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'Jesus was a radical': Progressives invoke Christ to sell left-wing agenda on campaign trail

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 06:00:59 -0400

Progressives seeking a seat in the Senate are taking a decades-old page from their Republican counterparts, using faith as a political tool to build connections with voters.

Three progressive Democratic candidates running for the Senate, Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon, Abdul El-Sayed and Texas state Rep. James Talarico, share a penchant for bucking the Democratic establishment in their meteoric rise this midterm cycle.

They have also incorporated their religions and faiths into their campaigns and messaging to voters, showing shades of the "Moral Majority" coalition that formed during the late 1970s in the GOP when former President Ronald Reagan was running as Republicans sought to tie policy to Christianity.

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Nixon, who scored a major upset against Alexander Vindman, a major figure during President Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial who was backed by the Democratic establishment in Washington, D.C., has become a prime target for the GOP because of her connection to the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

During a sermon last week at the Saint Paul AME Church of Jacksonville, Fla., Nixon, who will face Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Fla., in November, contended that her "radical" positions were akin to those of Jesus Christ.

"They are trying, y'all. They are trying … to label me as this extremist, this radical. But, you know, Jesus was a radical," Nixon said.

EL-SAYED MAKES JESUS COMPARISON WHEN PRESSED ON SOCIALIST VIEWS: 'RADICAL IN HIS TIME, TOO'

"And Jesus fought for — I mean, he pushed for the same things that I'm fighting for today, right? Right now, we're literally in a civil rights moment," she continued. "Whether or not people wanna believe it or not, but we are."

She joined the DSA in June, prompting immediate backlash from the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the Senate GOP’s campaign arm, which tied her to socialism, despite her denial that she’s a Democratic socialist.

Nixon isn’t the only one of the three to make the same comparison.

El-Sayed, during an appearance on the Progressive Christians Podcast that aired in May, similarly invoked Christ when asked about his policy positions. El-Sayed, who is Muslim and running in Michigan’s toss-up race against former Rep. Mike Rogers, was asked about the similarities between his faith and Christianity and why they were being targeted as radical.

"Well, you know, Jesus, peace and blessings be upon him, was considered radical in his time, too," El-Sayed said.

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"And there is a radical nature to being willing to stand forthright in a time of corruption, and I think it's important for all of us to realize that popularity and zeitgeist don't make truth. And we live in a time where people are trying to normalize corruption," he continued.

Of the three, Talarico, who is running in the toss-up race against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, has displayed his faith the most. He has been taking seminary classes to become a Presbyterian minister, and has blended Christianity with his policy platform since launching his candidacy last year.

And like the others, Republicans have pounced on his use of faith as a point of attack, particularly in his defense of transgender children.

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In pushing back against the Texas GOP’s newly signed anti-trans bill in 2021, Talarico argued Texas Republicans were trying to justify the measure "in the name of God's law."

"The first two lines of the Bible, the first two lines in Genesis, use two different Hebrew words to describe God. One is the masculine Hebrew noun for divinity," Talarico said. "The second is the feminine Hebrew noun for spirit. God is both masculine and feminine, and everything in between."

"God is non-binary," he said.

Shoppers are going hog wild for Piggly Wiggly's retro pig merchandise

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 06:00:37 -0400

Merchandise from a regional grocery store chain with locations across the Midwest and South has become a hot commodity.

Nicola Miller, of Suffolk, England, will detour as much as 50 miles to visit a Piggly Wiggly when she's in America, hoping to add another T-shirt featuring the iconic, cheerful Mr. Pig to her collection, Food & Drink reported.

Miller first encountered the mascot in the 1978 film "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," which features the retro pig face in the film's final scene.

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She told Food & Drink that Piggly Wiggly stores and the company's logo "spark joy" and nostalgia for her.

Miller is not alone.

The Piggly Wiggly brand "resonates across all ages and demographics," Terry F. Goins, Piggly Wiggly director of marketing and advertising for the Midwest, told Fox News Digital.

"Younger shoppers are drawn to exactly the qualities that make it retro: the hand-drawn feel, the humor, the fact that it's unmistakably regional and not from a national chain," Goins said.

"For a lot of younger customers, it's less, 'I remember this' and more, 'This is where I'm from.'"

The branding is warm and "doesn't take itself too seriously," Goins added.

"Mr. Pig has never been redesigned into something sleek and corporate. He looks like he looked. In a category where most logos get sanded down every eight years, that consistency is rare, and people respond to it."

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Piggly Wiggly was founded in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1916 by Clarence Saunders.

Saunders pioneered the then-unheard-of concept of modern self-service grocery shopping, according to the company's website. Before Piggly Wiggly, shoppers typically presented their orders to clerks, who gathered the goods from store shelves.

The self-service concept proved wildly successful, helping Piggly Wiggly grow from a single Memphis store into a nationwide chain with more than 1,200 locations by 1923.

Today, there are more than 500 Piggly Wiggly stores across 18 states.

The origins of the Piggly Wiggly name "remain a mystery," according to the company, but its Mr. Pig mascot has been part of the brand since the beginning.

For more than 20 years, Piggly Wiggly has formally sold branded merchandise online and in stores, while individual locations have also created their own designs. Piggly Wiggly shirts, however, had been circulating informally long before that.

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"That's a big part of what makes this fun," Goins said. "Piggly Wiggly Midwest is a mix of franchise and corporate-owned stores across Wisconsin and Illinois, and our independent operators know their communities better than anyone at a corporate office does.

"There are brand standards around how Mr. Pig and the logo are used — that mark is 110 years old and we protect it — but within that, stores have latitude to [make] designs that speak to their town, their high school colors, their local events. That's why you'll find shirts in one store you won't find anywhere else."

Demand for Piggly Wiggly merchandise has been remarkably steady, Goins said.

"What we see instead are lifts tied to moments: a new design drop, a seasonal item, a tie-in with something happening in the community," he said.

"People aren't buying a shirt because a grocery store put its logo on one. They're buying it because Mr. Pig means something to them, and wearing it is a way of saying where they're from."

T-shirts featuring the pig's face on the front and its backside on the back are far and away the favorite, Goins said.

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"It's not close," he said. "The retro self-service design does very well, and honestly, anything involving the pig butt tends to move."

Some collectors treat the pastime like collecting ballpark or brewery merchandise, Goins said.

"They'll pick up a shirt from a store they haven't been to before," he said. "Nobody has ever told us they own too many Pig shirts."

Piggly Wiggly also offers seasonal and limited-edition designs, along with branded socks, shoes, hats, stuffed animals and more.

At the Wisconsin State Fair this month, the enthusiasm extended beyond merchandise.

"We had people lined up for over an hour — in August, at a state fair, with a thousand other things to do — for a temporary Mr. Pig tattoo," Goins said.

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The company also handed out 6,000 Piggly Wiggly reusable bags in under six hours.

"That's not a merchandise transaction," Goins said. "That's people wanting to be associated with something."

Everyone has their own Piggly Wiggly story, Goins said.

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"It's never generic," he said. "It's always personal and always tied to a specific place and a specific memory."

Queen Camilla puts past differences with Prince Harry aside as King Charles seeks closer family ties: experts

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 06:00:36 -0400

Queen Camilla will put King Charles III first as the royal family navigates Prince Harry’s return to the U.K., royal experts told Fox News Digital.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex returned to the U.K. on Aug. 26. Their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, will begin school in Britain in September.

Royal experts believe the king, who is still receiving treatment for an undisclosed form of cancer, wants a relationship with his grandchildren. Camilla, they said, is prepared to support her husband as Harry hopes for reconciliation with his family.

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Before the Sussexes’ return, the king met with Harry, Meghan and their children at Highgrove House on July 10. Vanity Fair royal correspondent Katie Nicholl later reported that, according to sources, "not even the Prince and Princess of Wales were made aware that the meeting was taking place." Camilla was present.

"Camilla has weathered far bigger storms than the Sussexes’ 2020 move, or Prince Harry’s book, ‘Spare,’" royal commentator Meredith Constant told Fox News Digital. "Camilla knows how to lie low when she needs to. She’s going to go through the motions and put on a good face for her husband as he works on his relationship with his younger son."

"While Prince William and King Charles are not in lockstep over how to handle Prince Harry’s return, they understand that they are a unit with their respective wives," she said. "William wouldn’t expect Camilla to take a stand against her husband anymore than Charles would expect that of Kate."

WATCH: WHY KING CHARLES ALWAYS CAME BACK TO QUEEN CAMILLA: AUTHOR

Royal biographer Tom Bower told the Daily Mail that Camilla approached her stepson with what InStyle magazine described as "an olive branch" — a "fixed smile" before she "offered him tea." A source told Bower the meeting was "polite with no recrimination."

"Albeit this was indeed a polite gesture, it was merely a tiny aperture being opened, not a welcome for any full return as senior royals at all," British royal expert Hilary Fordwich told Fox News Digital. "It’s traditionally British to offer tea as merely a polite gesture. Camilla is dedicated to the king’s health and welfare, so it’s not surprising."

Royal historian Catherine Mayer told People magazine that Camilla "is a non-negotiable part of Charles’ life," adding, "there’s no reconciliation with [the king] without her."

The road to reconciliation may be a lengthy one for Harry. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped back as senior royals in 2020, saying they faced intense scrutiny from the British press and lacked support from the palace.

After moving to California, the couple aired their grievances in interviews and documentaries. Harry’s 2023 memoir, "Spare," further strained his relationship with his family. Royal experts previously told Fox News Digital that Harry and his older brother, Prince William, haven’t spoken since 2022.

After "Spare" was published in 2023, Harry accused his stepmother of leaking private conversations to the media to burnish her reputation.

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In interviews, Harry accused family members of getting "into bed with the devil" to gain favorable tabloid coverage. He singled out Camilla's efforts to rehabilitate her image with the British public after her long-running relationship with his father.

Camilla, who once faced widespread public criticism, eventually won over many royal watchers through her charitable work and support of the king. Charles was crowned in 2023.

"Yes, she was hurt by Harry’s unkind words," British broadcaster and photographer Helena Chard told Fox News Digital. "However, she is made of tough stuff and plays a vital role as King Charles’ steadfast partner, prioritizing his protection. Supporting the king through rigorous treatment and applauding his determination, Camilla’s desire is to ensure her husband’s [golden] years bring him peace, health and joy."

