Social media explodes at Sanders for hosting trans musician who sang ‘pure evil’ song at anti-Trump rally
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ anti-Trump, anti-oligarch tour of the U.S. is under fire for hosting a transgender singer who performed a song with lyrics described as “pure evil,” and mocking God and Jesus. “The song specifically attacks Christianity with mentions of Easter and God’s son,” Conservative activist Robby Starbuck posted to X over the weekend. Sanders is in the midst of a “Fighting Oligarchy” tour in areas of the country where the 2024 race proved competitive for Democrats, including in battleground states such as Wisconsin and Michigan. The self-described Democratic socialist senator traveled to Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Friday and was joined by transgender singer Laura Jane Grace, who performed an anti-Christian song on stage before Sanders thanked the musician for performing. BERNIE SANDERS SEETHES US HAS BECOME ‘OLIGARCHIC SOCIETY’ FOLLOWING TRUMP SPEECH The song is titled “Your God (God’s D—),” with lyrics mocking Christianity, Easter Sunday and Jesus through sexually explicit language. Clips of the video, including on Grace’s Instagram page, circulated across social media over the weekend. BERNIE SANDERS REJECTS JAMES CARVILLE’S CALLS FOR DEMOCRATS TO ‘PLAY DEAD’ Critics and conservatives slammed Sanders and the musician for the performance of the song on social media, including taking issue with the Vermont senator for personally thanking the singer in his remarks during the event. “Wow. AFTER the anti-Christian ‘performance’ at his event, @BernieSanders thanked the trans singer that performed this hateful, evil song,” Starbuck posted in another X post. “If he attempts to apologize, just know his first instinct was to thank the singer after he sang it.” “This is who the Democrats are now. Pure evil,” Starbuck added on X. Grace gained notoriety in the early 2000s as the lead singer of the punk rock band Against Me!. The musician came out as transgender in 2012 during an interview with Rolling Stone. BERNIE SANDERS ‘FLIPS OUT’ WHEN PRESSED ON 4-DAY WORK WEEK PROPOSAL Fox News Digital reached out to Sanders’ office and the musician’s publicity team for comment on the performance and subsequent outrage but did not immediately receive responses. Sanders delivered a response speech to President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress on March 4, when he railed that the U.S. has become an “oligarchic society” under the Trump administration. “The Trump administration is not hiding it,” Sanders said in a streamed response to Trump’s address. “The Trump administration is a government of the billionaire class by the billionaire class, and for the billionaire class. Notwithstanding some of their rhetoric, this is a government that could care less about ordinary Americans and the working families of our country. My friends, we are no longer moving toward oligarchy. We are living in an oligarchic society.”
Dems weaponize Medicaid anxiety in bid to take down Trump-backed federal funding plan
Democrats are accusing Republicans of trying to gut federal health care programs with their plan to avert a partial government shutdown. The bill, a rough extension of current federal funding levels called a continuing resolution (CR), is expected to get a House-wide vote on Tuesday. It will need to pass the Senate and be signed by President Donald Trump by the end of Friday, March 14 to avoid federal programs getting shuttered and tens of thousands of employees furloughed. Trump has called on all Republican lawmakers to support the bill. Democrats, however, have unleashed a staunch opposition campaign against the legislation. It is a stark departure from political tradition that normally sees liberal lawmakers vote by the dozens to avoid a government shutdown. DEMOCRATS PRIVATELY REBUKE PARTY MEMBERS WHO JEERED TRUMP DURING SPEECH TO CONGRESS: REPORT Democratic leaders have in particular accused Republicans of trying to harm funds for Medicare and Medicaid with the bill – something the GOP has denied. “The partisan House Republican funding bill recklessly cuts healthcare, nutritional assistance and $23 billion in veterans benefits. Equally troublesome, the legislation does nothing to protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, while exposing the American people to further pain throughout this fiscal year. We are voting No,” read a joint statement by House Democratic leaders released on Saturday night. The trio of leaders – House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., and House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, D-Calif, – sent a letter to lawmakers bashing the CR on Friday, before the text was released. “House Democrats would enthusiastically support a bill that protects Social Security, Medicare, veterans health and Medicaid, but Republicans have chosen to put them on the chopping block to pay for billionaire tax cuts,” they wrote. “We cannot back a measure that rips away life-sustaining healthcare and retirement benefits from everyday Americans as part of the Republican scheme to pay for massive tax cuts for their wealthy donors like Elon Musk. Medicaid is our red line.” A senior House GOP aide accused House Democrats of “intentionally misleading the American people.” “Their pre-baked statements are disingenuous,” the senior aide told Fox News Digital. “The Democrats came out against the bill before there was even text.” Trump, for