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FIRST ON FOX: Before federal charges put ex-Southern Poverty Law Center official Heidi Beirich at the center of efforts to allegedly pay White supremacist informants, the left-wing Center for American Progress (CAP) hosted and praised her as an expert on extremism in the U.S. during a 2018 event.Neera Tanden, the CEO of CAP and a longtime Democratic operative who has worked for multiple Democratic presidents, including former President Joe Biden, described Beirich as among the “terrific leaders who are dedicating themselves to fighting the spread of extremism and speech online.”The praise, however, took on a new light on Wednesday as reports emerged that Beirich is now facing charges of wire fraud conspiracy, conspiracy to submit false statements to a federally insured bank and conspiracy to conceal money laundering.SPLC FACES BLOWBACK FROM ‘HATE MAP’ TARGETS AFTER DOJ FRAUD INDICTMENTOne of the most explosive allegations centers on a source identified as “F-9,” whom prosecutors say infiltrated the neo-Nazi National Alliance and received more than $1.2 million from the SPLC during the period covered by the indictment. Prosecutors allege Beirich oversaw payments to F-9 while also having a romantic relationship with him, with the pair sharing a home and two bank accounts.Other figures at CAP in 2018 praised Beirich for her detailed work with hate groups, including Henry Fernandez, then a senior fellow with CAP. He described the effort as “the leading organization that identifies hate groups in the country.””She is really probably the nation’s foremost expert on various forms of extremism, including the white supremacist, nativist and neo-confederate movements as well as racism in academia,” Fernandez said.”Even if you don’t know who Heidi Beirich is, you actually do because she leads the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project, which publishes the award-winning intelligence report,” he continued. “They’re the leading organization that identifies what hate groups in the country are.”Beirich was arrested by authorities in California on Wednesday.Her arrest fits into a larger case involving the SPLC that began in April. A 22-page indictment stated that the group allegedly was funneling money to hate groups.CONSERVATIVE GROUP TARGETED IN SPLC-INSPIRED TERROR ATTACK DEMANDS RESTITUTION AFTER DOJ INDICTMENT”Unbeknownst to donors, some of their donated money was being used to fund the leaders and organizers of racist groups, including the Ku Klux Klan, the Aryan Nation and the National Alliance,” the filing reads.”The SPLC’s paid informants (‘field sources’) engaged in the active promotion of racist groups at the same time that the SPLC was denouncing the same groups on its website.”In particular, prosecutors allege donor money was used to attend and host extremist rallies, recruit members, grow and create extremist chapters, publish extremist literature and buy materials for KKK robes, hoods and cross burnings. The indictment also alleges two KKK members who wanted out of the movement were encouraged by the SPLC to remain and offered monthly payments and expenses.Now, prosecutors are alleging that it was Beirich who had a hand in making those payments, overseeing the organization’s efforts to track the groups.Beirich’s representation has argued that the allegations are a misunderstanding of her work tracking hate groups.Beirich originally joined the SPLC in 1999, working as a senior writer and then climbing her way to become deputy director, co-director and finally director in 2012. She would leave the group in 2019 to launch the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism.In her roles, she helped direct research, supervised publications of the group’s Intelligence Report and Hatewatch and was featured in a wide range of media appearances.BROADCAST BIAS: NETWORKS DOWNPLAY SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER FUNDING KKK, NAZISRepresentatives from CAP did not immediately respond to requests for comment on whether they would continue working with Beirich in the future or when the last time was that she had partnered with the group.Fox News’ Jasmine Baehr contributed reporting

