President Donald Trump on Aug. 28 signed an executive order to “[Make] Federal Architecture Beautiful Again,” with a focus on using classical and traditional architecture in new federal buildings.
“Federal public buildings should uplift and beautify public spaces, inspire the human spirit, ennoble the United States, and command respect from the general public,” Trump wrote in the executive order.
It orders the federal government to favor classical and traditional architecture in designing, renovating, or reducing new or existing federal buildings.
In Washington, D.C., these styles would be “the preferred and default architecture for Federal public buildings absent exceptional factors necessitating another kind of architecture.”
Federal buildings affected by the order include courthouses, agency headquarters, all federal buildings in Washington, and all other projects that cost or are expected to cost more than $50 million in 2025. Infrastructure projects and land ports of entry are excluded.
The order defines classical architecture as “the architectural tradition derived from the forms, principles, and vocabulary of the architecture of Greek and Roman antiquity,” and has since been expanded upon by dozens of other architects.
Trump wrote that classical and traditional architecture aligned with the American Founders’ vision for the nation’s architecture, noting that President George Washington and then-Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson modeled government buildings in the federal district on the classical architecture of ancient Athens and Rome.
“The Founders … attached great importance to Federal civic architecture,” Trump wrote in the order. “They wanted America’s public buildings to inspire the American people and encourage civic virtue.”
Trump said that classical and traditional architecture remained the preferred forms for federal buildings for 150 years after the nation was founded.
The action items in the order are directed at the General Services Administration (GSA), which oversees the design and construction of new federal buildings.
In the 1960s, brutalism—a school of architecture that made heavy use of exposed, monochrome building materials like concrete and brick—was adopted in the construction of many federal buildings.
The order defines brutalism as a style of architecture that is “characterized by a massive and block-like appearance with a rigid geometric style and large-scale use of exposed poured concrete.”
It adds that from the 1960s to 1994, the GSA oversaw buildings that “ranged from the undistinguished to designs even GSA now admits many in the public found unappealing.”
In 1994, the GSA responded to critics by launching the Design Excellence Program, which it said was intended to “provide visual testimony to the dignity, enterprise, vigor, and stability of the American Government” through federal buildings’ architecture.
“Unfortunately, the program has not met this goal,” Trump wrote.
He accused the program of often favoring “designs by prominent architects with little regard for local input or regional aesthetic preferences.”
“Many of these new Federal buildings are not even visibly identifiable as civic buildings,” he said.
This isn’t the president’s first foray into the issue.
In December 2020, near the end of his first term, Trump signed a similar executive order to “promote beautiful federal civic architecture.” It was rescinded by President Joe Biden in 2021.
In January, Trump signed a memorandum directing the administrator of the GSA to provide recommendations on making federal architecture more beautiful.
A fact sheet from the White House fits the latest order into a larger effort to “make America beautiful again.” As part of this push, the White House referenced Trump’s federalization of Washington police and use of the National Guard as part of an effort to “beautify” the U.S. capital.
Half Of American Schools Require ‘Equitable’ Grading And Most Teachers Are Opposed: Survey
Lackluster student performance has plagued the Schenectady, N.Y., city school district for years.
The school district, like many others, implemented a “grading for equity” policy in response to dismal test scores.
However, as Aaron Gifford reports below for The Epoch Times, a recent national survey indicates that most teachers feel grade equity actually hurts students long term, although more than half of the schools and districts across the nation engage in the practice.
Schenectady’s 2022-2023 academic report said 95 percent of its high school freshmen were behind in math by three or more grade levels.
A year later, the district reported that in the first quarter of the 2022-2023 school year, more than half of its middle school students (grades 6-8) were three or more grade levels behind in both reading and math, while the daily attendance rate for high schoolers had dipped below 79 percent.
In response to these disappointing results, district leaders implemented a “grading for equity” policy whereby students are not penalized for handing in assignments late, and are allowed to retake tests with continuous guidance from teachers until their scores reflect proficiency levels. Incomplete grades for the semester require authorization from school principals. The policy took effect last fall.
“It’s almost academic fraud,” Christopher Ognibene, Schenectady High School social studies teacher, told The Epoch Times. He recalled a student who was given B’s all year but failed the end-of-the-year New York State Regents assessment with a score of 43.
“Watered-down report cards and transcripts mean nothing if you are left unprepared academically for college. And there are due dates in the real world—it doesn’t matter where you go after high school,” he said.
Most teachers agree with Ognibene’s assessment of the widely used approach, according to the recent survey by the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation and Rand Corporation education team members.
