Finally, settling on a starting quarterback days before the NFL regular-season begins is not a good thing. It's not tactical craftiness to deny the opposition time to prepare, nor is it typically a choice between two good options.

It is a poorly veiled cry for help.

Meet the Atlanta Falcons.

FALCONS NAME SIXTH DIFFERENT WEEK 1 STARTING QUARTERBACK IN SIX YEARS

On Monday, the first day of their week's preparation for a Sunday season-opener at the Pittsburgh Steelers, they announced Tua Tagovailoa as their starter. But beyond that opener?

"I don't think it's fair to really go past this week on anything related to our football team," head coach Kevin Stefanski said.

Left unsaid is Michael Penix Jr. is advancing to a place where he can play in the regular season. So his starter status is looming.

Also unsaid: The Falcons are in some trouble.

The fact is, great teams typically get great quarterback play. It doesn't mean they have great quarterbacks. It means the ones they have play great.

Jalen Hurts is not a great quarterback. But he played great in helping the Philadelphia Eagles win the Super Bowl. Josh Allen is a great quarterback. But he hasn't played well enough, especially not in the playoffs, to get the Bills to a Super Bowl.

Based on that, we celebrate the Wednesday night kickoff of the 2026 NFL season with a ranking of what the league's 32 starting quarterbacks are likely to do in the next five months.

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This is a predictive ranking of which QBs are about to ball and dominate. And which are about to curl up in a ball and disappoint:

32. Jacoby Brissett: He's a fine backup quarterback, but as a starter, he's a fine backup quarterback. 

31. Deshaun Watson: Unless he has a time machine that teleports him back to 2020, this isn't going to go well.

30. Tua Tagovailoa: Might not make it to Week 2 as the starter.

29. Cam Ward: He's growing as a QB, but he's far from full-grown.

28. Malik Willis: The 2026 Dolphins have rejected the idea of surrounding the QB with a good supporting cast and Willis will pay a price for it.

27. Geno Smith: It'll be better than the first NYJ stint (doesn't say much), but not good enough to lift his team above third place in the AFC East.

26. Kirk Cousins: This will work great if Brock Bowers catches 300 passes and Ashton Jeanty and Mike Washington Jr. combine for 2,500 rushing yards.

25. Tyler Shough: He's about to turn 27, so the kid gloves developmental period ends or else his replacement comes next season.

24. Jaxson Dart: Over-under on season trips to the blue tent is 4.

23. Bryce Young: Promises more improvement, which means a one-time draft bust might be really good in 2026.

22. Daniel Jones: Good in spurts but never consistently great.

21. Jalen Hurts: Great in spurts, but an excellent team needs him to be more consistently good.

20. C.J. Stroud: The defense is the NFL's best so just don't mess things up.

19. Trevor Lawrence: Last season was excellent but was it his ceiling? 

18. Aaron Rodgers: He needs to make his final NFL season entertaining based on how he plays rather than things he says.

17. Jayden Daniels: The failure to add enough bulk and offensive line injuries is a bad combination for someone wanting to stay healthy.

16. Baker Mayfield: He was supposed to be motivated by his search for a new contract but now must find something else to play angry about.

15. Justin Herbert: He has the arm, the work ethic, the coaching, but has not proven he's got the it-factor in the biggest moments.

14. Jordan Love: Production has declined each of the past two years even as he's been more careful with the ball.

13. Brock Purdy: We saw his ceiling in 2023 and the competition in the NFC West will make it very hard for him to reach that level again this season.

12. Sam Darnold: A good quarterback on an excellent team but it is a huge step to super-stardom.

11. Caleb Williams: If Luther Burden III is healthy and very good, Williams will be great. Otherwise, Williams will be merely good.

10. Bo Nix: Breakout season coming.

9. Kyler Murray: Career season coming.

RAIDERS NAME KIRK COUSINS AS WEEK 1 STARTING QUARTERBACK, FERNANDO MENDOZA WILL BEGIN CAREER AS BACKUP

8. Jared Goff: Underrated by many outside of Detroit, but this guy is consistently outstanding and that isn't likely to change.

