Month: September 2026

UK Special Coverage

Burnham Takes Risky Gamble on Pension Reform

Will breaking the “triple lock” remedy Britain’s fiscal woes?

UK Special Coverage

Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images

Many of the younger Labourites who entered Parliament in 2024 possessed a burning ambition to address what they call “intergenerational inequality.” Or, put more crudely, to bash the Boomers.

MPs like Torsten Bell, former head of the left-wing Resolution Foundation, believe that over-65s are being cosseted by the state, despite many enjoying healthy private pensions and considerable asset wealth from decades of real estate price inflation. Many pensioners have long since paid off their mortgages, while younger Britons feel locked out of the property market.

The focus of resentment has been the so-called state pension triple lock, introduced by the Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron in 2010. It was intended to eradicate pensioner poverty by increasing the state pension annually by the rate of inflation, average earnings, or 2.5 per cent, whichever is the highest. 

Many MPs and some economists believe the triple lock is simply unsustainable. The new Labour Prime Minister Andy Burnham agrees and, in his first speech to the Labour Party Conference as leader Tuesday, he announced that the arrangement will change starting in 2030. Thereafter, the state pension will only keep pace, broadly, with prices.

It is not as if the basic state pension is exactly a king’s ransom. At around £12,500 (equivalent to $15,000) a year, it is barely enough to survive on in an age of rampant inflation. Yet nearly 13.2 million UK pensioners somehow have to live on it.  Many more are living just above that limit on private pensions that average only around £11,000 a year.

Comparisons are difficult, but there is no doubt that the UK state pension is one of the lowest in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. In some European countries, like France, the state pension is linked to lifetime earnings and is considerably more than the UK rate.

There is a further misconception. Many people believe that the pension is a universal benefit and is not taxed. That may be the case for the souls condemned to live on this miserable stipend, but not for the majority of pensioners who have other occupational or private pensions. For them, the state pension is taxed. The state pension is simply added to other sources of income.

That the triple lock is supposedly unsustainable at a price of around £15 billion a year is perhaps another indication of how much poorer the UK has become in recent years. Andy Burnham said that the money saved would be used to help pay for social care for elderly people. But there is no clear indication of how this might work.

At present, anyone possessing more than £23,000 in assets has to pay their full care home costs, which can easily amount to £1,000 a week. This means most have to sell their houses to pay for care. Burnham suggested today that he would help older people in care to retain the value of their homes. But that would be a big ask. The Institute for Fiscal Studies believes that cutting the triple lock will not pay for Burnham’s proposed National Care Service, free at the point of need.

The former Tory Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised in 2020 to do something very similar. Care home costs, he said, would be capped at around £85,000. He even introduced a new tax, the Social Care Levy, to pay for it. But the scheme never got off the ground. Labour did not seek to revive it until now.

The problem with the triple lock is that it is not actually a tax like income tax, but rather presents itself as a contributory insurance scheme. Workers in the past had to buy 44 years’ worth of National Insurance “stamps” to qualify for it. 

This has, not surprisingly, led to current recipients believing that it is theirs by right, given what they have paid into the scheme. But in reality it is not. Their contributions may go into a fund called the National Insurance Fund, but, perversely, it is not used to pay for pensions, which come from general expenditure. Go figure. 

This is one reason why some leading trade unionists say that the prime minister is most unwise to fiddle with the triple lock. Sharon Graham of the Unite union said it may create a similar row to the former Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s attempt to cut pensioners’ entitlement to the Winter Fuel Payment in 2024. (This latter move eventually compelled Starmer to make a U-turn, but only after months of negative headlines.)

Burnham will be hoping that his effort will at least signal to the bond markets that Labour is serious about tackling the welfare bill, which is forecast to reach £400 billion—a third of all government spending—by 2030. It might well indicate that he is not shying away from difficult decisions—but only if he sticks to it.

On the other hand, it may simply lead to accusations that Labour is punishing pensioners in order to protect the millions of adults in the UK who are not in employment. At least pensioners have put in the hard yards, working for over 40 years. Many will be furious if they think they have done all that simply in order to fund a generation who don’t seem to want to work at all.

And one final point. Unlike young people on benefits, pensioners tend to vote.

The post Burnham Takes Risky Gamble on Pension Reform appeared first on The American Conservative.

Ukraine

For Ukrainians, a Bad Peace Beats a Worsening War

Kiev’s effort to ramp up pressure on Moscow has led to an intolerable situation at home.

(Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

It is time to talk about victory in the Russia–Ukraine War. Politicians and the media regularly use the word, yet it has come to signify nothing. In Ukraine, a political battle is breaking out over which narrative of victory will be accepted by the people.

For some, a 10-year-old dancer with a prosthetic leg is a living advertisement for Ukraine’s “unbreakability.” But a growing number of Ukrainians are done participating in that story. Incessant preaching about “resilience” while the situation on the ground only worsens has exhausted their patience. Many now say Kiev should become more open to a compromise peace to prevent injuries and gruesome wounds that would haunt Ukraine’s children for the rest of their lives. Outside the world of political sloganeering, “unbreakability” produces broken bodies and a maimed generation.

“The only way to stop these sufferings of all Ukrainians is the soonest possible peace,” Sofia Stuzhuk, a mother of five and a Ukrainian blogger with several million followers, told me. “And all sensible Ukrainians understand this.”

Public opposition to the controversial forced mobilization has reached a boiling point. Despite what you may hear from supposedly pro-Ukraine Western voices, ordinary Ukrainians of limited means often see evasion and resistance as signs of dignity and honor. Mobilization centers have become synonymous with torture, unexplained conscript deaths, and rampant corruption. Yet a former U.S. presidential adviser, Keith Kellogg, is calling for the mobilization of women. His daughter, Meaghan Mobbs, provoked a wave of outrage when she posted this message about a Ukrainian man who drowned in a river while fleeing mobilization officers: “He died a coward. He could have died a hero.”

Russian strikes have escalated and widened to the point that Kiev, far from the front, now feels like a near-frontline city. That alarming development comes after President Volodymyr Zelensky’s much-advertised 40-day “pressure” operation, which, in practice, is ongoing and has predictably led to a counterescalation by Moscow. Russian forces are tearing up railways and other logistical lines, choking agricultural exports, wrecking what was left of the metallurgical industry and the power system, and hitting gas stations and warehouses for basic goods. As a cold winter approaches, a humanitarian disaster looms. Meanwhile, corruption scandals have consumed the Zelensky government, and the fiscal situation is rapidly deteriorating.

People draw opposite conclusions from these developments. Some want to double down on the tactics that produced these results, while others see an urgent diplomatic end to the war as the only way out. Zelensky is part of the first group. He promises “revenge” after every attack, even as each new exchange of strikes takes more from Ukraine’s people and its economy than from Russia’s. But online, more and more Ukrainian voices now call for a realistic peace and challenge Zelensky’s understanding of what “victory” even means.

In 2022, winning meant getting all the land back. Officials even talked about reclaiming the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula. Back then, ordinary Ukrainians argued over which they’d rather recover first: the sunny subtropical tourist resort on the Black Sea, or the industrial core situated in the eastern Donbas region.

But by now the mood has changed entirely. Even a poll conducted by Kyiv International Institute of Sociology—a private organization perceived to be friendly to Ukraine’s leadership—found that 61 percent of Ukrainians would support a comprehensive peace deal that included territorial compromises. For some, that still feels like surrender or defeatism. But with Russian strikes getting progressively more damaging and Ukrainian losses rising, the case for such a peace is hard to ignore.

Western countries pouring aid into a war of attrition, year after year, has become good business for the arms makers and for politicians controlling public budgets. But five years into the war, this aid has not given Ukrainians real protection nor put the economy on anything resembling a firm footing. If this goes on, can Ukraine—a country where every third budget dollar comes from foreign aid—even continue to provide basic services, much less beat Russia on the battlefield? For all the talk of Russia’s “war economy,” Moscow is still spending only around 7 percent of GDP on defense, against Kiev’s 44 percent, and its debt-to-GDP ratio is practically the same it was before the war. Russia also has between two and four times as many men of mobilization age.

Attritional warfare has always favored Russia historically. While its army may lose battles, the capacity of Russians to endure exhaustion confers a significant advantage on Russian governments, including President Vladimir Putin’s present system. Russia is capable of spending lives and resources for as long as it takes, and it remains prepared to do so now.

Ukraine has reached the point where the only victory worth believing in requires accepting a bad peace rather than sustaining or escalating a horrific war. At least the former would give Ukraine a chance to survive as an independent country. By contrast, the present course—with flagrant corruption, fiscal crisis, escalating Russian strikes, and a worn-out, demoralized population—probably leads to Ukraine losing not just the war, but its independence and its future.

