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For faithful Christ followers, Holy Week is a roller coaster of emotions. Jesus arrived in Jerusalem to overwhelming acclaim, crowds shouting praises and exalting Him as he fulfilled prophecy by riding into town on a humble donkey. In just a matter of days, Jesus would be rejected and scorned, dragged to a sham trial, beaten, tortured and brutally killed in public. He was mocked, despised and abandoned by many in His inner circle. But that’s just the beginning of the real story…We must never forget that Jesus knew every single detail about what would happen to Him, and yet He willingly chose to come to us. He took on our frailties – experiencing grief, temptation and death. He did not have to do any of those things, but because He did we have the greatest gift imaginable: the promise of eternal life with God. Whatever you may be walking through this week, God is keenly aware and He promises never to leave His children. The Bible is full of men and women who experienced broken families, devastating diagnoses, financial ruin, war, famine – you name it! By revisiting their lives, we can see how God was weaving together long-term good in some of the darkest valleys. That’s the truth at the heart of Jesus’ earthly story too.SCARY NEWS, FINANCIAL FEARS, WORLD CHAOS? EASTER OFFERS A LESSON FOR ALL OF USI have written about many of these encouraging biblical heroes over the last several years, and my new book, “Nothing Is Impossible with God,” specifically highlights those who faced enormous obstacles. Beginning with Gideon, we meet a frightened man whom God addresses as a “mighty warrior.” The English translation of Gideon’s response is literally “pardon me.”I think many of us would react the same way if God showed up and told us we were going to charge into a battle against a powerful oppressor with none of the weapons or advantages our human minds would logically deem necessary! But isn’t that what He does with us over and over again on our spiritual journey – asks us to trust that He has a plan where we can see no way?In my new book, “Nothing Is Impossible with God,” I take a deep dive into people from the pages of the Bible who encountered stumbling blocks that would have stopped most of us in our tracks.Sometimes it was outsiders openly scheming against them. If you’ve experienced that, you’ll love Nehemiah’s story. Rather than fold, he trusted God to handle the crafty, sarcastic frenemies trying to undermine him. He prayed, he prepared and he persevered. You can, too!BISHOP ROBERT BARRON: EVEN JUDAS? RETHINKING SIN, DESPAIR AND DIVINE MERCY THIS PALM SUNDAYSometimes it’s our own self-doubt that throws us off track. Moses was overwhelmed by the assignment he was given, even arguing with the God of the Universe about how he wasn’t the guy for the job. I may be quick to judge with thousands of years of hindsight, but I’ve certainly done the same!What about Jonah, who ran in the opposite direction of what God asked him to do? As we walk their journeys alongside them, we see Gideon, Moses and Jonah all grow in their faith and obedience. What was impossible by human standards was accomplished through God’s power and guidance.In the pages of Scripture, we also meet men and women who were faithful from the start. Noah was asked to build a structure that made zero sense, a gigantic boat with no system to control it, in order to survive a coming flood – and yet rain had never fallen on the earth’s surface. He simply got to work.FOX NATION’S ‘JESUS CROWN OF THORNS’ BUILDS TO EXPLOSIVE, BETRAYAL-FUELED FINALEJoshua stood against the groupthink that told the Israelites there was no way they could face an enemy the Lord had guaranteed they would overcome. We watch Daniel’s courage and godly commitment for decades, never wavering in a culture that made his faith a criminal offense – punishable by death!I think it’s fair to say that Peter represents a combination of these various challenges. He was fiery, passionate and willing to defend Christ with all he had. He was part of Jesus’ inner circle, impulsive and opinionated, and sometimes reprimanded by the Man he admired most. So, when Jesus told Peter he would betray him, his beloved friend and disciple fired back with typical gusto:CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINION”But Peter declared, ‘Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.’” (Matthew 26:35)Just hours later, Jesus’ prophecy was fulfilled. Peter denied ever knowing his friend and esteemed rabbi, even shouting and cursing with anger. When the realization of his devastating failure landed on his heart, we’re told he “went outside and wept bitterly.” Again, this is far from the end of the story.Days later, Jesus rose from the grave – overcoming sin and death for good. Rather than approaching his broken friend with judgment and contempt, He approached Peter with grace and care. Peter had returned to where Christ found him, fishing for a living. I’m sure he felt unworthy of the calling to be something more. But Jesus wouldn’t leave him there. He knew Peter’s tender, broken heart. He lovingly restored Peter, telling him to finally leave the fishing gig behind for good and focus on what he was created and gifted to do: fish for men.This – and every Easter – there is so much evidence of how God overcomes the impossible in our lives. He can work through our fears and failures, our rebellion and our rabbit trails. He’s overcome what we cannot – sin and death – and every Easter is a celebration of that glorious gift. We can’t earn it; we must humble ourselves to first recognize that we need it – and then accept it. That can be hard for us to understand and embrace as human beings who can only begin to fathom that level of mercy and generosity. I pray this Easter you’ll accept the Gift.CLICK HERE FOR MORE FROM SHANNON BREAM