7. Drake Maye: Last year was not a mirage. Next stop is super stardom.

6. Lamar Jackson: He can still carry his team, but the Ravens have failed to make the burden lighter so, more of the same.

5. Patrick Mahomes: This rating probably means I must move to Kansas. He remains arguably the NFL's most clutch late-game QB, but the magic of 2020-2022 has faded.

4. Dak Prescott: The only thing stopping him and his offense this year is injuries – or a Jerry Jones impromptu press conference during a drive.

3. Matthew Stafford: Nobody played the position better last season, but it's hard to predict he'll do it again at age 38.

2. Josh Allen: Last season was a bitterly disappointing regression, so a recovery this season is the expectation.

1. Joe Burrow: If he and his offensive teammates stay healthy, they have the best offense and best QB play in the NFL.

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The direction of the Democrat Party is the talk of the 2026 midterms. Will it go farther left or somehow moderate? The simple answer is that Democrat Party will move even farther left.

As the nation considers this question, it is a mistake to look at the current Democrat Party in a vacuum. We should not be focused on individual candidates. The focus should be on the trend.

What is happening in the modern Democrat Party is the natural progression of parties on the left.

HOW THE 'LONG MARCH' THROUGH THE INSTITUTIONS LED TO SOCIALIST TAKEOVER OF DEM PARTY: 'NEED TO WAKE UP'

Consider this: In 1887, President Grover Cleveland, a Democrat, vetoed a drought relief bill stating that "Though the people support the government, the government should not support the people."

Cleveland’s message was stark. Government was not our brother’s keeper.

A half century later, however, the times and the Democrat Party changed dramatically, with government support of the people at the center of their policies. The first major step toward occurred when Democrats used taxpayer dollars to provide government jobs under Democrat President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal.

A decade later, when passing the Employment Act of 1946, the Democrat Congress declared: "that it is the continuing policy and responsibility of the federal government to use all practicable means…to promote maximum employment."

The second major step came during the 1960s with the Democrats' passage of Great Society legislation, which changed Democrats’ focus from jobs to welfare. Since then, the size of the welfare state has exploded. All the while, the Democrats have convinced voters they could vote themselves rich.

Here is why there will be no turning back from that for the Democrat Party.

Government is the largest industry in America today – by far. Tech is less than 10% of the economy. Government spending, local, state and federal, is around 35% of the economy.

HOUSE GOP LAUNCHES PROBE INTO 5 MAJOR LABOR UNIONS OVER DEM SPENDING DESPITE MAGA MEMBERSHIP BASE

Our governments are also the largest employers in the United States. One third of all those government employees are unionized. Their bounty of union dues is then used to make campaign contributions to Democrats. Indeed, over 95% of government union contributions go to Democrats.

The Democrats know that unions seek to grow their ranks, which would result in even larger amounts of political donations for Democrats. The Democrat Party is not going to bite that hand that feeds them. As a result, the Democrats will remain the party of ever larger government employment.

SCANDALS, SOCIALISTS AND TRUMP ROIL PRIMARIES, SEND INCUMBENTS PACKING AT NEAR-RECORD PACE

As I wrote recently, the political parties have lost control over campaign spending. We live in the age of the super PACs, which includes union PACs.

MEET THE FAR-LEFT INSURGENTS WAGING WAR ON THE DEMOCRATIC ESTABLISHMENT IN 2026 MIDTERMS

In the olden days, before 2010 and Citizens United, the political parties were the super PACs. The parties received the vast majority of contributions and decided which candidates got money and endorsements.

Now super PACs fund the candidates more than the political parties. As a result, socialist/communist candidates like New York Democrat Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Michigan Democrat Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, who were not favored by the Democrat Party establishment, can overcome the party influence and win major offices and primaries.

'SQUAD' SOCIALIST SCORES RE-ELECTION NOD AS RADICAL WAVE CONTINUES TO SWEEP PARTY

This cycle, the success of candidates not preferred by the Democrat Party is almost exclusively on the left, in significant part, because the party lost control to super PACs and the reasons below.

