When one of Britain’s “elder stateswomen” was found dead last week, it was in a pool of her own on blood, we are now finding out. Ann Widdecombe was arguably a more significant figure in British politics than Charlie Kirk was in the U.S.—though Kirk’s career was just getting started.

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• When news broke that the 78-year-old politician was dead, most people, me included, assumed it was of natural causes.
• It wasn’t. At first police indicated the attack was a burglary gone wrong; now they’re treating it as an act of terrorism. Online news reports say she was beaten to death by a man who drove hundreds of miles to do it.

Widdecombe served as a cabinet minister in the 1990s. She went on to become one of the few legitimately conservative senior members of the Conservative Party before defecting to Nigel Farage’s Brexit party in 2019. She followed him to the Reform party, where she was one of the few leaders with top-level political experience.

• She was also much loved for her 2010 appearance on Strictly Come Dancing, where her popularity with the general public carried her to the quarterfinals of the dance competition.
• She was Reform’s spokesman on immigration and justice, appearing on TV just days before her death.

That an elderly politician could be brutally murdered in her own home shows the shocking levels British society has sunk to. She lived in an ordinary bungalow, with no special security. Perhaps our politicians can no longer live like that.

• “Make a chain: for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence,” God says in Ezekiel 7:23. We need to wake up to the fact that our society is fundamentally sick.

Widdecome stood for Reform, a party that does believe radical change is necessary. But that change is much more extensive than they realize. It’s not just about fixing immigration. Family life, the economy, everything needs to be radically revamped. Repentance to God is the reform Britain desperately needs.

Germany Aims for New, High-Tech Policing Powers

Germany’s Federal Police may soon be allowed to read encrypted messages after the Modernization of the Federal Police Act was passed by the Bundestag on Friday.

• The act is still subject to approval by the Federal Council.

An increasingly powerful German police force may seem necessary to combat crime; however, it could also be used to enforce a leader’s agenda, as has been the case in the past.

Seeing encrypted messages is just one of the new powers the federal police could soon wield. The law would also enable it to:

• Use AI-powered facial recognition to track an individual across the country instantly, using everything from airport to train station cameras
• Use AI to analyze footage and make a determination whether a crime is occurring or about to occur
• Use drones to take images and record audio
• Ask courts to detain an immigrant before deportation
• Locate phones with increased ease

Germany’s legislature is also considering a bill that would authorize Germany’s spy agency, the bnd, to sabotage computer infrastructure.

Can Germany’s police and intelligence agencies be trusted with such powers?

• Though some good may come from this, such as preventing crime, both German history and Bible prophecy suggest these powers will be used for evil purposes.
• Throughout the 1930s and ’40s, German agencies that were meant to protect citizens, like the bnd and Federal Police, were used instead to silence dissent, force compliance with the regime, and commit blackmail.

Increased policing powers provide a tool for an authoritarian strongman, once he hijacks the government, to push through a tyrannical agenda.

Sen. Lindsey Graham Dies at 71

Sen. Lindsey Graham died late Saturday night at age 71. Preliminary findings from the Washington, D.C., medical examiner showed that he died from a serious tear in his body’s main artery caused by heart disease.

• Graham had just returned from a trip to Kyiv, Ukraine, where he met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and discussed Ukraine’s ongoing war with Russia.

Graham was a supporter of strong U.S. military action overseas. He served in the Senate for 23 years after spending eight years in the House of Representatives. Before politics, Graham served more than 30 years in the U.S. Air Force. He retired as a colonel.

• President Donald Trump said on Sunday that Graham was “one of the greatest people and senators,” and he ordered U.S. flags be lowered to half-staff in his honor.
• Senate Majority Leader John Thune praised Graham’s support for freedom, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Graham was one of Israel’s friends.

The governor of South Carolina will appoint someone to finish the remaining five months of his term, but Graham’s death creates pressure on the Republican majority in the Senate. It also costs the State of Israel one of its most avid defenders in the U.S. Senate and could hurt already damaged relations between the two countries.

Iran Hostilities and Talks Continue

The United States military again struck targets in Iran today, reportedly including an underground facility at an airbase in Dezful.

• This is the fourth wave of U.S. strikes since Iran struck three commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz on July 6 and United States President Donald Trump declared the ceasefire over.

Iran has declared the strait closed, while President Trump has said it is open, remarking today, “We’ll become the guardian of the strait. … And we should be reimbursed for that.”

• Meanwhile, bizarrely, U.S.-Iran negotiations continue.

In other news, Israel, a target of Iran and of its proxies Hezbollah and Hamas, has announced it will hold its next national elections on October 27.

IN OTHER NEWS

Far-right counterprotest in Poland: Polish far-right groups co-opted a Catholic mass on Friday to stage a counterprotest near the site of the 1941 Jedwabne massacre, where Polish civilians murdered local Jews. The nationalist demonstration aimed to disrupt an official memorial ceremony and protest against the historical recognition of Polish wartime complicity.

Russian Shadow Fleet losses multiply: Russia has lost 105 tankers, dry cargo vessels and support ships over the past eight days, as Ukraine expands its assault on Russian energy assets to include the vast Shadow Fleet, Ukrainian commander Robert Brovdi wrote this morning. Since the fleet is vital for sanctions circumvention, Russian President Vladimir Putin will feel these losses acutely. But we should not expect this biblically prophesied warlord to halt his assault.