Pressure mounts on Virginia Dems to clearly state view on trans bathrooms after bombshell emails
The northern Virginia transgender bathroom saga notched another controversy Friday with the release of emails from Arlington County, Virginia, schools regarding correspondence board members received from serial sex offender Richard Kenneth Cox. Cox, 58, was thrust into the national spotlight after Virginia’s Fairfax County Democratic prosecutor Steve Descano declined to prosecute Cox for charges of perversion in women’s locker rooms while neighboring Arlington County, Virginia, arrested him in 2024 on similar offenses which he has faced in court in October. Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, the Republican gubernatorial nominee, lambasted news that Cox — who identified himself as a transgender woman named “Riki” in emails to Arlington, Virginia, schools regarding concerns about using facilities at its semi-public aquatic center — was allegedly able to prey on young girls in the Washington suburb. “This ‘woman’ — child predator Richard ‘Riki’ Cox — repeatedly used a girls’ locker room and exposed himself to young girls,” Earle-Sears said in a Friday statement. “Abigail Spanberger thinks he has the right to be there.” SEX OFFENDER CALLED ‘POSTER BOY’ FOR GOP’S TRANSGENDER IDEOLOGY CONCERNS FACES COURT HEARING Fox News Digital reached out to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Spanberger to confirm whether she opposes or supports Virginia policies that allow transgender females born as males to use women’s facilities and did not receive a reply. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests filed by ABC News’ Washington affiliate returned emails between school officials after Cox sent a lengthy message to one member. Arlington schools (APS) allow people to use the facilities matching their desired gender identity. “I realize this is very short notice but the issue just occurred on Friday October 25 (2024) and I need your help before I know who to vote for. I am a member of the LGBT and specifically transgender community,” Cox wrote to board member Kathleen Clark. ‘NONSENSE’: EARLE-SEARS BLASTS FAIRFAX TRANSGENDER BATHROOM RULES IN FIERY CAMPAIGN STOP The report noted that Clark may not have known the sender — “Riki Cox” — was a registered sex offender, Richard K. Cox. A school board official told the ABC affiliate Clark also was responding in her private capacity and that as soon as Duran recognized a sex offender had been present on school property he took corrective action. “At no time did we knowingly admit a sex offender into our aquatics facilities,” the official said. Cox, who previously was reported to be living out of his van at one point, said transgender people are “disproportionately homeless” and must rely on county facilities like pool locker rooms to shower. ‘NUDE MEN IN LOCKER ROOMS’: EARLE-SEARS BLASTS SPANBERGER OVER TRANSGENDER LOCKER ROOM STANCE IN HEATED DEBATE “But let me be clear that this is not only an opportunity to be clean but to be and feel part of the community. However, solely because of complaints of a transgender person in the locker room, Washington-Liberty Swimming Pool made a rule that people using the shower but not the pool must use the single, isolated locker room away from everyone else, like they are some kind of freak or something,” Cox wrote. Cox said he once considered voluntarily using the unisex room but that he “wanted to feel like part of the community” and that complainants should be the ones forced to be apparently ostracized to the one-person shower. Cox said multiple people running for school board positions claimed to be pro-LGBT but that Cox wanted to see who may reverse the school district’s locker room decision to apparently keep their promises. VIRGINIA SCHOOL DISTRICTS SUPPORT FOR TRANSGENDER STUDENTS’ RIGHTS IN GOVERNOR’S RACE SPOTLIGHT “RSVP please and thank you,” Cox said. A second email reported by the ABC News affiliate from Cox to the board attested that Cox felt that apparent pressure for Cox to finish showering in the main locker room again sent “the message that a transgender person is a freak and I guess not normal and beautiful like everyone else.” Clark later responded, according to the affiliate, telling Cox she hoped he didn’t receive “transphobic statements” from staff during the incident and should be able to use the showers and changing rooms Cox is most comfortable using. Cox, who has a sex-offender rap sheet going back to the George H.W. Bush era in northern Virginia faces at least 21 charges, according to public court information viewed by Fox News Digital earlier in October. The charges related to visits to school facilities as well as a private gym in Barcroft, Virginia. As of January, the Arlington County, Virginia, government board was working with the county school board on formulating responses to Cox’s incidents at the pool, the activist group Defending Education told Fox News Digital. Cox, however, was individually banned from the premises following his arrest, according to reports. Arlington, Virginia, Superintendent Francisco Duran told a Washington Post reporter that the district follows state law and federal Fourth Circuit legal precedent requiring anti-discrimination protections based on gender identity and sex in places of “public accommodation.” Defending Education Vice President Sarah Parshall-Perry said in a statement that as an Arlington, Virginia, resident and attorney, she was “aggrieved and incensed” by the incident.