It is the nature of political parties that (a) the base of each party is more to the left or right of their party’s establishment, and (b) is more politically active and motivated than their party’s establishment.

They also show up in greater numbers to vote in party primaries than the moderate voters of their party. That has always been so.

That gives the edges of both parties a greater say on who wins primaries. In today’s Democrat Party, that means the far left of their party is deciding primaries. They also want to move the party further left.

According to a 2025 Gallup poll, among liberal Democrats, 45% wanted their party to become more liberal, 22% wanted it to stay the same and 30% wanted it to become more moderate. Among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents overall, however, 45% wanted the party to become more moderate, 29% wanted it to become more liberal and 22% wanted it to stay the same.

Among liberal Democrats, that means 67% wanted the party to remain as liberal as it was or become more liberal.

According to a 2025 Gallup poll, "Liberal Democrats would prefer that their party become more liberal (45%) or stay the same as it is now (22%) rather than be more moderate (30%)."

That means 67% of liberal Democrats like how liberal the Democrat Party is now or want it to be more liberal.

Elections are about the future. Almost all voters want to know what you are going to do for them tomorrow.

For Democrats, who have been promising government assistance to voters for 90 years, with each new election and each new candidate, the only path to victory has become promising more than whatever was promised yesterday.

They are not alone in that addictive spiral toward socialism.

That was the path of the Labor Party of England over the last century. Long before that, it was the path of those on the left just before the end of the ancient Greek Democracy and the left in the years before the end of the Roman Republic.

Stated simply, there is no path to victory for a Democrat candidate who promises to spend less. History also demonstrates that today’s socialist is never extravagant enough for tomorrow’s socialist.

Finally, socialists and communists rarely change their stripes. Note how the 1901 platform of the first Socialist Party of America reads like the DSA platform of today, including this 125-year-old pledge: "The collective ownership of all means of transportation and communication and all other public utilities as well as of all industries controlled by monopolies, trusts, and combines."

Also, reaching the socialist goal has always meant ever greater government control of the economy. As that occurs, the economy weakens under the burdens of big government, employment then lags under weak economic growth and the calls for ever-larger welfare state grow louder.

That is a lesson of history.

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At the center of that dynamic has always been the Party of Government. That is the Democrat Party of today, which is repeating an age-old pattern in pursuit of power.

So, do not expect the modern Democrat Party to change direction. It has been more than 100 years in the making, and it is gaining steam towards its destination – the Party of Socialism.

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Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier says his office will seek the death penalty for the two adults who allegedly confined four children to the cab of a tractor-trailer, some for more than six years, and sexually abused them.

Keisha Monique Epps, 51, and Tamra Marshon Stewart, 37, have been charged with sexual battery, molestation and neglect of two girls and two boys – two 5-year-olds, a 6-year-old and a 9-year-old, Uthmeier said.

Epps and Stewart, who has been identified as her fiancé, had been living in the cab with the children. Epps worked as a truck driver, frequenting a route between Miami and Atlanta, according to court documents.

FLORIDA COUPLE ALLEGEDLY HELD FOUR CHILDREN IN TRACTOR-TRAILER CAB FOR NEARLY SEVEN YEARS

"These children were trapped in a rolling prison and abused by the adults who were supposed to protect them," Uthmeier said.

"We will pursue with everything we have the death penalty. We will seek executions, if you want to come in here [in Florida] and you want to physically molest, abuse, and violate our little kids."

Florida law allows prosecutors to seek the death penalty for adults convicted of sexual battery against a child younger than 12.

The two girls were sexually abused by Stewart for years, Uthmeier said. When the two boys witnessed sexual abuse and confronted Stewart, he "beat them by punching them in their heads," reports show.

The children told authorities that they had told Epps about the sexual abuse and saw her witness it. She called one of the children "derogatory names" and continued to leave them alone with Stewart, reports show.

Stewart told investigators he had committed three sexual batteries against one of the girls, according to Uthmeier’s office.

One of the children was found to have an untreated sexually transmitted infection, Uthmeier’s office said.

But the horrors allegedly went far beyond sexual abuse.

