Contributing Writers

LA GRANGE, TEXAS — Along the bends of Highway 71, a string of steady Texas towns dot the wind-swept pastures. It’s here where most folks earn a living with their hands, wear dust on their boots, sun on their skin and easy smiles on their faces.This is the soft edge of the Hill Country, where limestone gives way to red dirt and family ranches stitch the land together. Folks here haul their own hay, do things right the first time and don’t wait for daylight to start the day.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s press office responded to a New York Post article mocking his “testicle-crushing” sitting pose with a photo of the politician in an exaggerated, contorted position that quickly went viral.”Democracy requires flexibility,” Newsom’s office wrote in the post accompanying the image.

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled that certain evidence linked to an ally of former FBI Director James Comey is temporarily off limits to the Justice Department in its efforts to renew a prosecution of the ex-director following the dismissed criminal case.U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said the DOJ may not use information pertaining to Daniel Richman.

EXCLUSIVE: The Kennedy Center Honors has raised a record $23 million for its 48th annual celebration, nearly doubling the $12.7 million raised last year under President Biden, as President Donald Trump begins his tenure as chairman of the Kennedy Center, Fox News Digital has learned.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth offered new details Saturday about how he personally authorized the Trump administration’s first strike on a suspected drug-smuggling vessel off Venezuela on Sept. 2, telling Fox News’ Lucas Tomlinson he watched the strike live in the Pentagon after giving the green light.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Mehmet Oz on Friday warned Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz the state could lose federal Medicaid funding unless it restores “the integrity” of its program.In a post on X, Dr.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is preparing to deliver a speech Saturday on rebuilding the “arsenal of freedom” at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California.Ahead of the keynote address, Hegseth shared a video on X touring facilities in California. “The era of vendor-locked, prime-dominated, closed architecture, cost plus is over. We’re going to compete. We’re going to move fast. We’re going to do open architecture.

U.S. Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks announced that nearly all illegal immigrants detained will be charged a $5,000 “apprehension fee.”In a post on X on Thursday, Banks said illegal immigrants ages 14 and older who entered the country without inspection will face a fee, a provision included in the “big, beautiful bill,” which President Donald Trump signed into law in July.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Friday pushed back against accusations from Arizona Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva, who claimed she was pepper sprayed during an immigration raid in Tucson.In a post on X, Grijalva said she was “pushed aside and pepper sprayed” after identifying herself as a member of Congress while seeking information from officers during a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) operation near the Taco Giro restaurant.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit on Friday against the East Plano Islamic Center (EPIC), Community Capital Partners (CCP) and several associated leaders, accusing them of running an illegal securities and land development scheme tied to a proposed 400-acre community known as “EPIC City.”The lawsuit, filed in Collin County, follows a monthslong investigation and a referral from the Texas State Securities Board.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, criticized President Donald Trump on Thursday for describing the state’s Somali community as “garbage.”Walz said Trump’s statements of contempt for the state’s Somali community were “unprecedented for a United States president.””We’ve got little children going to school today who their president called them garbage,” the blue state governor said.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) arrested seven more criminal illegal immigrants, including “pedophiles, gang members and drug traffickers” during Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis.Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Friday announced its latest “worst of the worst” list, with offenders coming from Somalia, Venezuela, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic and Guatemala.

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani said Thursday he would stop clearing homeless encampments when he takes office in January, ending a longstanding practice by Mayor Eric Adams’ administration.While answering questions at “Hot Chocolate, Frozen Rent” in Manhattan, Mamdani confirmed he would halt sweeps of homeless encampment sites across the city, marking one of his clearest breaks yet from an Adams policy launched in 2022.

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani said Thursday that NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch personally apologized to his team after her brother described him as an “enemy” of the Jewish people during a high-profile charity dinner in Manhattan on Wednesday night.Speaking at his Cocoa Chat community meeting, Mamdani stressed that the apology was received and that he intends to govern for all New Yorkers.

America’s emotional divide over the federal government has never been wider, according to a new Pew Research Center survey showing record-high anger among Democrats, rising Republican contentment and near-collapse levels of public trust, all captured days before the government plunged into a 43-day shutdown.The probability-based, nationally representative poll, conducted Sept.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Thursday that it had made dozens of arrests in New Orleans just one day after launching Operation Catahoula Crunch, the latest federal immigration operation cracking down on criminal illegal immigrants.”Americans should be able to live without fear of violent criminal illegal aliens harming them, their families or their neighbors,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

A former top New York state official accused of spying for China once remarked that New York Gov. Kathy Hochul was “much more obedient” than former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.Linda Sun made the remark after she convinced Hochul, who served as Cuomo’s lieutenant governor at the time, to film a Lunar New Year video touting China’s New York consulate, the New York Post reported, citing evidence presented at Sun’s corruption trial.

The U.S. Institute of Peace has been formally rebranded as the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace, marking the latest step in the president’s months-long effort to dismantle the congressionally created agency.The name change comes after a turbulent year for the organization, which the Trump administration has sought to shut down while shifting its authority to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

An actress and model who moonlights as a DJ and is romantically linked to the leader of the bloodthirsty Venezuelan Tren de Aragua (TdA) transnational gang was sanctioned by the Trump administration on Wednesday.The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced the designation against Jimena Romina Araya Navarro, also known as Rosita.

After Republican candidate Matt Van Epps defeated Democrat candidate Aftyn Behn in Tuesday’s special election race for Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District, both parties cheered the results.Republicans touted a rejection of far-left radical policies and their ability to retain the GOP-held seat vacated by retired GOP Congressman Mark Green.

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the U.S. is preparing to take its campaign against narco-terrorism directly “on land” inside Venezuela, warning that the Nicolás Maduro regime has already sent “killers, murderers … gang members” and other violent offenders into the U.S. during past years of mass migration.Speaking in the Oval Office during a Q&A session with reporters, Trump said U.S.

A new national defense survey shows Americans are increasingly alarmed by global threats and more willing to see the United States assert leadership on the world stage even as doubts grow about the military’s readiness to deter adversaries and win wars overseas.The 2025 Reagan National Defense Survey, released Wednesday by the Ronald Reagan Institute, found 64% of Americans want the U.S.

The Justice Department filed lawsuits Tuesday against six blue states: Delaware, Maryland, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington, accusing them of violating federal law by refusing to provide statewide voter registration rolls upon request.

Republicans will hold onto a GOP-controlled vacant congressional seat in ruby-red Tennessee after winning a hotly contested special election that grabbed plenty of national attention.Republican nominee Matt Van Epps on Tuesday defeated Democratic rival Aftyn Behn, according to the Associated Press, in the high-stakes race to succeed former GOP Rep. Mark Green, who resigned from office in June to take a private sector job.

One month after former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was defeated in New York City’s mayoral election by democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, another disgraced former governor seeking political redemption by running for mayor was also defeated by a younger, progressive contender.Former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey, who was running for mayor of Jersey City, the state’s second-largest city, came up short on Tuesday in a runoff election.

President Donald Trump announced in a Truth Social post on Tuesday that he would “fully and completely” terminate any documents signed by former President Joe Biden’s autopen, including pardons and commutations.”Any and all Documents, Proclamations, Executive Orders, Memorandums, or Contracts, signed by Order of the now infamous and unauthorized ‘AUTOPEN,’ within the Administration of Joseph R. Biden Jr.

An expert warned that the U.S. immigration crisis in America will continue so long as the country’s elite reject the idea of the “Americanization” of immigrants.