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Navy veterans reunite after 30 years for 'grueling' cross-country bike challenge honoring 9/11

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 09:00:43 -0400

Two Navy veterans recently reunited to complete a great expedition across America.

Jim Serger, 55, of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Cory Hardy, 51, of Ennis, Montana, hadn’t seen each other in 30 years since serving together overseas.

On July 14, the two friends embarked on a bike ride across the country – from California to New York City – in honor of the upcoming 25th anniversary of Sept. 11.

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After writing three books for the nonprofit Tunnel to Towers, Serger said he felt he needed to challenge himself "with something bigger."

"And why not wrangle in my old Navy buddy, who I hadn’t seen for 30 years, that I knew was a tremendous bicyclist," he told Fox News Digital. "Back in January, I said, ‘Would you like to go on this trip?’ And he said, ‘Absolutely, Jimmy, count me in.’"

Hardy said he’s always viewed himself as "incredibly patriotic," as he’s been granted "so many opportunities" through the military to see the world and get an education.

"When Jim approached me about the idea of doing this, I was like, ‘Wow, this is awesome. This is something that I can do,’" he shared.

"It's the 250th anniversary of our country and the 25th anniversary of 9/11, and I don't want to forget, and I want people to keep it at the forefront of their minds."

TUNNEL TO TOWERS 5K DRAWS 40,000 PEOPLE TO HONOR 9/11 FIRST RESPONDERS IN NYC

Serger trained for 10 months, logging 5,000 miles on an indoor trainer. When spring came, he hit the trails around Cincinnati.

A few months later, the duo began their journey in San Diego and headed east. They were met with 20 road closures, a fire and flooding in Colorado, two flat tires, three bike shop visits and lots of backroad maneuvering.

Serger and Hardy focused on staying hydrated, especially in the California and Arizona heat, with a collective three gallons of water each day, sometimes including electrolytes. They snacked on energy waffles, protein bars and "salt gummy bears," and ate lots of carbs at meals.

Hardy said he took 10-minute ice baths "every single day." Serger reported losing six pounds by the end of the mission, which he gained back by eating "good food" in New York.

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While Hardy was already accustomed to the elevation after living in mountainous Montana, Serger said the altitude posed a physical challenge.

"It was grueling ... so hard," he told Fox News Digital. "Cory had to take the mountains in Colorado, I stayed on flat ground — that was our game plan."

Serger and Hardy were met by some of their old Navy buddies along the way. One fellow veteran, an Arizona state trooper, drove from Phoenix to Flagstaff to meet them on the route. Others opened their homes for the pair to stay the night.

The friends stopped at about 25 firehouses to hand out Tunnel to Towers books and to introduce themselves.

"Sometimes we were there for an hour, sometimes we were there for four hours," Serger said. "Talking about Tunnel to Towers, where they were on 9/11 … how much they train … it was just very heartwarming."

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Serger said he and Hardy both foster the "patriotic mentality" of "what we can do for others," as Hardy serves on the city council and Serger's wife cooks for the fire department every month. These types of efforts were reciprocated on their journey.

"Every fire station, EMS, police station, they're all involved in the communities. We got patches, we got hats, we got pins, we got T-shirts," Serger said.

Hardy added that at every firehouse, everybody was there to help, "regardless of their state’s political affiliation."

"They're just another American out there willing to put their life on the line to save people," he said. "I thought it was super awesome to get to meet firefighters from East Coast to West Coast."

"The closer we got to Shanksville and the Pentagon and New York, it became very emotional, because then people said, ‘My mom was there’ or ‘My aunt was there' ... and then a firefighter said, ‘Three of our brothers went up there.’"

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"The closer we got, we knew we had hit the epicenter of how people responded to those terrorist attacks – and it really hit home."

At the Pentagon, Serger and Hardy got a police escort from the Pentagon Police and Pentagon Fire Department before receiving a five-hour tour, including the 9/11 memorial.

Clocking about 170 miles a day, the pair made it to Lower Manhattan in 20 days.

They were welcomed by the FDNY, Port Authority and NYPD Honor Guard at FDNY Ten House, across from Ground Zero and the 9/11 Memorial & Museum.

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"I started crying," Serger said. "My wife was there. She flew in. We had Sal Cassano, the [former] FDNY Fire Commissioner, there. Fire Station 10 had firemen, civilians were there. It was very, very moving."

Serger and Hardy’s cause has so far raised more than $17,000 for Tunnel to Towers.

In addition to raising funds for the organization, Serger said the expedition aims to generate continued awareness for those who sacrificed and risked their lives on 9/11 as the 25th anniversary approaches.

"We never forget 9/11," Serger said. "We never forget the sacrifice of our heroes, of our military, our first responders and gold star families," he said. "We never want 9/11 to fade away."

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Serger described the bike ride as a "surreal" and emotional experience.

"It started off with, we're going to raise money for Tunnel to Towers, and I think our final [takeaway] was there's a lot of love and pride and patriotism in this country, from far west all the way to the east," he shared. "Everybody welcomed us with open arms. That's all we talked about."

Teacher who battled union fears she’s being targeted after shirt complaint: 'I'm afraid'

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 09:00:34 -0400

Stacey Adair, an award-winning teacher from Colorado, is facing scrutiny after a complaint that accused her of spreading anti-transgender messaging by wearing an "XX ≠ XY" chromosome t-shirt to a professional development training event earlier this month.

"They get an anonymous complaint — nobody said anything that day," Adair, who was named teacher of the year at the 2025 Teacher Freedom Summit, said. "I would say people don't even know what it means, honestly."

"I told one of my friends that yesterday about getting in trouble and she goes, ‘that's math.’ I said, ‘well, no, it’s actually genetics.’"

A week after the meeting, Adair was called in, given a questionnaire about why she had worn the shirt and was instructed not to wear clothing with controversial messaging going forward.

The reprimand has made Adair fearful for her job and worried that she might receive heightened scrutiny down the road. But beyond her individual case, onlookers like Ryan Walters, the CEO of the Teachers Freedom Alliance (TFA), an organization advocating for alternatives to teacher unions, believe her situation is emblematic of larger power struggles in schools over ideology.

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"It’s not an isolated incident," Walters said.

"These are the types of teachers that when you talk to parents around the country, they go, ‘I want my kids in a teacher's class like that.’ And yet you see the way that they're treated by the districts."

Adair’s case began when she selected one of her many "word" shirts to the professional development event — a routine training for teachers during the back-to-school season.

She noted that her shirts aren’t out of the ordinary for her. In fact, she threw on a "Math facts" t-shirt to meet a member of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet — Secretary of Education Linda McMahon.

She noted that the school district has a policy against apparel that is political or "disruptive to the educational environment."

But Adair said she didn’t see her shirt as overtly political or disruptive — especially as there were no students present at the training event.

"I mean I just grab a shirt I feel like wearing that day," Adair said.

"I just wear these shirts because they’re facts. I just feel like someone has to be stating the truth," she added.

Asked why she thinks she might face future repercussions for the XX ≠ XY shirt, Adair said she’s been expecting this for some time.

Long before the write-up, she helped strip the teacher union’s grip on her district.

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In 2021, she helped topple two members of her school board who were backed by the union. Without them, the board allowed the district’s contract with the teachers union to lapse by not voting to renew it.

"It basically dictated how the administration could run the school district," Adair said of the contract.

"So, if the superintendent wanted to pay teachers extra money for having better scores or outcomes, he had to ask the union first. The union basically controlled the school district rather than the elected board."

Since helping flip the seats and speaking out against the union’s influence, Adair said she has felt like there was a target on her back — sometimes literally.

"One time a local plumber wrote me a veiled, threatening email to my district email right after I went against the union during a school speech on a Wednesday night," Adair said. "And I got to school, and district security had to have me file a police report."

"You don’t mess around with the union. So, am I surprised? No. Yes, I'm afraid. I know this is the beginning of them coming after me," she added.

Adair noted that she doesn’t have evidence that the teachers unions are behind the anonymous tip that sparked the review.

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Even so, Walters, the CEO of the Teachers Freedom Alliance, said it is emblematic of some of the pressure he’s seen firsthand in other cases across the country applied to teachers who question their authority. He believes cases like Adair’s are a key reason he says schools have become proxies for political control.

"It’s like, well, you tally up these types of incidents across the country over two decades and guess what you’ve got? You’ve got a lack of other viewpoints in the staff and the employees," Walters said.

"And so that’s where we’ve seen this ideology being pushed in schools, even in red states where people go, ‘how did this happen?’ Well, take this incident, multiply it by a thousand and apply it on a daily basis."

Tupac Shakur murder trial's first week sees heated testimony from reluctant witnesses with old gangland ties

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 09:00:24 -0400

The first week of Tupac Shakur’s long-awaited murder trial exposed the challenge prosecutors face nearly 30 years after his death — most of the key players are dead, others refuse to cooperate and their case rests heavily on the defendant's own words.

Duane "Keffe D" Davis, 63, is accused of providing the murder weapon used in a 1996 Las Vegas drive-by shooting that killed Shakur and wounded Death Row Records founder Marion "Suge" Knight. He is not accused of pulling the trigger. The trial began Monday and is expected to run four to five weeks.

Three other men believed to have been in the suspect vehicle with Davis are all dead, including Davis' nephew, Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson, who was jumped earlier that night by Knight's entourage, according to prosecutors.

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The defense denies he was involved, and his attorney, Michael Sanft, has suggested that he fabricated the version of events now being used by the prosecution.

Former FBI Special Agent Wade Lee testified that Davis sat down with investigators in 1998 after a drug-trafficking bust and began cooperating with authorities.

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Davis sat down for multiple interviews with investigators, then spoke out on a BET documentary and detailed the night of the slaying in his memoir, prosecutors said.

Davis is a former leader of the South Side Compton Crips, which was a rival of the Mob Piru Bloods, a gang affiliated with Knight, who is serving a 28-year prison sentence for another Compton dispute that turned deadly.

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The two groups had a bloody rivalry, highlighted by a brawl in the summer of 1996 that preceded Anderson's beating at the MGM Grand casino on Sept. 7, 1996, shortly before Shakur was gunned down in what prosecutors allege was retaliation.

Knight, who is on the witness list, has said in prior interviews he does not intend to cooperate with prosecutors. James "Mob James" McDonald, a former Mob Piru associate, told the court to "treat me as a hostile witness" when he took the stand and later told Davis directly, "I don't want to send you to prison."

"At the time, again, the gang culture, they had that same culture as the La Cosa Nostra, which was, you know, ‘we don’t talk to the cops,’" said Chris Swecker, a former assistant director of the FBI.

He also has a background in gang investigations and helped implement the National Gang Intelligence Center.

"You would think a victim would say, ‘Hey, that’s who shot me.’ Not the case in that culture," Swecker added. "And so that’s partly why … nobody was charged originally with the crime."

Davis' own words are now central to the state's case against him.

"The need to brag and the need to get street cred sort of overrode caution," Swecker said. "And now he sits in that defendant’s chair."

Prosecutors opened Monday by describing Shakur's killing as revenge for the beating of Anderson, Davis' nephew, inside the MGM Grand after a Mike Tyson fight on Sept. 7, 1996. They argue Davis obtained a gun, helped hunt down Shakur and handed the weapon into the back seat before someone opened fire.

TUPAC SHAKUR MURDER TRIAL KICKS OFF AS DUANE 'KEFFE D' DAVIS FACES JURY NEARLY THREE DECADES AFTER SHOOTING

"Remarkably, you will learn that from Duane Davis himself," Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal told jurors.

Defense attorney Michael Sanft countered that Davis exaggerated and made up stories for attention and book sales.

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"What they are telling you, they're representing it to be a fact when it really is fiction," he told jurors in his own opening statement. "And it's up to you to determine what the facts are in this case."

He also said that police never tried corroborating Davis' claims when other suspected parties were still alive and attacked the investigation as incomplete.

Former LAPD Detective Daryn Dupree testified Wednesday that Davis once denied involvement in the murder of Christopher Wallace, better known as the rapper Notorious B.I.G., by saying, "we did the other one," which Dupree testified he understood as a reference to Shakur.

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Dupree also described Davis' claim that Sean "Diddy" Combs was supposed to provide money for Shakur's murder.

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Combs is currently in prison after being convicted of federal prostitution charges. He has not been charged in the deaths of Shakur or Wallace. He was a close associate of Wallace, who was killed in Los Angeles six months after Shakur, and whose Bad Boy Records was a rival of Knight's Death Row Records.

WATCH: Retired LAPD detective Moses Castillo says Tupac Shakur murder trial may hinge on Keffe D's ghostwriter

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Then on Thursday, prosecutors played hours of Davis' 2008 police interview.

On the recording, Davis said he was inside the Cadillac, initially had the gun and passed it toward the back seat. He identified Anderson as the man who ultimately opened fire on Shakur and Knight.

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On Monday, jurors were shown surveillance video from MGM showing the initial fistfight involving Knight's entourage and Davis' nephew, Anderson.

Thomas Kern, a former Las Vegas crime scene analyst who now works for Customs and Border Protection, testified Tuesday that he was present at Shakur's autopsy. The forensic pathologist determined his death to be a homicide caused by multiple gunshot wounds to his chest and abodmen.

By Friday more than a dozen witnesses had testified, including photographer Leonard Jefferson, who took one of the last known photographs of Shakur alive.

Also on the witness list is Yusef Jah, a ghostwriter who worked with Davis on his book, "Compton Street Legend: Notorious Keffe D's Street-Level Accounts of Tupac and Biggie Murders, Death Row Origins, Suge Knight, Puffy Combs, and Crooked Cops."

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Fox News' Melissa Chrise contributed to this report.

Identity restoration: What to do after identity theft

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 08:57:55 -0400

You get an alert saying your Social Security number, email address or other personal information showed up in a breach. Your first thought may be, What did someone do with it? I get why that can be unnerving. An alert can sound serious without telling you whether a criminal actually opened an account, took over something you already use or did nothing at all.