The couple confined the children in the truck cab without "time to take showers, use the restroom" or "exercise outside," investigators wrote in their reports.

FLORIDA-LED OPERATION RESCUES 163 CHILDREN AROUND GLOBE IN HISTORIC STATE SWEEP, HUNTS SUSPECTED PREDATORS

"This case is one of, if not the most, horrific that my team has ever had to work on," Uthmeier said at a news conference in Kissimmee, Florida, on Sept. 1.

Over the years of their imprisonment, the children were forced to "use the bathroom" in cups and paper bags, he said. When making stops, "the adults would go to the restroom," Uthmeier said. "They might take a shower, but they would leave the kids locked in this rolling dungeon."

"As a result of the abuse" over the years, he said, the children "suffer severe physical infirmities."

The children were kept inside the vehicle "for the majority of their days," court records show.

The children said they hadn’t been "allowed to attend school for approximately five years," according to an arrest report. A detective on the case reported the children were "walking with an unnatural gait from being confined to the cab."

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They were "fed poorly," and they never received medical or dental care—even for emergencies, the report shows.

Two of the children suffered untreated burns that left significant scarring, according to Uthmeier's office.

One of the girls recalled a time she "burned herself badly with cooked noodles."

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"There was a lot of blood," the girl told investigators.

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Neither Stewart nor Epps took her to get medical treatment, she told investigators. Now, she has a "permanent scar" from the burn, court records show.

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Stewart was in charge of supervising the children when Epps was sleeping, showering and driving the truck, the children said.

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All four shared a bunk in the cab so small that they had to lie "curled up side by side," reports show.

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Stewart is charged with "two counts of sexual battery by a person in familial or custodial authority, two counts of lewd or lascivious molestation of a child under 12, two counts of battery of a child by expelling certain fluids or materials, two counts of child neglect without great bodily harm, and two counts of child neglect causing permanent disfigurement," according to Uthmeier’s office.

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Epps is charged with "two counts of sexual battery by a person in familial or custodial authority, two counts of lewd or lascivious molestation of a child under 12, two counts of child neglect without great bodily harm, two counts of child neglect causing permanent disfigurement, and four counts of failure to report child abuse."

Epps and Stewart were arrested on Aug. 6. On Sept. 3, both were held in the Duval County Jail.

The Duval County Office of the Public Defender is representing Stewart, and Epps is represented by Florida’s Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel.

Neither office responded to a request for comment before publication.

A political earthquake is brewing in Germany's east as working-class and young voters appear set to deliver an unprecedented victory for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in Sunday’s state elections in Saxony-Anhalt.

The AfD, which was famously backed by Elon Musk in last year’s national election, has been criticized for being pro-Russia and was accused of being a "right-wing extremist endeavor" by Germany’s domestic intelligence office, has the chance to become the first party outside the mainstream center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) or center-right Christian Democratic Union and their Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU), to win an outright majority in a German state parliament, or Landtag, since World War II.

"The reason Saxony-Anhalt matters," foreign policy expert and author Daniel Schatz, who holds a doctorate in political science from Berlin's Humboldt University, told Fox News Digital, "is that the AfD is no longer just knocking on the door of power. It may be close to kicking it open."

TENS OF THOUSANDS OF FAR-LEFT PROTESTERS CLASH WITH POLICE IN ANTI-CONSERVATIVE PARTY RIOTS

Other minor parties have led governing coalitions in German states, but no party outside the SPD or the CDU and the CSU has ever held a single-party governing majority in Germany since the Federal Republic was re-established in 1949.

Janek Treiber, a political science researcher at Dresden University of Technology, told Fox News Digital that if the AfD does win outright in Saxony-Anhalt, their policy influence would be limited due to the German federal system, but warned "you must not underestimate the political symbol this would give. That a single party, and a right-wing party, could rule a German state… The symbol that these parties, that have been ruling Germany since 1949 or the East since 1990, they now lose control. They now lose power. I think this is a much more important symbol than just saying, OK, (the) AfD will change this or that in its local school system or university system."