The post For Ukrainians, a Bad Peace Beats a Worsening War appeared first on The American Conservative.

Dan Osborn is the supposed independent senate candidate in Nebraska who keeps getting caught revealing himself to have far left views.

He has used his campaign to claim that he and his family are suffering financial hardship, yet he has allegedly paid members of his family a cool $500,000 from his campaign.

You may have noticed that the liberal media is not touching any of this. Isn’t that interesting?

FOX News reports:

Senate hopeful’s ‘treading water’ narrative crumbles under $500K campaign payouts to family

Independent Senate candidate Dan Osborn repeatedly said his family is “treading water” financially because of rising grocery and gas prices last week, but federal campaign finance records show his campaign has paid more than $500,000 to members of his family since launching his Senate bid.

Speaking at a Capitol Hill press conference on Sept. 24, Osborn said, “My family, we’re treading water here, and it feels like every day it’s hard to keep your head above water” because of the economy and rising grocery and gas prices.

Later that day, during an NBC News interview, he made nearly identical remarks, again describing his family as “treading water.”

Americans for Public Trust, a government ethics watchdog that has previously scrutinized Osborn’s campaign spending, estimates Osborn and members of his family received nearly $480,000 from his campaign and affiliated PACs through the first quarter of 2026. The organization told Fox News Digital that figure does not include additional campaign spending disclosed in Osborn’s second-quarter filing, which was filed in July. Fox News Digital’s review of that filing found additional payments to family members that pushed the total above $500,000.

The largest share of those payments went to Osborn’s wife, Megan Osborn, who has worked for the campaign since its launch.

Here’s hoping the people of Nebraska see this before November.

FAMILY CORRUPTION SCHEME

Fake independent Dan Osborn has used his liberal campaign donations to pay himself, his wife, and his daughter OVER $500,000.

His wife is a Democrat consultant and his daughter is an exotic dancer. pic.twitter.com/CNO9sTzdux

— Senate Republicans (@NRSC) September 30, 2026

NEBRASKA SCANDAL

Fake independent Dan Osborn has funneled over $350,000 from his campaign to himself, his wife, his daughter, and his sister-in-law.

Nearly $250,000 of that went to his wife and her Democrat political consulting firm.https://t.co/ShU4309DQ3

— Senate Republicans (@NRSC) February 20, 2026

When people on the left say they want to ‘get’ big money out of politics, we didn’t think they meant it literally.

The post Supposed ‘Independent’ Nebraska Senate Candidate Dan Osborn Has Allegedly Paid Family Members $500K From Campaign While Claiming Financial Hardship appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Attorneys for Christa Pike said Wednesday night that Tennessee executioners administered two syringes of pentobarbital and that she was still alive and snoring inside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville.

Media witnesses were already at a podium speaking at the press conference when an ambulance and other first responders pulled up in front of the prison.

Pike received medical care after the botched execution attempt, according to a court filing obtained by The Tennessean.

Reporters were ordered out of the witness room before anyone announced a time of death, so it is unclear if she is alive or dead.

Witnesses said she was alive for over an hour before they were ordered out of the room.

WATCH:

The Christa Pike execution witnesses press conference was just interrupted by ambulances arriving. It was botched. She seems to still be alive after two lethal doses.

The execution team was supposed to be all women, not sure if that ended up being the case. pic.twitter.com/0FJK6s1iD4

— Cassandra MacDonald (@CassandraRules) October 1, 2026

Tori Gessner, a journalist at WKRN who has witnessed multiple executions, said during the press conference, “Nothing about today was normal, typical, at all.”

Gessner quoted Pike as saying, “My arm feels like it’s about to burst open.”

Other witnesses said she looked around and asked whether the pain at he injection site was normal.

The Tennessean reports:

The blinds closed at 7:46 p.m. Witnesses said they could still hear her breathing when the blinds were closed.

Just 3 minutes later, the blinds were opened again. Pike was still breathing and began snoring, witnesses said.

The blinds closed again at 8:05 p.m. Witnesses said the breathing continued while the microphone was still on. Prison officials removed the witnesses from the room at 8:53 p.m. When the microphone cut off, witnesses could still hear her breathing.

Kelly Gleason, one of Pike’s lawyers, said she got the news from Randy Spivey, another attorney who had been in the chamber and stepped out to call, according to reports from The Tennessean.

