In a move that made it easier for media around the world to vilify Israel for causing a “famine” in Gaza, a U.N.-affiliated watchdog group secretly changed its metrics to make the requirements for declaring a “famine” much easier. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, which was originally developed in 2004 by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization’s Food Security Analysis Unit and serves as the world’s most widely recognized hunger assessment, normally requires a threshold of 30% of children in an area suffering from acute malnutrition to declare a famine, and uses detailed weight and height measurements to decide whether a child is suffering from acute malnutrition. But in their July 29 report, the metrics were changed so that 30% became 15% and the measurement for determining malnutrition was mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC), a far less reliable guide to malnutrition. “A chart included in the notice shows less than 8 percent of children in Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis suffer from acute malnutrition ‘based on MUAC,’” The Washington Free Beacon reported. “That figure is 16.5 percent in Gaza City, just above the new 15-percent threshold but well below the 30-percent level the IPC traditionally uses.” “In all of the famines that have been declared, they’ve been using the 30-percent global malnutrition measurement, most of which have been based on the weight-for-height metric—which, again, is much harder to collect, much more burdensome, and it’s 30 percent,” an experienced aid worker told the Free Beacon. “So, this asterisk that’s been added for Gaza essentially says that they’re going to allow a 15-percent global malnutrition rate measured by MUAC. … I think many people would say it’s like lowering the bar or making it more possible, essentially, to declare whatever it is that they’re going to declare.” “If you keep pulling the thread here, you start to understand this is one of the greatest frauds ever perpetrated on the world,” former National Security Council staffer Richard Goldberg, who checked humanitarian aid on Capitol Hill for a decade, said. “There is no famine in Gaza—the data thresholds don’t support that claim—and yet we have the United Nations changing the rules to fit the desired political outcome.” U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee stated, “This is a highly technical report but reveals how UN-Backed Famine Watchdog Quietly Changed Standards, Easing Way To Declare Famine in Gaza to aid Hamas and blame @Israel  and @IsraeliPM.”

Former acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney let loose on former National Security Adviser John Bolton, claiming that Bolton “hates the president” and adding, “I don’t know if it makes him a traitor, a miscreant, or just an idiot.” Mulvaney discussed Bolton’s recent comments during an interview with former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly, and he held nothing back when it came to Bolton’s opinion of President Donald Trump. WATCH: ?NEW: Former Trump Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney: “I know [John] Bolton. Bolton would say anything to make President Trump look bad.” “I don’t know if it makes him a traitor, a miscreant or just an idiot.” “But he really, really hates the president. Trump Derangement… pic.twitter.com/oKwJ6RQOxA — Jason Cohen ?? (@JasonJournoDC) August 12, 2025 “I know [John] Bolton,” Mulvaney said. “Bolton would say anything to make President Trump look bad. I don’t know what that makes him — I don’t know if it makes him a traitor, a miscreant, or just an idiot — I’m not really sure.” “But he really, really hates the president. Trump Derangement Syndrome is a real thing,” he added, and O’Reilly voiced his agreement. “And John Bolton has got it as bad as anybody.” Bolton most recently criticized Trump’s planned meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, aimed at bringing about peace between Russia and Ukraine after three years of war and bloodshed. The danger with Trump’s present position on Ukraine is that he has not committed continued military assistance, weapons, ammunition, and, most critically, intelligence. pic.twitter.com/bTWvyPZiug — John Bolton (@AmbJohnBolton) August 11, 2025 Trump fired back on Wednesday morning, trashing media outlets for giving Bolton a platform. pic.twitter.com/wkUrPopPgn — Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) August 13, 2025 “Very unfair media is at work on my meeting with Putin,” Trump posted via Truth Social. “Constantly quoting fired losers and really dumb people like John Bolton, who just said that, even though the meeting is on American soil, ‘Putin has already won.’ What’s that all about? We are winning on EVERYTHING. The Fake News is working overtime (No tax on overtime!). If I got Moscow and Leningrad free, as part of the deal with Russia, the Fake News would say that I made a bad deal! But now they’ve been caught. Look at all of the real news that’s coming out about their CORRUPTION. They are sick and dishonest people, who probably hate our Country. But it doesn’t matter because we are winning on everything!!! MAGA.”