The Aug. 20 report, “Equitable Grading Through the Eyes of Teachers,” summarized responses from 967 teachers from K-12 districts across the country in late 2024.
“Turns out, teachers don’t like it when the powers that be take a sledgehammer to their few sources of leverage over student motivation and effort. Nor do they like giving students grades they don’t deserve,” the report says.
The report identifies five equitable grading practices—unlimited retakes, no late penalties, no zeroes, no homework, and no required participation.
More than half of those surveys identified at least one of those practices in their school, while a quarter noted that their district allows three of them, most commonly unlimited retakes, no late penalties, and no zeros.
Eighty-one percent of the teachers surveyed said they are particularly opposed to requirements for partial credit awarded on late assignments.
The survey included an open-ended response section, where teachers indicated that a guaranteed grade of 50 or higher is a common practice.
“We have gone to the ‘do nothing, get a 50’ grade policy,” one teacher wrote. The report did not identify respondents. “Students have figured out that, if they work hard for a quarter (usually the first), they can coast the rest of the year and get a D.”
This practice received negative national attention in Hartford, Connecticut, last year after an illiterate high school senior graduated and was accepted to college. The student, Aleysha Ortiz, later sued the district, noting that she completed assignments by using a talk-to-text function on her phone.
Carol Gale, president of the Hartford Federation of Teachers, previously told The Epoch Times that in addition to the automatic 50 score entitlement, her district only requires a 60 score to pass a grade level, and some students pass with 40 or 50 absences in a year.
“It seems to me this is allowed simply to embellish graduation rates,” she said.
The Fordham Foundation report doesn’t list the districts represented in the survey, but it does note that policies were hotly contested before their adoption in Schenectady, in Portland, Oregon, and San Leandro, California. It also said education leaders in Atlanta and Las Vegas are “reversing course” on grading for equity due to negative results.
Schools implement grade equity practices to counter low state test scores, bolster graduation rates, and address academic achievement gaps based on race and socioeconomic status.
Respondents said their school adopted policies from a 2023 book, “Grading for Equity: What it is, Why it Matters, and How it Can transform Schools and Classrooms.” The author, Joe Feldman, a former teacher and principal, consults with schools across the country to implement those policies.
“Anything that has to do with equity and diversity for city schools, people eat it up,” Ognibene told The Epoch Times. “Everybody wants a silver bullet, but no book is going to fix what’s happening.”
The Epoch Times reached out to the Schenectady City School District for comment.
Gherian Foster, an activist with the Albany-based Black Abolitionist Directive who previously worked for the Schenectady City School District, said she believes grading for equity is a viable solution to improve student performance over time.
She said it encourages engaging classroom activities and discussions over what she called outdated and ineffective methods of instruction: drilling students to regurgitate information for the sake of high test scores.
“If [students] are just looking at their Chromebooks for every lesson, that’s not engaging instruction,” Foster told The Epoch Times. “That just stresses the teachers and the students out. Do we have to test them so much, or are there other ways?”
The Food and Drug Administration announced on Aug. 28 a new recall of cocktail shrimp sold in Walmart stores across 27 states for potential contamination due to being prepared, packed, or held under insanitary conditions where they may have become contaminated with cesium-137 (Cs-137).
Seattle-based AquaStar (USA) Corp is recalling approximately 26,460 6-ounce packages of cocktail shrimp, imported from Indonesia, and sold between July 31 and Aug. 16.
The states in which they have been sold are Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin,
A day earlier, on Aug. 27, the FDA issued a similar recall warning for frozen cooked shrimp sold across 17 states. In that instance, the importer, Aquastar, had recalled approximately 18,000 bags (net weight 2 pounds) of Kroger Mercado Cooked Medium Peeled Tail-Off Shrimp.
Both recalls are an expansion of recent recalls by Walmart and other distributors.
Cs-137 is a man-made radioisotope of the extremely reactive metal cesium, the FDA said.
Traces of Cs-137 are widespread and can be present at higher levels in water or foods grown, raised, or produced in areas with environmental contamination.
Exposure to stable or radioactive Cs-137 happens when an individual ingests contaminated food or liquids, or even breathes in contaminated air, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
High levels of radioactive cesium in or near the body can result in nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, bleeding, coma, and death.
The FDA warned that repeated low-dose exposure to Cs-137 through consuming contaminated food can increase the risk of cancer and result in damage to DNA.
The latest Walmart products recalled were sold in refrigerated conditions, have a 12-day shelf life, and have various “Best By” dates, the FDA said.
The 6-ounce batches of cocktail shrimp were packaged in a clear plastic tray and have a red and white label with UPC 19434612191 and lot codes 10662 5106, 10662 5107, 10662 5124, and 10662 5125 printed at the bottom of the tray.