The first thing I want you to know is that exposure and identity theft are not the same thing. Exposure gives you a reason to pay attention. Identity theft means someone has actually misused your information. And if that happens, getting your identity back in order can turn into a lot of work.

Here's how identity restoration actually works and what I recommend doing if you suspect someone has misused your information.

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IS YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER ON THE DARK WEB?

Identity monitoring can warn you about trouble

Identity monitoring is the early-warning side of identity protection. Depending on the service, monitoring may watch for suspicious activity involving your credit files, financial accounts and places online where personal information could surface. The FTC explains that credit monitoring typically watches your credit report for changes such as new accounts or inquiries. Identity monitoring may look beyond your credit report for other signs that someone is using your information.

An alert could point you toward a new credit inquiry, an unfamiliar account or personal information found in a breach. However, an alert cannot tell the whole story. You still need to determine whether the activity is legitimate and decide what action to take. I would not panic over every notification. Read the alert carefully. Look at exactly what information was involved and save the notice in case you need it later.

Identity restoration begins when something needs fixing

Restoration is the hands-on work of recovering after identity theft. That may mean contacting a bank or credit bureau, disputing fraudulent activity, replacing compromised documents or securing an account.

Identity theft can also reach beyond your credit report. Someone could use stolen information to open a new account or take over one you already have. A thief may even use your identity for tax or government benefit fraud. The recovery process depends on what the criminal actually did.

Documentation helps too. Save breach notices, account alerts and correspondence. Keep case numbers and notes from conversations together so you are not hunting for them later.

IDENTITY THEFT RARELY ANNOUNCES ITSELF: 6 SIGNS YOU MISSED

What to do if your information may have been misused

If something looks suspicious, focus first on what you can verify.

1) Check your credit reports and financial accounts

Review your credit reports for accounts or activity you do not recognize. USA.gov says the three nationwide credit reporting agencies are Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. AnnualCreditReport.com is the federally authorized site for requesting your free credit reports. Also review your bank and credit card accounts. Check payment apps and any other financial services you regularly use.

Pay attention to government notices as well. A tax filing or benefit notice that does not match your activity could signal a problem. A sudden wave of convincing scam messages may raise concern. However, scam messages alone do not prove someone has stolen your identity.

2) Freeze your credit

A credit freeze restricts access to your credit file. Because lenders generally need to review that file before approving new credit, a freeze can make it harder for an identity thief to open a new account in your name. You need to place the freeze separately with Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. It is free, and you can lift it when you legitimately need someone to access your credit.

A fraud alert works differently. It tells businesses to take additional steps to verify your identity before extending new credit. For an initial fraud alert, you only need to contact one of the three bureaus. That bureau must notify the other two. An initial fraud alert is free and lasts one year.

3) Secure your most important accounts

I would start with your primary email account. If someone controls your email, they may be able to use password-reset links to get into other services. Use a strong, unique password for every important account. A password manager can create and store those passwords for you.

Turn on multifactor authentication wherever you can. It gives a criminal another barrier to get past even if your password has already been compromised. Also check the recovery phone numbers and email addresses attached to important accounts. Remove anything you do not recognize.

4) Contact the company involved

If you find suspicious activity, contact the bank, card issuer or company directly. Use the phone number from the company's official website, your statement or the back of your card. Do not use a number supplied in a suspicious text or email.

Ask what you need to do to secure the account and dispute unauthorized activity. Keep the case number or confirmation information you receive. You may need it later.

5) Report confirmed identity theft

If someone actually used your identity, report it through IdentityTheft.gov. The FTC says IdentityTheft.gov can create a recovery plan based on what happened and help identity-theft victims work through the next steps.

Do not feel like you have to understand every part of the fraud before protecting yourself. You can start securing your accounts while you continue figuring out what happened.

What an identity restoration specialist can do

This is where professional restoration help can become useful. A restoration specialist can help you understand what needs attention and guide you through the recovery process. Depending on the service and incident, that could include helping organize paperwork or explaining how to handle disputes. Some services may also assist with communications involving affected institutions.

Still, a specialist cannot necessarily handle everything for you. You may need to verify your identity or provide documents. Your bank or a government agency may require you to communicate with them directly. The amount of help you receive depends on the service and what happened. I look at restoration assistance as having someone help you navigate a complicated process. It isn’t a promise that identity theft disappears overnight.

How identity protection services are evolving

Older identity-protection products were often centered mainly on credit monitoring. Today, many services are expanding to cover more of the ways personal information can be exposed or misused.

Depending on the service, that may include monitoring for suspicious financial activity, checking and savings accounts, investment accounts, phone takeovers, home title changes, dark-web exposure, data breaches and social media risks.

Some services are also adding tools designed to help you act when something goes wrong. These can include alerts for suspicious charges, data-broker removal, scam support and access to specialists who can help guide you through identity restoration.

Certain plans may also include reimbursement for eligible losses tied to identity theft or scams. Coverage limits, eligibility requirements and exclusions can vary widely, so it is important to read the terms before signing up.

6 IN 10 IDENTITY CRIMES NOW BEGIN WITH A NEW ACCOUNT

For me, the bigger change is that identity protection is becoming more focused on both detection and recovery. The question is whether the monitoring, support and coverage offered by a service match the risks you are most concerned about and are worth the cost to you.

See my tips and best picks on Best Identity Theft Protection at Cyberguy.com

What to check before paying for identity protection

If you are considering a paid identity-protection service, here are the questions I would ask before signing up.

How much monitoring are you getting?

Look at what the service actually monitors. Does it cover one credit bureau or multiple bureaus? Does it monitor financial accounts or other places where your identity could be misused? Compare those features with the risks you are most concerned about.

What happens when you receive an alert?

An alert only helps if you know what to do with it. Find out what information the service gives you when suspicious activity appears and whether it helps you determine what happened. Some alerts may simply tell you to investigate. Others may connect you with additional support.

How does restoration support work?

This is one of the areas I would pay close attention to. Find out whether you get access to a restoration specialist and what that person can actually do. Will the specialist guide you through the process? Can they help with paperwork or communications? What steps will still fall on you? Those answers can tell you much more than a feature list.

What does the reimbursement actually cover?

Do not stop at the biggest dollar figure on the page. Look at the individual coverage limits, what types of losses qualify and what expenses may be excluded. Some identity-protection plans offer different reimbursement amounts depending on the level of coverage, so read the terms carefully before signing up.

Are you paying for help you would actually use?

You can take many important identity-protection steps yourself for free. Credit freezes are free. You can review your credit reports and report identity theft without paying for an identity-protection subscription. A paid service may still make sense if you value ongoing monitoring or want someone to help you navigate recovery. For me, that is the more useful way to judge these services. Look at what you get and decide whether that support is worth the price for you.

Kurt's key takeaways

The biggest thing to understand is what happens after you get an identity alert. Seeing your Social Security number or other personal information in a breach can immediately make you wonder what a criminal has already done. But an exposure notice alone does not answer that question. So I would start there. Find out whether anyone has actually used your information. Check your accounts and credit reports. If something looks wrong, protect the affected accounts and document what you find. A credit freeze can also help shut down one of the easiest paths criminals use to open new credit in your name. If you discover real identity theft, you have another decision to make. You can work through the recovery process yourself or use a restoration service to help guide you. I can see real value in having someone help when you are dealing with fraudulent accounts, paperwork and calls you never asked to make. Just know what you are paying for and understand where the service's job ends, and yours begins. No identity-protection service can guarantee that a criminal will never get your information. What you can control is how quickly you recognize trouble and how prepared you are to respond.

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WNBA player goes on profanity-laced rant about 'gay' men throwing sex toys on the court

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 08:55:10 -0400

As we theorized yesterday, the WNBA's sex toy problem has officially come back with a vengeance.

Three more sex toys were launched onto the court Friday during the third quarter of the Chicago Sky-Golden State Valkyrie game. Three! It's a pandemic. It's official, folks.

Mask up! Stop the spread!

This comes on the heels of the famous neon green toy making a stunning appearance during Thursday's Dream-Sparks game in Los Angeles. For those who missed that one, Angel Reese saw the perp right away and viciously pointed him out in the crowd. He was later seen fleeing the scene.

What a league.

Anyway, back to Golden State ...

Three sex toys interrupted play in the third quarter, and Sky guard Natasha Cloud was asked about it after the game.

What followed was one of the wildest two-minute rants I've heard come from a professional athlete.

Enjoy:

Natasha Cloud hits all the notes here

"Y’all lame as f–k," Cloud started before diving into a world of name-calling, slurs, and sex toy talk. "And I just, man, and like, in most of these occasions, it’s men. And I want you to know that is the gayest thing that you can do is to go to a store, a sex shop, buy a dildo, come to a women’s game to throw the dildo on the court. That is the gayest s–t that I’ve ever heard."

Here's where things really go off the rails:

WNBA SUDDENLY WANTS TO STICK TO BASKETBALL AFTER YEARS OF MAKING POLITICS PART OF THE PRODUCT

"So I’m a firm believer in anyone that has so much problem with a certain marginalized group, just come out and say that you’re a part of our marginalized group because that hate is unwarranted. It’s not factual," she continued. "And it says more about the internal struggles of that individual than it ever will say about the collective group. The men that are throwing it, shows that you are weak. Like, extremely weak. And it says a lot about how you feel about women. Y’all lame to us. Y’all gay to us.

"We see it. Keep throwing them if you want to keep telling us you’re gay. You can come out. You’ll be happier. You’ll be nicer to people. You’ll be happier in your everyday life. You don’t need to go to therapy or none of that s–t. Just be yourself. Y’all weird. Like it says dildo on their credit card. Like they have to go through their financial advisor and be like, ‘What’s this green dildo? You good, Chad? You good, Richard? Are you good, Paul?’ Because it also is a certain demographic."

Goodness gracious. Like I said, it's an all-timer. It's a rollercoaster. Natasha hit all the notes here. She used the word gay 400 times, and also used it as an insult, which I'm not sure the WNBA will love. She also attacks guys, which is fair, and makes sure to throw in some racial undertones at the end.

Again, I'd say that's fair, but also, one of the guys arrested for doing this last year had the name "Lopez," so I'm not 100% sure that math checks out.

BROADCAST BIAS: SOPHIE CUNNINGHAM TAKES A HIT, BUT ABC, NBC DODGE WNBA’S TRANSGENDER SPORTS FIGHT

Anyway, I don't care about any of it. I think Cloud is right in saying that going to a sex store and buying a toy, just to pay for a ticket to a WNBA game, just so you can then throw said toy onto the court and stop a game, is silly.

That seems like a ton of work for very little payoff. Also seems like a waste of money. I could never afford that lifestyle. What a luxury.

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That being said, I'm not sure lashing out like this is going to help. If anything, it's probably going to make this sex toy pandemic worse. If I know anything about how the human male brain operates, name-calling usually doesn't solve problems.

Just a hunch.

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Stay tuned!

Nick Chubb retires after NFL career that began on a Hall of Fame trajectory but was derailed by injuries

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 08:42:37 -0400

A stellar career seemingly ended for Nick Chubb after that catastrophic injury in 2023, but one of the NFL's most dominant running backs refused to go out like that at age 28. He is instead going out healthy and on his own terms at age 30.

Chubb on Friday night announced what he himself knew was inevitable years ago: He is done. He is now retired from the NFL.

"Today's the day I've been avoiding for a while," Chubb wrote in a farewell missive on Instagram. "Twelve-year-old me could never imagine this day, and 30-year-old me is wondering where all the time has gone.

"I've known for some time now, but I'm finally ready to share that I'm done playing football. I wanted to end my career on a healthy note, along with a winning season, and I was able to do that."

RUSSELL WILSON ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT FROM NFL AFTER 14 SEASONS

This is a true story: In the spring of 2018, New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick went to the University of Georgia campus and watched both Chubb and Sony Michel work out for scouts.

He selected Michel with the 31st pick of the first round to be his running back.

Chubb was selected four slots later by the Cleveland Browns and over the next five seasons made Belichick's choice look like a mistake.

Chubb rushed for 996 yards as a rookie in '18 despite starting only nine games.

Then, starting in 2019, Chubb established himself as one of the NFL's premier running backs, producing four consecutive 1,000-yard-plus seasons, averaging over 5 yards per carry in each of those seasons, and being selected to four consecutive Pro Bowls.

Chubb never won a rushing title, but came closest in 2019, finishing second to Derrick Henry, who won the crown on the last day of the season by gaining 211 yards.

Through his first five seasons, Chubb gained 6,341 rushing yards, scored 48 rushing touchdowns and boasted a remarkable 5.2 yards per carry.

The guy was on a Hall of Fame career trajectory.

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But that changed dramatically in September of 2023 when he suffered a devastating injury to his left knee against the Steelers that required two surgeries and cost him the remainder of that season and part of the next.

Chubb had previously torn multiple ligaments while at Georgia so he knew what a comeback entailed.

But when he returned in 2024, he wasn't the same. And even that diminished player had another injury when he broke his foot, prematurely ending his season once again.

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"The only thing I could control after hurting my knee twice was getting back up, getting back to work, and getting back on the field," Chubb wrote in his farewell post. "And I was able to do that both times."

The Nick Chubb story includes physical and emotional pain in large swaths. It seems like he had a career filled with setbacks.

That's not how he sees it.

"I say this to all my brothers still on the field, still in the heat of it," Chubb wrote. "There's a life waiting for you after football, too. And health is the real wealth.

"I end my career in a great place. Even though there are some things I wish had happened differently, I can say that I have no regrets."

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Jets say Geno Smith delivers 'exactly what we were looking for' in 2026 debut, so here comes the overreaction

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 08:31:23 -0400

Geno Smith played well in his New York Jets debut on Friday night and in any other town, that's going to be notable but somewhat mundane news because the starting quarterback performing at a high level in the preseason is not a promise of championships.

