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MORNING GLORY: Minnesota's massive fraud scandal could deliver a stunning Senate upset
"This historic fraud happened under her watch, and suddenly, she’s looking out for Medicaid and SNAP? Sell it to someone else, Peggy."
With this debate response to Minnesota Democratic Senate nominee Peggy Flanagan’s protestations of concern over access to benefits for the very poor, Republican nominee for Senate Michele Tafoya sealed her status as "rookie of the year" in American politics.
A longtime NFL broadcast professional, Tafoya demonstrated decades of quick on-camera thinking in her debate last week with Flanagan and combined it with a deft slash at Flanagan’s greatest vulnerability: Flanagan’s apprenticeship as lieutenant governor to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz during the tidal wave of fraud that swept across Minnesota after Covid-era "look-the-other-way" policies became a feature, not a bug, in Minnesota’s vast system of "safety net" programs.
A federal prosecutor estimated the amount of fraud in Minnesota’s spending at as much as $9 billion — that’s a "b" as in "billion." That is a remarkable sum given the Gopher State’s population of fewer than 6 million souls and an annual budget of about $67 billion. To squander an amount equal to close to 15% of a state’s budget on thieves and con artists is staggering.
That level of corruption forced Walz to drop his planned campaign for re-election and now dogs Flanagan in her head-to-head campaign with Tafoya for the Senate.
WALZ ADMINISTRATION IGNORED FRAUD WARNINGS AS BILLIONS VANISHED, HOUSE OVERSIGHT REPORT ALLEGES
As does the rising fear of gangs of Somali-American youths and the sort of violence that recently stunned suburban Twin Cities voters when a shootout occurred at an Eden Prairie high school homecoming game.
Eden Prairie is a standard-issue affluent suburban town of about 65,000 people. Fewer than 3,000 Somali-Americans live in Eden Prairie, but the gang shootout on October 2 at Aerie Stadium, during Eden Prairie High School’s game against Minnetonka High School, shocked voters across the entire state.
100-SHOT SOMALI GANG GUN BATTLE ROCKS MINNESOTA AS SHERIFF WARNS 'WE'RE IN TROUBLE'
Tafoya was quick to note that everyone arrested in the incident — which left two youths wounded and crowds quickly evacuated from the canceled game — was out on bail within days. That shootout plus the fraud have dominated Gopher State media coverage of the Senate race this month.
Tafoya’s knockout line — "Sell it to someone else, Peggy" — was a wake-up call for the electorate. Even longtime Democrats in Minnesota are looking around their beloved state and cannot fathom why it has been engulfed in corruption and crime.
SLEEPER GOP CANDIDATE PUTS BLUE-LEANING STATE IN PLAY AS FRAUD SCANDAL SHADOWS DEMS
Tafoya would have been a good candidate in any cycle. She’s a terrific one for a midterm statewide campaign when her matchup is among the most watched in the country.
Polls in the race are within the "margin of error," which, to remind readers, means the pollsters conducting the surveys acknowledge it’s a toss-up. There may also be a silent and thus hidden-from-pollsters anti-establishment vote lurking beyond downtown Minneapolis, and the very liberal Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party ("DFL"), Flanagan’s brand, is the establishment in Minnesota.
THE NINE KEY RACES THAT WILL DECIDE WHO CONTROLS THE SENATE, AND WHERE THEY STAND
The DFL is not the DSA, but Flanagan is most definitely "DSA-adjacent." She is as "woke" as "woke" gets. One obvious "tell": Flanagan has repeatedly branded Israel’s battle against Hamas in Gaza — which was triggered by the terrorist invasion and massacre of Oct. 7 — as a "genocide," which is not only a slander but an exceptionally stupid slander.
The "genocide" slogan is popular among the radicals chanting "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free," but it’s an "idiot wind," to borrow from Minnesota’s Nobel laureate bard Bob Dylan. To level that charge against the Jewish state should earn whoever utters it an immediate exit from American politics, not a six-year seat in the most powerful legislative chamber on the planet.
WEAPONIZING THE CHARGE OF GENOCIDE FUELS AN INCREASINGLY DANGEROUS ANTISEMITISM
Flanagan isn’t the most radical Democratic nominee of the 2026 election cycle. That is clearly Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan.
But Flanagan is tied with Maine’s Democratic Senate nominee Troy Jackson for the "never going to win the spelling bee" title and with Texas’s Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico for the gold in the "weird" Olympics this fall. (That’s very fitting since Walz popularized calling then-Senator and now Vice President J.D. Vance "weird" in the 2024 campaign.)
Meanwhile, the very smart, very telegenic and very professional and prepared Tafoya has worked and worked every crowd, large and small, across Minnesota with the simple and direct appeal that Minnesota voters deserve better than the hot mess that Walz and Flanagan have left the state in after eight years of hapless indifference to the biggest fraud story in the nation, marching right alongside spiraling violence.
Minnesota elects Republicans, just not often. Tafoya isn’t in the lead, but she’s certainly very close to scoring the biggest upset of 2026. Why? Because sometimes even liberals get sick of the left when the left imposes enormous costs on their lives and on the safety of their children and grandchildren.
