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Students of a high school in Texas are protesting against the district's actions after a student was killed by another with scissors right outside their science class.Aundre Matthews, 18, was arrested for allegedly stabbing 16-year-old Andrew Meismer to death at Ross S. Sterling High School in Baytown on Wednesday.'We are not safe. We are not safe here.'Prosecutors said the two were excused to go to the bathroom and got into a fight over a vape pen. The stabbing happened during a fight between the two at about 10:40 a.m. The victim was airlifted to Texas Medical Center in Houston but was later pronounced dead.The school said that it went into lockdown briefly after the incident."I need to see that surveillance video. I need to see what happened in terms of all the claims that were read in that probable cause affidavit," said Matthews' attorney, Gianpaolo Macerola. The horrendous incident shocked the community and spurred many students to protest against the district for not taking action to protect Meismer. They alleged that signs of the threat from the suspect were ignored."This could have been prevented," said Maria Blanco, a 10th grade student, to the Baytown Sun. "Now somebody's life is lost, and when they had the time to do something about it, they did not do anything.""We are not safe. We are not safe here," said sophomore Lilly Williams, who described the victim as "very kind."RELATED: Police release photos of student who allegedly plotted mass shooting at Christian high school One of the protest signs read, "How many warnings are enough?" and another read, "Our voices matter."Matthews was given a $3.3 million bond in court on Friday.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
https://www.theblaze.com/news/high-school-scissors-stab-killed
Students of a high school in Texas are protesting against the district's actions after a student was killed by another with scissors right outside their science class.Aundre Matthews, 18, was arrested for allegedly stabbing 16-year-old Andrew Meismer to death at Ross S. Sterling High School in Baytown on Wednesday.'We are not safe. We are not safe here.'Prosecutors said the two were excused to go to the bathroom and got into a fight over a vape pen. The stabbing happened during a fight between the two at about 10:40 a.m. The victim was airlifted to Texas Medical Center in Houston but was later pronounced dead.The school said that it went into lockdown briefly after the incident."I need to see that surveillance video. I need to see what happened in terms of all the claims that were read in that probable cause affidavit," said Matthews' attorney, Gianpaolo Macerola. The horrendous incident shocked the community and spurred many students to protest against the district for not taking action to protect Meismer. They alleged that signs of the threat from the suspect were ignored."This could have been prevented," said Maria Blanco, a 10th grade student, to the Baytown Sun. "Now somebody's life is lost, and when they had the time to do something about it, they did not do anything.""We are not safe. We are not safe here," said sophomore Lilly Williams, who described the victim as "very kind."RELATED: Police release photos of student who allegedly plotted mass shooting at Christian high school One of the protest signs read, "How many warnings are enough?" and another read, "Our voices matter."Matthews was given a $3.3 million bond in court on Friday.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
https://www.theblaze.com/news/high-school-scissors-stab-killed
Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming becomes the latest GOP lawmaker to take a step away from politics. The freshman senator announced her retirement Friday after several "exhausting session weeks" this Congress. Lummis was first elected to the Senate in 2020 but previously represented Wyoming in the House from 2009 to 2017 as well as in state government prior to her career in Washington, D.C.'I feel like a sprinter in a marathon.'"What a blessing to serve with Senators John Barrasso and Mike Enzi when I was in the U.S. House, and with John and Rep. Harriet Hageman while I've been in the Senate," Lummis said in a statement Friday."We all put Wyoming first, which has cemented our cohesive working relationship."RELATED: 'Unnecessary and protracted': Elise Stefanik drops out of New York governor's race Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty ImagesLummis reiterated her commitment to the state and her constituents but noted that she no longer has the "energy required" for the job."Deciding not to run for reelection does represent a change of heart for me, but in the difficult, exhausting session weeks this fall I've come to accept that I do not have six more years in me," Lummis said. "I am a devout legislator, but I feel like a sprinter in a marathon. The energy required doesn't match up."RELATED: Senate confirms more Trump nominees, surpassing Biden-era confirmation pace after deploying nuclear option Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images"I am honored to have earned the support of President Trump and to have the opportunity to work side by side with him to fight for the people of Wyoming. I look forward to continuing this partnership and throwing all my energy into bringing important legislation to his desk in 2026 and into retaining commonsense Republican control of the U.S. Senate. Thank you, Wyoming!"Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock believes that football stars like Deion Sanders and his son Shedeur are spreading the worst of black culture to not only NFL fans but players — but former NFL quarterback Shaun King doesn’t share his sentiment.“If we’re being honest, the black rap hip-hop culture has permeated every part of America. I mean, go on TikTok. It’s white moms with young white daughters doing the dances. You know, I don’t even know if athletes are who this generation of young Americans idolize,” King argues.“All they did was looked at what the algorithm says works, and we’re going to use this to build a post-Deion playing career brand, and it’s focused on that energy. But they didn’t create it. They just took what was working and said, ‘We’re gonna use it to bring some more money into the Sanders’ family,'” he continues.“So that’s why I try not to target them. It’s like they’re the reason that Jaxson Dart is wearing diamond necklaces or that J.J. McCarthy is doing the dance as he runs. ... It’s rap, hip-hop took over,” he says, adding, “They had like a 10-15 year stretch where they kind of raised a whole decade of Americans.”“On that we agree,” Whitlock says.“Hip-hop has had incredible influence over athletes and young people in general, and for black athletes, my argument is like, ‘Hey man, football, particularly at the quarterback position, but football in general, because of its military-like structure, it’s about submission,'” he explains.“It’s about submitting to the head coach and the team as greater than yourself. And hip-hop is about individuality and being rebellious to authority,” he adds.Whitlock also points out that point-wise, white quarterbacks are dominating black quarterbacks in the NFL — and he believes it has a lot to do with this culture.“White guys are free to submit,” Whitlock explains. “Black guys have all this pressure to be rebellious, mimic hip-hop culture, and that’s why there’s a bit of a struggle, and that’s what I’m saying is going to be a part of Shedeur’s struggle.”Want more from Jason Whitlock?To enjoy more fearless conversations at the crossroads of culture, faith, sports, and comedy with Jason Whitlock, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.
Philadelphia Flyers radio play-by-play announcer Tim Saunders may have some explaining to do to his superiors.Saunders has been suspended for two games by the Flyers, and now the organization is apologizing for comments he made on Thursday night.'We take this matter very seriously.'During a commercial break in the third period of the Flyers and Buffalo Sabres game, Saunders went to a commercial break before he was heard making some non-hockey-related remarks."Now, they're going to take the TV time-out. We'll take it as well. Seven [minutes] gone in the third [period]. It's 3-2 Buffalo on the Philadelphia Flyers Broadcast Network," Saunders said, thinking he would then be off the air.After a few seconds, the announcer is heard humming a tune to himself before more dead air, as muffled audio of in-arena promotions are heard in the background.It was nearly 20 seconds after the start of a would-be commercial break when Saunders said, "While you're down there, would you mind blowing me?"Following a few more seconds of silence, broadcast partner and former NHL player Todd Fedoruk inserted, "I think we're still on the air, Tim."Saunders then seemingly has a good chuckle before stopping to seriously ask, "No, we're not, are we?"RELATED: San Jose Sharks apologize for displaying pro-ICE message on scoreboard during Hispanic celebration As reported by Crossing Broad, Saunders took another long pause before laughing again and asking, "Are we? Do you have us? Mikey, talk to me."On Friday morning, the Flyers issued an official statement on their social media saying they were "aware of the inappropriate comment" made during the TV time-out."These remarks do not reflect the standards of conduct or values we expect from anyone associated with our organization," the team wrote.The Flyers then announced that, effective immediately, a two-game suspension had been issued while they "address this matter with all parties involved.""We take this matter very seriously, and sincerely apologize to our listeners, fans and all those affected by these comments," the statement concluded.RELATED: Male players take over women's hockey in Minnesota — one team has 4 men — (@) The majority of Flyers fans on X reacted negatively to the announcement, with one Philly sports fan calling it an "incredible overreaction.""A suspension??? World gone soft," a fan named Ryan said.Jeff added, "Give him a raise."The Flyers would go on to lose the game 5-3.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Turning Point USA CEO Erika Kirk announced her endorsement of Vice President JD Vance for president in 2028 during her Thursday speech at the AmericaFest conference.Vance will speak on Sunday at the conference organized by Turning Point USA, the organization founded by Charlie Kirk in 2012. 