At 80 years old, Canadian coffee shop owner Ted Martindale believes he’s done what few would attempt, let alone achieve. He says he’s baked the largest carrot cake in the world.”I know we broke the record, and I’m pretty sure I can convince [Guinness World Records] of that,” Martindale told Fox News Digital.The nearly 6,000-pound cake, built in his small British Columbia community of Quesnel, is now under review by Guinness. But for Martindale, the verdict is already clear.COSTCO’S $140, 10-POUND EASTER BUNNY HAS SHOPPERS QUESTIONING PRICE AND INSTRUCTIONS TO SMASH IT APART”I’ve got all the documentation required,” he said.The idea for the giant carrot cake was a little wild, by his own admission, he said.”I looked up the [Guinness World Records book] carrot cake and I thought, ‘Well, we can bake that. All we have to do is do the mathematics and the whole thing, and I can easily beat that record,'” he said. “So, we went for it.”In celebration of his 80th birthday on March 25, the owner of Granville’s Coffee unveiled the giant carrot cake — inviting the community to join in the festivities at the town’s senior center.CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTERWhat he didn’t anticipate was how the attempt would evolve into a town-wide event.”Two weeks ago, my wife and I thought, ‘Nobody’s going to show up for this,'” he said. “And then the whole town just almost showed up. There was no parking in town. All the restaurants were busy. It was almost like a civic holiday. It was just amazing.”Pulling it off required precision and scale.”It was a month-long process because we had to make 432 sheet cakes, and we had to store them in a big freezer in a grocery store,” Martindale said.Assembly, he said, “was just like brickwork.”CLICK HERE FOR MORE LIFESTYLE STORIES”It was like a construction project. And we had to make all the icing on that day because you can’t make icing and freeze it.”In all, it took “14 hours and about 12 people to put the whole thing together,” he said.The final product exceeded expectations.”When the whole thing was finished, it was amazing,” Martindale said. “I just never expected it to look like that. It was beautiful.”Martindale, who has owned Granville’s Coffee for 34 years, is no stranger to big ideas.”I’m sort of a crazy old man,” he said.For all the spectacle, Martindale sees his coffee shop, which he calls the “focal point of the whole town,” as his real legacy.”Everybody comes here, and it’s a gathering place,” he said.TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZMartindale has no plans of slowing down.”I still go to work every day,” he said.

 
The state of Oregon passed a law last year that should outrage every American who believes in the First Amendment.
Not because it bans speech outright. Not because it targets a newspaper or a broadcaster. Because it targets a letter. An email. A text message. A conversation telling public employees they have a constitutional right to opt out of their union.
That’s what Oregon made illegal.
The Freedom Foundation has been communicating with public employees for years. We do it because back in 2018 the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed in Janus v. AFSCME that every government employee has a constitutional right to decline union membership and dues — a right workers will never find out about if they’re waiting for their union to inform them of it.
Someone else, most likely the Freedom Foundation, has to do it for them.
Oregon’s HB 3789, which took effect Jan. 1, was written specifically to shut down our outreach activities in that state — and potentially others. Egged on by their union puppet masters, lawmakers in that state approved legislation threatening heavy financial penalties for what the law describes as impersonating a labor union.
Mind you, backers of the bill couldn’t cite a single example in which Freedom Foundation marketing materials had done so. But actual guilt was never the point.
Because the measure was intentionally written so broadly, a labor-aligned judge could conceivably interpret just about any overture to union members as a violation of the new standard and impose a fine of $6,250 per communication.
Not a single verified incident of fraud. No impersonation. No real victims. Just a law designed to make one organization stop sending workers accurate information about their rights.
We challenged the measure in federal court the moment it took effect, but a District Court judge dismissed the case. It has since been appealed to the Circuit Court.
Meanwhile, no doubt motivated by Oregon’s audacity, New York last month introduced SB 9577.
It is the same bill. Not similar, but identical.
The statutory language is parroted word for word with only one meaningful difference: New York’s penalty is $15,000 per incident, more than double the Oregon fine.
Image: Public Domain
This story originally was published by Real Clear Wire
By Aaron Withe
They didn’t copy Oregon’s model. They made it even more unconstitutional.
Not to be outdone, Hawaii’s SB 3055, introduced in late January, has already passed the full Senate, cleared its first House committee, and is scheduled for a final hearing this week.
The Freedom Foundation has been singled out by name as the bill’s target. One union operative told Hawaii legislators our mailers are “deceptive.” Another was more candid than he probably intended to be, testifying that the bill was specifically meant to “get out in front of” the Freedom Foundation’s outreach to union members and citing Oregon as the motivation.
According to the Hawaii AFL-CIO, the bill simply “requires honesty about who is speaking and whether that speech is authorized.”
That’s their defense. We’re not honest about who we are.
In fact, our mailers always state exactly who sent them. Workers know these aren’t the union’s words. The argument isn’t about deception, it’s about the reality that workers are reading the information and exercising their rights.
That’s the crisis unions are trying to address, and passing a law is how they’re doing it.
Three states. Identical legislation. In the span of a few months. Our 9th Circuit appeal in Freedom Foundation v. Rayfield hasn’t even been decided yet, and New York and Hawaii are already advancing the same framework.
The coordination is neither subtle nor coincidental.
If our information was actually misleading, unions would have given examples. They would have produced workers who were confused or deceived.
They didn’t, because they couldn’t. The problem isn’t the content. The problem is that workers are leaving in numbers Big Labor can’t ignore.
When you can’t win the argument, you make the argument illegal. At least in deep-blue states whose elected leaders owe their jobs to huge infusions of union cash.
Oregon proved the strategy works, at least long enough to tie up the opposition in federal court while the dues keep flowing. Now New York and Hawaii are trying to lock in the same model before the courts can stop them.
If they succeed, other states will surely follow. They have to because without an unconstitutional Hail Mary pass, government employee unions are destined for extinction.
Every legislature that takes up one of these bills is answering a simple question: Do workers have a real right to opt out, or just a theoretical one that no one is allowed to tell them about?
Aaron Withe is the CEO of the Freedom Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting workers’ rights and advancing employee freedom across America.
This article was originally published by RealClearPolicy and made available via RealClearWire.
The post Oregon’s Union Crackdown Spreads appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