Hugh Hewitt is a Fox News contributor and host of "The Hugh Hewitt Show" heard weekday afternoons from 3 PM to 6 PM ET on the Salem Radio Network, and simulcast on Salem News Channel. Hugh drives Americans home on the East Coast and to lunch on the West Coast on over 400 affiliates nationwide, and on all the streaming platforms where SNC can be seen. He is a frequent guest on the Fox News Channel’s news roundtable, hosted by Bret Baier weekdays at 6pm ET. A son of Ohio and a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan Law School, Hewitt has been a Professor of Law at Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law since 1996 where he teaches Constitutional Law. Hewitt launched his eponymous radio show from Los Angeles in 1990. Hewitt has frequently appeared on every major national news television network, hosted television shows for PBS and MSNBC, written for every major American paper, has authored a dozen books and moderated a score of Republican candidate debates, most recently the November 2023 Republican presidential debate in Miami and four Republican presidential debates in the 2015-16 cycle. Hewitt focuses his radio show and his column on the Constitution, national security, American politics and the Cleveland Browns and Guardians. Hewitt has interviewed tens of thousands of guests from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump over his 40 years in broadcasting. This column previews the lead story that will drive his radio/ TV show today.
LIZ PEEK: Guaranteed — Democrat midterm win would deliver chaos not 'affordability'
Have Americans got such short memories that they’ve forgotten the damage done by Joe Biden and his fellow Democrats just two-plus years ago? Do they really want to go down the path of open borders, high crime and suffocating cancel culture all over again?
That’s what’s in store if Republicans stay home on Election Day. Democrats are campaigning on mythical "affordability" measures, but mainly they talk about opposing Donald Trump. Why? Because their policies are unpopular or unworkable and they know it.
If they recover the majority in Congress, Democrats will spend time reversing the gains Trump has made on securing the border, growing our domestic energy output and suppressing the injurious DEI programs that Biden introduced.
HOUSE DEMS PLOT TRUMP INVESTIGATION BLITZ IF THEY SEIZE MAJORITY
Moreover, they will immediately start "investigating" President Trump. They’ll hire Hollywood producers to film their outrage, just as they did after the January 6 riots. As in 2021, if the GOP retains control of the senate, impeachment efforts will be stymied, but Democrats won’t care.
The only mystery is which Republican in The Sequel will play Liz Cheney, the anti-Trumper who sanctimoniously betrayed her party in trying to impeach the president.
DEMOCRATS SAY THEY'LL MAKE LIFE AFFORDABLE. YOUR WALLET MAY DISAGREE
Democrats will waste time and money attacking Donald Trump because hating the president is literally the only thing gluing the party together. Voters will wait in vain for their newly-minted representatives to "fix" affordability, their principal campaign promise, because the far Left and more moderate Democrats cannot possibly agree on how to proceed.
Medicare for all? Good luck getting that perennial fantasy by union-loving Democrats. Members of the UAW or the AFL-CIO know how great their healthcare benefits are and will fight tooth and nail any attempt to take them away. An organizing memo from last year puts it best: "UAW members like those at General Motors’ Spring Hill Manufacturing plant pay no premiums for the family plan, have no deductible, and have limited co-pays with a maximum of $25 ." You think Uncle Sam is going to do better?
Make housing more affordable? The New Democrat Coalition, a centrist group of legislators, wants to: "Cut red tape and update permitting and zoning to build four million homes in the next decade", sounding a lot like Trump, who has prioritized permitting reform for years. They also back "innovative construction technologies to accelerate home production".
The first proposal will run smack into the environmentalists who have pushed housing costs through the roof in Democrat-run states like California and New York. According to a study by Realtor.com, there are only 11 states in which, using the 30% housing-cost threshold, a median-income household can afford the median-priced home. All but two voted for Trump in 2024. The most affordable housing in the country is in Iowa; the least affordable is in New York.
The second idea, which is smart, will alienate union voters who hate any innovation that might eliminate jobs (see longshoreman settlement 2025.)
Another big expense on the ballot in November is energy costs, which Democrats have promised to bring down. Returning to the New Democrat coalition, accelerated permitting is again on the menu to facilitate building "energy transmission and generation infrastructure." Also touted is ensuring energy is "abundant and available" through "establishing a level playing field for all forms of energy". That’s code for eliminating what the Left considers unnecessary tax breaks for oil and gas companies and ramping up taxpayer-funded subsidies for renewables like wind and solar. Democrats also promise to protect consumers from price hikes driven by data centers, an issue which should be solved at the local level and not by Washington bureaucrats.
The Coalition fails to prioritize exploiting America’s enormous reserves of fossil fuels which over time will guarantee affordable energy. Joe Biden did his best to squash climbing oil and gas production, by canceling or delaying lease sales, drilling permits and the XL Pipeline, raising fees on production and taking promising acreage off the table. The anti-oil war waged by the Biden White House, beholden to the green lobby, was a costly hit to U.S. national security and our economy. Blocking new production, like in Alaska, will inevitably lead to higher oil prices. We cannot let that happen.