'If JD Vance runs for president, he's going to be our nominee.'"We're gonna ensure that President Trump has Congress for all four years," she said. "We are going to get my husband's friend JD Vance elected for 48 in the most resounding way possible!" The thousands at the conference in Phoenix, Arizona, responded with resounding applause. Vance has not said if he's running for president yet, but he's seen as a prominent front-runner for the nomination."My attitude is, the American people elected me to be vice president," he said in October. "I'm going to work as hard as I can to make the president successful over the next three years and three months, and if we get to a point where something else is in the offer, let's handle it then."Secretary of State Marco Rubio, also considered a potential presidential candidate, said that he would support Vance if the vice president ran for the Oval Office. "If JD Vance runs for president, he's going to be our nominee, and I'll be one of the first people to support him," Rubio said to Vanity Fair. RELATED: JD Vance responds to the possibility of Vance-Rubio presidential ticket Vance has said Kirk's organization was pivotal in the re-election of Trump in 2024. "So much of the success we've had in this administration traces directly to Charlie's ability to organize and convene. He didn't just help us win in 2024; he helped us staff the entire government," he said. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Actress Jennifer Lawrence says her creativity and politics are inherently intertwined.Lawrence revealed her thoughts during a discussion with fellow Oscar-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio.'Maybe she didn't know that I was on an Ambien.'Brain trustLawrence, 35, and DiCaprio, 51, appeared on Variety's "Actors on Actors" segment, with the duo discussing their pasts as child actors, upcoming films, and briefly, politics as it pertains to their art.DiCaprio was discussing his 2025 political film, "One Battle After Another," when Lawrence asked about bringing politics into the movie industry."I think that the creative part of my brain and the political part of my brain are intrinsically linked," Lawrence prefaced. "Like, I keep finding, like, every time I come up with, like, a movie or, like, it's more often than not political.""I think it's 'cause that's how I'm, like, digesting the world. Are you like that?" she asked DiCaprio."No," DiCaprio plainly replied. Lawrence attempted to move on to another question, but the "Titanic" star was eager to explain why.RELATED: Handmaid's fail: Hillary stumps for Jennifer Lawrence's new pro-abortion documentary Photo by Taylor Hill/FilmMagic Stating that his latest film feels "very topical," DiCaprio said it is "very difficult to say something about the world we live in" on film."It has to have an element of irony or comedy to it; otherwise people — they're not allowed in. ... And it feels like, 'Oh, I'm watching these people's vocation and, you know, do I relate to them?'" he explained.DiCaprio tacked on, "There's all those political films of the '70s: 'The Parallax View,' 'Three Days of the Condor,' 'All the President's Men.' And they were taken very seriously. But nowadays, it feels like there's such polarity and such extremism that if you pick a side, you're alienating."Pillow talkLater in the interview, Lawrence had more strange anecdotes that seemed to paralyze the veteran actor. She soon brought up the fact that both she and DiCaprio are "obsessive about sleep" when filming a movie, before reciting some of her on-set drug follies. DiCaprio seemingly played along, smiling and laughing at times, but clearly had nothing to add."I took an Adderall instead of a sleeping pill," Lawrence said, as DiCaprio smirked. "And then I didn't sleep all night, and I was taking hot showers, panicking, because I am not somebody who can function without sleep. ... I also once took an Ambien in the morning, thinking it was something else," she continued."Wow. Those are key screwups," the leading man laughed in response. "Elizabeth Banks got really annoyed with me," Lawrence said about her Ambien usage on the set of "Hunger Games." She continued, "Maybe she didn't know that I was on an Ambien."DiCaprio simply put his head down and laughed, without responding.RELATED: Jennifer Lawrence claims no women were action movie stars before her Sigourney who?Lawrence has made interesting claims during sit-downs on the same program before, including in December 2022 when she claimed she was the first female lead of an action movie.Also on Variety's "Actors on Actors," Lawrence told Viola Davis:"I remember when I was doing 'Hunger Games,' nobody had ever put a woman in the lead of an action movie because it wouldn't work. We were told, girls and boys can both identify with a male lead, but boys cannot identify with a female lead."Sigourney Weaver ("Alien"), Uma Thurman ("Kill Bill"), and Milla Jovovich (countless "Resident Evil" films) could not be reached for comment.