Schatz described the AfD "a nationalist, anti-immigration party on the far right that has become a powerful vehicle for voter anger at Germany’s political establishment — especially in the former East Germany. It campaigns for much tighter immigration, a stronger emphasis on German national identity, rejection of much of the green agenda and a softer line toward Russia."

An outright win for the AfD, even in Germany’s 6th smallest state, would break through the political establishment’s so-called "Brandmauer," or "firewall." Simply put, other parties refuse to work with the AfD, which is currently the second-largest party in the Bundestag, officially the opposition party, after winning 20.8% of the vote in the February 2025 federal election.

'SEND THEM BACK' CHANTS ROCK EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AFTER LANDSLIDE VOTE TO SPEED UP DEPORTATIONS

In an interview on German broadcaster ZDF, the AfD’s national co-chair, Alice Weidel, advocated for closing Germany’s borders and exiting Europe’s Schengen treaty, saying, "Illegal migration, unchecked open borders, anyone can get in. Our internal security is suffering. People are honestly fed up with this situation."

Weidel added, "All Syrian refugees must have their protected status revoked because the reason for their flight no longer exists. These people must return to their homeland. If they don't leave voluntarily, then they must be deported by force." Adding that many of the 1.3 million Syrians in Germany are being naturalized, "we must stop naturalizing these people who should actually be leaving our country. We have Islamization."

GERMAN OFFICIALS WANT TO KNOW WHY BERLIN ATTACK SUSPECT WAS FREE DESPITE ALLEGED ISIS SUPPORT

In May 2025, Germany's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) classified the AfD as a "confirmed right-wing extremist" group, citing "anti-migrant positions and an ancestry-based definition of German identity." This past February, according to Deutsche Welle, that classification was put on hold by a German court after "Judges found that while there was evidence of potentially unconstitutional statements and policies within the AfD… it said that there was not sufficient evidence to characterize the party as a whole as extremist."

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz recently told state broadcaster ARD, "I cannot imagine international investors attending a ground-breaking ceremony with an AfD Minister-President to set up new plants and establish new businesses in Saxony-Anhalt… However, that is a decision for ​the voters in Saxony-Anhalt to make. The state will suffer ⁠considerable damage if things turn out as we now fear they ​might."

This has done little to damage the popularity of the AfD’s lead candidate in Saxony-Anhalt, Ulrich Siegmund. In a state of just over 2 million people, he has a TikTok following of over 700,000.

A Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) report said Siegmund’s "polished appearance and professional tone lend respectability, and radical demands blend with footage of a community-oriented politician responding to audience questions… The AfD’s physical presence in the streets and omnipresence in the media helps to push the common populist ‘us versus them’ narrative: The AfD is here for you, the other parties are not."

NEW GERMANY SEX-CRIME FIGURES REIGNITE MIGRATION FIGHT AS EXPLOITATION PROBE EXPANDS

According to the independent, non-partisan German website Wahlrecht.de, which tracks federal and state election polling, ahead of Sunday’s vote in Saxony-Anhalt, the AfD holds a 41%-23% lead over the CDU, followed by three leftist parties. A party or a coalition needs at least half of the seats to control parliament and name a state Minister-President, essentially a governor. So how can a party with only 43% win an election outright? That comes down to Germany’s unique election system.

"German voters cast two ballots," Schatz says, "One for a local candidate — like voting for your congressman - and one for a party. That second vote, the party vote, is the one that counts. It decides how many seats each party gets in parliament." But there is a caveat: "Any party that falls below 5% gets nothing — zero seats — and those votes are effectively thrown out. Right now, several smaller parties are hovering right at that line. If they miss it, 42% or 43% of the vote can translate into more than half the seats. So Saxony-Anhalt could wake up to an AfD majority government even though a clear majority of voters chose someone else. That would be a first in postwar Germany."

The CSIS report said voters are drawn to the AfD "because, or despite of, its extremist ideology. 60.5% of AfD voters hold a right-wing extremist worldview… At the same time, more than two in five AfD voters think that the party does not sufficiently distance itself from right-wing extremist positions." The report also found that AfD’s "strongest recent gains have been among voters 18–25 years old, where the party tripled its results compared to the 2021 national election."

