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Washington has managed to turn an overwhelmingly popular idea — banning members of Congress from trading individual stocks — into another partisan brawl.In a poll released in September, the Independent Center found that 88% of voters backed a ban, including 88% of Republicans, 89% of Democrats, and 86% of independents. Yet Congress still hasn’t made it law. On an issue that unites voters, the two parties have found another reason to fight.Make congressional stock trading a test. Will candidates ban lawmakers and their families from trading stocks, including existing holdings? Will they reject poison pills? Get their answers. Vote accordingly.Americans are sick of it. A Fox News poll conducted October 9-12 found that 88% of registered voters were extremely or very concerned about government corruption, ahead of inflation and high prices at 85%, gas prices at 83%, and health care at 80%.The Independent Center's October survey of 1,200 adults, including 1,000 registered voters, helps explain the anger. Six in 10 said groceries had put the most pressure on their household budgets. Fifty-four percent said the economy was rigged for big companies and the politically connected; only 34% said it worked like a real free market. More than half said Washington was not listening.Politicians insist they share that frustration. Their tolerance for corruption, however, often depends on whose name is attached to it.Republicans have a fresh example. On October 13, Kimberly Guilfoyle resigned as ambassador to Greece after the White House asked her to leave. Trump donor Eric Deters accused her of seeking $100,000 to pay a personal credit card bill before her confirmation hearing, allegedly in return for access to administration officials. He says he never paid her. Guilfoyle denies wrongdoing and disputes the authenticity of the messages cited in reporting on the allegation.Democrats have their own scandals. Former Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey was sentenced to 11 years in prison in a bribery case involving cash, gold bars, and a luxury car. Former Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.) resigned in April after facing ethics proceedings and federal charges alleging that she and others diverted a $5 million FEMA overpayment, including money routed toward her campaign. She has pleaded not guilty.Both parties are adept at spotting corruption across the aisle. When the accusation lands at home, too many partisans reach for the words “witch hunt.”Congressional stock trading offers a simpler test. `Members can buy and sell individual stocks while receiving briefings and writing laws that affect the companies they invest in. The 2012 STOCK Act requires disclosure of trades and prohibits trading on nonpublic information. It does not bar members from owning or trading individual stocks.RELATED: ‘Cold civil war’ about to heat up? DataRepublican exposes evidence of color revolution plot Nathan Posner/Anadolu/Getty ImagesRepublican Chip Roy (Texas) and Democrat Seth Magaziner (D-R.I.) have championed a bipartisan proposal to ban congressional stock trading, including by lawmakers' spouses and dependent children. But the legislation that actually passed the House in July was narrower. The Stop Insider Trading Act, approved 232-198, would bar new purchases while allowing members to retain existing holdings. Republicans also attached voter ID requirements unrelated to stock trading.Democrats called the package inadequate and objected to the election provisions. In September, the Senate voted 53-47 to advance it, short of the 60 votes needed. Rival proposals, familiar accusations, and procedural maneuvers have left the public with the same result: No comprehensive trading ban is law.The people who set the rules cannot agree to limit their own opportunities for profit, even when voters from both parties overwhelmingly want them to. That is a failure of political will, not a shortage of legislative ideas.Independents can change the calculation. We have no party organization to defend and no reason to excuse misconduct because the offender happens to wear the right jersey. The standard should be the same whether the politician is a Democrat or a Republican.RELATED: Kamala’s voter-roll freakout hits blue states hard Mario Tama/Getty ImagesAnd we have the numbers to make that standard count. Gallup found that 45% of Americans identified as independents in 2025, more than identified with either major party. In close races, candidates cannot afford to dismiss voters whose support they have not earned.So make congressional stock trading a test. Ask every candidate in your district whether they will ban lawmakers, spouses, and dependent children from trading individual stocks. Ask whether the ban would cover existing holdings and whether they would accept unrelated riders designed to sink it. Write down the answers. Vote accordingly.The two parties have had years to deliver a reform voters agree on. If they refuse, independents can make that refusal costly — or replace the politicians responsible.