Los Angeles Dodgers star Freddie Freeman suffered a serious scare in Wednesday night’s game against the Kansas City Royals.Freeman was gathering himself underneath a pop fly in the top of the eighth inning and appeared to lose track of where he was in foul territory. As he tried to make the catch, he found himself tumbling down the Royals’ dugout steps in a scary fall.ZERO BS. JUST DAKICH. TAKE THE DON’T @ ME PODCAST ON THE ROAD. DOWNLOAD NOW!Freeman’s Dodgers teammates, Royals players and trainers rushed over to him to make sure he was OK. He received a standing ovation as he walked back up the steps and onto the field. He later left the game as the Dodgers wrapped up a 4-2 victory.”I didn’t hit my head, so that was the key part there,” Freeman told reporters after the game. “I am sore. Kneecaps are sore. Shoulder is sore. Hand sore. Wrist sore. I mean, I fell. (But) I’m in good spirits.”He said he mistracked where the dugout railing was when he was trying to catch Isaac Collins’ pop-up.CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM”I went to lean, like I was going to lean against the rail to catch the ball — and obviously there was no rail,” he added.The Dodgers have an important four-game series coming up against the National League’s best Milwaukee Brewers.”I think that we really dodged a bullet,” Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said. “Very scary visually. For right now, he’s in good spirits, which I think is a good sign. Just kind of total body soreness.”The Dodgers improved to 73-48 and own an 8.5-game lead on the San Diego Padres in the NL West.The Associated Press contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: The Trump administration has opened a federal civil rights investigation into Florida State University (FSU) over 32 scholarships accused of discriminating against students based on race or sex, according to a Department of Education (DOE) letter obtained by Fox News Digital.The DOE’s Office for Civil Rights said it will investigate whether FSU discriminated on the basis of race, color or national origin in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, and whether the university discriminated based on sex in violation of Title IX.The investigation stems from a July 2025 complaint filed by the Equal Protection Project (EPP) that targeted 32 FSU scholarships. The DOE’s Aug. 4 letter lists all 32 programs, and confirms FSU is a recipient of federal financial assistance and therefore must comply with Title VI and Title IX.William Jacobson, founder and president of the EPP and Cornell Law professor, told Fox News Digital that FSU stood out even among the hundreds of colleges and universities his organization has challenged.A NEW YORK UNIVERSITY FACES JUSTICE DEPARTMENT INVESTIGATION OVER ‘BLACK MALE INITIATIVE'”Florida State, surprisingly, has one of the largest contingencies of discriminatory scholarships that we’ve seen anywhere,” Jacobson said of the Tallahassee institution with an enrollment of more than 46,000 students. “We have challenged over 290 colleges and universities, and only a handful have this many.”Jacobson said the allegations were particularly surprising because of Florida’s aggressive efforts to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and discrimination in higher education.”The culture on the campuses has not caught up yet with the politics,” Jacobson said. “Florida famously has cracked down on wokeness and DEI and discrimination more so than blue states. So it’s very surprising to find such aggressive discriminatory scholarships at Florida State University.”The Equal Protection Project’s 34-page complaint divides the programs into 14 scholarships it alleges discriminate based on race, color or national origin, 13 based on sex, and five based on both.KEY TRUMP AGENCY PUTS TOP UNIVERSITIES IN CROSSHAIRS OVER ALLEGED RACE-BASED DORM PROGRAMSFSU pushed back on the allegations, telling Fox News Digital that all students are eligible to apply for and receive the scholarships under investigation.”All Florida State University students are eligible to apply for and receive the scholarships listed,” the university said in a statement. “While donors may express preferences, these do not constitute eligibility requirements.”FSU said the scholarships are funded entirely through private donations rather than institutional funds and maintained that all applicants are “evaluated equally based on merit,” with no student disqualified or given an unfair advantage because of a donor preference.The distinction between a donor’s stated preference and an eligibility requirement is at the center of the dispute.JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ZEROES IN ON UCLA FOR ALLEGED ILLEGAL DEI ADMISSIONS AS ELITE SCHOOL CRACKDOWN EXPANDSAmong the programs cited is the Crockett Family Fund for Excellence, whose FSU listing, reproduced in the complaint, stated that any student could apply but that it was the donor’s preference that the recipient be an African American or Black student.Jacobson zeroed in on that language during his interview with Fox News Digital, arguing that FSU cannot shield itself from discrimination allegations by attributing the preference to private donors.”They try to couch this in terms of offloading the blame onto the donor,” Jacobson said. “These are scholarships promoted by and awarded through the Florida State University system. Legally, they are responsible.”NEW YORK TIMES SUED BY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OVER ALLEGED ‘DEI-RELATED’ EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION”So that’s what I found [at] Florida State to be most interesting, is that they seem to try to wordsmith around it,” he added.Other programs identified in the complaint include the Crossman Career Builders Scholarship, which stated a donor preference for a female recipient who is Black or African American, Hispanic or a member of the Seminole Tribe, and the Disciples of the Diamond Spring 81 Scholarship, which expressed an additional preference for an African American male.Another, the Dynamic African American Women in Engineering Powerhouse Scholarship, stated that any student could apply but expressed a donor preference for an African American female student.The complaint also challenges a number of scholarships based solely on sex. Among them is the College of Arts and Sciences Student Travel Awards, whose listing stated any student could apply while expressing a preference for a female recipient.TRUMP DOJ CORNERS SCHOOL DISTRICT WITH 7-DAY ULTIMATUM OVER TRANS POLICY KEEPING PARENTS IN THE DARKJacobson argued the distinction between an eligibility requirement and a stated preference does not resolve the underlying legal issue.”Rather than doing away with it, they play word games,” he said. “And that’s just not good enough.”The DOE has not determined that FSU violated federal law.OCR explicitly said that opening the investigation “in no way implies” that it has reached a determination on the merits. The agency said it will serve as a neutral factfinder and collect and analyze evidence from FSU, the complainant and other sources.TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OPENS FOUR TITLE IX INVESTIGATIONS INTO MICHIGAN AND NORTH CAROLINA SCHOOL DISTRICTSStill, Jacobson called the decision to formally investigate a significant development.”It is very significant that the U.S. Department of Education has opened this for a formal investigation,” Jacobson told Fox News Digital. “That doesn’t happen in every case.””This is a preliminary step, but it’s a very large preliminary step,” he added.The EPP’s complaint argues the scholarships violate Title VI and Title IX as well as the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment because FSU is a public university. It also argues the programs run afoul of Florida law and FSU’s own nondiscrimination policy. Those remain allegations that OCR will now investigate.Jacobson said his organization is not seeking to eliminate the scholarship money.”We do not want the scholarships disbanded or shut down,” he said. “We want the discrimination disbanded and shut down. Keep the funding, give the students the money, but give everybody a fair shot.”The EPP is also calling on Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier and Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration to examine the programs.”We hope the Attorney General and the Governor’s Office will look into this,” Jacobson said. “Why is one of the leading state schools in Florida so openly and pervasively discriminating in its scholarship programs?”DeSantis’ and Uthmeier’s offices, and the DOE did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Japan issued a stern rebuke to Moscow after the Russian president visited a chain of islands at the center of a territorial dispute between neighbors.

