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Socialist in Trump country gives Karl Marx vision thumbs-up before ducking key tax question

Socialist in Trump country gives Karl Marx vision thumbs-up before ducking key tax question

Florida socialist congressional candidate Oliver Larkin repeatedly declined to say how much he would raise taxes on high earners while defending his call to tax billionaires “out of existence” during a contentious interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity. Larkin, who volunteered for then-Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., in 2008 and led a New Hampshire presidential campaign field office for Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in 2016, sparred with Hannity over his Democratic Socialists of America-aligned platform as Florida voters prepare to vote Tuesday. When asked about the idea of an economy based on the promise of “to each American based on their needs from each American based on their ability,” Larkin replied, “I think that’s a fine concept.” EXPERT WHO FLED CUBA WARNS OF ‘VICIOUS CYCLE’ THAT WILL LEAD TO ‘COMMUNISTS IN DOUBLE DIGITS’ IN CONGRESS The axiom was popularized in 1875 by German political theorist Karl Marx in his “Critique of the Gotha Programme.” Larkin, who is challenging moderate Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., in a district considered a prime Republican target in November’s general election, said he was less concerned with ideological labels than with meeting his potential new constituents every day. “I’m coming at the race from a pragmatic point of view of what the American people and the people of South Florida need, and that is Medicare-for-all, that is universal child care, that is the policy proposals that you just articulated on your show,” Larkin told Hannity. Before introducing Larkin, Hannity listed a series of policies he said the millennial left-winger supported, including abolishing the Electoral College, automatic same-day voter registration, shunning fossil fuels, abolishing ICE and prosecuting its agents, free public college, an end to sanctions on Iran and Cuba and a “passionate hatred of Israel,” in the conservative host’s words. THE MEDICARE FOR ALL TRADE-OFFS SOCIALISTS AREN’T TALKING ABOUT, ACCORDING TO EXPERTS Hannity challenged Larkin to go beyond the proposals and explain how he would achieve each of his policy objectives, starting with higher federal taxes “Out of every dollar these so-called ‘evil rich people’ make, how much should they be able to keep…?” he asked. Instead of offering a figure, Larkin praised former Presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower for presiding over extremely high top marginal tax rates. “Give me a number,” Hannity demanded. PROGRESSIVES WANT TO TAX BILLIONAIRES FIRST, AND YOU’RE NEXT ON THE LIST “What percentage of every dollar should every American be able to keep after they pay the government, local, state, federal [taxes]?” Larkin replied that the figure depends on income, but did not specify any income ranges except to say that “billionaires should be taxed out of existence.” Hannity countered that most billionaires are among the “most brilliant” people and argued that it is wrong to take money from the most creative Americans through higher taxes. Larkin replied that X CEO Elon Musk — the world’s richest person — has received billions in government subsidies that helped build his wealth, arguing that billionaires should therefore face higher taxes and calling the South African immigrant a “vulture” for buying Tesla and presiding over its largesse himself. Hannity returned to pressing the candidate for specifics about his plans, including what tax rates Americans at different income levels should pay under a socialist system: “How much are you willing to let the government take? How much? Give us a number,” he said, asking for an example with an American making $100,000 per annum. “I want to see a return on our taxpayer investment,” Larkin replied without offering a specific figure. “I’m not interested in changing the tax rate on middle-class Americans on people making a hundred grand,” he later added, prompting Hannity to ask what tax rate should apply to people making $500,000. SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER “Give me a number,” he insisted. “The DSA people talk a lot about fairness. What is fair for a guy that makes a half a million dollars a year out of every dollar — how much should the government get? Answer the question.” “It’s not that simple,” Larkin argued. After crosstalk, the candidate said the cap on income subject to Social Security taxes should be raised, but did not specify an amount. Moskowitz’ and Larkin’s district — which has changed numbers several times — has been represented by Democrats for most of the modern era. Over the past two decades, including when it was numbered the 22nd District, Col. Allen West has been the only Republican to represent the district. West served one term. From its inception in 1993 through the early years of George W. Bush’s presidency, the district was represented by Republican Rep. Eugene Clay Shaw Jr. After socialist candidates lost in Wisconsin but won in Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York and Minnesota, Florida Democrats will decide Tuesday whether to follow the same trend. Fox News Digital reached out to Larkin for comment.