his part, has said multiple times that he does not want Congress touching Medicaid but has left the door open to cutting “waste, fraud and abuse,” a line that has been repeated by Republican lawmakers. It is worth noting that yearly congressional appropriations, which are covered by the CR, largely do not touch mandatory government expenditures like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Those programs need to be altered in the federal budget – which Republicans are also working on right now via the reconciliation process. However, the legislation does not address expected payment cuts coming to doctors who treat Medicare patients, a facet that’s given some interest groups like the American Medical Association (AMA) pause. GOLDMAN SACHS HIGHLIGHTS TARIFF WARS WINNERS AND LOSERS “Physicians across the country are outraged that Congress’s proposed spending package locks in a devastating fifth consecutive year of Medicare cuts, threatening access to care for 66 million Medicare patients,” AMA Chair Bruce A. Scott said on the group’s website. It is possible the bill will still get some Democratic votes, likely from lawmakers in competitive districts wary of being blamed for a government shutdown. Republicans will need to shoulder the burden largely themselves, however, in Monday evening’s expected vote to advance the bill through the House Rules Committee. If it passes, then the bill will have to see a House-wide procedural vote known as a “rule vote,” which generally falls along partisan lines. The final House vote on the bill is expected sometime Tuesday afternoon. The 99-page legislation released over the weekend largely keeps government spending flat at fiscal year (FY) 2024 levels until the beginning of FY 2026 on Oct. 1. The bill allocates an additional $8 billion in defense spending to mitigate national security hawks’ concerns, while non-defense spending that Congress annually appropriates would decrease by about $13 billion. There are also some added funds to help facilitate Immigrations and Customs Enforcement operations. Cuts to non-defense discretionary spending would be found by eliminating some “side deals” made during FRA negotiations, House GOP leadership aides said. Lawmakers would also not be given an opportunity to request funding for special pet projects in their districts known as earmarks, another area that Republicans are classifying as savings. It allows Republican leaders to claim a win on no meaningful government spending increases over FY 2025.
Dem governor to headline major fundraiser in key presidential primary state stoking 2028 speculation
In a move that is sure to spark 2028 speculation, the New Hampshire Democratic Party on Monday announced that Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker this spring will headline their largest annual fundraiser. Pritzker, the two-term governor of blue state Illinois, will deliver the keynote address at the New Hampshire Democrats’ McIntyre-Shaheen 100 Club Dinner on April 27 in Manchester, the state’s largest city. The governor, a member of the Pritzker family that owns the Hyatt hotel chain and who has started several of his own venture capital and investment startups, is seen as a potential contender for the 2028 Democratic Party presidential nomination. And trips to New Hampshire – which for over a century has held the first primary in the race for the White House – are seen as an early indicator of a politician’s interest in running for the presidency in the next election. The 60-year-old Pritzker has been one of his party’s leaders in opposing President Donald Trump’s second-term agenda. THESE ARE THE DEMOCRATS WHO MAY RUN FOR THE WHITE HOUSE IN 2028 Pritzker, along with Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, late last year launched a group called Governors Safeguarding Democracy, in order to resist the Trump administration. Their move came in the wake of last November’s elections, when the Democrats lost the White House and their Senate majority, and failed to win back control of the House of Representatives. HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING AND OPINION ON JB PRITZKER In recent weeks, Pritzker has amplified his verbal attacks on Trump and his administration. The release from the New Hampshire Democratic Party noted that “Pritzker is known for his ability to provide strong leadership in tough times, something we need now more than ever.” ILLINOIS REPUBLICANS TURN UP THE VOLUME ON PRITZKER Longtime New Hampshire Democratic Party chair Ray Buckley, pointing to the Illinois governor’s progressive record of accomplishment, emphasized that the governor “is an example of why Democrats should govern all across this country – because they deliver.” Pritzker, who is not prevented by term limits from running for re-election in 2026, has yet to say if he’ll make a bid for a third term steering Illinois. The governor is also no stranger to New Hampshire. He headlined the 2022 New Hampshire Democratic Party convention, and he returned last September, to campaign on behalf of Vice President Kamala Harris, the party’s 2024 presidential nominee. Pritzker made multiple stops, including addressing union members at the New Hampshire AFL-CIO’s annual Labor Day breakfast. Pritzker, who led a successful effort to host the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, was also among the potential 2028 White House contenders to speak during the convention week at the New Hampshire Democratic Party delegation’s daily breakfast.