In dominating consumer devices, Apple sold users on the promise of privacy. To compete in AI, it may have to pivot.

Lindsey Buckingham, a guitarist and vocalist who once played with the rock band Fleetwood Mac, was attacked last week in Santa Monica.
The 76-year-old star arrived at a Santa Monica address for an appointment, according to KNBC-TV.
A woman police say is a stalking suspect threw what police said was an unknown substance at Buckingham and ran off.
Police said they know who they are seeking due to past incidents involving Buckingham.
Buckingham was not injured
The Los Angeles Police Department said the suspect is known to them due to previous incidents involving Buckingham, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“The Los Angeles Police Department Threat Management Unit is working with the Santa Monica Police Department to investigate the incident,” LAPD Capt. Mike Bland said.
 “To protect the integrity of the open and ongoing investigation, no further comment will be provided at this time,” he said.
In December 2024, Buckingham was granted a restraining order against Michelle Dick.
The order said Dick could not harass or make any contact with Buckingham.
At the time the order was issued, an LAPD detective said that Dick claimed Buckingham was her biological father.
The detective said at the time that she believed Dick was mentally unstable and dangerous.
Buckingham recently said he was upbeat about a Fleetwood Mac documentary in the works and was still making music.
 “I am still very, very grounded in my creative life,” he said. “I’ve been working on a new solo album for the last couple of years, which is one song away from being finished.”
Buckingham split with Fleetwood Mac in 2018 and suffered a heart attack in 2019.
Dick spoke with KTLA-TV, according to the station, and admitted she approached Buckingham last week.
“One time, that was last year,” Dick said when asked about allegations that she had gone to Buckingham’s home.
“But I didn’t know I had a restraining order on me. He wasn’t a father to me but he’s my birth father,” she said.
Dick told KTLA on Wednesday that she was living out of her car and had not been arrested.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
The post Legendary Fleetwood Mac Guitarist Lindsey Buckingham Attacked with ‘Unknown Substance’ in California appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Navy’s Top Officer Admits Ford Carrier Fire Halted Its Combat Sorties For Two Days

More details continue to belatedly come out in piecemeal fashion related to the Navy’s largest and most expensive supercarrier, the USS Gerald R Ford. It has withdrawn from the Iran theatre of operations and Mideast regional waters, now anchored in Croatia (Split) for largescale emergency repairs, after a March 12 fire which the Pentagon has said was non-combat related left some sailors with minor injuries.

New information has been disclosed by no less than the US Navy’s top officer. He has described in fresh remarks that the USS Ford was unable to fly sorties for two days due to (the alleged) laundry fire, which took over a full day to extinguish.
US Navy/AFP/Getty Images

CNN has underscored that this marks the “first indication that the blaze hindered combat operations against Iran.” So the incident has been confirmed to have resulted in a complete halt to two days of combat operations against Iran – which is hugely significant given that only two carriers were launching operations at that time (the other was the USS Lincoln). And now the USS George HW Bush is en route across the Atlantic in a scheduled deployment.

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle, addressed the Washington-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) on Tuesday. While praising the crew’s response to the fire, he stated the following:

“They fought that, put it out, and started flying sorties two days after that, so I’m very proud of that crew,” he said.

Caudle described that they ended up battling the blaze –  and cleaned up the water damage and fire-fighting substances, for a total of 30 hours.

He also confirmed prior reports of some 600 sailors being displaced from their sleeping quarters due to the damage. 

As for the precise cause of the blaze, the last official word was a March 28 statement from 6th Fleet saying, “military and federal civilian law enforcement continued investigations into a fire aboard the ship originating in the ship’s laundry facilities.”

This comes amid an avalanche of speculation that the Ford might have been hit by an Iranian missile or drone – but this remains just theorizing and speculation.

