Author

admin

Browsing
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

Chaos erupted in Congress on Tuesday, when a Republican ‘misgendered’ a fellow House member. But maybe it was really just a case of a politician doing the unthinkable: telling the truth.

Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Europe Subcommittee, referred to trans Rep. Sarah McBride, D-Del., as ‘Mr. McBride,’ causing a heated exchange that brought the hearing to a crashing halt. Ranking Democrat Bill Keating, of Massachusetts, rode to McBride’s rescue.

‘Mr. Chairman, you are out of order!’ Keating thundered. ‘Mr. Chairman, have you no decency?’ he harumphed, channeling the well-worn phrase from the 1950s McCarthy hearings. ‘This is not decent.’

Now, we all understand that if we meet a trans person at a party or a ballgame, we can work around the pronouns and not be a jerk about it. But a congressional hearing is not a private event, it is the official public speech of our government. It should reflect objective reality.

In other words, Self did exactly the right thing to do in that official situation so as not to publicly sanction a delusion.

Over the past decade, since around the time orange became the new black, our society has struggled with how to show deference to those who wish to live as the gender they aren’t while pursuing public policies that protect women.

But that was always the wrong question. That kind of accommodation for the idea that human beings can transubstantiate their gender was always going to bind us in the knots we face today regarding women’s sports, or women-only spaces such as prisons, shelters and restrooms.

It is as if many Americans, including many conservatives, have been saying, ‘Okay, this is pretend, but we will go along with it as long as nobody gets hurt.’

The problem is that the simple acceptance of the delusional position that everyone can choose their own gender hurts lots of people, not least of all children and young adults who are seduced by the almost godlike power of supposedly overcoming nature itself.

‘It is because of adults in the room who entertained the lie that I was born in the wrong body and needed to transition that I now suffer from irreversible damage to my body.’                                             — Prisha Mosley

As it turns out, the following day on Capitol Hill, Independent Women Ambassador Prisha Mosley was in attendance for Detransitioners Awareness Day. At just 16, Prisha, who seemed sure she was really a boy, had a double mastectomy, which she now regrets, but cannot undo.

‘It is because of adults in the room who entertained the lie that I was born in the wrong body and needed to transition that I now suffer from irreversible damage to my body,’ Mosley told Fox News Digital. ‘The truth is not transphobic. It is never loving to lie.’

This happened in no small part because good, decent people who wanted to be polite have allowed the unscientific and frankly absurd notion that people can switch their genders to gain legitimacy, to at least be a matter of opinion.

It is not a matter of opinion, it has never been a matter of opinion, and it never will be a matter of opinion.

Just days ago in Calgary, I ran into a protest against the policy of putting men in women’s prisons, and we talked about how, 10 years ago, people were nervous about questioning the quasi-religious trans ideology even in private conversation. Today, reality can be proudly spoken, and should be.

The philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein argued convincingly that language is not merely the vessel of our thoughts, it is the driver of our thoughts. Once we allow the words ‘man’ and ‘woman’ to mean something other than what biological reality dictates, that choice drives us to the madness and irreversible consequences we are seeing now.

Perhaps all of our efforts to accommodate the lie of transgenderism over the past decade have come from a true place of caring and kindness. But it doesn’t matter, it is hurting people badly, and it has to stop right now.

Will the process of restoring reality on this issue lead to awkward and even volatile moments and situations like we saw in Tuesday’s congressional meltdown? Absolutely. Will those who defend truth be called bigots? Without question. 

But when we hear stories like that of Prisha Mosley, and so many others whose lives were forever altered by the insidious lie of transgenderism, we know that whatever slings and arrows come our way, acceptance of the lie makes us complicit.

Somewhere right now, a young woman or man is contemplating transition, willing to risk irreversible surgery, or even their own fertility to try to become something they never can be. For their sake, we must stop pretending and firmly place our boots back on the solid ground of biological reality. 

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

The social media reactions are pouring in after President Donald Trump took the driver’s seat to support Elon Musk. Tesla’s stock rebounded Tuesday after facing a steep decline to start the week amid the ongoing protests at Tesla showrooms across the country. 

While Tesla stocks rose, Democrats looked down at Trump’s latest charade – accusing him of running a Tesla ad at the White House. 

‘I’m sure all the people losing their retirement, jobs, and health care because of Trump are glad to see the White House turned into a car dealership for the richest man on the planet,’ DNC Chair Ken Martin said in an X post. 

Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked Trump about his message to Americans who are facing financial uncertainty and worried about their retirement accounts while the president was buying a new Tesla. Trump told Doocy he had to order foreign tariffs to boost the American economy. 

‘Well, I think they’re going to do great. I think our country had to do this. We had to go and do this. They’ve taken away – other countries have taken away our business. They have taken away our jobs,’ Trump replied. ‘This economy, in my opinion, is going to blow it away.’

‘I have to do this. I have to get the workers back. I have to get the factories open. We have 90,000 factories and plants are closed… We’re taking it back. We’re taking our jobs back,’ Trump added. 

