Social media comments attributed to Thomas Matthew Crooks, the dead man who attempted to assassinate President Donald Trump last year, suggest that he may have been yet another shooter captive to gender ideology and other genres of sexual perversion.

Crooks fired eight shots at Trump during a campaign rally on July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania. While he managed to strike only the ear of the man whom Democrats characterized as a "clear and present danger," the failed assassin killed heroic former fire chief Corey Comperatore and severely injured David Dutch and James Copenhaver, who were seated behind the president.

'The threat wasn’t hidden.'

The FBI has long suggested that Crooks' motives were unclear.

Days after former FBI Director Christopher Wray testified to Congress that "a lot of the usual repositories of information have not yielded anything notable in terms of motive or ideology," then-FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate revealed that hundreds of comments had been found on one social media account believed to be associated with the dead shooter in the 2019 to 2020 timeframe.

"There were over 700 comments posted from this account. Some of these comments, if ultimately attributable to the shooter, appear to reflect anti-Semitic and anti-immigration themes, espouse political violence, and are extreme in nature," said Abbate.

Days after Tucker Carlson shared various screencaps of posts allegedly made by Crooks, the New York Post's Miranda Devine suggested on Monday that Abbate neglected to inform Congress that a significant portion of Crooks' online interactions from January to August 2020 signaled that "he did an ideological backflip and went from rabidly pro-Trump to rabidly anti-Trump and then went dark, never seeming to post again."

Blaze Media illustration

"The danger Crooks posed was visible for years in public online spaces," a source who apparently uncovered the shooter's hidden footprint told the New York Post. "His radicalization, violent rhetoric and obsession with political violence were all documented under his real name. The threat wasn’t hidden."

After reviewing Crooks' interactions across various platforms and pages including YouTube, Snapchat, Discord, GooglePlay, and Quora, the source concluded that the official narrative claiming that Crooks operated alone without a clear motive or ideology was bogus.

The shooter "was not simply some unknowable lone actor," said the source. "He left a digital trail of violent threats, extremist ideology and admiration for mass violence. He spoke openly of political assassination, posted under his real name, and was even flagged by other users who mentioned law enforcement in their replies. Despite this, his account remained active for more than five years — and was only removed the day after the shooting."

In 2019, Crooks allegedly made a number of pro-Trump, anti-Democrat remarks online, suggesting, for instance, that the president was "the literal definition of Patriotism" and stating, "MURDER THE DEMOCRATS."

In early 2020, Crooks apparently changed his tune and began deriding Trump and his supporters, defending draconian COVID-19 lockdowns, and lambasting Republicans over voter-fraud concerns, while in some instances being cheered on by an apparent member of a Norwegian neo-Nazi group.

Crooks allegedly suggested in a Feb. 26, 2020, post that Trump supporters were too "brainwashed to realize how dumb you are" and accused Trump of being a "racist" in a separate post the same day.

'This is a five alarm fire.'

Within months of his political about-face, Crooks was reportedly advocating for "terrorism style attacks" and political assassinations. At some point, Crooks also reportedly began associating with furries online.

According to the Post, Crooks reportedly began referring to himself using "they/them" pronouns on DeviantArt, an "online social network for artists and art enthusiasts" that teems with "furry" imagery depicting sexualized and anthropomorphized animals.

A demonstrator holding an image of Crooks. Photo by Jim Vondruska/Getty Images.

The histories of two DeviantArt accounts linked to Crooks' primary email address indicate he possibly had a furry fetish, obsessing over cartoon characters with male anatomies and female heads.

Trump's failed assassin would hardly be the first radical in recent years who was immersed in trans and/or furry subcultures.

Charlie Kirk's suspected assassin was reportedly not only in a homosexual relationship with a transvestite, who on at least one occasion dressed up in a furry outfit, but was himself possibly active on a furry fetish website.

An engraving on a bullet casing linked to Kirk's assassination made reference to gay furries.

There was also the:

trans-identifying man who shot up a Catholic church full of children in Minneapolis on Aug. 27, killing two children and injuring 30;
male-identifying woman who planned to shoot up an elementary school and a high school in Maryland in April 2024 but was stopped in time by police — then later convicted;
trans-identifying teen who stalked the halls of a school in Perry, Iowa, on Jan. 4, 2024, ultimately murdering a child and an adult and wounding several others; and the
trans-identifying woman who stormed into a Presbyterian school in Nashville on March 27, 2023, murdering three children and three adults.

Turning Point USA spokesman Andrew Kolvet said of the news of Crooks' possible trans-identification and furry fetish, "This is beyond correlation, this is a five alarm fire."