Yes, we need faster permitting of the build-out of the electric grid, and, yes, we should embrace an "all of the above" energy program. That is not what the Left will allow.
Progressives like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani aim to make life more affordable by having the government provide "free" housing, childcare and other services. He and his young followers do not understand that greater government involvement all but guarantees inefficiency and higher costs. Look at higher education. Billions of taxpayer dollars have funded kids wanting to go to college; tuition costs have soared way above the rate of inflation, and the value of the diploma has cratered.
Also, of course, nothing is free. The Left wants to tax the rich and businesses, but corporations will pass the higher levies along via price increases, and higher-income Americans will decamp to lower-tax locales, as is happening in New York.
Meanwhile, government spending on entitlements and benefits has driven our national debt to $40 trillion, pushing interest rates and mortgage costs higher. Under President Joe Biden, spending exploded to levels commensurate with World War II; it remains at unsustainable levels. The Trump White House has put some limits on Medicaid and other expensive programs — limits Democrats will surely race to eliminate — and is trying to root out hundreds of billions in fraudulent payments. Much more needs to be done, but Democrats have zero appetite for cutting spending.
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Instead, Democrats will offer up programs that will inflate our national debt even more. Consider the price tag for Medicare-for-all, estimated to cost a staggering $25 to $35 trillion over the next ten years. And that’s just one item on their to-do list.
Voters should not be fooled: Democrats will not lower prices. They cannot.
Ilhan Omar's sister questioned by feds after dramatic DC home raid
EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Ilhan Omar's older sister was questioned by federal investigators last week in relation to an immigration fraud probe into the congresswoman, Fox News Digital has learned.
Three sources familiar with the investigation said Sahra Noor voluntarily spoke with the investigators after the high-profile Monday morning raid on the residence Omar shares with her husband in Washington, D.C. It is not clear the scope of the conversation Noor had with investigators.
Like Omar, Noor came to the United States as a child fleeing civil war in Somali. She currently lives in Kenya, according to her LinkedIn page, but has been in the United States promoting her new book, "Salt in the Snow: A Somali Immigrant Story."
The House lawmaker's sister canceled a Minnesota stop on the book tour last week amid the fallout of the raid and the ensuing interview with authorities.
ILHAN OMAR'S SISTER SKIPS BOOK TOUR EVENT AMID WEEK OF CHAOS FOLLOWING RAID ON PROGRESSIVE'S DC HOME
The book event, which was scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, at the University of Minnesota Rochester, was promoted online by Garden Party Books, a local bookstore that listed itself as a "proud supporter" of the event alongside the university and the Rochester Public Library.
A representative from Garden Party Books told Fox News Digital last week that the event was canceled because Noor had a "family emergency." It is now revealed that last week she was questioned by federal investigators.
Omar’s D.C. home was raided by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the chief investigatory body of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), at around 6 a.m. last Monday. Sources confirmed to Fox News Digital that the agency executed a search warrant in relation to an immigration fraud probe.
Specifically, they are probing whether the lawmaker or her father falsified information when filling out her citizenship paperwork.
Border Czar Tom Homan revealed over the weekend that if the allegations are proven, they could lead to Omar’s denaturalization.
During the raid, Omar’s personal phone, passport and computer were seized, the Wall Street Journal reported last week. And Omar’s attorneys over the weekend demanded that the Justice Department return some of the property confiscated by HSI.
Additionally, The New York Times reported that about a dozen people, including Omar’s relatives, have been subpoenaed in the case.
Omar has not been seen publicly since before the raid, though her husband has been seen several times walking their dog, taking out the trash and speaking outside the home with one of the congresswoman's aides. Omar has not responded to Fox News Digital's repeated requests for comment, but she did react to the raid publicly on social media.
"This raid by Trump’s DHS is an outrageous abuse of power and an unprecedented escalation in the weaponization of federal law enforcement to target political enemies," she said in a statement posted to X hours after feds descended on her home.
FEDERAL AGENTS SEIZE PHONE OF REP ILHAN OMAR IN RAID TIED TO IMMIGRATION FRAUD PROBE
"For a decade, Donald Trump has relentlessly targeted Congresswoman Ilhan Omar with inflammatory rhetoric, repeatedly putting a target on her back," the post continued. "Now, those attacks have escalated to a pointless federal raid. The Congresswoman has done nothing wrong. No president should be able to use the power of the federal government to intimidate his political enemies."
In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital last Tuesday, Vice President JD Vance said the investigation is not politically motivated.
"We don't want to be like the Biden administration. We never want to be like that — where they would allow the law to go after their political opponents," he said.
"We really want to let the law, the facts drive this," he continued. "And if justice requires something else be done, then, of course, we'll take a step when we have to."
Fox News Digital reached out to Noor, but did not hear back before publication.
Omar's attorneys did not immediately return a comment request.
