Quiet part out loud: Anti-Israel mobs want one state called ‘Palestine,’ erasing Israel
WASHINGTON, D.C. — This weekend, millions of anti-Israel activists marched through the streets of cities in coordinated actions from America’s capital to London, Paris, Madrid and Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia, chanting the familiar refrains of “Free, free Palestine” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” But for the first time, communicated frankly in exclusive interviews with Fox News Digital, three anti-Israel leaders acknowledged the goal: one state called “Palestine” encompassing modern-day Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, with a Palestinian “right of return” to the new country and equal political, voting and citizenship rights for Palestinians alongside Jews currently living in Israel. Most significantly, in the political vision they described, Israel would legally cease to exist as a separate Jewish nation-state and Jews would be quickly overwhelmed demographically. INSIDE THE PROTEST PLAYBOOK TO VILIFY ISRAEL ON ‘GLOBAL DAY OF ACTION’ The current population of Israel is about 10 million, including about 7.8 million Jews, 2 million Palestinian Arabs (including Palestinians and most of them Muslim), and 200,000 people from other communities. There are another estimated 10.2 million Jews worldwide. There are about 5.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza and about 8 million Palestinians in the diaspora, totaling about 13.5 million. The candor of the anti-Israel leaders lays bare the political conclusion of an argument that activists have spent years advancing on the streets, through sympathetic media outlets and in legal forums: that Israel is a “settler colonial” state practicing “apartheid” and “genocide,” and therefore should not continue to exist in its current form as a Jewish state. Israeli leaders have fiercely rejected those allegations, disputing accusations of “genocide” and “apartheid” and maintaining that Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people with equal civil and political rights for citizens that include Jews, Christians and Muslims. Advocates for Israel note that the nation’s critics rarely apply the same historical lens of human-rights analysis to Arab and Muslim-majority states, many of which emerged from the collapse of empires, wars and population upheavals that displaced millions, including Jews expelled from their countries, today often restricting political, religious and minority rights. NOBEL PEACE PRIZE AWARDED TO UN JURIST WHO ACCUSED ISRAEL OF COMMITTING GENOCIDE IN GAZA In Chicago, Hatem Abudayyeh, the Palestinian-American founder of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network and a Muslim, said the new nation would be “one democratic secular state of Palestine.” Jewish Israeli-born community leader Miko Peled, founder of the Palestine House in Washington, D.C., said “the proper name would be Palestine.” And Maryland congressional candidate Sam Husseini, a Palestinian-American Christian, floated another name for the vision of the one state: “1948,” marking the year Israel declared independence and Palestinians commemorate as the “Nakba,” or catastrophe, but he said even Israeli Jews would one day accept another name: “Palestine.” Their answers provide a striking interpretation from inside a movement where activists have traditionally danced around their demands with euphemisms about “liberation” and media outlets have obscured their answers even when they have been transparent. On Washington, D.C.’s First Avenue SE, Fox News Digital asked Olivia DiNucci, local coordinator for CodePink, a far-left nonprofit, what her group sees as a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In her work for CodePink, DiNucci disrupts hearings, restaurant meals and town halls to shout at lawmakers and policymakers who support the state of Israel. ‘TROJAN HORSES’ IN AMERICA: CONGRESS PROBES INFLUENCE NETWORKS TIED TO CHINA, IRAN AND CUBA “Palestinians in Palestine will decide, DiNucci said. Asked if “Palestine” includes modern day Israel, she spun around and walked away. Later, she posted a message on social media, saying she was asked “gotcha questions.” This weekend, protesters signaled their position with certainty, explicitly rejecting the two-state solution that has dominated international diplomacy for decades. In New York City, the Party for Socialism and Liberation circulated video of protesters marching through the streets chanting: “1-2-3-4. Occupation no more. 5-6-7-8. Israel is a terrorist state.” ISRAEL, JEWS TARGETED WORLDWIDE AS WELL-FUNDED LEFTIST, ISLAMIST GROUPS JOIN FOR ‘NAKBA 78’ PROTESTS Then came the point: “We don’t want no two state!” In London, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign promoted a 15-second video of a woman with a megaphone shouting: “There is only one state!” “Palestine, ’48!” protesters responded. “Say it loud, say it clear!” she continued. “Palestine, you make us proud!” Back in Washington, D.C., protesters carried signs declaring, “LAND YOU HAVE 2 KILL FOR IS NOT YOURS,” a message that challenged Israel’s claim to the land itself, while a banner proclaiming, “THE FIGHT FOR LIBERATION IS OURS,” framed the struggle as one for the territory. The demonstrators yesterday didn’t address the Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, but many have called them justified. ANTI-ISRAEL GROUPS RALLY ACROSS US ON OCTOBER 7 ANNIVERSARY, CHANTING ‘LONG LIVE THE INTIFADA’ The one-state