Trump scores major immigration victory as judge clears way to end TPS protections for thousands of Somalis

Trump scores major immigration victory as judge clears way to end TPS protections for thousands of Somalis

President Donald Trump scored a major legal victory Friday after a federal judge cleared the way for his administration to terminate temporary legal protections for thousands of Somali nationals living in the United States. U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs in Boston lifted a stay that had prevented the Department of Homeland Security from terminating Somalia’s Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation, citing a June Supreme Court ruling that sharply limited judicial review of similar administration actions. The decision allows the Trump administration to move forward with ending TPS for Somalia, potentially exposing affected migrants who lack another lawful basis to remain in the U.S. to deportation. SUPREME COURT’S LATEST IMMIGRATION RULING WILL CAUSE AMERICANS TO ‘DIE AND SUFFER’ ATTORNEY WARNS Burroughs, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, had previously blocked the termination from taking effect in a lawsuit brought by four Somali nationals and two advocacy groups, including African Communities Together. The Trump administration announced in January that it planned to terminate Somalia’s TPS designation, with then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem arguing that conditions in the country had improved enough to end the humanitarian protections. The Supreme Court ruled in June in Mullin v. Doe that the TPS statute bars judicial review of certain non-constitutional decisions by the administration to terminate TPS designations. The court also found that the plaintiffs’ equal protection challenge in that case was unlikely to succeed. The ruling curtailed lower courts’ ability to review Trump administration efforts to terminate TPS designations for nationals of multiple countries. SUPREME COURT WEIGHS TRUMP EFFORT TO TERMINATE TEMPORARY PROTECTIONS FOR HAITIAN, SYRIAN MIGRANTS Plaintiffs challenging the termination of Somalia’s designation argued that the administration’s decision was motivated by bias against non-White immigrants, pointing to Trump’s previous descriptions of Somalis as “garbage” and “low IQ people.” Following the Supreme Court’s ruling, the plaintiffs filed an amended complaint raising new constitutional claims and sought emergency relief in another effort to prevent Somalia’s TPS protections from ending. Burroughs issued an administrative stay earlier this month after African Communities Together and other plaintiffs alleged that the administration violated the Fifth Amendment by terminating Somalia’s TPS designation based on racial and national-origin discrimination. In Friday’s ruling, Burroughs said the plaintiffs had presented a compelling case but concluded that the Supreme Court’s decision constrained her ability to continue blocking the administration’s action. BIDEN JUDGE OVERRULED ON KEY TRUMP IMMIGRATION POLICY Burroughs wrote that she was “bound … to view things through the Mullin prism,” referring to the Supreme Court case. “Plaintiffs have made a convincing showing that they will suffer irreparable harm if the injunction is withheld … and the balance of hardships and the public interest also favor Plaintiffs, given that the government has made no showing that maintaining TPS status for the duration of this litigation would impose an undue burden,” she wrote. Despite those findings, Burroughs lifted the stay, allowing the administration’s termination of Somalia’s TPS designation to move forward. The Trump administration’s decision affects several thousand Somali nationals currently living in the United States. Sources at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services previously told Fox News Digital that 2,471 Somali nationals in the U.S. currently have TPS, while another 1,383 have pending TPS applications. Fox News Digital’s Preston Mizell and Elaine Mallon, along with Reuters, contributed to this report.

Veteran pediatrician hails Medicaid shift ending youth sex-change treatments: ‘This is not denial of care’

Veteran pediatrician hails Medicaid shift ending youth sex-change treatments: ‘This is not denial of care’