It’s problems run deeper, Bloomberg writes…

The USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier arrived at a port in Crete on Monday after it had to leave the Middle East — and the war against Iran — when a fire broke out in its laundry area. But the massive ship’s problems run a lot deeper. https://t.co/B9odzYd9UY
— Bloomberg (@business) March 24, 2026
Adm. Caudle did make another important admission in his Tuesday remarks. He said: “The challenge … is how do you buy down risk in other parts of the world while you’re focusing a lot of resources in one area.” Already major US military assets have been diverted from southeast Asia, where China’s pressure campaign on Taiwan continues, toward the Middle East in relation to Operation Epic Fury.

Tyler Durden
Sat, 04/04/2026 – 07:35

Americans are asking a simple question: why focus on Iran when we have a crisis at home? It sounds reasonable. Immigration is strained. Fraud is rising. Enforcement systems are under pressure. Why escalate overseas?Because the premise behind that question is wrong. It assumes the problems are separate. They are not. We already accept this in one part of the world. Violence and cartel control in Central America push migration directly to the U.S. border. When those systems stabilize, migration drops. Foreign instability does not stay foreign. It shows up here. The same thing is now happening through a different corridor, one most Americans have never been asked to look at.Start with the map. The Iran warIran war is no longer confined to the Persian Gulf. Tehran has signaled it can open a second front at the Bab el Mandeb Strait. Most Americans have never heard of it. But they know the Red Sea. They know Saudi Arabia. They know the Suez Canal.Bab el Mandeb sits at the other end of that same waterway, where ships leave the Red Sea and enter the Indian Ocean. It is not Iranian territory. It lies between Yemen, where Iran backed Houthi forces operate, and the Horn of Africa. That is exactly why it matters.REP SETH MOULTON: AMERICA DESERVES BETTER THAN TRUMP’S VAGUE IRAN WAR PLANSIran does not need to control the strait. Through the Houthis, it can threaten traffic moving through it. That allows Tehran to pressure two global chokepoints at once, Hormuz and Bab el Mandeb, forcing energy markets, shipping routes, and military deployments to react.But the real story is not the water. It is the land on the other side. Across from Yemen sits a fractured corridor in East Africa that has been quietly reorganizing for years. Somaliland, a breakaway region, has become a strategic node. The UAE has built up the Port of Berbera. Ethiopia secured long term coastal access in 2024. In December 2025, Israel became the first country to recognize Somaliland.That recognition was not symbolic. It opened the door to a new alignment, ports, logistics, and potentially military positioning along one of the world’s most critical trade routes. On the other side sits Somalia’s central government, backed in different ways by Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, all wary of fragmentation and external control.TRUMP RATES MACRON ‘AN 8’ AS FRANCE AND US SPLIT OVER MIDDLE EAST STRATEGYNow add pressure. Saudi Arabia needs U.S. and Israeli cooperation to counter Iran and Houthi threats in the Red Sea. At the same time, it is trying to block the UAE from building a chain of ports and proxies stretching from Yemen to Somaliland. That is the bind. Support the coalition against Iran, and you risk enabling a new regional order that sidelines you. Resist it, and you weaken the response to Iran.The Red Sea is no longer just a shipping lane. It has become a convergence point, war, Gulf rivalry, and fears of fragmentation all sitting on the same corridor.If Somaliland becomes a staging ground for Israeli or Emirati operations, and if recognition spreads, this does not stay local. It becomes a new flashpoint across Africa and the Gulf.WHY TRUMP, IRAN SEEM LIGHT-YEARS APART ON ANY POSSIBLE DEAL TO END THE WARYou may not know it, but it is also closely linked to a flashpoint at home. The same Somali region at the center of this contest is directly connected to the United States through migration and diaspora networks, especially in Minnesota and Michigan. Those connections are not theoretical.In late 2025, ICE launched Operation Metro Surge, targeting Somali heavy neighborhoods in Minneapolis and expanding into other cities, including parts of Michigan. At the same time, Temporary Protected Status for Somalis was ended.Alongside enforcement came something else. A massive fraud system.ONE AMERICAN’S DETENTION IN LEBANON EXPOSED A TRUTH THAT IS NOW DEVASTATING AN ENTIRE COUNTRYThe Feeding Our Future case exposed roughly $250 million in fraudulent claims. Broader investigations into Medicaid and social service programs have examined billions more, with estimates suggesting the scale of fraud could reach into the billions.Then came the escalation.Reports and investigations began raising the possibility that some of those funds moved through informal transfer networks into Somalia, and potentially toward al Shabaab. Al Shabaab is not a local gang. It is a Somalia based Islamist militant group affiliated with al Qaeda, seeking to unify Somali regions under a fundamentalist state.WHY TRUMP’S WAR SPEECH FAILED: DECLARING VICTORY BUT STILL BOMBING IRAN BACK TO THE ‘STONE AGES’Whether U.S. funds reached that network is still under investigation. But the fact that the question is now being asked is the shift. What was treated as a domestic fraud issue is now being viewed through a national security lens. There is also a political layer.In January 2024, Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., told a Somali audience in Minneapolis that “Somalia is one… our lands are indivisible,” and that the United States “will do what we tell them” on Somali territorial issues, explicitly opposing the Ethiopia Somaliland deal.That is not an isolated statement. It reflects a real alignment, diaspora politics tied to territorial disputes that now sit inside a live geopolitical conflict.IRAN WAR JEOPARDIZES TRUMP ECONOMIC BOOM BEFORE KEY MIDTERM ELECTIONSPut the pieces together. A maritime chokepoint under pressure from Iranian proxies. A contested African corridor being reshaped by Gulf states, Israel, and regional actors. A diaspora network embedded inside the United States. And domestic systems, immigration enforcement, fraud networks, political alignments, already under strain.The Iran war did not create these systems. But it is now activating them. The same corridor emerging as a second front in the Iran conflict runs through a region tied directly into American communities, financial flows, and political dynamics.This is not a distraction from America’s problems. It is where those problems lead. If the United States treats foreign conflict and domestic instability as separate, it will keep reacting at the point of breakdown, at the border, in the courts, in local politics, while the system driving those pressures continues to build. The Iran war breaks the back of that nexus for the Middle East.This article is a Fox News Digital exclusive from the author’s Substack series on different theaters President Trump is realigning with the Iran War.