"There is the fleeting thought that, despite Harry’s series of cutting jibes, Queen Camilla is reminded of a sad young Harry," she said. "She is sympathetic to Harry’s deep-rooted problems. But their relationship is tricky."

In 2023, Harry told "Good Morning America" that he and Camilla "haven’t spoken for a long time."

"I love every member of my family, despite the differences," he said. "So when I see her, we’re perfectly pleasant with each other."

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"She’s my stepmother," he continued. "I don’t look at her as an evil stepmother. I see someone who married into this institution and has done everything she can to improve her own reputation and her own image, for her own sake."

In May 2025, Harry told the BBC that he wanted reconciliation, saying, "There’s no point in continuing to fight anymore" and "life is precious." At the time, the prince said, "I do not know how much longer my father has left."

A source told People magazine that Harry had been thinking about the move "for a while." With Archie and Lilibet now school-age, the couple felt the timing made sense, the outlet reported.

As for Camilla and the rest of the royal family, royal experts expect them to keep calm and carry on.

"Members of the British royal family do not cause a scene," Constant said. "If they want information out there, it will find a way to the papers. Camilla doesn’t need to say a word to get her message across. As long as her stepson isn’t interfering with her husband’s reign, it’s just business as usual."

Chard said she believes Camilla is choosing to put her personal feelings aside and prioritize what is best for her husband.

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"Queen Camilla raced to the July 10 meeting at Highgrove in support of her husband, not for the love of Harry," she said. "Camilla was a listening ear and offered the usual stability to her husband. Queen Camilla is interested in the best for her husband and the monarchy going forward."

But not every royal appears to be on the same page about the Sussexes.

"Prince William, to date, has still had no contact with his wayward brother," Fordwich said. "The imminent future looks rather awkward. If Harry and Meghan refrain from any public accusations, any monetization of royal contacts, and are discreet, William is likely to be more open to controlled conduct than any sort of reconciliation. Harry should take a page out of Camilla’s playbook to gain eventual trust and respect. Silence is golden."

Kensington Palace, which represents the office of the Prince and Princess of Wales, told Fox News Digital that it does not comment on personal family matters. Fox News Digital reached out to Buckingham Palace for comment.

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Details about the location of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's private, non-royal home and the children’s school are being closely guarded, People magazine reported. The outlet also reported that the king was made aware of their plans on Aug. 16 and welcomed the opportunity to see more of his son’s family "in a private and personal capacity."

Newly unclassified Pentagon images show suspected drug boats as official issues deadly warning

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 06:00:16 -0400

EXCLUSIVE – Newly unclassified Pentagon images show suspected drug-smuggling boats at sea, including vessels loaded with apparent narcotics.

The images come as the department warned traffickers that the U.S. will continue hunting down those who threaten Americans, nearly a year after the Trump administration began striking suspected drug-trafficking vessels.

"Nearly one year after the first strike, the message to narco-terrorists remains unchanged: if you traffic deadly illicit narcotics and threaten the American people, we hunt you down, we will find you, and we will kill you," Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital.

The photos, dated Oct. 27, Oct. 29 and Dec. 4, 2025, show the boats speeding through open water under U.S. military surveillance.

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Wilson said Operation Southern Spear has disrupted trafficking networks, forced traffickers to adapt their methods and removed "dangerous narcoterrorists."

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"Operation Southern Spear has disrupted trafficking networks, forced trafficker adaptations, removed dangerous narcoterrorists, and demonstrated that the United States will use every lawful tool available to defend our Homeland and protect our communities," Wilson said.

The Pentagon told Fox News Digital the operation has carried out 67 strikes, including the first strike on Sept. 2, 2025.

US KILLS TWO 'NARCO-TERRORISTS' IN STRIKE 2 MONTHS SINCE LAST ANNOUNCED ANTI-'NARCO-TRAFFICKING' ATTACK

One of the most recent strikes came Aug. 25, when U.S. Southern Command said four alleged drug smugglers were killed aboard a fast boat operating along known trafficking routes in the Caribbean.

"Confirmed intelligence revealed the vessel’s active involvement in narco-trafficking," SOUTHCOM wrote in a post on X, saying the operation was carried out by Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere under the direction of Gen. Francis L. Donovan.

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"Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere continues executing precise, lethal operations against the cartels," Donovan said in a statement quoted in the post. "We will hunt, disrupt, and defeat these narco-terrorist networks."

"SOUTHCOM is resolved to neutralizing cartel terror and violence throughout the region and into the U.S. homeland," he added.

US MILITARY CONDUCTS STRIKE ON ANOTHER VESSEL CARRYING ALLEGED NARCO-TRAFFICKERS, KILLING 2

Days before the Caribbean strike, the U.S. military said two people were killed in a strike on a vessel in the Eastern Pacific. That was the first reported strike in more than two months. A video posted to X showed what appeared to be a moving boat before a flash filled the screen.

Since the first strike last September, the Trump administration has targeted suspected cartel vessels in the Atlantic and Pacific that it says were carrying narcotics.

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Trump has described the fight as an "armed conflict" with cartels in Latin America and has argued the attacks are necessary to stop drugs from reaching American communities and fueling fatal overdoses.

The administration is also pursuing agreements with allied nations that could extend its campaign onto land in multiple Latin American countries.

War Secretary Pete Hegseth said during a visit to Panama this month that Colombia, Guatemala and Honduras had agreed to allow the U.S. to conduct joint operations against criminal groups on their soil, though Guatemala denied an agreement had been reached. Ecuador began similar missions with the U.S. in March.

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Reuters, The Associated Press and Fox News Digital's Eric Mack contributed to this report.

This tiny farming town you’ve never heard of is helping Microsoft sell America on data centers

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 06:00:05 -0400

In central Washington, a farming town of roughly 8,100 people has become an unlikely showcase for America’s data-center boom.

Quincy, long known for potato fields, apple orchards and food-processing plants, has spent two decades attracting some of the world’s largest technology companies. Microsoft began building data centers there around 20 years ago, drawn by affordable land, the region’s cool climate and abundant hydropower from the Columbia River.

Now the town is becoming central to Microsoft’s response to a backlash against the facilities powering cloud computing and artificial intelligence. The company this year cited Quincy as proof that data centers can bring tangible benefits to the communities that host them, as residents elsewhere raise alarms over electricity prices, water use and limited local job creation.

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The economic gains are visible in Quincy.

KUOW reported that years of data-center tax revenue have helped support a state-of-the-art high school and hospital.

The city recently opened a new aquatic center, complete with a six-lane lap pool, lazy river and waterslides, while a planned indoor sports complex

Data centers are not an employment engine on their own. A single facility can operate with 50 employees or fewer, KUOW reported. But Quincy has enough facilities that the sector has become a meaningful employer in aggregate, while also supporting construction, service businesses and the city’s broader tax base.

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Microsoft says its new national approach will ask local utilities to set rates high enough to cover data-center energy use and grid upgrades without raising prices for residents. The company also says future facilities will use closed-loop cooling systems that recycle water rather than drawing from local supplies.

Quincy already has such a system. Microsoft and the city partnered on a $31 million water-reuse utility that treats and recirculates cooling water. The EPA says the project reduces the company’s reliance on potable groundwater and saves an estimated 138 million gallons of water a year.

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Still, Quincy is not without skeptics.

Former Mayor Patty Martin, according to KUOW, has warned that the town must look beyond its immediate economic gains and consider its long-term water and electricity needs, pointing to population growth, electric vehicles and changing snowpack as added pressures on the region.

Quincy’s boom shows what data centers can bring to a small town and the questions communities must answer before they arrive.

The data center fight could decide the next president and cost America the AI race

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 05:00:43 -0400

It’s the fall of 2028. A debate moderator turns to two presidential nominees who spent their governorships fighting over data centers. "China’s AI lead is now a fact," she says. "In 2026, you decided to restrict data-center construction, and the machinist in Youngstown, Ohio, watched his job follow the servers to the Gulf. What do you tell him? Which of your policies would you take back?"

That reckoning is two years away, but the choices that will decide it are being made now. Rising electric bills deserve a real fix, but not one rushed for political expediency that leaves the people it’s meant to help worse off down the road.

The pressure to do something is building. Gary Elder retired to Lewisport, Ky., on a fixed income that makes any bill feel precarious. At a Public Service Commission hearing in Hancock County this July, the 69-year-old told regulators he was worried a 500-megawatt data center proposed nearby could push his electric bill toward $1,000 or more. Elder represents seven in 10 Americans who oppose a data center in their own backyard. And when politicians sense trouble, they move fast.

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By August, Pennsylvania Democrat Gov. Josh Shapiro and Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, two governors who spent recent years courting hyperscale data centers, were both moving the other way. Shapiro signed an executive order he called the "strictest guardrails in the nation." Abbott froze new grid connections pending a statewide audit.

New York Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul went further, pausing environmental permits for a year, and Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis guaranteed local governments’ authority to reject data centers. Republicans and Democrats are arriving at the same anxiety from different directions.

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In contrast, President Donald Trump has been the most unambiguous pro-buildout voice in the country, calling Abbott’s freeze a "mistake," while Senate Republicans have privately warned the issue could cost them Ohio’s Senate seat, where Trump-endorsed Sen. Jon Husted trails as "the face of data centers." The same dynamic is now repeating in the state’s gubernatorial race with Republican Vivek Ramaswamy calling for a moratorium of his own, and Democrat Amy Acton countering with hers.

For any ambitious politician eyeing 2028, there is little downside to running as the candidate who stood for cutting electric bills and considerable risk in being the one who has to explain why America’s compute lead matters.

TRUMP HEADS TOWARD UNLIKELY CLASH WITH CLOSE ALLY OVER FUTURE OF MULTIBILLION-DOLLAR INDUSTRY

Data centers are not just computer warehouses. They are the physical foundation of artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, advanced manufacturing, scientific research, autonomous systems and, increasingly, national-security capabilities. Goldman Sachs estimates that U.S. AI-related investment will approach $600 billion in 2026. But every gigawatt of capacity America fails to build can flow to countries with faster permitting, cheaper power or more predictable policy, taking construction jobs, supply-chain work and the tax base with it.

Ironically, many of this year’s stalled projects aren’t zoning fights at all. They’re running into a more fundamental constraint: scarce high-voltage transformers, a bottleneck that exists with or without protests. The strategic vulnerability is that China accounts for roughly 60% of global transformer production capacity. Saudi Arabia’s $100 billion HUMAIN program, the UAE’s Stargate and a Japan buildout backed by Gulf sovereign wealth are courting the same capital American localities are turning away.