‘Safe Space’: New Taxpayer-Funded Berlin Pool For ‘Blacks Only’ On Fridays

Via Remix News,

A temporary open-air pool erected outside Berlin’s iconic theater was supposed to represent the ultimate low-barrier urban oasis. Instead, a plan to allow only Black people to attend on Fridays has sparked outrage and accusations of racism.

Conceived as a free, non-commercial refuge requiring no identity checks — though reliant on a competitive online reservation system — the €300,000 project was introduced to the public as a shared summer meeting point. However, the organizers have implemented a protocol that excludes anyone non-Black one day a week, a clearly discriminatory practice.

Tensions arose over a specific event slated for Friday, Aug. 14. According to the official program, “During this period, the public bath is exclusively open to Black communities.”

Between 12:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m., general admission is suspended. According to Berliner Zeitung, the venue’s operators added a note asking that “this collective self-designation and the associated spaces be respected.”

The event is organized in partnership with “EOTO” (Each One Teach One), a publicly funded non-governmental organization dedicated to social and cultural programming for Black individuals. Because the NGO receives financial backing from both the German federal government and the state of Berlin, the decision to restrict access during those six hours — effectively excluding white visitors —has drawn criticism from those who feel it contradicts the venue’s core mission.

When the venue was launched, organizers praised it as a communal stand against urban commercialization, describing the initiative as a open “summer invitation.” Critics now argue that reserving public infrastructure for specific demographic groups breaks that initial promise.

Notably, advocates for the Black-only policy claim racism against White people must be implemented to provide a “safe space” for communities facing systemic racism.

The pop-up installation serves as the inaugural project for incoming artistic director Matthias Lilienthal. The pool has been pushed as a practical solution to the city’s seasonal pool shortages. Nothing is said of the fact that Berlin’s population has exploded, mostly due to mass immigration, leaving many outdoor pool areas overcrowded and sometimes even violent.

