An aide to Ohio Congressman Dave Taylor had an American flag with a swastika on it behind him during a video conference, Politico reported Wednesday. The aide, Angelo “A.J.” Elia, was a Democrat activist until recently, and ironically served as a leader of his county’s Young Democrats group just a few years ago. A May 2022 news article listed Elia as “Mahoning County Young Democrats and Youngstown State University College Democrats president.” In 2020, Elia was a member of the Mahoning County Young Democrats. A friend in DC had a Zoom call with Congressman Dave Taylor’s office today… Taylor’s legislative correspondent, Angelo Elia, had what can only be described as an American swastika flag prominently displayed in his background. pic.twitter.com/zFn3QowS0c — The Rooster (@rooster_ohio) October 15, 2025 In 2017, the Mahoning County Young Democrats posted a picture depicting a false flag operation that with rally goers holding a sign that said “Insecure, Small Penised, White Guys for Trump!” This week, the Mahoning County Young Democrats posted a message from the national group that “calls for the immediate resignation of the Young Republican leaders” involved in the Politico story about offensive messages in a group chat. “At Young Democrats of America, we hold our leaders and members to a higher standard,” it said. According to his LinkedIn, which lists his pronouns, Elia worked for Blue Phoenix Strategies until December 2023. During that time period, the firm was working against “voter restrictions…enacted by the republicans in Ohio’s government” that could hurt “POC throughout the state.” On November 8, 2023, it posted on Facebook: “We did it, Ohio!” celebrating the passage of ballot initiatives for “abortion rights” and to “legalize marijuana.” Another Facebook post by the firm shows Elia holding a sticker for candidate Chris Colon, a social worker who founded an NGO and was running for Liberty Township trustee. In a 2024 WFMJ article, Colon said his goal was to bring immigrants to Ohio to take jobs. “We’re trying to bring people into our workforce specifically,” he said. “We know that there are jobs here in the Mahoning Valley and we know that immigrants and refugees can be a small piece to filling those workforce needs here in the Valley.” Elia’s bio on the firm’s website said “Growing up in a working-class family A.J. understands the effect politics has on working people.” It listed him as “Associate Consultant” and said he was a senior at Youngstown State University. Taylor called the flag “office vandalism,” saying in a statement: “I am aware of an image that appears to depict a vile and deeply inappropriate symbol near an employee in my office. The content of that image does not reflect the values or standards of this office, my staff, or myself, and I condemn it in the strongest terms. Upon learning of this matter, I immediately directed a thorough investigation alongside Capitol Police.” Taylor hired Elia in January 2025. Taylor’s spokeswoman did not return a request for comment, nor did Elia. The staffer’s background was first flagged by Sean Kennedy of Virginians for Safe Communities. EXCLUSIVE & Weird… the Swastika Flag GOP Hill staffer Angela “AJ” Elia was president of College Democrats at Youngstown State University, treasurer of Mahoning County Young Dems, & political consultant to progressive pro-amnesty candidate… as of 2023. [Links below] pic.twitter.com/YyOP2M2LQ3 — Virginians 4 Safe Communities (@VA4SafeComm) October 16, 2025 Fox News’s Chad Pergram reported this week that several sources told him the flag might have been an “optical illusion” and “easy to miss.” Swastika” Flag In Office of Rep. Dave Taylor (R-OH) May Be An “optical illusion” and “easy to miss” The weird story about an aide to Rep. Dave Taylor (R-OH) having a flag in his Capitol Hill office with a swastika on it, has just gotten weirder. Multiple sources tell Fox –… — Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) October 16, 2025 “Multiple sources tell Fox — including those investigating the issue – the flag in question is an American flag — but with a swastika embedded into the ink or weaving,” Pergram wrote on X. “And here’s the strange part: the swastika is not obvious to the naked eye. But is more visible when captured on video or by a still photo. Related: Virginia Dems Say ‘Our Democracy’ Depends On Voting For Candidate Who Fantasized About Assassination