EXCLUSIVE— As one of the most recognizable supermodels of the 1980s, Kim Alexis knows a thing or two about the pressure of meeting beauty standards, but she also sees a dangerous trend among those who are eschewing those standards completely.Over the course of her modeling career, Alexis graced over 500 magazine covers, including Vogue and Glamour, and made six appearances in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. She said she is well-acquainted with what is and isn’t a healthy beauty mindset and diet, sharing some concerns about the body positivity trend. Body positivity is a social movement promoting the acceptance of all body types, regardless of size or appearance. While advocates say it encourages embracing and loving one’s bodies, critics have warned that it elevates unhealthy lifestyles and obesity.”Well, if you’re thinking of body positivity as, ‘This is me. This is who I am. I love myself.’ That’s where we should all start, I believe,” Alexis told Fox News Digital in an interview. “Now, I think to go a step further, it’s, ‘How can I improve?’” she continued. “‘What could be better? How can I stay healthy or go towards health?’ And I think that’s the difference is that some people accept, ‘This is just who I am, and I don’t need to change, and I’m not changing, and I don’t care what society says.’ They can say that, and I think in their mind that can be healthy, at least for accepting yourself and having that self-love. But I believe it’s unhealthy if you’re overweight or too underweight, and you’re not where the body is designed to be.”FORMER BODY-POSITIVITY INFLUENCER SAYS MOVEMENT BECAME ‘RADICAL,’ ADMITS FEELING BRAINWASHEDAlexis identified a tension between embracing that so-called “self-love” and promoting physical health. She also noted that maintaining one’s health looks different with age.”I think self-love and accepting yourself should lead to, how do I maintain or how do I better myself?” she said. “And I believe we need to be doing and saying that all through our lives. I’m in my 60s now, and it’s like, ‘OK, I’m not running 10 miles a day, but what can I do to stay healthy? How do I keep moving? What in my age group is good for me at this point?'”One former body positivity influencer recently spoke to The New York Times about why she regretted being a spokesperson for the movement. “I’m only five feet tall and at my heaviest, I was close to 400 pounds,” Gabriella Lascano told the outlet. “I started to wonder if loving myself at any size had become an excuse to ignore how big I was getting. I felt like I saw myself being brainwashed, essentially. Meanwhile, the language around body positivity began sounding more extreme online.”In 2023, she posted a video denouncing body positivity, saying she felt “guilty” for being a part of the movement and adding that it’s “not fatphobic to care about your health.”However, body positivity advocates like the Body Positive Alliance say one’s body “should not be the determinant of self-worth and self-perception” and everyone, regardless of shape, should have access to the same opportunities.”People, regardless of body type, gender, race, and ability deserve to feel confident, as well as represented through our organization’s messaging,” the group says on its website.Also making health headlines in the past couple of years has been the skyrocketing use of Ozempic. Alexis told Fox News Digital it’s hard to gauge how effective the injection is quite yet because there haven’t been enough studies on its long-term effects. “I think it is a good start for some people who do have some glucose and sugar problems,” Alexis said. “I believe before people go on it, they should have that A1C marker checked because it’s not… It shouldn’t be used as a crutch — it should be used as a supportive tool in getting yourself back to being healthy, being active, eating correctly.”KATE WINSLET SLAMS HOLLYWOOD’S ‘TERRIFYING’ OBSESSION WITH BOTOX AND WEIGHT-LOSS DRUGSShe said a good start would be for people to get educated on what they’re putting in their bodies and understanding the importance of eating “as clean and healthy as possible.” Alexis recalled how much pressure she and her fellow models were under in the world of 1980s fashion and compared it to the scrutiny young women face today. But she said it’s a matter of how they manage that scrutiny.”Oh my gosh, the fashion industry was tough no matter what,” she said. “They were always looking for something that could change. You were not so much celebrated for things, I think, as people are now, or they’re doing self-celebration.”Alexis added, “And I think we also put more pressure on ourselves than maybe others do. We perceive that there’s more pressure and that does one of two things: It either drives you too far where you’re fanatical and that’s all you think about, or it drives you to better yourself. And as you know, my vote is to always better yourself.” Alexis has a new podcast set to release in mid-April called “UNEXPIRED,” in which she’ll further explore the topics of health and wellness.