Trump admin tackling Biden ‘backlog’ of campus antisemitism complaints: ‘Immediate priority’
The Trump administration is moving to investigate as an “immediate priority” outstanding allegations of antisemitism and violence on college campuses across the U.S. after canceling roughly $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia University “due to the school’s continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.” The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) said the Biden administration “accumulated a backlog of complaints” across universities after the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel in October 2023. “Over 140 complaints alleging antisemitic harassment and violence were filed with the Biden Education Department,” Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for the OCR, told Fox News Digital Monday. “The Biden OCR political leadership, however, left well over 70 of those complaints unreviewed. Right now, OCR is investigating over 90 complaints filed and conducting five directed investigations involving antisemitic harassment and violence and is expeditiously reviewing the Biden backlog to open more cases and hold institutions and individuals who engaged in unlawful discriminatory conduct accountable,” Trainor said. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION LAUNCHES ‘ENDDEI’ PORTAL FOR PARENTS, STUDENTS, TEACHERS TO REPORT DISCRIMINATION The Trump administration’s investigation of antisemitic allegations is in line with the president’s executive orders cracking down on antisemitic harassment of Jewish students since the Hamas-Israel conflict. As part of the orders, a multi-agency Task Force to Combat Antisemitism was created, making Columbia’s grant funds its first target. “American institutions of higher education erupted with antisemitic harassment and violence that denied Jewish students their right to equal access to learning, school activities, and campus facilities,” Trainor said in a statement released Friday. “Many college and university presidents took little or no credible action, and the Biden Education Department’s OCR political leadership inexplicably accumulated a backlog of complaints.” “For the relatively few complaints actually resolved, the prior administration’s assistant secretary signed off on toothless resolution agreements that provided little to no remedy for Jewish students to this day,” Trainor said. “The Trump administration will not permit antisemitic protesters and antagonists to take over campus facilities and terrorize Jewish students and staff with impunity.” Linda McMahon, Trump’s secretary of education, visited Columbia University on Friday to discuss concerns about ongoing antisemitic allegations on campus with school leaders. HOUSE EDUCATION CHAIR BACKS TRUMP MOVE TO ABOLISH FEDERAL AGENCY “Americans have watched in horror for more than a year now, as Jewish students have been assaulted and harassed on elite university campuses – repeatedly overrun by antisemitic students and agitators. Unlawful encampments and demonstrations have completely paralyzed day-to-day campus operations, depriving Jewish students of learning opportunities to which they are entitled,” McMahon said in a statement last week. “Institutions that receive federal funds have a responsibility to protect all students from discrimination. Columbia’s apparent failure to uphold their end of this basic agreement raises very serious questions about the institution’s fitness to continue doing business with the United States government.” DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION CANCELS ANOTHER $350M IN ‘WOKE’ SPENDING FOR CONTRACTS, GRANTS Over the weekend, an activist who led protests and encampments on the Columbia University campus for months was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. “We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote in a post on X.