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So how do we address legitimate concerns while keeping our eye on the strategic imperative of becoming the "AI capital of the world," as Trump put it?

Start by recognizing what this fight is actually about. Americans don’t oppose data centers; they oppose feeling like someone else gets the benefit while they get the bill. This shouldn’t be treated as us vs them, but as a solvable problem that comes down to three practical questions: where the power gets built, who pays for it and how fast the permits move.

DATA CENTERS FORGOT THE CONSUMER — AND THAT COULD COST AMERICA THE AI RACE

Data centers should pay the incremental cost of the electricity infrastructure they require, enter transparent power agreements, invest in new generation and storage where feasible and use energy- and water-efficient technologies. Communities should have meaningful input, and governments should tie tax incentives to measurable economic benefits.

Done right, this isn’t just fair, it works. Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy found that large loads haven’t been the principal driver of rising rates, and in some places with the highest demand growth, prices have actually fallen, provided supply, cost allocation and tariff design are sound.

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States should also encourage data centers to locate where power is abundant, as West Virginia is doing. Its leaders view data centers as critical infrastructure and are positioning abundant energy, microgrids and proximity to population centers as advantages. Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey has described the approach as a 20-year strategy, while Google has announced a multibillion-dollar project there.

That’s the model America should pursue: more capacity, in more places, with smarter rules.

THE WAR ON DATA CENTERS JEOPARDIZES OUR ECONOMY AND NATIONAL SECURITY

Technology companies have a role, too. In March, Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle and xAI signed the White House’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge, committing to bring or buy power for their facilities and cover required infrastructure upgrades rather than shift those costs onto households.

Get that sequencing right, and there’s a benefit even the buildout critics tend to overlook: the trades.

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Building a data-center campus requires a large skilled workforce, including electricians, pipefitters and high-voltage crews. Meta’s president estimates the U.S. could need roughly 500,000 additional electricians alone to support the AI infrastructure buildout. Microsoft’s president has called the electrician shortage the company’s biggest constraint. That’s why Google, Microsoft and the electrical workers’ union are pouring money into apprenticeships that lead to well-paying careers without student debt.

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We don’t have to choose between Gary Elder’s electric bill and America’s technological lead. We can do both. When those presidential nominees face the data-center question in 2028, they can say: "We kept bills affordable while keeping America in the lead."

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GOV MIKE DUNLEAVY: China is holding critical minerals hostage. Alaska can help end the threat

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 05:00:43 -0400

America’s ability to compete with China hinges on secure access to critical minerals. That strategic imperative must guide federal policy on the resources that undergird our technology, economy, and national defense. It’s not an exaggeration to say that, without access to the critical minerals that form the backbone of our modern technological infrastructure, our economy would face major challenges growing and sustaining new jobs and equipping our military with the systems that keep us safe.

Here in Alaska, our state hosts resources of 57 of the 60 most important critical minerals. These critical minerals include rare earth elements used in hard drives and laptops, smartphones, and electric motors. They also include graphite, an important component of batteries used in electric cars and computers. Graphite is not only a critical mineral, but also one essential to national security as designated under the Defense Production Act.

Among its many mineral deposits, Alaska holds a bountiful reserve of graphite in the aptly named Graphite Creek Project. New estimates suggest that this one reserve alone could provide enough graphite to meet the entire nation’s needs for a century. Yet in recent years, rather than developing these American natural resources, the Biden administration instead frittered away $150 million in taxpayer funds on a loan to a graphite facility in Mozambique—a facility that eventually shuttered operations.

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Leftists believe that ending American production of critical minerals will somehow cure the world’s environmental problems. In reality, it has only moved production overseas, to countries with lower environmental and worker-safety standards. It has also increased our economic dependence on countries with unstable governments—like Mozambique, where the graphite mine was caught up in civil unrest linked to ISIS-affiliated terror groups—or interests opposed to our own, such as China.

Not developing projects like Graphite Creek amounts to waving the white flag of surrender to China in our contest to shape the future of the world economy. Its Communist government has already used critical minerals to engage in economic blackmail, holding access to the minerals hostage to protest American trade policy. Americans should never agree to this extortion—and, by developing our own American resources, we need never do so.

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Thankfully, President Trump understands Alaska’s needs and the imperative for the United States to establish dominance in critical minerals, just as it does in energy. Upon resuming office last year, the president immediately issued an executive order to unleash Alaska’s extraordinary resource potential, because Alaska "holds an abundant and largely untapped supply of natural resources" that "will raise the prosperity of our citizens while helping to enhance our Nation’s economic and national security for generations to come."

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Indeed, developing the Graphite Creek Project will create quality, high-paying jobs right here in Alaska. More importantly, by ensuring that we develop one of the critical minerals integral to the global economy, it will ensure that our nation’s businesses and innovators will have unfettered access to the resources they need.

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It’s a simple equation: American energy dominance and American critical-mineral dominance will lead to American economic dominance for decades to come.

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Inside the dangerous US mission that cleared Iran’s mines from Hormuz shipping lanes

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 05:00:38 -0400

President Donald Trump declared last week that the United States had removed or detonated all mines in international waters in the Strait of Hormuz.

Now, the commander of U.S. Central Command has offered the clearest public account yet of the high-stakes operation behind that declaration: a months-long effort in which U.S. forces quietly cleared Iranian sea mines from established international shipping lanes used by commercial vessels.

Other threats still stand between the cleared lanes and a return to normal activity in one of the world’s most important waterways. The latest maritime guidance still classifies the Strait at a "SEVERE" threat level. Recent attacks have struck tankers near Oman, and oil flows remain far below prewar levels.

"We have successfully cleared sea mines in the Strait’s international shipping lanes that were laid months ago by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps," CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper said in a video update.

TRUMP SAYS IRAN’S NAVY ‘OBLITERATED’ AS US ENFORCES HORMUZ BLOCKADE — BUT KEY THREAT REMAINS

"Internationally recognized transit routes in the Strait are free of Iranian sea mines thanks to the incredible work of the U.S. military," Cooper said.

Cooper identified the cleared area as the Strait’s Traffic Separation Scheme, the long-standing system of opposing lanes that guides commercial vessels through the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman.

"Our forces meticulously and quietly cleared them of sea mine threats using a combination of Navy divers, Navy SEALs and U.S. air power from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps," Cooper said.

The operation was carried out as the Navy was in the middle of a major transition in how it handles mine warfare.

The service had retired its four Bahrain-based mine countermeasure ships the previous year as newer unmanned systems were still being fielded. In April, defense analyst Bryan Clark told Fox News Digital the Navy was at a "nadir" in its mine-sweeping capacity.

At the time, retired Vice Adm. Kevin Donegan, who previously commanded the Navy’s 5th Fleet, said newer technology was increasingly being used to locate and neutralize mines, including unmanned systems that map the seabed and identify potential threats before explosive ordnance teams move in.

Cooper’s account now shows U.S. forces relied on a broader combination of Navy divers, SEALs and air power to clear the international shipping lanes. CENTCOM has not disclosed the precise role each capability played.

"The circumstances were challenging and dangerous to say the least, but we got the job done," Cooper said. "Bottom line, today international shipping lanes are open and momentum is building."

Donegan, who was not involved in the current operation, said mine-clearance operations begin with surface and subsurface vessels, including unmanned systems, locating and identifying possible mines. Once mines are identified, autonomous systems, specially trained Navy divers and SEALs can destroy or neutralize them.

Different sections of a waterway can be at different stages of the process at the same time, Donegan said, with forces neutralizing mines in one area while detection and identification continue elsewhere.

Throughout the operation, the Navy continues scanning the waterway to ensure it has not missed any mines, he said.

Donegan said the Navy uses a sophisticated detection model before declaring a waterway clear.

"In simplest terms they have to conduct enough sweeps of the lanes to drive the probability of detection of mines to virtually 100% in the model," he said.

Donegan said the calculation takes into account factors including the detection systems and their effectiveness, characteristics of the waterway and the type of seabed.

WHITE HOUSE SILENT ON IRAN-OMAN HORMUZ PLAN TEHRAN SAYS WOULD BAN US WARSHIPS

The Navy has also spent years preparing for such an operation. Donegan said elements of large-scale mine clearance in the Strait have been practiced through recurring NAVCENT mine-countermeasure exercises dating to 2012, along with regular Navy training.

Cooper said U.S. forces have assisted nearly 1,500 commercial vessels through the Strait in recent months by providing coordinated protection. Those ships carried nearly 750 million barrels of crude oil bound for global energy markets, he said.

The CENTCOM commander said the military is pursuing two missions at once: enforcing a naval blockade on Iran and protecting commercial passage through the Strait. He said that since the blockade resumed in mid-July, U.S. forces have turned around 75 vessels attempting to run it and disabled three that failed to comply with directions.

Cooper did not say how many mines U.S. forces found or destroyed.

Axios reported Thursday, citing U.S. officials, that American forces swept more than 200 mine-like objects from the main shipping lane. Of those objects, 11 were actual mines, and only a few had been properly deployed.

The figures illustrate the painstaking identification process Donegan described: Forces must investigate possible threats before determining which objects are actually mines.

CENTCOM has not provided further details on the systems used during the operation or how individual mines were neutralized. A defense official told Fox News Digital that the military would not discuss operational specifics for security reasons.

The broader maritime-security picture has yet to catch up with CENTCOM’s declaration.

The latest Joint Maritime Information Center advisory, issued through the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations office on Aug. 25, keeps the Strait of Hormuz at a "SEVERE" threat level and says deliberate hostile action remains highly likely.

The advisory says mine-danger areas remain active and warns of a continued risk from drifting or uncharted mines in and near the Traffic Separation Scheme. It says clearance and mine-surveying operations continue throughout the Strait and that commercial traffic is expected to remain below prewar levels.

The assessment predates Cooper’s video update. No public advisory downgrading the threat level or lifting the underlying warnings had been issued as of Friday.

Donegan said the possibility of drifting mines does not disappear entirely after a route has been cleared.

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"In the Gulf there is always the danger of drifting mines that are not fixed, that are left over from this conflict or previous ones in the region," Donegan said. "That threat from those in the Gulf has historically been very low especially due to currents in that area that make it unlikely that drifting mines stay in the lane and contact a commercial vessel."