demand is being amplified within a powerful protest infrastructure. The broader “red-green” alliance brings socialist and communist groups together on the streets with Palestinian and Muslim activist organizations, while organizations including the Democratic Socialists of America and nonprofits in the network funded by Neville Roy Singham, an American-born tech tycoon living in Shanghai, help organize, promote and amplify anti-Israel demonstrations. Singham, has poured $278 million into a pro-communist network, including CodePink, the People’s Forum, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, BreakThrough News and the ANSWER Coalition, which have become major organizing, media and logistical hubs for the protest movement. The result is a powerful infrastructure amplifying slogans such as “Free Palestine” and “from the river to the sea,” even when the organizations and activists doing the amplifying don’t themselves explicitly spell out the one-state political vision described to Fox News Digital. From Chicago, Abudayyeh told Fox News Digital that the U.S. Palestinian Community Network advocates for one democratic state across the territory that today encompasses Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. “Our points of unity, from the very beginning of our existence, included one democratic secular state of Palestine,” he said. “And for decades and decades, we’ve been saying that…the only true solution that
Hurricane Isaias’ devastating aftermath comes into focus in striking images
Communities are beginning to assess the damage left behind by a powerful hurricane that tore through the region, leaving homes damaged, roads flooded and neighborhoods littered with debris. Photos from some of the hardest-hit areas show the scale of the destruction as residents and emergency crews begin the long process of cleaning up and rebuilding. HOW THE VIOLENT CATEGORY 2 STORM UNFOLDED ACROSS FLORIDA AND GULF COAST Isaias slammed into the Florida Panhandle near Destin on Friday, Oct. 9, as a Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph, bringing destructive winds, dangerous storm surge and widespread flooding. The hurricane tore roofs from buildings, uprooted trees and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of customers across Florida and Alabama before pushing inland. STUNNING FOOTAGE CAPTURES HURRICANE ISAIAS FROM INSIDE THE STORM’S EYE Isaias marked the first hurricane to make landfall along the U.S. Gulf Coast since Hurricane Milton battered Florida in October 2024, nearly two years earlier. The storm also became the first hurricane of the 2026 Atlantic season, ending an unusually quiet stretch that saw no hurricanes develop until October. DESANTIS DEPLOYS AN ARMY TO CLEAR ROADS, RESTORE POWER AFTER ISAIAS’ LANDFALL As Isaias moved inland and weakened, the full extent of the hurricane’s destruction began to emerge. Stunning images from across the Gulf Coast capture what the powerful storm left behind.
Rescue expert warns FlyDubai hijacking attempt shows US, allies are ‘playing checkers’ against terror threat
The FlyDubai attempted hijacking shows the U.S. and its allies are still using outdated counterterrorism assumptions against increasingly sophisticated enemies, a U.S. rescue expert and 9/11 first responder warns. “They’re good at chess,” Bryan Stern, chairman and CEO of Grey Bull Rescue, told Fox News Digital on Monday, saying the radical ideology behind the FlyDubai attack is a ringing “bell” for global aviation security and Western counterterrorism strategy. “And we’re, if we’re lucky, playing checkers – if we’re lucky – and I would argue we’re not even playing checkers that well.” TERROR CELLS INSIDE FOREIGN AIRLINES ‘CERTAINLY A POSSIBILITY,’ RETIRED PILOT WARNS Stern, whose global nonprofit conducts evacuations from war zones and hostage situations, said the thwarted FlyDubai attack by “an angry, radicalized, Sunni bad guy” is showing just how far behind our enemies we are in this post-9/11 world. “They understand us significantly more than we understand them,” Stern, who has been “hunting the bad guys” for 30 years, said. Stern said the U.S. has to understand the “asymmetric warfare” as well as the increasingly sophisticated enemy does. “The reason why a football coach watches game tapes is not to watch his own team play, it’s to watch the bad guys play,” he said. “We gotta start watching some game tapes.” AMERICA BUILT A FORTRESS AFTER 9/11. THEN THE THREAT STARTED HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT Stern is intimately in tune with the playbook on the ground in war zones, including the Middle East and Iran. “We conduct these operations in these places still to this very day,” he said. “We’re actually on the ground, meaning I know people in Hezbollah, I know people in the Taliban. I know people in ISIS. I know people in ISIS-K. I’ve met with radical jihadi weirdos and whack jobs personally.” United Arab Emirates investigators have described the incident aboard FlyDubai flight FZ1073 as an attempted terror attack after the co-pilot allegedly stabbed the captain and tried to hijack the plane, which was carrying more than 170 passengers and crew, most of them Israelis. Australian authorities have also said a counterterrorism unit is investigating the co-pilot’s links to Australia. INTEL CHIEF WARNS OF ‘EVOLVING’ THREATS AS TERROR GROUPS NOW ‘RECRUIT THEIR AGENTS ONLINE’ “The bad guys are completely not afraid. They’re completely emboldened. They have got the whole world to hate Israel, the whole world to hate us,” he said. “It’s a tough problem.” Since the incident, there has been renewed vigilance in aviation and foreign airline security. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed his national security council to review security procedures for foreign civil aviation to Israel, while Vice President JD Vance said Monday that flight security procedures are also under review in the U.S. IRAN COULD MOVE SHADOW WAR IN A DANGEROUS DIRECTION, EXPERTS WARN ON BACK OF TWO POSSIBLE TERROR ATTACKS “I was asked years ago when I was still with the government,” Stern said. “A team was put together and the question before the court was, if you were al-Qaeda, what would you do?” “What I came up with was … I would get 19 hijackers, and I would hijack four airplanes, and I would fly them into buildings in America, and then issue a communique that said: 20 years of war, you are no safer today than you were before – that for TSA, and Homeland Security, and Iraq, and Afghanistan and all the different things, you are actually no safer, America, today than you were before,” he said. “We’re seeing, sadly,” he lamented, “that academic hypothetical situation has now become a reality, or certainly a possibility.” Despite President Donald Trump and the War Department’s best efforts to rid the world of terrorist groups – and Iran of nuclear weapons aspirations – “you can’t bomb your way into peace,” Stern claimed. ‘CRAZY’ FLYDUBAI LANDING EXPLAINED BY ISRAELI PILOT, WHO OFFERS STEPS TO PREVENT FUTURE CRISES “They have been in holy war against us,” he added. “We have now engaged in a holy war against them.” “On Ramadan, the holiest month of the year in Islam, on the first day, which is the holiest day, we detonated the leader of the Shia faith, the Ayatollah,” he said, likening it to “if somebody assassinated the pope on Easter Sunday while he’s giving mass at the Vatican.” Stern explained that rooting out ideological terror in the U.S. is more complex than ever, because even if the border is not open any longer under Trump, the terrorist networks might be infiltrating America with U.S. passport holders – making them tough to investigate, if not impossible to spot before an attack. NETANYAHU PRAISES HEROIC BYSTANDER IN BLOODY COCKPIT ATTACK FOR PREVENTING ‘ANOTHER 9/11’ Stern likened it to the release of the suspects in the RAF Fairford investigation – potential terrorist passport holders walking free. “Until I actually squeeze the triggers, I haven’t committed a crime yet,” he said. “Now give me an airplane.” “That’s the problem.” Stern noted that the nature of America’s adversaries in the current conflict is unlike what the U.S. faced in places like Afghanistan. “We need to remember we are very used to shooting people like the Taliban who don’t know what plumbing is – who literally for years lived in caves until we showed up and gave them stuff,” he continued. “The bad guys that we’re talking about today are extremely sophisticated. They are extremely resourced, extremely resourceful. They’re very intelligent, they’re very smart, and they’re very good at what they do.” IRAN UNDER SCRUTINY AFTER PLOT FOILED NEAR UK BASE USED BY US MILITARY “The Persian Empire is the only empire of empires who have been all the way on top and all the way defeated at the bottom – six times,” he said. “They’re looking at us going, you’re 250 years old. How adorable. You’re cute, America.” Stern predicted that some day even 9/11 — which he survived as a first responder — is ultimately going to be dwarfed. “What will happen, probably is we’ll get
WATCH: CDC director discusses US government response to Russian plague concerns: ‘We are protected’
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is coordinating with federal agencies to monitor travelers entering the United States from Siberia amid concerns about a possible pneumonic plague outbreak in Russia, the agency’s director revealed Wednesday. CDC Director Dr. Erica Schwartz said the Trump administration is working across multiple agencies to identify travelers arriving from the region following the mysterious death of a Russian laboratory worker, while emphasizing that the risk to Americans remains minimal. “We are very confident that the threat to the United States is extremely low,” Schwartz said during a Wall Street Journal health forum Wednesday. MOTHER OF DEAD RUSSIAN ANTI-PLAGUE INSTITUTE WORKER: ‘I KNOW THE TRUTH’ The concerns stem from the Oct. 2 death of Darya Shipilova, a 28-year-old employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute in Siberia, whose death has fueled speculation about a possible pneumonic plague infection. Russian authorities have maintained that Shipilova died from pneumonia of unknown origin and have not confirmed that she was infected with Yersinia pestis, the bacteria that causes pneumonic plague. Schwartz said the CDC is working with the departments of Homeland Security, State and War, among other federal agencies, to track potential arrivals from the region. “There are about 200 flights that come into the United States from Siberia, that region,” Schwartz said, adding that those flights typically arrive at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. “We have a port health station set up in JFK so that we can do appropriate surveillance and screening if anyone from that area comes into the United States,” she continued. The CDC director stressed that while pneumonic plague is a serious bacterial infection capable of spreading between people through respiratory