Bill Clinton says Trump and others ‘deserve great credit’ for Israel-Hamas ceasefire
Former President Bill Clinton praised President Donald Trump for his administration’s efforts in brokering the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, saying the president and regional partners “deserve great credit” for keeping negotiations on track. “The horrors of the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel and the conflict they reignited have resulted in unbearable human loss,” Clinton wrote. “It has been hard to watch and nearly impossible to rationalize.” “I’m grateful that a ceasefire has taken hold, that the last 20 hostages have been freed, and that desperately needed aid has begun to flow into Gaza,” he continued. “President Trump and his administration, Qatar, and other regional actors deserve great credit for keeping everyone engaged until the agreement was reached.” Clinton added that, with support from the U.S., the region, and the world, Israel and Hamas must try to turn this “fragile moment into lasting peace that provides the dignity and security of both Palestinians and Israelis.” WORLD LEADERS PRAISE ‘LANDMARK’ ISRAEL-HAMAS PEACE DEAL MEDIATED BY US: ‘NEW HORIZON OF HOPE’ “I believe that they can get there, but only if they do it together,” Clinton said. The praise for Trump comes after a years-long feud between him and the Clintons. The feud stemmed from Trump’s relentless attacks on Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential campaign, when he branded the former secretary of state “Crooked Hillary.” COULD TRUMP WIN THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE AFTER ISRAEL-HAMAS DEAL? The Clintons have also argued that Trump’s presidency undermined democratic norms. While Trump periodically revives the feud, Bill Clinton has also criticized him — particularly over his handling of Israel-Iran tensions in June. At the time, Bill Clinton expressed skepticism about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump’s intentions for peace in the Middle East. He urged Trump to calm the situation and end the “outright constant killing of civilians.” TRUMP ANNOUNCES ISRAEL AGREES TO GAZA ‘INITIAL WITHDRAWAL LINE’ AS ‘3,000 YEAR CATASTROPHE’ NEARS END “First of all — they’re not talking about negotiating peace in the Middle East because the Israelis have no intention of… under Prime Minister Netanyahu, of giving the Palestinians a state. And now, they’re too divided and crushed to organize themselves to achieve it,” Bill Clinton said during a guest appearance on “The Daily Show.” He continued, maintaining that Trump agrees with Netanyahu in believing that the Palestinians “shouldn’t have a state.” However, he added that neither leader wants to trigger a full-scale regional disaster. “Mr. Netanyahu has long wanted to fight Iran because that way he can stay in office forever and ever. I mean, he’s been there most of the last 20 years,” the former president said. “But I think we should be trying to defuse it, and I hope President Trump will do that.” TRUMP SAYS ‘WHOLE WORLD CAME TOGETHER’ TO SECURE ISRAEL-HAMAS PEACE DEAL AFTER MONTHS OF DEADLOCK Bill Clinton emphasized the need for the U.S. to protect its allies in the region while also urging restraint. “We have to convince our friends in the Middle East that we’ll stand with them and try to protect them,” he stated. “But choosing undeclared wars in which the primary victims are civilians, who are not politically involved, one way or the other, who just want to live decent lives, is not a very good solution.” Bill Clinton conceded that the U.S. must try to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon but again stressed the need to protect innocent lives in the region. TRUMP LAUDED BY MSNBC, LIBERAL MEDIA FIGURES FOR SECURING ISRAEL PEACE DEAL “Do I think that we have to try to stop Iran from having a nuclear weapon? I do,” he declared. “But we don’t have to have all this outright constant killing of civilians who can’t defend themselves, and they just want a chance to live.” Days later, President Trump launched Operation Midnight Hammer, using B-2 bombers and other jets to strike multiple uranium sites in Iran. Hillary Clinton also praised Trump for his Israel-Hamas peace