Treiber said economics is pushing younger voters to the AfD, due to rising expenses and unemployment. He also said that younger voters are "kind of polarized because the other part of the youth in Germany is voting for the left party (Die Linke)."

Saxony-Anhalt may just be the beginning for the anti-establishment parties. Voters in neighboring Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, where former Chancellor Angela Merkel grew up and began her political career, go to the polls in two weeks. Polling data from Wahlrecht.de shows the AfD leading the ruling SPD 35%-32% there. 

Conversely, in Berlin, where voters in the capital also go to the polls in two weeks, the average of recent polling has the far-left Die Linke in a dead heat with the CDU at 20%, followed by the AfD at 18%, with the Greens and the SPD each around 15%. While the majority of the AfD’s support does come from the former East Germany, the party is represented in 14 of Germany’s 16 state legislatures and holds 15 of Germany’s 96 seats in the European Parliament.

Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway on Friday filed an emergency appeal urging the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the new congressional map backed by President Donald Trump and other Republican leaders to be used in November's midterm election.

The appeal comes after Missouri's high court blocked the redistricting map and ordered a statewide vote in November on whether to keep it.

Hanaway asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the state high court's decision immediately.

"We have just appealed yesterday's catastrophic ruling to the Supreme Court of the United States. We look forward to the Court's prompt review of this critical matter, as our ability to hold timely and lawful congressional elections hangs in the balance," Hanaway, a Republican, said in a statement.

MISSOURI HIGH COURT BLOCKS GOP-BACKED CONGRESSIONAL MAPS AHEAD OF MIDTERMS; TRUMP BLASTS 'RIDICULOUS' RULING

State law sets a Tuesday deadline to make changes to the November ballot. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who hears appeals of cases from the region and can decide alone or refer to the full court, asked opponents of the new map to respond to the appeal by Monday.

The Missouri high court ruling on Thursday was among the latest rulings in a national redistricting battle backed by Trump. The GOP had aimed to use Missouri’s new congressional map to help win an additional seat and hold onto its slim House majority.

The state Supreme Court ruled that the referendum petition, filed in December after opponents submitted more than 300,000 signatures, prevented the new districts from taking effect unless approved by voters.

Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins waited until primary Election Day last month to reject the petition, arguing that Missouri's constitution does not allow referendum petitions on congressional redistricting. A lower court sided with Hoskins, but the state Supreme Court overturned his decision.

"The referendum petition was legal, sufficient, and timely, and the secretary incorrectly concluded otherwise," the court said in its ruling. The measure with the new districts "did not go into effect and will not go into effect unless and until approved by the voters."

Missouri’s new districts were used in the primaries last month, but the state Supreme Court said they cannot be used again unless voters first uphold the new districts passed by the GOP-controlled legislature and signed by Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe last September.

Now, the congressional map adopted after the 2020 census "remains in full force and effect for the November 2026 general election," the court said.

Five of the seven current justices on the Missouri Supreme Court, including the chief justice, were appointed by Republican governors.

Hanaway said no other court has ordered congressional maps after a primary but before a general election.

"No court in American history has ever given such an extraordinary remedy, which inflicts unprecedented chaos on Missouri," her office wrote in the appeal. "Looking forwards, the State is genuinely unsure whether it can switch its governing congressional map in time to run a timely federal election."

DEMS DERIDED TRUMP'S MIDTERM GAMBLE — UNTIL HE ENDED UP WINNING BIG

Congressional districts are typically redrawn at the start of each decade, based on new census data, but Trump's mission to tip the scales in favor of Republicans in the midterm election sparked a mid-decade redistricting battle that spread to more than a dozen states across the nation.

Trump called Thursday's ruling "ridiculous" and argued it was unconstitutional, saying there will not be enough time to change the map before November's elections. Missouri's governor said he is "extremely disappointed" in the decision "by unelected judges and their lack of respect for the legislative process."

The new Missouri map targeted longtime Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver's Kansas City-area district by shifting it eastward to include rural right-leaning voters. The map was intended to make Cleaver's district more favorable to Republicans, who hoped it would produce a 7-1 advantage in the state's congressional delegation.