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2 more staffers ditch Graham Platner's troubled Senate campaign amid Nazi, communism scandals

Graham Platner, a 41-year-old oyster farmer and Marine veteran, announced on Aug. 19 that he was running as a Democrat for the U.S. Senate in Maine. His stated objective was to challenge the "oligarchy," meaning both the Democrat establishment and the Republican incumbent, Sen. Susan Collins.

At the outset, Platner's campaign appeared to have incredible momentum. The leftist candidate raised several million dollars in a matter of weeks, managed to land endorsements from current lawmakers including Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M), and struck a chord with locals, as reflected in early polls indicating that he had a sizeable lead over Democrat Gov. Janet Mills.

Platner's campaign has, however, encountered a massive and potentially insurmountable obstacle: his radical past.

'Platner is not a victim of opposition research. ... Accountability does not exist in playing the victim of your own behavior.'

In the wake of damning revelations about the leftist candidate's social media posts and his newly concealed tattoo of a skull image similar to that popularized by Adolf Hitler's SS elite Nazi guard, at least four key staffers have jumped ship.

The latest individuals to call it quits are the campaign's national finance director, Ronald Holmes, and its treasurer, Victoria Perrone.

Holmes, a Democrat operative who previously served as finance director on New York Democrat Rep. Josh Riley's congressional campaign, resigned on Friday, suggesting that Platner's campaign no longer met his "standards."

Graham Platner. Photo by Sophie Park/Getty Images

"I joined this campaign because I believed in building something different — a campaign of fresh energy, integrity, and reform-minded thinking in a political system that often resists exactly those things," Holmes wrote in a post on LinkedIn. "Somewhere along the way, I began to feel that my professional standards as a campaign professional no longer fully aligned with those of the campaign."

A campaign spokesperson told Politico, "Ron helped the campaign reach out to big-dollar donors, and we appreciated his efforts. But the reality is our campaign’s fundraising success has come largely from small-dollar donors."

"Nearly 90% of what we’ve raised has come from small-dollar donations and online donors, which has been and [continues] to be run by our digital fundraising director," added the spokesperson.

Timothy Facciola of the Judge Street Journal on Substack revealed on Sunday that Holmes wasn't the only Platner staffer to pack it in last week.

Citing a Federal Election Commission form that was filed on Friday as well as an unnamed source said to be familiar with the matter, Facciola reported that Perrone, the president and founder of the consulting firm Spruce Street Compliance, resigned as treasurer on Tuesday.

Ben Martello — a political strategist who served as an adviser to former Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-Mass.) — appears to have stepped into the role.

Blaze News has reached out to Perrone and the Platner campaign for comment.

Perrone, who has been closely involved with Zohran Mamdani's New York City mayoral campaign, was apparently hired last month to help Platner's campaign deal with its various scandals.

According to Politico, Perrone was the individual who pressed members of Platner's campaign team to sign non-disclosure agreements after his Reddit posts came to light — including posts in which he apparently identified as a communist, branded rural white Americans as racists, suggested service members worried about being raped should buy "Kevlar underwear," and smeared all police officers as "bastards."

Former state Rep. Genevieve McDonald (D) resigned as political director of Platner's campaign last month over the posts, noting, "These statements were not known to me when I agreed to join the campaign, and they are not words or values I can stand behind in a candidate for the United States Senate."

Within days of McDonald's resignation, footage went viral revealing that Platner had an apparent "totenkopf" tattoo on his chest — the symbol of the SS-Totenkopfverbande, the branch that guarded the Nazi concentration camps.

Amid the fallout over the apparent Nazi tattoo, the Democrat candidate's longtime friend Kevin Brown similarly jumped ship.

Brown, who took over as Platner's campaign manager on Oct. 21, announced days later that he was leaving, suggesting that the move was the result of new familial demands on his time.

Brown said in a statement obtained by WGME-TV, "Graham is a dear friend. I started this campaign Tuesday but found out Friday we have a baby on the way."

"Graham deserves someone who is 100% in on his race, and we want to lean into this new experience as a family, so it was best we step back sooner than later so Graham can get the manager he deserves," Brown added.

Platner reportedly suggested during a town hall last week that the Democratic Party was the cause of his recent run of bad luck, stating, "I'm running as a Democrat still, despite the fact my party is destroying my life."

"Platner is not a victim of opposition research. This is what happens when you run for federal office," Genevieve McDonald said in a recent statement. "People scrutinize everything you've ever done. Every word and every action. Accountability does not exist in playing the victim of your own behavior."