Top Trump ally warns Republican Party 'dead' if it loses key voting bloc ahead of midterms
A top Senate Republican warned that the same voting bloc that has propelled the GOP to power over the last decade is at risk of turning its back on the party during this election cycle.
For decades, White, working-class voters often aligned themselves with the Democratic Party, giving Democrats a stranglehold on Congress until the 1990s and often favoring the Democratic candidate atop the presidential ticket.
President Donald Trump’s entrance onto the political scene and victory in 2016 solidified a shift that was years in the making, giving Republicans a strong base of working-class support. But with the state of the economy, Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, a top ally of Trump’s on Capitol Hill, warned that the GOP’s steady base could head for the exits.
FOX NEWS POLL: SQUEEZED BY COSTS, FRUSTRATED VOTERS TURN TO THE DEMOCRATS
"This is the whole deal," Moreno told Fox News Digital. "It's the whole deal. If we don't hang on to those working-class voters, we're dead as a party. That's why I say with no hyperbole, if President Trump hadn’t won in 2016, the Republican Party would be dead. Because the Republican Party had abandoned working-class Americans."
"Ironically, the Democrats abandoned working Americans, and there was a void — President Trump filled it," he continued. "That's why he won."
Trump has consistently performed highly with White, working-class voters each time he has run for office, scoring between 66% and 67% of their vote between 2016 and 2024, according to a variety of exit polls.
REDISTRICTING GIVES REPUBLICANS AN EDGE, BUT AFFORDABILITY WILL DECIDE THE MIDTERMS
Some Democrats acknowledged that after the 2024 election, their party had a problem with engaging the working class. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., circulated a memo that urged Democrats to embrace economic populism following stunning losses across the gamut of power in Washington.
"No one, including me, has all the answers right now, but what we know for certain is that Democrats must reclaim our identity as the party of the working class," Murphy wrote.
Still, Republicans are facing political headwinds heading into this midterm election cycle, in which affordability issues are dominating headlines and voters’ concerns.
FOX NEWS POLL: MOST RATE THE ECONOMY NEGATIVELY, INCLUDING HALF OF REPUBLICANS
Trump and the GOP again rose to be the dominant party in Washington, D.C., after the 2024 election by pitching a message to rectify the economy that the president charged was "destroyed" by former President Joe Biden.
But a Fox News poll published earlier this month found that nearly 60% of voters said that their top concern was the economy. A separate Fox News poll published in May found that 67% of White voters without a college degree disapproved of Trump’s handling of the economy.
Republicans have hit the trail this Fall pitching their economic successes, particularly from the colossal "big, beautiful bill" and trying to instill in voters that the cost of fuel, for example, is only temporary as the war with Iran continues.
Moreno, however, argued that working-class voters "hate" the war.
"They obviously hate gas prices because, look, they're already struggling. I mean, you talk to some of these working Americans, they're an engine failure in their vehicle away from bankruptcy, and that's a disaster."
"So, I think what we have to do is explain, this is a very, very necessary thing that had to happen," he continued. "Iran was attacking us for 47 years, and we didn't take him out. They would have used a nuclear weapon. I don't know that that case is penetrated enough, and this gas price situation will be very temporary."
Navy robot deal quadruples as US looks to ‘outsmart’ China with AI at sea
FIRST ON FOX: The U.S. Navy is quadrupling the ceiling on a contract for AI-powered robots used to inspect warships to $300 million.
Just six months after initially tapping the technology to help get ships through maintenance and back to sea faster, the expanded agreement with Pittsburgh-based Gecko Robotics underscores the importance the U.S. military is putting on tech-based solutions. The initial ceiling for the deal was $71 million, but the Navy is pushing to improve fleet readiness amid a widening shipbuilding gap with China.
"While the U.S. may not be able to out-manufacture faster than China, we can outsmart the ways that we maintain, operate and are ready with our vessels," Gecko Robotics CEO Jake Loosararian told Fox News Digital.
Gecko says its technology can save the Navy up to $8 million in repair costs on a single ship and identify some structural issues up to 50 times faster than traditional inspection methods.
INSIDE TRUMP’S DEAL TO GIVE AMERICAN TAXPAYERS A MASSIVE STAKE IN NEW $6.6B SUBMARINE DEAL
The company is also unveiling a new robot developed specifically for the Navy that can inspect the steel beneath thick coatings on warship decks without first stripping them away.
Dubbed Komodo, the robot scans a ship's deck to map corrosion and material thickness, giving maintenance crews a picture of what needs to be repaired before more invasive work begins.
"It's essentially a CAT scan," Loosararian said. "You're basically understanding exactly what's going on."
Traditionally, determining the condition of steel beneath a ship's non-skid deck coating can require removing material before crews know the extent of the problem. Komodo is designed to gather that information without first taking the surface apart.
"The robots are able to actually understand what's wrong without having to take apart the ship to figure out what to fix," Loosararian said.
In another example cited by Loosararian, an assessment that initially called for roughly 1,200 square feet of repair work was narrowed to about 300 square feet after robotic inspections provided a more precise picture of the damage.