Sec Rubio says purge of USAID programs complete with 83% gone, remainder now falling under State Dept
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that 83% of USAID programs will be canceled following the conclusion of a six-week review by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). In total, 5,200 contracts are being terminated, Rubio wrote in his early Monday morning post on X announcing the new reforms. He said the canceled contracts amounted to “tens of billions of dollars” being spent “in ways that did not serve,” or even harmed, the national interests of the U.S. Rubio added that the remaining 18% of USAID programs—approximately 1,000—will now be managed by the State Department. The move to transfer that authority, he said, was made in consultation with Congress. DOGE BLOWS THE LID OFF MASSIVE NUMBER OF LOANS GRANTED TO KIDS AND MORE TOP HEADLINES In his Monday morning post, Rubio also thanked DOGE and its “hardworking staff who worked very long hours to achieve this overdue and historic reform.” Musk responded to the post, adding “good working with you,” calling the work “tough but necessary.” “The important parts of USAID should always have been with Dept of State,” Musk wrote. The pair reportedly got into a heated exchange last week during a meeting with President Donald Trump’s Cabinet officials, which included Musk, over whether Rubio was doing enough to implement cuts at USAID. Trump reportedly defended Rubio during the spat, according to The New York Times, chiming in that he was doing a “great job” in such a demanding and high-pressure position. Trump later wrote on Truth Social that the two “have a great relationship.” KAROLINE LEAVITT SHUTS DOWN ‘PITIFUL’ RUBIO-MUSK FEUD RUMORS FUELED BY MAINSTREAM MEDIA USAID was an early target of Trump, who, just hours after taking office, ordered a 90-day pause on all U.S. foreign assistance programs pending a review to ensure those programs aligned with American interests. Musk has also been at the forefront of criticism of the agency, asserting it is “beyond repair” and likening the agency’s spending to illegal money laundering for left-wing nonprofits. As the Trump administration has sought to dismantle USAID, a slew of lawsuits seeking to halt its actions have come down. The Supreme Court issued an emergency ruling last week, refusing to halt a judge’s order directing the Trump administration to resume $2 billion in foreign aid payments owed to other countries via pre-existing contracts. Fox News Digital reached out to the State Department for comment but did not immediately hear back.
Trump admin ends waiver allowing Iraq to buy Iranian electricity as part of ‘maximum pressure’ campaign
The Trump administration ended a waiver that allowed the Iraqi government to buy Iranian electricity in a renewed effort to choke off Iran’s profits. National security advisor Mike Waltz told Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani that the end of the waiver was consistent with President Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran as the administration goes all-in on trying to prevent the regime from acquiring a nuclear weapon. “Waltz welcomed the Iraqi Prime Minister’s efforts to achieve energy independence for Iraq, and encouraged the Iraqi government to welcome more western and U.S. energy companies into Iraq’s oil and gas sectors.” Waltz also urged the Iraqi government to resolve its dispute with the Kurdistan Regional Government, where Iraq has been choking off the flow of oil from the Kurdistan region in Iraq to Turkey for years, allowing the region’s continued dependence on Iranian oil. It is part of a global push to boost oil supply and keep prices in check, in an effort that would starve Iran and Russia of fuel profits. “The National Security Advisor urged the Iraqi government to work with the Kurdistan Regional Government to address remaining contract disputes and pay arrears owed to U.S. energy companies, and also requested that the Iraqi government retain an investment coordinator to work with U.S. companies seeking to invest and operate in Iraq,” according to a readout of Waltz’s call with the prime minister. IRAN’S SUPREME LEADER REJECTS NUCLEAR TALKS WITH US AFTER TRUMP’S OVERTURES Trump first issued the sanctions waiver for Iraq when he began applying “maximum pressure” on Iran during his first administration. The waiver only applied to electricity, where Iraqi reliance on Iran has precipitously fallen to just 4%. If the new move expanded to include gas used for power plants, however, it “would cause Iraq to lose more than 30% of its electricity energy,” according to a spokesperson for Iraq’s Ministry of Electricity, Ahmad Moussa, who said the nation is searching for alternatives. Former President Joe Biden continuously renewed the waiver until its expiration on Saturday. The U.S. has significant leverage over Iraq – $100 billion of its reserves are held in the U.S., and Washington could wield that leverage amidst Iran’s increasingly firm grip over Iraqi leadership. The U.S. still has a military presence of about 2,500 personnel stationed in Iraq to help fight ISIS. IRAN CAN MANUFACTURE 6 NUCLEAR WEAPONS WITH NEWLY ENRICHED URANIUM, UN ATOMIC AGENCY REPORT SAYS Trump revealed he sent a letter to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, pushing for Tehran to agree to a nuclear agreement — or face military consequences. “I’ve written them a letter, saying I hope you’re going to negotiate because if we have to go in militarily it’s going to be a terrible thing for them,” Trump told FOX Business on Friday. “There are two ways Iran can be handled – militarily, or you make a deal,” Trump said. “I would prefer to make a deal, because I am not looking to hurt Iran.” According to nuclear experts, Iran is already enriching uranium to 60%, putting it mere days or weeks away from 90% weapons-grade supply. On Saturday, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran would not negotiate with “bullying countries.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Iran currently exports an average of 1.5 million barrels of oil per day, but under Trump’s Feb. 6 executive order, the secretaries of State and Treasury are to work to “implement a campaign aimed at driving Iran’s oil exports to zero.” The U.S. is also working to end a sanctions waiver for the Chabahar port in Iran, where India has poured in $370 million to build a trading gateway to the Middle East. Next, the U.S. could set its sights on China, which buys up 90% of Iran’s oil outflow.
