A pro-abortion U.S. Senate candidate in Texas is trying to pass himself off as a sincere Christian preacher. If he succeeds, he could be the deciding vote to allow abortion up to birth.
James Talarico has mangled Scripture to conceal the gaping chasm between Christianity and the Democratic Party's extreme abortion agenda. Currently, 210 House Democrats and the entire Democratic Senate caucus support abortion-up-to-birth legislation: the so-called Women's Health Protection Act. And Democrats only need to win a few Senate races to build a pro-abortion majority.
Texas voters should look at this moral grandstanding and utterly reject it.
It is critically important for pro-life voters to get informed and frustrate his attempt to sneak these radical views past Texans.
Talarico's voting record includes opposing protecting children born alive after a botched abortion and fighting to block or repeal crucial protections for the unborn in Texas. Following the Jackson v. Dobbs decision, Talarico begged President Joe Biden to undermine Texas laws by making abortionists federal employees and putting abortion clinics on federal land.
Talarico repeated these requests during a speech as part of an appeal to restore the "soul" of the country and to imitate Jesus. However, Talarico did not explain what was so Christ-like about ensuring that abortionists can dismember babies immediately before birth.
Faithful Christians deserve better than being represented by such a pro-abortion extremist. But Talarico is trying to appeal to Texas Christians, aided by glowing profiles from outlets such as Politico and the New York Times, which have portrayed him as a model Christian statesman.
This is why it is essential that voters look at his discrediting approach to Scripture. If they do, they will notice a clear pattern of a shameless politician abusing key passages to push an extreme abortion agenda.
On "The Joe Rogan Experience" in July of last year, Talarico was asked to provide biblical evidence for his abortion views. He outrageously chose to use Mary's agreement to conceive the Savior as part of his pro-abortion argument. Talarico even told Joe Rogan that the Torah might contain instructions for how to commit an abortion. This is, of course, totally false. Instead, the Torah contains God's words carved in stone: "You shall not murder."
Talarico also used Scripture to argue that life begins "at first breath" in a clear attempt to undermine the humanity of the unborn.
During a discussion on "The Ezra Klein Show" earlier this year, Talarico warned that Christians would be judged by whether they feed the hungry and care for the sick, before moving on to defend abortion. However, he voted against a bill to ensure care for babies born alive after abortions.
By contrast, his pro-life colleagues voted to feed the hungry, to give drink to the thirsty, and to offer care to the most vulnerable of the sick.
Talarico maintains this absurd approach to Scripture not just on the campaign trail but in his sermons as well. In 2022, he suggested that defending the unborn was “Christo-fascism" and that "nothing is more un-Christian than" Texas' laws protecting the unborn.
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Talarico, who has described God as "nonbinary," claimed during his abortion sermon that "the Bible sometimes describes God as a female, calling her Sophia." He also claimed that "our trans community needs abortion care too."
In light of such statements and Talarico's record, Texas voters should look at this moral grandstanding and utterly reject it.
Talarico tends to contrast himself morally with his opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, as if he were the Pharisee who thanked God that he was not like other men. But here is the most fundamental moral contrast that swamps all others: Talarico has tried to undermine Texas' laws protecting the unborn. Paxton has defended them.
Talarico stayed silent when a surrogate mother, pressured to abort her baby, fled to Texas. She did so reportedly due to concerns that the biological parents would deny the baby life-saving care. Paxton welcomed and defended her and her child.
But Talarico's arguments will not go unchallenged. Because informed pro-life Texans are the key to Talarico's defeat, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America is investing $2 million in Texas races. This effort includes the Senate race between Talarico and Paxton. SBA is putting $500,000 behind a compelling new ad from the Women Speak Out PAC, which fiercely calls out Talarico's radical abortion proposals.
Pro-life Christians fighting for the least among us, the vulnerable unborn, have the power to block Talarico and prevent a pro-abortion majority from taking power in Congress.