droplets, early detection and treatment can prevent deaths. TRUMP RESPONDS TO CONCERNS OVER SUSPECTED PLAGUE CASE IN RUSSIA, SAYING US ‘WILLING TO HELP’ “The one good thing, if I could say there’s a good thing, is that it’s a treatable, highly treatable bacterial disease with common antibiotics that most physicians within the United States can utilize,” Schwartz said. The illness is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis and is considered the most serious form of plague, according to the CDC. Symptoms can include fever, chest pain, coughing and rapidly developing pneumonia. Without prompt antibiotic treatment, the infection can be fatal, the agency warns. The World Health Organization (WHO) has pressed Moscow for additional information about Shipilova’s death. Russian authorities placed approximately 200 people who had contact with the deceased laboratory worker under quarantine, according to Euronews. On Thursday, Irkutsk Gov. Igor Kobzev said preventive measures had been completed and roughly 5,000 laboratory tests had detected no pathogens, according to the Associated Press. RUSSIAN RESEARCHER’S MYSTERY DEATH COULD BE ‘FAR WORSE’ THAN THE PLAGUE, FORMER SENIOR TRUMP OFFICIAL WARNS However, Russian officials have not publicly identified the pathogen responsible for Shipilova’s pneumonia or definitively ruled out pneumonic plague as the cause of her death, according to The Associated Press. Asked whether Moscow was being sufficiently transparent with American authorities, Schwartz indicated that the administration was still seeking answers. “We are still having those conversations about what exactly happened in Siberia,” she said, adding that U.S. officials were working with information about an unconfirmed case of pneumonic plague.
Trump announces immediate energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine
President Donald Trump announced an immediate energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, saying both countries have agreed to halt attacks on each other’s energy infrastructure after weeks of escalating tensions over strikes on oil refineries and power plants. “Effective immediately, there is an ENERGY CEASEFIRE in the War between Russia and Ukraine. Both parties have agreed. Do not break it!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. The announcement comes as Trump has intensified pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to stop targeting Russian oil refineries, arguing that the attacks have disrupted global diesel supplies and contributed to higher fuel prices for American consumers. The issue has become increasingly urgent as diesel prices weigh on American farmers, truckers and businesses that rely on the fuel to transport goods and operate heavy equipment. RECORD GAS PRICES SQUEEZE AMERICANS AS MIDTERMS LOOM AND WAR IN UKRAINE AND IRAN WAGES ON Trump has repeatedly criticized Ukraine’s strikes on Russian energy facilities, even as Kyiv maintains that targeting Moscow’s oil industry is a legitimate strategy to weaken Russia’s ability to finance its war. The announcement follows a contentious week in U.S.-Ukraine relations after Trump struck a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to allow Russian diesel exports to reach American and global markets. Under the agreement announced Friday, Russia would immediately supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel, with additional shipments expected in November and beyond. The Treasury Department also authorized temporary sanctions relief to facilitate Russian diesel supplies. Trump argued that the agreement would help bring down fuel prices, while Zelenskyy criticized the decision as a concession to Moscow that could provide additional revenue for Russia’s war effort. The dispute escalated Saturday when Trump suggested Ukraine should replace Zelenskyy with a leader more willing to negotiate an end to the war. “I suggest they get a new leader who can make a deal,” Trump told reporters. ‘OUR POSITION IS CLEAR:’ ZELENSKYY AND EU DISMISS CEDING UKRAINIAN LAND TO RUSSIA Zelenskyy, meanwhile, has maintained that Ukraine would be willing to halt attacks on Russian oil refineries if Moscow agreed to stop targeting Ukrainian power plants and other critical infrastructure. The two countries have increasingly targeted each other’s energy systems throughout the war, although the consequences have differed. Russian strikes on Ukraine’s power grid have left civilians facing electricity disruptions and damaged infrastructure needed to heat homes and sustain businesses. Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries, meanwhile, have disrupted fuel production and exports, putting additional pressure on global energy markets. The Trump administration has spent weeks attempting to negotiate a reciprocal halt to energy attacks as part of broader diplomatic efforts to bring an end to the war. In September, Trump similarly announced that both countries had agreed to an energy ceasefire, although Moscow did not publicly confirm the agreement and attacks continued. The latest announcement raises the possibility of renewed diplomatic progress, but an energy ceasefire would not amount to a comprehensive agreement to end the fighting. It was not immediately clear how the agreement would be monitored or enforced. The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. Fox News Digital reached out to the Ukrainian and Russian embassies in Washington, D.C., seeking confirmation of the ceasefire but did not immediately receive responses.