Kroger Mercado Recall
The recalled Kroger Mercado shrimp products were sold at Baker’s, Gerbes, Jay C, Kroger, Mariano’s, Metro Market, Pay Less Supermarkets, and Pick ‘n Save between July 24 and Aug. 11.
The states in which they were sold are Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, Nebraska, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Wisconsin, and West Virginia.
Mercado is Kroger’s exclusive private label grocery brand, mostly dealing in Latin American food products.
All shrimp involved in both recalls were processed by the Indonesian company PT. Bahari Makmur Sejati (doing business as BMS Foods).
Along with investigating the products, the FDA is actively investigating reports of Cs-137 contamination in shipping containers in which the products were transported.
The recalled Kroger products weighed 2 pounds, packaged in clear plastic bags with a white label on top of each bag, and have the following codes: UPC 011110626196, lot code 10662 5139, and a “Best By” date of Nov. 19, 2027; and UPC 011110626196, lot code 10662 5140, and a “Best By” date of Nov. 20, 2027.
No illnesses have been reported to date, the FDA said.
The Epoch Times reached out to Kroger and Walmart for comment, but did not receive a response by publication time.
Consumers who have purchased the affected shrimp are requested not to consume it, but instead dispose of the product or return it to the place of purchase for a full refund.
On Aug. 26, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that federal health authorities are taking a closer look at shrimp being imported into the United States after the FDA issued warnings about potentially radioactive shrimp that were recalled last week.
“We have now increased FDA inspections of shrimp to make sure that Americans are not eating … contaminated shrimp,” Kennedy said at a Cabinet meeting.
Kennedy also said that South Asian countries “are now dumping shrimp on our country, and the shrimp is heavily contaminated” and that “we just stopped a shipment that was contaminated with [Cesium-137].”
“They’re farming these shrimps, and they’re using bactericides and antibiotics and all kinds of chemicals, and the shrimp are so contaminated. The European nations won’t take them, so they’re dumping them all here. We have the most sustainable and most highly regulated fishing industry in the world. What our fishermen do is a good thing. And all of the trawlers in the Gulf and in Alaska are being shut down,” Kennedy said.
Houthis Confirm Prime Minister & Top Officials Killed In Massive Israeli Strike
Yemen’s Houthi government has belatedly confirmed that an Israeli attack launched days ago killed its prime minister, Ahmed al-Rahawi, who was the most senior Houthi official to have been slain in the ongoing conflict thus far.
The official Houthi statement further acknowledged that several al-Rahawi’s colleagues were also killed and wounded, but did not disclose their identities.
Israel had intentionally targeted a significant gathering of top civilian and military leadership in the capital of Sanaa with huge daytime strikes Thursday afternoon. Israel’s military had soon after announced that it “precisely struck a Houthi terrorist regime military target in the area of Sanaa in Yemen.”
“Al-Rahawi, who served as prime minister to the Houthi-led government since August 2024, was targeted along with other members of his Houthi-controlled government during a routine workshop held by the government to evaluate its activities and performance over the past year, the rebels’ statement said,” according to reports.
And according to Israeli media citing anonymous security sources, intelligence indicated that ten senior Houthi officials, including the group’s defense minister, had gathered near Sanaa to attend a speech by Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi – although whether the defense minister has been killed has not been confirmed.
The IDF believes it killed the entire Houthi cabinet. Below is how the Houthi statement disclosed it, without revealing the full extent of the casualties or names or positions:
“We announce the martyrdom of the fighter Ahmed Ghaleb Nasser Al-Rahawi… along with several of his ministerial colleagues, as they were targeted by the treacherous Israeli criminal enemy.”
The Israeli Air Force reportedly conducted an airstrike aimed at that assembly, resulting in huge explosions and fireballs erupting near the presidential compound and a southern Sanaa building.
Regional reports suggest Israeli intelligence was monitoring the situation in real time, providing precise data that enabled the strike, even though that particular area of the city is known for having strong air defenses.
Israeli Defense Minister Katz soon after the attack was complete, stated, “As we warned the Houthis in Yemen: After the plague of darkness comes the plague of the firstborn” – in reference to the Biblical Ten Plagues of Egypt.
🚨#Breaking
ISRAEL JUST WIPED OUT HOUTHI LEADERSHIP IN YEMEN
Multiple Israeli strikes hit Sanaa, targeting the very heart of the Houthis’ political and military command.