Democrats, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., were quick to oppose Trump’s Tesla photo op. ‘Grocery prices are soaring. Housing costs are skyrocketing. Retirement savings are plummeting. But Donald Trump thought today would be a good day to play car salesman,’ Warren said in a post. 

‘Elon Musk just used taxpayer money to host a car sale at the White House after cutting funding for schools and preparing to fire 80,000 VA workers,’ the Democratic National Committee (DNC) posted. 

‘Earlier today, while hard-working Americans were watching their retirement savings plummet, President Trump was filming a Tesla ad in front of the White House to help Elon Musk’s failing stock. This is a brazen conflict of interest and corruption in broad daylight,’ Democrats on the House Committee on Financial Services said. 

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) posted a photo of Musk and Trump standing by the president’s new red Tesla, calling them the ‘most corrupt administration in American history.’

‘While Republicans were voting to take health care away from families and veterans, Donald Trump hosted a Tesla car show at the White House for his biggest donor. Peak corruption,’ House Whip Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Mass., said. 

An image of Trump holding handwritten notes about the Tesla cars earned the ire of Democrats on social media. President Joe Biden was often mocked during his term for relying on note cards during press conferences and other public events. 

‘After mocking President Biden for using note cards, Trump got caught red-handed today – holding his own notes on what to say about buying a Tesla, a car he clearly knows nothing about. So, is the media gonna make a big deal out of this? Or nah?’ Democratic political strategist Chris D. Jackson posted on X. 

But Trump admitted he didn’t ‘need notes,’ making a jab at his predecessor. 

‘Do you want my notes? They gave me notes. I’m not Biden. I don’t need notes,’ Trump told reporters before hopping in the driver seat of his new Tesla Model S. ‘You think Biden could get into that car? I don’t think so,’ Trump added. 

Despite the criticism from the left, Musk is taking a victory lap. Musk posted a side-by-side photo of Biden snubbing Tesla at his electric vehicle summit in 2021 next to a photo of the Teslas parked in front of the White House on Tuesday. 

Despite Tesla’s status as the leading manufacturer of electric vehicles in the United States, they were not invited to the White House event in 2021. White House press secretary Jen Psaki explained to reporters those invited were the ‘three largest employers of the United Auto Workers, so I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.’

Musk reposted a clip of CNN contributor Scott Jennings defending him to Abby Phillip on ‘CNN NewsNight.’ 

‘There’s a video of Joe Biden driving a Jeep around the South Lawn… It’s pretty common for the president to boost American industries… He obviously has a close relationship with Elon, who, by the way, is, I think, unfairly under attack and this company is unfairly under attack. You have these insane people all over the country chasing people down in their Teslas in New York City. I had a friend who tried to trade his Tesla in New York the other day, and there were protesters screaming at his children.’

Conservatives on social media were quick to defend Trump’s Tesla purchase on Tuesday, reminding liberals that Biden drove a hybrid Jeep Wrangler 4xe around the White House grounds to promote his EV initiative. 

‘I don’t remember you being a Karen when Biden was a car salesman for Jeep,’ co-owner of Trending Politics Collin Rugg replied to Warren’s post. 

‘Teslas are the #1 most American-made cars. Unlike GM, Ford, and Stellantis, every Tesla sold in America is built in America by American workers. Tesla’s Fremont factory in California is the single most productive auto plant in North America,’ EV journalist Sawyer Merritt said in a post. 

‘I’m going to buy a brand new Tesla tomorrow morning as a show of confidence and support for Elon Musk, a truly great American,’ Trump announced late Monday night. 

‘To Republicans, Conservatives, and all great Americans, Elon Musk is ‘putting it on the line’ in order to help our Nation, and he is doing a FANTASTIC JOB! But the Radical Left Lunatics, as they often do, are trying to illegally and collusively boycott Tesla, one of the World’s great automakers, and Elon’s ‘baby,’ in order to attack and do harm to Elon, and everything he stands for,’ Trump said on Truth Social. 

Trump’s show of support for Musk comes on the heels of protests at Tesla showrooms across the country that have escalated to several instances of vandalism. The demonstrations began as protests against Elon Musk’s leadership of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) which has led to massive federal workforce reductions and unveiled wasteful government spending. 

‘It’s really terrible that there’s so much violence being perpetrated against people at Tesla, Tesla supporters, Tesla owners, Tesla stores. These are innocent people who have done nothing wrong,’ Musk told reporters on Tuesday. 

‘Elon Musk is being attacked, and his companies are being targeted because he is fighting to put Americans first,’ Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., defended Musk in a post. 

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and fellow Republican House members have called for investigations into the numerous vandalism cases against Tesla vehicles and charging stations across the country. Trump labeled the Tesla attacks ‘domestic terrorism.’

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

A federal judge on Wednesday blocked the Trump administration from enforcing an executive order seeking to penalize Democrat-linked law firm Perkins Coie, siding with plaintiffs from the firm who argued that the order was unconstitutional and a violation of due process protections. 

The ruling from U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell comes just one day after attorneys representing the law firm Perkins Coie filed a request for an emergency restraining order blocking Trump’s executive order from taking force. 

Among other things, the order called for the firm’s employees to be stripped of their security clearances and banned from accessing government buildings. It also called for the termination of the firm’s existing contracts with government clients— actions Judge Howell appeared to agree with.