Minnesota GOP chair blasts progressive group over KKK-themed sign shown during Black House speaker’s remarks
Minnesota’s Republican Party chairman is accusing protesters of racial intimidation after demonstrators disrupted a GOP dinner and displayed a sign invoking the Ku Klux Klan while the state’s first Black female House speaker addressed the crowd. Minnesota GOP Chair Alex Plechash blasted the demonstrators in a statement after Friday night’s Lincoln Reagan Dinner in Eagan, where protesters held a sign reading “RepubliKKKan Party” during remarks by House Speaker and Republican gubernatorial candidate Lisa Demuth. “Last night, radical protesters stormed the stage at our Lincoln Reagan Dinner and held up a KKK symbol while Speaker Lisa Demuth spoke,” Plechash said in a statement posted to X by the Republican Party of Minnesota. DAVID MARCUS: MINNESOTA GOP CANDIDATES KEEP TRUMP AT ARM’S LENGTH AS THEY EYE A POST-TRUMP PARTY FUTURE “Let’s be clear about what happened. Left leaning protesters aimed a symbol of racial terror at a Black woman leader, at a dinner named for the president who ended slavery,” he continued. Sunrise Movement Twin Cities, a progressive activist organization, claimed responsibility for the disruption and said the demonstration was intended to protest Republican policies it believes harm immigrants and marginalized communities, according to local news station KTSP. “We disrupted this fundraiser because we refuse to give a moment’s peace to the people bankrolling racial violence,” the group said in a statement cited by the outlet. The organization also said it was not affiliated with Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL). Video of the incident shows demonstrators moving toward the front of the room holding signs, including one with the letters “KKK” highlighted in red, according to outlet. One protester could be heard shouting, “You love Trump and you will not stand up for Minnesotans,” as Demuth stood on stage holding a microphone. As security escorted the demonstrators away, attendees began chanting, “Lisa,” followed by chants of, “USA.” Plechash told the outlet that protesters gained access to the dinner by purchasing tickets and passing through security checkpoints. KLOBUCHAR’S FRAUD FIGHT CLAIM TAKES HIT AFTER GOP OPPONENT COMBS THROUGH RECEIPTS: ‘WHERE WERE YOU?’ The chairman said the event experienced two disruptions, the first during remarks by Republican U.S. Senate candidate Michele Tafoya and the second while Demuth was speaking. Plechash said roughly three or four protesters pushed toward the front of the room carrying banners during Demuth’s remarks. He estimated the disruption lasted about 30 seconds and said he did not believe the demonstrators posed a physical threat. Plechash said in his X post that Eagan police issued trespass orders and that potential charges remained under investigation. The GOP chairman also called out Minnesota Democrats, specifically naming the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan. “Intimidation, criminal behavior, and racist rhetoric have no place in Minnesota politics,” Plechash wrote. “Republicans debate ideas, and we’d welcome the DFL to show up and do the same,” he added. “Every hour they stay silent says something. Their silence is deafening.” Demuth, who won Minnesota’s Republican gubernatorial primary in August, will face off against Klobuchar, the Democratic nominee, in November’s election to succeed Gov. Tim Walz.
NYC councilwoman blasts Mamdani over Italian Heritage Month post praising ‘communist’
Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s Italian Heritage Month tribute to a left-wing congressman with ties to the Communist Party drew sharp criticism on social media, including a blistering rebuke from Queens Councilwoman Vickie Paladino. “Happy Italian Heritage Month, New York. Here’s continuing to fight for Vito Marcantonio’s vision of a government that works for all working people,” Mamdani wrote on X. Marcantonio represented East Harlem in Congress for seven terms, first as a Republican and later as a member of the left-wing American Labor Party. His opposition to U.S. involvement in the Korean War and his legal work for the Communist Party drew FBI attention, the bureau kept files on him during the Cold War. I ESCAPED COMMUNISM. AMERICA MUST NOT IGNORE THE URGENT WARNING SIGNS Paladino called Marcantonio an “obscure Italian-American communist” and accused Mamdani of promoting communist propaganda. “Of all the great men and women of Italian descent who’ve contributed to New York City and the United States, this is the idiot he picks,” Paladino wrote on X. MAMDANI DEFENDS CONTROVERSIAL NYC MAP AFTER OMITTING ICONIC LITTLE ITALY, JEWISH AND IRISH NEIGHBORHOODS She urged Mamdani to stop invoking his Italian heritage, saying he was “physically incapable of being anything other than a loathsome propagandist for communism.” Paladino contrasted the mayor’s message with her family’s history. She said her father fought in World War II against Italian forces under Benito Mussolini, while her mother raised five children on her own and worked in a button factory. “We wanted to become Americans, and our people were proud to learn the language and wave the American flag,” she wrote. “That’s what being an Italian-American in New York means,” Paladino added. “Not the communist propaganda Zohran is pushing here.” Mamdani’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Hollywood jobs flee overseas as Congress scrambles to stop production exodus — with Trump’s blessing