Isreali and Yemeni media outlets are saying Houthis Prime Minister Ahmed al-Rahawi was killed in the strike.… pic.twitter.com/JGqUk2Vde1
The Houthis are an Iran-aligned movement which has shown resiliency, given that for over a half-decade it was bombed by the Saudi-US-UAE coalition, largely to no effect, and now it is in a war with Israel, and has managed to effectively shut down international transit shipping through the Red Sea.
After years of paying too much at the pump and hearing politicians in Washington tell us it was all Putin’s fault, American families are finally getting relief. The reason is simple: our energy workers have an administration that lets them do their jobs. The results are undeniable.
This weekend, gas prices are the lowest they’ve been since 2020. According to GasBuddy, the national average for Labor Day 2025 is $3.15 a gallon. Compare that to Labor Day 2022, when drivers were shelling out an average of $3.83. That’s a 68-cent difference, and for families packing up the minivan for one last summer road trip, it means real savings. When Washington gets out of the way, energy workers deliver.
And deliver they have. America is now producing nearly 13.5 million barrels of oil a day, the highest level in our nation’s history. That production doesn’t happen in some ivory tower or Washington think tank—it happens in oil fields, on rigs, and in refineries where American workers put in long hours to keep our nation fueled. Thanks to their work, the United States is the largest oil-producing country in the world, outpacing even Saudi Arabia and Russia.
But it’s not just oil. The U.S. is also the world’s largest producer of natural gas liquids, critical fuels that heat our homes, power our factories, and keep energy affordable. Together, oil and natural gas account for more than 10 million American jobs and contribute nearly $2 trillion to the U.S. economy. Those numbers aren’t just statistics—they represent livelihoods, small businesses, and communities that depend on a strong energy sector.
Contrast that with the policies from just a few short years ago. Labor Day 2022 came on the heels of massive inflation and record energy costs. Prices were high not because American workers weren’t willing to deliver, but because Washington was actively standing in the way. Permits delayed, pipelines blocked, and a green political agenda superseded paychecks and prices at the pump.
Today, the change is obvious. With President Trump’s America First Energy policy, Washington is finally working with—not against—the men and women who power our nation. The results speak louder than any speech: lower prices for families, record production for workers, and a stronger America on the global stage. Energy dominance is no longer a campaign slogan—it’s happening in real time.
This Labor Day, as we enjoy the barbecues and road trips that mark the unofficial end of summer, we should take a moment to celebrate the American energy worker. They are the reason gas is cheaper, the reason America leads the world in production, and the reason our economy is stronger today.
And here’s the best news: if we stay the course with President Trump’s America First Energy policy, there will be even more to celebrate in the years ahead. Lower prices, stronger jobs, and a nation that relies on its own workers—not foreign cartels—for energy security.
This Labor Day feels different, but with America First Energy it could simply become the new normal.
Larry Behrens is an energy expert and the Communications Director for Power The Future. He has appeared on Fox News, ZeroHedge, and NewsMax speaking in defense of American energy workers. You can follow him on X/Twitter @larrybehrens
Florida Probe Uncovers Migrant CDL Test Cheating With Hidden Cameras
Florida investigators say some migrants have been using hidden cameras and earpieces to cheat on commercial driver’s license (CDL) exams, allowing them to operate 18-wheelers despite not knowing English, according to WTLV-TV and Breitbart.
According to WTLV-TV, applicants used tiny cameras to transmit test questions outside DMV facilities, where an accomplice provided answers through an earpiece. Police in Jacksonville recently arrested several migrants in the scheme. One man was sentenced to eight months in prison, another was turned over to ICE, and others had cases dismissed after court-ordered conditions.
Officials describe the cheating operation as “highly organized” and likely active nationwide. It comes amid a rise in fatal crashes involving non-English-speaking truckers.
Mellissa Dzion, who lost her son Connor in one such crash, is urging Congress to pass “Connor’s Law,” which would require all commercial drivers to read and speak English.
The report says that the cheating is not the only scheme. In Bay County, Florida DMV staff were caught selling up to 1,000 licenses to migrants without tests. Similar scandals have surfaced in Kentucky, where licenses went for $200 each, and in Boston, where investigators broke up another ring.
Critics link the surge in non-English-speaking truck drivers to President Joe Biden’s immigration policies. Following a deadly Florida crash this month, the state announced new checkpoints: ICE will now operate at truck weigh stations, and agricultural inspection stations will double as immigration stops.
On August 12, 2025, a fatal crash on Florida’s Turnpike killed three people when truck driver Harjinder Singh, an undocumented immigrant from India, attempted an illegal U-turn through a restricted median and a minivan slammed into his trailer.