Another effort by liberal activists to shut down America's first state-run facility for federal immigration detainees has fallen flat on its face.Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration, empowered by the governor's 2023 emergency declaration over the border crisis, got to work in June on transforming the virtually abandoned Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport into Alligator Alcatraz.Within weeks, the airport's 10,499-foot runway was crowded with tents and unsavory characters set for deportation.Enraged by the Republican administration's success in raising and filling the facility, liberal activists filed multiple legal challenges in hopes of shutting down the facility.One of those challenges was filed in August by the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Florida, Community Justice Project, and National Immigrant Justice Center on behalf of an anonymous plaintiff and a proposed class of foreign nationals who share in common their capture by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and detention at the facility.The lawsuit claimed that Florida lacked the authority to detain illegal aliens at Alligator Alcatraz and asked the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida for a preliminary injunction barring state officials from detaining the plaintiff, identified only as M.A., and others like him at the site.'Plaintiff is essentially asking this Court to close a sizable and expensive detention facility, all before any decision on the merits of its legality.'"Florida has wasted hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to unlawfully detain people in this abusive immigration detention center," Amy Godshall, an illegal aliens' rights attorney with the ACLU of Florida, said at the outset. "Not only have the conditions been abhorrent, but the detention itself is unlawful.""The harm being inflicted on our clients is immediate and irreparable, and it underscores why states are not allowed to overstep into federal immigration processes," added Godshall.RELATED: 'I'll get the heat': Milwaukee judge is now a convicted felon after violent illegal alien dodged ICE from her courtroom Blaze Media illustration. Note: This is a Blaze Media illustration, not the actual facility.U.S. District Judge Kyle Dudek, an appointee of President Donald Trump, delivered the activist groups and their noncitizen client some bad news on Thursday, denying their request to prevent the DeSantis administration from holding illegal aliens at the facility.Dudek said in his six-page ruling that "preliminary injunctive relief 'is an extraordinary and drastic remedy' that is appropriate only in limited circumstances" and that one of the conditions that must be satisfied was that the movant must show "he will suffer an irreparable injury without the injunction."The Trump judge underscored that the noncitizen plaintiff has failed to prove irreparable injury."To meet his burden, Plaintiff first points to his incarceration at Alligator Alcatraz," wrote Dudek. "He claims that 'unlawful detention is a paradigmatic form of irreparable harm.' But this argument makes little sense here because Plaintiff does not dispute that he (and the proposed class) is subject to confinement by the Attorney General."Dudek suggested further that the supposed evidence of systematic problems at Alligator Alcatraz that was given in support of the noncitizen's claim of "downstream irreparable harms" was not only "months old and largely stale" but particular only to a handful of detainees and contradicted by other evidence."Plaintiff is essentially asking this Court to close a sizable and expensive detention facility, all before any decision on the merits of its legality," wrote Dudek. "While there may indeed be deficiencies at Alligator Alcatraz that ultimately justify its dissolution, Plaintiff has not made the extraordinary showing needed to justify immediate relief of such magnitude."This gut punch for the liberal activist groups comes just months after the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta blocked an Obama-appointed federal judge's order that the facility be shut down.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
And now ... your Oscars host ... Mr. Beast!The Academy Awards, facing diminished ratings and cultural clout, is moving to YouTube starting in 2029. Yes, ABC didn’t fight hard enough to keep the once-mighty telecast on its airwaves, paving the door for the Google giant to take over.If Marvel really wants to bring back disenchanted fans, just say Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel got lost in a black hole and can’t make the sequel.And as one internet wag cheekily put it, calls to “smash that ‘like’ button” may blend with the boilerplate political speeches sooner than later.It’s a sign of the times, of course, on two fronts. YouTube is a major part of the digital landscape, and ABC understands the Oscars’ cache isn’t what it used to be.The funniest part? A Variety scribe cheered the news, hoping for an even longer Oscars telecast.