‘That’s pretty extraordinary power for the president to exercise,’ she noted during the hearing.

Attorneys for Perkins Coie argued that the executive order is a violation of due process protections, free speech, and free association protections under the U.S. constitution, and argued it would effectively force the firm’s business to a halt.

‘It truly is life-threatening,’ attorneys for Perkins Coie told the judge. ‘It will spell the end of the law firm.’

Judge Howell appeared to uphold their concerns, noting at one point in the hearing that it ‘sends little chills down my spine’ that the Trump administration moved to label the firm as a threat and deny them access to government entities and businesses. 

Lawyers for Perkins Coie argued the executive order would be ‘like a tsunami waiting to hit the firm’ in terms of damaging impact. Already, they said, there is evidence that some of the firm’s clients have withdrawn legal work from their firm or are considering doing so, moves they said would cause the firm to lose ‘signifcant revenue.’

The order, signed by President Donald Trump last week, sought to penalize Perkins Coie, which has long represented Democratic-linked causes and candidates, including Trump’s former opponent, Hillary Clinton, in the 2016 presidential election. 

The firm also played a role in hiring Fusion GPS, an opposition research firm that commissioned the so-called ‘Steele Dossier’ and published it shortly before the 2016 election. 

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s chief of staff, Chad Mizelle, appeared in federal court to represent the Trump administration in the lawsuit. The hearing, and rare court appearance from Mizelle, a senior member of the U.S. attorney general’s office, comes one week after Trump signed the executive order.

The order, titled ‘Addressing Risks from Perkins Coie LLP,’ accused Perkins Coie of ‘dishonest and dangerous activity’ that they alleged undermines ‘democratic elections, the integrity of our courts, and honest law enforcement,’ as well as ‘racially discriminating against its own attorneys and staff’ through its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.

Trump told reporters last week it was an ‘absolute honor’ to sign the order, adding that ‘weaponization’ against a political opponent ‘should never be allowed to happen again.’

However, Perkins Coie attorneys argue the Trump administration has done just that by targeting the firm. 

‘Its plain purpose is to bully those who advocate points of view that the President perceives as adverse to the views of his Administration, whether those views are presented on behalf of paying or pro bono clients,’ they noted in the emergency lawsuit.

Attorneys representing Perkins Coie told Howell that roughly 25% of total firm revenue comes from its contracts with government clients, which they noted would be terminated by Trump’s executive order.

Notably, this is not the first time the Trump administration has sought to restrict the work of certain law firms he sees as potentially opposed to his interests.

Earlier this year, Trump also issued an executive order targeting the law firm Covington & Burling, which represents former special counsel Jack Smith, who was tapped by Merrick Garland in 2022 to investigate Trump in his handling of classified documents and actions related to the 2020 election.

The order against Covington & Burling was slightly less restrictive, however, and revoked the security clearances of just two lawyers at the firm. Like Perkins Coie, it orderd the review of all the firm’s government contracts and clients, though it is unclear if the review has forced any terminations of the contracts.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

A longtime ally of California Gov. Gavin Newsom repeatedly helped a now-former CCP official while she was serving as the Chinese consul in San Francisco, according to a LinkedIn post unearthed by Fox News Digital.

Ying He, who served as the Chinese consul general in San Francisco between 2012 and 2016, lavished praise on Darlene Chiu-Bryant in a 2017 LinkedIn recommendation, calling the former Newsom aide and longtime ally of the governor a ‘Super lady.’

‘Darlene is the right person when you need to develop business (sic) in either California or Beijing,’ said He, who was serving as the division director for the Ministry of Commerce, a CCP government arm, at the time of the 2017 LinkedIn post. ‘She is an excellent PR professional and able to fulfill the most challenging tasks. She helped me a lot when I was consul in SF, promoting US-Sino investment and trade. In all, she is a friend in need and a Super Lady indeed.’

He’s LinkedIn reveals that she has served in multiple roles at the Ministry of Commerce for over a decade and her profile boasts that she has ‘extensive connections with Chinese and U.S. governments’ and ’15+ years with a Chinese central government agency and 4 years as a diplomat in San Francisco.’

At the time of the LinkedIn post, Bryant was serving as the executive director of ChinaSF, which is facing renewed scrutiny for its ties to the CCP and recruiting over 100 Chinese companies into San Francisco, according to a new book Fox News Digital exclusively reported on Monday. In the book, there is a chapter dedicated to how Newsom helped launch a nonprofit organization almost a decade earlier, in 2008. 

One of the several companies discussed in the book was Suntech, a Chinese solar company developed by the CCP that was personally recruited by Newsom into the U.S., and he publicly praised the company’s CEO, Dr. Zhengrong Shi, multiple times, and made him an advisory board member for ChinaSF. 

In addition to green energy companies that streamed through ChinaSF, real estate companies were also involved, and the book alleges that Newsom received over $23,000 in anonymous contributions from Chinese real estate company Z&L, whose billionaire owner was criminally sentenced for bribing a San Francisco government official. In 2017, ChinaSF posted a photo of Bryant, Newsom and others in front of a wall that said Z&L Properties.