Singh, who entered the U.S. illegally in 2018 and held a California commercial license, now faces vehicular homicide and manslaughter charges and is being held without bond under an ICE detainer. The tragedy sparked a political clash over state licensing policies, renewed scrutiny of English-language requirements for truckers after Singh failed a basic proficiency test, and divided public opinion—highlighted by a petition with more than 2 million signatures arguing the crash was “an accident.”
Prominent Ukrainian Politician Assassinated In Broad Daylight On Streets Of Lviv
Former Ukrainian parliamentary speaker Andriy Parubiy – a prominent voice on the hardline Ukrainian right – was shot and killed in the western city of Lviv on Saturday, grabbing headlines in Ukraine and internationally, and resulting in an urgent manhunt for the assailant. He had been walking casually near his home on a sidewalk when he was executed in the street.
The country’s Prosecutor General’s Office described Parubiy was fatally shot multiple times by an unidentified gunman who quickly fled the scene. It appeared to be a professional hit or assassination, given authorities described a gunman dressed as a courier on an e-bike as the killer. The assassin never removes his helmet during the attack from behind.
The 54-year old Parubiy served as speaker of Ukraine’s parliament from April 2016 to August 2019 and was a prominent figure and organizer of 2014 Euromaidan protests (or Maidan coup) and anti-Russian/pro-EU coup events which ousted President Viktor Yanukovych, and in many ways led to the current Russia-Ukraine war.
He had also held the position of secretary of the National Security and Defense Council in early 2014, during the events of the civil/proxy war in the Donbass, as well as when Russia declared full sovereignty over Crimea.
President Volodymyr Zelensky within hours after confirmed the assassination and condemned it as a “horrific murder” and said “all necessary forces and means” would be used to uncover the plot and assailant.
“Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko and Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko have just reported on the first known circumstances of a horrific murder in Lviv. Andriy Parubiy has been killed,” Zelensky solemnly announced on social media. The shooting happened at around noon local time.
Parubiy is already being hailed as a national hero and “patriot” – including by Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, who said he “belongs in the history books”. According to more:
National police said the shooting in Lviv was reported at around noon. Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said finding the killer and establishing the circumstances of the attack was of outmost importance.
“This is a matter of security in a country at war, where, as we can see, there are no completely safe places,” he wrote on Telegram.
Tributes poured in from colleagues in parliament and the government, praising Parubiy’s contribution to Ukraine’s fight for sovereignty and independence as one of the leaders of what became known as the Euromaidan protests in 2013-14.
CCTV footage was quickly released of the killing, in hopes of finding a suspect…
Video of today’s murder of MP Andriy Parubiy in Lviv. This is my neighborhood. Close to my home.
The killer posed as a Glovo courier.
A manhunt has been launched to capture him. pic.twitter.com/d3ILc4pehU
While it’s likely that Ukrainian officials and media will point the finger at Russian intelligence or a pro-Russian assassination operation, there’s another possibility which independent observers have already raised: infighting among Ukraine’s hardline, far right and neo-Nazi factions.
Journalist and author Mark Ames wrote that this is an “early preview of post-war Ukraine” – and possibly a warning to those Ukrainian leaders willing to make territorial compromise with Russia.
Moon of Alabama blog also suspects this could more likely be an internal fight for the spoils at a moment Russia is winning the war, and as the country’s Western backers are frustrated and still figuring out what’s next:
About a year ago another prominent rightwing person, Iryna Farion, was also killed in Lviv.
Parubiy was the organizer and commander of the fascist militia during the Maidan coup in February 2014. During those days several snipers from Georgia, stationed at the Hotel Ukraina which was under opposition control, fired and killed policemen as well as protesters.
Video from those days showed Parubiy supervising the situation as the snipers, with their weapon cases, were leaving the hotel.
Below: Outline of Parubiy’s bio, and his Maidan coup links, as he’s been very active in organizing anti-Russia political action and even violence over the past decade-plus…
🇺🇦 Andriy Parubiy – Background & Context
Far-Right Origins & “Banderite” Roots
➡️In 1991, Parubiy co‑founded the Social‑National Party of Ukraine (SNPU), an openly far‑right, ultranationalist party with neo‑Nazi features
But again, all of this might also suggest he’s long been a prime target for assassination by Russian intelligence. This remains a likely scenario, but for now no motives for the killing have been released by Ukrainian authorities, and there is only speculation and rumor at this point.
Throughout the war there’s been tit-for-tat assassinations of prominent figures, with most of them of late being against Russian figures and on Russian soil. Russia’s Interior Ministry back in 2023 had officially placed Parubiy on its wanted list, accusing him of war crimes in Donbass, and charged him in absentia.