“The Oscars on YouTube could bring an unlimited runtime, unfiltered hosts, and the show we’ve always wanted” reads the hysterical headline.Imagine enduring a three-and-a-half-hour celebrity lovefest and thinking, “More, please!”Boulevard of memesHollywood could really use some good news at this point. Enter a spanking new study that shares a surprising take on Gen Z. Turns out the youthful demographic’s movie theater attendance climbed by 25% over the past year.Video game-inspired films like “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” and “A Minecraft Movie” certainly helped, but the image of phone-obsessed teens eschewing theaters for their comfy couches may come with a caveat.Speak to us directly, and we’ll line up to see what you have to offer. Imagine the lines around the block to see “6-7: The Movie” ...'Peanuts' allergyComing soon: a reimagined take on the Red Baron where he’s the hero and that dastardly Snoopy is the heel.Sound crazy? Well we just saw a movie greenlit based on the villainous Gaston character from “Beauty and the Beast.” “Wicked: For Good,” which makes the Wicked Witch of the West our unfairly maligned heroine, is crushing the box office. And another reimagined classic spun from “Cinderella” will make those nasty stepsisters the heroes. It’s called “Steps.” Really.So why wouldn’t Snoopy’s archnemesis ever get a cinematic closeup? It feels inevitable, especially after Sony purchased the rights to the “Peanuts” franchise for a cool $457 million.Rats.Who will stop team Sony from following this corrosive trend? And should it draw a crowd, expect more re-imaginings, like Brad Pitt playing a spiffed-up Pig Pen and Lucy joining the NFL ...RELATED: ‘The Case for Miracles’: A stirring road trip into the heart of faith Fathom EntertainmentAvengers: PaydayThe MCU is in full course-correction mode. But is it too late?The mega franchise has stumbled in recent years following the two-part “Avengers” saga against Thanos. That coaxed Disney suits to call in reinforcements — AKA Robert Downey Jr.But wait? The charismatic star’s alter ego, Iron Man, died in “Avengers: Endgame.” Disney craved his sweet, sweet name recognition so badly it brought him back for next year’s “Avengers: Doomsday.”Except this time, he’ll play the villainous Victor von Doom.If that decision didn’t reek of flop sweat, the latest MCU news sure does. Chris Evans, who memorably played Captain America in nine MCU films, was given a poetic send-off in “Endgame.” The actor hung up his shield, eager to tackle roles where he doesn’t squeeze into unforgiving leotards.Except he didn’t really go away. He’s back, according to the just-released “Avengers: Doomsday” teaser trailer. (Imagine the zeroes on the paycheck written to Mr. Evans.)If Marvel really wants to bring back disenchanted fans, just say Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel got lost in a black hole and can’t make the sequel ...Kamala klarityKamala Harris may have been the most qualified person ever to run for the White House. Just ask her.Yet the former vice president is still struggling to answer softball questions. During the campaign, she famously bungled a layup from Sunny Hostin of “The View.”“How will you be different than President Biden?” Swiiiiiing and a miss.This week, far-left “comedian” Jimmy Kimmel teed up another question for the ex-veep to swat out of the studio. Why didn’t the Biden-Harris administration release the Epstein files?“To give you an answer that will not satisfy your curiosity, I will tell you, we, perhaps to our damage, but we strongly and rightly believed that there should be an absolute separation between what we wanted as an administration and what the Department of Justice did. We absolutely adhered to that, and it was right to do that,” Harris told Kimmel. “The Justice Department would make its decisions independent of any political or personal vendetta or concern that we may have, and that’s the way it worked.”Harris is rested and ready for the 2028 presidential campaign, no doubt.
I oppose Zohran Mamdani’s Democratic Socialist agenda. But if Republicans are serious about winning elections next year and in 2028, they need to take a hard, unsentimental look at how he just won one of the most consequential mayoral races in the country.This was not an ideological earthquake. New York did not suddenly “discover” socialism. What happened was a marketing and mobilization breakthrough. Mamdani’s campaign understood attention, simplicity, participation, and distribution better than anyone else in the race.Republicans often confuse seriousness with stiffness. Mamdani showed that message discipline does not require lifelessness.Joe Perello, the city of New York’s first chief marketing officer, noted in PRWeek after Mamdani’s victory that the campaign did more than communicate a message. It built an engine that converted online engagement into real-world turnout.“For marketers and strategists alike, the implications are clear,” Perello wrote. “Growth hacking, iterative testing, and data-driven amplification can convert digital sentiment into real-world behavior. In Mamdani’s case, that meant converting hearts, clicks, and hashtags into ballots.”Here is the part many on the right do not want to hear: Mamdani did not spend his time lecturing working-class voters about the virtues of socialism or defending failed economic theory. He focused on immediate, kitchen-table concerns and paired them with simple, slogan-ready answers.Is halal food expensive? Make it cheaper. Struggling to get to work? Free buses. Grocery bills too high? Government-run grocery stores.He took Bernie Sanders’ 2016-era talking points and filtered them through a polished, Obama-style optimism that voting-age New Yorkers were willing to engage with.Most voters do not have the time — or patience — to think through how these promises would actually work. They just want to hear that someone intends to make their lives easier.As Citizens Alliance CEO Cliff Maloney observed during Mamdani’s surge in the polls, the public’s lack of understanding about how government operates — and how socialism