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James Talarico has been dominating the Texas Senate conversation, but Ken Paxton is finally fighting back — and he’s using Talarico’s own words against him.In a new AI-generated campaign ad, Paxton strings together several radical comments Talarico has actually made, and it has the AI Talarico read a fictional monologue about a “nonbinary” God, six genders, a “radical feminist” Jesus, and America not being a Christian nation.“In the beginning, God was nonbinary, and he wasn’t a Christian. And God said, ‘Let there be six genders.’ And there were. Then God so loved the world that He gave us His only Son, who was a radical feminist and never asked people to worship Him,” the ad shows the AI Talarico saying.“Look, I always think of myself as a Christian who hates Christianity,” he continues.“James Talarico, wrong for Texas,” a voice-over says.“America is not a Christian nation,” Talarico says, before the voice-over finished, “And wrong for America too.”“A little AI action there,” BlazeTV host Pat Gray says on “Pat Gray Unleashed.”“But here’s the thing. Those are all things that James Talarico has actually said. So they’ll scream about that, ‘You made an AI, you made him say things from artificial intelligence,’” he continues, “And he’s said all of those things.”“Just not right after each other," he adds.The ad, Gray notes, shows “what we’re up against with James Talarico.”“Is that who you want representing Texas?” he asks.“But he’s very smooth. I mean the guy, he is a good campaigner, and he’s the only one we’re seeing in this race until very recent, like two minutes ago,” he adds, “We're finally seeing Ken Paxton fighting back a little bit.”Want more from Pat Gray?To enjoy more of Pat's biting analysis and signature wit as he restores common sense to a senseless world, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

Apple’s iPhone is known for top-tier privacy and security, and while recent events have us questioning its impervious reputation, iOS is still a better option for the security-conscious than Android, where Google openly siphons user data to improve its products. One way Apple protects users is through powerful end-to-end encryption for iCloud files, iMessages, and more, but this cutting-edge tech isn’t as effective if the big bad wolf is already inside the henhouse. A new warning reveals that some iPhones are being targeted by spyware. Are you one of the victims on the list?In mid-August, Apple published a new article on its support site stating that iPhones can now receive notification alerts when a device is targeted by spyware from an outside source, such as a cybercriminal, mercenary group, or foreign government.Spyware can target iPhones, and there are serious consequences if it happens to you.Around the same time, Apple issued the first batch of alerts to users living in 110 countries worldwide. The company didn’t provide much more information, aside from the fact that targets in 150 countries have been notified via its spyware alert system since its inception in 2021, with an unprecedented number occurring in recent weeks.As for who is most at risk, Apple warns that bad actors are most likely to target very specific groups of people, including journalists, activists, politicians, and diplomats. Still, even if you aren’t in any of these categories, it’s important to know that spyware can target iPhones, and there are serious consequences if it happens to you. Apple Threat Notification/Apple SupportWhat a mercenary can do with iPhone spywareWhile iPhone used to be labeled as virtually unhackable, that hasn’t actually been the case for a very long time, if ever. Just like Android or Windows, iPhones running on iOS can contract terrible viruses and malware that could wreak havoc on the personal data inside.When it comes to spyware, this type of malware is particularly dangerous because it usually hides in the shadows, waiting quietly without any obvious ransom requests or fanfare. Instead, it siphons personal data like a leech, taking bits at a time without the user knowing they’re under attack. It could steal anything — browsing history, passwords, credit card information, classified documents, clipboard contents, etc. Your entire digital life is at risk.RELATED: The latest iPhone security threat has a nasty fix Moor Studio/Getty ImagesWhat to do if you receive a spyware alert on iPhoneIf you receive a spyware notification from Apple, it will appear in two separate places. First, it’ll pop up directly on the lock screen as an Apple Threat Notification where you’re most likely to notice it the moment it’s available. Second, it’ll appear at the top of the page in the Settings app with a red dot to catch your attention.Based on all information available, it’s extremely unlikely that you’ll ever receive this alert. However, if you do, there are some immediate steps you should take to lock down your phone and protect your data.First, you should enable Lockdown Mode in the Settings app. This feature limits your phone's functionality to make it harder for cybercriminals to steal your data. It’s important to note that Lockdown Mode should only be used in serious situations, as it will severely impact your device’s day-to-day capabilities. To activate Lockdown Mode, open the Settings app. Scroll down and select Privacy & Security. Scroll down again to the very bottom of the page and tap on Lockdown Mode. Lastly, tap to enable Lockdown Mode, confirm your decision on the next page, and you’re protected. Screenshots by Zach Laidlaw/Lockdown Mode on iOS 26.6.1Next, Apple recommends that you contact an expert for additional security support and guidance. It lists several options, some of which have ties to woke progressive ideologies, like Access Now, so I would refrain from following its advice wholesale. Instead, you should file a report with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center to make it aware of the targeted strike.You might also wish to partner with an identity theft protection agency to help mitigate any damages caused by personal data loss. If you’re an active target, the instigator is likely to continue to search for new ways to reach your data, so you’ll need an ally in the fight to keep you, your devices, and your information secure.