“She’s alive and snoring,” Gleason said. She added that Pike needed immediate medical care.

One of the attorneys was driving an emergency motion to the Tennessee Supreme Court after the drugs had been administered.

State protocol allows a second set of backup drugs five minutes after the first.

The protocol does not say what happens if those fail.

The death warrant runs out at midnight.

Pike was originally set to be executed at 10 a.m.

Witnesses had gathered, but then the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a 2-1 stay about an hour before the injection, saying it needed time to weigh whether childhood rape and sexual abuse were fully considered at sentencing.

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti asked the U.S. Supreme Court to lift it.

The high court vacated the stay just before 6 p.m. CT in a 6-3 order and said the execution could proceed before midnight.

Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented. Sotomayor wrote that the majority was clearing the way before it could properly consider pending challenges.

Pike, 50, is the only woman on Tennessee’s death row.

In January 1995, when she was 18, she and two other Job Corps students lured 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer onto the University of Tennessee agriculture campus in Knoxville.

Slemmer was beaten and cut to death. She had been slashed hundreds of times, and a pentagram was carved into her body.

Pike kept a piece of her skull.

Tadaryl Shipp, then 17, received a life sentence.

Shadolla Peterson testified and got probation.

Pike was meant to be the first woman Tennessee has executed in more than 200 years.

Gov. Bill Lee denied clemency Monday. “After deliberate consideration of Christa Gail Pike’s request for clemency, and after a thorough review of the case, I am upholding the sentence of the State of Tennessee and do not plan to intervene.”

May Martinez, Slemmer’s mother, came from Jacksonville to watch. She has called Pike’s mercy bid “complete baloney” and said she needs to see Pike gone so she does not fear she will “pop up somewhere.”

Pike asked for an all-female execution team, arguing that being strapped down and injected by men would make her relive childhood rapes and PTSD.

Tennessee Plans All-Female Lethal Injection Team at Request of State’s First Woman Being Executed in 200 Years

Tennessee corrections officials said they would try to use female officers to move her from the women’s prison and that an all-female team “may” be assigned.

Special Master Mark Ward noted plans to replace male staff overseeing her ahead of the execution with female staff. The state did not publicly guarantee that every person in the chamber tonight would be a woman.

Pike declined a last meal. She wrote that she was at peace and “only nervous about the process.”

As of the Tennessean’s 9:24 p.m. CT update, no official time of death had been announced.

Watch the press conference here, it was ongoing at time of publishing:

The Gateway Pundit will continue to provide updates as the situation unfolds.

The post BREAKING: Christa Pike SURVIVES Two Lethal Injections, Witness Press Conference Interrupted by Ambulances (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Communist influencer Hasan Piker recently spoke about Texas Democrat James Talarico in an almost dismissive way, strongly suggesting that the radical left owns him, saying that if Talarico win, they will have to remind him that they ‘allowed’ him to win the seat.

If Piker is talking this way about Talarico, just imagine what he thinks about Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed. Piker campaigned with him extensively.

This is a stunning moment captured on video. Talk about saying the quiet part out loud.

Watch:

Hasan Piker says he’ll make sure James Talarico follows his far-Left agenda if he becomes a Senator:

“After James Talarico wins…we have to remind him that…we are the force that allowed him to win this seat of power, and if he wants to maintain it he’s got to play ball.” pic.twitter.com/NjZu6n8LJ5

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 1, 2026

Republicans are wondering if Talarico will ever get around to condemning Piker.

From the NRSC:

Ahead of his scheduled visit to Austin to speak with Texas Democrats, Hasan Piker said that America “is the top dog in terrorism,” and worse than Al-Qaeda.

Hasan Piker has repeatedly praised James Talarico’s radical agenda saying, “he is copying me.”

Talarico has remained silent on Piker’s trip to Texas, as well as his previous abhorrent comments saying that “America deserved 9/11” and that American Jews will be targeted for supporting Israel… will James finally condemn Piker now and demand he cancel his trip to Texas?

“James Talarico is refusing to condemn Hasan Piker because they champion the same socialist, anti-American agenda that is taking over the Democrat party,” said NRSC Regional Press Secretary Samantha Cantrell.

Why would Talarico condemn Piker?

Apparently, Piker owns him.

The post Hasan Piker Implies the Left Owns James Talarico: ‘After He Wins, We Have to Remind Him We Allowed Him to Win This Seat’ (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

The misuse of Flock Safety camera systems continues to grow.