Commercial crews are also still confronting attacks.

UKMTO reported that tankers near Oman were struck by unknown projectiles on Aug. 24 and Aug. 25, setting off fires that crews later extinguished. All crew members were reported safe in both incidents. The public alerts did not identify the vessels or attribute the strikes.

Oil flows through the Strait stood at about 5 million barrels per day Monday, down from more than 20 million before the war, according to Reuters, which cited provisional Vortexa tracking data.

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The recovery remains uneven. Reuters reported Friday that seven commodity vessels transited the Strait on Thursday, down from 17 the day before and below the 10-day average of 15 vessels, based on preliminary shipping data.

Iran and Oman separately announced this week that they were discussing a temporary joint navigation corridor and a joint mine-clearance project. Their statements did not specify whether that work would cover the same Traffic Separation Scheme CENTCOM says U.S. forces have cleared.

Cooper’s announcement provides the most detailed official account yet of the operation behind Trump’s declaration and marks a significant step toward restoring commercial passage through the Strait.

The U.S. military says the recognized commercial lanes are open and protected. But the latest maritime risk guidance, continued attacks and sharply reduced traffic show that the broader Strait remains dangerous and disrupted.

My family fled the ‘butchers’ in Iran 50 years ago. We can’t give them what they want

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 05:00:33 -0400

On Tuesday, Aug. 25, President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. Navy has removed or detonated every Iranian mine in the international waters of the Strait of Hormuz. Tankers are moving again, gas prices should finally start to ease and Washington will be tempted to exhale. That would be a mistake. It took the most powerful navy on Earth six months to undo Tehran’s damage to the strait. The 60-day negotiating window produced nothing, Iran's foreign ministry said the deadline "essentially has no relevance," and the regime that just lost this round is already winding the next clock.

I know that clock. My family lived under it before we fled Iran, a Jewish family that watched the revolution turn our homeland into a place where we could no longer safely exist.

Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and the rest of the regime leadership are not trying to beat the American military; they are trying to outlast the American taxpayer, and the regime is banking its survival on exactly that.

TRUMP OPENS HORMUZ UNDER FIRE WITH ‘PROJECT FREEDOM’ AS IRAN WARNS OF ATTACKS

A year after Operation Midnight Hammer and the 12-Day War showed the world what American power can do in a matter of days, the American public’s worst fear is materializing anyway: a drawn-out conflict. The strait may be reopening, but the squeeze of the past six months reached pocketbooks nationwide, midterm elections are approaching and Washington is debating how, and how fast, to prosecute this war.

The longer this war runs, the more the Iranian regime gains. The only question that matters is whether America fights the war Tehran designed or the war America can win. Since 1979, the dictatorship has run the same play, which U.S. officials have long described as "deception, defiance and delay." Buy time, bleed the adversary, survive to rebuild. The arithmetic of this war was built for that play. Tehran fields a Shahed suicide drone for about $20,000; America answers with Patriot interceptors at roughly $4 million each. Iran maintains the capacity to manufacture an estimated 10,000 drones a month, has begun rebuilding its missile facilities, and is moving valuable assets underground.

Every truce and every pause becomes a rearmament window for Iran. Tehran is not waiting alone. The regime signed a 20-year strategic partnership with Russia, is receiving more than a thousand tons of missile-making chemicals from China, and collaborates on missile technology with North Korea.

Each arrangement lowers what it costs the ayatollah to keep firing, which means our gravest geopolitical rivals are helping underwrite the missiles aimed at us. The rest of the bill lands on Iran’s neighbors, as the regime strikes airports, shipping and commercial districts across the Gulf states, from Dubai to Doha, to spread the pain and build pressure for American concessions.

IRAN TAPS FINANCIAL LIFELINE, RUSSIAN ARMS AS TRUMP ESCALATES 'CRUSHING' ECONOMIC WARFARE

A U.N. fact-finding mission found Iran responsible for the systematic rape and brutalization of women. Iran’s laws make homosexuality punishable by death, and the regime persecutes ethnic and religious minorities as policy. My family was one of those minorities. My mother pulled my brother and me out of Iran because being Jewish there had become dangerous, and she rebuilt our lives in America from nothing.

In January, after a nationwide uprising, the regime reportedly murdered more than 30,000 people, most of them students and young people, in just two days. It has carried out nearly a thousand executions since. Those are my people, Jewish and Muslim alike. I am now a mother of four daughters, and I think about the mothers in Tehran raising girls under a regime that treats their bodies as state property. Every day this regime survives, more of them die waiting for the world to act.

IRAN’S KILLER DRONES INCREASE SLAUGHTER IN SUDAN AMID WORLD’S FORGOTTEN WAR

The violence has never been limited to its own captive citizens. Iran’s proxies killed 241 U.S. service members in the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing and at least 603 more in Iraq, by the Pentagon’s own count. The regime has funded anti-Israel protesters inside America, interfered in our elections, and plotted to assassinate American officials, including the president. I have seen that campaign up close.

My daughter was a student at Columbia when the encampments took over campus, and she testified before Congress about what Jewish students were facing. The regime's reach into American institutions is not abstract to my family. For Tehran, delay is not a pause. It is an opportunity to extract more blood and damage America from within.

Some in Washington counsel patience. The blockade is biting, they note, and U.S. intelligence has assessed the regime can withstand roughly 90 to 120 more days. But two things can be true at once. The blockade is hurting the regime and the regime does not care.

The ayatollah will starve his own people, shake down his neighbors and cut back-room deals with Moscow and Beijing before he yields. Meanwhile, every passing day writes another costly line in America’s ledger. A war of attrition is the one war this regime can win, because it built the war that way on purpose.

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That leaves three roads. A long war, which Tehran wins on price. An accommodation, which leaves the regime its missiles, its nuclear ambitions and its proxies, and buys a pause, which they will spend preparing the next round. Or a decisive end to the war on America’s terms.

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Simply weakening the regime without ending it just kicks the can down the road. The United States must destroy the regime’s military-industrial capacity, cripple the energy infrastructure that bankrolls the Revolutionary Guard and break its ability to crush the Iranian people who keep rising against it. My family fled the butchers who stole my country nearly five decades ago, and I have spent every year since watching the world try to manage, contain and negotiate with them. The Iranian people are not our enemy; they are the regime’s first hostages. America proved in Operation Midnight Hammer what the most powerful military in human history can do, and it is our job to finish the job.

Abdul El-Sayed shares dozens of donors with ex-GOP candidate at center of antisemitism controversy

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 05:00:22 -0400

Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed shares nearly two dozen donors with former Republican congressional candidate Dan Bilzerian, whose campaign included antisemitic attacks against Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla.

El-Sayed and Bilzerian are on opposite sides of the political spectrum, but both have criticized U.S. support for Israel and called on the United States to cease all aid to the Jewish state.

Bilzerian has supported the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts, while El-Sayed has called for abolishing ICE. Bilzerian has called for lower taxes and less regulation, while El-Sayed has called for higher taxes on the wealthy and Medicare for All.

The two candidates’ shared donors have contributed more than $61,000 to their campaigns, according to a Fox News Digital review of FEC filings for both campaigns. The shared donors gave $23,144.12 to Bilzerian's campaign and approximately $38,626.20 to El-Sayed's campaign.

EL-SAYED CAMPAIGN BACKED BY OVER $100,000 FROM DOZENS OF MEMBERS OF GROUP WITH ALLEGED TERROR TIES

Bilzerian lost to Fine in the primary, and his campaign tactics and advertisements drew sharp criticism from Republican leaders. His attacks against Fine, who is Jewish, included a 2½-minute AI-generated campaign ad calling Fine a ".fat Jew" as well as other antisemitic remarks.

"Jewish supremacy is the greatest threat to the world today," Bilzerian told Fox News Digital in response to a request for comment.

Meanwhile, El-Sayed, who has routinely accused Israel of committing "genocide" against the Palestinian people, has drawn criticism for his associations with social media influencer Hasan Piker, who said the terrorist group Hamas was "a thousand times better than the fascist settler colonial apartheid state," referring to Israel.

Donors to both El-Sayed and Bilzerian include prominent critics of Israel, such as Georgia attorney Ibrahim Awad of Awad Law Firm. He contributed $12,651.88 through a joint fundraising committee supporting Bilzerian’s campaign on April 25, 2026. It is unclear how much of that contribution was attributed to Awad. Fox News Digital reached out to Awad for comment.

EL-SAYED DISTANCES HIMSELF FROM HASAN PIKER AFTER DISTURBING REMARKS ABOUT JEWISH AMERICANS

A little more than a month earlier, Awad donated $7,000 to El-Sayed’s campaign.

Awad, whose mother was born in Gaza, has been a vocal critic of Israel and has accused the Jewish state of committing a Holocaust in Gaza that may be worse than the Holocaust during World War II.

"It’s a Holocaust," Awad shared during an appearance on the Sumud Podcast hosted by Dr. Ed Hasan. "Like, it’s present day. There are so many ways that it’s even worse than [the] World War II Holocaust because it’s happening in real time right in front of us."

Awad appeared on the podcast in August 2025, where he decried Zionism as a "toxic way of thinking."

"That’s the poisonous sin, right? The toxicity of Zionism," Awad said. "It’s all rooted in this supremacy. Racism is rooted in this supremacy. Slavery is rooted in this supremacy."

He said he distinguishes Judaism from Zionism but argued that Palestinians should not be responsible for explaining that distinction.

MICHIGAN SENATE RACE: EL-SAYED’S TIES TO EXTREMIST FUEL ANTISEMITISM CONCERNS AMONG JEWISH VOTERS

"The onus is on the oppressor," Awad said. "I mean, about whether you’re coming in and you’re saying, ‘Hey, Israel is a Jewish state,’ and that same Jewish state is coming in and spray-painting the walls with the Star of David, and then I have to now, as the victim whose home was stolen, say, ‘Oh no, it’s not that you’re a bad Jew. It’s that you’re just a Zionist settler.’

"Nonetheless, we take the high ground and we distinguish, and we say, ‘No, this is Zionism, right? This is Jewish supremacy. That is antithetical to Judaism, right? But that’s what it is,'" Awad continued.

Awad also rejected the characterization of the Palestinian resistance as "terrorism."

