You're browsin' tabs to go, then makin' links stay, why do you click me so bad? ...
It's truly sorrow to know Mike Ditka has passed away but I suspect he sooner hear us chuckle versus cry so -
— Peter Grandich (@PeterGrandich) October 9, 2026
Ed: I didn't include the passing of the legendary Mike Ditka in last night's Final Word, so let's salute Iron Mike tonight. Peter and I discussed Ditka on yesterday's Drew Mariani Show on Relevant Radio (I was guest hosting yesterday), as Peter got a chance to meet him and spend some time with him. If you want to hear Peter's remembrance, here's the link to the third hour.
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Campus Reform: Iman Dashti, a Persian American student and member of College Republicans, described the threats in an Instagram video following a Sept. 23 town hall confrontation with El-Sayed.
“Since that day, people have threatened me, doxxed my friends, even harassed my family,” Dashti said.
Dashti said critics questioned his political affiliations, accusing him of being a “Zionist plant” or working for Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers.
“So to all you detectives, yes, I’m a proud Christian conservative. I’m a member of College Republicans, and yes, I have met Mike Rogers,” Dashti said. “But none of that changes the fact that Abdul’s answer was terrible.”
Ed: I featured the original exchange in an earlier Final Word, but the reaction may be even more telling. As Dashti points out, the problem isn't the question – it's the answer that the Democrat nominee to the US Senate gave. The Left's reaction is to intimidate the voter rather than to demand a better answer from its candidate. It also shows that El-Sayed had plenty of time to formulate a better answer before his disastrous debate against Rogers this week, and apparently figured that his allies could simply bully anyone who questioned it. Speaking of which ...
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NEW: The Minnesota GOP says "radical DFL protesters stormed the stage" tonight at their Lincoln-Reagan Dinner https://t.co/Z3jA51Rxea
— Alpha News (@AlphaNews) October 10, 2026
Ed: This is not the action of people confident in the outcome of the next election. This is desperation generated by the sense that the Left may be losing their grip on power in Minnesota.
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Scott Johnson at Power Line: Acting as an informal master of ceremonies, First District Rep. Brad Finstad spoke a few times at the event. He is articulate. He is young. He is handsome. He has political gifts. He holds the seat formerly held by Tim Walz before Walz moved on to display his yen for one-man rule and his unfitness for executive office. As governor, Walz has contributed to the transformation of the First District and other rural districts into Republican territory.
Senate candidate Michele Tafoya addressed the spirited crowd. Running for the open Senate seat, she is a most engaging candidate. She presents a striking contrast with her opponent, “light-skinned Native woman” Peggy Flanagan in every department that comes to mind. All the contrasts favor Michele.
The “protesters” seem to have been especially provoked by our gubernatorial candidate. That would be House Majority Leader Lisa Demuth. They hauled out a “RepubliKKKan” banner to hassle Lisa, who happens to be black. There is something off about the “protest” crowd. They have only a glancing relationship with reality.
As soon as Lisa began speaking, one of their number seized the podium. The disruption required a timeout before Lisa was able to make her (excellent) remarks.
Ed: Scott attended the dinner and has some first-person observations about the speeches as well as the nuts. As Scott concludes, this demonstration of insanity will serve to further galvanize people of common sense in Minnesota. Let's hope enough of them are still around to kick the DFL establishment in the, er ... you know.
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Scott Jennings ignites CHAOS on CNN when he asks “how” the SAVE Act strips voting rights from people of color. ALENCIA JOHNSON: “[Trump] is championing a bill that would take voting rights away from a lot of black people in this country.” JENNINGS: “Wait, what voting rights is he taking away from black voters?” ALENCIA JOHNSON: “Oh, if we look at the SAVE Act… That is actually going to continue to disenfranchise overwhelmingly a lot of people of color.” JENNINGS: “How?” ALENCIA JOHNSON: “There are so many civil rights organizations that have run the data. If we look at the way that it is going to disenfranchise black voters.” JENNINGS: “How?” ALENCIA JOHNSON: “It’s the same reason why Chuck Schumer called it Jim Crow 2.0.” JENNINGS: “You haven’t said how yet!” “76% of black voters think we should show an ID to vote, 80% of Hispanic voters, 83% of the American people. Are you saying that black voters are too dumb to know what’s good for them? It sounds pretty condescending to me!” After Johnson repeatedly failed to say “how,” Abby Phillip stepped in as backup. What followed was a fiery clash that spiraled into a 3-on-1 debate against
— Q Ascension™️ (@QAscension347) October 9, 2026
Ed: They can't answer "how," because the answer assumes that minority voters are too incompetent to get government-issued IDs. Never mind that such IDs are already required to access nearly every financial and transportation option in American society, and never mind that the same "people of color" overwhelmingly support voter-ID requirements. The only rational reason to oppose such laws is to allow cheating to continue. The "raaaaaaacism" argument is just demagoguery that avoids the obvious, and Scott's gentle-yet-fatal question pierces it to the core. Speaking of which ...
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Jonathan Turley: A White Baltimore arts executive was recently fired in September from the Baltimore Rock Opera Society. The reason was not that Kelly Carnes was chronically absent or failed to perform her duties as the new executive director. Rather, it was the hairstyle that she briefly adopted on vacation. You see, Carnes is white, and co-workers were apparently triggered by her getting cornrows while attending the Burning Man festival. It was not deemed a fun hairstyle choice adopted on a vacation but rather a despicable case of cultural appropriation that warranted her termination.