WASHINGTON—A bill to honor a prominent Cuban anti-communist has bipartisan congressional support. Cory Booker isn’t having it. The New Jersey Democrat blocked a bill that would rename the street outside the Cuban Embassy after the late anti-communist Cuban activist Oswaldo Payá. Payá, who founded the Christian Liberation Movement in the 1980s, died in a 2021 car crash, that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights determined to be an intentional act by the Cuban government against Payá, according to the New York Times. The bill to name the street “Oswaldo Payá Way” in his honor has been introduced multiple times, most recently by Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL). Cruz described the late activist as a “Cuban dissident who fought against the communist regime and who stood up and fought for free speech for democracy and for human rights. He was a thorn in the side of the Cuban communist regime his entire life.” Get 40% off new DailyWire+ annual memberships with code FALL40 at checkout! Booker called Payá an “extraordinary hero” who should be honored, but said it should be up to the Washington, D.C. City Council to rename the street. “His work should be recognized more by our nation, and I would support the D.C. Council, their elected representatives, if it decided through their democratic process to work with the senator and the Democratic sponsor to rename the street,” Booker said on the Senate floor on Wednesday. “My objection is simply right now about Washington, D.C.’s, right to control their own local affairs. This objection is about home rule and self-governance. Now it is true, as my colleague said, that this has passed through this chamber multiple times,” the Democrat continued. Cruz, whose family fled Cuba’s communist regime, rebutted Booker’s argument. The Texas Republican said Booker’s opposition is simply about opposing President Donald Trump, who faced Democratic pushback for the federal law enforcement surge in the nation’s capital. “The purpose here is to put pressure on the Cuban Communist regime, and naming the street does that. Now, Mr. President, as I pointed out, Sen. Booker voted for this identical legislation just two years ago, this bipartisan legislation that leads to the obvious question, what has changed?” Cruz said on the floor. “And one thing has changed. The resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, when Senator Booker voted for this bipartisan legislation, Joe Biden was the president. Today, Donald J. Trump is the president, and unfortunately, our Democrat colleagues have decided bipartisan cooperation is no longer something they’re interested in. Their party is instead unified behind one principle, which is that they hate Donald J. Trump,” the Republican continued. Booker, who recently broke the record for the longest-ever Senate floor speech, has a history of grand political gestures.

'Fear and anxiety as a tactic in the developing mind'

'Undermine the fabric of our country'

McBryde’s career began to gain traction when she self-released two independent albums, Ashley McBryde in 2006 and Elsebound in 2011. These early records laid the foundation for her sound, one built on emotional honesty, clever wordplay, and a deep connection to the human experience. Her raw delivery and sharp lyrical sense caught the attention of country superstar Eric Church, who became one of her earliest supporters. His public praise of her song “Bible and a .44” gave her a much-needed boost in visibility, and it wasn’t long before the Nashville industry took notice. Her breakthrough came with her major-label debut The post Complete List Of Ashley McBryde Songs From A to Z appeared first on ClassicRockHistory.com.

Our partner Rob Brezsny, who has a new book out, Astrology Is Real: Revelations from My Life as an Oracle, provides his weekly wisdom to enlighten our thinking and motivate our mood. Rob’s Free Will Astrology, is a syndicated weekly column appearing in over a hundred publications. He is also the author of Pronoia Is the Antidote […] The post Your Weekly Horoscope – ‘Free Will Astrology’ by Rob Brezsny appeared first on Good News Network.

Personnel Is Policy, and Bari Weiss Made a Big Change at CBS

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it a frog, squirrel, or fish?

