WARNING: This report contains graphic photographs that some readers may find disturbing. These images are included to document violence against Christians and have been selected carefully to inform, rather than sensationalize. Lawrence Zongo did not smile until asked about his faith.   “I’m a Christian,” he said with joy in his voice. That statement could get him killed.   “Living as a Christian here in Nigeria is … living ready that at any time you will be killed,” Zongo told The Daily Signal during a video call from his small community in central Nigeria.  Like thousands of other Christians in Nigeria, Zongo and his wife have lost loved ones at the hands of Islamic terrorist groups that have gained significant power in the African nation over the past 15 years.   In October 2021, Zongo’s cousin Reuben was shot and killed by Muslim Fulani militants. The Fulani are a predominantly Muslim ethnic group living in Nigeria’s North West and North East states. Earlier this year, Zongo’s wife lost eight family members during an attack on a local village.  “Anytime I’m going out … I may die,” Zongo said. “Sometimes, [when] I’m going, I will just tell my wife, ‘If I die, do this, do this.’”  “We are a people that now, we’re ready to die. We plan our death. We know that we can die at any time,” he said.   The persecution of Christians in Nigeria has gained international attention, including from President Donald Trump, who announced Friday that he will designate Nigeria a “COUNTRY OF PARTICULAR CONCERN.” “When Christians, or any such group, is slaughtered like is happening in Nigeria (3,100 versus 4,476 Worldwide), something must be done! I am asking Congressman Riley Moore, together with Chairman Tom Cole and the House Appropriations Committee, to immediately look into this matter, and report back to me,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. Moore is a West Virginia Republican. Cole is an Oklahoma Republican. “The United States cannot stand by while such atrocities are happening in Nigeria, and numerous other Countries,” the president said. “We stand ready, willing, and able to save our Great Christian population around the World!” Nigeria is roughly a half-Christian/half-Muslim nation. The Muslim extremist groups operating in Nigeria, such as the Islamic State-West Africa Province and Boko Haram, not only persecute Christians, but also war with each other.   In northern Nigeria, where the violent radical Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram primarily operates, thousands of churches have been destroyed since 2009.   Christians have faced persecution in Nigeria for more than two decades, but violence against followers of Jesus grew far worse with the rise of Boko Haram in 2009, according to Global Christian Relief. Boko Haram translates to “Western education is forbidden” and has been labeled the world’s deadliest terrorist group, according to the Brookings Institute.   It is estimated that more than 50,000 Christians have been killed in Nigeria since 2009, and about 7,000 in the first half of 2025 alone, according to Concerned Women for America.   In Zongo’s community alone, he says, more than 2,000 people have been killed since 2017.   Three slain individuals are seen lying on the ground in a Nigerian community. (Lawrence Zongo) Blood stains are seen on the floor following an attack on Christians in Nigeria. (Lawrence Zongo) A girl lies dead in a Nigerian community. (Lawrence Zongo) A large grave holds the bodies of slain Christians in Nigeria. (Lawrence Zongo) Zongo, 39, was raised praying and memorizing Scripture in a Christian home and accepted Jesus Christ as his savior in 2005. Since then, he has proclaimed the Gospel to Muslims, “pagans,” and young people in Nigeria.   Today, Zongo works as a journalist for Truth Nigeria and has been critical of the Nigerian government, military, and law enforcement for failing to do more to protect Christians from persecution.   “The police are not willing to do their work,” Zongo said. “They’re paid by the government [and] if they do the right thing, they’ll be sacked,” he said, adding, “If you are doing the writing here in Nigeria, you will never make it.”  As someone who writes about the persecution of Christians in Nigeria, Zongo says he has to be very careful when he travels in Nigeria, especially when on “government premises.”   “You will not make money in Nigeria if you are saying the truth. If you are lying as a journalist, you [can] build many houses, you [can] buy cars. You will do a lot of things if you are lying,” he said. “But if you are saying the truth, you will not make it.”   Asked why he has chosen to continue following Jesus Christ and speak boldly about his faith, Zongo referred to a Scripture passage found in the book of Matthew in the Bible.   “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” Matthew 5:10 reads.   “My reward is going to be in heaven, that one day I will be with Christ after the crisis here on earth,” he said. “Let me be with Christ at the end.”  Zongo asks that Christians around the world “come and give us support, as they are praying” for their following of Christ in Nigeria.   The post Christian in Nigeria Describes Living ‘Ready to Die’ Amid Violence, Persecution appeared first on The Daily Signal.

