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Texas DOGE bill passes Senate to streamline state regulations
Texas has passed a bill that would create an efficiency office much like the federal government's Department of Government Efficiency started by President Donald Trump.
Texas SB14 establishes the Texas Regulatory Efficiency Office and, if passed into law, will attempt to streamline state regulations, reduce unnecessary rules and promises to make massive reductions to the size of the state’s government.
"I prioritized SB 14 because President Trump’s creation of the ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ inspired me to find ways Texas can save taxpayers and businesses money by cutting burdensome regulations. The Texas Miracle will continue long into the 21st century because our common-sense, conservative approach to regulation will keep Texans prosperous and our economy strong," said Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick in a statement Wednesday.
A regulatory efficiency advisory panel will also be established that will advise the governor's office and the Efficiency Office. That panel will be composed of members representing regulated businesses, the public, occupational license holders, higher education and state agencies.
This bill outlines that it will also increase the public’s access to regulatory information by establishing an interactive website for people to search for state agency rules and information by topic, activity or NAICS code.
To keep things transparent, the bill would require that the Efficiency Office must submit a biennial report to the governor and the Legislative Budget Board, detailing its activities, findings, and recommendations.
Patrick says this bill was necessary for the people of Texas and will put money back in taxpayers’ pockets.
"The Texas economy is the envy of America and the world. Texans understand that by cutting red tape, more money stays in the pockets of taxpayers. When Texans save money, the private sector is unleashed, Texans start small businesses, jobs are created and our economy grows," Patrick said.
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The bill is now on its way to the House committee before it can be voted on by the Texas House of Representatives.
Trump nominates Georgia state Sen Brandon Beach for US treasurer
President Donald Trump late Wednesday took to Truth Social to announce Georgia state Sen. Brandon Beach as the next U.S. treasurer.
The 63-year-old Louisiana native was elected as a Republican Georgia state senator in 2013. He represents District 21, which includes parts of Cherokee and Fulton counties.
"Brandon helped us secure a Massive and Historic Victory for our Movement in the Great State of Georgia, and has been doing an incredible job in the Georgia State Senate since 2012. As our next Treasurer, Brandon will uphold the Values of Fiscal Responsibility, Economic Growth, and help unleash America’s Golden Age," Trump wrote in the post. "Congratulations Brandon!"
TOP DEM USED SAME APP USED IN ATLANTIC SCANDAL TO SET UP CONTACT WITH STEELE DOSSIER AUTHOR
A graduate of Centenary College of Louisiana State University and Louisiana Frost School of Business, Beach won the Legislator of the Year Award from the Georgia Chamber of Commerce in 2017 and the Emerging Leader Award from GOPAC Inc. in April 2023.
He also serves as the president and CEO of the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce and president and CEO of the North Fulton Community Improvement District.
Under his leadership, the district invested more than $2 million to bring $30 million in new infrastructure to the area, according to the Georgia Department of Economic Development.
Community boards he serves on include the Regional Business Coalition, Grady Hospital Board of Visitors, the Greater Metro Atlanta American Heart Association, Georgia Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives, Encore Park, and the Historic Roswell Convention and Visitors Bureau, according to the department.
Beach currently lives in Alpharetta, Georgia, and shares two children with his wife, Shuntel Paille Beach.
'STOP THEM!': DEMOCRAT CLASHES WITH TRUMP SOCIAL SECURITY NOMINEE OVER DOGE ACCESS
Following Beach's nomination, Trump announced via Truth Social that Brent Bozell will serve as U.S. Ambassador to South Africa.
"Brent is the Founder of the Media Research Center [MRC], which has exposed Fake News hypocrites for many years," Trump wrote in the post. "Brent brings fearless tenacity, extraordinary experience, and vast knowledge to a Nation that desperately needs it. Congratulations Brent!"
Prior to founding the MRC, Bozell served as president of the National Conservative Political Action Committee and the National Conservative Foundation.
The University of Dallas alumnus serves as chairman of ForAmerica, an organization "committed to restoring America to its founding principles."
He is married with five children and seventeen grandchildren.