McDonald added, "We should not be having a debate about Nazi symbolism tattooed on the potentially top-ticket Democrat in Maine. The fact we are even willing to entertain it shows desperation within the party, not dedication, and how far we have fallen from rational thought."

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Second key staffer leaves campaign of Democratic Senate candidate embroiled in Nazi, communism controversies

Graham Platner, the Maine-based oyster farmer running as a Democrat to challenge Republican Sen. Susan Collins, has lost a great deal more in recent days than his sizeable lead over Gov. Janet Mills in the polls.

Just days after former state Rep. Genevieve McDonald resigned as political director of Platner's campaign, the Democratic candidate's longtime friend Kevin Brown indicated he too was jumping ship, leaving the role of campaign manager open.

'Graham deserves someone who is 100% in on his race.'

Earlier this month, numerous damning posts previously made by Platner on Reddit came to light — including posts where he apparently identified as a communist, branded rural white Americans as racists, suggested service members worried about being raped should buy "Kevlar underwear," joked about homosexuals, promoted political violence, and smeared all police officers as "bastards."

McDonald promptly resigned as the political director of Platner's campaign over the posts, noting, "These statements were not known to me when I agreed to join the campaign, and they are not words or values I can stand behind in a candidate for the United States Senate."

Shortly after Platner apologized for his past remarks on Reddit, footage went viral revealing that he had an apparent "totenkopf" tattoo on his chest — a skull image popularized by Adolf Hitler's SS elite guard and adopted as the symbol of the SS-Totenkopfverbande, the branch that guarded the concentration camps.

While Sens. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and — according to a recent poll — the majority of young Democrats recently indicated that they will stick with Platner despite his incendiary posts and apparent Nazi tattoo, Brown, a Democratic operative who worked on Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren's failed presidential campaign, has revealed he is jumping ship.

Brown indicated that the move, first reported by Axios, was the result of new familial demands on his time.

Photo by Sophie Park/Getty Images

Brown said in a statement obtained by WGME-TV, "Graham is a dear friend. I started this campaign Tuesday but found out Friday we have a baby on the way."

Brown's departure comes just after the Platner campaign reportedly began sending nondisclosure agreements to staffers.

McDonald told Politico that the campaign offered her $15,000 to sign an NDA, but the campaign suggested this amount was a severance payment.

A spokesperson for the campaign indicated that the consulting firm Spruce Street was recently hired to "take over campaign compliance to institute standard practices that had yet to be put into place. Some of those standards had to be instituted retroactively, but as a matter of course we do not require anyone previously involved in the campaign to do so," apparently referring to signing an NDA.

Blaze News has reached out to Platner's campaign for comment.

A SoCal Strategies Maine poll of 500 likely Democratic primary voters conducted October 21-25 found that Mills, who officially jumped into the race on Oct. 14, holds a 5-point lead over Platner, 41%-36%.

Prior to the news of Platner's alleged Nazi tattoo — which the Mainer recently had inked over with supposed Celtic imagery — a University of New Hampshire Survey Center poll indicated that among those who plan to vote in the 2026 state Democratic primary, 58% of respondents said they would support him, and only 24% said they would support Mills.

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Islamic group throws fit after Trump admin detains, revokes visa of alleged terrorist sympathizer

The Council on American-Islamic Relations is up in arms over the imminent deportation of Sami Hamdi, a radical Islamic agitator from the United Kingdom who allegedly suggested the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks on Israel were worth celebrating.

Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, confirmed in a statement to Blaze News that as the result of work undertaken by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, "this individual's visa was revoked and he is in ICE custody pending removal."

As of Monday morning, the online Immigration and Customs Enforcement database does not presently have a Sami Hamdi from the U.K. listed as being in custody.

'How many of you felt the euphoria, Allahu akbar?'

"Under President Trump, those who support terrorism and undermine American national security will not be allowed to work or visit this country," continued McLaughlin. "It's commonsense."

The State Department said in a statement, "We've said it before, we'll say it again: The United States has no obligation to host foreigners who support terrorism and actively undermine the safety of Americans."

Hamdi's detention came just days after the RAIR Foundation USA published a damning report concerning the British national's history of radical remarks and associations, stating, "Every appearance Hamdi makes in America is not merely a speech — it operates effectively as a deployment node in an organized influence and mobilization program serving a foreign militant Islamic cause on U.S. soil. His talks are not educational but tactical."

During an October 2023 panel discussion at a British mosque, Hamdi suggested that rather than pitying the Palestinians, Muslims should "celebrate the victory," apparently referencing the Hamas terror attacks that claimed the lives of over 1,200 people in Israel including 46 Americans.