But because we're talking about New York, and the starving-for-glad-tidings Jets, this space warns you to prepare for what's next.

Because Smith's one drive against the Pittsburgh Steelers might lead to some massive overreaction. And a lot of excitement. And high expectations.

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So, the Geno 2.0 public relations uproar is on.

That's how it is in the Big Apple's thrill ride through the NFL season for quarterbacks who struggle in preseason practices, as Smith has done at times this summer, and then deliver a near-perfect performance in their first preseason action.

"Very, very efficient," Jets coach Aaron Glenn described it to reporters afterward. "I mean, I think he had two third-down completions within that, threw to five different receivers within that drive. He looked very comfortable.

"It was exactly what we were looking for ..."

Smith is thus going to get a good dose of New York pundit love for the next few days because he had that drive in which he completed all seven of his pass attempts, including one that was tipped and caught by one of his offensive linemen.

He's going to get applauded for converting a couple of third-down situations. And, of course, the 13-yard touchdown pass to Jelani Woods will be replayed as if on a loop on channels 2, 4, 5, 7 and WPIX.

It's the New York way.

So, how ya feelin' Geno?

"It felt good to be out there with the guys," Smith told reporters gathered at his locker stall. "You know, obviously we got one drive in, but we scored a touchdown. You always want to start fast. so that was a good thing.

"But definitely a lot of room for improvement. So just looking forward to getting back to practice, getting to work."

This is a perfect reaction from Smith. He shows modesty while giving his performance proper context.

But the fans? The media? They're going to go as close to wild as is allowed by NFL preseason bylaws.

And it won't be just the fans and media getting all pumped. Some Jets teammates will, too.

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"We were all fired up for him," backup quarterback Cade Klubnik said. "He's going to have a heck of a year and that's just a glimpse of it."

There it is, a prediction for the entire regular season based on one preseason drive.

And, again, it was a good drive. But that Steelers defense that retreated did not include T.J. Watt, or Jalen Ramsey, or Joey Porter, or Cam Heyward.

Just sayin'.

Look, the Smith we saw on Friday was more comfortable, more proficient, and just better than the one who left this same franchise a decade ago as a draft bust.

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You'll recall Smith's first stint with the Jets, from 2013 to 2016, was a mess. It ended, for all intents and purposes, when teammate IK Enemkpali sucker punched Smith and broke his jaw in 2015.

That, unfortunately, turned Smith's stint with the team into something of a punchline — literally.

So, this return has a wonderful opportunity to be something else. Something better.

But Friday's lone drive should be understood to be one humble hint of that possibility rather than a bold vision of the next few months.

Smith, thankfully, gets that.

"I just feel like," he said, "we can be a lot better."

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From fondue to casseroles: Classic 1960s foods that defined a generation

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 08:00:42 -0400

The 1960s marked a shift in American cuisine as international dishes gained popularity while the processed and convenience foods of the 1950s remained staples on dinner tables.

C. A. Swanson & Sons introduced the frozen TV dinner in 1954, "marketing it as an easy-to-prepare, fun-to-eat meal, with a disposable tray that reduced cleanup time," the Smithsonian National Museum of American History reported.

"The portable TV dinner tapped into middle-class Americans' excitement over television, allowing families to eat in front of their new sets."

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Julia Child's first television cooking show, "The French Chef," debuted in 1963, and with it came a new approach to preparing foreign fare for middle-class home cooks.

Do you remember eating the following classic dishes during the midcentury?

Fondue

The Swiss tradition of fondue took America by storm in the 1960s and ‘70s, thanks in part to the Swiss Pavilion serving Swiss cheese fondue at the 1964 New York World's Fair.

Fondue is derived from the French word fondre, which means "to melt."

The dish involves melting cheese, wine and seasonings together in a pot and eating it communally with bread, meat and other items.

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Fondue sets became a fashionable centerpiece of entertaining during the '60s and '70s.

Casseroles

As convenience cooking grew in popularity during the mid-century, casseroles incorporating canned and processed products fit the bill.

The green bean casserole was created by Campbell's test kitchen employee Dorcas Reilly in 1955 and was originally called "Green Bean Bake," according to the company's website.

"To this day, the recipe calls for only six ingredients: canned or fresh green beans, Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup, soy sauce, black pepper, milk and French-fried onions," the website says.

A recipe for tuna, noodle and mushroom soup casserole was included in the 1951 version of "The Joy of Cooking."

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Chicken divan, a casserole combining chicken and broccoli in a creamy sauce and often topped with cheese and breadcrumbs, was another popular dish of the era.

Chicken Kiev

The exact origins of Chicken Kiev are disputed, but it has connections to French culinary techniques and Eastern European cuisine, reported Tasting Table.

It is made by stuffing a chicken breast with cold, garlic-and-herb butter, breading the chicken and frying it.

Frozen versions of this item are available in grocery stores today.

French Onion Dip

Lipton's introduced its dehydrated onion soup in the early 1950s.

By the middle of the decade, home cooks were combining it with sour cream to make what became known as California dip, later called French onion dip, a go-to snack item and party food, according to the website Quaint Cooking.

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The dip has evolved from the original, two-ingredient recipe.

Modern iterations of it involve using Greek yogurt, whipped cottage cheese or cream cheese.

Other retro food favorites that baby boomers may remember fondly include Swedish meatballs, Chicken à la king and grasshopper pie.

Swedish meatballs are typically made with a meat mixture, breadcrumbs and egg and topped with gravy.

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Chicken à la king uses chicken, vegetables and a cream sauce and is typically served over toast, rice or noodles.

Grasshopper pie is a no-bake dessert that incorporates crème de menthe and crème de cacao in a cookie crust.

Trump’s welfare reforms are a major victory. Bureaucrats could still wreck them

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 08:00:39 -0400

Is America doomed to repeat its welfare mistakes?

That’s the question on the 30th anniversary of the 1996 welfare reforms, which President Clinton signed on August 22. The law empowered millions of families to move from welfare to work, but it has since been replaced by an even more costly and harmful welfare state. Over $18 trillion in welfare spending later, President Trump championed an even bigger reform in the law he signed last summer. It represents historic progress, yet its success depends on tireless enforcement against states and bureaucrats that want to undermine it. The next welfare reform is already needed — sooner rather than later.

Even now, the 1996 welfare reform stands out as one of the most transformative policies in recent history. The law famously targeted the country’s main cash welfare program, which had trapped families in poverty and dependency for decades. It created a new program — Temporary Assistance for Needy Families — that connected mostly single mothers to work. By 2005, TANF caseloads had dropped by nearly 60%, saving taxpayers billions of dollars while improving millions of lives.

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Yet the progress with cash welfare was overshadowed by a backward slide in food stamps. While the 1996 law created much-needed work requirements for able-bodied adults, it had Swiss cheese levels of loopholes. State officials and federal bureaucrats conspired to the point that, in 2023, about 95% of able-bodied adults on food stamps were not covered by work requirements. Meanwhile, other welfare programs not touched in 1996 have exploded. ObamaCare and pandemic-era policies expanded Medicaid to previously inconceivable levels of more than 100 million recipients, a huge percentage of them able-bodied men with no disabilities.

The painful result: As of last year, federal welfare spending was 2.7 times higher than it was in 1996, even adjusting for inflation. Welfare is more expensive, expansive, and extreme than ever.

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Enter President Trump. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act enacted unprecedented reforms to both food stamps and Medicaid. The loopholes that states use to avoid food-stamp work requirements have almost all been closed, and Medicaid now has its first-ever work requirements. Most importantly, states are now on the hook for high misspending in both programs. If they tolerate waste, fraud, and abuse, they have to pay a portion of the programs’ costs — a powerful incentive to apply work requirements and shrink welfare rolls. My organization estimates that at least 10 million people could move from welfare to work under the law, far more than under the 1996 reform. Separately, President Trump is allowing local authorities to enact a work requirement in public housing — a major and much-needed move.

Yet just like after 1996, states are looking to avoid responsibility and worsen the welfare crisis. The worst loopholes are in Medicaid, where states can let recipients self-attest to their medically frail status. If recipients don’t provide documentation within six months, they’re supposed to be removed from the program. At least 30 states have admitted they plan to use self-attestation, and, based on a court filing, at least 25 states and D.C. have acknowledged they could simply remove these people at the six-month mark, then let them re-enroll for another six months. This never-ending cycle is a recipe for more, not less, abuse of programs meant for truly needy Americans.

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There’s also a food-stamp carve-out that lets states delay financial penalties if their misspending is high enough. The measure was supposed to give the worst offenders more time to design solutions, but bad actors are misspending more so they can delay penalties. Four states and D.C. have cleared that threshold. Several others, like New York, appear set to follow suit. Illinois and Delaware saw massive increases in waste, fraud, and abuse over the last year, and New Mexico openly admitted it’s using this strategy. Ultimately, states want to kill the reform or at least delay penalties, which the current Senate Farm Bill draft unfortunately does. Accountability should be tightened, not loosened, delayed, or eliminated.

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The Trump administration has just over two years to crack down on gimmicks. It must also police the overwhelmingly liberal federal bureaucracy so the law isn’t gutted from within. Other loopholes and tortured legal interpretations may take years to manifest. Democratic administrations have a history of taking a mile when statutory text only gives them an inch. While the new welfare reforms will help millions of people achieve financial independence and save huge sums of taxpayer money, constant vigilance is required to prevent President Trump’s achievements from being undermined or ignored long-term.

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Most of all, Congress should already be thinking about the next welfare reform, and it can’t take another 30 years. The welfare state is still growing larger by the year, sapping the American spirit of hard work and personal agency. The next stage is to shrink programs more dramatically, eliminate unnecessary and harmful handouts altogether, and eliminate all loopholes and waivers, period. The 1996 reform was good. President Trump’s reforms are great. The next welfare reform must be exceptional — and imminent.

WATCH: Father of three outraged over advice his family received amid trans teacher fight

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 08:00:39 -0400

Parents at a North Carolina elementary school are fighting for the ability to keep their children in public school while opting them out of a music class taught by a transgender teacher, as one father says critics have responded by telling families to homeschool instead.

The dispute at Middle Creek Elementary School in Wake County has centered on parents who say they were not given advance notice about the teacher and want an alternative for children whose families object on religious or personal grounds. Parents speaking before the school board this week said children have come home "upset, confused and uncomfortable," while others said requests for alternatives have been ignored or dismissed and called on the district to provide an opt-out.

The controversy spilled into a heated Wake County Board of Education meeting Tuesday, where speakers were sharply divided over whether accommodating those families amounts to protecting parental rights or discriminating against a teacher because of gender identity. One speaker argued that religious and conscientious exemptions effectively amount to parents demanding that their children not encounter people they dislike, while others said families should not have to leave the public-school system to avoid a class they object to.

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Aaron Driver, a father of three children at Middle Creek Elementary and member of Middle Creek Parental Rights, told the board that parents "shouldn’t have to pass an ideological test to participate in public education."

"Here’s what our detractors are telling us," Driver said. "You don’t support school hiring a trans teacher. Maybe public school isn’t for you or your family. Maybe homeschool. Maybe private school."

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"That's right," he continued. "Maybe pay taxes into the school system and then pay again to escape from it."

Later in the meeting, another public commenter, Katrina Day, offered a striking response from the other side of the fight, proposing a free homeschooling curriculum because it would "keep the bigots away from my grandchildren." She also suggested the district "relocate the children of bigots if needed" or "expel the children of bigots if needed."

The fight at Middle Creek has been building prior to Tuesday's contentious board meeting.

State Rep. Erin Paré, R-Wake, publicly raised concerns in late July after hearing from parents about the possibility of a transgender teacher at their southern Wake County elementary school, floating the possibility of a state law requiring sex-based professional attire for public-school employees, according to WRAL.

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Parents opposed to the arrangement have framed their objections as a request for advance notice and alternatives rather than a personal attack on the teacher. During Tuesday’s meeting, one speaker said parents should receive "advanced notice and the option to opt out" when a teacher’s presentation conflicts with their religious or personal beliefs, while another said families had requested alternatives and called on the board to "provide reasonable alternatives to families who object."

Charles Manson's granddaughter reveals moment she discovered dark family secret: 'It was devastating'

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 08:00:24 -0400

In 2022, Sophia Maddox received a phone call that upended everything she thought she knew about her family — and sent her searching for answers about one of America's most notorious criminals.

At the time, the 22-year-old aspiring filmmaker and actress was living in Los Angeles, juggling odd jobs to make rent, while her father, Daniel Arguelles, was searching for answers about his own past. Raised by his mother and stepfather, Arguelles had been trying to identify his biological father when he called Maddox with a startling discovery.

"He told me he thinks he found out who his father is, and if it's true, it's really dark," Maddox told Fox News Digital. "He wasn't sure if I was ready to know. And my dad is not a dark person. He never taught me any dark things. So if he says it's dark, my first thought is it must be famously dark. So I asked him to just get it out of the way."

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"'Is it Ted Bundy?'" she recalled. "He said, 'Bigger. Think of the biggest movie you know and the biggest director you know.' And I thought of the movie 'Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood.' I was trying to remember the name mentioned in the film. And then I realized who it was: Charles Manson."

Maddox immediately Googled Manson's name. The resemblance, she said, was uncanny.

"I thought to myself, 'That's my dad,'" Maddox said. "It was a really devastating day."

Maddox's journey after learning that Manson was her grandfather is chronicled in the Hulu documentary "My Grandfather Charles Manson." In it, she meets people who had direct connections to Manson, including some of his former followers, to better understand her family history.

"It was cathartic," Maddox said. "I'm a filmmaker before I found out who my grandfather is. And my life got uprooted from this. I had something to say at that moment, and I couldn't bottle it up."