Lilienthal noted to news outlet ZDF: “Half of the indoor and outdoor swimming pools are closed, so we thought we were helping the Governing Mayor Kai Wegner.”

The venue operates on a substantial budget, benefiting from over €20 million in annual public taxpayer subsidies. The pool itself, measuring 25 meters in length and 1.30 meters in depth, can host a maximum capacity of 46 swimmers simultaneously, with the total budget designed to accommodate an estimated 20,000 visitors over the course of the swimming season.

Racism against Whites is funded by the taxpayer in Germany

This is the hardly the only controversy involving race in Germany, with a number of government programs excluding White people or funding organizations that exclude White people.

Just this year, the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) vowed to cut off taxpayer money for left-wing activist groups after a Berlin organization that runs a coworking café that reportedly excludes White people received more than €662,000 in public funding.

The pattern has been seen across Germany. In August 2023, a German museum of industrial heritage in Dortmund was scolded for only allowing “Black, Indigenous, and People of Color” to enter the museum on Saturdays between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. for the “That’s Colonial” exhibition. The Zollern Colliery museum argued it was creating a “safer space” intended to protect people of color from “further discrimination.”

The exclusive access was “an offer for BIPoC and black people to be able to withdraw and exchange ideas openly,” according to the museum. “For BIPoC, such safe spaces are rarely found in everyday life or in museum rooms.”

In May 2025, the German Evangelical Church (EKD) was accused of racism after banning White children from attending a workshop on being “courageous and strong” during its Church Congress in Hanover.

The “Become Courage and Strong” workshop was, again, only open to Black, indigenous, and children of color. However, while ethnic Germans and ethnic Europeans are indigenous to Germany and Europe, the designation did not apply to them, only indigenous people from other continents.

“This offer is aimed exclusively at Black, Indigenous, and children of color,” read the program website.

In January of this year, the German taxpayer-funded NGO “Black Sheep,” Schwarze Schafe in German, was offering a six-month intensive seminar designed specifically for White individuals to examine their “alleged privileges,” which is modeled after the concept of “Critical Whiteness.”

The organization, which identifies as a “post-migrant education initiative,” has received significant taxpayer funding from Germans and operates a reporting center for anti-Muslim racism.

White participants were expected to pay up to €2,290 for the course that runs from March to September.

What is clear is that anti-White racism is a massive and lucrative industry in Europe, with funding amounting to tens of millions of euros, and possibly more, for tax-payer projects and NGOs targeting Whites for exclusion, ridicule, and discrimination.

Read more here…

Tyler Durden
Thu, 08/13/2026 – 06:30

American eating habits are shifting toward high-protein options, prompting major fast-food chains to reimagine traditional morning foods to meet growing consumer demand for functional nutrition. But what exactly is the right approach?Nutrition experts note that consuming protein at breakfast helps stabilize blood sugar levels, reduce mid-morning cravings and support muscle maintenance.Additional guidance emphasizes that protein-rich breakfasts play a vital role in weight management and appetite regulation compared with carbohydrate-heavy alternatives.CHICK-FIL-A COPYCAT RECIPE REVEALED AS CEO SHARES INGREDIENT THAT MAKES IT TASTE LIKE THE ORIGINALTanya Freirich, a registered dietitian nutritionist based in Charlotte, North Carolina, emphasized this focus on morning nutrition.”The best time to eat protein is consistently throughout the day,” Freirich told Fox News Digital. “Protein in meals helps stabilize your blood sugar after eating, and protein is important for muscle maintenance, repair and growth.”Freirich recommends eating within one to two hours of waking.”Including protein in a moderately sized breakfast can help you feel satisfied, energetic and focused during your morning hours,” she noted.These dietary shifts have pushed restaurant brands to get creative, reimagining the classics through this lens.CLICK HERE FOR MORE LIFESTYLE STORIESChick-fil-A is among the latest to tap into this movement, making use of the long-standing Southern tradition of chicken and waffles and repackaging the sweet and savory pairing into a high-protein morning format.”We know that many of our guests are looking to start their day with meals that are higher in protein, but that shouldn’t mean sacrificing flavor,” Allison Duncan, director of menu & packaging at Chick-fil-A, told Fox News Digital.”Whether enjoyed with the classic filet and bacon or customized with an egg or sausage, the new Chicken & Waffles Breakfast Sandwich offers an unexpected way for guests to prioritize protein in their morning routine,” Duncan added.Over the past several years, competitors across the industry have expanded their morning lineups to include egg bites, Greek yogurt parfaits and customizable meat options as diners demand higher protein counts.CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTERHowever, health professionals caution that the quality and source of breakfast protein matter just as much as the overall quantity.”There is a big difference between types of protein sources,” Freirich explained. “While an omelet with vegetables and a chicken, waffle, bacon and egg sandwich may contain the same grams of protein, the latter will be much higher in saturated fat and calories.”She warned that highly processed fast-food proteins can lead to a heavy feeling rather than a morning energy boost.”The more processed and high-fat proteins are less healthy for our heart due to their fat and sodium content and will take longer to digest as fat slows down our digestion,” Freirich said. “A fast-food meal with processed proteins like fried chicken, egg and bacon may leave you feeling overfull and lethargic.”TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZFor consumers who love drive-thru fast food, she advocates for moderation rather than strict elimination.”If you love chicken and waffles, perhaps that’s something that you consume once in a while rather than every day,” Freirich said. “Even the healthiest diets include treats or once-in-a-while foods in moderation.”She suggested balancing an indulgent drive-thru breakfast throughout the rest of the day.CLICK HERE FOR MORE LIFESTYLE NEWS”If you are really in the mood for a chicken and waffles morning, you can balance the rest of your day with lots of vegetables, fruits and fiber at lunch and dinner,” Freirich noted.”While adding more protein may be the right choice for some, a healthy balanced diet also includes sufficient vegetables, fruits, beans and whole grains.”