"You reduce and focus the kinds of repairs that you need," Loosararian said. "You're repairing less."
CHINA’S LONG-TERM FINANCES ARE ALL WET AS BILL TO MAINTAIN HUGE NAVY COMES DUE IN 2031
The increased ceiling comes just six months after the Navy awarded Gecko a five-year, $71 million contract vehicle to expand the use of its robotic inspection technology across the fleet.
Under the initial agreement announced in March, Gecko was set to begin work on 18 ships in the U.S. Pacific Fleet, including destroyers, amphibious warships and littoral combat ships.
The company's wall-climbing robots crawl across hulls, flight decks, ballast tanks and other difficult-to-access areas, scanning for corrosion, metal loss and other structural problems. The data is fed into Gecko's AI-powered Cantilever platform to help maintenance planners determine where repairs are needed.
The goal is to find those problems earlier, before a ship enters a major maintenance period and crews discover additional work that can extend its stay in the shipyard.
"The biggest savings are just in speed," Loosararian said. "Speed — you can't put a price tag on it, especially if you're in the U.S. Navy right now."
The expansion comes as Navy leaders seek to push fleet readiness toward 80% while maintenance delays continue to sideline ships that would otherwise be available for deployment.
China already fields a larger battle force than the U.S. Navy and can produce vessels at a pace American shipyards cannot easily match. That has put additional pressure on the Pentagon to keep more of the ships already in the American fleet available for operations.
For Gecko, the longer-term goal is to move beyond finding existing damage and use years of inspection data to anticipate problems before they force ships into longer repair periods.
"You are able to predict exactly what's going to break before it does," Loosararian said, allowing maintenance planners to have workers, materials and repair plans ready when a ship reaches the pier or enters a shipyard.
The technology could also reduce the amount of dangerous and labor-intensive inspection work performed by shipyard workers as the industrial base struggles with shortages of skilled labor.
Loosararian said the combination of robotics and AI is ultimately aimed at allowing a limited workforce to spend more time fixing ships and less time determining what needs to be fixed.
For a Navy racing to keep pace with a rapidly expanding Chinese fleet, he argued, getting more out of the ships already in the water could prove just as important as building new ones.
"While the U.S. may not be able to outmanufacture faster than China," Loosararian said, "we can outsmart the ways that we maintain, operate and are ready with our vessels."
The far left wants to kill the tech that can create Trump’s golden age
America seems to be on the precipice of a future technological golden age. Whether we take steps toward that future could depend on which political vision prevails over the next few election cycles.
Speaking alongside President Donald Trump at the White House in September, Elon Musk predicted a world where artificial intelligence and advanced robotics create an "age of abundance." Musk suggests these technologies could eventually provide your average person with better medical care than what today’s wealthiest individuals enjoy.
TRUMP TO USHER IN ‘GOLDEN AGE’ OF AMERICAN TECH WITH DC BASH SHOWCASING POWERFUL NEW TOOL
This optimistic vision aligns well with Trump’s repeated promises of a new American golden age. Yet, as his administration works to accelerate technological advancement, an increasingly influential wing on the far left appears determined to slam on the brakes.
The Trump administration has made American leadership in artificial intelligence a cornerstone of its economic agenda. Through its AI Action Plan and executive orders, the administration has prioritized eliminating regulatory barriers, constructing data centers and expanding energy infrastructure necessary to power the AI revolution.
TRUMP ANNOUNCES NEW 'AI FORCE,' VOWS TO PROTECT INDUSTRY AS AI CZAR ANNOUNCEMENT NEARS
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has argued that AI and automation could help create a new era of American manufacturing. In an interview from 2025, Bessent suggested that the advanced "smart factories" of tomorrow could overcome labor-cost issues, making manufacturing in the United States far more economically feasible.
Imagine a future in America where advanced robotics makes domestic manufacturing globally competitive, where AI leads to major medical breakthroughs and where technological innovation produces unprecedented economic prosperity.
THE NEXT AMERICAN BOOM COULD BE HERE — UNLESS WASHINGTON REGULATES IT TO DEATH
Of course, there are legitimate questions about how this societal transformation will unfold, but the potential benefits are incredible.
While many in the Trump administration plan for a golden age, Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders and his fellow democratic socialists are promoting an entirely different future.
In March, Sanders and New York Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez proposed a nationwide moratorium on new data center construction until Congress establishes a sufficient regulatory system for the industry.
These positions have quickly become commonplace for Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) activists and candidates. Many of these DSA-endorsed candidates support data center moratoriums and push these sorts of proposals at the state and local level.
But Sanders’ anti-AI sentiment goes way further. His American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act would effectively nationalize 50% of the AI industry, converting those stakes into a government-controlled fund. The plan would also include stacking the boards of these companies with federally picked appointees to influence corporate decisions.
More recently, Sanders introduced legislation that would permanently prohibit the development of artificial superintelligence. This plan would establish a new federal AI agency and halt other advanced AI development until regulators approve continued efforts. Under this proposal, individuals who violate the research bans could face up to 20 years in federal prison.