"More than 305,000 Missourians demanded a say in who will represent them in the halls of Congress," Cleaver said on Thursday. "Despite the cynical and deeply shameful attempt to silence many of our neighbors, the people fought back and won. This reaffirms that the people should choose their politicians, not the other way around. Democracy prevails."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Senate Democratic nominee James Talarico appears ready to bring a touch of Trotsky to Texas. In a video from a climate forum, Talarico is shown declaring capitalism an "oppressive system" linked with White supremacy and saying that it must be "dismantled" to achieve a better world. It is reminiscent of Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky, who denounced the "fundamental evil of the capitalist system" and called on citizens to free themselves from its oppression. The Democratic Socialists of America and radical sites have long called "to dismantle the capitalist state."

As a state representative, Talarico addressed the 2020 climate conference by the Austin chapter of the Sierra Club with other Texas House candidates. However, it was Talarico who roused the crowd with an attack on capitalism:

"I’m so thankful that you asked this question and also thankful that young activists have really drawn the link between climate change and White supremacy and capitalism in our country ... And I think only ending the ways that all three of those oppressive systems work together are we gonna be able to begin the process of dismantling them."

TALARICO’S ‘PROUD CAPITALIST’ ABOUT-FACE COLLIDES WITH RESURFACED CALL TO ‘DISMANTLE’ CAPITALISM

Talarico added criticism of Texas’s oil and gas industry, which he mocked as a dying industry "like being the leader in cassette tapes in the 1980s." He predicted with obvious satisfaction, "That industry is not gonna last."

Ironically, given his earlier promise of running a meatless, vegan campaign, opposing both beef and energy markets in Texas could well achieve the dismantling of the economy by default in Texas.

WATCH: UNEARTHED VIDEO SHOWS LEFTIST SENATE HOPEFUL CELEBRATING ANTI-FOSSIL FUEL GROUP'S ARRIVAL IN TEXAS

Talarico's views closely parallel socialist and communist talking points online. The Democratic Socialists of America has challenged people to "imagine the end of capitalism." Those words in The Democratic Socialists of America manifesto offer Americans a world without landlords, debt, mandatory work hours, and "food, education, energy, medicine, and transportation … are common goods and utilities."

The DSA is premised on the same stated objective of Talarico, declaring that there has to be "a revolutionary transformation to replace the capitalist social order based on exploitation and oppression."

JONATHAN TURLEY: DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS WANT TO REMAKE AMERICA IN THEIR IMAGE. THAT’S TERRIFYING

Other candidates have sought to pander to this radical mob. Recently, California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom thrilled the mob by declaring that "nostalgia is not working," adding that "capitalism as we know it doesn’t work either."

In "Rage and the Republic," I discuss the rise of socialism and the coalition of politicians, pundits and professors in attacking capitalism as well as core institutions such as the Supreme Court. It is a crisis of faith on the 250th anniversary of the oldest and most successful republic in history.

SOCIALISM’S RISE INSIDE THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY NOW THREATENS THE AMERICAN DREAM

It is the 250th anniversary not only of the Declaration of Independence but of Adam Smith’s "Wealth of Nations." Smith's free-market theories were immediately embraced by the Founders as the perfect economic theory to match their political theory. They had declared the first Enlightenment Revolution based on a belief in natural rights that came from God, not governments.

However, those rights mean little without economic freedom. Capitalism offered citizens the ability to transcend class and social barriers, to advance as far as their skills and labor would take them.

MODERN CAPITALISM IS TURNING 250, TOO. WE NEED TO REMIND AMERICANS WHY IT’S IMPORTANT

Together, those political and economic theories created the most prosperous and stable democratic system in the world. That system is now under attack on both sides. Radicals are calling for the trashing of the U.S. Constitution and the discarding of our core constitutional values.

Even establishment figures from former Vice President Kamala Harris to Newsom now dismiss faith in core institutions as mere "nostalgia." Those of us who support the Madisonian democracy are derisively called "institutionalists" and constitutional "cultists."

