The Texas church where Democrat James Talarico has delivered his radical sermons is pushing radical gender ideology on children, featuring books filled with sexually explicit content and transgender ideology. Talarico, the Democrat nominee for the crucial Senate election in November, attends St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Austin. There, children have access to a library stocked with “banned books” that promote ideas rejected by most Christians, including books that contain descriptions of anal rape, incest, and oral sex, according to a Daily Wire review of its offerings. Books found in the St. Andrew’s catalog include the book “Gender Queer,” which includes illustrations of oral sex and masturbation, and the book “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” which discusses anal rape and incest. Other books in the church catalog include “This Book is Gay,” “Trans Kids, Our Kids: Stories and Resources from the Frontlines of the Movement for Transgender Youth,” “Called OUT: The Voices and Gifts of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered Presbyterians,” “The Courage to Be Queer,” and “Becoming Nicole: The Transformation of an American Family.” “This Book Is Gay,” has a chapter on the “ins and outs of gay sex,” while the book “Becoming Nicole” tells the story of a gender-confused teen boy who identifies as girl with the support of his family. In “The Courage to Be Queer,” the author claims that “God is queer.” Talarico, looking to flip a Senate seat in a state President Donald Trump won by 14 points in 2024, has faced criticism over comments he made on transgender ideology. It will likely be a central theme in the campaign against him — in his first speech as the official Republican nominee on Tuesday night, Republican Ken Paxton referred to Talarico as both “Six-Gender Jimmy” and “James Tala-FREAKO.” Republican congressman Brandon Gill on the same stage went after Talarico over the Daily Wire report earlier this year on the time he said the thing he loved most in the world was “trans children.” WATCH: James Talarico Says He Loves ‘Trans Children’ In Unearthed Clip St. Andrew’s, the church where Talarico delivered his sermon that asserted that “our trans community needs abortion care too,” says it offers banned books so that children can find “affirmation in the books they read.” It boasts that the books “shift our perspective, develop empathy, and see more clearly the call to justice among all people.” Talarico has voted in the state legislature against keeping men out of women’s sports and claimed it was “abusive” and “destructive” if parents did not accept their child’s alleged gender identity. “We are a safe haven for controversial narratives right in the heart of Texas, the state that takes the top prize in challenged books. Take a moment to browse our collection of banned books and see what you notice … common themes … particular experiences and identities being censored,” the church says of its banned books collection. He has also stated his belief that “god is nonbinary,” and that Jesus was a “radical feminist.” St. Andrew’s is part of the Presbyterian Church (USA), generally known as a liberal denomination with unorthodox views on gender and sexuality. Talarico’s church refers to itself as a “Reproductive Freedom Congregation,” meaning it believes “abortion is a blessing.” The Democrat candidate himself has argued that the Bible doesn’t oppose abortion. The church recently held a training linked to the anti-Trump “No Kings” protest movement.

This article is part of Upstream, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you. *** Imagine an op-ed titled “Why I Hate Black People.” Imagine a TikTok confessional where a young woman lists, with practiced disdain, the reasons she finds deaf people insufferable or embarrassing in public. Both scenarios would demand a metaphorical public crucifixion, and that is the correct response. Now swap in “children” for either of those groups, and you’ve described an ordinary Tuesday on the internet. A culture that prides itself on rooting out bigotry seemingly left one arena available for public contempt. Ironically, they are the smallest, weakest, most innocent, and least able to defend themselves. We have built an entire vocabulary for these supposedly despicable creatures. We have lovely new nicknames for them, such as “crotch goblin” or “semen demon.” These are some of the commonly used slurs designed to dehumanize children. Terms such as “child-free by choice” and “DINK” (dual income, no kids) have also been invented to tout one’s self-righteous status for choosing not to procreate. This is actual bigotry. It meets every textbook definition. It dehumanizes a class of people on the basis of an immutable characteristic — a characteristic, incidentally, that every person sneering at it once possessed. The 28-year-old who calls children “parasites” was, 28 years ago, a parasite by her own definition. Someone fed her, changed