Think about that. At a time when America is competing with China for technological supremacy, one of the country’s most prominent socialist politicians wants federal bureaucrats to target AI scientists with potential prison time for developing AI research it deems too advanced.
WINNING THE AI RACE MEANS BEATING CHINA ON INNOVATION, COST AND TRUST
To be sure, the AI revolution comes with many legitimate concerns that deserve conversation. Potential job displacement, privacy violations, algorithmic manipulation and the possible misuse of advanced AI are issues that will likely need to be addressed.
However, the consequences of deliberately suppressing technological innovation are rarely given equal attention.
Consider the potential benefits of AI-assisted drug discovery, which could lead to better treatments for cancer, Alzheimer’s and many other conditions. AI-enhanced robotics and logistics could transform manufacturing, increase agricultural output and help elderly and disabled Americans maintain their independence.
Imagine the lives and the industries that could be saved and the economic opportunities that could spring up from these technologies that we have only now begun to understand.
Under the far left’s proposals, we may never see these benefits materialize. Sanders says he is concerned that average Americans will be left behind in the AI revolution, but his proposed restrictions threaten to undermine the very innovations that could cause growth in societal prosperity.
Perhaps the most concerning consequence of the far left’s vision is America’s geopolitical future.
Like America, China is also pursuing AI at breakneck speeds. While America has enjoyed a substantial lead in this race, the recent Stanford University 2026 AI Index showed the performance gap between American and Chinese models has effectively disappeared.
The proposals from Sanders and the far left to stall AI research and data center construction give the Chinese Communist Party opportunity to pull ahead in the AI race. If China were to take the lead in the AI race, America’s global status economically and geopolitically could be severely diminished.
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At the same White House meeting where Musk outlined his optimistic vision of the future, Trump warned that Chinese President Xi Jinping "will take every data center that we don’t want."
The AI revolution carries great potential for increased prosperity unlike anything we have seen in our lifetime. It would be a historic tragedy if America surrendered that opportunity because our politicians were more afraid of technological progress than our geopolitical rivals.
Rogers argues El-Sayed is vulnerable with 2 traditionally Democratic blocs as Obama heads to Michigan
Republicans made their pitch to Michigan voters at a Fox News town hall Monday night, with GOP Senate nominee Mike Rogers arguing Democrat Abdul El-Sayed is vulnerable among Black and Jewish voters as one of the nation's most closely watched Senate races enters its final two weeks.
Fox News host Sean Hannity also spoke with Republican gubernatorial nominee Rep. John James and House GOP Conference Chair Lisa McClain, R-Mich., as the candidates sought to tie Michigan Democrats to government spending, socialism and the party's progressive wing ahead of Nov. 3.
Early on in the night, Rogers argued that his opponent, El-Sayed, could underperform among a handful of key demographics that traditionally support Democratic candidates, presenting political opportunities for Republicans.
EL-SAYED GRILLED ON PIKER, ISRAEL AND SOCIALIST TIES AFTER MIKE ROGERS SKIPS SENATE DEBATE
Hannity pressed Rogers about El-Sayed's past criticism of former President Barack Obama, whom El-Sayed described as "not the right choice" to advance a progressive agenda following Obama's 2012 re-election.
"He is dismissive in Detroit. We have just dozens of black pastors that we have talked to, neighborhood leaders in the city of Detroit that we’ve talked to. They’re looking for a change," Rogers said.
Notably, Obama is scheduled to campaign with El-Sayed in Detroit on Oct. 24 and has released a video urging voters to support the Democratic nominee.
ROGERS WARNS MICHIGAN VOTERS AGAINST EL-SAYED’S ‘EXTREME’ AGENDA AHEAD OF ELECTION
Rogers argued the Jewish community could present a unique opportunity for Republicans amid El-Sayed's criticism of Israel.
Recently, El-Sayed declined to answer whether he viewed Iran or Israel as a greater threat.
"I think both of them have proven dangerous in their own way. One, at risk of attacking us. One, getting us into wars we have no business fighting," El-Sayed said in a recent debate.
Rogers noted that if only half of Jewish Democratic voters in Michigan felt alienated by El-Sayed’s remarks enough to support his campaign, it would provide a significant boost.
"There are about 70,000 Jewish Democrats. If we get half of them to vote for us, which we think — we had an event last night. Had over 1,000 people at it. We’re fired up and excited and scared for their children, by the way. They’re afraid for their children. They’re with us, and they’re going to vote, we think, 35,000 votes out of the Jewish Democrat — these are normally solid Democratic votes."
"That’s changing the dynamic," Rogers added.
MINNESOTA FRAUD SCANDAL WILL HAUNT FLANAGAN IN HIGH-STAKES SENATE RACE, TOP HOUSE REPUBLICAN WARNS
Rep. John James, R-Mich., the state’s Republican candidate for governor, also appeared with Hannity, presenting his pitch to attendees on what he would do differently if elected.
Alongside promises to reshape education, James promised to create more scrutiny around government programs and expenses.