Pentagon losing cutting edge on weapons innovation, needs ‘massive kick in the pants,’ say defense leaders
America’s defenses will not be able to keep up with its peer adversaries if the Pentagon continues to take years to innovate its weapons systems, experts agreed at a security summit last week. The Pentagon’s modernization was given a “D” by the National Security Innovation Base Summit this week, a near-failing letter grade that national security leaders in Congress agreed was a fair assessment. “Progress lives in the private sector, and we’re not seeing enough progress in the public sector,” said Govini CEO Tara Dougherty. “The department needs a massive kick in the pants in this area, and should be held accountable for catching up in progress to match what is happening among the investor community and among the technology sector.” “I think the score is a deserved score, unfortunately,” House Armed Services Committee Vice Chair Rob Wittman said. US CONTINUES TO SHARE DATA TO PROTECT UKRAINIANS AGAINST RUSSIAN STRIKES, DESPITE INTEL PAUSE: SOURCES “The Pentagon is the Ford Motor Company of the 1950s. I mean, they the way they operate, slow, stoic,” Wittman explained. “‘Let’s spend years to write a requirement, then let’s spend years to go to a program or record, let’s spend years to acquire.’ By the time we acquire something, guess what? The threat’s way ahead of us.” “We want them to reflect the Apple 2025 model.” Nowhere is this clearer to defense leaders than in the nation’s shipbuilding capabilities. The Navy currently has 295 deployable ships, though its shipbuilding plan calls for that number to be increased to 390 by 2054. The Maritime Security Program, which maintains privately owned, military-useful ships to deploy in wartime, is down to 60 in its fleet. “It’s precipitously low. We could not get to where we need to be in the Pacific right now if we needed to,” Wittman told Fox News Digital. The issue seemingly keeps President Donald Trump awake at night. John Phelan, Trump’s nominee for Navy secretary, quipped during his confirmation hearing that the president texts him late at night, “sometimes after 1 a.m.” about “rusty ships or ships in a yard, asking me, what am I doing about it?” Phelan added that he has told the president, “I’m not confirmed yet and have not been able to do anything about it, but I will be very focused on it.” ‘STAR TREK SHIELD’ TECHNOLOGY GETS $250M BOOST TO KNOCK DRONE SWARMS FROM THE SKY WITH HIGH-POWERED MICROWAVE “We used to make so many ships,” Trump lamented during a speech to a joint Congress on Tuesday. “We don’t make them anymore very much, but we’re going to make them very fast, very soon. It will have a huge impact.” He announced he had establish a White House Office of Shipbuilding. With the Pentagon, “it’s process, process, process, not outcomes,” said Wittman, who announced he would be co-chairing a defense modernization caucus in Congress. “We’re operating off of an innovation cycle right now that, you know, used to be a decade, and it used to be five years. Then it used to be three years, and now it’s a year or less innovation cycle,” said Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo. “In Ukraine, they’re actually operating off of week-long innovation cycles.” Crow said it is up to Congress to give the Pentagon the “kick in the pants” it needs to move faster. “There are simply no demand signals being sent. So that requires a very real conversation about political will, which is actually bipartisan right now on this issue.” The Pentagon began work on the F-35 fighter jet 25 years ago, and it is “just now getting into full scale production,” noted Wittman. “The capability of that aircraft, the modernization that it needs to keep up with the Chinese threat, it’s just not where it has to be.” Even the newest F-35s need to be taken back to the assembly line to be fitted with 360-degree motion sensors known as the digital aperture system and the other latest technology in radars, Wittman said. “We’re still not going to deliver the current jets coming off the line with technical refresh three hardware and have that software enabled until probably early next year.” Under a new DOGE memo, the Pentagon has kicked off a review of its contracting procedures. “Each Agency Head, in consultation with the agency’s DOGE Team Lead, shall conduct a comprehensive review of each agency’s contracting policies, procedures, and personnel,” a memo circulated this week read. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., told Fox News Digital she worries most about the military being prepared to defend against a cyberattack. “China specifically is better at cybersecurity than we are,” she said. “It only takes one or two incursions that we don’t see coming or that we aren’t responsive to, to make an enormous difference here.” Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., suggested that the U.S. may need to start thinking about offensive cyber missions. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “When it comes to cyber, we’ve got to change the rules of engagement,” he said. “China is eating our boxed lunch in the energy area, in our cellular phone infrastructure, they’re trying to get into Wall Street, they’re trying to get into agriculture.” “We’re really good on cyberintelligence but we have [rules of engagement] that do not let us do nearly what China or Russia does,” he continued. “I don’t think it’s like taking punches to the face, saying ‘can I have another.’” “We’ve got to be able to allow cyber command to fight fire with fire. I wouldn’t even advertise it that much. Just carry a big stick and, get them back.”
Newsom’s ties to CCP under microscope in new book exposing alleged corruption: ‘Fleeced American citizens’
FIRST ON FOX: A new book sounding the alarm about corruption in California spends a chapter focusing on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s history with a nonprofit organization that the authors say served as a major “gateway” for corrupt CCP-aligned corporations to flood into the state. In their book, “Fool’s Gold: The Radicals, Con Artists, and Traitors Who Killed the California Dream and Now Threaten Us All,” authors Jedd McFatter and Susan Crabtree write extensively about Newsom’s relationship with the Chinese community in the Bay Area and his ties to CCP businesses. The book explains that Newsom came into office as San Francisco’s mayor in 2004 after receiving strong support from Chinese voters, enough so that he celebrated his victory in Chinatown and the authors write that from an early point in his tenure he was ready to “go full steam ahead with Chinatown’s interests.” One of those interests, according to Chapter 3 of the book, was a nonprofit organization initiative started by Newsom called ChinaSF that the book argues served as a gateway for CCP officials and Chinese criminals to exploit California. CHINA’S BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE PLAGUED BY CORRUPTION AND POLITICAL BACKLASH: REPORT The book describes a Newsom trip to China, where he was hosted in a Shanghai “clubhouse” by Vincent Lo, a Chinese businessman with deep ties to the CCP. “It was during this meeting that Newsom and Lo hatched a long-term plan to turn San Francisco into the premiere gateway through which Chinese companies could invest and expand their businesses in the United States,” the book says. “Upon his return from China, starry-eyed Gavin told his staff that he was going to set aside a couple of million dollars to set up a public-private partnership called ChinaSF that would open the floodgates to Chinese money and business like never before. It turns out the young mayor wasn’t just blowing smoke: three years later, Newsom and Lo joined forces in Shanghai to co‑launch ChinaSF.” The book says that ChinaSF impacted the Bay Area arguably “more than any other” program that Newsom created as mayor and that the initiative hauled in almost $5.5 billion of economic impact to San Francisco from 2008 to 2018 while recruiting 108 Chinese companies into the city. The book alleges that during this time period, ChinaSF “helped several corrupt Chinese corporations come to America.” One of the several companies discussed in the book was Suntech, a Chinese solar company developed by the CCP that was personally recruited by Newsom into the United States, and he publicly praised the company’s CEO, Dr. Zhengrong Shi, multiple times, and made him an advisory board member for ChinaSF. In addition to green energy companies who streamed through ChinaSF, real estate companies were also involved, and the book alleges that Newsom received over $23,000 in anonymous contributions from Chinese real estate company Z&L, whose billionaire owner was criminally sentenced for bribing a San Francisco government official. Chapter 3, titled “Feeding the Dragon,” goes into detail about a variety of potential red flags on Newsom’s ties with China, including ChinaSF being used as a “tool to build San Francisco into a global hub for biotechnology and pharmaceutical science.” “Dozens of Chinese biotech companies were drawn to the Bay Area with huge tax breaks