Steve Friess, the son of the late Republican mega donor Foster Friess, just threw his hat in the ring to run for Wyoming’s open at-large House seat, seeking to pivot from helping fund political candidates to becoming one himself. Friess announced this week that he would be throwing his hat in the ring for Wyoming’s vacant, at-large House seat, which is currently held by Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., who, in December, indicated she would not run for reelection but instead for the U.S. Senate to replace retiring GOP Sen. Cynthia Lummis.Friess’s father, Foster, ran for governor of Wyoming in 2018 before his subsequent passing a few years later. Despite losing in a fiercely competitive race, the late GOP businessman and donor was able to obtain the backing of Donald Trump at the time. His son, Steve, says he thinks he too can help lead Trump’s America First agenda “confidently and boldly.”GOP GUBERNATORIAL HOPEFUL HAILS LEGENDARY GOLFER FOR HEFTY CAMPAIGN DONATION: ‘INCREDIBLY HONORED’”I’m optimistic that I can help lead others to be very confidently and boldly continuing the America First agenda for President Trump. I think you can’t – you can’t always do that as a donor. You know, you write a check and you don’t always get what you hope comes out on the other side,” Friess, a longtime Wyoming resident, told Fox News Digital.Friess, a longtime Wyoming native, describes himself as a “political outsider,” but at the same time is touting his record in “the trenches” fighting for conservative causes. Friess was one of the early seed funders of the late GOP activist Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA, raised the first million dollars for Tea Party Patriots and has been a big finder of the election-integrity nonprofit True the Vote. In talking to Fox News Digital, Friess also touted his work helping get major GOP candidates elected, such as Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., and Montana GOP Governor Greg Gianforte.TOP DEMS BRUSH OFF TIES TO IMAM WHO HELD MEMORIAL FOR IRANIAN LEADER WHO VOWED ‘DEATH TO AMERICA’”Each of these gentlemen had great successful careers and then took the time in their life to engage in this way of serving the country. I think this is what the founders intended,” Friess said. “None of us, none of that group – we’re not doing this for, you know, as a career, a title, or a way to get ahead. We all have a sincere vision of serving our state and our nation.”Friess told Fox News Digital that he supports President Trump’s “bold” actions in Iran, described his actions in Venezuela as “wonderful” and said he wants to focus even more on the government’s budget priorities. Friess also said if elected, he would put his full support behind passing the SAVE America Act, a voter integrity law being pushed by Trump and Republicans aimed at shoring up election security, and has also said he would support term limits for members of Congress. Meanwhile, Friess told Fox News Digital that, if elected, he would also push to bring back Wyoming’s Federal Bureau of Mines, a federal agency previously housed under the Department of the Interior created in 1910 but later closed in 1966.”One important issue that I think we face from a national security level is the fact that China has us over the barrel for a lot of strategic minerals. Wyoming has those strategic minerals, and I’m going to be calling for the recreation of something that was once known as the Bureau of Mines,” Friess posited. “What I’m envisioning is a government entity that’ll be here in Wyoming, not a new bureaucracy in DC, but it will be designed to expedite, streamline and advance the idea of making use of the resources that we have here, both from a jobs perspective and an opportunity perspective, but also from a national security perspective.”