Meanwhile, Hussein 'Sam' Mahrouq, a Texas resident and owner of Enterprises International, which is the parent company of AutoMax and Dollar Rent-A-Car, donated $3,500 to El-Sayed's campaign from May 2025 to April 2026

He also contributed more than $1,000 through a joint fundraising committee supporting Bilzerian. Mahrouq has donated to other candidates critical of Israel, including Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.

He also donated $400,000 to American Priorities PAC, which was created this year to counter the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the New York Post reported.

Mahrouq shared during an appearance on the podcast Bigger than Business that he is the child of Palestinian refugees.

In a statement, Mahrouq did not directly answer Fox News Digital's question about whether El-Sayed and Bilzerian's stances on Israel factored into his decision to donate.

MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE CONFRONTED REPEATEDLY OVER ISRAEL’S RIGHT TO EXIST, DEFUNDING THE POLICE

"I have made contributions and donations to many different candidates, organizations, community initiatives and charitable projects over the years," Mahrouq said. "A contribution should not be interpreted as an endorsement of every position taken by a candidate or organization."

Muhi Khwaja, co-founder of the American Muslim Community Foundation, donated $625 to El-Sayed’s campaign and $26.68 to Bilzerian’s campaign.

Khwaja described a visit to Gaza in a November 2023 essay and advocated for building support for Palestinians beyond the Arab world.

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"The Israel-Hamas war has made one thing clear: The philanthropic world can no longer turn a blind eye to the collective punishment facing Palestinians," Khwaja wrote. "As a student of philanthropy, I believe in the love of humankind. As a Muslim, I believe in compassion for all. My Jewish friends and colleagues believe in Tikkun olam — repairing the world. But Israel’s actions in Gaza are doing the opposite."

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Fox News Digital reached out to El-Sayed's campaign and Khwaja for comment. Awad was also contacted for comment.

Dozens of illegal alien truck drivers busted with licenses from deep blue states

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 05:00:06 -0400

FIRST ON FOX: A multi-agency operation in Arizona’s Yuma Sector led to the arrest of 95 illegal alien truck drivers earlier this month, striking at the heart of human and drug smuggling operations at the U.S. southern border.

All 95 drivers had acquired state-issued commercial driver’s licenses; 76 from California, six from New York and the rest from a handful of other states, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

The apprehensions continue to demonstrate the high volume of narcotics and human trafficking smuggling operations that are alive and well at the border — even as immigration numbers have plummeted in recent months.

CHAOTIC BORDER CHASE ENDS WITH ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FOUND CRAMMED IN SEMITRUCK SLEEPING AREA

"We are committed to protecting our citizens from all international threats, whether that is from unlicensed or untrained drivers, or transnational criminal organizations engaged in human or drug trafficking," Acting Chief Patrol Agent Dustin Caudle said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

Since the end of 2024, border crossings have plummeted, going from over 144,000 encounters in December 2024 to just 33,000 in July.

Even so, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has reported several high-profile smuggling attempts that have sought to bring weapons, narcotics and humans across the U.S. border.

Earlier this year, CBP released reports on how it had prevented a car carrying a rocket-propelled grenade launcher from crossing the border, detected dozens of immigrants crammed into a semi-truck and even detained a boat off the coast of the Dominican Republic with the help of a Black Hawk helicopter.

TRUMP ADMIN INVESTIGATING 75 TRUCK DRIVER SCHOOLS FOR FRAUD, HELPING NON-CITIZENS GET LICENSES

Trucking, in particular, has been a key way in which smugglers have sought to bring weapons and humans into the country.

According to CBP, the bust earlier this month, which took place between Aug. 10 and 14, also stopped two human-smuggling events, resulting in the arrest of four smugglers and 17 smuggled aliens. Additionally, agents seized 74 pounds of methamphetamine and 169 pounds of marijuana. In total, authorities arrested 143 suspects from 18 countries.

To prevent schemes like these, the Department of Transportation (DOT) is finalizing a rule to prevent unqualified drivers from obtaining CDLs.

If implemented, the rule would limit CDLs to H-2A, H-2B, and E-2 nonimmigrant status holders — types of visas with more stringent vetting requirements.

The rule would also prevent an Employment Authorization Document (EAD) as a way to prove eligibility, citing lax reporting and scrutiny on their approvals.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT TRUCKERS ACCUSED OF MOWING DOWN AMERICANS IGNITE FURY OVER LOOPHOLES UNLEASHING DEADLY ROADS

"Moving forward, unqualified foreign drivers will be unable to get a license to operate an 80,000-pound big rig," Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a press release about the rule.

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"Under President Trump’s leadership, we are putting the safety of the driving public first," Duffy continued. "From enforcing English language standards to holding fraudulent carriers accountable, we will continue to attack this crisis on our roads head-on."

Duffy teases 'unprecedented fraud crackdown' announcement with DHS, DOJ

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 01:38:07 -0400

Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy on Sunday teased an upcoming announcement about the Trump administration's fraud crackdown.

In a post on X, Duffy said there would be "unprecedented fraud crackdown" announcement on Monday.

"TOMORROW: UNPRECEDENTED FRAUD CRACKDOWN," the secretary wrote.

WHITE HOUSE LAUNCHES INTERACTIVE MAP TRACKING BILLIONS IN SUSPECTED FRAUD

In the post, he also tagged Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of Justice and the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, suggesting a multi-department effort targeting fraud.

Duffy did not disclose details of the announcement, including when or where it will take place, what type of fraud will be discussed or whether any arrests have been made.

The announcement comes amid the administration's broader crackdown on fraud. Trump established the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud in March to coordinate efforts involving federal benefit programs.

TRUMP ADMIN INVESTIGATING 75 TRUCK DRIVER SCHOOLS FOR FRAUD, HELPING NON-CITIZENS GET LICENSES

The DOJ has also created a National Fraud Enforcement Division to investigate and prosecute the theft or fraudulent misuse of taxpayer dollars.

Duffy’s Department of Transportation has worked with DHS in recent months to crack down on alleged fraud and safety violations in the commercial trucking industry, including improperly issued commercial driver’s licenses, fraudulent driving schools and unvetted foreign drivers.

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The agencies announced a joint investigation in July into about 75 commercial driving schools suspected of fraud, including allegedly falsifying training records and improperly certifying drivers. The two departments have also conducted roadside enforcement operations targeting unqualified foreign commercial drivers.

Accused NC killer mom plans insanity defense — as retired judge says more may follow Lindsay Clancy strategy

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:00:44 -0400

The insanity defense planned by a North Carolina mother accused of killing her son has drawn parallels to Lindsay Clancy’s trial and raised questions about whether it could become prevalent in criminal cases.

Andrea Faust, 41, is charged with murder and attempted murder in the Feb. 12 death of her 3-year-old son and the attempted murder of her 2-year-old son at their home in Durham, North Carolina.

Her attorneys have filed notice that they intend to rely on defenses of not guilty by reason of insanity and diminished capacity, WRAL reported.

The case is drawing parallels to Clancy’s Massachusetts trial. Retired Massachusetts Superior Judge Jack Lu said he expects similar defenses to be raised more often as the Clancy case draws national attention to postpartum mental-health conditions.

LINDSAY CLANCY DIDN'T SHOW 'BREAK WITH REALITY' AS JURY WEIGHS PSYCHOSIS DEFENSE: SUSAN SMITH PROSECUTOR

Clancy has pleaded not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility in the 2023 deaths of her three children. Her defense argued she suffered from postpartum psychosis, while prosecutors argue she understood her actions and acted deliberately.

Jurors ended a second day of deliberations Friday without reaching a verdict. They will return on Monday morning to continue working toward a verdict.

In Faust’s case, the filing does not establish that she was legally insane or had diminished capacity. Her attorney, Nicole Galinsky, told the local outlet that a defense expert concluded Faust could not distinguish right from wrong during the alleged murders.

"Andrea and Lindsay’s cases are eerily similar, though not entirely the same," Galinsky told Fox News Digital.

Galinsky noted that Faust was not suffering from postpartum psychosis.

"However, both women were known to be loving, doting, responsible mothers who were worried about and caring for their children up until the very second they decided to kill them," Galinsky said, adding that Faust and Clancy were both struggling with similar issues, including hallucinations, hospitalizations and mental health.

"Neither woman did this out of the blue," Galinsky said in an email. "Both were struggling enormously with their mental health. But, like most women and almost all moms, they were just trying to get through each day, care for their children, be a good mom/wife/employee. Both were seeking help from doctors who weren’t really taking their concerns seriously.

"Both of these cases highlight the failure in our society to take women and mothers seriously when it comes to their mental health. Both of these women advocated for themselves countless times and—for what? It got them nowhere.

"I am hopeful that our case will demonstrate how to properly treat and rehabilitate a woman living her own worst nightmare. Lindsay Clancy was not given that luxury."

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Lu said society and the legal system have not fully understood the effects postpartum mental illness can have on behavior and criminal responsibility.

"Most of the time, these criminal responsibility, insanity, mental health defenses are unsuccessful," Lu told Fox News Digital.

LINDSAY CLANCY'S FAMILY WAS 'VERY CONCERNED' ABOUT HER MENTAL HEALTH IN THE MONTHS BEFORE SHE KILLED HER KIDS

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Although he is not a mental-health expert, Lu said the Clancy trial has challenged and changed his own understanding of what a person might experience.

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"I had no real understanding of what a person like Ms. Clancy was going through until this trial," he said.

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Faust was found incapable of proceeding to trial in March after court records documented serious concerns about her mental health and safety, according to WRAL.

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Central Regional Hospital later found her capable of proceeding as of May 21. Her attorney said another evaluation would examine her mental state at the time of the alleged offenses.

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Lu said mental-health defenses should receive more serious consideration because they can explain behavior and reduce moral culpability. But allegations involving children create an especially difficult path with jurors, he said.

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"These cases should have legs," Lu said, "but unfortunately society and juries don’t give them much credence."

Rockies player benched after flipping off Braves fans, caught on video giving the bird

Sun, 30 Aug 2026 22:51:11 -0400

Colorado Rockies rookie center fielder Cole Carrigg found himself in the doghouse after flipping off Atlanta Braves fans during Saturday's 2-1 loss at Truist Park.

PETE CROW-ARMSTRONG GETS INTO UGLY, CURSE-FILLED SCREAMING MATCH WITH FEMALE WHITE SOX FAN

As Colorado clung to a 1-0 lead, Carrigg dove for Michael Harris II's fly ball but came up empty. The ball went for a two-run double, giving Atlanta the lead.