At the start of the year, only eight days into President Trump’s second term, the FBI’s counterterrorism division held an unclassified briefing on an emerging domestic terrorism threat: “Nihilistic Accelerationism.”
I was at an FBI briefing just 6 months ago where “Nihilistic Accelerationism” was a hot topic as an emerging threat. That meant groups like The Com, 764, O9A…
Not sure what happened to that priority but they were very much surveilled at the time. We failed w/ Robin Westman. pic.twitter.com/QHmhCnXYIA
Some of the most recent examples of nihilism and accelerationist beliefs can be found alarmingly emanating from the political far-left. Violence, chaos, and destruction are recurring themes found in their online posts, propaganda, manifestos, and civil disobedience (also known as “civil terrorism“).
Take, for example, the transgender mass shooter last week that carried out a horrific attack against Christians at Annunciation Catholic Church and School in Minneapolis, killing two children and injuring 17 others before taking his own life, wrote in a dark, troubling manifesto posted online that he was “tired of being trans.”
A literal monster.
See the rainbow propaganda with an AK-style rifle?
Self-proclaimed investor and “CIA/NSA contractor/whistleblower” Tony Seruga wrote on X that the demonic transgender mass shooter had attended “at least five antifa protests” and “also appeared to have been present with several Zizians.” Seruga made this claim using GPS data.
GPS—Robert “Robin” Westman devices were present during at least 5 antifa protests. Upon cross pollinating devices at his residence, there were numerous ‘burner’ phones. His devices have also appeared to have been present with a number of Zizians, including their founder Jack… pic.twitter.com/wXka6GznT6
Seruga also claimed that the transgender mass shooter was also “100% trantifa,” which opens up another rabbit hole that Andy Ngo, senior editor at The Post Millennial, has covered in-depth for quite some time about the disturbing rise of “trans militancy” across America.
On Aug. 28, I joined Rob Schmitt on Newsmax to discuss the Minneapolis trans mass shooting that left children dead during Mass inside the Annunciation Catholic Church. The attack didn’t happen in a vacuum — it unfolded against the backdrop of increasingly militant and violent trans propaganda.
This propaganda is blasted nonstop across social media, Reddit threads, internet forums, and radical leftist blogs.
It encourages gender-confused individuals, many with mental health conditions, to grow grievances, collect every perceived wound, and convert that narcissism into violent rage.
At the same time, far-left and Antifa networks across the U.S. have been openly urging trans activists to stockpile firearms and undergo paramilitary training — with the explicit aim of killing so-called “transphobes” and “fascists.” They frame it as defense against a government and society-sponsored “trans genocide,” but in reality, it’s violent brainwashing, like what Robert “Robin” Westman admitted to in his manifesto.
More violence…
He identified as a trans leftist radical and used the name “Sasha.” And he’s an Indian national. Why is the Boston-area local media omitting this right after the Minneapolis trans mass sh—ting? https://t.co/1mdXtcaWhrhttps://t.co/pIJczWLn3h
Ngo: “Why are we suddenly seeing a wave of trans-identified killers?”
Why are we suddenly seeing a wave of trans-identified killers? A surge in violent trans propaganda, lies, grievance-collecting, and socially-encouraged psychosis and militancy, to name a few things.
I talked about how I observed the trans to violence pipeline years ago in my… pic.twitter.com/IAsFzHbVOX
Israel is not interested in adhering to the Middle East’s established borders set by the WWI Sykes-Picot agreement and has the “capacity or the desire” to take over Lebanon and Syria, according to US special envoy Tom Barrack.
Barrack made the assessment in an astonishing and candid interview with online personality Mario Nawfal, which went online late on Thursday. It was just one of many insights that Barrack, who is at the center of US diplomacy in the region, shared. In addition, he said that Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa will not sign the Abraham Accords with Israel and alluded to deeply strained ties between Egypt and Israel, which he said are no longer “talking to each other or cooperating”.
Barrack is the US ambassador to Turkey but has become Trump’s envoy to the wider Eastern Mediterranean and the Caucasus. A billionaire real estate investor, Barrack, like his boss at the White House, has chaffed at the traditional US foreign policy establishment – including its preference for maintaining quiet ties with American establishment media. Instead, he has given shoot-from-the-hip style interviews. On Thursday, he called himself an “events-driven mercenary”.
“What’s going on in Gaza makes the rest of the Arab world totally freaked out,” Barrack said. “In Israel’s mind, these lines that were created by Sykes-Picot are meaningless. They will go where they want, when they want, and do what they want to protect the Israelis and their borders,” Barrack said.