and other incentives, but it appears that there was very little vetting,” the book states. “One of ChinaSF’s most concerning recruits is the biotech company JOINN Laboratories, which has close ties to China’s military.” NEW REPORT WARNS OF GROWING NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT TO U.S. AS CHINA BUILDS AI: ‘SIGNIFICANT AND CONCERNING’ Fox News Digital reached out to Newsom’s office for comment and received a response pointing to an article about conspiracy theories with the headline, “Conspiracy theorists really do see the world differently, new study shows.” The book goes on to discuss ChinaSF’s involvement with biotechnology and pharmaceutical science companies that were “drawn to the Bay Area” with tax breaks and “little vetting” along with a liquor company called Kweichow Moutai, which has a history of “several major corruption scandals involving bribery by CCP officials.” The book also alleges that as California’s lieutenant governor, Newsom trademarked wines he owns in China and poured them for CCP elites at a lavish Shanghai tasting. The authors also drew attention to the controversial connection between ChinaSF and Huawei, a company that has been involved in a myriad of questionable practices that have drawn scrutiny from U.S. presidential administrations, resulting in restrictions. “However, no one seemed to notice when an infamous Chinese company became their top financial sponsor in 2016,” the book says. “This might be because the U.S. government has long identified that company, Huawei Technologies, as one of China’s most dangerous tech companies. According to an internal report, ChinaSF hosted two events in 2016, headlined by Huawei, which led to Huawei establishing a new research and development office in San Francisco. The amount of money Huawei funneled to ChinaSF is unknown, but it’s worth noting that in 2016, Huawei generated more than $75 billion in revenue, so they had plenty of cash to flash around.” ChinaSF once described itself as a nonprofit, including on its now defunct website, the book explains, but between 2009 and 2014 it was a limited liability corporation whose only member was the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce. “In other words, for a period of time, ChinaSF was a private entity embedded in a local chamber of commerce,” the book says. SCHUMER SPOTTED POSING FOR PHOTO WITH CCP OFFICIAL AS WARNINGS SWIRL ABOUT CHINA INFLUENCE The chapter closes with a summary of why ChinaSF’s influence in the state deserves more scrutiny. “Close analysis of available data reveals that most descriptions of ChinaSF by government and media have been vacuous and misleading,”: the book says. “Essentially, ChinaSF is the branded name of a complex bureaucratic mirage used as cover to legitimize the massive transfer of Bay Area technology, property, and wealth to China while streamlining the establishment of Chinese business in the United States. It’s the secret elixir Newsom concocted to help
DOGE lawmakers look to defund Biden’s anemic-paced $3B EV postal truck ‘boondoggle’
EXCLUSIVE: Two top DOGE lawmakers are introducing a bill to claw back $3 billion authorized under former President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which was designated to create an electric vehicle (EV) fleet for the United States Postal Service (USPS). A South Carolina defense contractor responsible for the 60,000-vehicle order was already “far behind schedule” as of November. A Washington Post exposé revealed that by then, fewer than 100 of these vehicles had been delivered to USPS. Citing that, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, DOGE Caucus chair, and Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas, will be forwarding the “Return to Sender Act,” seeking to recoup what is about 30% of the overall appropriation in Biden’s law that was intended to be geared toward reducing inflation. The Postal Service was to receive an initial order of 50,000 EV delivery trucks from defense contractor Oshkosh within the next three years, but only 93 had been produced by November, according to the Post. DOGE SENATOR SEEKS TO ENSURE FEDS CAN CONTINUE PURSUING COVID FRAUDSTERS One person involved in the production told the outlet that the “bottom line [is] we don’t know how to build a damn truck.” That, along with a Post revelation that the government’s deliveryman agreed to pay more for the trucks after the contractor increased its prices, appeared to lead Ernst and Cloud to announce their bill. The agreement forged between the Postal Service and the manufacturer