‘ChinaSF was started by our Lt Governor Gavin Newsom when he was Mayor of San Francisco in 2008,’ the photo caption said. ‘Proud to work with our partners and companies recruited to the SF Bay Area.’

According to China Daily, a Chinese state media outlet, Newsom launched the group while visiting Shanghai.

‘The two most important things for us are energy independence and establishing a stronger relationship with China,’ Newsom said ahead of the trip.

Bryant, who traveled with Newsom to China in 2005 when she was serving as his deputy communications director and would later be tapped to run ChinaSF, was repeatedly mentioned in a chapter in the new book, ‘Fool’s Gold: The Radicals, Con Artists, and Traitors Who Killed the California Dream and Now Threaten Us All.’

In the book, authors Susan Crabtree and Jedd McFatter make the case that ChinaSF served as a gateway for CCP officials and Chinese criminals to exploit California. In addition to the book exposing how Bryant was referred to locally as ‘the Fixer’ for any Chinese businesses ‘wanting to make hay in San Francisco,’ her personal Facebook profile and other Facebook pages are littered with photos showing her involvement with ChinaSF. There are also several photos of her and Newsom, in addition to other California politicians.

In 2019, GlobalSF posted a photo of Newsom and Bryant at an event. The photo caption, which appears to be written by Bryant, called Newsom a ‘visionary leader.’

‘So good to see my ex boss now Governor of our Golden State of [California], [Gavin Newsom],’ the post said. ‘As a visionary leader, he started [ChinaSF] in 2008 to be the China Desk for the city and county of [San Francisco] to facilitate inbound investment.’

Another photo on Facebook shows Bryant attending Newsom’s inauguration in early 2019.

Fox News Digital has previously reported on another prominent Chinese consul general, Huang Ping, who oversaw the office in New York City for several years and often promoted CCP propaganda while publicly denying the alleged Uyghur genocide in China. 

In addition to his controversial public statements, Ping would often travel to U.S. universities and other events, meeting with business leaders and elected officials, sparking concerns from some about potential influence peddling for the CCP.

‘The Chinese Communist Party is playing for keeps at the nuclear level and every layer below that,’ Michael Sobolik, author of ‘Countering China’s Great Game: A Strategy for American Dominance,’ told Fox News Digital last year. ‘And it’s not just the universities. The Chinese Communist Party is looking to infiltrate every aspect of American society.’

‘If we try to edit undo our way out of this whole list of infiltrations and threats that the CCP sends our direction that’s good policy work. We need to insulate ourselves. But good housekeeping is the bare minimum of waging a cold war and winning a cold war,’ Sobolik added.

Fox News Digital reached out to Newsom’s office for comment and received a response pointing to an article about conspiracy theories with the headline, ‘Conspiracy theorists really do see the world differently, new study shows.’

Fox News Digital reached out to Bryant, but did not receive a response by press time.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

SpaceX and NASA scrubbed the planned rocket launch of Crew-10 to the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday due to a hydraulic issue with one of the ground systems, according to officials giving a live broadcast of the event.

NASA and SpaceX will get their next opportunity to send the rocket into space when the launch window opens on Thursday at 7:25 p.m.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth shared a message of support for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 ahead of their launch on Wednesday, highlighting the U.S. military’s prominent role in the mission.

‘I just want to take a brief moment to say we are praying for you,’ Hegseth said in a video posted to X. ‘We wish you Godspeed, and we look forward to welcoming you all home soon.’ 

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 was slated to launch from the Kennedy Space Center at 7:48 p.m. on Wednesday.

NASA officials said Wednesday night’s launch was scrubbed due to a hydraulics issue with a clamp arm on the launch tower.

Officials have not mentioned when the next launch attempt will take place, though there are alternative times on Thursday and Friday, including the next opening on Thursday at 7:25 p.m.

In the meantime, the crew will remain in the capsule while they wait for the ‘egress’ team to remove them.

Once cleared, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will carry a crew of four to the ISS for a six-month residency. The mission is set to usher in the much-anticipated homecoming of Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore and Suni Williams.

‘President Trump said to Elon Musk, ‘get the astronauts home and do it now’ – and they’re responding,’ Hegseth continued. ‘And they’re bringing NASA astronauts, [who] also happen to be retired U.S. Navy Capt. Butch Wilmore and retired U.S. Navy Capt. Suni Williams, home.’

The American astronauts have been stranded on the ISS for nine months after arriving there in June of last year. They were only supposed to stay for about a week. 

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft had transported the pair of astronauts from Earth to the ISS. However, it returned to Earth unmanned in September. This came after Starliner suffered ‘helium leaks’ and ‘issues with the spacecraft reaction control thrusters’ while docking with the ISS. 

‘Now, the Department of Defense is also proud to have multiple branches and two active-duty U.S. military officers represented in the mission that’s kicking off tonight between NASA and SpaceX. Yet, U.S. Army Colonel Anne McClain and U.S. Air Force Major Nichole Ayers,’ Hegseth said. ‘So this is Army, Air Force and Navy tonight.’