As Braves fans let him hear it, Carrigg lost his cool and flipped the bird toward the stands. Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer publicly condemned the gesture and said Carrigg would remain out of the starting lineup for a couple of days.

"Cole made a mistake, and he knows that is an embarrassment to the organization and that we don't stand for that," Schaeffer said. "Listen, everybody makes mistakes. It is just one that he has to learn from. It is just that we will not put up with that here."

WATCH:

Despite being held out of Sunday's starting lineup, Carrigg entered the series finale as a pinch hitter. He went 0-for-2 with a strikeout, then remained in the game at center field and shortstop.

Carrigg owned the lapse in judgment afterward.

BREWERS PITCHER ABNER URIBE APOLOGIZES AFTER CONTROVERSIAL STRIKEOUT CELEBRATION SPARKS BACKLASH

"First, I apologize to my teammates and the organization, that's not how I want to represent us," Carrigg said. "That's inexcusable on my part.

"With that being said, I'm somebody who's going to play at 110 percent every game and give my all to this team and to the game to try to win ballgames. That was a play that I felt could or could not have won the game, so I'm very passionate about that.

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"Braves fans are pretty passionate themselves. Kudos to them. But that gesture can't happen."

Flipping off fans gets you benched every time. But in a league full of canned answers, at least Cole Carrigg actually cares. Take the licks, learn the lesson, and move on.

Send us your thoughts: alejandro.avila@outkick.com / Follow along on X: @alejandroaveela

Many are making the argument that Jordan Travis was the greatest college QB of all time, and they aren't wrong

Sun, 30 Aug 2026 22:37:27 -0400

A lot has already been made about Florida State's lackluster 17-point win over New Mexico State on Saturday night.

To most Seminoles fans, their week zero showing was just a microcosm of how rotten things have gotten in the past few years under the tutelage of head coach Mike Norvell.

With the win, Norvell improved to a paltry 8-17 since the beginning of 2024, and failing to cover a 31.5-point spread against an undermanned G6 school did little to quell the bloodthirsty masses in Tallahassee.

FROM FSU TO DAN MULLEN, HERE ARE THREE 'OVERREACTIONS' FROM WEEK ZERO OF THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL SEASON

But it wasn't always this way between Norvell and the fans.

There was a time not too long ago when all was right in the land of garnet and gold.

You see, prior to 2024, Norvell and the Seminoles were seen as a program on the rise, due in large part to a 23-4 stretch between 2022 and 2023 that featured an ACC Championship, back-to-back top-10 finishes, and dominant wins over perennial rivals like Miami and Florida.

What went wrong?

WHICH HEAD COACH'S SEAT IS HOTTER HEADING INTO 2026 SEASON: SHANE BEAMER OR MIKE NORVELL?

Much of that ground was covered in a previous article, but Saturday night's performance prompted a notable number of observers to focus on one name in particular — someone they argue carried Norvell to an inflated record and, in turn, a lucrative contract extension that has since bound him to Florida State for the foreseeable future.

Jordan Travis.

On the surface, it seems like an absurd claim that Travis would be in the discussion for greatest college quarterback of all time, let alone one of the best players overall.

He certainly is far from the most accomplished.

A one-time conference champion, a two-time All-ACC selection, and the 2023 ACC Player of the Year, Travis carved out a solid career with plenty of great stats and moments to make him one of the more revered Seminole quarterbacks post-Jameis Winston.

But if you juxtapose how bad this Florida State team has been since his departure, it almost perfectly explains the downfall of this once-proud program.

To be fair, plenty of other players on those 2022 and 2023 FSU teams had a part in Norvell's rise.

Look across the NFL landscape, and you're bound to spot guys like Jared Verse, Braden Fiske, Keon Coleman, and Jammie Robinson on professional rosters, but Travis was the engine that made it all run so smoothly.

Even that 2023 team that went undefeated in the regular season dropped off a cliff the instant Travis suffered his unfortunate injury that would ultimately end his playing career.

Before losing Travis, the Noles were averaging a robust 38.8 points per game on offense.

That number cratered to just 14.3 without him.

Granted, it's a small sample size, but the way the team played without him even in that short stretch backs up this theory.

FLORIDA STATE QUARTERBACK ASHTON DANIELS IS NOT HAPPY WITH PERCEIVED ON3 QB RANKINGS SNUB

FSU escaped an absolute dogfight against a five-win Florida team, then immediately followed that up with a season-low 16 points against Louisville in the ACC title game.

I won't even include the 63-3 beatdown against Georgia in the Orange Bowl because I don't feel like arguing with rabid Noles fans, but the point remains the same.

The very next year, despite signing yet another loaded portal class, the Seminoles bottomed out with a 2-10 record.

Things didn't get much better in 2025, which brings us to now.

Together, Travis and Norvell posted a 29-10 record, and if you look at Norvell's overall record at Florida State (39-34), you don't need to be a math wiz to figure out the former had a lot to do with the latter's success.

Numbers don't even tell the whole story, either.

Travis was basically the football equivalent of Houdini, consistently bailing Norvell out of suboptimal play calls with his wizardry both in and out of the pocket.

So, is Jordan Travis the greatest college football player of all time?

Probably not, but you could certainly make the argument that he is perhaps the most underrated or underappreciated player of all time.

For crying out loud, Mike Norvell was getting floated as a successor to Nick Saban at Alabama just two and a half years ago.

Now FSU fans are practically begging another program to come along and take their embattled head coach off their hands.

Call that the Jordan Travis Effect.

Here's hoping anytime the two are in the same city, Norvell picks up the tab when they have dinner together.

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After all, it's the least he could do for the guy.

Parkgoer airlifted after Batman roller coaster incident leaves man with fractures to both legs

Sun, 30 Aug 2026 22:25:58 -0400

Panic and confusion followed at a theme park in Spain Saturday after a ride on a Batman-themed roller coaster left a visitor with fractures to both legs, according to local reports.

The incident occurred on the Batman Gotham City Escape at Parque Warner Madrid, the the park said in a post on X.

The 49-year-old rider reportedly suffered an open fracture in his left leg and a closed fracture in his right leg, Europa Press reported, citing emergency officials.

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According to the park, the ride opened in 2023 and was Spain’s first multi-launch roller coaster. The roller coaster features three launches that propel riders upward at high speeds and four inversions that leave riders briefly hanging upside down.

Park officials said the ride was stopped immediately and emergency procedures were promptly activated.

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"The affected person was attended to immediately by emergency medical services," Parque Warner said.

First responders then airlifted the visitor to a nearby hospital, Europa Press reported.

Another visitor, Juan José Molina, described panic among some parkgoers.

"There were people crying and having anxiety attacks," he said.

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Parque Warner said the roller coaster will remain closed while management reviews the incident in coordination with authorities.

Beloved Texas chiropractor, hiking group among those unaccounted for after Grand Canyon flash flood

Sun, 30 Aug 2026 22:14:47 -0400

A Texas chiropractor and the hiking group he was with are among those reported missing or unaccounted for after a flash flood tore through a remote stretch of the Grand Canyon, according to a public plea from his wife.

Dr. John Giusti, a chiropractor and father of three from Granbury, Texas, was hiking and camping in the canyon when floodwaters swept through Bright Angel Canyon and the Phantom Ranch area on Aug. 29, his wife said in an update shared by Whipple City Family Chiropractic.

"Please pray for Dr. John’s safety," she wrote.

The family’s update said Giusti’s hiking group is "among those currently reported missing and unaccounted for." It said National Park Service search-and-rescue teams were conducting ground sweeps and helicopter operations across the canyon floor.

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His wife asked ChiroHabit’s community to keep "my husband, his hiking group, and our families" in their thoughts and prayers, adding that the family would share official updates as they are confirmed by park authorities.

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"Dr. John is the heart of ChiroHabit, but above all, he is a deeply loved husband, father and pillar of our family," she wrote.

Photos posted to Giusti’s ChiroHabit business page also show him in the Grand Canyon before the flooding began.

GRAND CANYON MYSTERY ILLNESS REPORTEDLY TRIGGERS NPS INVESTIGATION AFTER RAFTERS REPORT ALARMING SYMPTOMS

The National Park Service has not publicly identified the approximately 15 people it is working to locate or account for, and officials have not confirmed Giusti’s name.

The agency is asking anyone who knows of hikers or backpackers who were in the Bright Angel Creek corridor on Aug. 29 or who had a campground reservation there to contact investigators.

Giusti practiced chiropractic care for 19 years and was a partner at Whipple City Family Chiropractic in New York for eight years before moving to Granbury in 2020, according to his business biography.

He and his wife, Janet, are raising three daughters in Texas. Outside of work, Giusti enjoys hiking, hunting, fishing, running and martial arts, his practice said.

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Separately, the National Park Service said Sunday evening that recovery operations had been completed for a 46-year-old man near Crystal Rapids along the Colorado River. The Coconino County Medical Examiner’s Office was on scene.

NPS did not identify the man, disclose a cause of death or say whether his recovery was connected to the search for people who remain unaccounted for after the flooding.

The flash flood began at about 2:30 p.m. on Aug. 29, according to the National Park Service. As of Sunday morning, 62 people had been evacuated from Phantom Ranch and the lower North Kaibab Trail, and no injuries had been reported.

Nearly all footbridges across Bright Angel Creek were destroyed, cutting off hiker access across the waterway. The flooding also forced the closure of Phantom Ranch, Bright Angel Campground, the North Kaibab Trail to Phantom Ranch, Black Bridge, Silver Bridge and the Colorado River to river traffic.

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Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs said her "heart is with the families and loved ones of every person unaccounted for after the flash flooding at the Grand Canyon."

Hobbs said the Arizona Division of Emergency Management is coordinating with the National Park Service and Coconino County Emergency Management to support search and recovery efforts.

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Anyone with information about people who may have been in the affected corridor is asked to contact the National Park Service Investigative Services Branch Tip Line at 888-653-0009 or nps_isb@nps.gov.

California mom has both legs amputated after suspected impaired driver plows into her restaurant lunch table

Sun, 30 Aug 2026 21:16:25 -0400

An elderly California mother had both her legs amputated after an alleged impaired driver crashed into the outdoor dining area of a restaurant where she was eating lunch.