Robert Reich is urging Democrats to "defund" Elon Musk and absorb his companies if Democrats gain control of the government.
At the same time, the former member of the Bill Clinton administration said Musk is bribing his way into politics.
'Musk represents the power of oligarchy in America over democracy.'
Reich, who served as President Clinton's secretary of labor from 1993 to 1997, recently explained his desire to see progressives eliminate Musk's government contracts while also taking ownership of his corporations entirely.
On his podcast "The Coffee Klatch," Reich called Musk an "emblem" for why there needs to be a wealth tax on billionaires; he described it as a "one-time 5% tax" across the country.
Reich quickly followed this policy recommendation with another suggestion: "We've got to defund Musk."
"He's dependent on government contracts. He is dependent on us. We taxpayers are subsidizing Elon Musk," Reich stated, before revealing some of his gripes with the billionaire.
Reich's chief complaint was that Musk is "deciding by himself" whether or not the Ukrainian government should have access to his internet service, Starlink.
"How can one man make that kind of decision for all of us, for Ukraine, and we are subsidizing him?" Reich said.
Cutting to the chase, Reich repeated, "Defund Musk. I mean this," before adding that Democrats should start "laying the groundwork for nationalizing Starlink and SpaceX."
"Nationalize it," he reiterated. "It should be a public corporation. We should not ever have that kind of power in one person's hands, one private person's hands."
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After a clip of the podcast began circulating on X, Musk replied that "stealing companies is a serious crime."
"Prison for Reich," the X owner added.
The billionaire seemingly matched his rhetoric to that of the former government official, who called Musk "Exhibit A in terms of the billionaire takeover of America."
"This is the oligarchic problem," Reich went on. "Musk represents the power of oligarchy in America over democracy."
Reich then cited Musk's support for Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton as example of him trying to "bribe his way into politics" like a baron from the late-1800s Gilded Age.
At the same time, pal Heather Kinlaw Lofthouse joined Reich in criticizing Musk for saying he would target anyone who picked a fight with him.
Lofthouse is the executive director for Inequality Media, Reich's "nonpartisan media and civic action organization".
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Following the calls for Musk's businesses to be taken over by the government, Lofthouse said Democrats were not trying to fight him, but rather were simply holding him accountable.
"It's not a fight. It is accountability. I mean, it is, holding him accountable is what people are talking about. And so he's getting ahead of it, threatening, threatening, threatening, threatening — with his money, with his power, with his reach."
Lofthouse pointed to Musk's estimated $38 billion in government contracts and his ending of USAID as just some of the "many things" Democrats need to "fix" if they regain power.
It is important to note that according to government records, Lockheed Martin received more than $70 billion in government contracts in 2023 under President Joe Biden. RTX was the second-biggest government contractor at $31.3 billion.
Lockheed Martin received over $52 billion under Biden in 2024, as well.
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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) says Republicans have "done nothing to make life more affordable for the American people" and instead have "made life more expensive." That’s a remarkable accusation from a party that presided over a historic jump in consumer prices and continues to defend policies that add to the bills families pay.
With the November midterms approaching, Democrats want voters to blame Donald Trump for the cost of groceries, rent, power, and gasoline. They should first account for the prices Americans inherited when Trump returned to office — and for the costs imposed by Democrat-led states.
Americans did not forget what groceries and rent cost four years ago. Democrats should not expect them to forget who held power when those prices took off.
Start with inflation. The Federal Reserve aims for 2% annual inflation over time. Even when inflation slows, prices generally keep rising. A smaller annual increase does not reverse the larger increases that came before it.
According to the consumer price index, overall prices climbed about 21% during Joe Biden's presidency. They rose roughly another 5% between January 2025 and August 2026, the latest available monthly data. Inflation has not stopped: The August report put the 12-month rate at 3.4%. But the distinction between the rate of inflation and the price level explains why families still feel the squeeze from the Biden years.