The Sykes-Picot agreement was a secret agreement between Britain and France struck in 1916 during WWI that divided the Ottoman Empire’s territories in the Levant, fashioning the modern states of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Mandatory Palestine, the wide swath of land that was later partitioned to create Israel.
‘Israel can’t be so brutal’
Barrack visited Beirut this week as part of efforts to disarm Hezbollah and has been mediating talks between Syria and Israel. Pressed on whether Israel would conquer Lebanon or Syria, Barrack said he did not mean Israel wants to “take over” its neighbors, but will act against its foes.
“Does Israel have the capacity or the desire to really take over Lebanon? Absolutely. Why didn’t they do it? They have the capacity to do the same thing in Syria,” he said.
“The idea that Israel is really interested in keeping everybody off balance so that they can have more control and command, in my opinion, just as an individual, is ludicrous,” he said.
Barrack is attempting to mediate a deal by which Hezbollah surrenders its heavy weaponry to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF). Lebanon wants Israel to withdraw from the south of the country, and for reconstruction funds to flow in from the oil-rich Gulf as part of this deal.
Israel severely degraded Hezbollah in battle following the Hamas-led 7 October 2023 attacks on southern Israel. In November, Hezbollah was resigned to sign a lopsided ceasefire with Israel, which it has used to bomb Lebanon at will without Hezbollah retaliation.
Israeli forces withdrew from much of southern Lebanon earlier this year, but still occupy five hilltops in the south. Barrack, whose grandparents emigrated to the US from Lebanon, said he made a personal appeal to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a meeting this week, as a man with “Lebanese blood”.
“I’m asking you [Netanyahu] to do something that I know will do you well, and do Jews all over the world well. Give Lebanon a break…give them a whiff of tolerance. You can’t be apparently so brutal on everybody, going anywhere, anytime you want… it’s gonna backfire.”
Barrack said Netanyahu agreed, but did not provide specifics. Two Lebanese soldiers were killed by an Israeli drone on Thursday. Israel apologized for the strike, calling it a “technical malfunction”.
Disarming Hezbollah
Israel says it wants to see Hezbollah disarmed before it withdraws from Lebanese territory and ends its attacks. Analysts and regional diplomats tell Middle East Eye that Hezbollah is unlikely to give up its arms under Israeli fire.
The US has been supporting the non-sectarian LAF as a counterweight to Hezbollah. But in the interview, Barrack ruled out the LAF forcibly disarming Hezbollah. “There is not going to be a LAF military movement to go blow them (Hezbollah) away,” he said.
After telling reporters in Lebanon to “act civilized” rather than “animalistic,” U.S. envoy Tom Barrack says Israel
Barrack said this week that Saudi Arabia and Qatar are willing to invest in Lebanon’s reconstruction, including in the south, where Hezbollah has traditionally relied on support among Lebanon’s Shia community.
Lebanon was ravaged by a civil war between 1975 and 1990, which pitted Christian, Druze and Muslim militias against each other, including the Palestinian Liberation Organization.
Hezbollah was born out of resistance to Israel’s 1982-2000 occupation of southern Lebanon. With Iranian arms and training, it emerged as one of the world’s most powerful non-state actors. Iran has resisted efforts to disarm Hezbollah, and many regional diplomats say the group is unlikely to surrender its weapons without approval from Tehran.
Hezbollah is one of two main parties, along with Amal, representing Lebanon’s Shia community. Barrack has courted the 89-year-old leader of Amal, Nabih Berri, who is also Lebanon’s speaker of parliament, as he pushes to disarm Hezbollah. “We need him. He is the voice and the power not just to the Amal party, but to the Shia community,” Barrack said.
Hezbollah is designated a US terror organization. However, Barrack has made overtures to the group in his public statements.
“Hezbollah is part of the Lebanese world. You can’t just say, ‘We want to disarm Hezbollah.’ Everybody is armed…everybody is carrying a .357 magnum. Most people have AK-47s or .50 caliber machine guns at home…this is not an environment where you are going to disarm small arms,” Barrack said.
Syria not joining Abraham Accords
He also said that Israel’s recent strikes on Syria – in what it framed as the defense of Druze – have made convincing Hezbollah to give up its arms more difficult because, “Hezbollah is saying we are the last stop for you against Israel and maybe Syria.”
“After Sweida, that argument has become even more impactive (sic) because the Lebanese community is saying, ‘Wow, Israel just blew through the line’…[and] we have a jihadist who may not love Shias,” he said.
Israel invaded a swath of southwestern Syria after the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s government in late 2024. This week, Israel said it would continue to occupy Syria’s Mount Hermon. It also launched air strikes and a ground raid near Damascus.