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Twenty-five years after the attacks of September 11, 2001, it is worth saying something my fellow Americans might not like.Osama bin Laden is winning.Bin Laden could not defeat the United States militarily. He needed us to exhaust ourselves and change ourselves.Not that he won. He didn’t. American special operators found him in Pakistan in 2011, shot him dead, and dumped his body into the Arabian Sea — probably. Al-Qaeda never destroyed the United States, overthrew the Saudi monarchy, conquered Jerusalem, or established the worldwide caliphate bin Laden imagined.But bin Laden had a strategy. And a disturbing amount of it worked.He wanted American forces out of Saudi Arabia. The large post-Gulf War presence ended in 2003, although the United States never fully left.He wanted to draw the United States into long, expensive wars in the Muslim world. We obliged him beyond his wildest expectations.In 2004, bin Laden spoke explicitly of “bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy.” He did not bankrupt us. Not yet.The national debt stood at about $5.8 trillion in 2001. Today it is roughly $40.6 trillion. Afghanistan and Iraq did not cause all of that. Not remotely. But the post-9/11 wars consumed enormous sums, and the debt accumulated over the same quarter-century now constrains American choices at home and abroad. By 2009 alone, Congress had provided more than $800 billion to the Pentagon for the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and related operations.We occupied Afghanistan for 20 years, invaded Iraq, and finally fled Kabul while the Taliban returned to power.Through all of this, we preserved the serene conviction that the United States remained a colossus bestriding the earth.My old teacher Angelo Codevilla saw the danger almost immediately. Writing after 9/11, Codevilla offered a pitiless standard for victory: You win when you force the enemy to change how he lives without changing how you live.By that standard, Osama bin Laden is winning. He’s dead. We changed.We built a permanent security superstate. We accepted surveillance, watch lists, airport humiliations, emergency powers, and a sprawling homeland security bureaucracy as ordinary features of American life.We spent trillions fighting wars whose political objectives we never clearly defined. What political result did we expect from occupying Afghanistan for two decades? What political result did we expect from Iraq?What did victory look like?Our “statesmen” never really answered those questions, especially the last one.Instead, we confused military superiority with political wisdom and the ability to destroy things with the ability to produce outcomes we wanted.Exploiting our misapprehension was central to bin Laden’s strategy.RELATED: Outrage erupts at apparent insult from Mamdani during 9/11 ceremony Robert Giroux/Getty ImagesHe could not defeat the United States militarily. He needed us to exhaust ourselves and change ourselves. We did both.Then something remarkable happened after he was dead.In November 2023, young Americans began passing around bin Laden’s 2002 “Letter to America” on TikTok. Some said reading it changed how they understood American foreign policy. Many of the people encountering his propaganda had little or no memory of 9/11.They were not joining al-Qaeda. But some read the justification offered by the man responsible for murdering nearly 3,000 Americans and thought: Maybe he had a point.Sure, Bin Laden was dead. His argument had outlived him.America today is also considerably more Muslim than the America he attacked. Muslims remain a small minority — about 1.6% of the population — but their cultural and political presence is far more significant than it was in 2001.None of that is sinister in itself — necessarily. Most American Muslims are not bin Ladenists. They don’t have to be. Why flatten skyscrapers when you can get your co-religionist elected mayor of the very place where the towers fell? Or gradually take over a city? And although the idea of religious liberty is not something we should readily throw away, religion must conform to our constitutional norms and small-"r" republican form of government. With citizenship comes certain obligations.George Washington put it beautifully in his 1790 letter to the Hebrew Congregation at Newport. The United States, he wrote, “gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.”But Washington continued: The government “requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.”RELATED: Media tries to protect Antifa with tired al-Qaeda talking points CNN/Getty ImagesThere are two halves to the bargain. The republic protects you. You owe something to the republic. We have become very good at talking about the first proposition and almost embarrassed by the second. That’s a deadly mistake. Sharia law, strictly speaking, is incompatible with our Constitution.Nations can lose without being conquered. They can dissipate power. They can mistake reputation for strength. They can confuse yesterday’s dominance with today’s reality.And they can change themselves so thoroughly in response to an enemy that they forget what victory was supposed to preserve.Bin Laden is dead. Codevilla’s question remains: Who changed whom?Our enemies did not reorganize themselves around us. We reorganized ourselves around them.That’s why, a quarter-century after 9/11 and 15 years after bin Laden’s death, the answer is so terrible: He’s winning the long war, and we’re losing.