Household essentials tell the story. The Bureau of Labor Statistics recorded increases of more than 20% in grocery prices and residential rents during Biden's term. Electricity costs rose by roughly 30%. Slower subsequent increases leave those earlier jumps in place.
At the pump, the weekly national average hit $5.01 a gallon in June 2022, during Biden's term. It peaked at $4.50 so far in Trump's second term, amid disruptions to oil supplies due to the Iran war. Nominal term averages have run $3.46 under Biden and $3.43 so far under Trump, according to federal energy data.
Still, the household costs Democrats now denounce were already elevated when Biden left office. The party cannot credibly campaign as though American families began paying those bills in January 2025.
State policy makes the contradiction sharper. The Federation for American Immigration Reform, which favors stricter immigration enforcement, estimated in 2023 that illegal immigration imposed a net fiscal cost of $150.7 billion a year on federal, state and local taxpayers. The report raises a question Democrat officials cannot dismiss: Who pays for education, health care, and other public services as migration increases?
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Housing supplies another pressure point. A September 2026 Brookings study estimated that the post-pandemic immigration surge raised rents in receiving metropolitan areas by 1.4% to 1.6%. Policymakers who expand immigration without making room for more housing should expect renters to notice.
Electricity offers an even clearer test of state choices. An analysis publicized by the American Energy Alliance found that rates rose 32.4% from 2014 to 2024 in states that backed the Democrat presidential nominee in 2020 and 2024, compared with 18.5% in Republican-voting states. States with mandatory renewable portfolio standards also saw larger increases than those without them. Voters should ask what those mandates cost.
When House lawmakers passed legislation requiring state utility regulators to consider shielding ratepayers from new data-center infrastructure costs, Senate Democrats blocked its advance. Families watching their power bills climb deserved a better result.
Taxes provide another point of comparison. Visual Capitalist's analysis estimated that a New Jersey resident would pay about $1.36 million in federal, state, and local taxes over a lifetime, equal to 48.2% of estimated earnings. Eight of the 10 highest-tax states in that ranking had Democrat governing trifectas in 2026. The concentration is striking.
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New Jersey, my home state, levies the nation's highest top corporate income tax rate, 11.5%. Burlington has announced plans to shift its headquarters to Philadelphia, and Samsung has announced a headquarters move to Texas. ExxonMobil moved its legal domicile to Texas. Lawmakers should consider what those departures say about the state's tax and regulatory climate.
The state's employment figures offer another warning. New Jersey's initial estimate of 25,600 jobs lost in July was subsequently revised to 21,900. Officials have reason to examine the burdens they put on employers.
Americans have also seen welcome gains. The Census Bureau reported that real median household income reached a record $87,460 in 2025, up 2.6% from 2024, while the official poverty rate fell to 10.2%. Median income for black households rose 4.8%.
Democrats are free to make their case that Republican policies have made life more expensive. Voters should require them to answer for their own record: the price surge under Biden, the tax burdens in Democrat-led states, the cost of energy mandates, and the fiscal consequences of immigration policy.
Americans did not forget what groceries and rent cost four years ago. Democrats should not expect them to forget who held power when those prices took off.
Thanks to Trump administration directives, Americans can celebrate ending oppressive and expensive regulations and mandates that have hiked prices across virtually all goods and services. But tragically, we are just a few short weeks away from an election featuring radical socialist-style candidates who, if victorious, will assuredly try to roll back all the gains that have been made.
The latest cost-cutting move came last week when the Department of Transportation announced that it will “finalize sharply lower vehicle fuel economy standards through 2031, reversing a push by the Biden administration to force automakers to build more electric vehicles.”
We are one election away from putting more people in power who want a return to mandates, subsidies, and other Big Government, socialist-style dictates.