Barrack has been mediating direct talks between Syria and Israel, which Damascus acknowledged publicly for the first time last month.
Barrack described Syrian President Sharaa as a “pragmatist” and said the two countries’ engagement was “so good”, but curbed expectations for a wider diplomatic deal. “Can he go to the Abraham Accords? No way. He has a backing of Sunni fundamentalists,” he said.
Barrack was accused of acting as an unregistered foreign agent for the UAE during Trump’s first term in office. In the interview, he alluded to “introducing” Trump to leaders in the Gulf, which contributed to the Abraham Accords.
Barrack worked as an attorney in Saudi Arabia in the 1970s, enjoys close ties to UAE ambassador Yousef Otaiba, and has struck business deals with Qatar, including selling its sovereign wealth fund the Paris Saint-Germain football club.
Barrack said Lebanon had to engage in a broader dialogue with Israel or “We are going to evaporate as a dinosaur,” referring to his Lebanese origins.
Lebanon and Israel do not have diplomatic relations, but signed an Armistice Agreement in 1949. They have a longstanding dispute over their border, referred to as the Blue-Line. “You’re talking sometimes two kilometers or four kilometers,” he said, referring to the line of demarcation.
“So it’s what size pen drew the green line and the blue line and the red line. You could lose your mind over this, honestly, but people are losing lives over this, which again to me is amazement…who cares?” he said.
Judge Blocks Trump Admin’s Expansion Of Fast-Track Deportations
A federal judge has halted the Trump administration’s attempt to expand fast-track deportations across the United States, ruling that the policy violated illegal immigrants’ constitutional rights to due process.
In an Aug. 29 decision, U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb temporarily blocked the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) January order authorizing “expedited removal” for illegal immigrants arrested anywhere in the country who cannot prove two years of continuous residence.
As Tom Ozimek reports for The Epoch Times, Cobb’s ruling pauses both the Jan. 21 DHS designation expanding expedited removal nationwide and the Jan. 23 guidance implementing it—known as the Huffman Memorandum—while the case proceeds.
She said the administration’s policy risks sweeping up people who have lived in the country long enough to deserve full hearings before deportation.
Unlike new border crossers, Cobb wrote, such individuals “have a weighty liberty interest in remaining here and therefore must be afforded due process.”
Under expedited removal, Cobb noted, immigration officers, rather than immigration judges, can order deportations within days, often after a single interview and with little chance to gather evidence, consult counsel, or appeal. That stripped-down process, she said, may be efficient at the border but is dangerously inadequate when applied to people with established ties in the interior.
“In defending this skimpy process, the Government makes a truly startling argument: that those who entered the country illegally are entitled to no process under the Fifth Amendment, but instead must accept whatever grace Congress affords them,“ she wrote.
”Were that right, not only noncitizens, but everyone would be at risk.”
The Department of Homeland Security criticized the ruling, saying it undermined the president’s constitutional authority to control immigration.
“This activist judge’s ruling ignores the President’s clear authorities under both Article II of the Constitution and the plain language of federal law,” a DHS official told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement.
“President Trump has a mandate to arrest and deport the worst of the worst. We have the law, facts, and common sense on our side.”
While Cobb’s order blocks DHS’s designation and guidance implementing the expansion, it leaves intact the long-standing use of expedited removal at ports of entry, at sea, and within 100 miles of the border for those apprehended within 14 days of entry.
The lawsuit was filed in January by Make the Road New York, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and its affiliates, who said the rule was unconstitutional.
“Expanding expedited removal would give Trump a cheat code to circumvent due process and the Constitution, and we are again here to fight it,” Anand Balakrishnan, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, said in a statement in January.
In June, the groups moved to block the policy while the case played out, citing reports of ICE agents arresting immigrants at courthouses and shifting them into fast-track proceedings.
“People who are complying with their legal obligations are basically being ambushed by ICE at their court appointments,” Balakrishnan said at the time.
The Trump administration has argued that expedited removal is a necessary tool to swiftly deport people who entered the country unlawfully and to deter future illegal crossings.
In their April motion to dismiss, they said the Homeland Secretary has “sole and unreviewable discretion” to apply expedited removal nationwide to noncitizens who entered illegally within the past two years.
They also argued that the January designation was fully consistent with Congress’s mandate.
“The designation lawfully applies to aliens who crossed illegally, since they were not previously inspected,” Justice Department attorneys wrote. “To hold otherwise would reward such aliens for their illegal entry and significantly limit the operation of the expedited removal scheme.”