On Wednesday, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri announced the arrests of two deputies accused of improperly accessing law enforcement databases, including an automated license plate reader system that uses Flock cameras.

According to Gualtieri, Deputy Karl Gwynn, 57, ran 381 searches on a 35-year-old woman he had arrested years earlier because he reportedly wanted a relationship with her.

Of the 381 searches, 300 queries were made through the Flock ALPR system.

The second deputy arrested was 33-year-old Travis Stanton who allegedly used the police databases to gather information on a 17-year-old girl he was reportedly “romantically interested in.”

‘INAPPROPRIATE’: One of the deputies used a law enforcement database to look up information about a 17-year-old girl he was interested in romantically, according to the sheriff. Here’s more on the investigation: https://t.co/9lM9NHCP8s pic.twitter.com/YpTmdwYBbm

— 10 Tampa Bay News (@10TampaBay) September 30, 2026

Per WTSP:

Two Pinellas County sheriff’s deputies have resigned and face criminal charges after investigators said they improperly accessed sensitive law enforcement databases, including the Flock camera system.

Sheriff Bob Gualtieri announced the arrests Wednesday, describing two unrelated cases involving a former deputy’s interest in a 17-year-old girl and another deputy’s repeated searches of a woman’s information across multiple databases.

The first case involves former Deputy Travis Stanton, 33, who resigned on Sept. 25 after the sheriff’s office began investigating his conduct involving a 17-year-old girl who had filed a complaint with the agency. Gualtieri said Stanton used several databases to gather information about the girl and her vehicle, including running her license plate through Florida’s vehicle registration system using a computer in his patrol car.

In an unrelated case, Deputy Carl Gwynn, 57, allegedly queried a 35-year-old woman’s information 381 times.

Sheriff Gualtieri said Gwynn had arrested the woman years earlier and wanted a relationship with her. Unlike the Stanton case, Gwynn’s alleged misconduct directly involved the sheriff’s office automated license plate reader system (ALPR), commonly associated with Flock Safety cameras.

Gwynn has since resigned and was arrested on four counts of unlawfully accessing secure systems with his bond being set at $25,000.

Stanton was charged with unlawfully accessing secure systems and his bond was set at $10,000.

In August The Gateway Pundit reported a South Carolina police officer was fired for allegedly using a Flock camera system to spy on her ex-boyfriend.

READ:

Cop Fired After Allegedly Using Flock Cameras to Stalk Former Boyfriend – She Abused System 166 Times

The post Florida Deputy Charged After Using Flock License Plate Reader System to Search Woman 300 Times, Another Deputy Arrested After Looking Up 17-Year-Old Girl in Police Database appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

The Department of Homeland Security arrested an illegal alien earlier this month — a man the agency said had been released by local authorities in Virginia after sexually assaulting minors.

In a Wednesday news release, DHS stated that Democrat-dominated Fairfax County had refused to honor a detainer on Oscar Evaristo Nunez in 2025, despite his having been “charged with child sex crimes.”

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials arrested Nunez, who is from Honduras, on Sept. 15 during a “targeted enforcement operation,” the release states.

Nunez was initially arrested and charged back in August 2025 with aggravated sexual battery, two counts of filming/videotaping of an undressed minor, and two counts of aggravated sexual battery of a victim under 13 years old, according to the release.

ICE logged a detainer for Nunez with the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center two days after his arrest. Fairfax County refused to honor the detainer and released Nunez back onto the streets without telling federal authorities, the release states.

Nunez is expected to remain in ICE custody until his immigration proceedings.

.@ICEgov arrested an illegal immigrant from Honduras charged with sexually assaulting children after Fairfax County, Virginia, released him without honoring an immigration detainer—According to @DHSgov.

Oscar Evaristo Nunez was arrested by ICE officers during a targeted… pic.twitter.com/y3NDR1yril

— Ali Bradley (@AliBradleyTV) September 30, 2026

In the news release, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin slammed “sanctuary politicians” for their lax attitude regarding dangerous criminals.

“Another criminal illegal alien has been taken off the streets by the brave men and women of ICE, with no help from sanctuary politicians in Fairfax County,” he declared.

“This illegal alien from Honduras had been arrested for child sex crimes in August last year, but Fairfax County refused to honor ICE’s detainer and let this creep back out onto the streets.

