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Year: 2025

Texas pushes back against foreign land grab with ‘strongest bill in the nation’ against China, Iran, Russia

Texas pushes back against foreign land grab with ‘strongest bill in the nation’ against China, Iran, Russia

Texas lawmakers are charging ahead with what they call the nation’s strongest legislative effort yet to block hostile foreign powers from purchasing land in the Lone Star State.  Championed by Republican state Rep. Cole Hefner and state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, Senate Bill 17 (SB17) is designed to stop governments and entities tied to countries like China, Iran, North Korea and Russia from gaining a foothold on Texas soil. In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, Hefner described SB17 as “model legislation” aimed at shutting down land purchases that pose a national security threat.  “This bill is about actions and affiliations, not race, not nationality,” Hefner said. “If you’re acting on behalf of a hostile foreign adversary, we’re going to take that land back.” TEXAS LAW GETS TOUGH ON PUBLIC, PRIVATE DRONE USE The bill is in direct response to real-world events.  Hefner cited the 2021 case of a retired Chinese general acquiring over 140,000 acres near Laughlin Air Force Base.  “We’ve [also] seen the attempt of foreign actors or hostile foreign adversaries to buy land close to food processing plants,” Hefner said. “And it’s just something that we have found the more we dig into it, the more we find that there’s a lot of things we don’t know and a lot of vulnerabilities that are out there.” The bill prohibits entities and individuals affiliated with governments designated as national security threats, based on the U.S. Director of National Intelligence’s annual assessments, from purchasing real estate if those purchases pose risks to public health or safety.  The law empowers the state’s attorney general to investigate, block and even reverse such land deals through court-ordered receivership. TEXAS LAWMAKERS CONSIDERING BILL TO BAN GENDER CHANGES ON BIRTH CERTIFICATES Under SB17, “real property” includes agricultural, commercial, industrial, and residential land as well as mines, minerals, and timber. The law includes key exemptions for U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and property intended as a personal homestead. “The strong points of our bill is that it can apply to anyone if we can prove they’re acting as an agent,” said Hefner. “So even if they’re from a friendly country, but they’re actually on behalf of a foreign adversary, then they will be subject to the bill.” The bill gives the attorney general investigative powers, and authority to appoint receivers to manage or sell properties acquired in violation of the law. Hefner pushed back hard on critics who claim the bill is xenophobic. “This has nothing to do with skin color or ethnicity,” he said. “It’s about protecting Texans and Americans from foreign espionage and influence.” He also stressed that SB17 should not be seen as a partisan move. “It shouldn’t be a partisan issue. This is about national security. This is about keeping our citizens safe,” said Hefner. “It’s not about Republican or Democrat, it’s not liberal or conservative. It is just taking care of our people.  “And I believe that’s the, you know, the number one responsibility of the government is to make sure that people can live free and safe in their state.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP SB17 is set to take effect Sept. 1. Hefner said he hopes the legislation sparks a nationwide effort.  “We need to wake up,” he said. “This is about securing the homeland, not playing politics.” Fox News Digital’s Nick Butler contributed to this report.

Massachusetts suspect charged with attempting to assassinate a Cabinet nominee

Massachusetts suspect charged with attempting to assassinate a Cabinet nominee

A Massachusetts suspect was charged this week with attempting to assassinate a cabinet nominee, the U.S. Department of Justice said.  Ryan Michael English, 24, was arrested in January after allegedly attempting to bring a knife and two improvised Molotov cocktails into the U.S. Capitol to assassinate then-Treasury Secretary nominee Scott Bessent during his nomination. On Thursday, English was charged with the attempted assassination of a cabinet member nominee and carrying a dangerous weapon on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol Building. English had an initial court appearance on Thursday afternoon. PHOTOGRAPHER WINS PULITZER FOR ICONIC PHOTO OF BULLET SPEEDING BY TRUMP’S HEAD DURING ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT Prosecutors said that English had also originally plotted to kill House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and was inspired by United HealthCare CEO murder suspect Luigi Mangione.  English walked up to a U.S. Capitol Police officer on Jan. 27 and allegedly stated, “I’d like to turn myself in,” according to initial charging documents.  English claimed to have two Molotov cocktails and two knives and expressed being there “to kill Scott Bessent,” according to court documents. Federal prosecutors said English left home in Massachusetts and traveled to Washington with the intent of killing Hegseth, whom the suspect referred to as a “Nazi,” and Johnson, and burning down the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank near the White House.  Capitol Police officers found a folding knife and two improvised incendiary devices made of vodka bottles with a grey cloth affixed to the top inside English’s jacket during a search.  CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP They found a green lighter in another pocket.  Fox News’ Danielle Wallace and Louis Casiano contributed to this report.