breakthrough. “I really commend President Trump and his administration, as well as Arab leaders in the region, for making the commitment to the 20-point plan, and seeing a path forward for what is often called the day after,” she told CBS News after Hamas agreed to Trump’s peace plan. Hillary Clinton also appeared to pull back her digs at Trump in August, just before the president met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Appearing on the “Raging Moderates” podcast, Clinton said she would nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize if he succeeded in getting Putin to end his war and return all the territory Russia seized in Ukraine. “You know, look, if we could pull that off — if President Trump were the architect of that — I’d nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize,” she said during the interview. Fox News Digital’s Marc Tamasco and Gabriel Hays contributed to this report.
Dem gubernatorial nominee facing heat for taking donations from CCP-linked tycoon: ‘Disqualifying’
New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mikie Sherrill is facing criticism after a businessman linked to the Chinese Communist Party made multiple donations totaling tens of thousands of dollars to her campaign. Pin Ni, the founder of Wanxiang America Corporation, donated $60,000 to the One Giant Leap super PAC backing Sherrill’s campaign in the form of two checks, in addition to giving the $5,800 individual max donation directly to Sherrill’s campaign this summer, according to records reviewed by Fox News Digital and first reported on by New York Post. Political campaigns in the United States are only permitted to accept money from American citizens or permanent legal residents and, in addition to Pin’s status being unclear, questions have been raised about the ethics of accepting money from individuals linked to the Chinese Communist Party. “The donor, Pin Ni, has an extensive history of assisting the CCP’s political warfare and influence operations upon the U.S., and of generally aligning with and carrying out party commands,” Michael Lucci, Founder and CEO of State Armor, told New York Post, adding that taking money from Ni is “disqualifying.” NEW STUDY EXPOSES GREEN ENERGY ORG’S TIES TO CCP INTERESTS WHILE UNDERMINING US Wanxiang Group posthumously awarded the company’s founder, Lu Guanqiu, the title of “National Outstanding Communist Party Member” in a 2021 press release and praised Guanqiu for his “pursuit of communism as a lifelong ideal and practice.” The press release also said Guanqiu, the late father-in-law of Pin Ni, “has always listened to the [Chinese Communist] Party and followed the Party,” a Fox News Digital review found earlier this year. The press release continued by quoting Chinese President Xi Jinping’s praise of Guanqiu, saying he was “in line with the Party Central Committee. He always actively does what our Party committees and governments at all levels advocate.” ‘COMING FOR US’: EXPERT SOUNDS ALARM ON CCP’S MISSION TO ‘KILL AMERICANS’ AFTER FBI MAKES SHOCKING ARRESTS The founder’s bio on the Wanxiang website says he was elected as the 13th and 14th Representatives of the CPPCC, and a delegate to the 9th, 10th, and 11th Chinese National People’s Congress, top levels of the CCP’s hierarchy. Fox News Digital reached out to the Sherrill campaign inquiring whether the money would be returned. Fox News Digital also reached out to Pin Ni but did not immediately receive a response. Sherrill isn’t the only Democrat running for governor in November to be faced with questions about donations from Pin Ni. Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger took $50,000 from the CCP-tied businessman in two $25,000 installments in April and May, Fox News Digital previously reported. The donations sparked criticism from Spanberger’s Republican opponent, Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears. “Taking $50,000 from someone with clear Chinese Communist Party ties tells us all we need to know,” her campaign spokesperson said at the time. “You can’t claim to stand up to foreign threats while pocketing money from someone celebrated by the CCP.” A Spanberger campaign spokesperson said, “Virginians know that Abigail Spanberger has a demonstrated record of standing up for America’s national security, delivering results for Virginia families across party lines, and never backing down from keeping the American people safe.” “Her campaign will remain focused on what Virginians care about most, keeping our communities safe, driving down costs, protecting Virginia jobs, and making sure Virginia’s public schools are the very best in America,” the spokesperson added. Fox News Digital’s Amanda Macias contributed to this report