The sweeping policy shift announced Tuesday to end Medicaid funding for youth sex-change treatments is being hailed by at least one veteran pediatrician, who argued that the procedures were never “compassionate” approaches for children facing gender dysphoria. In an interview with Fox News Digital, Dr. Quentin Van Meter, the immediate past president of the American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds), reflected on the new restrictions issued by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). “I’m really congratulating HHS and CMS for… taking the step to block the medical and surgical interventions or funding for those in those healthcare systems… primarily because it’s not an appropriate kind of intervention,” Van Meter said. Despite claims that children will be left to suffer under the policy change, Van Meter, a pediatric endocrinologist, asserted that government intervention is not meant to strip them of the care they need, arguing instead for ongoing mental health treatment to address the underlying issues driving their distress. MEDICAID ENDS FUNDING FOR CHILD SEX-CHANGE PROCEDURES AS TRUMP ADMIN SLAMS ‘EXPERIMENTAL’ TREATMENTS “This is not denial of care. This is not lack of compassion. This is not denial that these patients exist, as we are told that we are doing this,” he added. “This is actually very compassionate, very appropriate, and has been scientifically proven to be of benefit to these children.” Van Meter, who has 42 years of experience in the field dating back to his fellowship at Johns Hopkins in the late 1970s, further argued that “puberty is not a disease” and that interventions intended to alter its course under sex-change procedures can instead exacerbate the mental health problems children are facing. Tuesday’s policy shift also comes against the backdrop of what Van Meter described as a collapsing medical framework behind the youth transgender movement, citing mounting evidence and a series of disturbing findings. This includes a federally funded study researchers allegedly tried to bury after multiple transitioning children reportedly died by suicide, federal allegations challenging a prominent transgender medical authority, the shocking rise in potentially thousands of detransitioners, and the irreversible damage caused by sex changes, including sterilization. SEN HAWLEY WARNS IT WOULD BE ‘UNCONSCIONABLE’ IF BILLIONS OF TAXPAYER FUNDS FLOW TO TRANS KIDS’ SEX CHANGES One of the examples Van Meter pointed to dates back to 2015, when the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded a five-year study to examine the outcomes of sex-change hormones in children. By the second year, three participants had died by suicide. Not only did researchers fail to immediately halt the study after the first death, they also attempted to bury the results by refusing to publish the data, according to Van Meter. The study’s chief investigators reportedly had a significant conflict of interest, having been “very proactive in the transgender arena” and often asserting that “these treatments are very beneficial and should be continued.” The multimillion-dollar study, titled “The Impact of Early Medical Treatment in Transgender Youth,” was later scrutinized by a GOP-led Senate committee in 2024. The committee accused the researchers involved of having “intentionally withheld scientific data from the American public showing that puberty blockers do not improve the mental health of children.” The Republican lawmakers involved added that the study also found 11 participants with suicidal thoughts. DETRANSITIONER CHLOE COLE SHARES COMPLICATIONS AFTER GENDER PROCEDURES: ‘I AM GRIEVING’ Separately, a major transgender medical authority known for spearheading the pediatric sex-change guidelines that major medical groups relied on, has been accused of promoting ideological opinion instead of evidence-based medicine. The criticism centers on the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), which is being challenged in a Texas court case involving the Federal Trade Commission. “None of this is a standard of care, none of it is rigorous. It’s just their specific opinion based on their ideology,” Van Meter said. Van Meter added that there has been a significant increase in the number of people seeking to detransition, citing online support resources that reportedly receive an estimated 600 to 700 hits per month from patients seeking help. During a conference last March, Van Meter said he encountered roughly 85 individuals from around the world who wanted to detransition, indicating that “there clearly is a population for which this has been a detriment.” HHS OFFICIAL WARNS OF IRREVERSIBLE RISKS AS TRUMP ADMIN RESTRICTS FUNDING FOR YOUTH GENDER PROCEDURES However, detransitioning is reportedly a highly complex process that involves reconstructive surgeries, gradual medication weaning and extensive mental health support. Sex-change treatments can ultimately result in severe and irreversible physical harms, Van Meter said.  Pediatric interventions can result in permanent sterilization, profound sexual dysfunction, permanently diminished bone density, impaired brain development, a heightened risk of early dementia and lifelong health conditions requiring continuous medical management. The desire to undergo sex-change procedures can often emerge among vulnerable children “when their life is falling apart,” as they seek an escape from underlying problems such as divorced parents, parental incarceration, alcoholism, drug abuse or the death of a family member, Van Meter said. Impressionable children may then encounter online communities that frame undergoing a sex change as a cure-all or claim that their gender is the root of their problems. FTC ALLEGES INFLUENTIAL TRANSGENDER HEALTH ORGANIZATION MISLED PARENTS ABOUT SAFETY OF YOUTH TREATMENTS Beyond the need for better mental health access for children, Van Meter said more should be changed systemically across transgender policies. Van Meter proposed cutting federal funding from medical schools that promote research into sex-change treatments or teach such procedures as the standard of care in their curricula. He said doctors and pediatricians often uncritically promote transitions because they can easily be labeled a “bigot” or “hater” otherwise.  Health care workers who disagree are also denied a voice in medical literature, academic departments and professional associations, he said. Additionally, he added, the statute of limitations should be extended to give detransitioners ample time to sue healthcare providers for facilitating such treatments, while clinics should be audited for scientific transparency.