her, and taught her to read. She might even spend hours in therapy waxing on about how her imperfect parents ruined her life through those very sacrifices. This is the same type of person who finds herself annoyed by the number of children walking around Disney World. We have taken the cultural sneer and codified it into law. The same civilization that demonizes children on social media insists the most defenseless among us can be killed at will. The unborn can be eliminated for any reason or none. They call that freedom of choice. Over 63 million American children have been killed in the womb since the Roe v. Wade decision. Worldwide, the running total is in the billions. There has never been a more thorough campaign of violence against any class of human beings in history, and we have rebranded it as “reproductive health.” Just recently, the Supreme Court allowed the abortion pill to keep flowing through the mail. In Louisiana v. FDA, the court left intact the Food and Drug Administration rules permitting mifepristone, the chemical agent now responsible for the majority of American abortions, to be prescribed over a telehealth call and dropped into a mailbox like a birthday card. When a civilization is shipping chemical death to young women’s doorsteps in unmarked envelopes, the mask has fallen entirely. Some celebrate plummeting birth rates as ecological progress. They think it would be unforgivable to bring life into the world in its current form. What a staggeringly unsustainable point of view. People obviously had children throughout every era of human existence, or we would not be here today.  Others simply do not care; they cannot see anything in their life past their next drink. They cheer for airlines that promise child-free cabins. They treat a baby crying on a flight as a moral failing on the parents’ part. But a crying child is something far more important: a tiny human, brand-new to the world, doing the only thing she knows how to do. We have built a culture that worships the unbothered self: autonomous, frictionless, infinitely optimized. Children are inconvenient to that god. They cry when you are tired. They need things when you are busy. They cannot be muted, blocked, or scheduled. They demand from you the one thing the modern American refuses to surrender: autonomy. So we have decided, quietly and then loudly, that the problem is them. The demographers can show you the curve. Births are collapsing across the developed world. South Korea’s fertility rate has fallen below 0.8. Japan loses a city’s worth of people every year. Europe is graying into a museum, and the United States is not far behind. Humanity has a catastrophic population problem in addition to its spiritual rot.  By contrast, Scripture paints a very different picture. “Children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward” (Psalm 127:3). When the disciples tried to enforce a child-free zone around Jesus, he rebuked them sharply. “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:14). Charlie Kirk famously argued, “More people should get married young and have more kids than they can afford.” The idea of having more children than you can afford comes with a built-in subtext. It forces people to live for more than themselves. Having children gives someone a purpose outside themselves. The divine command to “be fruitful and multiply” drives people to love harder, earn more, and stop being so selfish. It also allows the legacy of humanity to continue well beyond any one lifetime.  Maybe you had an awful childhood filled with parental abuse. This is all too common in modern society. Your upbringing could have been filled with trauma you rightfully wouldn’t wish upon others. You have the opportunity to be the generational change your family line needs. Abusive views on children win when they are not intentionally and forcefully refused and replaced. Have children, love them, protect them, and give them the life you wish you had been given. One who intentionally chooses not to have children, or who discourages others from doing so, is making a choice that defies history. Every single one of your ancestors, back to Adam, brought life into this world and continued doing so — hence you being on this planet now. The proud DINK believes she has chosen the better path. In reality, she has chosen hedonism. A society that cannot tolerate its own young is a society that has lost the plot of its own existence. Every cathedral, every constitution, every poem worth reading was made by adults who were once helpless infants — adults who, at some point in their helplessness, were loved by someone who decided their existence was worth the inconvenience. Strip that out, and there is nothing left to inherit and no one to inherit it. We need to look at the children in our pews and our stores and our parks and our family rooms and remember that they are not interruptions to our personal convenience. They are people. They are a blessing. They are the future.