Every fast-food restaurant has items that fans crave that they just can’t get anywhere else. When those items disappear from the menu, it can cause a fury. We all know that 2020 was a dumpster fire of a year for lots of things. Sure, we fought a global pandemic, but some people will say the worst thing to go down was KFC pulling potato wedges off the menu. During the last five years, we’ve largely stopped wearing masks and fearing COVID, but where are the potato wedges? Fans have launched online petitions and begged Colonel Sanders to bring them back. In March, KFC conducted a test run in Tampa to determine if the demand was genuine or just online hype. Nearly six months later, we’ve got good news. View this post on Instagram A post shared by KFC (@kfc) KFC Potato Wedges Are Back Catherine Tan-Gillespie, President, KFC U.S., shared the big potato wedge news in a release. “Wedge-lovers, we heard you—and we agree it’s been five long years without wedges. But the wait is over,” she wrote. “This isn’t just a nostalgic nod. It’s an example of how we’re turning feedback into action as we chart our Kentucky Fried Comeback, a bold, brand-wide rally to give people more reasons to fall in love with us all over again.”   KFC also posted the news on Instagram with a photo of a potato wedge and the caption, “now will you please stop yelling at us.” Fans absolutely loved the announcement. “KFC got a attitude today, gonna enjoy this news even though you mad,” one wrote. “Marketing Team gets GOAT award today lol,” another person agreed. This person wants in on the social media team action. “While yall at it. Can we get the bbq wings back too? Btw, marketing is chefs kiss. This is the type of team I would love to be on,” they wrote. Grub hub knows KFC potato wedges are going to to keep them busy. “I need the rest of the day off to celebrate,” the company joked. This story’s featured image is by Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images The post KFC Thrills Fans By Bringing Back Cult Classic appeared first on InspireMore.

A federal appeals court on Wednesday allowed the Trump administration to block billions of dollars in foreign aid funds. The legislative branch’s Government Accountability Office (GAO) must bring challenges to administration decisions to withhold funding, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals found in a 2-1 decision. “Radical left dark-money groups have been using the court […]

Jerry Jones revealed he had skin cancer

He claimed it was being 'blown out of proportion'

From Mexico comes the story of a heroic diving instructor, who was injured in the process of saving a group he was leading. Manolo Acuña Zepeda, a beloved and experienced divemaster in Cozumel, risked his life to save a group of divers from an oncoming speed boat illegally operating over Yucab Reef. This beautiful reef […] The post Heroic Divemaster Rescues Cozumel Divers–and Public Raises $50k to Treat His Injuries appeared first on Good News Network.