Biden, Blinken take credit for groundwork behind Trump’s Gaza ceasefire deal
Former President Joe Biden and former Secretary of State Antony Blinken both claimed some credit for President Donald Trump’s Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement on Monday. On X, Biden – who is undergoing treatment for cancer – said that he was “deeply grateful and relieved” that the Gaza war is approaching its end. “The road to this deal was not easy,” the Democrat wrote. “My Administration worked relentlessly to bring hostages home, get relief to Palestinian civilians, and end the war.” But Biden also gave Trump credit for getting “a renewed ceasefire deal over the finish line.” BEFORE AND AFTER IMAGES SHOW DEVASTATING DESTRUCTION IN GAZA “Now, with the backing of the United States and the world, the Middle East is on a path to peace that I hope endures and a future for Israelis and Palestinians alike with equal measures of peace, dignity, and safety,” he concluded. On Monday, Blinken said Trump’s 20-point peace plan for the Gaza Strip was based on one developed by the Biden administration. In a lengthy post on X, Blinken, who served in the Biden administration, outlined how Trump was able to secure the peace agreement. He noted that Arab states and Turkey have said “enough” to Hamas, and said the response also showed that other Iran-backed groups — Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi rebels — were not coming to Hamas’ aid. “It starts with a clear and comprehensive post-conflict plan for Gaza,” Blinken wrote. “It’s good that President Trump adopted and built on the plan the Biden administration developed after months of discussion with Arab partners, Israel and the Palestinian Authority.” NETANYAHU ADVISOR EXPRESSES ‘DEEP FAITH’ IN TRUMP’S GAZA CEASEFIRE PLAN FRAMEWORK APPROACH Blinken said the Biden administration briefly secured a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in January, resulting in the release of 135 hostages before the deal fell apart. He also questioned how Trump could secure a permanent peace plan. Fox News senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy asked Trump about Blinken’s remarks aboard Air Force One. “Everybody knows it’s a joke,” Trump said. “Look, they did such a bad job. This should have never happened.” “If just a decent president — not a great president like me — if a decent president were in, you wouldn’t have had the Russia-Ukraine (war),” Trump said. “This was bad policy by Biden and Obama.” Trump was in Egypt on Monday to work on the second phase of the cease-fire while meeting with more than 20 world leaders. TRUMP’S WEEK IN REVIEW: PRESIDENT SECURES HISTORIC PEACE DEAL TO BRING HOSTAGES HOME AS SHUTDOWN CONTINUES “We’ve heard it for many years, but nobody thought it could ever get there. And now we’re there,” Trump said. “This is the day that people across this region and around the world have been working, striving, hoping and praying for,” he added. “With the historic agreement we have just signed, those prayers of millions have finally been answered. Together, we have achieved the impossible.” In his post, Blinken said the postwar plan for Gaza should be implemented immediately, “with eyes wide open about its challenges: pulling together the international stabilization force, fully demilitarizing and disarming Hamas, dealing with insurgents, and expeditiously securing a phased but full Israeli withdrawal.” He also credited Trump for reaffirming “the key principles we established for Gaza at the outset of the war — no platform for terrorism, no annexation, no occupation, no forced population transfers — and for making clear the overall goal is to create the conditions for a credible pathway to a Palestinian state.”