Texas voters on Tuesday voted to oust Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), handing the longtime incumbent a devastating defeat and delivering a sharp rebuke to the Republican establishment in Washington. Decision Desk HQ called the race for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton at 8 p.m. central time with Paxton leading Cornyn by 25 points, with roughly 57% of the vote counted. Paxton’s victory deals a major blow to the Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), who repeatedly urged Trump to back Cornyn, a four-term senator and longtime fixture in GOP leadership. Cornyn previously chaired the National Republican Senatorial Committee and served as Senate Majority Whip.  “Sen. Cornyn is a principled conservative. He is a very effective senator for the state of Texas, but none of us control what the president does,” Thune said of Trump’s 11th-hour endorsement. “That doesn’t change the way I feel.” Q: “How personally disappointed or frustrated are you with the president’s decision to endorse Ken Paxton today?” .@LeaderJohnThune: “Sen. Cornyn is a principled conservative. He is a very effective senator for the state of Texas…None of us control what the president does.” pic.twitter.com/5QglYxRp1V — CSPAN (@cspan) May 19, 2026 Cornyn is the latest incumbent – and second senator to fall – amid Trump’s campaign to purge Republicans he views as disloyal to his agenda. In recent weeks, the Trump endorsement has led to losses by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), and a handful of Indiana Republicans who bucked the president’s redistricting effort. Paxton has emerged as a fierce MAGA firebrand on a range of issues, using his office to protect women’s sports, defending Texas A&M’s decision to ban a campus drag show, and prosecuting a woman who performed illegal abortions. With all eyes on Texas, Trump ended months of suspense last Tuesday and threw his political clout behind Paxton.  “Ken is a true MAGA Warrior who has ALWAYS delivered for Texas, and will continue to do so in the United States Senate,” Trump said on Truth Social.  “John Cornyn is a good man, and I worked well with him, but he was not supportive of me when times were tough…” he added. On the campaign trail, Paxton seized the moment.  “I am so honored to have President Trump’s endorsement,” Paxton said. “When he endorses, it has a tremendous impact…I think it creates a slight bit of momentum, don’t you?” Texas AG & U.S. Senate candidate Ken Paxton (R) speaks after receiving President Trump’s endorsement: “When he endorses, it has a tremendous impact…I think it creates a slight bit of momentum, don’t you?” pic.twitter.com/cGFSrteLV4 — CSPAN (@cspan) May 19, 2026 When neither Paxton nor Cornyn surpassed the 50% threshold in the initial vote — triggering a runoff — both campaigns stepped up an intense jockeying for Trump’s support. Paxton raised eyebrows for saying he would consider dropping out of the race if the Senate passed the SAVE America Act. “John Cornyn is a coward who has refused to support abolishing the filibuster to pass this bill,” Paxton said. Cornyn wrote in a op-ed that he had previously backed the “60-vote threshold to protect the country,” but said that “when the reality on the ground changes, leaders must take stock and adapt.” The Senate’s failure to pass the SAVE America Act appeared to sway Trump. “I know Ken well, have seen him tested at the highest and most difficult levels, and he is a WINNER! Ken is a Strong Supporter of TERMINATING THE FILIBUSTER and, very importantly, THE SAVE AMERICA ACT, something which polls at 87%, including Dumocrats, and yet can’t seem to get approved,” Trump said in his Truth Social endorsement. “Perhaps Ken can help move these important elements of Government forward…” Turning Point Action backed Paxton, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee spent millions supporting Cornyn. Some party leaders worry Paxton — who was nearly convicted on corruption-related impeachment charges — could put a reliably Republican seat at risk. His wife filed for divorce in 2025, citing adultery on “biblical grounds.” In November, Paxton will face off against Democratic candidate James Talarico, whom Trump recently ripped into as “weird.” “I’ll tell you what I do think — I think the Democrats have a weird, a weird candidate. Six genders, a real hit on Jesus,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One. “I mean, this guy is bad news with his mask from relatively recently, and he’s a vegan. He’s a vegan. All of a sudden, he’s not a vegan. He was a vegan, now all of a sudden he’s not.” “Texas doesn’t like vegans. I do believe either one of them will easily win the race. I think the candidate the Democrats have in Texas is a very flawed, very weak, very — I think he’s a pathetic candidate, especially for Texas,” the president added. NEW AD: Low T Talarico is too WEAK and WEIRD for Texas. #TXsen pic.twitter.com/B6wL7pto4S — Lone Star Liberty PAC (@LoneStar_PAC) May 21, 2026