"Allah has shown the world that no normalization can erase the Palestinian cause," said Hamdi. "When everybody thought it was finished, it's roaring. How many of you feel it in your hearts when you got the news that it happened? How many of you felt the euphoria, Allahu akbar? How many of you felt it? Why did you feel it? Because the despair vanished."

Photo by Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Image

Hamdi also suggested that the reports of rapes by Hamas terrorists were lies.

Although Hamdi has suggested that his remarks were misrepresented and has denied that he celebrated the events of Oct. 7, he has since characterized the Hamas terror attacks as a "natural consequence of the oppression that was being put on the Palestinians."

Blaze News has reached out to Hamdi for comment.

Hamdi, the managing director of a group that purportedly "advises on political environments across the globe," spoke on Saturday at the Sacramento Valley chapter of CAIR's annual banquet and was scheduled to speak to CAIR Florida on Sunday.

Federal immigration officials detained Hamdi Sunday morning at San Francisco International Airport, cutting short his speaking tour.

CAIR, whose co-founder said in a speech that the Hamas terror attacks on unarmed women and children made him "happy," condemned Hamdi's detention and called for his release.

The organization — which the Justice Department named as an unindicted co-conspirator in a terrorism financing case — stated that "abducting a prominent British Muslim journalist and political commentator on a speaking tour in the United States because he dared to criticize the Israeli government's genocide is a blatant affront to free speech."

"Our attorneys and partners are working to address this injustice. We call on ICE to immediately account for and release Mr. Hamdi, whose only 'crime' is criticizing a foreign government that committed genocide," continued the Washington, D.C.-based group. "Our nation must stop abducting critics of the Israeli government at the behest of unhinged Israel First bigots. This is an Israel First policy, not an America First policy, and it must end."

The Muslim Council of Britain has signaled common cause with CAIR and called for the U.K. government to "take urgent diplomatic action" to ensure "Hamdi's rights are protected."

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Democrats defend Senate candidate with apparent Nazi tattoo, communist identification

Graham Platner, a Maine-based oyster farmer, announced in August that he was running as a Democrat to challenge Republican Sen. Susan Collins, quickly securing the endorsement of independent Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.).

While the entry of Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) into the race last week was undoubtedly bad news for Platner, competition from a geriatric fellow traveler is hardly the greatest threat now facing his campaign.

'Graham has an anti-Semitic tattoo on his chest. He's not an idiot, he's a military history buff.'

Last week, a number of damning posts Platner previously made on Reddit came to light — including posts where he apparently identified as a communist, branded rural white Americans as racists, suggested service members worried about being raped should buy "Kevlar underwear," and smeared all police officers as "bastards."

Ken Martin, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, told CNN that Platner's posts were not disqualifying.

California Rep. Ro Khanna (D), who previously endorsed Platner, also rushed to defend the Democratic candidate, stating, "I respect Platner's journey & the man he is today," adding, "I stand by my endorsement. I won't cower to the establishment."

Rep. Rohit Khanna. Photo by PEDRO PARDO/AFP via Getty Images

Within days of Platner issuing an apology for his past remarks on Reddit and Khanna's defense, the Collins challenger found himself once again having to address poor decisions from his past.

Footage recently went viral showing Platner lip-syncing to a Miley Cyrus song with his shirt off. Astute observers noticed in the newly resurfaced video that Platner had a "totenkopf" tattoo on his chest.

Totenkopf, which is German for "death's head," is a skull image popularized by Adolf Hitler's Schutzstaffel elite guard and adopted as the symbol of the SS-Totenkopfverbande, the branch that guarded the concentration camps.

"It was not until I started hearing from reporters and DC insiders that I realized this tattoo resembled a Nazi symbol," Platner said in a statement to Politico on Tuesday. "I absolutely would not have gone through life having this on my chest if I knew that — and to insinuate that I did is disgusting. I am already planning to get this removed."

Genevieve McDonald, who resigned as the political director of Platner's campaign last week over the Reddit posts, noted in a Facebook post that "Graham has an anti-Semitic tattoo on his chest. He's not an idiot, he's a military history buff. Maybe he didn't know it when he got it, but he got it years ago and he should have had it covered up because he knows damn well what it means."

McDonald suggested that Platner's campaign released the footage "to try to get ahead of it."

Blaze News has reached out to Sen. Collins' office for comment.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee was among the groups that made hay of the tattoo, sharing a screenshot from the video and referring to the totenkopf image as a "Nazi tattoo."