Carnes was hired on Sept. 8 and was heralded for her more than 21 years of experience in arts leadership, nonprofit strategy, communications, fundraising, and operations.
She said that she adopted cornrows as a ‘protective style’ while attending Burning Man. ...
At issue may be Maryland’s CROWN Act, which protects minority employees from discrimination based on traits associated with race, such as hair texture, afro hairstyles, and protective hairstyles. The law must apply equally to all races, including hairstyles adopted by Caucasian employees.
Under the state’s discrimination laws, cornrows are clearly not a matter that would “reasonably preclude the performance of the employment.” It is an objection to the appearance of employees based on racial bias or intolerance.
Ed: This is such a stupid choice by the BROS that it deserves far more ridicule than even Turley provides. This is woke on steroids, and the claim of "cultural appropriation" for a hairstyle is so profoundly absurd that it beggars belief, even without the CROWN Act in force. Everyone who participated in this decision deserves to be publicly named and shamed for its absurdity. It would be just as stupid to fire a black or Asian woman who dyes her hair blonde. If you like multiculturalism, then you have to accept that people will appreciate and adapt cross-cultural practices.
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Sophie responds to the article from @TheAthletic demanding Fever to drop her "If you're going to live by the praise, you'll die by the hate.....I'm going to continue to do me.....suck it" This is the appropriate response. We should all be more like this. https://t.co/kfQuNw89dQ
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) October 10, 2026
Ed: Good for Sophie Cunningham. That's a great principle to apply in public life. The hatred directed at her and Caitlin Clark is a great demonstration of how impactful both are, on and off the court. A great deal of envy is behind the toxic reactions to both of the Indiana Fever stars. I don't watch basketball in either the NBA or WNBA, but I've become a fan of both women for their courage. The NY Times, which owns The Athletic, can "suck it" for a lot of reasons, too.
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Luke Rosiak at the Daily Wire: Cornell University has hired a top lawyer from the Obama administration to investigate the rape allegation that has gripped the nation. If history is any guide, it won’t end well.
The Ivy League school tapped former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates to investigate a female student’s accusations that she was drugged and gang-raped by seven students — an incident which critics say the school did not handle appropriately at the time.
Cornell officials may think that campus activists will accept the findings of a well-regarded female Democrat lawyer. But that’s not what happened eight years ago, when the University of Rochester hired ex-Obama lawyer Mary Jo White to get them out of a similar situation. The university called on White after Mother Jones reported in 2016 that two junior faculty, Celeste Kidd and Jessica Cantlon, accused professor T. Florian Jaeger, an acclaimed scientist, of being flirtatious, creepy, and socializing with graduate students.
White’s review concluded that sexual misconduct allegations behind a media-and-activist firestorm were unsubstantiated. That just set off another round of protests, the school president resigned, and the college paid $10 million to plaintiffs who White said had no case. People who were angry that horrific misconduct had occurred weren’t relieved to hear that the worst of the allegations probably hadn’t. Instead, they just added a new layer to the conspiracy.
Ed: So far, practically every outsider who has been attached to this case has been a progressive activist. That includes New York's Attorney General, who blundered into a moment of truth in her televised debate against GOP opponent Saritha Komatireddy this week ...
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“You don’t have to look at the facts and the law.”- Letitia James https://t.co/jm8mYT7nrT
— Saritha Komatireddy (@sarithaforny) October 9, 2026
Ed: That was James' approach in prosecuting Trump, and it is already her approach to the Cornell 7 case.
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NY Post: New York Attorney General Letitia James was ambushed by her well-prepared, locked-in GOP opponent, Saritha Komatireddy, who hammered the incumbent Dem over New York’s bail laws, the rise of antisemitism and massive amounts of Empire State medicaid fraud.
While Komatireddy labeled James a “political hack” for her prosecution against President Trump, the Democrat had few answers to her opponents’ attacks besides repeatedly labeling her a “Trump puppet.”
“The laws are broken and Letitia James broke them. She was the largest champion for having this catch-and-release system,” Komatireddy charged, blaming James for endorsing New York’s lax bail laws preventing judges from setting bail in many cases. ...
She also went on the offensive, arguing that James prejudiced the sick Cornell University gang rape case by saying she stood with the victim prior to being named as a special prosecutor in the case by Gov. Kathy Hochul.
“She’s certainly never prosecuted a sexual assault case and she’s already screwed this one up,” Komatireddy said.
Ed: Let's hope the voters of New York paid attention, not just to this debate but to the past four years of James' politicized lawfare. In a just world, or even in a common-sense world, Komatireddy would win in a landslide.
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HBO's Bill Maher called out those who framed Trump's rally comments as him wanting LA and San Diego to be bombed: "He was saying gas prices are too high, it's a small price. He wasn't saying that, that we were encouraging Iran..." Maher even got a Karen Bass joke in: "Karen Bass, our mayor, was very upset. She immediately got on the phone with her travel agent."
— Nick (@nspin310) October 10, 2026
Ed: I wondered whether Maher would address this ridiculous nontroversy. Good for him, but it should have been low-hanging fruit for comedians of all stripes.
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Democrat Strategists Remove James Talarico From Campaign Trail To Hide The Fact That He's James Talarico https://t.co/7AmHsxISij
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) October 9, 2026
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Last night's lyric: "Crazy on You" by Heart.
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