JONATHAN TURLEY: DEM SOCIALIST RIPS ‘INSTITUTIONALISTS’ AS FAR LEFT TURNS UP HEAT ON DEFENDERS OF CONSTITUTION

The New York Times ran a column, "The Constitution Is Broken and Should Not Be Reclaimed," by Ryan D. Doerfler of Harvard and Samuel Moyn of Yale, calling upon citizens to "reclaim America from constitutionalism."

As these attacks on our constitutional system mount, a similar attack on capitalism is unfolding. In New York, Mayor Democrat Zohran Mamdani promised to show citizens the "warmth of collectivism" from free childcare to free buses to state-run grocery stores. Across the country, Mamdani allies are joining him in calling for the de-commodification of private property and the seizing of the means of production.

DSA CO-CHAIR MOCKED FOR PROUDLY CONFIRMING SOCIALISTS WANT TO ABOLISH THE SENATE, NATIONAL BORDERS, PRISONS

Polls show that these candidates are being propelled not by the working class, but by young, college-educated voters fresh out of the ideological echo chamber of higher education. They are armchair revolutionaries like Talarico, repeating socialist slogans with the same robotic rote delivery of a Young Pioneer camp.

As these videos surface, radical candidates from Michigan Democrat Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed to Talarico brush off their earlier comments as media allies attack any reporting on prior statements. New York Democrat Socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is considering a run for president, recently called her own extremist statements "Woke 1."

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The transparent insincerity does not matter to their base. These figures have already shown their bona fides with extremist statements in the past. Talarico's desire to dismantle capitalism was not some slip of the tongue but a planned speech to fellow activists. To pivot now is considered to be mere packaging for uneducated and malleable dupes.

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Indeed, the Talarico campaign responded by simply declaring that Talarico is a "proud capitalist," though one staffer admitted that the comments were a bit "cringey." Being a "proud capitalist" who wants to "dismantle" capitalism is a bit like being an avid meat-eater who denounces meat consumption as killing the world and banning meat from his campaign."

Accordingly, when asked about past radical positions, these figures immediately deny or dismiss them. If you want to dismantle the constitutional or economic systems of the United States, a few white lies hardly seem of much consequence. After all, as Trotsky explained, "The end may justify the means as long as there is something that justifies the end." For these radicals, there is no greater justification than their own election.

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EXCLUSIVE – The Department of Homeland Security has issued new guidance directing its immigration attorneys to seek early dismissal of asylum claims they determine are legally insufficient, according to internal guidance obtained by Fox News Digital.

Effective immediately, attorneys with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA) are expected to seek dismissal of asylum applications they determine fail to meet the legal standard on their face by filing motions to pretermit in immigration court.

A motion to pretermit asks an immigration judge to deny an asylum application before a full merits hearing because the government argues the application is legally insufficient. 

Immigration judges ultimately decide whether to grant those motions.

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The guidance is intended to expedite the adjudication of asylum claims that satisfy the legal requirements while allowing the government to challenge deficient applications earlier in the immigration court process.

The directive also reinforces the administration's ongoing focus on combating asylum fraud, including continued efforts to hold attorneys accountable for facilitating fraudulent asylum claims.

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The policy follows a series of recent administration actions aimed at reshaping the asylum system. Earlier this year, the administration streamlined portions of the affirmative asylum process by allowing certain applications to move directly to immigration court without first undergoing asylum interviews, a change officials said would reduce duplicative reviews and help address the immigration court backlog.

The administration has also expanded its focus on asylum fraud. In recent months, ICE announced a policy allowing the agency to pursue civil penalties against attorneys accused of facilitating fraudulent asylum claims and later sought financial penalties against a New York immigration attorney accused of filing fraudulent asylum applications.

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The latest guidance extends that broader effort into immigration court litigation by directing government attorneys to challenge asylum claims they believe do not satisfy the legal requirements before those cases proceed to full evidentiary hearings.

The policy marks another step in the Trump administration's broader effort to tighten the asylum system through changes to immigration enforcement and litigation strategy.