President Donald Trump was in high spirits and made sure everyone else was too as he slammed Democrats and reminded voters of Republican accomplishments as the midterm convention drew to a close. Trump took the stage Thursday night to Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the U.S.A." after a well-received speech by Vice President JD Vance. The president promptly launched into a laundry list of his second-term accomplishments. 'If the Democrats get in, they'll destroy everything we've built.'"I want to thank our great vice president, who did a fantastic job tonight," Trump began."This place is packed. It was packed last night," said Trump, who also addressed the convention on Wednesday. "But even more important is the spirit. ... I'm seeing a spirit like we haven't seen in this country in a long time."The president dated that spirit back to the popular mandate he received in the 2024 election. “Less than two years ago, the American people gave us a mandate to save America," Trump said. "In the last 19 months, I’ve delivered on every promise we made, and I think I’ve delivered on far more.”Trump reminded the crowd about chaos at the country's border under former President Joe Biden and asked them to remember that chaos when they were deciding whether to go out and vote. According to the White House, releases at the border have been at zero for 15 months and net migration turned negative in 2025.“[Democrats] gave us wide-open borders, with 25 million people pouring in from all over the globe," Trump said. "We took that dark age of America and turned that into the golden age of America.”From there, he ran through highlights of his second term.“We delivered the largest tax cuts in American history, the largest regulation cuts in American history, the largest investment in our military in the history of our country, and made our country the energy and military superpower of the world," Trump said.He also reminded the crowd of drastic reductions to prescription drug prices as well as Democrats' pro-transgender politics, exhorting his supporters to rally their friends and families to the polls in November. “Get out and vote, please," Trump said. "Get out and vote."The president then reminded the crowd about the signature proposal from his Wednesday speech: the Trump dividend.“If we win the midterms ... we’ll provide a Trump dividend: $5,000 for every adult citizen in this country," Trump said. "We can do that because we’re doing so well as a country. We’re taking in trillions of dollars.”RELATED: Trump promises $5,000 checks for all — if Republicans win the midterms Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty ImagesTrump asked the room to vote as if he were on the ballot, citing turnout woes for Republicans when he isn't at the top of the ticket.“I’m not on the ticket. You gotta pretend. You gotta do me the biggest favor you’ve ever done me," Trump said with his signature sense of humor. "You gotta pretend I’m on the ticket. I’m on the ticket — I’m on the ticket!”He reminded the crowd of the stakes.“If the Democrats get in, they’ll destroy everything we’ve built," Trump said. "So on November 3, you’ve gotta do me a favor and vote like I’m on the ballot."As he closed his remarks, Trump had the crowd raise their right hands and pledge to get out and vote.“I pledge to the greatest president in the history of the United States, that loves us so much he can’t even breathe, that I am going to go out and get my friends and family, and we are going to vote on November 3 or vote before that!" “So help me God,” Trump said. “You know what happens if you don’t vote, right? You go to hell. I don’t want that to happen to you, so go out and vote!”Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!