DALLAS — The artificial intelligence boom is fueling a data center rush in Texas and opening a rare divide between President Donald Trump and one of his closest political allies — Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.Projects bringing billions of dollars in investment to Texas also create enormous demand for electricity, raising questions over who will be on the hook to pay for potential power grid impacts. Abbott has moved to address those concerns, directing regulators to ensure data centers cover the infrastructure costs needed to serve them, and calling on developers to add their own power generation rather than shift costs onto Texas residents.Trump isn’t happy with Abbott’s approach, and called the Lone Star State’s stance toward data centers a “mistake,” pointing to the economic investment the projects can bring to communities willing to host them.TEXAS GOV. ABBOTT EFFECTIVELY PAUSES NEW DATA CENTER PROJECTS PENDING STATEWIDE GRID AUDITThe president has made energy dominance and U.S. leadership in artificial intelligence central pillars of his second term.”For Texas to say no to data centers is a mistake in the sense that it could be bigger than oil,” Trump told Punchbowl News in an interview published Friday.”Data centers could be bigger than oil,” he predicted.Texas has become a focal point of that debate as soaring demand for the computing power behind artificial intelligence and cloud services drives a wave of data center development across the state.Neither the White House nor Abbott’s office responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the departure between the two on data centers.Dallas now ranks as the world’s No. 1 primary data center market, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s 2026 Global Data Center Market Comparison. The ranking underscores the Lone Star State’s rapid rise as companies seek the land and electricity needed to support artificial intelligence.The firm said the state is growing at a pace that could eventually rival or surpass Virginia, currently the world’s largest data center market by operating capacity.A SOUTHERN STATE JUST TOOK THE TOP SPOT IN ONE OF THE WORLD’S FASTEST-GROWING INDUSTRIESThat growth, however, has intensified scrutiny of the strain large-scale facilities place on Texas’ power system.Balaji Tammabattula, chief operating officer of BaRupOn, which is developing a data center campus in Texas, told Fox News Digital that Trump’s recent pushback on the governor was “really helpful.” He said companies have already committed significant amounts of money to projects in Texas based in part on the state’s historically business-friendly environment.”A lot of companies made huge investments into Texas, and now all of a sudden he [Abbott] changed his stance,” Tammabattula said. “That, I think, could be a problematic situation going forward.”Tammabattula explained that BaRupOn’s 700-acre campus is somewhat insulated from the growing fight over grid access because its Houston-area campus is being built to generate its own power rather than rely on the state’s electric grid.TRUMP’S AMBITIOUS ENERGY BET COULD BE A WINNING HAND AS THE WORLD BURNS MORE OIL, GAS THAN EVERTammabattula said BaRupOn began building its own infrastructure, including natural gas pipelines and turbines, to create what he called an “islanded power campus.””Even if we want to connect it to the grid, we don’t have a pathway for the next three years,” he said.That constraint could now work in BaRupOn’s favor as Texas pushes data centers to rely more heavily on their own power generation. Tammabattula said the company has advocated for on-site power generation, known as behind-the-meter power, for more than a year as a way to meet the enormous electricity demands of data centers without adding to the strain on the grid.”For us, it definitely is beneficial because it proves what we’ve been trying to say for the last one and a half, two years,” he said.Tammabattula also acknowledged the concerns fueling opposition to the industry’s rapid expansion, particularly the possibility that the cost of supplying massive amounts of electricity to new facilities could fall on residents.ONE OF AMERICA’S OLDEST MANUFACTURERS SAYS AI IS CREATING JOBS — NOT REPLACING THEMThe challenge for Texas is finding a way to accommodate an industry pouring billions of dollars into the state without leaving residents to shoulder the costs of the infrastructure needed to support it.Tammabattula said the tension is unlikely to disappear as demand for data centers continues to grow.”These data centers have to be built,” he said. “Until an actual solution comes up, this is going to continue for the long term.””And in my opinion, that has to come from the government.”