Arguelles submitted his DNA to Ancestry in 2015, hoping to identify his father and finally answer a question that had followed him for decades. He had long suspected the man who raised him was not his biological father and confronted his mother about his paternity when he was 21.

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Years passed, and Arguelles had nearly given up when he matched with Michael Brunner. DNA testing confirmed they were half-brothers. Brunner is Manson's son with Mary Brunner, one of Manson's earliest followers, People magazine reported.

Maddox described herself and her father as "normal, working-class citizens."

"We have no prior records or anything criminal," Maddox said. "We grew up as artists. My dad showed me the movies he made and his modeling photos of him photographed by Richard Avedon. So of course, when you learn that someone like Manson is your grandfather, it's normal to wonder, 'Am I that too?' People have asked me, 'Were you afraid that you inherited evil, that you were evil?' But my dad and I are very normal, hardworking people."

Manson, who was convicted of orchestrating the 1969 murders of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and six others in Los Angeles, died in 2017. He was 83 and serving a life sentence.

A petty criminal who had been in and out of jail since childhood, the charismatic, guru-like Manson surrounded himself in the 1960s with runaways and other lost souls, The Associated Press reported. According to the outlet, he then sent his disciples to butcher some of the rich and famous in what prosecutors said was a bid to trigger a race war — an idea he got from a twisted reading of the Beatles song "Helter Skelter."

Despite the overwhelming evidence against him, Manson maintained that he was innocent and that society itself was guilty.

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A horrified Arguelles resisted learning more about his biological father. Maddox wanted to dig deeper into her grandfather's past. She said she was less interested in the mythology surrounding Manson and more interested in how he became the man America came to fear.

Manson was born in 1934 to teenage Kathleen Maddox. His biological father was absent, and his mother married William Manson, whose surname Charles took. After that marriage ended, his mother was sent to prison for her role in a robbery, and Manson went to live with relatives. By his teens, he was stealing, running away and bouncing through juvenile institutions.

He eventually was sent to the Indiana Boys School. Manson later said he was beaten and sexually assaulted while locked up as a juvenile. His troubles continued into adulthood, with repeated prison sentences for crimes including theft and forgery.

By the time Manson was released from federal prison in 1967 at age 32, he had spent roughly half his life behind bars or in juvenile institutions.

In the film, Maddox examined previously unreleased records that shed light on Manson's troubled childhood.

"I heard about my dad's abuse as a child from a reform school and from his own parents," she explained. "My dad's was really bad, but that was the '70s. Imagine what it was like back in the '40s or '50s. It was shocking how bad they treated boys in these reform schools. the juvenile justice expert we spoke to said that Manson's experience at Indiana was not singular. Manson's story was not exceptional. That's how they learned their lessons in survival."

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"I think the biggest shock for me was how Manson's decision-making as an adult in his 30s can really stem from the survival mechanisms he learned from his childhood in these prisons," she added.

Maddox said she was disturbed to learn that Manson, who had been institutionalized for offenses including running away and theft, was housed alongside older juveniles with violent records.

"I was shocked to read that he was imprisoned with kids who had murdered people," Maddox said. "And he was there for running away from home, stealing a bike or stealing a car. But so many boys, older kids with violent records, were placed there. And what does a kid have to do to survive a place like that? It breaks my heart."

Arguelles, born in 1959, learned that he was the result of a brief relationship between his mother, Darlene Arguelles, and Manson, who was using the alias "Charlie Dear" at the time, People magazine reported.

But as Maddox dug deeper into the family's past, the search that initially brought father and daughter together began pulling them apart.

Maddox said she and her father had a falling out one week before production on the documentary began. Arguelles had previously sat for an interview and encouraged his daughter to make the film, but she said confronting his biological father's past ultimately became too painful.

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"I have a little more distance from Manson because I am the grandchild, but that's his father," Maddox said. "And he's shared similar experiences in childhood as him. And my dad is a very sensitive person. [But] he was curious. He wanted answers. He wanted me to make this film. But then at the same time, it was all too much."

"I don't know if he's seen the film," Maddox said. "He hasn't reached out. So I'm just sitting back and respecting his wishes until he reaches back out."

"I still support Sophia and I'm very proud of her," Arguelles told Fox News Digital. "I believe the falling out between us came from a difference of opinion on the overall narrative. That's really all I can say at this point."

The Manson Family slaughtered five of its victims on Aug. 9, 1969, at Tate’s home: the actress, who was 8½ months pregnant, coffee heiress Abigail Folger, celebrity hairdresser Jay Sebring, Polish screenwriter Wojciech (Voityck) Frykowski and Steven Parent, a friend of the estate’s caretaker. Tate’s husband, "Rosemary’s Baby" director Roman Polanski, was out of the country at the time.

The next night, a wealthy grocer and his wife, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, were stabbed to death in their home across town.

After a trial that lasted nearly a year, Manson and three followers — Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten — were convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Another defendant, Charles "Tex" Watson, was convicted and sentenced to death later. Their sentences were commuted to life in prison after the California Supreme Court struck down the state’s death penalty in 1972.

Atkins died of cancer in prison in 2009 at age 61. Van Houten was released on parole in 2023. Krenwinkel and Watson are still behind bars.

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Maddox said she reached out to the victims' loved ones during filming.

"I'm in talks with two relatives at the moment," Maddox said. "And I'll just say every experience I've had with them has been very lovely. They were very kind to me. They understood why I am telling this story. ... I'm not the only person looking for answers."

Maddox said examining the forces that shaped Manson was never about absolving him of his crimes.

"My intention is never to apologize or justify for anybody's actions," she said. "I know what my grandfather did."

Maddox said understanding Manson's past wasn't about excusing his crimes but about understanding what shaped him — and potentially preventing future violence.

In the film, Maddox also explained her decision to change her surname.

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"My dad and I were always trying to find a last name that resonated with us," she said. "I spent a year or two investigating my family and re-looked the name 'Maddox.' And when I Googled it, it meant 'goodness.' My blood name means goodness. I'm going to own it. That's mine. I'm giving it new life."

‘Reagan’ film set to release director’s cut amid alleged online censorship

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 08:00:17 -0400

As the team behind the 2024 biopic "Reagan" promotes and prepares for the film’s re-release next month, it once again finds itself battling what its producer calls digital gatekeeping.

This time, producer Mark Joseph is taking issue with Google’s YouTube after ads promoting interviews with stars and others associated with the film were flagged under the platform's advertising policies. The interviews are part of Joseph's podcast special series, "Making REAGAN."

Since the film — which starred Dennis Quaid as the 40th president — was first released in theaters in August 2024, its creators have faced numerous obstacles, including restrictions imposed by Facebook early on related to efforts to boost posts and advertisements for the film. Production on "Reagan" began in 2020.

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In what Joseph describes as the latest censorship activity by YouTube, an ad promoting the first episode of the series, featuring rock legend Gene Simmons discussing family, his producing endeavors and his appreciation for America, was flagged by the platform for "advertisement for elections" and "shocking content," despite the noticeably tame conversation.

Simmons’ cover of "Stormy Weather" was his contribution to the "Reagan" movie.

"For 30 years, Simmons has been branded for outrageous content, and now he’s been deemed outrageous for talking?" Joseph told Fox News Digital.

Simmons, the co-founder, co-lead singer and bassist of the legendary rock band KISS, has long been famous for his black-and-white face paint, inordinately long tongue, fire-breathing and blood-spitting stunts and overall stage persona.

"The notion that a simple conversation with a rock legend like Gene Simmons is labeled ‘shocking content’ and ‘election advertising’ is ridiculous, as anyone who watches the episode can attest," Joseph added. "These are normal conversations."

Other episodes whose promotions were flagged for "election advertising" feature Kathie Lee Gifford, who co-wrote the tribute song "I Knew It Would Be You" for the film; actresses Amanda Righetti and Lesley-Anne Down; actors Dan Lauria, Elya Baskin and Trevor Donovan; author Arthur Laffer; singer Tanya Tucker; and screenwriter and filmmaker Howard Klausner.

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An Aug. 12 episode in which Joseph sits down with John Hinckley Jr. for an exclusive interview and extensive discussion about his 1981 assassination attempt on President Reagan also had its promotion blocked for "election advertising."

"The idea that an information and news-oriented interview with the man who shot Ronald Reagan, John Hinckley, is labeled ‘election advertising’ and blocked from being boosted is equally crazy," Joseph said.

According to Joseph’s team, when this happens, YouTube does not provide an option to appeal the ruling, but only allows them to boost a different episode.

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Joseph has called on the video-streaming platform to reverse its decision and stop blocking the team's attempts to promote the episodes, as well as the release of the "Reagan" director’s cut in theaters Sept. 25. The extended version includes 10 additional minutes of footage and returns to roughly 600 theaters on Sept. 25, after limited Independence Day screenings tied to the nation’s 250th anniversary.

YouTube responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment with a statement citing that "ads related to the podcast were removed for including profanity," referring specifically to the episode featuring Simmons.

A YouTube representative did note, however, that after review, the ad does not violate their U.S. Election Ads policy, but since it still contains profanity, it can’t be approved to run as an advertisement. Beyond that, it was noted that the creator’s videos are compliant with YouTube’s community guidelines, which apply to organic content.

It also said that the platform had reached out to the creator to "help them understand our policies moving forward, and they are welcome to adjust the content in order to promote the video in the future."

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Yet numerous other episodes were flagged for "election advertising."

YouTube noted its U.S. Election Ads policy, which requires advertisers to have an elections certification to run ads that feature a reference to a current candidate or officeholder for an elected office.

Joseph reiterated that many of the episodes weren’t geared towards politics and were just discussions with those who contributed to the "Reagan" film.

YouTube then responded, "Following a careful review, we determined that a few of these advertised episodes were out of scope of the Election Ads policy, but others are in scope."

Directed by Sean McNamara and produced by Rawhide Pictures, "Reagan" follows his childhood in Illinois, Hollywood acting career, California governorship and rise to the presidency.

Besides the overall challenge the filmmakers say they faced while telling the story of a conservative icon in left-leaning Hollywood, the film’s production encountered many stops and starts.

While filming in Guthrie, Okla., the production had to shut down for a month due to COVID.

Then, while promoting the film and ahead of its release, Facebook restricted efforts to boost posts and advertisements for the movie. Material featuring Quaid and a Reagan quotation about America’s best days still lying ahead was affected. The film’s official Facebook page also faced temporary suspensions.

For its part, Facebook cited automated systems and policies governing content involving politicians before a presidential election as the problem. Although Trump was the Republican on the ballot, not Reagan, Facebook later said that automated systems had mistakenly flagged content about "Reagan" as requiring special authorization under its social-issues and elections rules.

"The similarities to Facebook are that both use a nebulous reasoning that the content somehow constitutes electioneering, but with the ‘Making Reagan’ series on YouTube, these are just ordinary conversations with people who were involved with the film or the topic of the film and have nothing to do with advocating for an election," Joseph said.

Other obstacles related to the movie involved the Guinness World Records declining to certify a milestone asserted by the filmmakers: that the movie achieved the widest gap between audience and critic scores on Rotten Tomatoes for any American-made movie.

In terms of the YouTube kerfuffle, producer, director and CEO of boutique marketing agency Ribbow Media Group CEO Ash Greyson said he, too, has had ongoing issues when using YouTube’s platform to promote conservative films. But it’s the faith-based films he’s marketed that have faced the greatest hurdles.

Greyson helped market and promote the 2023 Christian drama "Jesus Revolution," among other Christian-based films, including "God’s Not Dead" and "I Still Believe."

"It’s been a frustrating and ongoing issue for years, particularly on YouTube, where they will flag anything ‘faith,’" Greyson said, noting that he’s had very few issues regarding films outside those genres. "And it seems to be worse on the Christian stuff."

For Joseph, it’s simply about getting these important stories seen after all the sweat equity involved in making them.

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"It’s unfortunate because it severely limits the reach," he said regarding what he sees as obstacles needlessly put up by YouTube.

Dem Senate hopeful racked up hundreds of missed votes during stops at multiple taxpayer serving jobs

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 08:00:05 -0400

FIRST ON FOX: Democratic Senate nominee and former Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, missed nearly one in five votes in the Alaska House of Representatives and more than a third of Bethel City Council meetings during her time in office, records show.

Peltola missed 794 of 4,265 state House votes, or 18.6%, during her five terms from 1999 to 2009, according to legislative records, and 22 of 60 city council meetings, or 36.67% from 2011 to 2013, according to city records.

Her attendance record is now raising questions about her commitment to public service as she advances to Alaska’s four-candidate general election, a closely watched race that could affect control of the U.S. Senate.

"Alaskans deserve an all-the-time workhorse like Dan Sullivan, not someone like Peltola who knifes Alaskans in the back when she even bothers to show up," Republican National Committee spokesperson Nick Poche said in a statement sent to Fox News Digital.

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Records show Peltola’s highest number of absences came during the 23rd Legislature from 2003 to 2004, when she missed 334 of 1,019 Alaska House votes. She also missed nine of 22 council meetings in 2013 and 11 of 32 council meetings in 2012, according to city records.

Peltola has also faced criticism from conservatives for missing votes while serving in the United States Congress from 2022-2024 where she missed 235 of 1,370 roll-call votes, or 17.2%, according to GovTrack data.

In addition to missed votes, Peltola's critics have also pointed to her time in Congress not resulting in any bills or resolutions for which she was the primary sponsor becoming law, compared to Sullivan who has had several bills signed into law.

"She couldn't even get a single bill signed into law," the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) posted on X in January. "Now, she wants a promotion."

In a statement to Fox News Digital, a Peltola campaign spokesperson defended the absences, saying Peltola, a mother of seven, took maternity leave after giving birth to three of her children while serving in the state House. The spokesperson added that, excluding excused absences, Peltola missed only about 6% of votes and continued to advance bipartisan measures throughout her tenure.

