On Saturday, a 20-year-old white male came within a quarter inch of throwing the greatest nation in the world into chaos. While little is known about this young man, Gen Z’s response to the assassination attempt is alarming. By Sunday, the hashtag #theymissed began trending on social media, with some 20,000 posts expressing sadness or anger that Donald Trump was not killed. Signs of radicalization have been growing. Last December, a Harvard poll showed that 60% of Gen Z thought Hamas’s slaughter of innocent Israelis was justified. What does this portend for the future of our nation? Looking back, it seems that President Biden’s claim that Trump is “literally a threat to everything America stands for” and his boast of putting Trump in the “bullseye” were not just unwise but menacing. The political spirit of our age is one of demonization. Campaigns have always been spicy, but the adoption of fascist and communist rhetorical tactics has put the whole system into overdrive. Lenin sparked mass rage by dehumanizing his opponents as “cretins” and “filthy scum.” Saul Alinsky repackaged Lenin’s diabolical strategy in “Rules for Radicals.” “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon,” Alinsky gloated. “There is no defense. It is almost impossible to counterattack ridicule.” Older adults dismiss hateful campaign rhetoric as nothing more than “angry-old-man-speak.” Young adults, on the other hand, take things much more literally and become filled with fear and anger. When kids are terrified, their reactions can be unpredictable and irrational. Sometimes they resort to violence. Or bullying. Or, often, they turn against themselves in self-harm. This is especially true for boys, whose testosterone and still-developing moral compass are like a powerful engine without a steering system. Decades of research show that young adults become radicalized in three steps: First, isolation. The primary isolation tactic is to incite unrelenting fear, which is fed by the “omnicause” in which young adults are coaxed to be angry and filled with shame about everything. Second, recruitment. A lonely, scared kid is easy to radicalize. As Mubin Shaikh, a former recruiter for a radical Muslim group, stated, “We look for people who are isolated. And if they are not isolated already, then we isolated them.” Radicals adeptly use social media to replace a lonely kid’s genuine identity with a kind of cult identity. It feels like friendship. Third, activation. Get them to do something — post on social media, show up at a rally, learn to march in step. Anything that makes them feel that they are among those who “get it” and that everyone else is a clueless dimwit, possibly even evil. This is what happened in 1994 when the leaders of Rwanda’s Hutu tribe coaxed their young followers to think of rival Tutsis as “cockroaches.” Neighbors remorselessly slaughtered neighbors. Is it possible to deradicalize a generation? Yes, but it’s a process—no one wants to back away from a conviction they’ve publicly committed to. But walking back a bad belief doesn’t have to involve shame. In my work with hundreds of thousands of young adults, I’ve found that the following three steps work: First, reveal the power play behind the agenda. In March 2024 the Wall Street Journal did an expose of those who trained anti-Israel protesters. It turns out that they were professional agitators who have incited mob action on every issue you can imagine. They’re funded by some of the wealthiest power brokers on the planet. Knowing that powerful people with an agenda are using you is a real buzz kill. Second, explain how bad ideas take people captive. In the past, cults trained their members to spend countless hours recruiting people. Now people recruit themselves. Using the internet, misfits quickly desensitize to radical messages and feel a surge of empowerment at “discovering” that their parents, friends, and church have held them back. It’s important to reveal the sleight of hand that makes this false persuasion seem real. The message is: “Do you see how they did that?” Third, reinforce the truth through caring concern and the power of facts. Here’s an example from my book Should Christians Support Israel. Through an in-depth poll, Summit Ministries asked Gen Z if Israel’s greater wealth and military power made its military campaign against Hamas unjust. 47% said, “Yes” and just 11% said, “Not sure.” But then we asked whether wealthy Hamas leaders were unjust by stealing aid intended for beleaguered Palestinians. 57% said, “Yes,” and 23% said, “Not sure.” Just one question casting factual doubt on Hamas significantly readjusted Gen Z’s views about who was unjust. History’s horribles succeeded by mobilizing the young for evil purposes. If we want the rising generation to fight for America’s future, not against it, we need to make deradicalizing them a top priority. * * * Jeff Myers, Ph.D., is president of Summit Ministries (www.summit.org), an organization that equips and supports the rising generation to embrace the truth and live out a biblical worldview. His most recent book is “Should Christians Support Israel?” The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