SEATTLE—Business owners in Washington state are worried that the recently passed “millionaires tax” will drive economic activity out—and even target them next. “There’s a lot of fear and trepidation with what’s going on in our government when it comes to taxes,” Matt Humphrey, a Seattle barber who has locations in the Ballard and Roosevelt areas, told Fox News Digital. “This new millionaire’s tax is definitely going to impact us,” Humphrey said. “We’re afraid… they treat us a bit like an ATM when it comes to paying out taxes as a small business.” Steve Gordon, principal of Gordon Truck Centers, a truck dealer in Pacific, Washington, said he is concerned that the millionaires tax will eventually make its way to those who are not in the millionaire income bracket. “The income tax is the latest kind of battle that’s happened here recently,” Gordon said. “But while they frame it as it’s just a tax on millionaires, I mean that’s stacked on a whole bunch of other taxes and there’s nothing to keep it from expanding to regular citizens. And I think a lot of regular folks realize that what might be just for millionaires today supposedly will be coming for them later as they broaden that tax base.” MAMDANI’S ESTATE TAX PLAN COULD DRIVE WEALTH OUT OF STATE, CRITICS WARNWashington state Democrats last month passed the “millionaires tax,” which Democratic Gov. Bob Ferguson signed March 30. It’s the state’s first-ever income tax, celebrated by progressives and socialists and opposed by conservatives; the Wall Street Journal editorial board called it a “con” after its passage that will “inevitably capture the middle class.”The new tax will impose a 9.9% income tax on households earning more than $1 million each year. T tax applies to any money earned after the first $1 million of someone’s annual income. It will take effect on Jan. 1, 2028, with the first payments due in April 2029, KOMO News reported. “Adoption of the historic Millionaires’ Tax makes our tax system more fair, and means free meals for K-12 students, the largest tax break in state history for small businesses, eliminating the sales tax for baby diapers, and sending a check to nearly 500,000 working families to make life more affordable,” Ferguson said at the time.His office touted that the new tax “sends significant revenue back to Washington families and small business owners.”But not everyone is thrilled.”They’re all concerned. Everybody’s concerned,” radio host Ari Hoffman told Fox News Digital.”And it doesn’t matter what kind of business you have, because as I mentioned before with regards to Amazon, if you’re a barber and you were reliant on the Amazonians as your customers, now you don’t have them anymore. You don’t have a barbershop anymore. There were a lot of places that opened up in South Lake Union where Amazon was specifically for Amazon, and they had to close shortly thereafter.”BUSINESS OWNER SAYS ‘WE DON’T HAVE MONEY’ AS NYC OFFICIALS PROPOSE MINIMUM WAGE HIKE: REPORT570 KVI reported Wednesday that Socialist Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson is suggesting she might be pursuing additional taxes on the wealthy and big business. “Speaking at a community forum Friday night, Wilson said her administration is exploring new ‘progressive revenue options’ to help close a projected $140 million city budget gap in 2027,” the outlet reported, quoting Wilson who said, “My team is very hard at work looking for progressive revenue options, taxing the rich, taxing big business in a way that we think will be politically viable and practical.” The city of Seattle, according to the Tax Foundation, has the highest combined state and local sales tax rate, sitting at 10.35%. The organization points out that Seattle surpassed the city of Tacoma, Washington, which had a 10.3 percent tax rate, when King County, where Seattle is located, adopted a 0.1% additional sales tax to generate additional revenue for nonprofits providing cultural programming.”I pay two different B&O taxes, a state B&O tax, a city B&O, I pay sales tax,” Humphrey told Fox News Digital.VICTORIOUS VIRGINIA DEMOCRATS MORPH FROM PRETEND MODERATES INTO LIBERAL EXTREMISTS OVERNIGHT”They want to tax me on all my equipment that I use here annually, that I’ve already paid sales tax on,” he said. “They come up with the highest minimum wage in the state, if not in the country, that I’m aware of. So the cost of labor, the other thing is our relationship with labor. They put us in a very vulnerable position when it comes to actually being an employer. It doesn’t favor the employer.”Washington State’s Business & Occupation (B&O) tax is the Evergreen State’s primary business tax. It is unusual because it is charged on gross receipts, or total revenue, rather than profit, meaning that businesses must pay the tax even if they lose money.Several Washington cities have a higher minimum wage than Seattle’s $21.30 per hour, including Tukwila at $21.65 for large employers and Renton at $21.57.”Amazon used to be bustling,” Hoffman told Fox News Digital. “It was like when I would go down there, I felt like it was in Manhattan. I couldn’t find a parking spot anywhere. And now, no problem, I can park wherever I want. It’s really sad.”FROM ‘JUMP ON A BUS’ TO TAX CRACKDOWNS: BLUE STATES CHASE WEALTHY RESIDENTS FLEEING TO RED HAVENSOn Feb. 24, Amazon told GeekWire that it would not renew its lease at 1915 Terry Ave in the Denny Triangle area of downtown Seattle, which had occupied the space for 12 years. GeekWire reported that the company is growing its presence outside downtown Seattle in Bellevue, located in King County, Washington, across Lake Washington from Seattle. It has opened new office buildings and plans to have 25,000 employees as part of its regional headquarters.”I mean, I look at my own community,” Hoffman said. “When you had a lot of people who lived here specifically for the tech world, and in 2020 they were told they could work remotely, a lot of them went elsewhere and were still collecting a Seattle salary and then found jobs in those other places. They never came back. The jobs aren’t going to come back magically. These taxes, these policies are scaring people off and a lot of people are leaving.”Starbucks is another company appearing to lessen its Seattle presence, confirming in March that it will be closing five additional stores in the city. That follows several closures in 2025, including the Starbucks Reserve Roastery on Capitol Hill. Additionally, in a March post on LinkedIn, former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz announced that he and his wife moved to Florida