consistently fails — created the political environment Mamdani exploited. He did not create that environment. He mastered it.Republicans’ digital blind spotFor years, Republican campaigns have treated digital media as messaging rather than infrastructure. Social platforms are used as megaphones for press releases, fundraising tools, or dumping grounds for cable-news clips. The underlying assumption is that persuasion happens elsewhere — on TV, at rallies, through mailers — and that digital simply amplifies those efforts.Mamdani reversed that logic. Social media was not an accessory to his campaign. It was the campaign.His approach drew praise even from outlets like the Guardian, where journalist Adam Gabbatt noted that Mamdani “has won social media with clips that are always fun — and resolutely on-message.”His team treated TikTok and Instagram like serious growth channels. Short videos were not vanity content; they were experiments. Different neighborhoods, different faces, different tones, different pacing. What held attention? What sparked comments? What traveled across boroughs? Each post generated data, and each data point informed the next iteration.This was politics run as a full-funnel acquisition strategy. Awareness led to engagement. Engagement led to identification. Identification led to turnout. Republicans can mock the aesthetics, but the mechanics work.Energy is a signalOne of the most underrated elements of Mamdani’s campaign was how it looked. He was constantly in motion — walking Manhattan, running a marathon, bouncing between boroughs. Rarely behind a lectern. Rarely static. Always visible.That energy communicated youth, optimism, and confidence in the same way John F. Kennedy outperformed Richard Nixon on television in 1960. A similar contrast appeared in 2024, when Donald Trump’s unscripted, high-visibility media strategy stood in sharp contrast to Joe Biden’s and Kamala Harris’ tightly controlled appearances.The predictable response on the right is dismissal. ‘That’s just TikTok nonsense.’ ‘Our voters aren’t like that.’ Those excuses are comforting — and dangerously wrong.In an age of low trust and low information, energy reads as competence. Movement suggests effort. Visibility substitutes for familiarity. Mamdani’s omnipresence created the impression — fair or not — that he was accessible and engaged with everyday life.Republicans often confuse seriousness with stiffness. Mamdani showed that message discipline does not require lifelessness.RELATED: When Bernie Sanders and I agree on AI, America had better pay attention Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty ImagesFrom supporters to fansThe most uncomfortable lesson for traditional campaigns is that Mamdani did not just mobilize voters. He activated fandom.Much of the campaign content that flooded social media did not come from official accounts. It came from supporters remixing clips, creating fan art, cutting moments to music, and sharing them within their own networks. The campaign made Mamdani easy to clip, easy to celebrate, and then got out of the way.Wired magazine described it as a rare case of participatory political culture usually reserved for celebrities.This matters because peer-to-peer persuasion scales faster and carries more credibility than anything a campaign can manufacture. Fan-made content travels further, feels more authentic, and costs nothing. Republicans, by contrast, tend to over-police their messaging, choking off organic enthusiasm in the name of control.Younger voters understand fandom instinctively. They grew up online. Mamdani did not lecture them about politics; he gave them something to belong to.The wrong reactionThe predictable response on the right is dismissal. “That only works for Democrats.” “That’s just TikTok nonsense.” “Our voters aren’t like that.”Those excuses are comforting — and dangerously wrong.Trump understood this dynamic in 2024 when his campaign was largely shut out of legacy media. Figures like Charlie Kirk reached millions of Gen Z voters by blending serious political content with the humor and energy of youth activism.Algorithms do not have ideologies. Participation is not a left-wing monopoly. Visibility, simplicity, and community are not progressive inventions. In a low-information, high-attention environment, the side that understands distribution wins.The real danger is not Mamdani’s policies alone. It is a Republican Party that keeps confusing being correct with being effective.RELATED: How anti-fascism became the West’s civil religion Blaze Media IllustrationWhat Republicans should learn — nowFirst, treat digital as organizing, not advertising. Stop thinking in posts and start thinking in systems. How does attention become action?Second, simplicity wins. Republicans often pride themselves on being right — and then lose because they are incomprehensible. Clarity scales. Long explanations do not.Third, loosen control. Let supporters remix, clip, and share. Reach matters more than perfect phrasing.Finally, build communities, not just campaigns. Email lists decay. Ad budgets run out. Communities endure.The bottom lineI do not agree with Zohran Mamdani’s politics, and I do not want his policies implemented anywhere. But ignoring how he won would be malpractice.He demonstrated how power is built today — not through party machinery or television dominance, but through attention, participation, and relentless simplicity. Republicans can learn from that reality, or they can keep losing to it.Disagree with his ideology. But study his marketing. Ignore the lesson at your own risk.