ultimately finalized a $77,692 cost per EV truck for about 28,000 vehicles. While the company did not comment at the time of the exposé, its CEO told investors in October that Oshkosh “is really happy where we are” on the project. “Biden’s EV postal fleet is lost in the mail,” said Ernst, chief sponsor of the legislation. DOGE SENATOR PUSHES TO END ‘SLUSH FUND’ FOR FAILED PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES “The order needs to be canceled with the unspent money returned to sender, the taxpayers. I am defunding this billion-dollar boondoggle to stamp out waste in Washington. Tax dollars should always be treated with first-class priority.” Cloud told Fox News Digital the Inflation Reduction Act continues to be proven to be a misnomer, and that in this respect it “funneled billions into a failed USPS EV project that has delivered nothing but delays, defective trucks, and skyrocketing costs.” “Three years later, taxpayers are still waiting while the Postal Service refuses to provide basic transparency on where the money went. The Return to Sender Act takes back the $3 billion in taxpayer money that has been wasted in this project,” Cloud said. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP In February, Ernst also cited the USPS EV project in her Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act that targets disclosures of government projects costing 10 figures or more over-budget, and/or five years behind schedule. The text of the bill, which is less than one-page long, specifically directs “unobligated balances of amounts appropriated or otherwise made available by sections 70002 and 70003 of Public Law 117–169 (commonly referred to as the ‘Inflation Reduction Act’), as of the date of enactment of this Act are rescinded and those sections are hereby repealed.”
‘Leave now’: Trump admin repurposes controversial CBP One app to encourage self-deportations
EXCLUSIVE: The Trump administration is rolling out a new app to replace the controversial CBP One app with the new replacement designed to facilitate the self-deportation of illegal immigrants. The Department of Homeland Security is announcing the CBP Home app — which will launch with a self-deportation reporting feature for those in the country illegally. It replaces the CBP One app, which was expanded by the Biden administration to allow migrants to schedule appointments at ports of entry to be paroled into the U.S. Hundreds of thousands were paroled into the U.S. as a result. The Trump administration has ended the ability to use the app for that purpose. All CBP One apps will update to the new CBP Home app. NEARLY 17 MILLION ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS LIVING IN THE US, 16% INCREASE SINCE 2021: ANALYSIS “The Biden Administration exploited the CBP One App to allow more than 1 million aliens to illegally enter the United States. With the launching of the CBP Home App, we are restoring integrity to our immigration system,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement. The app allows aliens to “Submit Intent to Depart” and submit information regarding their intent to leave the U.S. They can also provide information to verify they have left the U.S., a function limited to those who were paroled into the U.S. “The CBP Home App gives aliens the option to leave now and self-deport, so they may still have the opportunity to return legally in the future and live the American dream. If they don’t, we will find them, we will deport them, and they will never return,” Noem said. NOEM ENDS BIDEN-ERA USE OF CONTROVERSIAL APP TO ALLOW MIGRANTS TO BOARD FLIGHTS, EXCEPT TO SELF-DEPORT The Trump administration has moved rapidly to expand deportations and also cut the number of migrants entering the U.S., including via humanitarian parole, which dramatically expanded under the Biden administration. Trump ended the use of the CBP One app to parole migrants on his first day in office. His administration has also paused applications for parole programs, and allowed ICE to cancel parole statuses of migrants. CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE Last month, Noem ended the use of CBP One to allow migrants to board domestic flights, unless it is being used for their self-deportation. The administration has also canceled extensions for Temporary Protected Status for some nationalities. Meanwhile, the administration has touted a sharp drop in migrant crossings at the southern border. “They heard my words, and they chose not to come, much easier that way,” Trump told a joint session of Congress last week.