"Three of Mary’s children were born during her time in the state legislature and she took maternity leave. That didn’t stop her from working hard for Alaskans, from passing bills to improve public safety in rural Alaska to increasing Alaska energy production," the Peltola campaign said.

The campaign also said Peltola spent summers at fish camp and that some city council absences occurred during fishing months or because of other council priorities.

GOP SENATOR, EX-HOUSE DEM EMERGE FROM ALASKA’S ‘JUNGLE PRIMARY’ DESPITE FAR-LEFT MEDDLING

Turning to Sullivan’s attendance record, the spokesperson said he has missed a significant number of votes and committee hearings, calling his absences "an insult to Alaskans" and saying that Sullivan has been "slacking off" missing fisheries subcommittee hearings.

Peltola announced her Senate bid in January to represent Alaska and unseat two-term Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, who is backed by President Donald Trump and also advanced to the general election in November. She finished ahead of Sullivan in Tuesday’s primary.

FOUR MONTHS TO MIDTERMS: 12 RACES THAT WILL DETERMINE THE SENATE MAJORITY

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Alaska’s unique election system uses a nonpartisan top-four primary, in which candidates from all parties appear on the same ballot, followed by ranked-choice voting in the general election.

Here are five tunes to blast this weekend in honor of late ZZ Top drummer Frank Beard

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 07:58:30 -0400

Like a great many rock and blues fans around the globe, I was really sorry to hear the news that Frank Beard, the ironically beardless drummer of the legendarily bearded ZZ Top, had died at the age of 77.

The band is in the midst of a tour, plans to continue, but will do so with only one original member, vocalist and axeman Billy Gibbons, following the 2021 death of bassist Dusty Hill.

I was admittedly late to the ZZ Top part in my music listening journey, but over the last few years they’ve become one of my go-to bands.

Just good old-fashioned blues-rock tunes about cheap sunglasses, women with legs who know how to use them, and men who are sharply dressed.

So, let’s pay homage to Mr. Beard and run through a few songs we should all be blasting this weekend in his honor.

"Waitin’ For The Bus"

It’s kind of wild that a song about waiting for a bus has one of the most infectious grooves in the band’s body of work, but it does.

"Waitin’ for the Bus" kicks off ZZ Top’s 1973 album "Tres Hombres," and it lets you know that you’re in for some serious, down-and-dirty blues rock.

The main riff is one of my favorites and is just one of those that makes you involuntarily nod your head with a "stinkface."

You know the look.

Beard’s playing is stellar, especially during the harmonica and guitar solos, and then they segue seamlessly into a straight-ahead blues tune in "Jesus Just Left Chicago."

Now that’s how you start a record.

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"Gimme All Your Lovin’"

One of the last things you’d think you’d ever hear out of a blues band from Texas is them throwing some synthesizers into the mix, but ZZ Top did it, and it’s brilliant.

"Eliminator" is an all-time album from top to bottom, and is really the sound I think of when I think of ZZ Top.

"Gimme All Your Lovin’" is a classic in its own right, and I love the opening drum part from Beard that gets the song going.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE OUTKICK CULTURE COVERAGE

In fact, I think almost everyone can tell what song is about to start with those first two snare hits.

That’s practically the definition of an iconic song in my book.

And the chorus? Good luck not singing along to it.

"TV Dinners"

This list may make it obvious, but I’d say my two favorite ZZ Top albums are "Tres Hombres" and "Eliminator."

Kind of strange because the first is a classic, down-and-dirty blues-rock record, while the other has deliciously ‘80s synthesizers thrown into the mix on top of it.

That doesn’t seem like it should work, but it obviously does.

I love that they didn’t go overboard with synths and drum machines; they used them to accent what they were already doing. "TV Dinners" is a prime example of it.

The rhythmic synth part just adds to what Beard is playing and completes a song with an undeniable groove to it.

There aren't many records that have tried to mesh a traditional style of music like blues with what was cutting-edge technology at the time.

Believe me, I've looked for them, and I think the closest modern album to those ZZ Top gems from the 1980s is Sturgill Simpson's 2019 album "Sound & Fury."

"Manic Mechanic"

I had never heard of this gem off of "Deguelo" until I was watching the documentary "ZZ Top: That Little Ol' Band from Texas," and it blew my mind.

It has this big, ugly riff — a description I offer in the most complimentary way imaginable — that makes little to no musical sense, and I'm pretty sure that's because it’s supposed to sound like an engine.

You’d think it would be almost impossible to come up with a drum part to go with that bizarre riff, but Frank Beard pulled it off.

He somehow managed to play a part that adds to the machine-like sound of the riff, but is still musical with a cool backbeat to it.

It’s so, so good, and while that opening riff is the one that stands out because it is so unusual, the one that comes later in the song (it kind of reminds me of the closing riff from the Black Sabbath song "War Pigs") is a winner as well.

"Precious & Grace"

I was introduced to this tune after hearing one of my favorite bands, Clutch, do a cover of it.

So, I went back to "Tres Hombres" and checked it out.

It’s another song that starts with a cool little fill from Frank and another that has a bit of an off-kilter feel to it.

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As we touched on with "Manic Mechanic," Beard’s playing feels so thoughtful and serves the song so well.

The best part, in my opinion, is when they veer away from the money riff and into a quick, flowing, almost epic-sounding bridge section where the drums really shine.

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What a tune.

Start your engines: Here is your crash course on the IndyCar Freedom 250 Grand Prix weekend

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 07:38:08 -0400

The NTT IndyCar Series is about to hold one of its biggest, most ambitious spectacles ever with the Freedom 250 Grand Prix.

If you're an IndyCar fan, then you know how we got to the point where Pennsylvania Avenue has a pit lane and start-finish straight with a picturesque view of the U.S. Capitol.

But if you're not, here's a quick rundown.

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It started with an executive order

Back in January, President Trump signed an executive order that directed multiple federal agencies to work with the Washington, D.C., mayor's office to put together a circuit for an IndyCar race.

This idea was to make it part of the America 250 celebrations, although oddly enough, the 250-mile race distance wasn't part of the event until just a few weeks before.

Also, when the executive order was signed and the event announcement was made, the IndyCar schedule had been out for quite some time and was only about a month from starting.

Of course, for a once-in-a-lifetime event like this, you make it work.

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Where is the track and how is it?

The circuit for the Freedom 250 Grand Prix uses streets around the National Mall and in front of the Capitol building, as well as a section of Pennsylvania Avenue.

That portion of Pennsylvania Avenue is also where the pit lane is located.

The layout is fairly simple with just seven corners, but don't equate "simple" with easy.

It's mostly 90-degree or almost-90-degree corners, but take a look at Turn 6. It doesn't really come through on that map, but it's a chicane and a pretty narrow one at that.

Take a look at an onboard from a Corvette hot lap.

The track also has what looks to be a tricky pit lane entrance that sneaks up on drivers immediately after Turn 1.

Where is the paddock?

One of the things about an IndyCar race, or really any motorsport event, is that you need a lot of space for teams to park their haulers and prepare their cars.

So... where do you do that in the middle of Washington, DC?

The answer is pretty simple: teams are stationed along Constitution Ave. NW and 7th Street.

That means they can give their cars a quick tow and be on pit lane for all on-track sessions.

Is it only IndyCar racing?

While IndyCar's direct feeder series, Indy NXT, did not make the trip to the Nation's Capital, we will get two International Race of Champions, or IROC, races on Saturday.

The series ran from 1973 to 2006, and is now being revived for select events.

It pits drivers from different disciplines, all competing in the same machinery, which, in this case, are Pontiac Firebirds used in the original series from 1996 to 2006.

The field will include NASCAR greats Jeff Gordon, Bill Elliott, Bobby Labonte, Rusty Wallace and Kurt Busch, as well as IndyCar legends Tony Kanaan, Helio Castroneves and Dario Franchitti.

How do you get tickets?

While some premium tickets (and I mean premium) are still available, general tickets were free and were gone in minutes.

Race organizers are anticipating as many as 140,000 people on each day of the two-day event.

Where can I watch?

Saturday's IndyCar practice and qualifying sessions will be on FS1 and FS2, as will Sunday morning's warm-up session.

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Pre-race coverage begins at 11:30 a.m. ET on FOX, with the race slated to begin at 1 p.m. ET.

Woman claims NY Liberty tried to change her 'XX-XY' paid scoreboard message for halftime of Fever game

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 07:26:02 -0400

EXCLUSIVE: The New York Liberty refunded a lesbian hip-hop artist after the team attempted to change her paid scoreboard message thanking Jennifer Sey and XX-XY Athletics.

Julie Potter claims she purchased 25 tickets for a group attending the Liberty vs Fever game at Barclays Center to support Sophie Cunningham, saying the tickets cost more than $2,000.

Potter also paid $100 to display a message on the arena scoreboard during halftime. A receipt shows the payment was processed Aug. 17 for the Liberty’s Aug. 22 game against Indiana.

Potter says she submitted the message: "Thank you Jennifer Sey! XX-XY Athletics will Save the Day!!"

Potter added that the Liberty initially approved the message and accepted her payment. But the team’s sales department contacted her Friday, one day before the game, and said it had changed the wording.

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"Your scoreboard message for 8/[22] has been modified to: ‘Thank you Jennifer Sey, thank you for all you do for XX-XY Athletics,’" an email to Potter from the Liberty's sales team said. "This will run during halftime."

Potter’s receipt identifies the game of her purchased "scoreboard message" as "August 22 vs. Indiana." The receipt shows the Liberty charged Potter $100 on Aug. 17 and refunded the payment on Aug. 21. But the Liberty email to Potter referred to Aug. 29.

The Liberty have not responded to a request for clarification on the date of Potter's scoreboard message, but Potter said she believes it was a typo by the Liberty employee.

Potter also explained why she objected to the changing of her message and asked the Liberty either to display her original message or return her money, in email exchanges reviewed by Fox News Digital. The team refunded her, and then gave a brief explanation for the attempted change of her message.

"Our scoreboard messages are limited to positive, celebratory content, and submissions that may intentionally or unintentionally violate that spirit are not eligible for display," the Liberty sales team wrote in one email.

Potter accused the team of "censorship."

"Unfortunately, this is censorship. My message was approved and payment was accepted. You then changed it without giving me any opportunity to revise or respond, and you did so inside your own 48-hour window," Potter wrote.

"Why would I pay to let you speak for me?"

The Liberty’s publicly available scoreboard-message form says requests must be submitted at least 48 hours before tipoff. It also says proceeds support the Brooklyn Nets and New York Liberty Foundation. The form does not publicly list additional content restrictions.

Potter acknowledged that her original wording carried a broader message about protecting female sports. She said she intentionally avoided explicitly referencing Cunningham or the "Save Women’s Sports" movement.

"I wanna say I purposely didn't put Sophie's name in it, 'cause I thought that would trigger, trigger them," Potter told Fox News Digital.

XX-XY Athletics is an apparel company founded by Sey, a former national champion gymnast and former Levi Strauss & Co. brand president. The company advocates for keeping transgender athletes out of female sports categories.

WNBA WON'T NAME PERSON RESPONSIBLE FOR SECURITY INCIDENT OVER FANS' SHIRTS, AS DREAM BLAME LEAGUE

Potter said the Liberty never identified which words in her message violated the team’s standards.

"I don't know what that means. What did I do wrong? I want a code. I want a violation. I read everything. I read their website. I made sure to follow the rules," Potter said.

"I said nothing derogatory. I didn't even say, ‘Save women's sports.’ I just said, ‘Shout out to the CEO of a dope company who's changing the world from my perspective.’ That's obviously not their perspective, but is this America? Can we have different perspectives?"

Potter and her guests plan to attend a rally supporting Cunningham before Saturday’s game. Similar rallies have followed the Fever during recent road games after Cunningham publicly opposed transgender athletes competing in women’s sports.

The controversy has also produced counterprotests and confrontations involving fans wearing XX-XY Athletics clothing. The WNBA recently acknowledged that security personnel should not have asked a mother and daughter to cover their XX-XY shirts during a Fever game in Atlanta.

Potter said she still planned to attend Saturday’s game but would no longer purchase tickets from the Liberty. She said she would instead consider attending future Fever games.

The Liberty have not provided a response to Potter's statements.

Potter’s connection to the WNBA dates back to its beginning. She said she attended the first two league games played in Los Angeles as an 18-year-old California native.

The first was the inaugural WNBA game on June 21, 1997. The New York Liberty defeated the Los Angeles Sparks 67-57 before 14,284 fans at the Great Western Forum. Penny Toler scored the first basket in league history, while Lisa Leslie recorded 16 points and 14 rebounds for the Sparks.

Four days later, Potter watched the Sparks earn the first victory in franchise history. Los Angeles defeated the Charlotte Sting 74-54 at the Forum. Leslie led the Sparks with 19 points.

"I saw Lisa Leslie. I am a Californian, and I grew up on the Sparks," Potter told Fox News Digital.

Before the scoreboard controversy, she had considered purchasing more tickets if Indiana returned to New York for the playoffs.

She said she no longer plans to buy Liberty tickets, but emphasized that she does not dislike the team or its players.

"I love the Liberty, though. I got no hate. I think they're an incredible team. You know, shout out Stewie," Potter said.

Potter also remains willing to spend money on the WNBA. However, she said she will direct that support toward the Fever and organizations that welcome her position on women’s sports.

"I'd love to go to a Fever game. They gonna make the playoffs, you know? Yeah, I'm already planning on it. I know they've got some great games in September, so yeah, my money shall be directed to where it is welcomed. And if they have a scoreboard, and I can put it up, and Jen gets to roll, I will," Potter said.

Potter said her support follows Cunningham rather than any particular franchise. She credited the Fever guard with giving women like her a reason to attend games and publicly support the league.

"I'm a woman loyalist, okay? So I'm there for Sophie. Where Sophie's going, I'm going where the Fever's going," Potter said.