Cristina Vargas, 81, was enjoying lunch at a sidewalk table outside Los Cinco Puntos in Los Angeles' Boyle Heights with her daughter, Gabriela Vargas, and their male friend when the SUV plowed into them at around 3:30 p.m. on July 7.

Surveillance footage obtained by KTLA shows an SUV veering onto the sidewalk and into the outdoor dining area.

Screeching tires were heard just before the SUV hit the group, sending patrons, the table and other items flying.

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"I remember I just heard screeching, and I was lifting up my head and I just saw headlights and a bumper and I heard a big boom," Gabriela told KTLA. "The next thing I knew, I was airborne."

Cristina’s lower body was pinned under the vehicle and Gabriela suffered a head injury and a deep laceration on her knee. The two women and their male friend were rushed to a hospital for treatment.

Gabriela and the male friend have since recovered from their injuries, but Cristina's injuries were significantly worse, and she faces a long road to recovery.

Cristina underwent three surgeries and later had both of her legs amputated. She said she is thankful to be alive and has maintained a positive mindset.

She has been undergoing physical therapy at a rehabilitation center and will soon be allowed to go back home.

Cristina, a widowed mother of two, said she is looking forward to being surrounded by her family and friends.

"My goal is to give her the best quality of care from here on out," Gabriela said of her mother.

A police report alleges that the driver was impaired at the time of the crash. The unidentified woman was arrested and charged with multiple felonies, according to KTLA.

A GoFundMe created by a friend for the Vargas family has raised more than $30,000 as of Sunday night. The fundraiser said the family is facing massive medical bills, ongoing rehabilitation and daily living expenses.

"Cristina will need significant support to adapt to her new disability, including making their home accessible and covering the costs of specialized care. The road ahead is long and challenging, but with your help, they can focus on healing rather than the overwhelming financial stress," the fundraiser reads.

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The fundraiser described Cristina as a "vibrant and social person with a true lust for life."

"She loved to dance and was a regular at events at the senior center, bringing joy and energy wherever she went," the GoFundMe reads. "Her vivacious spirit and love for connecting with others made her a beloved member of the community. This sudden change is especially heartbreaking for someone who has always embraced life so fully and actively."

In an Aug. 17 update, Gabriela thanked supporters and said the recovery was progressing slowly.

"Thank you everybody for your love and support. We greatly appreciate it. It's a slow recovery but day by day we're getting through it. My mom's spirits remain hopeful as do mine. Recovery is very painful but she's giving it her all," Gabriela said.

Hasan Piker insists Abdul El-Sayed asked him to 'stump' for Michigan campaign amid backlash

Sun, 30 Aug 2026 21:07:21 -0400

Twitch streamer Hasan Piker said that Democratic Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed asked him to "stump" for his campaign during an interview Friday following the intense backlash the Democratic politician has faced for appearing with him.

Piker spoke to Semafor columnist David Weigel about the backlash he has received from Democrats since appearing on the campaign trail with El-Sayed, which he claimed was El-Sayed's idea, not his.

"He asked me to stump for him, and I had not considered that ever before," Piker said. "I'd never really delivered a speech like that before."

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Piker added that he had previously decided to get more involved with politics through New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's campaign but did not face significant backlash for that effort compared to campaigning for El-Sayed. He explained that after campaigning for El-Sayed, establishment Democrats and think tanks like Third Way came out to attack him.

"I'll admit I didn't realize how much the media would think that this is different," he continued. "I had no idea that in the mindset of, you know, people in D.C., in the mindset of like, establishment media, doing a rally with a politician was apparently far more consequential than flying out to Dearborn and, like, working out with him, doing profiles, fundraising for him. I didn't realize that it was a very different thing," Piker said.

He continued, "I did not realize that people would get so mad about it because, from my perspective, who cares if I'm doing a rally with a politician? I'm like, I've already had the guy on, like, a hundred times on the broadcast. You know, I've fundraised for him. I like him a lot. I have my disagreements with him, too, of course. But that was when the onslaught came in."

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Fox News Digital reached out to El-Sayed's campaign for comment.

El-Sayed has received intense scrutiny for campaigning with Piker despite the far-left Twitch streamer's history of controversial statements, such as claiming America "deserved" 9/11.

More recently, El-Sayed has attempted to distance himself from Piker after he suggested Jewish Americans were "making antisemitism worse" by voicing their support of Israel. El-Sayed has since repeatedly referred to Piker as "a streamer from California" with no relevancy to the race.

"I am not interested in a conversation about a social media person in California. And to folks who want to make this about a social media person in California, let’s not forget what actually matters in our politics, what our politics are really about," El-Sayed told reporters during Saturday's state Democratic Party Nominating Convention.

MICHIGAN DEMOCRAT DEMANDS REPORTERS STOP ASKING 'ABOUT HASAN PIKER' AHEAD OF SENATE RACE

He added, "I don’t ever want my comments to hurt anybody’s feelings. It’s important to me that people understand that I take serious [sic] the pain of all communities in this state. But I don’t want to have a conversation about a Twitch streamer in California. This is not a serious conversation."

In a comment to Fox News Digital, El-Sayed also apologized for his past comments made in response to an attack on a Michigan synagogue in March, where he remarked, "Hurt people, hurt people."

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"To anybody who feels like my comments may have been hurtful, I’m really sorry. That was not my intention. We condemned that terrorist attack. We condemned it outright," El-Sayed told Fox News Digital. "What I was trying to do was offer context for why it happened, but it wasn’t the time for context, and you don’t ever want to trample somebody’s pain."

Nicolás Maduro flashes peace signs in first prison photos since US capture in Caracas

Sun, 30 Aug 2026 20:56:53 -0400

Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro appeared in photos posted to his social media accounts Sunday, offering the first known glimpse of him inside a New York prison since his capture by U.S. forces in January.

Maduro, who was flown to the U.S. following a major military operation in Caracas, has been in custody for eight months at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn while facing drug trafficking charges.

In the photos shared to Maduro’s X account, the former dictator wore a matching gray sweatsuit with white sneakers and appeared noticeably thinner as he stood against a plain wall.

Maduro said he shared the images as a small gift of hope to his family and supporters, assuring them that "we will remain strong, serene, and confident" and that "Venezuela will be reborn."

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"I send these photos as a small gift to all my grandsons and granddaughters, to the boys and girls, and to all the noble people who love us," Maduro said.

"I want you to know that we stand firm, with our hearts full of your love, that love that reaches us transformed into prayer, into constant action, into solidarity and true support. Infinite thanks for every word, for every gesture, for every blessing."

"Enjoy this small gift with joy and hope. Cilia and I embrace you forever, with our souls devoted to you and with our faith in God intact," he added, referring to his wife, who was also flown to New York on related drug trafficking charges.

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While Maduro made the post Sunday morning, timestamps on the two photos indicate they were taken June 25, just one day after two major earthquakes killed more than 6,500 people in northern Venezuela near Caracas, according to The Associated Press.

The images were released just two days after President Donald Trump announced a breakthrough in U.S.-Venezuela relations, with Venezuela agreeing to give the U.S. majority control over 65 billion barrels of oil from the nation’s reserves.

The deal marks a major development for the American oil market as the ongoing war with Iran continues to push up prices at the pump.

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Since being detained, Maduro has reportedly spent much of his time reading the Bible, according to his son, Nicolás Maduro Guerra, who spoke with El País in May.

He added that the former leader has 510 minutes a month, or 8.5 hours, for conversations with people outside the prison, according to the report.

Maduro and his wife are expected to go on trial in New York in June 2027. Both have pleaded not guilty and face potential life sentences if a jury finds them guilty of conspiring to send cocaine into the U.S.

Alex Palou clinches fourth straight IndyCar title and fifth overall in doubleheader at Milwaukee Mile

Sun, 30 Aug 2026 20:33:49 -0400

Àlex Palou officially clinched the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series championship on a doubleheader weekend in Milwaukee that turned into an unusual partial doubleheader on Sunday.

The 29-year-old Spaniard qualified well for both races, but served an engine penalty in the first, which got underway on Saturday.

Rain, however, caused a red flag at the 90-lap mark, and the rest of the race was postponed to Sunday morning.

Come Sunday morning, the track was still too wet, which led to an unusual schedule for the day: Race 2 would get underway at noon local time, finish, and then Race 1 would resume in the late afternoon.

Palou started on pole for Race 2 — which was now kind of Race 1.5 — and came home in fifth, with Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward winning the race.

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No biggie, because Palou just needed to have a championship lead of more than 54 points when the checkered flag fell on Race 1 (which, again, ended after Race 2; weird, I know), to clinch the title with one race left on the schedule.

Palou played it safe for the remaining 160 laps, keeping his nose clean and getting his yellow No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda back in one piece.

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He did it, coming home tenth in a race that Pato O'Ward won, meaning he pulled off the rare feat of winning two races in one day.

But the big story was that Palou had built a big enough points buffer to claim his fifth career title in six years, and his fourth straight.

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It's an unbelievable run of form for Palou, who is now third on the all-time list for career championships behind AJ Foyt with seven, and his CGR teammate for one more weekend, Scott Dixon, with six.

Don't think for a second that Palou will take it easy in the season finale now that he has the title locked up. The season ends at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, one of his best tracks.

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That race will get underway Sept. 6 at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX.

Billions in US aid to Ukraine under microscope as corruption rocks Zelenskyy’s inner circle

Sun, 30 Aug 2026 20:30:48 -0400

Washington is relying on extensive safeguards and dozens of oversight agencies to scrutinize and protect billions of dollars in U.S. aid to Ukraine amid the country’s continuing struggle with corruption, a regional security expert said Sunday.

The oversight comes as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s inner circle faces renewed political pressure from widening investigations, with several senior officials and aides resigning, being dismissed or facing investigations since 2025.

Zelenskyy dismissed Iryna Mudra, a deputy head of the presidential office, on Aug. 19 as anti-corruption investigators pursued a money-laundering case involving another deputy head of the office.

Investigators have not named Mudra as a suspect, The Associated Press reported.

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"Of course, in all of the former Soviet Union countries, there is significant corruption," former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Carrie Filipetti, now executive director of the Vandenberg Coalition, told Fox News Digital.

"A lot more work needs to be done. But we know, at least on the U.S. side, as we're providing support for their military, we have a lot of mechanisms," she said before explaining how dozens of agencies are working on oversight of U.S. aid to Ukraine.