"Michigan is spending 50% more right now under Gretchen Whitmer than we spent under Rick Snyder’s administration, the last Republican, and $20 billion more per year than at the height of the pandemic."
"Michigan does not have a taxation problem. Michigan has a spending problem," James added.
Snyder left office in 2019.
James also raised concerns about potential fraud in Michigan, drawing comparisons to Minnesota's sprawling taxpayer-funded fraud investigations.
"If a 19-year-old journalist named Nick Shirley can find $9 billion of fraud in Minnesota, a state with 50% of our population and 60% of our budget, what do you think he can find here?" James said, referring to a videographer who had become famous for investigating Somali fraud rings.
Shirley drew national attention to suspected fraud involving Minnesota childcare providers, although he did not uncover $9 billion in fraud. That figure came from former federal prosecutor Joe Thompson, who estimated last year that fraud across 14 high-risk Medicaid programs could total $9 billion or more. Minnesota officials have disputed the estimate. Federal and state investigators in Minnesota have uncovered fraud involving taxpayer-funded childcare, food assistance and healthcare programs, including schemes in which defendants allegedly billed the government for services they never provided.
OBAMA'S STAR POWER GETS A REALITY CHECK FROM BLACK VOTERS IN CRUCIAL SENATE RACE: 'IT'S A TURNOFF'
At the close of Hannity’s town hall, Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., the House GOP conference chair, accused Democrats of hiding their true character.
"I don’t even call them Democrats anymore; it’s the Communist Party," McClain said.
"They want to pack the Supreme Court, they want to abolish the police, they want to let people out of prisons."
With primaries in the rearview mirror, Michigan heads to the polls alongside the rest of the country on Nov. 3.
Senate Republicans might survive the blue thunderstorm. Uh, I think.
With everyone and his brother predicting that a blue tsunami will wash over the Senate as well as the House, I want to write something contrarian.
This way, if the Republicans do hang on to the Senate, I’ll get credit for defying the conventional wisdom. And if they don’t, I won’t get kicked out of the punditocracy – folks will just say well, he put a lot of caveats in there.
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The truth is, I don’t know who is going to capture the upper chamber, and neither do you.
And neither do all the pontificators and speculators online or on the air.
I do know the GOP is pouring tens of millions into contests they might otherwise lose, giving their people – even scandal-scarred Ken Paxton – a huge advantage on the airwaves in the final two weeks. But money doesn’t always move voters once they’ve made up their minds in this era of early voting.
Is Maine’s Susan Collins liked enough to hang one more time against aggressive Troy Jackson (and thankfully not weirdo Graham Platner), when Donald Trump shouts every day ‘Pretend I’m on the ballot’?" We got it, Mr. President.
Josh Turek is an Iowa legislator and also a wheelchair basketball player who suffers from spina bifida. His GOP opponent, Rep. Ashley Hinton, says she doesn’t want "endless wars" but welcomes a Trump visit.
She’s talked about such issues as open borders and transgender surgery. Turek has focused on the Iran war and soaring health premiums because Congress failed to amend the Affordable Care Act.
In nearby Kansas, where Trump campaigned yesterday, Democrat Adam Hamilton is the founder of a Methodist mega-church, which would seem like a big plus in that conservative state, but some Dems are turned off by the religious aspect. Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, an obstetrician who served in the Army Reserves, was hurt by a New York Times report on him suing patients who were behind on their bills.
By the way, did you ever think you’d see the day when the Republicans just gave up on North Carolina and steered their money elsewhere (conceding the win to former Gov. Roy Cooper)?
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So I can conclude three things:
Many of these races have 1-or-2 point "leads," which is within the margin of error, and polling is often inaccurate in an off-year election.
The GOP is playing defense in ruby-red states–Trump in Kansas?—which is why Democrats are increasingly confident this is their big year.
And, in the famous Tip O’Neill saying, all politics is local.
There may be a mega-church guy or a man in a wheelchair or ex-Alaska congresswoman Mary Peltola, a former tribal judge who’s for "Fish, Family, Freedom," but who former staffers say they heard using awful slurs.
How on earth do you handicap races with so many toss-ups?
Of course, Republicans want to make the country believe that all Dems are like Michigan socialist Abdul el-Sayed, who, when asked whether he’d provide military aid if Israel was under attack, says he would rather spend the money at home.
I still think the Democrats will need to have Vegas luck to win enough Senate races to take control. They also have to defend their own turf. But (escape hatch here) I’m not saying it couldn’t happen.
UNC settles Trump admin probes into alleged campus antisemitism, race-based admissions
The Trump administration reached a settlement with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that will close 18 active federal investigations and a separate Justice Department compliance review involving alleged antisemitism and race discrimination at the university.
The voluntary settlement agreement does not require a monetary payment, and the university does not admit to any wrongdoing or liability. The deal, which will remain effective until the end of 2028, allows UNC to maintain its eligibility for federal funding.
Under the agreement, UNC will appoint an internal "Merit & Civil Rights Administrator" and establish a "Title VI Coordinator" position in its compliance office to address complaints about antisemitism and race-based discrimination.