Despite her frustration with the Liberty, Potter said the attention surrounding Cunningham and the accompanying rallies can benefit the WNBA by bringing new customers into arenas.

"Of course it's good for the league. We're women supporting women playing a woman's sport. How is this not good? Every Fever game is selling out," Potter said.

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Potter said she would consider giving the Liberty another opportunity if the team respected her original message. For now, however, she plans to support Cunningham, the Fever and other women’s sports organizations that she believes share her principles.

Potter’s experience adds to growing censorship concerns surrounding the WNBA and fans who support Cunningham’s position on women’s sports.

Alliance Defending Freedom sent a letter to WNBA leadership Friday addressing recent incidents involving Cunningham supporters in Seattle and Atlanta.

"The WNBA claims to stand for female athletes, but we've seen recent current events undermine that claim. We have seen just in the past few weeks that there have been two separate incidents where fans have been silenced or berated when they tried to peacefully express their viewpoint," ADF legal counsel Suzanne Beecher told Fox News Digital.

The letter cited the teenage girls who were confronted by Seattle Storm co-owner Celeste Keaton while holding signs supporting Cunningham, along with the mother and daughter who were instructed to cover their XX-XY Athletics shirts in Atlanta. The WNBA suspended Keaton from five Storm home games and later said the Atlanta incident "should not have happened."

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also recently told Fox News Digital that he admired Cunningham for speaking publicly despite the criticism she faced. Paxton said the WNBA should protect the ability of fans to peacefully express differing opinions.

Paxton expressed a willingness to engage with the league and continue supporting its games. However, he said he would not retreat from his principles regarding women’s sports or the treatment of Cunningham’s supporters. Potter’s rejected scoreboard message now gives critics another incident to cite as they question whether the league treats opposing viewpoints equally.

Sports cartoons of the day

Mon, 22 Jun 2026 11:08:52 -0400

BROADCAST BIAS: Sophie Cunningham takes a hit, but ABC, NBC dodge WNBA’s transgender sports fight

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 07:00:58 -0400

On the morning of Aug. 8, ABC’s "Good Morning America" was celebrating the Women’s National Basketball Association. ABC is one of several networks that air WNBA games nationwide. ABC’s Rachel Scott asked: "What's the biggest WNBA story right now that fans should be paying attention to?" ESPN’s Holly Rowe replied, "It’s going to be really hard to make the playoffs."

Within hours, a bigger story erupted: Indiana Fever basketball player Sophie Cunningham was brutally whacked in the face going up for a layup after the press decided she was controversial for wanting to keep women's basketball limited to women. Chicago Sky player DiJonai Carrington was ejected from the game. She then rushed into the locker room and blamed "White privilege" for the ejection.

The broadcast networks didn’t want to cover this development, either as a sportsmanship or culture-war issue. There was one network willing to report a few times on the WNBA facing the issue of men in women’s sports: CBS, which might explain why liberals cast aspersions on its editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss.

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On July 29, "CBS Evening News" fill-in anchor Matt Gutman reported on how the WNBA suspended Seattle Storm co-owner Celeste Keaton for yelling at two girls supporting Cunningham’s position when the Fever came to town. The girls said Keaton called them "f---ing insane."

Reporter Jan Crawford explained: "Cunningham, known for fearlessly defending teammate Caitlin Clark on the court, is the first active professional female athlete to speak out against transgender females in women's sports. In an ESPN profile earlier this month, Cunningham says girls in sports shouldn't have to go against biological men."

SOPHIE CUNNINGHAM ADDRESSES THE FALLOUT OVER HER STANCE ON TRANS ATHLETES NOT BELONGING IN WOMEN'S SPORTS

Then came a sound-bite of Cunningham: "I said what I said. I think it's kind of common sense. And I think I'll always believe in that." Crawford added that when Cunningham was asked if her words could sound "anti-transgender," she replied, "I have never once said I hated the trans community. Like I said, I think there's space for everyone." Men always have the space of men’s sports.

The "CBS Evening News" and Crawford returned to the story on Aug. 10, two days after Cunningham was whacked on the court. Crawford relayed: "Fans on both sides of that debate have been vocal. And trying to prove a point, two former NBA players said they would identify as women and declare for the WNBA draft." After a soundbite of Enes Kanter Freedom saying he declared for the WNBA draft, Crawford added: "The firestorm has put a harsh spotlight on the WNBA with critics saying the league wasn’t ready for its explosion of popularity."

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NPR sounded annoyed when they raised the issue briefly in a sports roundup on their morning news program "Weekend Edition Saturday" on Aug. 15.

Co-host Eyder Peralta noted the Cunningham controversy and that WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced that a task force of team executives would meet to discuss "transgender participation" (men) in women’s sports. But he made it sound unnecessary: "Now, we should point out that the WNBA has never had any known transgender athletes. Michele, the WNBA has seen explosive growth in recent years, but it seems like the league is also struggling to keep the spotlight on the court, doesn't it?"

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Ex-ESPN reporter Michele Steele replied: "Yeah. The league's on-the-court story is genuinely great, but the off-the-court noise keeps competing for that headline." Disagreeing with leftist orthodoxy is "noise."

Steele continued: "And you said it yourself, the WNBA has never had a known transgender player. Now, the task force just cannot unilaterally announce they're going to change eligibility because this is collectively bargained with the players' union, so they can study the question on transgender players, but they can't hand down a new rule. Their statement was very pointed this week, denouncing bad-faith efforts to use these topics to demean and marginalize others. They're very clearly frustrated, Eyder, at being pulled into this."

CATHY ENGELBERT SURE SEEMED TO KNOW WHAT A WOMAN WAS AT HER FIRST WNBA PRESS CONFERENCE

WNBA games are now becoming a forum for people supporting Cunningham’s position to advocate against the woke position, and league officials can only call it a "bad-faith" effort to "marginalize" biological men claiming to be women. It’s somehow not in "bad faith" to pretend to be a woman when you’re not. Kanter is engaged in a "stunt," but men who sincerely "identify" as women are not.

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The WNBA met to discuss "transgender participation," but somehow couldn’t agree on a policy. On Aug. 20, AP reported Engelbert complained, "We're being the center of political football for people who have never watched the WNBA, never have written about the WNBA or reported on the WNBA. … There's always going to be haters out there, and we denounce it."

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So, the league has a position on what a "hater" is, but not on what a woman is.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM TIM GRAHAM

Democrats face ‘do-or-die’ split with key voting bloc in razor-close Senate race

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 07:00:55 -0400

DETROIT — After falling just 20,000 votes shy of winning the U.S. Senate election in battleground Michigan two years ago, Republican Mike Rogers is urging Democrats, including Jewish voters, to cross party lines and vote for him as he makes a second straight Senate bid.

After a combustible and divisive Democratic Senate primary in which Abdul El-Sayed narrowly edged more moderate Rep. Haley Stevens for the nomination, Rogers is heavily courting Democrats disaffected with their left-wing nominee as he works to flip a must-hold seat for the Democrats in the midterm elections.

A key part of Rogers' pitch is directed toward Jewish Democrats, who are uneasy with El–Sayed's vocal criticism of Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza and who are outraged by El-Sayed's association with controversial online streamer Hasan Piker, who has repeatedly railed against Israel to his massive online audience.

"I usually vote Democrat, but I'm going to be voting for Mike Rogers," Rabbi Asher Lopatin said as he stood next to Rogers this week as the former congressman and former FBI agent unveiled his Democrats for Mike coalition at a campaign event on Detroit's west side.

DEMOCRATS 'WHO NEVER VOTED REPUBLICAN' BACKING THIS GOP SENATE NOMINEE

A former Wayne County Health Department director, El-Sayed, if elected in November, would make history as the nation's first Muslim senator. The epidemiologist who unsuccessfully ran for governor as an insurgent candidate in 2018 has made support for Medicare-for-all a major component of his campaign and has also called for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

But it's El-Sayed's stance and comments on Israel that have offended some Jewish people in Michigan, a state that also has a large Arab and Muslim population.

El-Sayed used the word "bloodthirsty" to characterize Israel's military moves in Gaza in an MS NOW interview this month and accused Israeli leadership of genocide against Palestinians. He has argued against unconditional U.S. military aid to Israel, as have other progressive politicians. And El-Sayed has repeatedly declined to directly answer whether Israel has the right to exist.

But El-Sayed has also stated that he stands "in solidarity with my Jewish sisters and brothers" to "condemn antisemitism."

Lopatin, a rabbi in suburban Detroit who has made trips to the Middle East in search of peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors, argued that El-Sayed "has shown contempt for the Jewish community and, frankly, for American values by making Hasan Piker, a vicious antisemite and racist, his campaign surrogate and somebody he buddies up with."

Piker, who endorsed El-Sayed in the nomination battle, appeared at some of the candidate's campaign events, including the primary night party in Detroit. Piker, who has repeatedly stood by his comments critical of Israel, was also with El-Sayed at a party in Detroit on the eve of the primary.

DEMOCRACY ’26: STAY UP TO DATE WITH THE FOX NEWS ELECTION HUB

"I do have a lot of issues with a lot of policies of the Trump administration," Lopatin told Fox News Digital. "But it's more important to make a statement that we cannot let someone like Abdul El-Sayed get into the Senate."

Lopatin said Jewish voters who "normally vote Democrat are going to vote for Mike Rogers, and I'm hearing that. And there's a growing movement like that. And I think the more they meet him ... the more they're going to feel comfortable voting for a Republican, sometimes for the first time in their lives."

Stacy, a Jewish voter from suburban Detroit who asked that only her first name be used, told Fox News Digital she's also going to vote for Rogers.

"The Democratic Party is going way too far to the left for us moderates," Stacy, who backed Stevens in the Senate primary, emphasized.

Asked specifically about her party's nominee, Stacy said, "Abdul El-Sayed has been campaigning by putting a target on all Jews' backs."

CHECK OUT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLL IN MICHIGAN'S BLOCKBUSTER SENATE RACE

Some Jewish leaders in Michigan are circulating an open letter urging Jewish Democrats and independents in the Great Lakes battleground state to sign their names in support of Rogers. The news was first reported this week by the Jewish Insider and confirmed by Fox News Digital.

"This is sort of a do-or-die moment," a person involved with the letter who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely told Fox News Digital. "There are many lifelong Democrats who are feeling homeless. ... It’s not just a leftward drift but has turned into an anti-Jewish drift as well."

But Joan Lowenstein, endorsement chair of the Michigan Democratic Jewish Caucus, doesn't condone the letter and told Fox News Digital her group is keeping its distance.

"We are a part of the Michigan Democratic Party, and are not going to advocate that anyone vote for a Republican," she said.

But Lowenstein, who also sits on the Michigan Democratic Party Central Committee, said those behind the letter "are passionate about this and feel it’s an existential issue, and I think that represents a lot of people. And, so, they have to do what they have to do.

"It’s sort of 50/50. Half the people I talk to say, ‘I could never vote for Abdul El-Sayed because of things he’s said about Israel and, consequentially, the Jewish community. And the other 50% say ‘it is so important for Jews as Americans to have an Democratic Senate that I could never vote for Mike Rogers.'"

Rogers and El-Sayed are running to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters. The race is among a dozen that will determine if the Democrats win back the Senate majority from the GOP.

Rogers, in an interview with Fox News Digital, reiterated that he's not asking Democratic voters to become Republicans. And he highlighted concerns he's heard from Democratic Jewish voters in Michigan.

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"I've talked to two young women who were at University of Michigan who were afraid to walk to class. They couldn't display their Star of David. To say that they're afraid is probably an understatement," he said.

Rogers said "the violent rhetoric ... is going to make a difference" in the general election.

Republicans see an opportunity.

"There are a significant number of Jewish voters who are staunch Democrats that cannot support El Sayed and who may cross over and vote for Rogers. There are about 70,000 Jewish voters. If a majority flip to Rogers, that has the potential to cause a roughly 100,000 vote swing. Rogers lost to Slotkin by under 20,000 votes," Michael Schostak, the Bloomfield Township treasurer who is running for University of Michigan Regent, told Fox News Digital.

Schostak, a longtime Republican and donor, said "the pitch to these voters is not to abandon their Democrat leanings, but that, in this race at this time, voting for Rogers is a vote for self-preservation. Allowing El-Sayed to have a voice on the national level would only give more volume to the voices of antisemitism and the far-left progressives."

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El-Sayed, after winning the Senate nomination, emphasized, "I stand in solidarity with my Jewish sisters and brothers, and we can condemn antisemitism. And, at the same time, we can be talking about how we bring people together, and we can be talking about everybody's pain.

"My commitment to Jewish safety is the same as my commitment to the safety of my own kids. We have a responsibility to take on antisemitism in all of its forms, wherever we see it."

El-Sayed Communications Director Roxie Richner told Fox News Digital, "Abdul has always stressed the importance of differentiating between criticizing the state of Israel and antisemitism."

She said El-Sayed "remains in regular dialogue with Jewish leaders across the state while building the broadest possible coalition to defeat Rogers, restore Democratic control of the U.S. Senate and throw sand in the gears of Trump’s agenda."

Roslyn Schindler, an 80-year-old retired college professor who has called the Detroit area home for more than five decades, said she is a strong supporter of El-Sayed and pushed back on the sentiment that his rhetoric and beliefs hold antisemitic undertones.

"I've talked to him at length, you know. I've met him personally. He attended — he attend — he has attended a service at my synagogue. He attended the Seder on April 2 as well. And there is no doubt in my mind that he is not antisemitic," Schindler, whose parents were both Holocaust survivors, told Fox News Digital.

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Schindler noted "that many people in the community, in the Jewish community, think he is."

"I don't believe that's true," she reiterated.

One year after Iryna Zarutska murder, violent crimes fuel North Carolina public safety debate

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 07:00:44 -0400

A year after Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska was stabbed to death on a Charlotte light-rail train, a string of violent attacks involving people with extensive arrest records has kept North Carolina’s public-safety debate in the spotlight.