For more than a decade, the United States has paid China for research into retirement.  That ended this year, when, through the urging of the Department of Government Efficiency, the National Institutes of Health canceled a grant for $1.7 million to the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal study at Peking University.  The stated intent of the grant was to collect information on population aging. A longitudinal study looks at repeated observations of the same variables as they occur over time, often years. “I’m sure some information has come from this study,” Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, told The Daily Signal. “But the bottom line is, our relationship with China has changed since this funding started.” Sessions is the chairman of the House Oversight Subcommittee on Government Operations and is also co-chairman of the House DOGE Caucus.  “Support for this type of funding is the kind of thing that DOGE has been good at looking at,” Sessions said. U.S. tax dollars going to China is a larger concern in the framework of government waste, said Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., a member of the House Select Committee on the  Chinese Communist Party.  “President [Donald] Trump promised to root out waste, fraud, and abuse in our government, and DOGE is delivering. From funding sex-change operations overseas, to bankrolling ‘gain-of-function’ research that created the China virus, and even studies on retirement in China, taxpayer money is being squandered while our national debt barrels toward $40 trillion,” Barr told The Daily Signal in a statement.  “DOGE is exposing these scams one by one and sending Congress legislative packages to cut wasteful spending. I’m ready to vote for every single one,” Barr said. “The China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) aims to collect a high-quality nationally representative sample of Chinese residents ages 45 and older to serve the needs of scientific research on the elderly,” the NIH website says of the study the grant was funding.  “The baseline national wave of CHARLS is being fielded in 2011 and includes about 10,000 households and 17,500 individuals in 150 counties/districts and 450 villages/resident committees,” the grant description continued. “The individuals will be followed up every two years. All data will be made public one year after the end of data collection.” The NIH grant began during the Obama administration in 2010 and ran through the first Trump administration and then the Biden administration. The total amount spent reached $13.3 million. In the first grant year in 2011, the NIH awarded $1.2 million. The amount has varied each year and was as low as $420,000 in 2018 and as high as $2 million in 2015.  The Daily Signal reached out by email to Peking University’s media contact as well as the school’s Office of Global Communications. The Daily Signal also emailed the Peking University Education Foundation USA. In each case, the automated email response was, “Your message wasn’t delivered because the recipient’s email provider rejected it.” The Daily Signal called several phone numbers listed online as being affiliated with the university, including communications, global communications, a media contact, and a main number. In each case, the call could not be completed as dialed, or the call could not go through at this time. One number had a response in Chinese and English.  (This story is part of continuing coverage of government waste that includes findings by the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency.) The post Why US Taxpayers Sent $13 Million to a Chinese University to Research Retirement  appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., is recycling the “democracy in danger” declaration as he opposes Senate Republican appropriations efforts.  Murphy, who is the Democratic Deputy Conference Secretary in the Senate, explained that in his view working with Senate Republicans to fund the government through appropriations bills was “putting a bipartisan veneer of endorsement on an illegal process that’s ultimately part of [Trump’s] campaign to destroy our democracy.”  As Politico recently reported, Murphy has in the past few weeks come out against every spending measure that has been moved forward during the Senate Appropriations Committee markups when he was present in the process. He also voted against the Senate’s stopgap funding bill in March, which Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. was criticized by some Democrats for allowing to become law.  The strident opposition to the GOP agenda coupled with media appearances, including on a notable social conservative’s podcast, has prompted prognostication that the Connecticut senator may be setting himself up for a future presidential run. As such Murphy’s rhetoric is a potential bellwether for whether Democrats will continue to discuss American democracy’s state in such bleak terms. Democracy in danger rhetoric was a mainstay during the final months of last year’s presidential race with then-President Joe Biden declaring at the Democratic National Convention, “We saved democracy in 2020, and now we must save it again in 2024.” 2024 Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris had urged voters to imagine “Donald Trump with no guardrails.” But those arguments fell flat to the extent that Trump managed to surge not only an electoral college win from all seven swing states, but also a plurality of the popular vote. Trump’s popular vote victory was the first time the Republicans managed such a feat since 2004. But the talking point has not abated with Trump’s decisive victory. In a recent interview with Stephen Colbert, Harris said, “I always believed that as fragile as our democracy is, our systems would be strong enough to defend our most fundamental principles, and I think right now that they’re not as strong as they need to be.”  Such rhetoric has been a part of the discourse around the president and his supporters for about ten years at this point.  One of the most notable proponents of the line about democracy in peril was none other than former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. In a July 2016 speech given in Springfield, Illinois, Clinton said, “This man [Trump] is the nominee of the party of Lincoln. We are watching it become the party of Trump, and that’s not just a huge loss for our democracy, it is a threat to it.”  The mainstream media has also taken to portraying the president and his supporters as opponents to the American system of government. “Trump’s triumph threatens an already battered democracy, experts say,” ran one headline from the Washington Post published a day after the president won reelection in 2024. That paper had previously unveiled the slogan “Democracy Dies in Darkness” in February 2017 as Trump was beginning his first term. “Capitalizing on Democrats’ weakness, President Trump is winning his battle to undermine democracy in this country,” begins a recent opinion article in the New York Times. For now, Murphy’s dogged approach to appropriations is getting a decidedly lukewarm reception from Democrat colleagues. “He has the right to his opinion, and I just have the opinion that the more we can do to get bills done, the better chance we have of getting better things for our country.” Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash, the Senate Appropriations Committee vice chair, remarked. “I’m not his spokesperson, so all I can say is: We’ve been demanding a bipartisan process. So when there’s a step in that direction, I think it’s our obligation to try to be constructive,” Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii., commented. The post Murphy Recycles Declaration of Democracy in Danger  appeared first on The Daily Signal.

National Guard Deployed in Washington, DC (and the Left is Lashing Out)