we can try; we can get close. And the only way that we can get close is actually taking from you something that is, of course, of infinite value, which is your life,” he continues. “That is the only thing we can do that can approximate justice. Anything less than that … basically says ‘human life doesn't actually have infinite value.”

    Those who claim life has infinite value but oppose the death penalty, Doyle says, “have a kind of indignation behind their speaking that they never extend to the murder victims themselves.”

    “They concede, ‘dude, yeah, of course murder's wrong. Of course terrorism is wrong’ … but then they go out of their way to use all of their influence and all of their power to basically make it as easy as possible for terrorists and murderers and so on to continue living their lives as they would without any kind of consequence,” he says.

    In the next part of the episode, Doyle dives into the “theological weeds” of the Catholic faith when it comes to the death penalty. To hear his full breakdown, watch the episode above.

    Want more from John Doyle?

    To enjoy more of the truth about America and join the fight to restore a country that has been betrayed by its own leaders, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

  • Researcher charged with poisoning coworker after he's caught on hidden camera tampering with water bottle — and gets off easy Thu, 15 Oct 2026 19:30:00 +0000


    A California researcher pleaded no contest to one felony count of poisoning his coworker, which allegedly made the female victim gravely ill. However, the defendant was granted what a judge called an "extremely generous" plea deal despite hidden-camera video of him tampering with his colleague's water bottle.

    Rong Yuan began working at Berkeley Engineering and Research in January 2017, and she worked alongside David Xu, a fellow UC Berkeley alumnus.

    'I almost died.'

    Yuan told the San Francisco Standard that her first workplace encounter with Xu was tense, saying that Xu told her she wasn't allowed to use the company's material characterization lab.

    Yuan said she told Xu, "I know how to use all these tools. I've even repaired them."

    Yuan recalled, "I just decided I will never overlap with him. I'll just simply do my work, and he can do whatever he wants."

    Just weeks after the encounter, Yuan said she began experiencing mysterious health issues, including vomiting, dry heaving, and hair loss.

    Yuan sought medical treatment after her symptoms became increasingly severe.

    Yuan remembered that she suddenly became gravely ill after drinking from her water bottle in July 2017.

    "I began to feel like I was dying," Yuan stated.

    The Standard reported that by late 2018, she had been to the hospital repeatedly, her health was deteriorating, and she was vomiting all the time, often having to miss work.

    Yuan said her parents, who are from China, feared her illness could be fatal, so they traveled to visit her.

    On Nov. 27, 2018, Yuan sent an email stating that she was vomiting again and wouldn't be able to work at the office.

    Xu reportedly replied, "You should work from home until you feel better. No reason to rush in."

    Xu allegedly added that Yuan might be sick because he believed the workplace is "moldy."

    In January 2019, Yuan was working at the office when she drank from her water bottle at her desk and suddenly felt sick again to the point that she thought to herself: "I'm going to die."

    Later that day, Yuan's mother drank from the same water bottle and noticed an unusual sour taste.

    Fearing someone was tampering with her water bottle, Yuan on Feb. 11, 2019, set up a secret camera on the wall next to her desk and focused on her water bottle.

    At 11:04 a.m., Xu appeared at her desk, and the camera caught a close-up of his face and his arm reaching toward where her bottle was placed, the Standard reported.

    A second video from March 4 seemingly shows Xu pouring a substance from a small white container into Yuan's bottle; Xu is seen exiting the frame of the video but appears back in frame, rotates Yuan's water bottle, and moves away.

    "My blood was frozen," Yuan said of first seeing the alarming video. "I almost died. I experienced death so, so close so many times. I cannot let him go."

    That day, Yuan presented the Berkeley Police Department with the videos and the water bottle.

    The Standard reported that samples taken from Yuan's bottle tested positive for cadmium, a toxic heavy metal, at "levels up to 3.5 million times the federal limit for drinking water."

    A report from the Berkeley Police Department accused Xu of putting cadmium in Yuan's "food and water on multiple occasions."

    According to Alameda County Superior Court records reviewed by San Francisco Gate, Xu was arrested in March 2019 and charged with premeditated attempted murder and two felony counts of poisoning.

    Then-Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price offered Xu a plea deal of one count of poisoning and one year of probation.

    The Standard reported that the deal "shocked" even the judge, who remarked at Xu’s 2024 sentencing hearing that it was "extremely generous, considering everything in this case" and doubled his probation to two years.

    Despite facing a punishment of up to life in state prison, Xu served just one day in jail and two years of probation, according to the Standard.

    Xu completed his two-year probation in March 2026 and filed a petition for dismissal in July 2026.

    The Daily Californian reported that Alameda County Superior Court Judge Pelayo Llamas granted Xu's petition to dismiss his felony poisoning conviction on Monday, despite objections from Yuan and Assistant District Attorney Priscilla Vuong.

    The dismissal allows Xu to avoid disclosing the poisoning conviction to private employers.

    RELATED: Husband sets up hidden camera, catches teacher wife poisoning his smoothie with deadly plant: Police

    Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson released a statement that read:

    In 2019, David Xu was charged with attempted premeditated murder and poisoning. In 2023, the case resolved to a felony poisoning charge, 2 years of probation, and no additional jail time. After completing probation, the defendant petitioned the court to dismiss the case. As a result, we joined the victims to oppose the motion pursuant to Penal Code section 1203.4. The court granted the motion over objections. We hope the survivors are able to continue healing, both emotionally and physically, from this shocking event.

    Yuan described the decision as "expected" but noted that she was "still disappointed."

    Yuan said she received $7,058 in restitution but added that her out-of-pocket medical expenses after insurance were more than $65,000.

    Xu's attorney, Charles Huang, on Tuesday told the Daily Californian that he was not at liberty to provide a comment on the case and didn't immediately respond to the Daily Californian's emailed request for comment.