The Georgia Senate Press Office and Beach did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
DOGE slashes billions more in expenses for programs like Peruvian climate change and gender equity in Mexico
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) announced it had terminated 113 contracts valued at $4.7 billion Tuesday, including a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) consulting contract for Peru's climate change activities.
"[Tuesday] agencies terminated 113 wasteful contracts with a ceiling value of $4.7B and savings of $3.3B, including a $145K USDA consulting contract for ‘Peru climate change activities,'" the department posted on X.
DOGE also announced the Department of Labor had canceled $577 million in "America Last" grants, totaling $237 million in savings.
The funding that was canceled included $10 million for "gender equity in the Mexican workplace," $12.2 million for "worker empowerment in South America" and $6.25 million for "improving respect for workers' rights in agricultural supply chains" in the countries of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.
Also eliminated was $5 million to elevate women’s participation in the workplace in West Africa, $4.3 million to assist foreign migrant workers in Malaysia, $3 million to enhance Social Security access and worker protection for internal migrant workers in Bangladesh and $3 million for safe and inclusive work environments in the southern African country of Lesotho.
DOGE, led by Elon Musk, is a temporary organization within the White House created via executive order earlier this year.
President Donald Trump tasked the organization with optimizing the federal government, streamlining operations and slashing spending and gave the agency 18 months to do it.
The department has canceled numerous diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives at federal agencies, consulting contracts, leases for underused federal buildings and duplicate agencies and programs.
As of March 26, DOGE claims on its site it has saved Americans $130 billion, or $807.45 per taxpayer.
DOGE critics contend the organization has too much access to federal systems and should not be permitted to cancel federal contracts or make cuts to various agencies.
Fox News Digital’s Eric Revell and Alexandra Koch contributed to this report.
Federal judge denies Trump admin's effort to ban transgender people from military
A federal judge denied President Donald Trump’s administration’s efforts to ban transgender people from joining the military, which was set to go into effect Friday.
The Department of Justice has since filed a notice of appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeal for the District of Columbia.
Washington, D.C.-based U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes, a Biden appointee, on Wednesday, denied the government’s motion to dissolve her order that prevents the military from denying transgender people the ability to enlist in the military.
Reyes presided over a hearing on March 21, when she requested the Department of Defense (DOD) delay its original March 26 deadline to enact the policy.
TRANSGENDER MILITARY BAN SET TO TAKE EFFECT DURING ONGOING COURT BATTLE
On March 21, the defendants in the suit, who include Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, filed a motion to dissolve the injunction blocking the Pentagon's ban. The filing argued that the policy is not an overarching ban but instead "turns on gender dysphoria – a medical condition – and does not discriminate against trans-identifying persons as a class."
The Trump administration further requested that, if the motion to dissolve is denied, the court should stay the preliminary injunction pending appeal.
The government cited new guidance issued March 21 that it expected to enact the policy if not for the ongoing litigation. The guidance clarified that "the phrase ‘exhibit symptoms consistent with gender dysphoria’" solely applies to "'individuals who exhibit such symptoms as would be sufficient to constitute a diagnosis.'"
Reyes said she wanted to allow more time for the appeals process. She also said she had previously allowed plenty of time to appeal her earlier opinion blocking the ban from going into effect.
On Wednesday, Reyes acknowledged that Military Department Identification Guidance (MIDI Guidance) is new, but the argument presented by the defense is not.
"Defendants re-emphasize their ‘consistent position that the [Hegseth] Policy is concerned with the military readiness, deployability, and costs associated with a medical condition,’" the judge wrote. "Regulating gender dysphoria is no different than regulating bipolar disorder, eating disorders, or suicidality. The Military Ban regulates a medical condition, they insist, not people. And therein lies the problem.
TRUMP ADMIN ASKS FEDERAL JUDGE TO DISSOLVE INJUNCTION BARRING TRANSGENDER MILITARY BAN
"Gender dysphoria is not like other medical conditions, something Defendants well know," Reyes continued. "It affects only one group of people: all persons with gender dysphoria are transgender and only transgender persons experience gender dysphoria."
She later noted that the opinion has generated a heated public debate, and, as the court predicted, the Trump administration will appeal.