"This tattoo appears to be a ‘death’s head’ symbol used by the SS, the organization most responsible for the genocidal murder of 6 million Jews and millions of other victims during WWII," Zach Schwartz, director of the Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine's Jewish Community Relations Council, said in a statement. "We hope that Mr. Platner would condemn, in no uncertain terms, the meaning behind this tattoo and everything it stands for."

On the Monday episode of the podcast "Pod Save America," Platner said, "I'm not a secret Nazi."

"I think you can pretty much figure out where I stand on Nazism and anti-Semitism and racism in general," added Platner, whose comment history on Reddit also hints at an affinity for Antifa.

Sanders has underscored his continued support for Platner's campaign, suggesting to Politico that Platner got the Nazi tattoo while inebriated and is "not the only one in America who has gone through a dark period."

"People go through that, he has apologized for the stupid remarks, the hurtful remarks that he made, and I'm confident that he's going to run a great campaign and that he's going to win," added Sanders.

Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) told Semafor on Tuesday that he too continues to support Platner, stating, "The Democratic Party needs to be big enough to accept people who have hard lives, who have made mistakes and have actually owned up to those mistakes. And that's what he's done."

Heinrich, who has reportedly directed money from his leadership PAC to Platner, suggested that while he does not like some of the Maine candidate's past remarks, he likes "what he's campaigning on and the way he's connecting to working-class voters."

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President-elect of Oxford Union reaps the whirlwind for celebrating Charlie Kirk's assassination

The leftist who was elected president of the Oxford Union in June was among the radicals who rushed to celebrate Charlie Kirk's assassination. Like others before him, George Abaraonye has learned the hard way that there are consequences for such depravity.

How it started

Abaraonye wrote in a now-deleted Instagram post, the authenticity of which he confirmed to the Oxford student newspaper Cherwell, "Charlie Kirk got shot loool."

'Where is the belief in free speech, the tolerance for opinions, the empathy?'

While Abaraonye treated Kirk's murder as a laugh-worthy matter, Kirk treated Abaraonye courteously when they debated just months earlier at the Oxford Union.

Abaraonye, a philosophy and politics student who has served also as a "racial and ethnic minorities rep" for the university's junior common room, later suggested to Cherwell that he had made the remark in a "moment of shock"; however, he reportedly made similarly depraved remarks in a WhatsApp group chat with other students.

Abaraonye wrote, for instance, "Charlie Kirk got shot, let's f****** go," reported the Telegraph.

The Oxford Union president-elect's apparent delight at seeing a political assassination on a university campus prompted outrage on both sides of the Atlantic.

JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images

Speakers who were scheduled to join the Oxford Union for debate began canceling, including Liora Rez, executive director of the U.S.-based watchdog group Stop Antisemitism, and Josh Wolfe, co-founder of Lux Capital.

Stop Antisemitism noted to the Oxford Union that "employees will not be engaging with your debate society due to safety concerns and your President elect's pro violent stance."

Wolfe noted that he would not attend "until cultural leadership from the top celebrates peace + coexistence + civil discourse + denounces violence."

Among those who wondered aloud about what had happened to the Oxford Union was Claire Coutinho, a Conservative member of Parliament, who stated, "The Oxford Union is meant to be one of the best student debating chambers in the world. Where is the belief in free speech, the tolerance for opinions, the empathy?"

The Oxford Union finally piped up with a condemnation, expressing sympathy for Kirk's family and stressing that Abaraonye's views "do not represent the Oxford Union's current leadership or committee's view."

Abaraonye decided ultimately to paint himself as the victim, suggesting in a statement to Cherwell published September 11 that his heinous remarks were "shaped by the context of Mr. Kirk's own rhetoric" and that he is now the target of "racist comments and a myriad of threats."

How it's going

Several weeks after Valerie Amos, the radical Labour Party politician who serves as master of University College, Oxford, defended Abaraonye and announced that no disciplinary action will be taken against him, the Oxford Union scheduled a vote of no confidence in the president-elect.

The in-person poll took place on Saturday, and the results were published on Monday.

Of the 1,746 ballots ultimately cast, 1,228 members voted to oust Abaraonye; 501 members voted to keep the radical; and 17 members spoiled their ballots. Having passed the required two-thirds threshold of 1,164, the majority spared the Oxford Union from having the radical as their leader.

Abaraonye — who previously suggested that a vote against him was a victory for hate — cried foul after his visitation by consequence, releasing a statement characterizing the vote as "compromised" and the result as invalid.

The statement says the radical "is proud and thankful to have the support of well in excess of a majority of students at Oxford, who voted to have a safe election and resist attempts to subvert democracy."