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—The State Department is sounding the alarm on the financial hardship its employees who live paycheck to paycheck are facing amid the federal government shutdown, particularly the essential personnel responding to Hurricane Melissa, The Daily Signal has learned. Amid the now-monthlong shutdown, the State Department is urging creditors to extend grace on federal employees who are among the 67% of Americans who say they live paycheck to paycheck. The agency is particularly concerned about the nearly 40 State Department personnel in the Caribbean and in Washington, D.C., working unpaid around the clock to respond to the devastation from Hurricane Melissa. “While Democrats on Capitol Hill refuse to open the government and continue to deny paychecks to more than a million government workers, State Department officials deployed at a moment’s notice to respond to Hurricane Melissa on the ground in Jamaica,” a State Department official said. “It is past time to reopen the government and restore pay to those who work to safeguard America’s national interests and boldly jump in harm’s way to offer assistance to those in crisis.” More than 50 deaths have attributed to the monster storm in Jamaica, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. Authorities continued to verify reported deaths. The State Department sent a letter, obtained by The Daily Signal, to creditors of employees informing them that the staff members may struggle to meet their financial obligations. “This lapse in appropriations is beyond our employees’ control,” the letter says. “We appreciate your organization’s understanding and flexibility toward State Department employees until this situation is resolved.” “Our employees will be returned to pay status once funding is appropriated,” the letter continues. “We hope this letter helps explain the pay situation that our State Department employees are currently experiencing through no fault of their own. We extend our thanks in advance for your patience and compassion towards our employees during this time when they are negatively impacted by the lapse in appropriations.” The Senate Democrat government shutdown has an outsized impact on government workers who make less than the average personal per capita income of D.C. residents and are now being forced to work without pay, a State Department official said. More than 6,100 State Department employees, nearly a quarter of the agency’s workforce, make less than the city’s personal per capita income of $108,233, according to internal data shared with The Daily Signal. But the shutdown is having the most drastic impact on the more than 1,700 of those State Department employees making less than $76,900, the annual median salary in Washington, D.C. A total of 1.4 million civil servants across the country are going without pay and have already missed a paycheck despite many of them continuing to work through the shutdown. Some have been forced to rely on food banks, according to the official. The leader of the American Federation for Government Employees, the largest union for government workers, urged Senate Democrats to vote to pass a clean continuing resolution to fund the federal government and provide back pay. “These are patriotic Americans—parents, caregivers, and veterans—forced to work without pay while struggling to cover rent, groceries, gas, and medicine,” AFGE President Everett Kelly wrote. The State Department warns that the consequences of the shutdown are about to become even worse for Americans facing economic hardship. Food assistance funds like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are set to run out on Saturday. The post EXCLUSIVE: State Department Employees Responding to National Disasters Face Hardship Amid Shutdown appeared first on The Daily Signal.