In addition to McClain and Ayers, Crew-10 also includes an astronaut from Japan and one from Russia. 

The planned launch comes after President Donald Trump asked SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to rescue the stranded astronauts sooner than NASA had planned.

Trump has repeatedly said former President Joe Biden ‘abandoned’ them in space.

Musk definitively told FOX Business’ Larry Kudlow earlier in the week: ‘We’re gonna get ’em back.’

NASA said there will be a ‘handover period’ with the SpaceX Crew-10 before Wilmore and Williams head back to their home planet. They could return to Earth as early as Sunday.

 

Last week, Trump shared a special message for Wilmore and Williams.

‘Elon [Musk] is right now preparing a ship to go up and get them,’ the president told Fox News senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy. ‘We love you, and we’re coming up to get you, and you shouldn’t have been up there so long.’

FOX Business’ Aislinn Murphy contributed to this report.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

President Donald Trump criticized actress Rosie O’Donnell and her decision to move to Ireland during his White House meeting with Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin Wednesday.

When a reporter asked Irish Prime Minister Martin why he allowed the American comedian to move to the country, Trump was quick to respond. 

‘Ireland is known for very happy, fun-loving people,’ a reporter noted to Martin at the White House. 

‘Why in the world would you let Rosie O’Donnell move to Ireland?’ the reporter asked. ‘I think she is going to lower your happiness.’

Before Martin could answer, Trump chimed in and replied, ‘That’s true, I like that question. Do you know you have Rosie O’Donnell? Do you know who she is? You’re better off not knowing.’

Reps for O’Donnell did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

Trump made the comments after the comedian revealed she has been living in Ireland and is in the process of applying for Irish citizenship.

‘It’s been pretty wonderful, I have to say,’ the 62-year-old said in a video on TikTok. ‘And the people have been so loving, so kind and so welcoming. And I’m very grateful.’

O’Donnell said she left the country Jan. 15, five days before President Trump’s inauguration.

‘Although I was someone who never thought I would move to another country, that’s what I decided would be the best for myself and my 12-year-old child,’ she explained. 

O’Donnell and Trump have been involved in a feud since 2006 after she criticized him on ‘The View’ about his leniency toward a Miss USA winner who had been accused of drug use and other bad behavior. 

Trump responded to the criticism by calling O’Donnell a ‘real loser.’

At the time, in reference to Miss USA Tara Conner, Trump said he was a ‘believer in second chances. Tara is a good person. Tara has tried hard. Tara is going to be given a second chance.’

In 2014, O’Donnell claimed her feud with Trump resulted in the ‘most bullying I ever experienced in my life.’

Since Trump’s first presidential run and win, O’Donnell joked to ‘Late Night’ host Seth Meyers about how she spends ‘about 90% of my working hours tweeting hatred toward this administration.’

In 2015, Trump harshly replied to a question regarding O’Donnell during the Republican primary debate. 

When Trump was asked about having called women disparaging names like ‘fat pigs’ and ‘slob,’ he laughed and answered, ‘Only Rosie O’Donnell.’

During last year’s election, Trump brought up O’Donnell’s name again when he told a crowd at the October Al Smith dinner that ‘The View’ had gotten ‘so bad’ that showrunners ‘really need to bring Rosie O’Donnell back.’

 

Despite her ongoing sparring with Trump, O’Donnell said she and her daughters are ‘happy’ in Ireland. 

‘I miss my other kids,’ she added of her five grown children. ‘I miss my friends. I miss many things about life there at home. And I’m trying to find a home here in this beautiful country. And when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America, that’s when we will consider coming back.’

‘The Flintstones’ star additionally said she thinks about the U.S. every day, and ‘I am hoping that we can turn things around. I’m counting on you, all of you, to do what’s right. And I think deep down inside we all know what that is.’

Fox News Digital’s Brie Stimson contributed to this report.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer set the tone for her leadership at the agency, reaffirming in a memo to agency executive staff and agency heads that they must comply with President Donald Trump’s executive orders and work with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse, Fox News Digital has learned. 

Fox News Digital exclusively obtained the memo Chavez-DeRemer sent to senior staff at the Department of Labor Wednesday — her first official day on the job. 

‘I am honored to join you as the 30th Secretary of Labor,’ Chavez-DeRemer wrote. ‘It is with a deep sense of responsibility that I step into this role, and I am excited about the opportunity to work alongside each of you to implement President Trump’s agenda and carry out the important mission of the Labor Department.’ 

‘I want to take this opportunity to emphasize our mission: to protect workers’ rights and ensure safe working conditions; ensure proper wages for all American workers; promote employee training; improve working conditions; advance opportunities for job growth; and assure work-related benefits including pensions,’ she continued. ‘To achieve this, we must stand strong in our commitment to Putting American Workers First.’

Chavez-DeRemer said that principle ‘is at the core of everything we do, and it guides our efforts to enhance the lives of workers across our nation.’ 

‘Under the leadership of President Trump, our focus remains on promoting job creation, enhancing workforce development, and ensuring safe working conditions, wages, and pensions so that every American has the opportunity to succeed,’ she continued. ‘I challenge each of you to actively engage with your teams to identify innovative solutions that can help us achieve our goals.’ 