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Catholic leaders urge Cardinal Cupich not to award pro-abortion radical Dick Durbin

The Archdiocese of Chicago announced last week that Cardinal Blase Cupich will give Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.) a lifetime achievement award on Nov. 3.

The prospect that a prince of the Holy See will pay honors to a radical pro-abortion activist has prompted significant backlash from prominent Catholic leaders.

'This decision risks causing grave scandal, confusing the faithful about the Church’s unequivocal teaching on the sanctity of human life.'

According to Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America's national pro-life scorecard, Durbin, a self-identified Catholic, gets a failing grade for routinely voting in support of virtually limitless abortion.

Durbin voted, for instance, in January against the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which would require health care practitioners to save babies who survive attempted abortions. He has also voted against legislation that would have criminalized abortions for unborn babies 20 weeks along or older; against adding status-quo Hyde Amendment protections to COVID relief funds; against a bill that would prohibit partial-birth abortion; and for legislation expressing support for protecting access to abortions after the Supreme Court's 2022 Dobbs decision.

In case there was any doubt about his indefatigable support for abortion, Durbin stated on the third anniversary of the Dobbs ruling in June that "this fight is far from over" and that he plans to keep fighting for mothers' legal ability to snuff out the lives growing within them.

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Image

Concerning abortion, the church holds that abortion is a grave moral sin — the procurement of which incurs an automatic excommunication — and that political leaders have a responsibility to protect the unborn.

"The Catechism of the Catholic Church" clearly states:

"Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception" (2270);
"Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law" (2271);
"Formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense. The Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life" (2272); and
"The inalienable rights of the person must be recognized and respected by civil society and political authority. These human rights depend neither on single individuals nor on parents; nor do they represent a concession made by society and the state; they belong to human nature and are inherent in the person by virtue of the creative act from which the person took his origin" (2273).

For decades, Durbin has been barred from receiving communion in the Catholic diocese where he grew up on account of his radical pro-abortion activism.

Bishop Thomas Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield, who has long upheld the prohibition, said in a 2018 statement, "Because his voting record in support of abortion over many years constitutes 'obstinate persistence in manifest grave sin,' the determination continues that Sen. Durbin is not to be admitted to Holy Communion until he repents of this sin. This provision is intended not to punish, but to bring about a change of heart. Sen. Durbin was once pro-life."

Despite Durbin's long-standing efforts to advance policies diametrically opposed to the moral teaching of the Catholic Church, the Archdiocese of Chicago noted in its announcement for the Nov. 3 "Keep Hope Alive Benefit," subtitled "Light in the Darkness," that Durbin will receive a lifetime achievement award for his work with immigrants.

The plan is for Cardinal Cupich to give the award to Durbin on behalf of the Archdiocese of Chicago's Office of Human Dignity and Solidarity.

Blaze News has reached out both to the Archdiocese of Chicago and to Durbin's office for comment.

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone. Photo by Franco Origlia/Getty Images.

Illinois Right to Life President Mary Kate Zander was among the first to condemn the planned honors for the abortion activist, stating, "The Church emphasizes that human beings are integrated persons and that we cannot live in spiritual harmony if we are denying even one aspect of the truth of the faith."

"Presenting Dick Durbin with an award — and from the Office of Human Dignity, no less — is an explicitly inconsistent and un-Catholic choice by Cardinal Cupich," continued Zander.

"Our shepherds are supposed to proclaim Jesus' teaching that all human life is sacred," Dr. Mary Elizabeth Keen of the Catholic Medical Association’s Illinois chapter told CatholicVote. "Senator Durbin has spent his career eliminating protections for the most vulnerable members of the human family."

Bishop Paprocki said in a statement to the Pillar that he was shocked to learn of the archdiocese's plans to give Durbin an award.

"Given Senator Durbin’s long and consistent record of supporting legal abortion — including opposing legislation to protect children who survive failed abortions — this decision risks causing grave scandal, confusing the faithful about the Church’s unequivocal teaching on the sanctity of human life," continued Paprocki. "Honoring a public figure who has actively worked to expand and entrench the right to end innocent human life in the womb undermines the very concept of human dignity and solidarity that the award purports to uphold."

Bishop Paprocki noted further that such an award might violate the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' guidance that "the Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles."

The guidance adds that "they should not be given awards, honors, or platforms which would suggest support for their actions."

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of the Archdiocese of San Francisco indicated on Sunday that he stands in solidarity with Bishop Paprocki in urging Cardinal Cupich to reconsider giving Durbin the award.