Legal expert calls for Smithsonian leadership overhaul over ‘self-loathing’ portrayal of history: ‘It’s bile’

Legal expert calls for Smithsonian leadership overhaul over ‘self-loathing’ portrayal of history: ‘It’s bile’

A legal expert is calling for a leadership overhaul at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History (NMAH), arguing the museum has embraced a negative, “self-loathing” portrayal of the nation’s past. “I think this is part of a broader effort by radicals on the left to redefine the history of the United States and reframe it in an oppressor-versus-oppressed narrative,” Cully Stimson, a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation and former assistant U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., told Fox News Digital. “Instead of looking at American history chronologically with all the triumphs and tragedies, including slavery, and then the things that our country did to eradicate the vestiges of slavery, and then passing the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments and the Civil Rights Acts and getting rid of various other laws that were discriminatory in practice or in spirit. They take a very pro-reparations, ‘we’re a bad country,’ oppressor-versus-oppressed narrative.” The comments come after a July 2026 White House report accused the Smithsonian of advancing DEI and left-wing agendas, prompting a pair of heated congressional hearings that put National Museum of American History Director Anthea Hartig under the national spotlight. DESCENDANT OF SLAVES SHAMES SMITHSONIAN’S WOKE ‘INDOCTRINATION’ AGAINST THE ‘GREATEST NATION ON EARTH’ Lawmakers accused museum leaders of allowing political activism to seep into exhibits and influence how history is presented, while Hartig maintained that the museum is nonpartisan and “does not take sides in America’s political debates.” Stimson said the hearings are exposing “bile that they’re trying to pass off as history,” saying “sunlight’s a good disinfectant.” “If the head of the Smithsonian had any shame whatsoever, she would have resigned in disgrace already and she doesn’t have any shame because she’s perfectly happy with what she’s done,” Stimson said. “She’s just the pointy end of the radical spear that’s out there trying to force this thing down the throats of Americans.” Stimson said Hartig should have been fired “the minute after the hearing” for what he called “smug and self-righteous” behavior during her testimony and for failing to take accountability. “Her little writing the question down and her smugness was really evincing of what she really thinks of the American people and congressional oversight,” he said. REP GILL CHALLENGES ‘GENUINELY INSANE AND OBJECTIVELY OFFENSIVE’ DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS AFTER VIRAL HEARING Looking back to America’s 250th anniversary celebrations in July, when hundreds of thousands of people came to D.C. to celebrate the milestone, Stimson said families and children were instead greeted with “all sorts of disgusting things, bondage, and all sorts of other nasty things” at the museum. Some of the controversial exhibits highlighted in the report and hearings featured sexually explicit material, focused on race, gender and sexuality, and portrayed the Founding Fathers through their ties to slavery rather than their roles in building America. “There should be an entire section dedicated toward the Founding Fathers and the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and the Reconstruction Amendments and all the things that happened, the Civil War, but no,” he said. Stimson said America has gone through many ups and downs “to get beyond the ugly parts of our history,” giving Americans reason to celebrate the country today. “We should not have a museum dedicated to flagellation and self-loathing,” he said. “That is not how you celebrate your country.” Many Democrats have also accused Republicans of trying to “whitewash” history, a claim Stimson rejected, saying that celebrating America does not mean ignoring the darker parts of its past. MIKE ROWE SAYS HISTORY SHOWS WHY AMERICANS KEEP REJECTING SOCIALISM “Celebrating doesn’t mean whitewashing history,” he said. “Every civilization throughout mankind has had slavery. That doesn’t make it right, it makes it reality.” But Stimson said this approach to teaching history goes further than the museums and that the concern is “something you need to be aware of.” “You see this in higher ed, you see this unfortunately in high school and even below in lower schools, and unfortunately at our premier national museums, including the American History Museum,” he said. Stimson said people should take away the same lessons that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic, when parents isolated at home got a firsthand look at what their children were being taught. “That’s why you saw more and more homeschoolers, more and more people in the school choice movement just explode across the country,” he said. He added “parents are the first educators of their children” and it’s up to them “to present American history” the right way. A complete reset could be what the museum needs, according to Stimson. “That’s all it is,” he said. “It’s bile. It needs to be ripped out, root and branch, and redone.” Fox News Digital reached out to the Smithsonian for comment but did not receive a response before publication.