Congress is scrambling to stop one of the United States’ most iconic industries from fleeing overseas and taking thousands of jobs along with it. The U.S. TV and film industry has been hemorrhaging work for years as production companies and movie studios flee to places like Europe and Canada for friendlier tax regimes and other attractive financial policies. It prompted President Donald Trump to publicly call on Congress to pass legislation aimed at incentivizing entertainment studios to bring their production back home — and an unlikely alliance of lawmakers is heeding the call. A new bill that could potentially end up in a bipartisan tax package at the end of this year would push film and TV studios to bring their productions back to the U.S. via new tax incentives, with extra support if they choose to bring development to rural communities. TRUMP CALLS HOLLYWOOD A ‘TOTAL DISASTER,’ PUSHES FEDERAL TAX INCENTIVE FOR FILM AFTER MEETING WITH JON VOIGHT “Since I was a child, I was moved and inspired by the stories of America’s greatness, by living out the American dream, and by the notion that I could do and achieve anything in this world, if I set my mind to it, and most of that was driven by a whole lot of American-made movies,” Rep. Nathaniel Moran, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital. “I want this next generation to be inspired the same way, and I do not want American storytelling to go overseas, to be diluted by values from overseas.” Moran’s East Texas congressional district is largely rural and a far cry from the Sunset Strip that was home to much of America’s filmmaking history. PELOSI, OMAR JOIN TRUMP AND SCHIFF AS UNLIKELY ALLIANCE PUSHES TO ONSHORE KEY INDUSTRY He’s one of the House lawmakers leading the Motion Picture, Television, and Entertainment Revitalization Act, a bill aimed at bringing film and TV jobs back to the U.S. by creating a federal tax credit for domestic productions. It would further incentivize studios to film in rural areas with added financial benefits in areas deemed to be federal opportunity zones. “This bill is extremely important to send a message that American storytelling does not just happen in California or New York. It happens all over America, including rural America,” Moran said. The bill is notably led in the Senate by Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., a top Trump foe, and Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., one of the president’s biggest supporters in the chamber. Moran’s House colleagues who are helping to spearhead the bill include Reps. Mike Carey, R-Ohio, Brian Jack, R-Ga., Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., and Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y. ‘AMERICAN IDOL’ DITCHES HOLLYWOOD FOR GEORGIA AFTER TWO DECADES AS CALIFORNIA LOSES ANOTHER PRODUCTION Suozzi told Fox News Digital that his home state was “watching good-paying jobs and production move overseas,” adding, “We can’t let that happen.” “Democrats and Republicans agree we need to keep these jobs here,” Suozzi said. FILM PRODUCER SAYS ‘MADE IN AMERICA’ MOVIES CAN HELP REVIVE HOLLYWOOD’S STRUGGLING INDUSTRY But some, particularly on the right, might bristle at the prospect of awarding more lenient tax policies to an industry they perceive as having a longtime liberal bias — something Moran pushed back on. Moran said his state, for example, was home to “conservative,” “faith-based,” and “patriotic” entertainment production that was also creating jobs and stimulating local economies. “So I would say to those that are challenging this, I would say, well, do you want to see the stories and the movies and the TV productions that we watch go overseas, and be influenced by the culture and the values of other countries, somewhere else that do not love freedom like we do in America?” he posed. But the end of this congressional term is fast approaching, and getting anything passed after the November election will be an uphill battle. “I feel confident that there will be some kind of bipartisan tax package during the lame-duck session, and my hope would be that this, or a version of this bill, makes it into the final text,” Moran said.