Chavez-DeRemer said that the Labor Department must align with the priorities of the Trump administration and ‘must focus on practicing fiscal responsibility, reducing unnecessary spending, and optimizing our resources to ensure that taxpayer dollars are utilized effectively.’ 

‘At the direction of the President, the Department of Labor has already saved the American taxpayer $125 million, and this important work must continue to root out waste, fraud, and abuse,’ she wrote. ‘I urge each of you to conduct a review of your budgets and operations and identify opportunities for cost savings that can be redirected toward initiatives that directly benefit the American worker and businesses that drive our economy.’ 

Chavez-DeRemer said that those priorities ‘are central to our mission and are essential for ensuring that we serve the American people by creating a level playing field for businesses, unions, and the American worker.’

‘By adhering to the principles of fiscal responsibility and efficiency, we can make a meaningful difference in the lives of millions of Americans,’ she wrote.

Fox News Digital has learned that the Labor Department canceled $125 million in contracts, including $32 million in diversity, equity and inclusion training and consulting, along with discriminatory DEIA duties from more than 100 contracts. It also shut down internal gender ideology programs. The Labor Department also canceled $56 million in communication support redundancies and $4.4 million for ‘policy handbook modernization.’ 

Chavez-DeRemer is instructing agency heads within the Department of Labor to conduct a review of budgets and identify opportunities for cost savings, including ‘wasteful contract spending,’ and recommendations to ‘cut redundancies and low-performing employees,’ a source told Fox News Digital. 

Meanwhile, Chavez-DeRemer said that she looks forward to meeting with staff individually in the coming days to discuss ‘your agency priorities and how we can collectively advance the Department’s mission.’ 

‘Thank you for your dedication to our mission of Putting American Workers First as we work together on behalf of President Trump to usher in a new Golden Age of economic prosperity,’ she wrote. ‘I look forward to collaborating to create a positive impact on the lives of millions of workers and their families.’ 

She added: ‘Let’s get to work.’ 

The Department of Labor has nearly 14,000 employees. 

‘The Secretary is fired up and ready to start fighting for the American Worker under the leadership of President Trump and his America First Agenda, and that starts with implementing the President’s executive orders and partnering with DOGE to ensure the Labor Department is safeguarding hardworking Americans’ tax dollars,’ a Department of Labor spokesperson told Fox News Digital. 

Chavez-DeRemer was the final person of Trump’s formal Cabinet to be confirmed. She was confirmed by the Senate Monday night with a 67–32 vote margin. Seventeen Democrats voted with Republicans to confirm her. 

Chavez-DeRemer was sworn-in Tuesday at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building by Florida Rep. Laurel Lee.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

The Federal Trade Commission asked a judge in Seattle to delay the start of its trial accusing Amazon of duping consumers into signing up for its Prime program, citing resource constraints.

Attorneys for the FTC made the request during a status hearing on Wednesday before Judge John Chun in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. Chun had set a Sept. 22 start date for the trial.

Jonathan Cohen, an attorney for the FTC, asked Chun for a two-month continuance on the case due to staffing and budgetary shortfalls.

The FTC’s request to delay due to staffing constraints comes amid a push by the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency to reduce spending. DOGE, which is led by tech baron Elon Musk, has slashed the federal government’s workforce by more than 62,000 workers in February alone.

“We have lost employees in the agency, in our division and on our case team,” Cohen said.

Chun asked Cohen how the FTC’s situation “will be different in two months” if the agency is “in crisis now, as far as resources.” Cohen responded by saying that he “cannot guarantee if things won’t be even worse.” He pointed to the possibility that the FTC may have to move to another office “unexpectedly,” which could hamper its ability to prepare for the trial.

“But there’s a lot of reason to believe … we may have been through the brunt of it, at least for a little while,” Cohen said.

John Hueston, an attorney for Amazon, disputed Cohen’s request to push back the trial date.

“There has been no showing on this call that the government does not have the resources to proceed to trial with the trial date as presently set,” Hueston said. “What I heard is that they’ve got the whole trial team still intact. Maybe there’s going to be an office move. And by the way, both in government and private sector, I’ve never heard of an office move being more than a few days disruptive.”

The FTC sued Amazon in June 2023, alleging that the online retailer was deceiving millions of customers into signing up for its Prime program and sabotaging their attempts to cancel it.

“Amazon tricked and trapped people into recurring subscriptions without their consent, not only frustrating users but also costing them significant money,” former FTC Chair Lina Khan said at the time.

The FTC has also brought a separate case against Amazon, accusing it of wielding an illegal monopoly, in part by preventing sellers from offering cheaper prices elsewhere through its anti-discounting measures. That case, which the FTC filed in September 2023, is set to go to trial in October 2026.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS

“My God, you also handed my son freedom,” said Patricia Cortes when she left El Buen Pastor prison on September 17, 2024. She had hoped to be able to guarantee her son’s food and health upon leaving prison. However, after six months of freedom, although she appreciates being a beneficiary of Colombia’s recent Public Utility Law, she points out a flaw: “We leave the prison vulnerable.”