for their “retirement phase,” leaving Washington state after almost half a century.GRADUALLY, THEN SUDDENLY, BLUE STATE AMERICA IS HEADING FOR FINANCIAL DISASTERWhile Schultz did not mention the millionaires tax, some, like Gordon, speculate his departure could have been due to it. “It was pretty ironic that Howard Schultz, who definitely has been a person of the Left nationally with his political profile, announced the day that they approved that income tax in our legislature, he made the announcement that he was leaving for tax-free Miami, Florida,” Gordon said. “So I don’t think that was a coincidence,” he went on. “And for people that have watched Jeff Bezos leave and other prominent members of the Seattle business community, you start to see a trend there that’s unavoidable that the leaders of the businesses are leaving and the businesses themselves are relocating. Starbucks headquarters, for instance, has just opened up a new second headquarters in Tennessee and the speculation is they’re eventually going to move all of their employees out of their Seattle headquarters to Tennessee.”SEATTLE MAYOR PUSHES LOCAL POLICE TO TRACK, INVESTIGATE ICE AGENTS’ ENFORCEMENT ACTIVITIESBut State Rep. Shaun Scott of Seattle, a member of the Seattle Democratic Socialists of America since 2017, told Fox News Digital that he doesn’t want to engage in hypotheticals about the future of the millionaires tax trickling down to the less wealthy.”Well, it’s very difficult to legislate with hypotheticals and to legislate thinking about what may happen 10, 15, 20 years down the line in a legislative body that I may not even actually be a part of,” Scott said. “I believe that it is our role as state lawmakers to legislate according to the issues that are impacting us while anticipating ones that might come down the line,” he added. Scott continued, “And the fact of the matter is that right now in Washington state we have galling wealth inequality. And underfunded public institutions. And the way that that is reconciled is through basic arithmetic. People who have more could afford to be paying more into the system. And when that happens, I think that Washington will be an even more competitive place to live, work, and do business than it is at present.”CORPORATE AMERICA IS ON THE MOVE, AND THESE RED STATES ARE CASHING INScott said he believes “taxing the rich” is popular among both Republicans and Democrats. “Well, taxing the rich and the idea of taxing wealth in order to fund services that we all use, make no mistake about it, this is about as popular a policy position in Washington state as any other,” Scott said.  “As a matter of fact, it is, I would venture to say, the most popular position that somebody could take,” Scott added. “In the November 2024 election cycle here in Washington state, approaching two-thirds of Washington state voters statewide cast their ballots in favor of a capital gains tax upholding our capital gains tax, which funds early learning K-12 schools and child care in our state. So when you talk about taxing the rich in our state, that is something that is staunchly supported in very red conservative legislative districts as well as very progressive blue legislative districts like my own.”Vijay Boyapati, a former software engineer for Google, moved to Seattle in 2006 from California to escape high taxes there.He told Fox News Digital that he sees taxes consistently rising in the state without “results.””Taxes have gone up constantly over the last decade. They’ve almost doubled from about ten years ago, but educational results are much worse, so the money isn’t producing the results that they say it will produce,” Boyapati said.DEMS WHO RAN ON AFFORDABILITY NOW FACE BACKLASH AS COSTS CLIMB IN NY, VIRGINIA”So the question really needs to be, why are we not getting better results? he asked. “I think we need to look at why our school systems are failing, why 8th graders, for instance, have like a 70% rate of illiteracy and really poor scores on math, those are really important things to look at and throwing more money at it hasn’t solved the problem, so I think we need to kind of address the problem first before throwing more at it.”  A June report from the Washington State Standard found that, “More than two-thirds of the state’s 4th graders failed to meet reading standards, and 70% of 8th graders weren’t proficient in math last year.” Boyapati also said friends of his are leaving the state because of the tax climate.”I have friends who’ve left to Texas, friends who left to Miami, friends who’ve left to Wyoming,” he said. “And it’s all for the same reason. It’s because Washington really went very far left in the last four years, and the policy changes have been really dramatic and that caused a lot of my friends to leave, unfortunately.” Humphrey, the Ballard barber, said that he would warn others about something similar happening in their state. “What I would say to the rest of the country is don’t let this happen to you,” Humphrey said.VIRGINIA DEMOCRATS SEEK DOZENS OF NEW TAX HIKES, INCLUDING ON DOG WALKING AND DRY CLEANING”Don’t become so compassionate around these issues that sound good and don’t not do your homework,” Humphrey added. “Please look. Look closely at the taxing of small businesses. You can’t, you know, what we’re doing here in the state – going against the Constitution for an income tax is a terrible decision, and it’s going to snowball right towards us, right? I’m next. I’m the next in line. I don’t make a million dollars a year for sure, but I’m in line for them to come after for a state income tax. And I guarantee you, I can’t afford that.” In a statement to Fox News Digital about its Seattle presence, Starbucks said, “We regularly review how our coffeehouses serve their neighborhoods and if they are meeting customers where they are. Sometimes that means investing in updates or trying new formats.” The company added, “Other times, it means making the difficult decision to close a location that no longer fits how people in that community live, work, or gather. These choices are never easy — especially here at home — but they’re an important part of focusing on what we do best and delivering on our Back to Starbucks strategy.” An Amazon spokesperson told Fox News Digital in a statement that, “Amazon employees will be moving out of 1915 Terry Avenue at the end of May when our lease expires and relocating to other Puget Sound headquarter offices.” Fox News Digital reached out to former Starbucks CEO Schultz, Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson, and Gov. Bob Ferguson for comment.