‘Big Balls’ of DOGE fame gives exclusive look at new Trump mission to overhaul government
Edward Coristine, the former DOGE engineer better known as “Big Balls,” is now helping build the Trump administration’s new digital front door to the federal government — an effort aimed at giving Americans one place to navigate information and, eventually, complete services now spread across thousands of government websites. “I think that the fact that there’s 29,000 government websites is pretty insane,” Coristine told Fox News Digital in a sit-down interview. “And it is the citizens’ objective to have to go figure out which government website they’re supposed to use for each specific thing.” Coristine — better known around Washington by his attention-grabbing “Big Balls” nickname — sat down with Fox News Digital at the White House to talk about his new role helping build America.gov, what he learned during his time at DOGE, the administration’s plans to make more government services fully digital, his experience being attacked in Washington, and how the nickname that helped make him famous actually came from his dad. TRUMP UNVEILS AMERICA.GOV AS AI-POWERED HUB FOR PASSPORTS, MEDICARE ENROLLMENT AND MORE Coristine is now working with the National Design Studio on the administration’s revamped America.gov, which launched Sept. 29 as an AI-powered single point of entry for information drawn from thousands of government websites. President Donald Trump singled out Coristine during the launch, identifying him as the project’s lead engineer and thanking him for his work. Coristine said his time at DOGE gave him a firsthand look at the frustration Americans face when trying to navigate federal services and helped shape what he is working on now. “I think we got a lot of feedback that the American government is hard to interact with because you have to navigate the maze of bureaucratic services,” Coristine said. The software engineer had already worked in Musk’s orbit before joining DOGE, spending several months at Neuralink, Musk’s brain-computer interface company, before later joining the government efficiency effort at 19. “What I think is really special about America.gov is it presents a single point of entry to find all the information that you need,” he added, including finding government services tailored to the user and asking questions with answers sourced from the federal government. TRUMP TO USHER IN ‘GOLDEN AGE’ OF AMERICAN TECH WITH DC BASH SHOWCASING POWERFUL NEW TOOL Coristine pointed to Medicare as one example, saying Americans currently may have to move between Medicare.gov and the Social Security website to enroll in benefits. “Companies, generally speaking, only have one website and everything is easy to find,” he said. “We should have the same vision for the government.” The ambitions for America.gov also go beyond simply helping users find the right information. Coristine said the administration plans to make first-time passport applications fully digital, expanding beyond the online renewal system already available to eligible Americans. “Specifically with passports, what we’re going to do is we’re gonna make new passports online for the first time ever,” Coristine said, describing the existing process as “very manual.” TRUMP’S NEW HIGH-TECH GOVERNMENT HUB HOLDS SOME BIZARRE SURPRISES: ‘ENJOY FINDING THEM’ “You have to go in person, you have to get to the post office, you get your photo taken like a CVS or Walgreens,” he said. Under the planned system, Coristine said users would be able to take their passport photo at home, preview how it would appear on the document and complete the process “without leaving the America.gov website.” Coristine also offered a glimpse into how Trump has talked about the broader project, comparing the president’s approach to digital government with his background in hospitality. “I think the president has been a great host for his entire career. He’s been in the hospitality business, right?” Coristine said. “So any great host knows they have to make things easy, they have to make it all feel clean.” ELON MUSK LANDS NEW TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ROLE SHAPING FUTURE OF AMERICAN WARFARE “President Trump is very focused on removing the potholes from the digital government that make it hard to get things done,” he added. The role marks the latest chapter in a whirlwind stint in Washington that began at DOGE and quickly thrust the 20-year-old — and his now-famous “Big Balls” nickname — into the national spotlight. Coristine told Fox News Digital the “Big Balls” moniker had a far less dramatic origin than its eventual notoriety might suggest. “I got the nickname Big Balls from my dad,” he said, explaining that he eventually made it his LinkedIn URL AND THIS IS WHAT DROVE IT INTO THE NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT, RIGHT? “It was actually, like, fairly underground, but I was discovered,” Coristine said. “It’s been very funny ever since.” EXCLUSIVE: INSIDE THE SECRETIVE MINE DOGE HELPED DRAG OUT OF A DECADES-OLD BUREAUCRATIC BLACK HOLE Coristine’s profile rose further in August 2025 after he was attacked while walking a female friend back to her car in Washington’s Logan Circle neighborhood, an incident that left him with a broken nose and concussion and drew national attention. Coristine has said he rushed his friend into the car before the group turned on him, slamming him against the vehicle and throwing punches. “I really thank President Trump for making D.C. safe again,” Coristine said. “Like all my friends, they’re now able to walk outside.” “Everyone is very calmed by the National Guard because it feels like the city is so much safer,” he continued. “And the crime numbers totally represent that. The crime has been falling like a knife in D.C.” Trump established the Make D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force in March 2025 before launching an intensified federal crime crackdown in August, with the operation delivering more than 16,000 arrests, 3,200 narcotics arrests and nearly 2,000 illegal firearms seized in its first year. “So I’m unbelievably grateful to the president for making the city safe and beautiful,” Coristine said.