EXCLUSIVE – Efforts to treat gender dysphoria among minors should be utilized with mental health counseling and compassionate care, not with hormone blockers and “mutilating surgeries” that can potentially have long-term and irreversible ramifications, said Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services Adm. Brian Christine.Christine, a urologist who oversees public health offices and programs within HHS and leads the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, came out in support of the Trump administration’s Tuesday announcement of a new rule that will bar Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, from funding puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgeries to treat gender dysphoria in minors.”Gender dysphoria is certainly a real condition. There are some children who have gender dysphoria, some minors who have that,” Christine told Fox News Digital. “Now, in the past, it’s been an incredibly small percentage. And what we’ve seen is this has really turned into a social contagion. In other words, where there’s so many more kids being diagnosed with gender dysphoria, that’s not really explained by simple epidemiology.”What medical professionals know, Christine said, is that the vast majority of minors who are diagnosed with gender dysphoria will move beyond it if they are provided with competent, compassionate counseling.MEDICAID ENDS FUNDING FOR CHILD SEX-CHANGE PROCEDURES AS TRUMP ADMIN SLAMS ‘EXPERIMENTAL’ TREATMENTS”What you don’t want to do is carry out treatments… we refer to them as sex-rejecting procedures, where you’re using castrating chemicals or cross-sex hormones or mutilating surgeries to permanently change their bodies and give them potentially life-long complications that can happen,” he said.The rule being implemented by the Trump administration means Medicaid and CHIP will no longer financially support pediatric gender treatments. It doesn’t ban the procedures.”By cutting off federal funds for these sex-rejecting procedures, we’re following the science, saving taxpayer dollars, and, most importantly, protecting children from potentially irreversible harm so they can truly flourish,” Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said in a Tuesday statement.COLORADO SUPREME COURT ORDERS CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL TO RESUME GENDER TRANSITION TREATMENTS FOR MINORSSo far, the science doesn’t support “sex-rejecting” procedures on children, Christine said.”What does the science support? Mental health care, compassionate counseling,” he said.In a Tuesday Truth Social post, President Donald Trump called gender transition surgeries and the providing of hormones for minors “barbaric.””We are not going to pay for our innocent children to undergo these barbaric surgeries and practices, which result in unthinkable and irreversible harm to their young bodies,” he wrote.LARGEST CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL IN US TO OPEN ‘DETRANSITION CLINIC’ AFTER $10M SETTLEMENT WITH TRUMP DOJ, STATEIn opposition to many on the left, Christine uses the term “corrective care” to differentiate between helping minors move past gender dysphoria and the language used by critics who support medical treatments.”The term from the left is gender-affirming care. I can tell you that mutilating surgeries and castrating chemicals affirm nothing,” he said. “Absolutely not. They are harmful.”Twenty-seven states have enacted restrictions on “gender-affirming care” for minors, according to KFF, a health policy group.According to the rule, which takes effect on Oct. 13, children being treated with hormone blockers and other drugs will be transitioned off instead of being forced to quit cold turkey, Christine said. The federal funding will be available for a tapering off period of six months for children currently on hormone therapy, CMS said.Historically, gender dysphoria has involved a very small percentage of adult males, said Christine, who called it a “true diagnosis” that has been hijacked for ideological purposes.”Now you have dramatic numbers of minors, and more importantly, young girls, when you virtually never saw that in the past. Again, adult men, that’s been the history,” he said.”What you’ve seen is this transition, this social contagion, and I believe individuals who are complete ideologues who follow the gender ideology who say little boys can be little girls and little girls can be little boys and there’s no differences between the sexes,” he added. “That’s completely wrong.”