"Bishop Paprocki, who is Senator Dick Durbin’s bishop, has expressed shock that the Archdiocese plans to honor Senator Durbin who, although a self-professed Catholic, supports access to abortion so radically that he has even opposed legislation to protect babies born after an attempted abortion," wrote Archbishop Cordileone. "Bishop Paprocki is correct that both clarity and unity are at risk. I hope this will be a clarion call to all members of the Body of Christ to speak out to make clear the grave evil that is the taking of innocent human life."

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Manhattan is a ‘food desert’: Bernie Sanders defends government grocery stores

If you’re among those pushing back against the idea of government-run grocery stores being peddled by NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, Bernie Sanders has some words for you.

“What a radical idea to say that working-class families should be able to go into a grocery store, in an area where there are food deserts, and be able to afford decent quality food for their children,” Sanders says, before mocking, “Oh man! What a radical guy he is!”

BlazeTV host Pat Gray is not amused.

“Absolute buffoon!” Gray yells. “This is what they go to, is ‘food deserts.’ They were doing this under Obama, and they’re doing it all over again. All of a sudden, food deserts are back. That was disclaimed and debunked a long time ago.”

“In virtually every hamlet of Manhattan, there are grocery stores. There are restaurants. There are plenty of places,” he continues.

“Pat Gray Unleashed” co-host Jeffy interjects, “At one time, I don’t know if they’ve been arrested and deported, but at one time, you could get a bicyclist just to bring your food right to you. Fresh food. Right there in Manhattan.”

“Manhattan, New York City, that’s not a desert for anything,” executive producer Keith Malinak chimes in. “Anything you want.”

“You can get it in moments,” Gray adds.

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Democrats wanted a makeover. They got Marxism and Molotov cocktails.

In February, Democratic Party operatives and elected officials met for a retreat in Virginia hosted by Third Way, a self-described center-left organization. Their goal: develop a strategy to reverse the party’s hard-left drift and reconnect with working-class voters.

They brainstormed ways to neutralize the far-left infrastructure that now defines the party. Among their key recommendations? Embrace patriotism, community, and traditional American imagery. Show up at tailgates, gun shows, local diners, and churches.

Corporate media and DC careerists will pretend these protesters don’t represent the party. They’ll try to repackage the fury in the streets as civic activism. But we won’t let them.

That plan flopped.

Democrats didn’t pivot to working-class America. They ran straight back into the arms of their radical base. By June, they had poured money and institutional support into the No Kings protests erupting nationwide.

These protests didn’t happen at tailgates or in small-town churches. They returned to the same streets torched during the Black Lives Matter riots of 2020 — angrier, louder, and even more extreme.

And the party cheered them on.

From Hillary Clinton to Chuck Schumer, Democrat leaders lined up in support. Corporate media echoed their talking points. None of them could rein in their base. More damning, none of them wanted to.

The protests weren’t fringe outbursts. In fact, they revealed the party’s core. Their rhetoric was radical. Their goals were openly anti-democratic. Many participants waved explicitly communist banners, marched under Marxist slogans, and called for the dismantling of American institutions.

That imagery — the rage, the theatrics, the ideological extremism — was exactly what February’s conference attendees feared. But it’s now the public face of the Democratic Party. The working class isn’t clamoring for more street theatrics. They want real solutions from people in power.

So we at the Oversight Project did what we do best: investigate.

We focused on a key protest organizer, a group called 50501 — short for “50 protests in 50 states for 1 movement.” Its website paints a clear picture. Placards read “Impeach the dictator,” “Impeach the bitch,” and “No one is illegal on stolen land.” Moderate? Hardly.

We compiled Instagram activity from 50501’s state chapters — 34 in total, plus Washington, D.C., and several national branches. We tracked who its social media managers followed, and what emerged was a clear pattern of associations: communist, neo-Marxist, anti-American, and foreign-aligned groups.

These protests didn’t bubble up from the grassroots. They were built from the same radical networks that have long tried to destabilize the country from within.

Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Seventeen accounts followed nearly 20 accounts tied to the Party for Socialism and Liberation — a Marxist-Leninist group that splintered from the Workers World Party. One of its former members carried out the shooting of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, D.C., earlier this year.

Thirty-three accounts followed Democratic Socialists of America pages. Sixteen followed Students for a Democratic Society. Twelve connected with Students for Justice in Palestine.

Many accounts also followed known foreign-aligned activist groups, including Code Pink — famous for its disruptions in congressional hearings — and the Act Now to Stop War and Racism coalition (ANSWER).