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Kamala: Selfish Biden Tried to Kneecap Me Before My Trump Debate

With Friday being Halloween, ABC News’s The View tried to give their audience quite a freight by filling their heads with spooky scary conspiracy theories that President Trump was going to steal the upcoming midterm elections and possibly a presidential one. Their potentially inciting rhetoric was spurred on by “very handsome” California Governor Gavin Newsom who was “ringing alarm bells about Trump's plan to send federal election monitors to California on Election Day,” according to moderator Joy Behar. They open the first “Hot Topics” discussion of the show with a soundbite of Newsom hysterically claiming there would no longer be “fair and free” elections in America under Trump: I really am scared to death about what's going on in this country. I really believe it is code red. It's five-alarm fire. [Transition] We won't have a country. We won't have an election that's fair and free. If we don't stand up. We won't. There will not be a fair and free election. It will be a Putin election. Was it 87 percent or 87.3 percent? That's what Trump wants.   The View-Anon The View amplifies Gavin Newsom's inciting rhetoric that Trump is going to steal the election and there will be no more elections. JOY BEHAR: He's worried. He's worried, and are you as worried about it as he is? SARA HAINES: I think more likely than fraud, it will… pic.twitter.com/HTDsFo6tMV — Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) October 31, 2025   “He's worried. He's worried, and are you as worried about it as he is?” Behar elevated the rhetoric that could get someone killed. “Or is he just going to make more Americans distrust the election process like Trump has been doing since he lost in 2020?” The first to speak up was pretend independent Sara Haines, who was worried that the rhetoric would lead to “disincentivizing voting in democracy, which is the currency of a democracy.” “We don't need to plant seeds (…) So, by planting these seeds, you're already taking a public that's lost trust in everything and saying, your vote doesn't matter. That's the fastest way to affect an election,” she lamented. But she was immediately followed by co-host Sunny Hostin who wanted to really push Newsom’s inciting rhetoric. “I see it differently because I think sunlight is the best disinfectant. I think that you need to speak truth to power and you need to expose what may be going on,” she argued.   Urging on the conspiracy theory, Sunny Hostin proclaimed: "I think that you need to speak truth to power and expose what may be going on." Spewing inciting rhetoric, She added: "And so, when Gavin Newsom is saying, I'm concerned about this, I think we need to listen. That's the… pic.twitter.com/xgSCNRQFVe — Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) October 31, 2025   “And so, when Gavin Newsom is saying, ‘I am concerned about this,’ I think we need to listen!” Hostin shouted. “That's the problem with this country! We don't want to say the quiet part out loud! We don't want to challenge authority! We don't want to challenge authoritarianism! Silence -- there's no place for silence when the democracy is under attack!” At one point, Behar tried to defend Newsom by blaming Trump; falsely suggesting all the talk of rigged elections started with him: BEHAR: I just want to say one thing. I don't think Gavin Newsom would be saying this if Donald Trump hasn't thrown in the gauntlet in the first place. It's not like he's doing it to attack. HAINES: Is it en vogue for every candidate to say, it's probably rigged? BEHAR: Yeah, but who started this?!   Joy Behar blames Trump for Gavin Newsom's election denialism: "I don't think Gavin Newsom would be saying this if Donald Trump hasn't thrown in the gauntlet in the first place. It's not like he's doing it to attack." She also falsely suggests it was Trump who was the first to… pic.twitter.com/2uQ70f0s1p — Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) October 31, 2025   Behar seemed to have the memory of the goldfish and history only began with the 2020 presidential election. In terms of stolen election claims involving Trump, the Democrats started it in 2016 when they and the liberal media falsely claimed Trump was an “illegitimate” president and that Russia “hacked the election.” In fact, The View took part in it. Hostin didn’t apologize for here election denialism until 2022 when they were defending Karine Jean-Pierre’s appointment to White House press secretary despite being on record as a 2016 election denier. Moderator Whoopi Goldberg defended Jean-Pierre by arguing that she was “doing her part.” In 2025 alone, they claimed three times (so far) that Trump stole the 2024 election with the help of Elon Musk. Back on Friday, Faux conservative Alyssa Farah Griffin tried to draw a distinction between The View’s election conspiracy theories and Newsom’s. She insisted that it’s “one thing for pundits and for spectators to say ‘I’m concerned that there will be free and fair elections again,’” but it was “wholly irresponsible” for Newsom. Buying into Newsom’s inciting rhetoric and amplifying it, fake Republican Ana Navarro tried to compare Trump to the communist dictators of Central America: “Let me just say this. You know, I fled communism. I fled authoritarianism, as you guys know, when I was a child. And the things I'm seeing happen in this country, I never thought I'd see happen in this country.”   