Texas governor reveals reason why he and Trump have been working together so closely
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, whose National Guard troops were recently deployed in support of Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in Chicago, revealed the “substantive reason” why he has such a good working relationship with the president: “We both believe in the rule of law.” “President Trump and I have a good, long-standing, working relationship, and there’s a substantive reason behind that. We both believe in the rule of law. We both believe in public safety. We both believed in securing the borders,” he explained. Abbott said that he and President Donald Trump are “operating very closely aligned in ensuring that our country’s going to be safe.” “I’m more than happy to be a partner with the federal government, making sure that we keep our country as safe as possible,” he added. LONG-HELD SCOTUS PRECEDENTS COULD UNDERCUT PORTLAND, CHICAGO NATIONAL GUARD LAWSUITS This comes as some 200 Texas National Guard troops are currently deployed to the Chicago area, tasked with protecting federal law enforcement officers as they carry out immigration enforcement operations. For the past several weeks, the Chicago area has been rocked by anti-ICE demonstrations that have on several occasions boiled over into violent disruption. Large crowds of what DHS has called “violent rioters” have gathered outside an ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois, a Chicago suburb, and have repeatedly blocked federal vehicles from exiting and entering the facility. Earlier this month, federal agents were rammed and trapped by 10 vehicles, where anti-ICE crowds had gathered for days. Nearly a dozen people were arrested. Despite this, DHS has said its agents have received little to no support from Democrat leaders in Illinois or local and state law enforcement. Against this backdrop, Abbott authorized Trump to deploy 400 of his Texas National Guard troops to trouble spots across the country under Title 10 authority. So far, only about half of those troops have been deployed to Illinois as a legal case against the deployment makes its way through federal court. HOMAN CONFIRMS TEXAS NATIONAL GUARD ‘ON THE GROUND’ IN ILLINOIS, WARNS ANTI-ICE RHETORIC FUELING ‘BLOODSHED’ Speaking with Fox News Digital, Abbott said the deployment of Texas National Guard troops, who have gained experience keeping the peace through deployments to the southern border, was “only natural.” “What the National Guard is trained and skilled at doing is dealing with civil unrest like that. They dealt with civil unrest along the Texas border for the past four years while Joe Biden was president. They’ve dealt with civil unrest even in locations in the state of Texas, when I thought it was important to call them out and make sure that we did not have any unrest in our state. So, these are National Guard troopers who are very well-trained at being able to deal with this type of environment,” he said. “It’s only natural that, by extension, that if there’s a need for that elite National Guard to provide assistance anywhere in the entire country, that it would be the [Texas] National Guard called upon.” Again, Abbott emphasized that the Trump administration shares a common vision with Texas, making them apt partners. “What Texas is trying to do is the same thing the United States is trying to do. And that is very simply, carrying out the functions of the federal government. One of them is immigration enforcement, and another is public safety. The National Guard from Texas, they’re not there to police the city of Chicago or any other place. They are there to ensure the safety and security of the ability of federal officials to fulfill their constitutional duty to enforce the laws of the United States.” PRITZKER SUES TRUMP TO BLOCK NATIONAL GUARD ACTION IN ILLINOIS Though he gave no indication of what other collaborations Texas might undertake with the Trump administration in the future, he said that Texas remains ready for whatever is needed. “No one can accurately predict exactly what’s going to happen in the future. What I can predict is how Texas will respond. And that is, whenever the country is in time of need, Texans will step up and help out any way we possibly can.”