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  • Talarico slithered around the truth at his town hall. Here’s the gaslighting he tried to pull. Thu, 15 Oct 2026 19:15:00 +0000


    Radical Democrat James Talarico attempted to woo Republicans and independents at a town hall in Fort Worth on Wednesday as he attempts to turn a Texas U.S. Senate seat blue for the first time in more than 30 years.

    This attempt evidently relied on deception.

    'That industry is not gonna last.'

    In addition to claiming that "the Bible is silent on the issue of abortion," Talarico made a number of other eyebrow-raising statements at the event hosted by CNN and Jubilee.

    One of the Texas voters in attendance asked the Democrat about border security, "regardless of what party was in the White House," and whether federal law should require the removal of illegal aliens who have no basis to stay in the country.

    "Texans understand this issue of immigration better than most people around the country because we live with it," Talarico replied. "We live with the challenges, and we live with the benefits."

    After stating that "both political parties have failed us on this issue," casting shade on the Biden administration's "unacceptable" handling of the border crisis and criticizing some Immigration and Customs Enforcement tactics, Talarico identified himself as a "border security Democrat."

    This purported "border security Democrat" apparently was counting on the audience to overlook the fact that he:

    • states on his campaign website that "our border should be like a front porch" with a "welcome mat out front and a lock on the door" and that certain illegal aliens should have a pathway to legalization;
    • advocated in 2019 for diverting Texas' $800 million two-year border security budget to public education, claiming that "putting a bunch of boats, planes, and border patrol agents on the physical border" "does not solve the problem" and amounts ultimately to "political grandstanding";
    • shared documents in 2019 advising foreigners how to "fight back" against ICE;
    • condemned some of Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's efforts to secure the southern border, calling them "atrocities";
    • voted in 2021 against a bill that provided an additional $1.8 billion in state funding for border security over a two-year period;
    • voted in 2023 against a bill that aimed at beefing up border security and cracking down on transnational criminal activity;
    • voted in 2023 against a bill that would have expanded the law enforcement authority of federal immigration agents in Texas; and
    • voted in 2023 against a bill that made illegal entry into Texas from an alien nation a state crime.

    The Border Patrol Union's National Border Patrol Council said Wednesday, "JAMES TALARICO DOES NOT SUPPORT BORDER SECURITY: Talarico’s false claim that he called out the Biden Administration for failing on the border is nothing more than a #FakeNews political ad."

    RELATED: Talarico gets DEMOLISHED after he cites Bible in defense of abortion

    Danielle Villasana/Getty Images

    In addition to masquerading as a proponent of strong security at the southern border, Talarico played the role of an ICE supporter at Wednesday's town hall.

    CNN talking head Erin Burnett asked the Democrat, "Do you support abolishing ICE or not?"

    "No," replied Talarico. "And I never have."

    He did, however, lead a "Stop ICE rally" in January, accuse ICE of "terrorizing our country," and implore Texans to rise up against the federal agency and "fight back."

    After boasting about previously having taught illegal alien students, Talarico said in his lengthy speech at the January anti-ICE rally in Austin, "It is time to tear down this secret police force and replace it with an agency that is actually going to promote public safety."

    Talarico further denied ICE's legitimacy, demanded that ICE agents be hauled before Congress, and claimed that the agency was "deporting the very people who keep our economy running."

    The same Democrat who months ago demanded ICE's "replace[ment]" told Burnett on Wednesday, "We need Immigration and Customs Enforcement in this country."

    In an apparent attempt to reconcile the two statements, Talarico claimed that "what we've seen over the last year is a secret police force, and that's what we don't want in this country."

    Talarico also tried to pull a fast one Wednesday regarding his past criticism of capitalism.

    Burnett noted that at a Sierra Club event in September 2020, the Democrat said that capitalism is an "oppressive system" in need of dismantling. The CNN talking head then questioned Talarico's current identification as a proud capitalist.

    "If you go back and listen to the conversation that we were having, I was talking about the system we have now, which is actually not capitalism. It's crony capitalism," Talarico said.

    Talarico does not appear to have specified that he was criticizing "crony capitalism" at the Sierra Club event in 2020. Rather, he highlighted the supposed link between "climate change and white supremacy and capitalism in our country."

    "I think only understanding the ways that all three of those oppressive systems work together are we going to be able to begin the process of dismantling them," Talarico said at the time.

    A spokesperson for Talarico told the Texas Scorecard last month that "James is a proud capitalist and agrees with the majority of Texans that racism, natural disasters, and a billionaire-controlled economy are all problems we need to address."

    Madison Cercy, a spokeswoman for the campaign of Talarico's Republican opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, said that "James Talarico is a democratic socialist who wants to destroy economic opportunity, ban oil and gas, and raise taxes to pay for his radical agenda."

    Talarico, who told Burnett that he wants to return to old-school capitalism, also claimed at the town hall that "if the Democratic Party is going after the good-paying oil and gas jobs here in Texas, I'm going to stand up against them."

    Yet Talarico said during the same Sierra Club event, "We all know that Texas has been a leader in oil and gas, but in many ways that's like being the leader in cassette tapes in the 1980s," CNN reported.

    "That industry is not going to last. And if we want to ensure we have an economy that's going to work for our children and our children's children, we gotta be ahead of the curve, and Texas has to lead instead of follow on this issue," Talarico added.

    This supposed friend of the oil and gas industry claimed in 2022 that "fossil fuels are destroying the planet" and suggested that Texas should "transition" to so-called renewables.

    The Talarico campaign did not immediately respond to Blaze News' request for comment.

    Blaze Poll Watch presently shows Talarico leading Paxton 48.1%-45.1%.

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