The U.S. committed $67.8 billion in defense articles and services to Ukraine from February 2022 through March 2026 through the Presidential Drawdown Authority, the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative and Foreign Military Financing, congressional reports show.

That support is part of a broader U.S. response to the war.

About $195 billion has been appropriated for Operation Atlantic Resolve, including funds to replenish U.S. weapons stocks, support U.S. military operations in Europe and provide economic, development and humanitarian assistance, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

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"Over 24 federal agencies are involved in oversight," Filipetti said. "To make certain that there are no consequences to the U.S. taxpayer, to our equipment in terms of the corruption issue, U.S. contributions are very much protected."

In recent months, however, senior Ukrainian officials have resigned, been dismissed or faced scrutiny by the country’s independent anti-corruption bodies, including NABU.

Those developments include Andriy Yermak’s Nov. 28, 2025, resignation after investigators searched his premises and Mudra’s Aug. 19 dismissal during a money-laundering probe.

Former Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna was dismissed by Zelenskyy as Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S. on Aug. 3, two days before a suspicion notice was served against her, according to the Kyiv Post.

He also fired Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov on July 15 in a broader reshuffle over internal wartime disagreements which sparked protests across the nation.

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In interviews after he left government, Fedorov also complained about what he described as ingrained corruption and patronage networks, Reuters reported.

"We've seen that Zelenskyy is taking really seriously the criticisms of corruption, and every time there is an allegation, he moves very swiftly to remove those individuals from the government," Filipetti said.

"And the fact that there are these independent bodies is, I think, really important. They're listening to them. They're making sure that they're trying to root it out as much as humanly possible."

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Zelenskyy has pushed back on suggestions that the investigations implicate him personally.

"The heads of anti-corruption agencies have zero questions for me," Zelenskyy said in remarks published Aug. 23 regarding the investigations. "They understand perfectly well that I am not involved in anything like that."

A February 2024 USAID inspector general review also found that the agency did not independently verify some Ukrainian health workers’ salary claims before reimbursement, though Filipetti said U.S. economic aid is now reimbursed only after verification.

"A lot of what the United States has been providing, we're making sure that everything is through a reimbursement mechanism," Filipetti said.

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She said U.S. aid has not been tied to the money-laundering allegations and remains protected as Ukraine works to combat corruption.

The scrutiny also comes as Kyiv faces shortages of Patriot interceptors amid intensified Russian strikes and a need for air defense interceptors.

Zelenskyy said he wants to secure 300 additional interceptors for the coming winter, while Ukraine’s air force has requested 360.

"One of the most urgent needs that the Ukrainians have right now is interceptor missiles," Filipetti said. "This is why this idea of sending Patriot capabilities and allowing them to produce them on the ground in Ukraine has become so important to Zelenskyy."

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President Donald Trump has expressed reluctance to further deplete U.S. missile inventories, saying the United States also needs the weapons, while pressing European allies to shoulder more of Ukraine’s defense burden.

"We want missiles too," Trump said Aug. 6 when asked about Zelenskyy’s requests for long-range missiles and Patriot systems. "Biden gave him so much, Biden gave $300 billion worth of ammunition."

Filipetti also said Ukraine’s anti-corruption efforts remain an important consideration for its NATO aspirations.

"I think every country has been really adamant that the Ukrainians move forward in their anti-corruption mechanisms," Filipetti said.

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"Obviously, if Ukraine ever wants to be a formal member of NATO, that's something that they will need to prove and demonstrate."

Abbey Gate survivor describes chaos before attack, says pullout was botched from the start

Sun, 30 Aug 2026 20:16:01 -0400

Abbey Gate bombing survivor, retired Marine Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews, said Saturday on "The Big Weekend Show" that U.S. Marines were forced to improvise their way through the chaotic evacuation of Afghanistan after inadequate preparation and support left them facing overwhelming crowds in the days leading up to the deadly attack.

Vargas-Andrews, who lost his right arm and left leg in the Aug. 26, 2021, suicide bombing, said Marines at Hamid Karzai International Airport were left to adapt on the ground despite warnings from leadership about how dire the evacuation could become.

Vargas-Andrews told Fox News that the failures leading to the attack began well before the first explosion and renewed his call for accountability.

"Everything we were doing while we were there was like figuring it out on the go," he said, even as he acknowledged that Marines are trained to "adapt, improvise and overcome."

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"We were lacking in the support. We were giving [the refugees] our food. We were giving them our water. There was no tent set up to process refugees," Vargas-Andrews said.

He recounted that day, comparing it to something out of the movie "World War Z," saying, "It was just hundreds of thousands of people. And if I filled up the whole room with sand, that's how many people it felt like [were] there."

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"We were just put in a very, very precarious situation that could have been better prepared for over the weeks and months prior leading up to that," Vargas-Andrews recalled. "And that decision was never made."

Vargas-Andrews said troops had received intelligence warning of a threat, but maintained that nothing was done proactively to prevent it. He did not place responsibility on any single person or group, instead pointing to multiple administrations, the State Department and other organizations and citing "decades of action and inaction and just poor decision-making."

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Vargas-Andrews welcomed the recent recognition by the Department of War of Marines who served during the evacuation, but said he did not want these awards to overshadow the fact that there has still been no accountability.

"It's a good step in the right direction, is what I will say. I think that the real important things still haven't happened, but we hope it does, and we pray that it does," Vargas-Andrews said.

San Diego Padres swept by Rays after outfielder drops fly ball over the fence for a home run: WATCH

Sun, 30 Aug 2026 19:59:35 -0400

With the calendar set to turn to September, the San Diego Padres are fighting for their playoff lives.

Entering a tough weekend series against the Tampa Bay Rays, San Diego had a 16-8 record in August, including an impressive sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers. Their slumping offense had finally come alive in recent weeks, with Fernando Tatis Jr. breaking out of a power drought, Jackson Merrill turning around his year, and Ty France continuing to be a surprising offensive force.

Their typically aggressive front office improved the pitching staff by bolstering the starting rotation with trades for Casey Mize and Robbie Ray. Mason Miller looked like an unstoppable force on the mound, encountering easily movable objects in the opposing batters box.

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Despite the Arizona Diamondbacks hanging around, the final wild card spot in the National League looked like the Padres' to lose. Fast forward to Sunday evening, and the Padres are suddenly on the outside looking in after a sweep in Tampa. That's frustrating enough, but what's worse for the team and their fans is how it happened. Particularly Sunday's 5-4 loss.

Entering the bottom of the ninth inning, the Padres had the Rays right where they wanted them, a 3-1 lead with Miller on the mound.

Junior Caminero led off the inning with a 78mph single to center, before Miller rebounded to strike out Liam Hicks and get Chandler Simpson to line out. Then, with two outs, Miller got outfielder Jonny DeLuca to hit a fly ball to left field. Samad Taylor had a beat on it, tracked it down into the corner, caught the ball as he ran into the fence and just...dropped it. Game-ending out turns into game-tying homer.

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Even more infuriating for Padres fans? DeLuca's fly ball had no business being a home run. With an exit velocity of just 90.7mph, the ball traveled 319 feet, with Taylor's help. That's a home run in literally one out of the 30 Major League Baseball stadiums, good for just an .010 expected batting average. Hits with those exact characteristics are outs 99% of the time, and the one percent turns into a game-tying home run.

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It wasn't the last mistake San Diego would make.

In the 11th inning, the Padres took a 4-3 lead on a Ty France fly ball, and reliever David Morgan got superstar Junior Caminero to strike out to start the bottom of the inning. Liam Hicks poked a bloop single to center, and San Diego walked Chandler Simpson to set up a double play after Hicks stole second.

Then DeLuca, again DeLuca, tapped a weakly hit grounder to shortstop Xander Bogaerts. Bogaerts had an easy out at home to get the second out and keep the game 4-3 and flubbed it, tying the score and putting the winning run at third with one out.

Jorge Mateo immediately laced a walk-off single to left for the sweep, ending a brutal game and weekend for San Diego.

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The loss dropped the Padres to 72-65, and if the season ended today, they'd miss the postseason after two straight appearances.

It's hard to pin the outcome on Miller; he got DeLuca to hit what amounts to a routine fly ball to left to end the game, but the unique dimensions at Tropicana Field and a fluky misplay by Taylor led to the ball going over the fence. Bogaerts is typically sure-handed, but couldn't come up with a play he makes 99% of the time. That's what makes baseball so impossible to predict, and so exciting to watch. The margins between teams, games, and playoff appearances is often razor thin.

While the team's fans will be lamenting a missed opportunity, for neutral baseball fans, the race for the final NL wild card spot is set to provide incredible drama. The Diamondbacks and Padres are separated by just half a game, they're tied in the all-important loss column, and the two finish the regular season by playing a three-game series against each other in San Diego.

Even better, the season series between the two is tied at five apiece, meaning that final series will determine the tiebreaker. And thanks to the left-field fence in Tampa, it might be the most exciting three-games of the year.

Curacao wins second Little League World Series in country's history, first since 2004

Sun, 30 Aug 2026 19:47:43 -0400

A dream 22 years in the making has become a reality, as Curaçao has captured its first Little League World Series title since 2004.

The tiny island nation of less than 200,000 citizens rode a dominant pitching performance and an offensive onslaught to an 11-2 victory over Nevada in the championship game.

It was the second championship in the country's history, coming on the heels of their shutout victory over Japan in the International final.

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Nevada was looking for its first world championship after winning the U.S. title, and even took an early two-run lead in the second before Curacao would prove to be too much for The Silver State.

Curaçao would immediately tie things up in the third before breaking the game wide open and scoring a combined nine runs in the subsequent three innings.

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The game wasn't without its drama, though, as Nevada had the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth inning with a loud out to straightaway center field that carried to the warning track.

If that ball flies a little further, perhaps the Curaçao players start to sweat a bit more, but even then, a five-run gap would likely have been too large a gulf to overcome for the American team.

Long viewed as a Little League World Series powerhouse, Curaçao legitimized those claims by running roughshod through the entire tournament, and, in the process, becoming only the second team in LLBWS history to win a title with the country’s name on its uniform, joining Japan.

Japan would claim a prize of their own in this tournament, taking Ohio down by a score of 4-2 to claim a victory in the consolation game.

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Curaçao has been on a historic run with regard to international sports, as their soccer team also made it to the FIFA World Cup for the first time in program history and even recorded a point in the group stage.

Congratulations to these young men for seeing their hard work come to fruition.