Ana Navarro says it's fine to accuse Trump of trying to steal elections because "I fled communism" and "the things I'm seeing happen in this country, I never thought I'd see happen in this country." Behar wants people to vote Dem to put Republicans in prison. pic.twitter.com/HwyUMVWj3B — Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) October 31, 2025   Navarro was excited by the possibility that Republicans could lose in the midterms because, “There will be oversight. And there will be reining in of his authoritarian tendencies!” “And some people will be going to jail!” Behar cheered. While Hostin was shrieking at Farah Griffin about Trump supposedly sending “election monitors” to California, something she didn’t have an issue with when they’ve been deployed against red states, Behar dubbed them “election intimidators” as if they were going to be threatening people who were trying to vote. Another accusation potentially dangerous to someone’s life.   Joy Behar claims Trump is sending in "election intimidators" to harass people at the polls in California. Behar and Hostin defend Democratic gerrymandering. pic.twitter.com/dTKyQYRn7x — Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) October 31, 2025   The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read: ABC’s The View October 31, 2025 11:05:35 a.m. Eastern JOY BEHAR: Now, California governor and MAGA arch enemy, Gavin Newsom, and very handsome Gavin Newsom, is ringing alarm bells about Trump's plan to send federal election monitors to California on Election Day! Let's watch this clip. [Cuts to video] GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): I really am scared to death about what's going on in this country. I really believe it is code red. It's five-alarm fire. [Transition] We won't have a country. We won't have an election that's fair and free. If we don't stand up. We won't. There will not be a fair and free election. It will be a Putin election. Was it 87 percent or 87.3 percent? That's what Trump wants. [Cuts back to live] BEHAR: He's worried. He's worried, and are you as worried about it as he is? Or is he just going to make more Americans distrust the election process like Trump has been doing since he lost in 2020? SARA HAINES: I think more likely than fraud it will be disincentivizing voting in democracy, which is the currency of a democracy. But right now, in 2024, we had 65 percent of the population that showed up at the polls, which is good for this country. Because in the midterms, which can right now be very important, only 47 percent of Americans show up at the polls. People fought hard for those rights to vote, and we already don't have people showing up at our polls. We don't need to plant seeds. You always go out. You always vote. Let the rest be determined as it plays out, because when fraud was claimed last time, not one judge in this country saw any proof of any fraud. So, by planting these seeds, you're already taking a public that's lost trust in everything and saying, your vote doesn't matter. That's the fastest way to affect an election. SUNNY HOSTIN: I see it differently because I think sunlight is the best disinfectant. I think that you need to speak truth to power and you need to expose what may be going on. And you know, up to the election, Project 2025 was written. There was a game plan. And we kept on sounding the alarm. There's a game plan. There's a game plan. It's in writing. Its 90 pages. There's a cliff notes version. No one listened to that. You know what's happened since Trump was elected? Some of the policies outlined in Project 2025 are happening right now. Reshaping the federal bureaucracy. Reducing the size and influence and empowering the executive branch. Aggressively militarizing an approach to immigration. The use of active-duty military personnel and National Guardsmen to assist in border security. A return to a more isolationist foreign policy. Dismantling the department of Education. It goes on and on and on. Everything he promised he did -- would do, he did. And so, when Gavin Newsom is