"This is all to the good," Reyes said. "But let's recall that our service members make the debate and appeals possible. Their sacrifices breathe life into the phrase, ‘one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.’ The Court, again, thanks them all."
The legal challenge comes as the Supreme Court also considers a high-profile case dealing with transgender rights.
The issue in the case, United States vs. Skrmetti, is whether the equal protection clause, which requires the government to treat similarly situated people the same, prohibits states from allowing medical providers to deliver puberty blockers and hormones to assist with a minor's transition to another sex.
Fox News Digital's Haley Chi-Sing contributed to this report.
Congressional Democrats find their voice as Signal slip-up becomes talk of the town
It was sheer coincidence that two of the witnesses testifying before a rare, public hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee Tuesday were part of the botched text chain about military action in Yemen.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe were scheduled for the committee’s annual "worldwide threats" hearing.
But something else commandeered the talk of the town.
Had the text chain not dropped, there would have been lengthy discussions about domestic terrorism and the threat at the border. How the U.S. was grappling with China. Was there progress in the Middle East? How about the war in Ukraine?
RUBIO BREAKS SILENCE ON LEAKED SIGNAL CHAT: 'SOMEONE MADE A BIG MISTAKE'
FBI Director Kash Patel joined Gabbard and Ratcliffe at the witness table. Patel just assembled a task force to address domestic terrorism. Under other circumstances, senators may have questioned Patel about people setting Teslas afire and keying Cybertrucks.
But that was not to be.
Democrats have reeled since the early days of the second Trump Administration. They’ve failed to establish their footing. They’ve attacked one another after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., sided with Republicans to help avoid a government shutdown. Other Democrats faced irate voters, infuriated that the people they elected aren’t doing more to stand up to President Trump and Congressional Republicans.
And then Democrats scored a gift with the bolloxed text chain.
Or, it was at least something Democrats could wield against the other side.
They were apoplectic about the group chat.
"It’s the dumbest thing I've seen," said Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz.
"I think this is one more example of the kind of sloppy, careless, incompetent behavior," bemoaned Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee.
HEGSETH SAYS NO CLASSIFIED INFORMATION WAS SHARED IN SIGNAL GROUP CHAT: 'NOBODY'S TEXTING WAR PLANS'
Democrats charged that intelligence officials were cavalier with information.
"This sloppiness, this incompetence, this disrespect for our intelligence agencies and the personnel who work for them is entirely unacceptable. It's an embarrassment," said Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo. "You need to do better. You need to do better."
Gabbard initially sidestepped when Warner questioned her about the digital misfire.
"Senator, I don't want to get into the specifics," Gabbard said.
That response confounded Warner.
"You're not going to be willing to address…?" said Warner. "Are you denying that? Will you answer my question, ma'am?"
But Gabbard deliberately addressed the group chat controversy when she testified Wednesday before the House Intelligence Committee. She did so in her opening remarks. But after she addressed cybersecurity threats from China and volatility in the Middle East.
Gabbard said that it was a "mistake" to include Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg on the text chain.
"The national security adviser has taken full responsibility for this. And the National Security Council is conducting an in-depth review, along with technical experts working to determine how this reporter was inadvertently added to this chat," said Gabbard. "No classified information was shared. There were no sources, methods, locations, or war plans that were shared."
ELON MUSK TAPPED TO HELP LEAD INVESTIGATION INTO SIGNAL CHAT LEAK: WHITE HOUSE
Gabbard then informed the committee that because of a lawsuit filed about the text chain she was "limited in my ability to comment further on that specific case."
The CIA and other intelligence services sometimes rely on the encrypted chat app Signal for coordination.
"The use of Signal message and end encryption applications is permissible and was in this case, ‘use permissible,’" said Ratcliffe at the Senate hearing.
Gabbard said the bungled texts divulged no top secrets.
"There was no classified material that was shared in that," said Gabbard.
"So then if there (is) no classified material, share it with the committee. You can't have it both ways," countered Warner.
Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., who sits on the Intelligence Committee and is the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, chimed in at a news conference.
"If that's true, the administration should immediately provide a copy of the group chat to Congress," said Reed.