Naturally, we found ties to Antifa as well, including groups like Anti-Fascist Aktion and prominent members such as @PunkwithACamera.

We wish we had this report back in February. We would’ve printed it out and handed it to every Democrat in attendance — just to watch their faces drop as they saw what their party has become.

This is the story of the American left for the next decade: the radical tail wagging the party dog.

Corporate media and D.C. careerists will pretend these protesters don’t represent the party. They’ll try to repackage the fury in the streets as civic activism. But we won’t let them.

We’ll keep exposing the ties. We’ll name the names. And we’ll make sure every Democrat trying to rebrand ahead of 2028 wears the consequences of these alliances around their necks.

Democratic Party's collapse continues: Teachers' union boss Randi Weingarten ditches DNC after 23 years

The Democratic Party is deeply unpopular, at odds with most of the electorate on several key issues, estranged from the working class, and roiled by infighting. It's becoming increasingly clear from recent personnel changes that hatred for President Donald Trump is not enough to hold the party together.

American Federation of Teachers boss Randi Weingarten, the childless leftist who helped undermine the mental and physical health of a generation of kids by fighting to keep them out of the classroom during the pandemic, has announced that she is leaving the Democratic National Committee.

Like David Hogg — the gun-grab activist who announced Wednesday that he was not running again for the DNC vice chair position seemingly stolen from him by Democratic election deniers — Weingarten appears to have an issue with DNC Chairman Ken Martin and the current state of play within the party.

Weeks before her hysterical speech at the No Kings rally in Philadelphia, Weingarten noted in a June 5 letter to Martin obtained by Politico that she is honored to have served as an at-large member of the DNC since 2002, on its rules and bylaws committee for the past 15 years, and as a delegate to each of the Democratic conventions for the past three decades.

'It’s flabbergasting to me that a senior DNC member, much less one as supposedly committed as Randi, would take the moment to make it all about her.'

"While I am proud to be a Democrat, I appear to be out of step with the leadership you are forging, and I do not want to be the one who keeps questioning why we are not enlarging our tent and actively trying to engage more and more of our communities," wrote the lesbian union boss, who collects an annual salary of well over $450,000.

She concluded her letter by emphasizing that the AFT will be "especially engaged in the 2025-26 elections."

Alex Wong/Getty Images

Blaze News reached out to Weingarten for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Martin, the longest-serving chairman in the history of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, campaigned on disabusing Americans of the understanding that "the Republican Party best represents the interests of the working class and the poor, and the Democratic Party is the party of the wealthy and the elites" and uniting "families across, age, background and class."

Weingarten, under whose leadership the AFT has championed divisive race-obsessive initiatives and narratives, backed one of the losers in Martin's DNC chairmanship race, Ben Wikler. The AFT boss lauded Wikler in a joint statement for his "inclusive leadership" and for his "ability to unite the party during a tumultuous time."

Photo by Lisa Lake/Getty Images

The union boss' issue with Martin may be a lot more personal than his victory over Wikler. After becoming DNC chair, Martin kicked Weingarten out of her position on the DNC's rules and bylaws committee.

A longtime Democratic strategist complained to The Hill about the timing of Weingarten's resignation ahead of the No Kings demonstrations held across the country on Saturday.

"Especially when the country just showed up by the millions across all demographic and geographic boundaries to take on Trump grassroots-style, it’s flabbergasting to me that a senior DNC member, much less one as supposedly committed as Randi, would take the moment to make it all about her," said the strategist.

Lee Saunders, the leftist president of the 1.4 million-member American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, also declined his nomination to remain on the DNC, telling the New York Times in a statement that the decision "comes after deep reflection and deliberate conversation about the path forward for our union and the working people we represent."

The news of Weingarten and Saunders' departures comes on the heels of David Hogg's unceremonious removal as DNC vice chair.

Hogg, who enjoyed backing from Weingarten, was elected the Democratic Party's youngest vice chairman on Feb. 1. Since the immutable characteristics of the winners of the February election were apparently undesirable, party elites declared Hogg's election null and void, then removed him last week through a virtual vote of 294 to 99.

In a long-winded thread explaining why he would not run again for the position just stolen from him, Hogg bashed the Democratic Party, claiming that Democratic leaders suffer a "serious lack of vision" and are "asleep at the wheel," and said that if Democrats "don't show our country how we are dramatically changing and provide an alternative vision for the future as a party, we will continue to lose."

He also alluded to his "fundamental disagreement about the role" of vice chair with Martin, who reportedly subjected the 25-year-old leftist to a tongue-lashing ahead of his removal.

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