WASHINGTON, May 26 (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division filed a lawsuit against the University of California, Los Angeles on Tuesday, claiming it tolerated a hostile educational environment for Jewish and Israeli students. In its complaint, the Justice Department accused UCLA of violating Title VI – a federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance – “through its deliberate indifference to this pervasive on-campus antisemitism.” The lawsuit pointed to an encampment that was built on the university’s campus in April 2024. The Justice Department described the move as illegal and said that Jewish students were attacked. “Universities have an obligation to maintain safe and inclusive campuses for all students,” said Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California. “Universities that violate our nation’s civil rights laws by repeatedly failing to shield Jewish students from antisemitism will be held accountable.” UCLA REJECTS ALLEGATIONS UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk rejected the allegations, saying the university had taken concrete steps to combat antisemitism on campus. “Let me be direct: the suggestion that UCLA has been passive in the face of antisemitism is simply wrong,” Frenk said in a statement. “Combating antisemitism is a moral imperative — one rooted, for me, in personal history that makes indifference unthinkable.” Frenk said the university had recruited an associate vice chancellor for campus and community safety, reorganized its civil rights office, appointed a Title VI officer, and strengthened policies to protect free expression and campus safety. Frenk had introduced a campus-wide initiative to combat antisemitism, which issued a report in May outlining a roadmap to address campus antisemitism and bigotry. In February 2025, the university suspended two leftist student groups, Students for Justice in Palestine and Graduate Students for Justice in Palestine, over their involvement in a protest at the home of University of California regent Jay Sures. The following month, the university recommended revoking SJP’s status and suspending GSJP for four years. TRUMP ADMINISTRATION CRACKDOWN ON ANTISEMITISM The Justice Department announced the lawsuit shortly after a federal appeals court earlier on Tuesday partially upheld an injunction that required it to restore grants awarded to the University of California that the Trump administration had terminated last year because it perceived they supported diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI. The lawsuit is the latest legal action taken by the Trump administration to crack down on what it has described as antisemitism at U.S. universities in the wake of Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel. The 2023 attack, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,200 people, launched the Israel-Gaza war. Hundreds of students across the United States and Europe held demonstrations in the wake of the war, calling for a ceasefire to end it. In some cases, students occupied campus buildings. (Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis and Jasper Ward in Washington; Editing by Caitlin Webber and Sonali Paul)

Vacationers who choose Costa Cruises for their next adventure could face fines of up to $70 for bringing buffet food back to their cabins under a new onboard policy. Going forward, guests on some of these cruises will not be permitted to bring buffet food back to their rooms and will instead be asked to consume all meals in designated areas, per the cruise-focused blog Crew Center. This does not include meals that are delivered by Costa Cruise employees. A statement regarding the update said, “guest safety and well-being are our top priority.” “On a limited number of specific sailings, onboard communication was shared as a preventive and deterrent measure, in line with our existing policies, to encourage guests to [have] responsible behavior,” the Costa Cruises spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “Costa Cruises remains committed to ensuring a high-quality, safe and enjoyable experience for all guests on board.” The Genoa, Italy-based cruise line, which is a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation, operates routes throughout the Mediterranean, Caribbean, and South America. The policy change sparked an online debate after being highlighted by the Instagram account unrealcruises. One Instagram user mentioned that another cruise line tried something similar and said, “it did not end well for them,” and that they “had to end it.”  “Let people eat where they want. Collect the dishes. It’s a cost. Bear it and pass it on to the cruiser. But these kinds of policies with policing never end well for the company,” the commenter wrote. Others complained that eating breakfast or drinking coffee on private balconies is part of the cruise experience. “We love to take our food and coffee to enjoy on our quiet balcony,” another person complained. “Zero chance I’d pay that fine. Make breakfast in bed for my wife every morning by [bringing] food back. Who cares where you eat the included food,” echoed a third. Others supported the measure, saying passengers often leave dirty dishes and half-eaten food scattered throughout hallways and decks. “Umm, I say good, nothing worse than plates and cups lining the hallways, its not a good look. Never ever in 47 cruises needed to take food to my cabin…,” one supporter chimed in. “Only the ones that do deck clearance know the struggle. Yall take everything from the buffet and toss the plates full on the hallways. Is it that hard to eat close to other people?” another agreed.