A second 9/11 wasn’t prevented by Marines kicking in doors or drone strikes overseas. It was prevented by accountants.After the attacks, the Bush administration issued an executive order to freeze the assets of organizations tied to terrorism, cutting off their ability to operate. The strategy worked. The United Nations and other international bodies soon joined the financial front in the war on terror, targeting money flows instead of just militants.After 9/11, the United States used financial warfare to cripple terrorists abroad. We now need the same resolve at home.It wasn’t glamorous. There were no dramatic accounting-themed visuals, let alone battlefield footage. But it starved terrorist networks of oxygen — and it saved lives.That same approach now needs to be applied at home.With Antifa finally designated a domestic terrorist organization, the administration should be treating these violent, unhinged groups the same way it treated Al-Qaeda: by dismantling their financial infrastructure, freezing assets, and prosecuting leadership. That makes the president’s nomination of Ken Kies as chief counsel and assistant secretary for the Internal Revenue Service baffling at best — and dangerous at worst.Kies is a Washington hired gun with divided loyalties. He has operated inside the revolving door since 1981, moving between government and lobbying, registering more than 500 times on behalf of various clients. His political contributions suggest close ties to the Pence wing of the party — precisely the faction that has resisted President Trump’s effort to dismantle the IRS deep state and confront politicized nonprofit networks.Instead of cleaning house, Kies appears to be preserving it.He has been reluctant to remove entrenched IRS officials tied to past abuses, including Holly Paz (top deputy of Lois Lerner), Robert Choi, and Anthony Sacco. Paz and Choi were deeply involved in the Tea Party targeting scandal. Sacco publicly pledged to “resist” President Trump. Paz, an Obama donor, was accused of lying to Congress by Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) in 2013 — yet she remained in a senior IRS role until being placed on leave in August.To this day, there is no public confirmation that any of these officials have been officially terminated.Kies has also aggressively defended Kevin Salinger, his protégé and a senior IRS official who oversees day-to-day tax policy operations and supervises an army of government attorneys. Salinger wields enormous influence over whether Trump’s tax agenda is implemented — or quietly buried.At a recent Tax Council meeting, Kies praised Salinger for working “tirelessly to faithfully implement President Trump’s agenda across all of the tax policy initiatives.” Really?Salinger has a long record of involvement with progressive activist organizations, including extensive pro bono work for Immigration Equality, a group that pushes open-border policies, especially for LGBTQ and HIV-positive immigrants. He also served on the board of El Barrio Angels, which provides immigration legal services in Los Angeles. These are not neutral civic activities. They are ideological commitments.If one of the president’s core goals is to depoliticize the IRS after its weaponization under the Biden administration, placing figures so deeply embedded in Democratic activist networks into senior roles is a recipe for sabotage.And the stakes are not abstract.RELATED: Warlord, terror, and taxpayer theft: Somali scheme allegedly bilks millions from Maine Medicaid to fund foreign army Dmytro LastovychAs we speak, Soros-linked nonprofits and so-called charities are laundering foreign money, taxpayer funds, and aid dollars through opaque networks — think of the Somali charity rip-offs in Minnesota and Maine — funding radical activism, facilitating mass immigration, and fueling domestic instability. These same networks help bankroll groups tied to street-level violence, intimidation, and riots. They worsen the affordability crisis Democrats endlessly complain about while escaping scrutiny themselves.Violent left-wing extremists have already crossed from rhetoric into bloodshed. Organized threats have forced senior Trump officials to relocate their families for safety. National Guardsmen have been killed. The idea that this is merely symbolic radicalism is no longer defensible.The IRS should be the tip of the spear in dismantling these financial pipelines — not a sanctuary for the very people who looked the other way while the agency was weaponized against the right.The American people did not vote in 2024 for Washington lifers like Kies and Democratic-aligned operatives to remain entrenched in power. They voted to end the culture that financed, protected, and excused political violence.After 9/11, the United States used financial warfare to cripple terrorists abroad. We now need the same resolve at home. The question is simple: Why are we appointing people who appear unwilling — or unable — to do that job?