Pete Hegseth directs military academies that all future admissions will be based solely on merit

Pete Hegseth directs military academies that all future admissions will be based solely on merit

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday sent a memo to West Point, the U.S. Naval Academy and the U.S. Air Force Academy, saying that all future admissions will be based solely on merit.  “The Department owes it to our nation, our Service Members, and our young Americans applying to the MSAs to ensure admissions to these prestigious institutions are based exclusively on merit,” Hegseth wrote in a memo to the academies.  He added that this would ensure that only the “most qualified candidates” would be admitted. PETE HEGSETH SAYS WEST POINT PROFESSOR WHO RESIGNED OVER TRUMP ADMIN EDUCATION OVERHAUL ‘WILL NOT BE MISSED’ “Selecting anyone but the best erodes lethality, our warfighting readiness, and undercuts the culture of excellence in our Armed Forces,” he wrote.  He said the secretaries of the military departments would have 30 days to certify that there will be no consideration of race, ethnicity or sex in applications and that they will be based on merit only.  HEGSETH ORDERS DEADLINE FOR TRANS SERVICE MEMBERS TO LEAVE MILITARY: ‘OUT AT THE DOD’ He said merit can be weighted by athletic talent, prior military service, performance at an MSA preparatory school, or other similar experience. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “The Department must remain steadfast in its pursuit of excellence and never compromise the high standards at our MSAs,” he concluded. “A strong officer corps is essential to ensuring the United States military remains the most lethal the world has ever known.” 

Pope Leo XIV’s name gives clue to how he’ll handle social, political divides, bishop says

Pope Leo XIV’s name gives clue to how he’ll handle social, political divides, bishop says

American author, speaker and theologian Bishop Robert Barron was at the Vatican this week to witness the election of a new pope, and he shared his thoughts with Fox News Digital about Cardinal Robert Prevost’s “intriguing” new papal name. Papal names are often very symbolic with regard to how a Pope will serve as the leader of the Catholic Church. Typically, Pope’s select the names of predecessors they admire or want to emulate. Prevost ultimately went with Leo XIV in honor of Pope Leo XIII, who served from 1878 to 1903. “He could have been Francis II, and we would have said, ‘Oh, there he is clearly in the line of Francis.’ He could have been John Paul III, then we would have thought, ‘Oh, he’s very much in that more conservative line.’ He could have been John XXIV, and we say ‘Oh, now he’s a real revolutionary liberal, et cetera,’” Barron said. “The fact that he went back, well over 100 years, to this very interesting and pivotal figure … our new pope was saying, I too, want a critical engagement with the modern world, not simply a ‘no,’ but also not simply a ‘yes,’ not simply an acquiescence to it.” CARDINAL DOLAN DESCRIBES POPE XIV AS ‘CITIZEN OF THE WORLD,’ WILL BUILD BRIDGES WITH TRUMP Barron pointed out that Leo XIII was a pivotal figure due to the timing of his reign, which came during a moment when the Church was contending with the tremendous political and philosophical upheavals of the 18th and 19th centuries, such as the French and American Revolutions, and the introduction of philosophies such as Marxism.  “The church’s first reaction [to these changes] was very negative. It was a great ‘no’ to modernity. By the end of the 19th century, I think, with a certain distance and a certain critical intelligence, the church was willing to enter into a more, call it, creative engagement with modernity. And I think Pope Leo the 13th represents precisely that,” Barron said.  The bishop pointed to the Rerum Novarum to further his point, an encyclical letter issued by Pope Leo XII in 1891. BEARS STAR CALEB WILLIAMS ISSUES TWO-WORDED REACTION TO POPE LEO XIV’S ELECTION “In that document, [Leo XII] is a fierce opponent of Marxism, a fierce opponent of socialism and communism, a great defender of private property and of the market economy,” Barron said. “So you say, ‘Okay, there’s that great ‘no’ to the left-wing economic revolutions.’ At the same time, in that same letter, [Leo XII] comes out strongly in favor of the right to form unions. He comes out very strongly in favor of what we call the universal destination of goods.” “In fact, Pope Leo says in that letter, once the requirements of necessity and propriety have been met in your life, the rest of what you own belongs to the poor,” Barron continued. “That’s not a just a standard, boring, mainstream point of view. That’s a pretty revolutionary statement. But notice the lovely balance in that letter between ‘yes’ to private property, the great ‘no’ to socialism and Marxism, but the great ‘yes’ to the universal destination of goods. Leo sets the tone thereby for the rest of Catholic social teaching that followed him.” In conclusion, Barron said he thinks Prevost’s selection of Leo XIV makes the new pope “a very interesting player” in terms of the debate between the Right and the Left in politics.  CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP  “[Leo XVI] doesn’t fit – and I’ve said this 1,000 times – he and other great representatives of Catholic social teaching don’t fit into our categories of left and right,” Barron said. “They don’t fit into Democrat-Republican, they’re in a space beyond those distinctions. So, I think that’s what’s perhaps most interesting about him.”