“Once again, ICE did the job that these heartless sanctuary politicians won’t do: Enforce the law and protect American lives. DHS is calling on Governor Abigail Spanberger and her fellow sanctuary politicians to stop putting the needs of illegal aliens over the safety of the American people.”

ICE’s Washington, D.C. Field Office Director Robert Guadian added, “Oscar Evaristo Nunez is charged with some disgusting and horrifying crimes and represents a significant threat to the members of our Northern Virginia communities.”

“When local officials refuse to work with ICE and honor our detainers, they are prioritizing politics over the safety of their neighborhoods,” he said. “In this case, they refused to honor our detainer and allowed an alleged child sex predator to potentially re-offend until ICE officers could take him off the streets.”

The federal government said Nunez — whose age was not released — illegally entered the U.S. through the southern border in 2003.

Virginia’s Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger made it a top priority to end state cooperation with ICE and even framed it as a victory for public safety, which has drawn heavy criticism given that she campaigned as a moderate.

“Under Governor Spanberger, Virginia has become a hotbed of illegal alien crime,” the DHS release stated.

The agency then listed over two dozen illegal aliens who’ve committed crimes in Virginia, ranging from murder and child pornography to rape and abduction.

This news also comes after ICE announced a barrage of high-profile arrests on Monday that included convicted murderers, drug dealers, and child abusers.

The list included criminals from Cuba, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico, Micronesia and Nigeria.

These individuals committed crimes across the country in California, Indiana, Louisiana, Florida, New York, Iowa, Texas, Kansas, Maryland, Virginia, and Massachusetts.

The list of offenses included murder, sexual abuse of a minor, assault, and drug possession with intent to distribute heroin and fentanyl.

Additionally, there were some who’d been convicted of “child abuse with great bodily injury or death,” as well as “lewd and lascivious acts” with a child under the age of 14.

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.

The post Virginia Releases Illegal Alien Accused of Unthinkable Crimes Against Children – ICE Catches Him Anyway appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

President Trump on Wednesday responded to the incident on a Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, Israel, where the co-pilot stabbed the captain and caused the plane to nosedive. 

The Gateway Pundit reported on the horror earlier, where the plane reportedly plunged roughly 17,000 feet in one minute during the physical altercation in the cockpit.

(VIDEO) Flydubai Flight to Israel Makes Emergency Landing After Co-Pilot Stabs Captain, Jet Plunges Thousands of Feet – Fighter Jets Scrambled Over Potential Hijacking

Graphic images from on board the plane show a bloodied passenger, later identified as Yaniv Hayun, who assisted cabin crew members in retaking control of the plane and fighting off the attacker.

Via Fox:

Israel’s Defense Minister has described the event as an “attempted jihadist terrorist attack,” and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the co-pilot wanted to crash the plane with 174 on board.

Asked to comment on the incident, Trump commended the man who stopped the alleged hijacker co-pilot, joking that he knew what he was doing because he’d watched the television show, Air Disasters.

According to reports, Hayun credited the show for knowing how to pull the jet out of a nosedive by pulling the lever back.

“I think it’s an incredible story. It seems— I mean, I can relay the story, but you’re better off getting it from him. But by this time, I guess they have a lot of fake stories out there, and you know, you never know what’s happening,” Trump said.

“But I did speak to Bibi Netanyahu at length about this event, and it seems as though the co-pilot was perhaps a terrorist, or perhaps a whack job junk, and he stabbed the pilot. The pilot was in very bad shape, and I guess he still is in very bad shape, but he had the sense to— amazing, o in a way he was a hero, to open the door. You know those doors are solid steel — you can’t get them open from outside. He was able to fall back and get the door open and scream. And a plumber, an Israeli plumber, never flew a plane, was rarely in planes, very rarely flew. An Israeli plumber saw what was happening.”

“This is the story that I heard — I don’t know if it’s true, but that’s the story that I got from Bibi,” Trump added.

“This plumber, never having flown a plane, had the sense to lift a stick. Who would’ve? And you know, it’s not like— planes are different today. You used to have a little steering wheel. Today, they fly differently. And when asked why he did that, he said he watches that show Air Disasters. You know the show? It’s that crazy show. I never want to watch it, but I watch it. I don’t like watching it because bad things happen. But he said he watches it a lot, and he learned from watching that show sort of how to fly.”