The one year milestone falls as the North Carolina Fraternal Order of Police (NCFOP) endorsed Republican U.S. Senate candidate Michael Whatley, citing concerns about repeat offenders, bail policies and support for law enforcement.

Zarutska, 23, was sitting aboard Charlotte’s Lynx Blue Line on Aug. 22, 2025, when authorities said Decarlos Brown Jr. pulled a knife and stabbed her three times from behind before leaving the train.

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Brown, 34, has been found incompetent to stand trial in both his state and federal cases.

Zarutska’s killing helped prompt North Carolina’s Iryna’s Law, which tightened bail rules and increased oversight of defendants considered a risk to public safety.

NCFOP President Chet Effler told Fox News Digital the union’s roughly 6,000 members backed Whatley over concerns about repeat offenders, bail policies and support for law enforcement.

"We have lost accountability in this country," Effler said. "There’s no reason to be soft on crime whenever you have victims who are going to be victims of those crimes for years to come."

Effler also pointed to the arrest of Charlotte man Di-Quan Schafar Hunt as an example of what he described as a recurring failure to hold repeat offenders accountable.

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Hunt, 32, had been arrested on charges at least nine times since 2023, records show. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said they arrested him after officers responding to an attempt-to-locate call were shown a social-media account containing videos detectives had already been investigating.

Police said one video was tied to a July 30 assault in which Hunt allegedly punched a woman on a Charlotte sidewalk before fleeing. The woman suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries, authorities said.

Hunt’s record includes a December 2025 case involving charges of assault with a deadly weapon, communicating threats, second-degree trespass and two counts of carrying a concealed weapon. The booking record does not describe the underlying allegations or identify an alleged victim.

Records also list a September 2025 simple assault charge and a March 2025 charge of assault on a female. In 2024, Hunt was arrested in cases involving alleged violations of a domestic-violence protective order, breaking or entering and injury to personal property. He is a felon with at least six additional misdemeanor convictions in Mecklenburg County.

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"You can’t hug your way out of crime," Effler said. "You have to hold people accountable."

Brown’s case and Hunt’s arrest are among several recent North Carolina crimes that have sharpened the debate over repeat offenders, bail and law enforcement resources.

In Jacksonville, DoorDash driver and mother of three Christen Phillips suffered skull fractures, brain bleeds and a fractured cheekbone after authorities said a man followed her and attacked her with a bat during an Aug. 1 delivery.

The Onslow County Sheriff’s Office said Phillips had honked at another driver while stopped at an intersection. Authorities said the driver, identified as 44-year-old Stanley Shockley, followed Phillips to a delivery stop and allegedly attacked her as she returned to her car.

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Phillips was able to drive herself to a hospital after the attack. Shockley was charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury.

The public-safety concerns have also reached western North Carolina, where Asheville officials have described a series of deadly incidents involving young people as retaliatory violence but have resisted calling the activity gang-related.

Effler criticized that approach, arguing that officials must be candid about the nature of violent crime before they can address it.

"A criminal gang is a gang, I don’t care how old they are," Effler said. "You have to address it."

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In Charlotte, another repeat offender, 29-year-old David Simpson, was charged with killing a man hours after his release on bond, renewing scrutiny of pretrial-release decisions.

Effler said people with repeated arrests for violent or assault-related offenses should not be allowed to cycle through the justice system without meaningful consequences.

North Carolina has also faced deadly shootings recently, outside its larger cities. In Winston-Salem, two people were killed and several others were wounded after what police said was a planned fight between juveniles that escalated into a shooting near a middle school.

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Authorities said multiple people exchanged gunfire at Leinbach Park, near Jefferson Middle School. Some of those involved were juveniles, police said.

The shooting was not at the school, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation said, but it underscored concerns over violent disputes that law-enforcement groups say have spread into communities across the state.

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Effler said the cases involve different defendants and circumstances but reflect the same broader failure to hold dangerous offenders accountable before more people are harmed.

Effler also accused former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, Whatley’s opponent in the U.S. Senate race, of supporting cashless bail as governor.

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"Cashless bail puts people on the streets that will arbitrarily walk up, like this Charlotte case and women getting assaulted and getting a video done," Effler said. "You cannot allow a criminal to not be held accountable."

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A Cooper campaign spokesperson disputed Effler’s claim, telling Fox News Digital the former governor "oppos[ed] cashless bail while signing stricter bail laws and putting rapists and violent criminals behind bars."

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The campaign cited Cooper’s signing of the Pretrial Integrity Act, which tightened bail requirements for certain violent offenses and repeat defendants. It also said it returned the NCFOP’s endorsement questionnaire on Aug. 10, disputing Effler’s statement that the union had not received a response.

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In a news release announcing the endorsement, Whatley said he was "honored" to receive the NCFOP’s backing and pledged to support law enforcement if elected. Fox News Digital has reached out to Whatley’s campaign for additional comment.

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Effler said Whatley has committed to back the Protect and Serve Act, the HALO Act and other measures the union believes would provide officers with greater protection and resources.

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"Michael Whatley has committed to the things that we believe in," Effler said. "He’ll support actions that doesn’t defund law enforcement from doing the professional job that we need to do."

Fox News Digital’s Sarah Rumpf-Whitten and Kelsie Cairns contributed to this report.

Klobuchar's fraud fight claim takes hit after GOP opponent combs through receipts: 'Where were you?'

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 06:00:57 -0400

Minnesota Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Klobuchar is facing heat from her Republican opponent and critics on social media for campaigning on addressing the massive fraud scandal in her state despite not mentioning it a single time in any press release since the crisis emerged.

A Fox News Digital review found that Klobuchar's Senate office repeatedly issued press releases addressing other forms of fraud between 2022 and 2025, but a review of 1,000 of her official press-release archive found no release directly addressing or offering solutions to fix Minnesota's sprawling social-services fraud scandal or Feeding Our Future.

The $250 million Feeding Our Future scandal, that has ballooned into an overall social services scandal that prosecutors say could total over $9 billion, broke in late January of 2022. In more than 1,000 press releases from Klobuchar’s office from January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2025, the Feeding our Future scandal was not mentioned in Klobuchar’s releases, nor were the terms "Minnesota fraud," "social services fraud," "Medicaid fraud," "autism fraud," "Housing Stabilization Services," "child nutrition fraud," "DHS fraud," or "nonprofit fraud."

"As Feeding Our Future was breaking and all of the fraud that was being talked about, the absent voice that I was noticing was Senator Klobuchar," Minnesota Republican House Speaker Lisa Demuth told Fox News Digital in an interview on Friday.

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"She with her extended time, twenty years as a senator, could have held hearings but not only did she not hold hearings, the hearing that took place a few months ago about fraud here in the state of Minnesota she didn't even attend and so i think that speaks very loudly to the people of Minnesota that we have a twenty-year senator, the most explosive fraud that has taken place a theft of our tax dollars here and yet, there was no mention."

Demuth drew attention to the Klobuchar press releases not mentioning the scandal earlier this week during a speech where she released her plan to fight fraud and criticized Klobuchar for not doing enough.

"Billions of our tax dollars stolen," Demuth posted on X. "It’s time for change."

Since announcing her run for governor, Klobuchar has focused on fraud, including in a campaign ad released earlier this month promising a state audit on her first day in office that will "root out waste fraud and abuse."

"It’s time for results, not excuses," Klobuchar posted on X.

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Klobuchar breezed through the primary election and heads to November as the favorite to replace Gov. Tim Walz, who dropped his re-election bid amid the fraud scandal, but Demuth says that voters will have a hard time ignoring Klobuchar's record on combatting fraud as well as her ties to Walz.

"My question is, where were you for the last 10 years, but absolutely the last eight years?" Demuth said. "She could have done press conferences, she could have partnered with Governor Walz. She has called Governor Walz an exceptional governor, 'he's a great governor.' Back when he was running for vice president, she was giving all of his accolades. Where was she to help him where our state was falling apart? I think it's a little bit too late for her to say that this was really a priority."

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Republican candidates in Minnesota have been making the case that voters of all political parties are motivated and upset by the fraud scandal, including Senate hopeful Michele Tafoya who told Fox News Digital earlier this month that voters are "ready for a change."

Demuth touted her fraud efforts in the legislature and said that as soon as she became Minnesota House Speaker in 2025 she immediately took steps to make sure cracking down on fraud was front and center, including setting up the Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Committee.

"Who are Minnesotans gonna trust for their next governor?" Demuth said. "Somebody that has just decided to talk about fraud now that they're running for office or someone that has been fighting fraud this entire time? And I think I am the most trustworthy when it comes to ending fraud and respecting taxpayer dollars as your next governor."

Fox News Digital reached out to Klobuchar's campaign for comment.

AMB GORDON SONDLAND: Our allies enjoyed a free ride trading with Iran. Trump is shutting that down

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 06:00:30 -0400

President Donald Trump is finally proposing the Iran policy that our allies have spent decades avoiding: If you want the benefits of doing business with the United States, you cannot also help finance the regime in Tehran.

It really is that simple.

Trump’s "Economic D-Day" is not merely another sanctions package filled with the names of Iranian officials who do not have American bank accounts and never planned to visit Disneyland. The important idea is to punish the foreign countries, banks, refiners, shipping companies and middlemen that keep Iran in business.

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They must choose between Iran and America. They should no longer be allowed to choose both.

When I served as U.S. ambassador to the European Union, I watched European governments twist themselves into diplomatic, legal and moral contortions to avoid seriously sanctioning Iran. There was always a deal that took precedence over principle.

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One country had an energy contract to protect. Another had companies pursuing Iranian business. Someone else wanted to preserve a diplomatic channel. Brussels was perpetually waiting for another negotiation that would supposedly moderate the regime if only we remained patient, constructive and commercially engaged.

Europe claimed that commerce created leverage. Iran got the commerce and Europe rarely exercised the leverage.

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Tehran took the money, funded its proxies, expanded its missile program, brutalized its own population and continued advancing its nuclear capabilities. Then, whenever Iran created another crisis, the Europeans looked to Washington to solve it.

That has been the international bargain for far too long: Our allies make money, Iran makes trouble and America gets its hands dirty.

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Trump is turning that arrangement on its head.

The United Arab Emirates’ decision to suspend trade and financial transactions with Iran is a major development. Dubai has been much more than another Iranian trading partner. It has served as a gateway to the world — providing access to re-exports, currency conversion, trade finance, shell companies and goods that sanctions were supposed to keep beyond Tehran’s reach.

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Closing that door will hurt. But the UAE cannot be a heroic exception. It must become the model.

Trump should look every allied leader in the eye and ask: Are you prepared to close your country’s Iranian commercial and financial channels, or do you intend to continue financing the threat you expect America to contain?

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This time, we are not asking our allies to fight a kinetic war. We are not asking them to send troops, drop bombs or put their citizens in harm’s way. We are asking them to help choke off the economic lifelines of the axis of evil.

That is not too much to ask. It is the minimum.

Countries enjoying American security guarantees, favorable trade arrangements and access to the world’s most valuable economy have obligations. Access to America is not a birthright. It is a privilege, and privileges come with conditions.

Those refusing to cooperate should face inferior trade terms, tighter visa rights and greater scrutiny of their financial institutions. Companies knowingly facilitating Iranian trade should lose access to American government contracts, capital markets and banking relationships.

Trump’s message should be unmistakable: If you help keep Iran open for business, America will become less open for business to you.

This effort also needs sunlight. Congress should create a bipartisan "Naughty and Nice List" identifying the countries, banks, refiners, shippers, insurers and intermediaries either helping isolate Iran or helping it evade pressure.

The "nice" list should recognize those that shut down Iranian accounts, stop buying its oil, expose front companies and enforce sanctions honestly. The "naughty" list should name those moving Iranian money, disguising cargo, processing oil sales or supplying dual-use technology.

Update it every month. Read the names publicly. Make the executives, ministers and heads of government explain their conduct.

That may sound theatrical. Good. Theater gets attention — and attention creates accountability. Governments and companies depend upon complexity, deniability and public boredom to maintain relationships they would rather not defend. Drag those relationships into the daylight.

There must be a reputational cost in addition to an economic one. Leaders continuing to trade with Iran should have to explain why their commercial interests take precedence over stopping nuclear proliferation, terrorism and attacks on international shipping.

Europe, in particular, needs to stop pretending that continued engagement with Tehran is a neutral act. Money is fungible. Every commercial relationship that provides Iran with hard currency strengthens the regime’s ability to finance the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, missiles and proxy warfare.

The same applies to Asian energy buyers, flag registries, ports, insurers and banks. If they facilitate Iranian trade, they are part of Iran’s economic infrastructure and should be treated accordingly.

China is the ultimate test. Beijing cannot receive the full benefits of access to American consumers and capital while providing the economic oxygen that keeps Tehran alive. Chinese refineries, banks, trading houses and shipping companies handling Iranian commerce should face direct restrictions in the United States.

If Trump backs away when the first major Chinese institution is implicated, this becomes another slogan. If he follows through, the effect will be immediate and global.

Critics will call this escalation. They call almost any exercise of American leverage escalation. In fact, this is the opposite of what a warmonger would do.

A warmonger would send hundreds of thousands of American troops into Iran, occupy the country and spend another generation trying to rebuild it. Trump is instead using America’s economic power to avoid the continuation of a major American war.

Israel should not be prevented from taking covert gloves off.

Israel has the intelligence, operational capability and motivation to disrupt Iran’s nuclear program, missile systems, procurement networks and proxy infrastructure. The United States should provide intelligence, logistics, missile defense and strategic support while allowing Israel to do much of the difficult covert and kinetic work.

If Tehran continues its aggression, further highly selective action against the commanders, nuclear architects and operational leaders responsible must remain available. This is not a call for indiscriminate warfare or American occupation. It is a strategy of making the people directing Iran’s aggression personally accountable while steadily dismantling their capabilities.