saying, I am concerned about this, I think we need to listen! That's the problem with this country! We don't want to say the quiet part out loud! We don't want to challenge authority! We don't want to challenge authoritarianism! Silence -- there's no place for silence when the democracy is under attack! BEHAR: I just want to say one thing. I don't think Gavin Newsom would be saying this if Donald Trump hasn't thrown in the gauntlet in the first place. It's not like he's doing it to attack. [Crosstalk] HAINES: Is it en vogue for every candidate to say, it's probably rigged? BEHAR: Yeah, but who started this?! [Crosstalk] HAINES: But it doesn’t matter! You don't win a bad idea with a bad idea. The point is the only power a regular American person has is to go to the polls. If they can keep their eyes open and see problems and be alert and educated and vote at the same time! HOSTIN: Why is Trump sending election monitors to California?! Why is Trump sending people there?! ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: I’ll speak to that, but I think it’s one thing for pundits and for spectators to say “I’m concerned that there will be free and fair elections again.” I think it is wholly irresponsible for the governor of the most populous state – who, by the way, oversees elections in his own state. He oversees the cybersecurity infrasucture. He oversees the secretary of state. Down to poll watchers, to election workers, Gavin Newsom has a lot of power in this. HOSTIN (Interrupting): Why are there federal monitors, though?! FARAH GRIFFIN: We could at minimum say, ‘I promise you, California will have a free and fair election and I'll work with every governor to make sure there's no efforts to undermine them.’ But that’s not what he’s doing – HOSTIN (Interrupting): How does he do that when Donald Trump is sending federal monitors into his state?! FARAH GRIFFIN: Because he’s the chief executive of his state. Monitors, we need to know what that means. I do think it's an alarming phrase. BEHAR: Doesn't it sound like election intimidators?! FARAH GRIFFIN: But you also have a governor with his own authorities in the state – And for him to say this – It reminds me of the gerrymandering debate. So, everyone is angry when Texas redraws congressional maps to add more Republican seats, ‘they're cheating, it's rigged,’ so California responds by cheating and rigging it by adding more Democratic seats. HOSTIN: So, what are they supposed to do, just let them do it?! [Crosstalk] FARAH GRIFFIN: No, you’re supposed to safely secure your elections and tell your voters that you can trust voting in California. BEHAR: No, the gerrymandering! HOSTIN: What do you do with that?! BEHAR: What are you supposed to do with that?! FARAH GRIFFIN: You should challenge it at the state level. Former Governor Schwarzenegger talked about this. There's a process to do it in California. There's a process in Texas. Change the laws so that people cannot do partisan gerrymandering. HOSTIN: You can't change the laws when Republicans are in charge in Texas! ANA NAVARRO: Let me just say this. You know, I fled communism. I fled authoritarianism, as you guys know, when I was a child. And the things I'm seeing happen in this country, I never thought I'd see happen in this country. I never thought I'd see an insurrection and people – a mob of rioters at the Capitol trying to stop an election result. And so, I think, you know, from my personal experience, I look at this, and I really feel we need to be vigilant and we just need to see the -- like every day, it's something different. It's the tearing up of the East Wing, it’s the election monitors. HOSTIN: Disappearing people! NAVARRO: To me, what Trump and the Republicans are trying to do with Texas -- and I -- here's the question. He always talks about how high his poll numbers are and how he's got the best poll numbers of anybody. If his poll numbers are so good and if he feels so confident about his approval rating in this country, why then does he and Republicans find it necessary to change the congressional maps to give them more sure wins for Republicans? BEHAR: Good question. Right. NAVARRO: Because they think they're going to lose in the midterm, and if they lose, that means that for the first time in this term, there will be pushback. There will be oversight. And there will be reining in of his authoritarian tendencies! BEHAR: And some people will be going to jail. HOSTIN: Right. [Applause]