The Homeland Security Department’s (DHS) inspector general is investigating how the Secret Service handled security at the campaign rally where former President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt. A brief statement on the independent watchdog’s website said the objective of the inquiry was to evaluate the Secret Service’s “process for securing” the campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. DHS is the Secret Service’s parent agency. Questions have been raised about how a shooter, identified as a 20-year-old Pennsylvania man named Thomas Matthew Crooks, managed to get onto a nearby rooftop and begin shooting from roughly 150 yards away with an AR-style rifle before the Secret Service could stop him. A bullet ripped through Trump’s right ear. Secret Service personnel then rushed to the former president to offer him protection and killed the shooter. One rallygoer was killed, and two others were injured in the attack. The FBI is leading an investigation into the shooting as “potential domestic terrorism,” with the agency saying it has gained access to the shooter’s phone, conducted a search of his home and vehicle, and conducted dozens of interviews. While Congress is briefed by the Secret Service this week, Director Kimberly Cheatle, who was appointed to the role by President Joe Biden in 2022, is expected to testify about the attack in a public hearing before a House panel on Monday. Cheatle is already facing calls to resign from Republican lawmakers, but in an interview with ABC News, she declared that she would not step down even as she took responsibility for what she described as the “unacceptable” shooting. “The buck stops with me,” Cheatle told ABC News Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas on Monday. “I am the director of the Secret Service, and I need to make sure that we are performing a review and that we are giving resources to our personnel as necessary.” Cheatle further stated that the Secret Service was responsible for the “inner perimeter” at the rally, while the agency “sought assistance from our local counterparts for the outer perimeter” of the area. “There was local police in that building” on which the shooter staged the attack, Cheatle said, adding that “there was local police in the area that were responsible for the outer perimeter of the building.” She said that particular building “has a sloped roof, at its highest point. And so, there’s a safety factor that would be considered there that we wouldn’t want to put somebody up on a sloped roof. And so, the decision was made to secure the building, from inside.” RELATED: Secret Service Boss Explains Why No One Was Stationed On Roof Where Gunman Shot At Trump

The woman convicted in the death of ‘Rust’ cinematographer Halyna Hutchins is asking for a new trial after actor Alec Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter case was dismissed last week. Hannah Gutierrez Reed, who was the armorer on the set responsible for the safety of firearms, filed an expedited motion on Tuesday with the request, Fox News reported. She is currently serving an 18-month sentence for her role in Hutchins’ death. Gutierrez Reed’s attorneys noted that “Baldwin’s trial exposes extreme misconduct,” adding that “Special Prosecutor Kari Morrissey lies to this court under oath.” Last week, on the third day of Baldwin’s trial in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed the charge against him, ruling that prosecutors hid evidence from the defense. Sommer made the ruling after Baldwin’s defense attorney, Luke Nikas, said prosecutors had withheld bullets that had been turned over to investigators. Sommer ruled that the prosecution was “highly culpable for its failure to provide discovery to the defendant,” thus warranting the case to be dismissed with prejudice, meaning prosecutors can’t regroup and try Baldwin again. “The late discovery of this evidence has impacted the fundamental fairness of the proceedings,” Sommer ruled. “There is no way for the court to right this wrong. The sanction of dismissal is the only warranted remedy.” Reed was responsible for ensuring the safety of the gun Baldwin was using in the film. On October 21, 2021, Baldwin began filming a scene when the gun he was holding fired a live round that killed Hutchins and injured the film’s director, Joel Souza. An assistant director reportedly yelled “cold gun” as he handed a prop weapon to Alec Baldwin. Court documents showed that assistant director David Halls yelled “cold gun” to indicate that the prop weapon did not contain live rounds. Halls handed Baldwin one of three prop guns that had been set up by an armorer, unaware that the prop gun contained a live round, according to an affidavit for a search warrant, ABC News reported in 2021. Baldwin was an executive producer on the film, which is why he was charged with involuntary manslaughter. He faced up to 18 months in prison if he had been convicted. “Rust” was canceled after the incident, and it is unclear when or if Baldwin will return to movies or television.

Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis called President Joe Biden a “Weekend At Bernie’s” president Tuesday evening during his speech at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. “Let’s send Joe Biden back to his basement and let’s send Donald Trump back to the White House,” DeSantis said to enthusiastic applause. “America cannot afford four more years of a ‘Weekend At Bernie’s’ presidency,” the governor said, referencing the 1989 comedy in which two insurance employees prop up their dead boss. DeSantis said he is “alarmed that the current president of the United States lacks the capability to discharge the duties of his office.” “Our enemies do not confine their designs to between 10 am and 4 pm,” DeSantis continued. “But … let’s be honest here. Biden is just a figurehead. He’s a tool for imposing a leftist agenda on the American people.” DeSantis criticized many of the Biden administration’s policies, including its push for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), which DeSantis said really stands for “division, exclusion, and indoctrination, and it is wrong.” “They support open borders, allowing millions and millions of illegal aliens to pour into our country and to burden our communities,” DeSantis said. “But just don’t send any to Martha’s Vineyard. Then they get really upset,” the governor added, referencing his famous move to fly about 50 illegal migrants to the wealthy island, causing an uproar among residents. DeSantis also praised former President Donald Trump after campaigning against him in the primary. DeSantis ultimately dropped out of the race in January. Both DeSantis and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who lingered in the primary race until March, offered endorsements of Trump, who officially clinched the Republican nomination at the convention. “Life was more affordable when Donald Trump was president, our border was safer under the Trump administration, and our country was respected when Donald Trump was our commander-in-chief,” DeSantis said. DeSantis spoke on the second day of the convention, which started just two days after Trump survived an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in western Pennsylvania, where a gunman grazed the former president’s right ear with a bullet. One rallygoer was killed, and two others were injured in the shooting. “Now Donald Trump stands in their way, and he stands up for America. Donald Trump has been demonized, he’s been sued, he’s been prosecuted, and he nearly lost his life. We cannot let him down, and we cannot let America down,” DeSantis said.

Thanks to the help of a consumer, the FDA has been made aware of a contaminated batch of nuts that were being sold in stores. DSD Merchandisers LLC, a company in California, voluntarily recalled the product once they were made aware of the problem. But what was the problem? In summary, one of their mixed nut products did not state that peanuts are included. As a result, those who have an allergy to peanuts could have a negative reaction which, at times, can be life-threatening. As a result, this recall has been classified as a Class I risk, the highest level possible. There is a single product under this recall, and it’s under the name Deluxe Roasted Salted Mixed Nuts. To identify the product, you’ll find that it has an item number of 99651 and a UPC of 6-51433-99651-6. Finally, the sell-by-date will read October 9, 2024. Usman Yousaf / Unsplash This mistake was discovered by a consumer who, while eating the product, took notice of the peanuts it contained. For those who are wondering how this could have happened, the FDA offers an explanation. They say their investigation “indicates the problem was caused by a temporary breakdown in the company’s formulation change processes and packaging label change process.” An FDA Class I Nut Recall Affects Those Who Have a Peanut Allergy Anyone with a peanut allergy is urged to make sure this product is not in their homes. And, if the product has been consumed, it’s important to watch out for potentially life-threatening reactions. This can include throat swelling, difficulty breathing, and a loss of consciousness. Plus, if you’d like to speak with someone at DSD Merchandisers about any questions or concerns, you can contact them here: 1-925-449-2044. And as always, stay safe, everyone! You can find the source of this story’s featured image here! The post Nut Recall: FDA Updates Affected Products To Highest Risk Level appeared first on InspireMore.