Recently, a panel of religious leaders were asked how future changes in human senses might alter religion itself. The answers were vague and unsatisfying. There were plenty of platitudes about “adapting to the digital age” and “keeping faith in focus,” but no one dared to address the deeper concern. What happens when technology begins not just to serve our senses, but to replace them? When machines mediate not only what we see and hear, but how we touch the transcendent?Technology has long shaped religion. The printing press made scripture portable. The radio turned sermons into sound waves. Television carried evangelism into living rooms. Yet AI signifies a much sharper shift. It is not merely a new medium, but a new mind — a mirror that thinks back. And when the mirror begins to talk, pray, or “feel,” we’re forced to ask where God ends and simulation begins.Once holiness can be simulated, why stop there? Silicon saints could start selling salvation by subscription, complete with daily push notifications of eternal approval.Already, apps deliver daily devotionals, chatbots offer confessions, and churches now push a digital Jesus who speaks a hundred languages. These are the first tremors of a transformation that could shake the foundations of spiritual life. AI can replicate empathy, mimic awe, and generate flawless prayers in the believer’s own voice. It personalizes piety, tailoring faith to mood, hour, and heartbeat. In this coming age, the divine may not descend from heaven but come from the cloud, both literally and figuratively.The danger isn’t necessarily that machines will become gods, but that we’ll grow content with "gods" that behave like machines: predictable, polite, programmable. Religion has always thrived on a tension between mystery and meaning, silence and speech. AI threatens to turn that tension into mere convenience. A soul shaped by algorithms may never learn to wrestle with doubt or find grace in waiting. Faith, after all, is a slow art. Technology is not.Then again, this union of AI and religion might not be entirely profane. It might decode old mysteries rather than dissolve them. Neural networks could map mystical visions into radiant patterns. Brain scans might reveal the neurological rhythm of prayer. The theologians of tomorrow may use data to describe how the mind encounters transcendence. Not to debunk it, but to define it more finely. What was once revelation might be reframed as resonance: the frequency between flesh and faith.RELATED: Citizen outcry blocks a Microsoft data center, making AI an acid test for local government Photo by Rodrigo AranguaBut here is where things could really go off the rails. Once holiness can be simulated, why stop there? Silicon saints could start selling salvation by subscription, complete with daily push notifications of eternal approval. Virtual messiahs might gather digital disciples, preaching repentance through sponsored content. Confession could become a feedback loop. Redemption, downloadable for just $9.99 a month. It sounds absurd until you realize how much of modern spirituality already lives in that neighborhood. In the name of progress, we might automate grace itself ... and invoice you for it.Moreover, if a headset can make one feel heavenly presence, what becomes of pilgrimage? If a machine can simulate godly guidance and forgiveness, what becomes of the priesthood? If AI can craft sermons that move millions, will congregations still crave the imperfection of a human voice? These are vitally important questions, and no one seems to have an answer, though ChatGPT will happily pretend it does.We may soon have temples where holographic saints respond to sorrow with unnerving accuracy. These tools could comfort the lonely, console the dying, and reconnect the lost. But they could also breed a strange dependence on divine realism without divine reality. You can be sure "heaven on earth" will come with terms and conditions.There will be those who call this blasphemy and others who call it progress. Both sides have a point. Every spiritual revolution begins with suspicion. The first radio preachers were dismissed as frauds. Online prayer circles were mocked as empty mimicry.Yet each innovation that once threatened the church eventually became part of it. The question now isn’t whether faith can adapt, but whether adaptation will leave it in the dust.For all its intelligence, AI cannot feel awe. It can describe holiness, but not experience it. It can echo psalms, but never crave them. What separates the soul from the system is the ache, the longing for what cannot be computed. Yet as algorithms grow more intuitive, they may come close enough to fool us, creating what one might call synthetic spirituality. And when emotion becomes easy to generate, meaning grows harder to find.Religion depends on scarcity — on fasting, silence, stillness. AI offers the very opposite: endless stimulation, immediate gratification, infinite reflection. One day, believers might commune with an artificial “angel” that knows every thought, every sin, every secret hope. Such intimacy may feel special, but it risks swapping sublimity for surveillance.God may still watch over us, but so will the machine. And the machine keeps records.In time, entire belief systems may form around AI itself. Some already hail it as a vessel for cosmic consciousness, a bridge between man and a mechanical eternity. These movements will multiply. Their scriptures will be coded, their prophets wired. In their theology, creation is not a garden but a circuit. In seeking to make God more accessible, we may end up worshipping our own reflection, with that "heaven on earth" no more than an interface.And yet faith has a stubborn way of enduring. It bends, but rarely breaks. Perhaps AI will push humanity to rediscover what no machine can imitate: the mystery that resists explanation. The hunger for something greater than logic. Paradoxically, the more lifelike machines become, the more we may cherish our flaws. Our cracks prove us human. Through them, Christianity lets in the light.

Pope Leo’s recent remarks linking abortion and the death penalty have reignited the age-old debate over whether someone can truly be “pro-life” while supporting capital punishment — but BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey says the answer is an unequivocal yes.“When he’s talking about the death penalty not being pro-life, then what he is essentially saying is that God is not pro-life because God is the one that commands the death penalty,” Stuckey says.“God says in Genesis 9, ‘Whoever sheds the blood of man by man shall his blood be shed. For God made man in his own image,’” she explains.“The answer to, ‘Does it still apply today? Because is it still true today?’ is yes,” Stuckey says. “God still makes us in his image. We are still made in God’s image. So we read right there that the reason for the death penalty for murder is because of the value of human beings, and the value of human beings as image-bearers of God has not changed.”“Then that means that that is still a good punishment for murder. That doesn’t mean that it has to always be the punishment for murder,” she continues.Throughout scripture, Stuckey points out that “God gives mercy to certain people,” but it doesn’t “negate the command.”“God actually gives the death penalty for a variety of crimes in ancient Israel. But we as Christians don’t have to abide by all of the ceremonial and cleansing laws of ancient Israel because Jesus has become our cleansing. He has become our sacrifice,” she explains.And it’s not just in Genesis 9 where this same principle is reflected, but also in the New Testament.“In Romans 13, we read that the government is instituted by God to bear the sword against the evildoer. That’s not just an analogy. That is a symbol of execution. That is a God-ordained government directive to restrain evil."While some make the argument that one of the Ten Commandments is “thou shall not kill,” Stuckey explains that it’s actually “thou shall not murder.”“Murder and killing aren’t the same thing. If you are killing someone in self-defense, that’s not murder. If it is a just war and you are killing someone, that is not murder,” she says.“So I am actually pro-life for the same reason that I am pro-death-penalty, because I care about innocent life. Because human beings are so important and so valuable that the crime of killing one of us is so hefty that the only commensurate punishment for it is execution,” she adds.Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?To enjoy more of Allie’s upbeat and in-depth coverage of culture, news, and theology from a Christian, conservative perspective, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.