The debate over operational security and faulty handling of sensitive information is the entrée for this story. But frank assessments about Europe and U.S. allies by Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth constituted a fascinating group chat biproduct.
REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK: IMPEACHAPALOOZA IS HERE TO STAY
Vance texted his concerns about the U.S. commencing airstrikes – which may be more beneficial for Europe than the United States. Vance and other Trump Administration officials have criticized Europe for their approaches to security – often leaning on the United States.
"3 percent of US trade runs through the suez," texted Vance, addressing how the Houthis pose a risk to shipping through the Suez Canal. "40 percent of European trade does."
Vance blessed the operation on the text chain. But added this jab.
"I just hate bailing Europe out again," texted the Vice President.
Then Hegseth jumped in.
"I fully share your loathing of European free-loading," replied Hegseth. "It's PATHETIC."
"Doesn't that harm our relationship with them?" yours truly asked Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.
"I think you have to put that into context for what it is," replied Thune. "This is a new administration. There's a new sheriff in town. And, at some point, I think the Europeans and all the other countries around the world - whether they like it or not - realize that."
Some Republicans tried to give the national security officials a pass.
"If you have never made a mistake, then you can throw the first stone," said Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, R-Fla.
ATLANTIC REPORTER PUBLISHES MORE TEXTS ABOUT ATTACK ON HOUTHI TARGETS
Other Republicans shot the messenger.
"What The Atlantic did by making public something that they believed could have been national security sensitive is irresponsible activity (by) the press," said Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif.
But deserved or not, consider how much time lawmakers from both sides burned on the chat group snafu versus delving into actual global threats at the hearings. After all, that was the expected subject of the sessions. There are consequences for that.
"The penalty is we’re less prepared to deal with the dangerous world," said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La. "We're not as far as long as we should be and having a very serious discussion about national security."
House Intelligence Committee member and Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Penn., said it was her "intent to talk about biosecurity and bioterrorism" at the hearing. But she couldn’t because of the text chat.
"It does distract from the conversation. And I'm frustrated by unforced errors that we don't have to be dealing with," said Houlahan.
RATCLIFFE SAYS NEW SIGNAL TEXTS SHOW HE 'DID NOT TRANSMIT CLASSIFIED INFORMATION'
But despite what played out in public, both the House and Senate Intelligence Committees conducted private, frank sessions with officials after the open forums.
"We covered a lot of things in that closed session," said Rep. Jim Himes, D-Ct., the top Democrat on the Intelligence panel. "Everything from Russia to China to fentanyl. You name it."
But Himes lamented that the committees exhausted so much time discussing the text chain.
The group chat story is here to stay. At least for a while. Until another major story barrels its way onto the scene and rattles everything on Capitol Hill. At that point the new subject becomes the talk of the town.
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He has been a member of a church affiliated with the racist Black Liberation Theology movement for twenty years.
The Obamas, until recently, had been active members in the Trinity United Church of Christ of Chicago for about 20 years. The "About Us" section of Trinity United website underscores the racial tone and tenor of the church and its purpose: "We are a congregation which is Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian . . .Our roots in the Black religious experience and tradition are deep, lasting and permanent. We are an African people, and remain true to our native land . . .We constantly affirm our trust in God through cultural expression of a Black worship service and ministries which address the Black Community." For new attendees, the church offers a "Black and Christian New Member Class," clearly implying that one cannot be a member of this church if one is not black.
The Trinity United Church of Chicago is a proud member-church of the Black Liberation Theology movement. Much like the Holy Roman Empire was neither Holy nor Roman nor an Empire, Black Liberation Theology is neither a theology, nor about Liberation, nor strictly about black people. Black Liberation Theology is a subset of the global Liberation theology movement which was founded in Nicaragua and spawned vicious socialist dictators and rebels such as Che' Guevara. Black Liberation Theology is predicated on the notion of saving dark-skinned people through the gradual extermination of light-skinned people and their beliefs. The father of the Black Liberation Theology movement is James H. Cone and the bible of the Black Liberation Theology Movement is Cone's Black Theology and Black Power. The following is a quote from same book: "Black Theology refuses to accept a God who is not identified totally with the Black community. If God is not for us, and against white people, then he is a murderer and we had better kill him. The task of black theology is to kill gods who do not belong to the black community. . . . Black Theology will accept only the love of God which participates in the destruction of the white enemy."