WATCH:

The post WATCH: Trump Responds to Attempted Hijacking on Flydubai Flight appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

In Trump’s second term, immigration from Muslim countries has not just dropped to an all-time low, it is down a stunning 90+ percent.

This is one of those stories that will cause a huge response from both sides. Leftists will see this as confirmation of their false belief that Trump is some kind of racist. People on the right are likely to say something like, this is what I voted for.

Many conservatives have wondered for years why the United States seemed to prioritize bringing people from Muslim countries into the United States after 9/11. Critics point out that Muslim immigrants and refugees have a very poor record on assimilation.

Breitbart News reports:

The White House says it has reduced legalized migration from Muslim-majority nations by more than 90 percent.

The cutbacks are a huge setback to the progressive policy of importing diverse migrants to help fragment the civic rules that ordinary Americans have created to manage their neighborhoods, schools, and society.

The policy shift also reduces the growth of antisemitic communities in U.S. society, said Noah Pollak, a Trump deputy in the Department of the Treasury and the Department of Education. “This is the single most consequential policy to combat antisemitism in the US in the last decade and it’s not even close,” he wrote on X.

See the graph below:

Legal Immigration from Majority-Muslim Nations Was Cut 96% Since 2024 pic.twitter.com/8QUs1E71dQ

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) September 29, 2026

Some conservatives cheered the news.

From FOX News:

Online, the political right cheered the drastic shift.

“Absolutely incredible victory for the American people, thanks to POTUS,” Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, said.

“These are the wins we need to continue to deliver on,” said Brandon Herrera, the GOP nominee for Congress in Texas’ 23rd District.

“4 percent to go! Thank you, President Trump,” said Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla.

“Let’s pump up those rookie numbers for every category of immigrant,” columnist Kurt Schlichter said.

Some turned the graph into a referendum on the results of Republican leadership, and urged conservatives to vote during the 2026 midterm elections despite concerns about cost-of-living, the Iran war, and other issues for which Trump has been knocked by members of his own party.

“I voted for this—and will again,” said user David Harrison.

“The next time you get the urge to ‘punish the GOP.’ Remember that Democrats will reverse this overnight,” said Turning Point Action’s Ben Larrabee.

Coming to America means committing to America: our Constitution, our laws, our freedoms.

Tougher vetting under @POTUS Trump has cut admissions from high-risk countries by 96%. We owe Americans nothing less than knowing exactly who we let in. https://t.co/yFIpQRwNHs

— Secretary Markwayne Mullin (@SecMullinDHS) September 29, 2026

If Democrats win the midterms, expect them to try to reverse this trend immediately.

The post Immigration to America From Muslim-Majority Countries Drops to All-Time Low on Trump’s Watch appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Republicans and Democrats are dead even on the generic ballot, according to the Harvard Harris poll. This is horrible news for Democrats.

For months now, we have heard that Democrats are going to mop the floor with the GOP in the midterms, but 2026 is not an ordinary midterm year.

This year, the country met the new Democrats of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and learned about all of their positively insane and anti-American plans for the country. People seem to understand the threat that these people pose to America as we know it.

No one knows what is going to happen in November, but a blue wave seems less likely now.

Breitbart News reports:

Harvard Harris Poll Continues to Show Even Midterm Generic Ballot

The monthly Harvard Harris Poll of voters across the United States continues to show Democrat and Republican support at near-identical levels just over a month from November’s midterm election.

Among all registered voters in the poll, the parties are split at 50-50 when asked if they would be more likely to vote for a Democrat or Republican candidate for Congress. Democrats take a slight 51-49 percent lead among likely voters.

Fifty percent of voters say their minds are already made up about who to vote for and two thirds say they expect to vote a straight-party ticket. Fifty-nine percent of those supporting Democrats say they have definitely made up their minds, and 58 percent of Republicans say the same. Just 33 percent of independent-leaning voters say their minds are made up, with 26 percent saying they are leaning in one direction and 24 percent said they have not decided.

Another question asked voters how important voting in the midterm election is, and again showed similar levels, with 63 percent of Democrats saying it is extremely important and 62 percent of Republicans saying the same.

Of course, nothing is guaranteed.

Conservatives, right-leaning independents and disaffected Democrats must still get out an vote in November.

But if this poll is even close to accurate, things might not be as bad as Democrats and the media were hoping.

The post Harvard Harris Poll Shows Republicans and Democrats Dead Even on Generic Ballot Just a Month Before Midterms appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.