In blunt terms, let Israel handle much of the wet work. America should set the strategy, organize the allies, enforce the economic quarantine and prevent China, Russia or anyone else from rescuing Tehran.

This is burden-sharing with teeth.

The endgame must also be clear. Iran must abandon any path to a nuclear weapon, dismantle its dangerous enrichment capabilities, stop attacking international shipping and end its financing of proxy warfare. Any relief must be conditional, reversible and tied to verified conduct — not Iranian promises or another vague agreement Tehran can manipulate.

For years, the foreign-policy establishment has told us that the Iran problem is terribly complicated. Some parts are. The central choice is not.

Why should America protect countries that help finance the threat? Why should access to our market be treated as an entitlement? Why should the United States bear the military risk while others preserve their profitable relationships with the adversary?

Trump is asking the right questions.

If he constructs a genuine economic quarantine, forces our allies to choose, empowers Israel to eliminate the most dangerous threats and keeps American military involvement selective and decisive, this could become his finest hour.

It would also expose the hypocrisy of those who routinely call Trump a warmonger. He is not leading with an invasion. He is leading with American economic power and demanding that our allies finally participate.

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The world has spent long enough hedging — trading with Iran during the good times and calling Washington when Tehran becomes belligerent.

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The talking is over. Now comes the choosing.

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King Charles' deadly avalanche escape heightened his awareness of life's 'fragility': expert

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 06:00:19 -0400

King Charles narrowly escaped death — and Britain's royal future almost changed forever.

The monarch recently opened up about escaping a 1988 avalanche that killed his close friend, Major Hugh Lindsay, an equerry to Queen Elizabeth II, and seriously injured Patti Palmer-Tomkinson.

The 77-year-old held a special event at the Castle of Mey for members of the Assynt Mountain Rescue Team to mark the group's 50th anniversary, The Times of London reported.

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"Those close to the king have always shared that the event increased his sense of mortality and awareness, overall, of the fragility of life," British royals expert Hilary Fordwich told Fox News Digital. "... The avalanche and its outcomes were confirmations that even with his position in the royal family, he was not immune from tragedy."

"[The king] spoke of the near miss he had in that avalanche in the context of the dangers mountains contain," team leader Ben Dyson told The Times. "He said 'it was a close thing.' Obviously, after all these years, it is still much in his memory, but it had given him an insight into the valuable work we do and the dangers we face."

Dyson noted that Charles was "very appreciative" of the work that mountain rescue teams carry out.

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"Charles has lived his entire life knowing that one day he would become king," Kinsey Schofield, host of YouTube’s "Kinsey Schofield Unfiltered" told Fox News Digital.

"The avalanche presented him with the opposite possibility, that he might never become king at all. He survived by seconds. ... I think an experience like that inevitably changes your understanding of how fragile even the most carefully predetermined life can be. ... There is something very poignant about hearing a 77-year-old king reflect on a moment at 39 when he very nearly lost his life."

The BBC reported that the incident occurred on March 10, 1988, while Charles and his companions were skiing off-piste above his favorite Swiss resort of Klosters. Lindsay was sent 1,312 feet down the mountainside when the avalanche hit the royal party. Palmer-Tomkinson suffered serious leg injuries. The then-prince and several other members of the group, including their guide, were able to ski to safety.

Once the avalanche passed, Charles and the others rushed to help. Charles later recalled that their guide, Bruno Sprecher, located Palmer-Tomkinson, revived her with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and then handed Charles a shovel to help dig her out; Charles also used his hands. Sprecher then went to find Lindsay, who had been killed.

At the time, Marie Griffiths told the BBC she saw Charles being airlifted off the mountain.

"As far as I know, he hadn't been injured," she said. "He looked very distressed; somebody said he was crying, but he did walk to the helicopter, so he looked uninjured."

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Christopher Andersen, author of "Kate!," told Fox News Digital that Charles later reflected, "I've never forgotten the sound of it. The whole mountain exploding outwards — vast clouds of snow. A whirling maelstrom. I thought to myself, 'My God, the horror.'"

"Charles and his friends ignored the danger and went off to tackle an infamous slope that was off the beaten path," Andersen explained. "... The resulting avalanche slammed into Patti Palmer-Tomkinson and Hugh Lindsay. Lindsay was killed instantly, but the king helped dig Palmer-Tomkinson out of the snow and kept her conscious by telling her that a rescue helicopter was on its way. ... People forget King Charles had a career in the Navy, was a military pilot, and was extremely athletic his entire life. Obviously, his reflexes kicked in."

Swiss officials had warned of avalanche danger that day. A later Swiss investigation found that the group was skiing outside the marked area but concluded that the skiers were not culpable for Lindsay's death.

Charles said in an account released after the accident that he and several others managed to ski out of the avalanche's path, while Lindsay and Palmer-Tomkinson were swept away. He said Lindsay had been "killed outright during the fall." Charles also described helping dig Palmer-Tomkinson from the snow and staying with her during the rescue effort.

"The constitutional what-if is staggering," said Schofield. "Had Charles died in that avalanche, five-year-old Prince William would immediately have become heir to the throne. Princess Diana would have been a 26-year-old widow raising the future king, and Queen Elizabeth would have spent the remainder of her reign preparing her grandson rather than her son to succeed her."

"That is what makes Charles saying, 'It was a close thing' so chilling in retrospect," Schofield said. "It was a close thing personally, but constitutionally it was enormous. The U.K. and Commonwealth came frighteningly close to having a five-year-old second in line suddenly become heir apparent and the entire trajectory of the modern monarchy being rewritten."

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Lindsay's wife, Sarah, who worked in the Buckingham Palace press office, was six months pregnant when she learned of her husband's death.

"Within hours, Charles called Sarah and described what had happened," said Andersen. "Diana later said her 'blood ran cold' at Charles' lack of emotion.

"After Lindsay's daughter Alice was born, Charles became her godfather and kept his promise to pay for her education. ... But it was Diana who came to Sarah Lindsay's emotional rescue, calling her every Sunday to cheer her up."

Charles later returned to ski at Klosters, including with his sons. Contemporary reports said he returned to the avalanche site at least twice to reflect alone.

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"Charles may have been shaken up by the catastrophe that took his close friend's life, but in true British stiff upper lip tradition he didn't really show it at the time," Andersen said. "Charles has always been, to some extent, emotionally strangled. I think it has taken years for him to come to terms with his friend's death and his own narrow escape."

Diana and Sarah Ferguson, then the Duchess of York, were at their chalet when the avalanche hit. While Diana later questioned Charles' response to the tragedy, Schofield said Charles privately grappled with remorse.

"I suspect there was an element of survivor's guilt that was difficult for Charles to process," she said. "He escaped, his friend died, and another friend was seriously injured. He reportedly felt a sense of responsibility afterward. Those are enormously complicated emotions for anyone, regardless of whether you happen to be the future king."

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"We often see the king through the formality of monarchy, but there was nothing formal about what happened on that mountain. Charles narrowly escaped being swept away himself and then participated in the desperate effort to rescue the people who hadn't."

In February 2025, the king, who continues to receive treatment for an undisclosed form of cancer, said his skiing days were behind him during a visit to Teesside.

"I think my skiing days are behind me," he told a Swiss engineer he met, according to Hello! magazine.

Woman’s alleged ISIS radicalization unfolded online before Capitol bomb plot: court docs

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 06:00:07 -0400

Jessica Bowie, a 35-year-old woman from upstate New York, is now facing terrorism charges after authorities allege she converted to Islam, swore allegiance to the Islamic State group and plotted to bomb the State Capitol building — just weeks before the U.S. will mark 25 years since the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

According to the FBI, she became a Muslim five years ago and took on a new name, Aisha Saif.

The FBI arrested Bowie after she allegedly enlisted a group of confidential informants in her plot, thinking they were ISIS handlers, under the impression she was arranging for them to turn bomb-making materials she'd purchased into an explosive device and to provide her a handgun.

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Bowie allegedly praised the terrorists behind the 9/11 attacks that killed 2,977 people on Sept. 11, 2001, according to court documents.

The federal criminal complaint has few details about her alleged embrace of terrorism from before May 2026, but authorities say she was radicalized at some point online.

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She had also allegedly lost multiple social media accounts for violating their terms of service with her posts, according to the criminal complaint — in separate posts in May, she allegedly wrote about poisoning "infidels" and "praise be to Allah for September 11th." By the end of the month, she'd allegedly sworn allegiance to ISIS.

"The key with these sorts of cases is the initial lead," said Paul Mauro, a retired NYPD inspector and Fox News contributor with experience working counter-terrorism cases. "This can come in a number of ways. We criticize social media plenty, but the fact that she was repeatedly banned on these platforms could have been a crucial pointer."

By July, according to the complaint, she was allegedly using encrypted apps to post support for radical Islamic terror and anti-American rhetoric.

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On July 16, she allegedly told an FBI informant that she had begun thinking about "Jehad" more seriously over the past several months. She was also allegedly posting online about how she was sharing ISIS propaganda and attempting to recruit.

In July and August, Bowie allegedly made five visits to scout the State Capitol.

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On Aug. 5, photos released by the Justice Department allegedly show her buying bomb-making materials at a Rensselaer Home Depot store, including a large bucket of nails that was allegedly meant for shrapnel. "We definitely want to make sure the senators get killed for sure," she allegedly told an informant.

On Aug. 13, she allegedly asked an FBI informant whom she thought was an ISIS operative for help obtaining a handgun, according to the complaint.

On Aug. 19, the FBI arrested her after she allegedly gave $350 to a pair of FBI informants and got out of their vehicle carrying an inert handgun and dummy explosive that they'd given her, according to the complaint.

"There's no helping me," she allegedly told the FBI after being read her Miranda rights. "You guys know enough...I'm going to prison for the rest of my life."

She added that she'd already looked up potential sentences online.

"Material support is up to 20 years in prison," she said, according to the complaint. "I already googled it before. I know I'm going to jail."

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Earlier that day, she allegedly told an FBI informant that she had grown from "a little girl waving an American flag after 9/11 to now having stickers of the falling towers." She was 10 years old on Sept. 11, 2001.

Bowie, who also has addresses listed in Schenectady, allegedly planned to hide a bomb in a DoorDash delivery bag at the New York State Capitol, according to the complaint.

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"I want to destroy as much of the building as possible and kill the senators while they are meeting," she allegedly told an informant. "I want them to lose a lot of important documents as well"

Then she allegedly wanted to escape to Syria before returning to the U.S. in the future for more attacks.

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A woman who picked up a call to the number listed for Bowie's mother hung up when contacted by Fox News Digital Friday.

Senator launches assault on illegal immigration gaps as GOP races midterm clock to lock in key wins

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 05:00:49 -0400

EXCLUSIVE: Republicans risk seeing some of President Donald Trump’s signature immigration priorities erased by a future Democratic administration unless Congress acts now to lock them into law, Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., told Fox News Digital as he presses the Senate to take up a package of seven immigration bills.

Banks said his immigration package is needed as Republicans approach the midterms with control of Congress at stake and a shrinking window to deliver legislative wins to voters. The bills target birthright citizenship, visas, commercial driver’s licenses and other immigration policies Banks wants Congress to codify.

"I don't just fear a Democrat majority. I fear a Democrat-Socialist majority because the [DSA] who control today's Democrat Party support wide open borders, they support eliminating ICE, they are anti law enforcement, they want to defund the police," Banks said.

While current Senate Democratic leaders are not aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America, Banks argued a future Democratic-led Senate would be "owned by the socialist wing of their party."

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"I cannot believe that the Democrats are so radical and extreme today that they're OK with what's happened to our country [with] illegals taking jobs for Americans or allowing illegals to be behind the wheel of semi-trucks," Banks said, pointing to his "Dalilah Law."

The bill honors Dalilah Coleman, a first-grader who was critically injured when an illegal immigrant driving a big rig caused a multi-car pileup on an Indiana highway. Partap Singh, an Indian national licensed in California, was driving the truck. Coleman suffered catastrophic injuries, spent months in the hospital and had a craniectomy.

The Dalilah Law, described by supporters as the CDL equivalent of the Laken Riley Act, would require states to stop providing commercial driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants and certain foreign nationals. It would also require states to revoke certain existing licenses and administer commercial driving tests only in English.

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Banks compared the CDL measure to Congress’ Reagan-era push to raise the drinking age by threatening federal transportation funds. He argued that several Hoosiers have been injured or killed in crashes involving foreign drivers licensed by "states that hand CDLs out like candy," including California, Pennsylvania and New York. He also wants Congress to take greater control over Temporary Protected Status authority, which he said previous Democratic administrations abused.

"If we legislate it and give Congress power to determine when TPS is appropriate when it's not, then we'll be able to address these issues long after President Trump leaves the White House," Banks said.

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The American Tech Workforce Act would raise the minimum salary threshold for many H-1B visa positions from $60,000 to $150,000. Experts have said the change would significantly alter incentives for companies seeking to hire young foreign workers.

Immigration attorneys argued Banks’ bill would make the U.S. "far less attractive as a study destination" and encourage foreign talent to look to Canada instead.

"Many employers would be unable or unwilling to meet this threshold, effectively limiting H-1B hiring to top tech companies or highly specialized roles," Texas firm Reddy Neumann & Brown said on its website.

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Proponents have argued such changes would give American graduates a better chance of entering the job market after college.

Other bills in the package would provide additional border security funding to the War Department, restrict chain migration and target grants to colleges employing illegal immigrants.

"These seven bills are common sense, everything from stopping illegals from driving semi-trucks to banning birthright citizenship, to stopping chain migration, to cracking down on those who misuse the H-1B visas for cheap labor," Banks said.

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Fox News Digital reached out to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., for comment on the package and to ask whether any of the bills will be expedited ahead of the midterms.

Fox News Digital's Hannah Brennan contributed to this report.