Senate set for new vote to end shutdown, but gridlock over Obamacare subsidies remains
The Senate is set to return on Tuesday to again vote on whether to reopen the government, but like many times before, the plan is expected to fail again as a deal remains elusive. Lawmakers in the upper chamber are expected to vote for an eighth time on the House GOP’s continuing resolution (CR), as the government shutdown inches closer to its third week. But after a long weekend away from Washington, D.C., it’s unlikely either party has shifted from their positions. Senate Republicans want to pass the House’s “clean” short-term funding extension, which would reopen the government until Nov. 21. Included are millions in spending for lawmaker security and a budget fix for D.C.’s local government. TRUMP DIRECTS HEGSETH TO PAY TROOPS DURING ONGOING GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN STANDOFF AS HE RAILS AGAINST SCHUMER But Senate Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., remain adamant that they will not provide Republicans and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., the needed votes to reopen the government unless there is a firm deal to extend expiring Obamacare subsidies. Both sides are talking, breaking up into small groups that are focused on some of the Democrats’ demands, like extending the subsidies or putting guardrails on future rescissions and impoundments of federal funding. Still, no concrete negotiations or an off-ramp out of the shutdown have materialized. “I think Leader Schumer’s checked out,” Thune told reporters on Friday. “I don’t think this is going to happen. I think this is going to happen organically with enough reasonable Senate Democrats who care enough about doing the right thing for their country and not what’s in the best interests of their left-wing political base to come forward and help us find a solution.” So far only three Senate Democratic caucus members, Sens. John Fetterman, D-Pa., Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Angus King, I-Vt., have consistently crossed the aisle to reopen the government. SENATE LEAVES WASHINGTON AS GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN NEARS 3RD WEEK, MILITARY PAY AT RISK One key deadline, which was expected to make Democrats squeamish as the shutdown continued on, was met over the weekend. While lawmakers were away, President Donald Trump authorized Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to use “all available funds” to pay military service members by Oct. 15. But Schumer has remained steadfast that he and Democrats want more than just a guarantee on the expiring subsidies and demands that Thune, Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., come to the negotiating table. “We Democrats want to end this shutdown as quickly as we can,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “But Donald Trump and Republicans need to negotiate with us in a serious way to fix the health care premiums crisis. We can and should do both. It’s not either or, like Republicans think.” SENATE DEMOCRATS BLOCK GOP PLAN AGAIN TO REOPEN GOVERNMENT AS MILITARY PAY DEADLINE LOOMS But Senate Republicans have countered throughout the shutdown that Democrats routinely voted for CRs under former President Joe Biden, and that the only difference between then and now is that Trump is in office. “A political game is being played by the Democrats because they think that every day gets better for them,” Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said. “And this isn’t right versus left. This is right versus wrong. That’s what we’re facing in this country today.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP And there’s still another deadline on Capitol Hill fast approaching, this time to pay Senate staff. “I’m concerned about everybody going without pay,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., said. “We need to open the government back up, and I think people need to sit down and talk to each other. And so far, the president has been unwilling to talk, the leadership in both houses have been unwilling to talk.”
BIG update in Karur stampede: Supreme Court transfers case to CBI; retired SC judge to monitor probe
A bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and NV Anjaria also ordered a three-member committee to be headed by a former Supreme Court judge, Justice Ajay Rastogi, to monitor the CBI probe for a fair and impartial investigation into the tragedy.
Ahead of Bihar elections, former CM Lalu Prasad Yadav, son Tejashwi, wife Rabri Devi named in IRCTC hotel corruption case, accused of…
The Rouse Avenue Court on Monday framed charges against former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, Rabri Devi, Tejashwi Yadav and others in criminal Conspiracy and sections related to other offences in the IRCTC hotel corruption case.
BAD news for Coldrif-maker as Tamil Nadu drugs control department CANCELS Sresan Pharmaceuticals’ license, shuts down company
The state health department stated that the company has been officially shut down after its investigation of toxic contaminants, specifically Diethylene Glycol (DEG), in their cough syrup, Coldrif.
India’s Dharashakti big blow to Pakistan, China’s defence capabilities, can destroy…, it costs Rs…
The Ministry of Defence has ordered mass production of the Dharashakti Integrated Electronic Warfare System, a Rs 5,150 crore project. It is designed to combat enemy radar system and electronic attack while securing India’s military communication network.