The law allows female heads of households to serve their sentences outside of prison in exchange for unpaid community service. It is considered the first criminal policy with a gender focus in Colombia, and a model for Latin America. However, two years after its approval, obstacles still exist for incarcerated women to benefit from the law and reintegrate into society effectively.

The law that releases caregivers in Colombia

Cortes, 22, entered El Buen Pastor prison in Bogota on October 31, 2023. She was sentenced to six years and five months in prison for conspiracy to commit a crime, drug trafficking, manufacturing, or possession of narcotics. Her son was born four days later.

When she first heard about the Public Utility Law, she had been denied house arrest seven times, she says.

She met the three requirements to access the benefit: being a female head of household, having a sentence of less than eight years or for crimes related to theft or narcotics, and having committed it under conditions of marginality.

“My mom sold drugs, and I accompanied her. I foolishly got caught; we were accused of being leaders of a gang,” she says. However, she insists she had no intention of harming anyone and that necessity drove them: “We are eight siblings, five are minors. My dad is homeless. My mom worked in the central park of Fusagasuga selling corn, bubbles, ice cream, but what she earned was not enough for the household.”

This context, along with the documentation her lawyer gathered, which included interviews with her siblings showing how her imprisonment had impacted them, was enough for a judge to grant her release from prison.

The Public Utility Law was passed on March 8, 2023. Since then, 133 women have been released as of February 28, 2025, according to data from the Ministry of Justice of Colombia. Between 2,000 and 3,000 people are believed to meet the requirements to be beneficiaries, according to the non-profit organization Mujeres Libres.

Lack of awareness of the law and the difficulty in documenting cases are some of the main obstacles identified by civil society organizations monitoring how it is applied. Added to this are the interpretations made by judges, who decide whether or not to grant the benefit, regarding the concept of marginality and care.

To address this issue, organizations like Mujeres Libres, which works to guarantee the rights of women in prison and their families, have conducted workshops to socialize the regulation in prisons and with judicial branch officials.

However, Claudia Cardona, director of the organization, says that even when women can overcome these obstacles, they face the absence of a public policy for leaving prison: “Women have no jobs, the financial system shuts down, they face the breakdown of family ties, there is no psychosocial support. One is condemned for life,” she says.

The challenges of leaving prison

“When I left prison, I didn’t look back,” says Cortes. She received her release notice the same day as her mother, who was also granted the benefit. They arrived unexpectedly at their home in Fusagasuga, a town 70 kilometers (43 miles) from Bogota, near midnight. Her grandmother cried with emotion while some of her siblings did not recognize her. “I was a complete stranger,” she says.

Adapting to her new daily life has not been easy. The preparation for freedom course she took in prison did not teach her how to face stigma: “If I have a criminal record, how do I find a job?” she says.

During the six months she has been out of prison, she has only received offers for day jobs as a security guard, driver, informal seller, and domestic worker, even though she has training as a nursing assistant.

Her priority now is the community service she provides, from Monday to Friday, at the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare, through which she fulfills her sentence. However, the schedules have proven an obstacle to finding stable employment and, consequently, obtaining the financial resources to fulfill her role as a female head of household, she says.

The Public Utility Law promised the issuance of a public employability policy aimed at improving job training in prisons and ensuring that women who benefit from the policy are able to join the labor market. However, the two-year deadline given to the Ministry of Labor, in partnership with the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Commerce, is nearing expiration, and there has been little progress in designing the employability policy.

“How do I manage my time between my son, work, and social service?” says Cortes. She is a single mother and does not have a support network to help with her son’s care as she did in prison.

Although Colombian law allows the children of incarcerated individuals to be with their mothers in detention centers until the age of three, it also requires them to designate two “guardians” who can take care of the child during temporary leaves or other situations like medical appointments. During Cortes’ time in prison, this role was assumed by a woman from a pastoral group living in Bogota, three hours away. Now, she helps by taking care of her son during the week.

“I know that next year my son will be with me every day, so I won’t break down,” Cortes says while making plans. By February 2026, she will have completed the community service time required by the Ministry of Justice. “I’m going to focus on completing my sentence (…) I want to enroll in university, study law, and help women in prison. I also see myself playing professional indoor soccer.”

The importance of a gender-focused criminal policy

Even though there are obstacles to its implementation, the Public Utility Law is still a landmark in terms of gender, for its focus on women who are deprived of their liberty, says Liliana Sanchez, PhD in Legal Sciences and Vice-Rector of Research at the Universidad Javeriana.

The research “Women and Prison in Colombia,” co-authored by Sanchez, highlights the family context of female offenders, the reasons they enter the criminal justice system, and the effects of their incarceration on their families.

One of the main conclusions is that, before their arrest, most women were heads of households, more than half had not completed high school, and they belonged to low socioeconomic strata.

Moreover, since they were the primary caregivers, their detention had adverse impacts on their children. Most are left under the care of extended family, and in some cases, are separated from their siblings. In contrast, “when the father is detained, the children remain under the mother’s care,” the report indicates.