The university said Elizabeth Hall, associate vice chancellor for university compliance, was appointed to serve in both roles in addition to her existing duties. She will be the point of contact for the Justice Department and oversee UNC's reporting obligations.
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"This announcement reinforces our commitment to the fair and equal treatment of everyone at Carolina," UNC Chancellor Lee H. Roberts said in a statement. "For at least a decade, through different presidential administrations, U.S. universities have faced heightened public scrutiny across a range of issues. We’re proud to resolve those issues at Carolina in a way that protects our mission and affirms the civil rights of everyone in our community."
The agreement also requires UNC to provide mandatory antisemitism training to students, faculty and staff.
UNC will also prohibit face masks used to conceal an individual's identity, subject to certain exceptions, as part of the deal, which said student groups "shall be subject to discipline for antisemitic discriminatory conduct."
President Donald Trump and administration officials have accused pro-Palestinian protesters of antisemitism. But protesters, including some Jewish groups, contend that opposing Israel's military offensive in Gaza is not antisemitic and that support for Palestinian rights does not indicate support for extremism.
The settlement agreement also said UNC will adopt what the Justice Department called a "color-blind admissions system," barring the university from using race or altering its admissions process to change the racial composition of its student body. However, it does not prevent UNC from considering how applicants overcame adversity at a personal level, and the university may consider aspects of family background, such as poverty, if those considerations are applied consistently.
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UNC must also maintain race-blind policies governing student benefits, scholarships, financial aid and programming, according to the agreement.
The administration has argued that policies favoring certain racial groups over others violate federal anti-discrimination law.
The deal said UNC will send any antisemitism and race discrimination complaints it has received to the DOJ and the Department of Education on a quarterly basis.
As part of the agreement, the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights will close 18 active investigations into UNC, while the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division will close a separate 18-month compliance review opened in April 2025.
"Title VI requires that all students — regardless of their ancestry or race — receive equal treatment under the law at federally funded colleges and universities," Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon said in a statement.
"Higher ed policies and practices that tolerate antisemitism or favor certain racial groups over others, frustrate our color-blind justice system. The Civil Rights Division commends UNC for its cooperation in meeting its obligations under federal law without the need for litigation; we hope other institutions will take note and do the same," she added.
In 2023, the Supreme Court rejected affirmative action at colleges as it struck down race-based admissions programs at UNC and Harvard.
The administration has targeted universities across the country with probes and threats to pull federal funding in response to pro-Palestinian protests on campus, diversity initiatives and transgender policies.
The federal government has also settled with some other schools, including Columbia University, which last year agreed to pay more than $200 million to resolve federal probes, and Brown University, which agreed to provide $50 million over 10 years to Rhode Island workforce-development organizations as part of its settlement.
Harvard, which has been a primary target of the administration's threats, has not yet made a deal.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Rays punch their ticket to the World Series, taking down Guardians in Game 6 to set up series with Brewers
The 2026 World Series is set.
The Tampa Bay Rays will take on the Milwaukee Brewers, as they defeated the Cleveland Guardians, 7-3, in Game 6 of the ALCS to win the American League pennant.
The Brewers, who shockingly swept the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS, have been watching this ALCS patiently to see who their opponent will be.
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Tampa Bay won Game 5 on the road, which is always a pivotal tilt when the series is tied at two games apiece, and they didn’t squander their first trip back home at Tropicana Field.
With a sold-out "Trop," the Rays used their momentum to get the job done.
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Richie Palacios got the Rays on the board first in the bottom of the second inning after a clutch, two-out double to make it 2-0 early.
Then, with the game at 3-1 in favor of Tampa Bay, it was their superstar, Junior Caminero, hitting what felt like the series-sealing home run that sent the Trop into rapture.
Caminero turned on an inside pitch and was willing the ball to stay fair, as it smacked off the foul pole and the celebration ensued. Caminero stopped before hitting first base, screaming in elation with the crowd and his nearby teammates in the dugout as he understood making it a 5-1 game in the bottom of the seventh inning was a back-breaker for the Guardians.
Caminero took his time rounding the bases before touching home plate, and the Rays fans in the stadium matched his energy the entire time.
Cleveland, though, wouldn’t go down without a fight. They found some juice in the ensuing frame, scoring twice to make it a 5-3 game. But as they’ve done all season, the Rays responded when they needed it.
Yandy Diaz hit his own home run, and there was no doubt about the 416-footer he sent over the left field wall to give his squad a four-run lead.
As the top of the ninth began, Bryan Baker, the Rays’ lockdown closer, took the mound to finish the job in Game 6. He got Steven Kwan and Jose Ramirez to both ground out to first base before Chase DeLauter popped out foul to punch Tampa Bay’s ticket into the Fall Classic.
This marks the first time the Rays have been to the World Series since the 2020 COVID-19-shortened season, while the Brewers are in for the first time in 44 years.
Either way, one of these franchises will be winning its first-ever World Series as neither have been able to place one in their trophy case in history.