This is the theological backdrop for Barrack Obama' s political activism. This is the church where the bombastic and racist Rev. Jeremiah Wright had served as pastor for the span of that time. Obama has described Wright as his "moral compass," "sounding board," "confidant," and "mentor." Wright married the Obamas and baptized their children. Only after 20 years, strong political pressure, and Wright disavowing Obama, did Obama finally disavow Wright. But Obama never thought to disavow Wright after any of the numerous racist and anti-Israel remarks made by Wright both at and away from the pulpit over the course of 20 years! Obama was also reluctant to reject Louis Farrakhan's endorsement until there was enough media scrutiny on the part of Tim Russert to make that endorsement another liability. Obama has a proven track record in doing what is politically wise, not morally wise.
Indeed, The Obamas not only had a personal relationship with Wright, but also a professional and financial one; The Obamas donated over $20,000 toward subsidizing Wright's activities, and until a few months ago, Wright sat on Obama's "African American Religious Leadership Committee." Obama misused the Trinity Church's tax-exempt status by giving a campaign speech which included campaign promises in a lecture he gave to the congregation in June of 2007. Obama borrowed the title of his book – "The Audacity of Hope" – from one of Reverend Wright's sermons.
The following words contained in Wright's sermons are well known, but what's not known is how they represent just the tip of the racist iceberg that is the Trinity United Church of Chicago:
"Barack knows what it means living in a country and a culture that is controlled by rich, white people; Hillary would never know that, Hillary ain't never been called a nigger".
"God damn America!"
Wright's explanation of the horrors of 9-11 is "America's chickens coming home to roost." Wright typically refers to America as the "U.S. of KKK A."
"We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans," he said, "and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards."
When many of these comments finally surfaced in the media, Obama originally responded by saying, "I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community," implying that the entire black community is racist and ignorant, and we should all come to expect and accept that fact!
Rev. Wright is an anti-Israel activist who has given sermons at Trinity United calling for the US to cease and desist from all aid to Israel. Wright publicly accused Israel of working with South Africa to build an "ethnic bomb" to kill Negroes and Arabs. Rev. Wright also allowed his church bulletin to publish an editorial by a Hamas terrorist named Marzook entitled, "A Fresh View of the Palestinian Struggle." Wright is also good friends with fierce and notorious anti-Semite, Louis Farrrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam movement. This same Farrakhan, who called Jews "bloodsuckers," was the recipient of an award from the Trinity United Church. The church's magazine also honored Louis Farrakhan in its front cover. Barrack Obama has yet to publicly condemn the granting of this award. In fact, all the evidence suggests that Obama, himself, has had a close relationship with Farrakhan. Obama even chose to march with Farrakhan in the Million Man March of 1995 despite the Anti-Defamation League pleading with African American leaders not to attend.
And it wasn't just Wright who gave anti-Israel and anti-Semitic sermons at Trinity. Father Pfleger and Reverend James Meeks, both supporters of Louis Farrakhan, have been regular guest speakers at Trinity over the years. When Jewish members of an Illinois state board, mandated with monitoring hate speech, resigned after a fellow board member affiliated with the Nation of Islam refused to denounce Farrakhan's anti-Semitism, Pfleger retorted with the words, "good riddance." Reverend Meeks has been known to scapegoat "Hollywood Jews" for corrupting the moral climate in America.
Barrack Obama may not be racist, much like Wright and Meeks and others who frequented Trinity United; Obama may have just been using the church for his political advantage. As Stanley Kurtz writes in a June 2 National Review Online article, "So Obama's political interest in Trinity went far beyond merely gaining a respectable public Christian identity. On his own account, Obama hoped to use the untapped power of the black church to supercharge hard-left politics in Chicago. He created a personal and institutional political base that would be free to part with conventional Democratic politics." The question voters must pose is, "does it matter?" If a candidate were a member of the KKK for 20 years just for his political advantage, would voters forgive him? So why should they forgive a member of the black version of the KKK?