Regarding the criminal profile of women, the research shows that the main crimes for which many women are convicted are drug trafficking, conspiracy to commit a crime, and theft. According to the research, many have committed non-violent crimes and do not pose a serious risk to public safety.

Identifying these differences between men and women “in terms of the path to crime and the differentiated impacts of prison,” says Sánchez, lies in the fact that more effective criminal policies can be formulated to prevent women from reoffending and exacerbating gender inequality.

The ‘war on drugs’ and its disproportionate impact on women in Latin America

The situation in Latin America is no different. Over the past two decades, there has been an exponential increase in the female prison population, according to a 2020 report by the U.S. human rights organization WOLA, which concludes that this trend is due to drug laws disproportionately affecting women.

“The roles in which women are generally recruited in drug markets are high-exposure roles (…) When there is an operation, they are the first to be detected in the act and are quickly criminalized,” explains Isabel Pereira, coordinator for the drug policy line of the non-profit organization Dejusticia.

However, the legislation does not distinguish levels of participation in drug trafficking. “Everything is typified in the same way. The big boss of the criminal network directing a drug operation is treated the same as the woman delivering joints in a store,” she says.

A gender-focused criminal policy that can divert women from the penal system and avoid perpetuating cycles of poverty is important, according to the International Guidelines on Human Rights and Drug Policy of the United Nations Development Program.

It is a double tragedy, Pereira says, as incarceration has dramatic consequences for women and is ineffective in terms of public policy: “The State spends large sums pursuing women and keeping them in prison, but it does not affect the operation of drug markets in the slightest.”

This post appeared first on cnn.com

A senior Ukrainian official said a new round of talks with the United States got off to a constructive start, a huge relief for Kyiv after the extraordinarily public blowup between US President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky less than two weeks ago.

Zelensky’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak, who is representing Ukraine at the talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, said Tuesday that “the meeting with the US team started very constructively.”

“We are working to bring about a just and lasting peace,” he added.

The Ukrainian delegation, which does not include Zelensky, was meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz. Both Rubio and Waltz attended direct talks with Russia last month.

As the meeting entered its fourth hour, Rubio and Waltz were seen walking through the lobby at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Jeddah where talks were underway between US and Ukraine officials.

Speaking before the meeting, Rubio said the US wanted to get more details on Kyiv’s position and what possible concessions Ukraine would be willing to make, adding that the US was “in listening mode.”

Yermak on Tuesday declined to outline what, if any, compromises his country could offer to get to a peace deal. He said that security guarantees from the US were “very important” so that Russia cannot repeat its aggression.

The issue of security guarantees is one of the key sticking points between the US and Ukraine. Kyiv has long said that any ceasefire or peace deal must be underpinned by Western security guarantees because history shows that Russian President Vladimir Putin does not stick to agreements that don’t include them.

Many of Ukraine’s Western allies have backed Kyiv on this point, but the Trump administration has so far refused to make any concrete commitments.

Speaking at the European Parliament on Tuesday, president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said there was “the urgent need to fill the gaps in Ukraine’s military supplies and to provide Ukraine with solid security guarantees.”

“Putin has proven time and again that he is a hostile neighbor. He cannot be trusted, he can only be deterred,” she said.

Yermak seemed to acknowledge that security guarantees might not be on the agenda on Tuesday, stressing to reporters that finding a way to get the peace process started was the priority for the meeting.

“Now we think it’s necessary to discuss the most important: how to start this process,” Yermak told reporters in the lobby of Jeddah’s Ritz-Carlton hotel before the meeting. “And we’re very open, very open. And we want to have very constructive, deep, friend, partners conversation with our American partners.”

The Ukrainian and American officials met in Jeddah just hours after Russia said it was hit by a “massive” Ukrainian drone attack. Moscow’s defense ministry said it had downed 337 drones it claimed Ukraine had fired at Russia, of which 91 had targeted the Moscow region. Local officials said three people were killed and at least six wounded.

If the figure is confirmed, the aerial attacks would represent one of the largest on Russia since its invasion of Ukraine, and a clear attempt to show strength on the part of Kyiv.

Rubio asks Ukraine for concessions

The meeting on Tuesday was the first time Ukrainian and American officials have met since the US paused all shipments of military aid to Ukraine following the disastrous meeting between Trump and Zelensky less than two weeks ago.

Zelensky has since described the fiery meeting as “regrettable” and said Ukraine was ready to negotiate over an end to the conflict. However, he stopped short of apologizing to Trump.

Speaking ahead of the meeting on Tuesday, Rubio did not specify what compromises he was looking for from Ukraine, but Trump has repeatedly suggested Ukraine would likely need to give up some of its territory. Ukraine has so far not indicated it would be willing to do that.

Russian forces currently occupy nearly 20% of Ukraine’s territory, up from the roughly 7% Moscow controlled before it launched its unprovoked full-scale invasion in February 2022. Some 6 million Ukrainians live under Russian occupation.

Putin has made clear that he wants Moscow to gain control over the entirety of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.

According to the Institute for the Study of War, a US-based conflict monitor, Russia currently occupies about 99% of the Luhansk region and 70% of the Donetsk region, as well as roughly 75% of both the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.

This post appeared first on cnn.com