Some students will return to Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, next week, less than a month after a shooter killed a teacher and three students.

Griffin John II, a former student at Silver Rail, shot fifteen bullets on October 15, killing 25-year-old Megan Lambert, 5-year-old Rhoam Summer, an 8-year-old and an 11-year-old.

Bend police say the shooter, just 16 years old, had 44 bullets left to shoot. The heroic actions of a father and teacher prevented him from attacking the rest of the school.

Kaylub Giamanco, 36, sent his daughters, 5 and 10, to Silver Rail Elementary on the morning of October 15.

That afternoon, he told Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB), he made a series of seemingly random choices. He chose to ditch the leftovers he’d packed, drive home and eat lunch with his wife. He considered running errands on the way home but decided against it.

Crucially, he’d never removed the legal, .40 caliber handgun from his truck console.

These choices, which Christian believers might call divine timing, meant Giamanco drove past Silver Rail elementary just as a man with a gun shot at a passing pickup truck, threw the gun over the school’s fence and started climbing after it.

“That’s when panic fled into my brain, and that’s when I opened my center console,” Giamanco told OPB.

The results of the 2026 midterm election, which are still coming in, are clear and decisive.

Democrats have won control of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate — by overwhelming and convincing margins. After the counting is finished, Democrats are likely to have around 250 seats in the House, and at least 55 seats in the Senate.

The last time a political party had such a dominant showing was in the 2008 election, after which Democrats controlled 257 House seats and 59 Senate seats.

Following his election in 2008, former President Barack Obama famously said, “Elections have consequences.” That was true then. It is true now.

It will take years for the full ramifications of the 2026 midterms to be realized, though we’re likely to see a far-left legislative agenda advanced when the 120th U.S. Congress convenes on January 3, 2027.

For many Christians and conservatives, the election’s consequences for the U.S. judicial branch are top of mind.

When it comes to the U.S. Supreme Court, Justices Clarence Thomas, 78, and Samuel Alito, 76, are approaching the age when retirement speculations begin to swirl.

Earlier this year, however, Justice Alito dismissed such speculations as unfounded rumors.

“Obviously I’m here for another term,” Alito told The Wall Street Journal.

Voters in Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska and Washington cast ballots to protect girls sports, privacy and safety from male athletes who claim to be female, and voters in Colorado and Missouri decided whether to protect children from body-mutilating “transgender” medical interventions. 

While votes are still being counted in many states — some third world countries count ballots more quickly — the news looks good for several of these ballot initiatives, as voters choose biological reality over “transgender” ideology. 

Focus on the Family President Jim Daly commented on yesterday’s election, noting the success of many of these ballot measures in what was a dark night for conservatives: 

“In the midst of deep losses for socially conservative candidates and policies across the country, voters in Arizona and Nebraska approved measures on Tuesday to protect girls from having to compete against sexually confused boys in school athletics. 

“We celebrate these common-sense safeguards for our children that not only serve to shield them from physical harm but also represent a victory for fairness.

“Similar measures in Colorado and Washington are also leading, though ballots are still being counted.”

Here’s what we know about those initiatives so far. 

In Arizona, Proposition 318, the Protect Girls Sports in Arizona Act, was winning by a wide margin and projected to pass, 59% to 41%, with 84% of the votes counted. 

An alarming wave of violence and persecution against Christians has been recently reported internationally.

Not only has this received far too little media attention, but most major news outlets who have covered it failed to properly acknowledge the religious nature of the violence.

Just two weeks ago, it is estimated that more than one hundred Christians were killed.

On Oct. 23, at least nine Jordanian Christians were killed and at least 34 injured in what is being described as a terrorist attack on St. George’s Greek Orthodox Church. A funeral was being held at the church when three gunmen opened fire.

There have also been deadly attacks in Ethiopia. Two separate attacks on Oct. 20 and Oct. 24 took place in the Oromia region where at least 60 Orthodox Christians were killed and around 20 were injured.

Many homes were also destroyed. It is believed that many of the victims are tied to the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.

And then there is Nigeria, a country that has likely been the most dangerous for Christians in recent years. Equipping the Persecuted, an organization that supports Nigerian Christian communities facing violent attacks, has recorded 4,216 Christian deaths in Nigeria between January 1 and September 8, 2026. Of course, the actual total is higher now.

A recent attack occurred on Oct. 23 in Taraba State in which at least 62 people were killed, around 50 injured and thousands displaced.

Many attacks are likely not being covered by major news outlets.