President Donald Trump’s push to fast-track energy and infrastructure projects could be undercut by an Environmental Protection Agency veto authority that allows the agency to block projects even after permits are issued.EPA’s veto authority stems from Section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act, which allows the agency to block or limit where dredged or fill material can be dumped if it determines the disposal could cause “unacceptable adverse effects.” But the law sets no explicit time limit on that authority, leaving the door open to both preemptive and retroactive vetoes.And it has already been put to the test.In 2011, the agency used the provision to block disposal sites for Mingo Logan Coal Co.’s Spruce No. 1 mine in West Virginia, four years after the Army Corps of Engineers had issued a permit. The dispute ultimately reached a federal appeals court, which ruled in EPA’s favor.TRUMP’S REINDUSTRIALIZATION AGENDA FACES ITS BIGGEST HURDLE — AMERICANSMyron Ebell, a senior advisor to the Fix the EPA Veto Coalition, said the statute gives EPA broad authority to veto or revoke permits even after the Army Corps of Engineers has issued them, potentially putting projects already under construction at risk under future administrations.”The environmental movement and the climate movement groups are focused on anything related to fossil fuels, and so any project that is likely to become controversial and political that they can make — that these groups can make politically controversial — would then seem to me to be, have the threat of a veto, and that would, I think, that would just drive away investors and companies from all these projects,” Ebell said.”So that’s why we want to focus the administration’s attention on this problem that could undo all of the good work that they’re doing to speed up permitting,” said Ebell, who headed the EPA transition team before Trump’s first administration.The coalition, which consists of several state energy business groups, wants Congress to change the law but is also pressing the Trump administration to enact an EPA rule limiting when the agency may exercise its veto authority.GORSUCH SUGGESTS SUPREME COURT’S TRUMP RULING IS OPENING MOVE AGAINST ADMINISTRATIVE STATE”The way to improve the situation is to get the EPA to put some sideboards and some constraints on the provision, and that would not solve the problem because a future administration could undo that rule, but it takes time to undo a rule,” Ebell said.Congress is also considering a more permanent solution. Last December, the House passed the PERMIT Act, which would limit when EPA can use its Section 404(c) veto power. Under the bill, the agency could use the authority only after a complete permit application is submitted and before the permit is issued. But the legislation has since stalled in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.Daren Bakst, director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Energy and Environment, told Fox News Digital that congressional action would provide the strongest protection but argued that the administration should also examine what EPA can accomplish under existing law.”Ultimately, Congress really has to do something here, but you got to work multiple angles, and you have to walk and chew gum at the same time,” Bakst said.Bakst said an executive order from Trump highlighting the issue could pressure EPA to pursue a durable administrative solution while signaling to lawmakers that the Section 404(c) provision should be addressed in broader permitting legislation.”If President Trump issued the executive order, it might help provide a real signal of the importance that the administration places on having such a 404(c) veto issue included into the permitting reform package,” Bakst said.TRUMP’S EPA CHIEF PUSHES BACK ON CLIMATE SKEPTICS BEING LABELED ‘SCIENCE DENIERS’Bakst cautioned that it remains legally uncertain whether EPA could categorically prohibit all retroactive vetoes through regulation. But he said the agency could impose constraints, including requiring officials to consider costs imposed on permit holders and their reliance on previously issued permits.”The reliance, the consideration, the cost, and the reliance interests of the permit holder are certainly things that [EPA] can make it very clear have to be considered,” Bakst said.Jason Hayes, a senior research fellow for energy, climate and environment at The Heritage Foundation, said EPA should retain some authority to stop projects that pose genuinely unacceptable environmental risks but argued that the current authority is too broad.SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER”While it is reasonable for EPA to retain a limited authority to halt a project when there is potential for a genuinely unacceptable environmental impact, the authority granted to the agency under Section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act is too broad. Currently, the agency has an open-ended veto and can shut down a project before the permit application is filed, while it is under review, or after the permit has been approved and work has already begun,” Hayes said.In a June letter, The U.S. Chamber of Commerce made a similar push, calling on EPA, the Council on Environmental Quality and the Army Corps to pursue a rule barring EPA from vetoing a Section 404 permit after it has been issued.”The ability to undo or preemptively block permitted projects undermines confidence in the permitting system and can chill investment even where projects have complied with established requirements,” Marty Durbin, senior vice president of policy and president of the Global Energy Institute at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, wrote.While Mingo Logan remains EPA’s only retroactive veto of an issued permit, Bakst warned that the authority still poses a threat to future projects.”Even though there’s only been one example of the retroactive vetoes, the fear is that it can be used and it would be used,” Bakst said.”If you can’t even rely on a permit that you’ve already gotten, then I mean, we’ve got a serious problem,” Bakst continued.Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and the EPA for comment.