Referring to former President Joe Biden and his transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, the DOT noted in its own announcement that “the Biden-Buttigieg standards were set so high that they created a backdoor electric vehicle mandate. Automakers and their hardworking employees lost billions complying with the last administration’s regulation.”
The department reported that to avoid the costly economy requirements, some automakers made slight changes to vehicles that allowed for reclassification of light trucks and passenger vehicles.
“This final rule will change classification criteria starting in model year 2030 to reflect each vehicle’s intended use accurately, flipping the current fleet mix of approximately 70% light trucks and 30% passenger vehicles to around 70% passenger cars and 30% light trucks,” the department noted. Most importantly, the new standards are expected to “reduce the average cost of a new vehicle by $1,300 for American families” and “save the American people $138 billion over the next five years.”
The reversal came on the heels of EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s announcement of “the repeal of the majority of the Biden administration’s greenhouse gas requirements for U.S. power plants, an action the agency projects will save $310 billion.” The announcement added, “The new proposal would save an additional $370 million in direct compliance costs.”
The Great Awakening on the federal level that has helped the U.S. escape the clutches of budget-busting climate zealotry is beginning to extend to the states. Just last week, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine (R) announced that he has “directed the Ohio EPA to begin the process to end the E-Check vehicle testing programs in Northeast Ohio.”
Most of Ohio does not require drivers to undergo routine vehicle emissions testing, but the Cleveland area counties of Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage, and Summit have done so since 1996. Ohio EPA Director John Logue shared his belief that even without E-Check, “the area will still be in attainment for those national ambient air quality standards. That it’s basically no longer necessary.”
According to Kelley Blue Book, up to 29 states “require an emissions test to register a vehicle or renew an existing registration,” some statewide, others only in certain regions. But a growing number of states are seeking EPA approval to end emissions tests. And last year, President Trump signed three resolutions designed to prevent California and 10 other states from implementing pollution mandates that were stricter than federal standards. Predictable legal challenges ensued.
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Trump can put the icing on the cake by signing an executive order implementing the core elements of the Affordable, Reliable, Clean Energy Security Act, introduced in Congress last year by Rep. Troy Balderson (R-Ohio). Such an order would make affordability the key factor in all governmental energy decisions, encourage robust investment and production, and strengthen both our economic and national security. Its effectiveness would be its own success, making it foolish for the policies to ever be reversed.
Overall, reasons for consumers to celebrate abound. Billions of dollars saved. Intrusive government regulations repealed. Accountability and transparency restored. Who would ever want to go back?
And yet, we are one election away from putting more people in power who want a return to mandates, subsidies, and other Big Government, socialist-style dictates that will send household costs through the roof on all things connected to energy, including transportation, lodging, construction, cooling, heating — the list of goods and services directly impacted by higher energy costs is practically endless.
Whatever reasons one may have for supporting one set of candidates over another, there is no more important issue than where they stand on energy. Do they back all energy options — oil, gas, coal, nuclear, wind, and solar — and believe in allowing the free market to work its magic and keep prices low? Or do they support government edicts and subsidies that will lead to rising costs and require taxpayers to write bigger checks to Uncle Sam each April?
Voters should remember one crucial fact when preparing to cast their ballots: Controlling energy controls our lives. Take control.
Editor’s note: This article was originally published by RealClearEnergy and made available via RealClearWire.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Thursday that it has revoked or terminated the immigration status of about 2.2 million illegals since President Donald Trump came into office, setting them up for removal from the United States. In doing so, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) ended categorical parole programs, which the Biden administration […]
When voters elect Democrats, they should prepare for an 'affordability' agenda that does nothing they want.
No matter what Democrats are saying about 'affordability,' trust that their priorities are anything but lowering prices.
'They want to suppress our vote,' Trump pollster John McLaughlin said. 'These are not impartial media polls. These are biased media polls.'
As Slotkin herself said, her plans for 'victory' are focused on dealing out 'retribution' to Republicans. Americans should take her warning very seriously.
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