Liberals love to describe themselves as a "voice for the voiceless." But to abortion rights activist Irin Carmon, the voicelessness of the unborn should strip them of any right to be protected. Carmon, a CNN commentator and author of the Ruth Bader Ginsburg hagiography, Notorious RBG, spoke with CNN This Morning host Audie Cornish today regarding her pro-abortion rights book, Unbearable: Five Women and the Perils of Pregnancy in America. Cornish was generally supportive of Carmon and her views. Thus, she spoke of the risks of being pregnant in America, in the sense of the negative impact of pro-life laws. Cornish said nothing about the risks to unborn children in states with liberal abortion laws.  Note also the chyron CNN chose for the segment, "Pregnancy in America: The Rising Risks Of Limited Access To Care." A pro-life alternative might have been: "Dobbs Decision Reduces The Risks For Unborn Children In America." At one point, Cornish did describe a pro-life position: "Their argument is that both the unborn child and the person giving birth are equal. People that need to be protected. Right?" Responded Carmon: "In practice, it's very hard to make a 50/50 decision between one person who is able to actually speak to you, and one who is a potential person in practice. It does mean that the person ends up getting treated like a vessel."   So, per Carmon, because the unborn can't speak, rather than needing to be protected on an equal basis with the pregnant woman, they are entitled to . . . no protection at all. In Carmon's view, if you protect the life of unborn children, that transforms the mother into a mere "vessel." By that logic, if the mother is a vessel, the unborn are detritus who can be thrown overboard at any point, for any reason.  The segment's opening reflected a classic liberal tactic: find a heart-wrenching story to help make the case. Adriana Smith was a Georgia woman who, when nine weeks pregnant, developed blood clots on the brain, soon became brain dead, and was put of life support. Her doctors believed that it could be a violation of Georgia's pro-life law to disconnect the life support, since doing so would result in the death of Smith's baby. They thus kept her on life support until it was possible to deliver the baby via Caesarean section.  The segment opened with a clip of Adriana's mother, April Newkirk, saying "I shouldn't be burying my daughter. My daughter should bury me." A tragic circumstance, but one unrelated to the decision to keep her daughter on life support until the baby could be delivered.  It's also noteworthy that Newkirk named the baby Chance because, as she explained, "I feel like he had a second chance at life."  That's a chance he wouldn't have had if Adriana had immediately been taken off life support. The feminists were furious. One tweeted: “I might be a monster for saying this, but I don’t want that child to live. Because if it grows to live and have a decent life, then we as women are doomed to never escape the role of an incubator.” Note: At one point, Carmon the Abortion Champion made the bizarre, macabre claim that the Dobbs decision "is kind of shining a black light on the stain of American history and policy." What?  Here's the transcript. CNN This Morning 10/31/25 6:21 am EDT APRIL NEWKIRK: I shouldn't be burying my daughter. My daughter, should bury me. She had a lot, she had a lot to give.  AUDIE CORNISH: You know, it was a story that shocked the country. Adriana Smith, a pregnant woman in Georgia, was on life support after a catastrophic stroke in February left her brain dead. Now, doctors said they could not intervene because of the state's abortion restrictions. Despite the family's wishes, Smith was kept alive until doctors delivered her son Chance prematurely by C-section in June. According to the family's GoFundMe page, Chance is now eight pounds and is still in the NICU because his lungs are underdeveloped.  Now, stories like these show how difficult it is to be pregnant in America with those risks, especially when things can go wrong. And that's what Irin Carmon writes about in her book. It's a new book called "Unbearable, Five Women and the Perils of Pregnancy in America."  . . .  IRIN CARMON: I think what Dobbs has done, it has clarified and it has accelerated, that in many cases in the United States, when you become pregnant, you lose many of your constitutional rights, your medical rights, and your personal rights.  . . .  The question that I started with when I wrote "Unbearable" was, how did we get here, and what is it about Dobbs that is kind of shining a black light on the stain of American history and policy?  . . .  CORNISH: Their argument is that both the unborn child and the person giving birth are equal people that need to be protected, right? Is that usually where these laws are?  CARMON: In practice, it's very hard to make a 50-50 decision between one person who is able to actually speak to you, and one who is a potential person. In practice, it does mean that the person ends up getting treated like a vessel. 

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