EXCLUSIVE: President Donald Trump’s State Department is dumping Biden-era guidelines that directed personnel to push a woke Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) agenda on foreign officials and governments.”Under the Trump Administration, America’s diplomats are tasked with advocating for our national interests on the world stage — not demonstrating adherence to woke political dogmas,” State Department Spokesperson Tommy Pigott told Fox News Digital.Official Biden-era guideline documents obtained by Fox News Digital show the previous administration directing employees to peddle woke gibberish in high-level discussions and bilateral dialogue with foreign counterparts.COAST GUARD ENDING RACE-BASED ADMISSIONS FOR OFFICER COMMISSIONING PROGRAM UNDER TRUMP DEI CRACKDOWN”Do Front Offices routinely raise social inclusion, racial/gender equity, disability, and LGBTQI+ issues with high-level host country interlocutors, especially in countries where these issues are problematic, and are these issues included in bilateral dialogues, whenever appropriate?” the document asks.A Front Office is the immediate leadership and executive staff suite for a specific State Department bureau, directorate or office, which exist worldwide.The Biden guidelines weren’t just suggestions.Under the previous president, the State Department considered how well personnel and staff had adopted the DEI policies in official reviews and considerations when it came to promoting an individual.Fox News Digital confirmed that those criteria no longer exist when assessing job performance at Trump’s State Department.SENATE REPUBLICAN PUSHES MERIT-BASED MILITARY PROMOTIONS, TARGETS BIDEN-ERA DEI POLICIESAnother section of the document discussed “allyship.””Do you speak up – in the moment – to support colleagues and try to help all understand when there might be bias that undermines inclusivity?” the document questions.”This includes actively working to break down not just race/ethnicity/gender/LGBTQI+/disability biases, but also bias among the civil service and foreign service, U.S. direct hires and contracting colleagues, and within foreign service cones.”It also demanded that employees take initiative to learn DEI on their own, instead of “depending on others — particularly others from historically marginalized groups” to help them.Similarly, the document demanded that Front Offices ensure each employee supported a “DEIA Council,” or, if a Front Office did not have a council, supported the creation of one.RUBIO WARNS AMERICA MUST ‘STAY AHEAD OF THE CURVE’ AS CHINA WORKS TO SURPASS THE US WITH STOLEN TECH”How is bias discussed and mitigated both within the mission and in interactions with the host nation?” the document asks. “What types of localized DEIA trainings are being developed to engage all job categories — both [U.S. Direct Hire] and [Locally Employed] staff at Post? Is there a channel for [Locally Employed] staff, [Entry Level Officers], and other groups sometimes excluded from interaction with senior staff to be able to share ideas or give commentary on how to advance DEIA more effectively?”Pigott said that under President Trump’s leadership, the State Department is solely focused on meeting the demands of diplomacy, not playing political games.”The State Department is implementing sweeping reforms to the Foreign Service to prioritize merit, refocus training on tangible diplomatic skills, and prepare our nation’s diplomats to deliver America’s answer to our most pressing challenges,” he said.