Democratic New York Governor Kathy Hochul managed to insult all supporters of President Donald Trump in her online feud with rapper Nicki Minaj.Minaj fired off the first missive in a post calling the Democrat "evil" and promising that God would catch up to her eventually.'Downward spiral for her. She will not escape God's wrath.'"Kathy Hochul is an evil woman," Minaj wrote on social media Wednesday."The Democratic Party should forfeit her seat because even if she wins, she will be of great consequence to them," she added. "Downward spiral for her. She will not escape God's wrath. She did not denounce evil when she had the chance."Hochul fired back when asked about the comments at a campaign stop in Albany."Maybe she ought to get outside and offline a little more. And stop going to Trump rallies because it's kind of poisoning your mind," the governor replied.Bruce Blakeman, the Republican who is running to replace Hochul, pounced on the opportunity to criticize his competitor."Nicki, I've got the U-Haul ready. It's time to fire the worst governor in America," he responded.The rapper went on to rip into Hochul for comments from 2024 where she claimed that black children in the Bronx didn't even know what the word "computer" meant, owing to racial inequality."HOW DARE YOU AS BLACK PEOPLE VOTE FOR THIS VILE WICKED CURSE OF A WOMAN? HOW DARE YOU AS CHRISTIANS?!" Minaj added.RELATED: Sheriff pushes back against edict from New York governor to END cooperation with ICE New York state has seen an avalanche of residents fleeing the high taxes and far-left government policies. It is second only to California for highest number of people fleeing to other states. The governor has had to resort to begging wealthy people to move back in order to shore up the eroding tax base of the state. Hochul is far ahead of Blakeman in the far-left state, according to the Blaze News Poll Watch.New York Governor polls 2026: Hochul vs. Blakeman pollwatch.theblaze.comLike Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

A former high school teacher in Kentucky accused of sending sexually explicit messages to a student pleaded guilty to sex abuse charges. The female teacher agreed to never teach again and to register as a sex offender for the rest of her life.Rachel Clement, 29, pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of first-degree sexual abuse with a position of authority or special trust and one count of tampering with physical evidence, according to the Hendersonian. 'We believe the evidence fit those charges.'As part of the plea deal Henderson Circuit Judge Karen Wilson accepted, Clement is permanently barred from teaching in the United States and must register as a sex offender for life, the Hendersonian reported. Under the agreement, Clement must have no contact with her victim or his family, and she is banned from school district property.WFIE-TV reported that Clement could be sentenced to three years in prison for each sexual abuse count and five years on the tampering charge.Henderson County Commonwealth's Attorney Herb McKee Jr. is recommending that the sentences run concurrently but noted that the judge can impose consecutive sentences, according to the Hendersonian. Clement is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 4, 2027.RELATED: Ex-special education teacher 'obsessed' with student sobs as judge blasts her for assaulting boy: 'You ruined him' Five Buck Photos via iStock/Getty Images PlusMcKee said he met with the victim and his family, Henderson police detectives, and Henderson County Schools officials — all of whom agreed with the recommendations."We believe the evidence fit those charges," McKee said.Before the plea deal was accepted, Clement was scheduled to stand trial on Friday.The Hendersonian reported that Clement initially was charged with two counts of unlawful use of electronic means to induce a minor to engage in sexual or other prohibited actions, first-degree sexual abuse, and tampering with physical evidence.Clement initially pleaded not guilty during her arraignment.Clement, who had been a teacher at Henderson County High School, was arrested in June.The Hendersonian previously reported that McKee indicated that the sexual abuse charge involves the sexual messaging, and the tampering with physical evidence charge involves deleting or obscuring evidence.The New York Post reported that Clement was immediately removed from the school after the accusations surfaced. In June, school officials said Clement's contract would not be renewed, according to WFIE. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Texas is at a crossroads, and with Democrats gaining ground in the upcoming election, Governor Greg Abbott (R) says the stakes have never been higher.And Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck is well aware.“We now have CAIR Action, whose parent group is a terrorist organization — designated a terrorist organization — listed your opponent now for governor as their preferred candidate,” Glenn Beck tells Governor Greg Abbott.“That’s an endorsement I wouldn’t want,” he adds.“This is just one of many extreme contrasts between myself and my opponent, Gina Hinojosa,” Abbott agrees. “What most people don’t know is that my opponent is to the far radical left of Talarico. My opponent was the number-one leftist Democrat in the Texas House of Representatives, and her position with regard to CAIR, with regard to Sharia law, is just one of them,” he explains.While Abbott signed a law that banned Sharia compounds in the state of Texas, Hinojosa “supports Sharia law in the state of Texas.”“What voters need to know here in the state of Texas is that this election is a referendum. Are we going to ban Sharia law in the state of Texas, which is what we will be doing this next session if I am governor?” Abbott says. “Or are we going to allow Sharia law to expand in the state of Texas, which would happen if my opponent, Gina Hinojosa, is elected to the governor’s office?”But it is not just Sharia law that is on the ballot.“I’m concerned that, you know, Texas has always been on the forefront of the future. With oil and gas, we could be the strongest nation in the world, if it wasn’t for the United States. Texas could be, because of all the energy that we have and all of the development that we have here,” Glenn tells Abbott.“And I worry about the left coming in and crushing us on energy again and then crushing us on data centers and things like Elon Musk, who is transforming the way we get to space here in Texas,” he adds.“Your concern is so very real,” Abbott responds.“When Hurricane Harvey hit in Texas in 2017, my opponent was a member of the Texas House of Representatives. She said the only way forward from a hurricane like that is with a Texas Green New Deal,” he explains.“She then proposed taxes and regulations on the oil and gas sector. She proposed an environmental justice agency in the state of Texas that would be monitoring the oil and gas sector,” he says.“Her radical, crazy oil and gas policies would send hundreds of thousands of Texans to the unemployment line. It would lead to a destruction of our oil and gas sector. Texas would become more like California, as opposed to Texas, with regard to what we’re doing on oil and gas, and it would lead to skyrocketing prices at the pump,” he continues.“It would be devastating to our state, devastating to America,” he adds.Want more from Glenn Beck?To enjoy more of Glenn’s masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis, and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.