Flock executive defends crime-fighting cameras as ACLU attorney questions company’s motives amid backlash
Flock Safety, which operates controversial Flock cameras now in 49 states, is touting crime clearance rates in cities that use the cameras compared to cities that don’t — as a nationwide battle over the surveillance tool rages. “It’s used for any kind of crime really,” Phil Arnold, a public affairs manager for the company, told Fox News Digital. “It’s very helpful for hit-and-run accidents, also stolen vehicles, property crimes, crimes against people as well.” Arnold is a retired law enforcement officer who served his community in Shorewood, Illinois, for 40 years. He was the chief police executive in the town for 27 years. FORMER PENTAGON AI CHIEF WARNS FLOCK CAMERAS COULD CREATE ‘CHINA-LIKE SURVEILLANCE STATE’ IN THE US Arnold told Fox News Digital that for the last seven years of his career, his department used automatic license plate reader (ALPR) technology, which Flock Safety operates, to help solve crimes, describing the innovation as nothing short of revolutionary. “Let me give you an example. Before we had this technology, someone would say, ‘Hey, I just got robbed, and it was a white Chevy Tahoe,’” Arnold explained. “We would then put out this information, a BOLO [be on the lookout] so to speak, and police officers would stop every white Chevy Tahoe trying to find the offender.” Now, in a similar situation, Flock surveillance cameras narrow the searches to a specific geographic location where a reported crime has occurred, and then photographs of license plates matching the vehicle description can be used to identify possible suspect vehicles. “So it narrows down the search,” Arnold said. “It doesn’t inconvenience the people who are just getting stopped because of the car they’re driving.” LICENSE PLATE CAMERAS ARE TRACKING DRIVERS EVERYWHERE Flock provided Fox News Digital data from an internal report regarding crime solving rates in cities that use Flock cameras, compared to cities that don’t. For example, in Tennessee, Nashville cleared only 7% of motor vehicle thefts in the first half of 2026, versus 40% in Flock-equipped Hendersonville, a smaller city about 16 miles away, according to the data. “Aggravated assault clearance followed the same pattern: 41% vs. 95%. Only 3% of vehicle break-ins were solved in Nashville, compared with 50% in Hendersonville. Those patterns, according to Flock, hold true in places all over the country. Where Hillsborough, North Carolina, which does not use Flock, cleared 0% of vehicle thefts in the time studied, nearby Burlington cleared 46% of the same cases. In Flock-less Ann Arbor, Michigan, solve rates were lower than in nearby Van Buren Township. FLOCK CEO, TECH RIVAL CALLED OUT TO TESTIFY BEFORE SENATORS OVER AI CAMERA PRIVACY CONCERNS Flock described Eugene, Oregon, as “the most telling case.” “Flock cameras ran through October 2025, then were removed,” the report says. “Motor-vehicle-theft clearance fell from 15% to 9%; burglary clearance dropped from 21% to 15%. “Nearby Medford, still running Flock, cleared 29% of vehicle thefts & 25% of burglaries over the same period.” But not everyone is singing Flock’s praises. Skeptical communities nationwide have petitioned their local governments to do away with the technology. Some argue that it is intrusive and unnecessary, while others say it’s unconstitutional. On Thursday, a federal judge in Oklahoma ruled that a police deputy who used Flock to access a woman’s driving history over the previous month, and then used the historical data to pull her over, violated her Fourth Amendment rights. She was in possession of 91 pounds of methamphetamine at the time of the stop. FORMER SECRET SERVICE CYBERCRIME EXPERT WEIGHS IN ON PRIVACY AFTER HACKERS BREACH STOLEN FLOCK CAMERA Chad Marlow is a senior policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), where his focus is privacy and surveillance. He argued there’s not necessarily causation between implementing Flock cameras and solving crimes. “It’s a different city. It’s a different size. What were the auto theft rates beforehand? What are the poverty rates in that city?” he asked. “What are the philosophies of the police department? Like, how many police are dedicated to trying to prevent or solve car thefts in one city versus the other?” Privacy is a major question surrounding Flock cameras, and many places are having a robust debate on the level of surveillance they want on their streets, and whether their data should be collected by a private company working in tandem with the police. “I think a common misconception is that when the car goes past the camera, and it captures the image of the back of the vehicle and the license plate, which is all it does, you can’t see who’s driving the car, you can’t see who the passenger is. It just captures the back of the car and the license plate,” Arnold explained. INNOCENT WOMAN SAYS POLICE USE OF FLOCK CAMERA LED TO 13 DAYS IN JAIL He added that the data is not accessed except when law enforcement is searching for a suspect, and that police officers need a Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) report or a case report number to access any data. The data is retained for 30 days, according to Arnold. But cases of police officers using ALPR technology for purposes outside its law enforcement scope are piling up. A Washington Post analysis identified at least 50 cases of rogue officers abusing the tool, with many cases involving stalking of ex-lovers. Meanwhile, the constitutionality of the surveillance remains up for debate. “The Constitution establishes our right to privacy, and it establishes that people’s personal effects and their private information cannot be accessed by the government without a warrant, without probable cause,” Marlow said, noting that it’s not just Flock Safety using ALPR technology, and that companies like Axon and Motorola sell the technology, too. “But it’s very fair for Americans to look out and be like, ‘You know what, If I’m not accused of doing anything wrong, I don’t want the government tracking everywhere I go in my vehicle for days, weeks, months, or even years. I don’t want that happening, and