Bill Maher confronts liberal comedian over claim the left stayed ‘scientific’
Bill Maher grilled fellow liberal comedian Patton Oswalt on a podcast episode published Monday, arguing he lives in a bubble and is unaware of where progressive policies have gone too far.
During the “Club Random” podcast, Patton Oswalt balked at the idea that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., is considered too progressive for many Americans, saying that shows how “broken” the country is right now.
“This country is not as mature as it thinks it is,” he told Maher. “We elected [Barack] Obama, and clearly the country freaked out. We’re still living in that freak-out. We are not as progressed and evolved and intelligent as we think we are, because we keep freaking out about this stuff.”
“Yeah, well, the left freaks out too,” Maher replied. “The left freaked out about a lot of bulls— too.”
“What did they freak out about?” Oswalt asked Maher, who is a progressive but often tackles what he views as out-of-control wokeness.
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“Gender, race, parenthood, schools, homelessness, crime, the border, education,” Maher said, listing several issues where he argued Democrats have admitted their party overreached. “We stopped being a scientific people.”
“But the left certainly stayed scientific,” Oswalt objected.
“No, they didn’t,” Maher said, citing “gender bulls— that they went way too far with. That’s not scientific.”
Later in the conversation, Oswalt suggested that part of why the political right is so combative right now is because it is an “extinction burst,” essentially a chaotic last flare of activity before something dies out.
“There is definitely a lot of that for sure,” Maher said. “There is definitely a lot of, ‘Oh, this country is becoming something we don’t recognize anymore,’ and some of that is valid. I mean, what’s going on in England right now is that, is a lot of that.”
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“What’s going on in England?” Oswalt asked.
Maher replied by referring to an earlier accusation that Oswalt has been living in a liberal “Bluesky bubble,” where he is unaware of the concerns non-liberals talk about, such as consequences for Britain from mass migration. Bluesky is a social media site modeled after X that’s popular with progressives.
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The great irony, Maher said, is that in the interest of DEI, England has essentially allowed exploitation of women on its own shores.
“But it concerns me that this didn’t get on your radar,” Maher said.
Headed for the exits: Why 3-dozen House members aren’t running for re-election
Republican Rep. Don Bacon won nine heavily contested GOP primary battles and general elections over the past decade in his swing U.S. House district.
But the retired Air Force general and moderate Republican who represents an Omaha, Nebraska-anchored congressional district told Fox News Digital that “the fire wasn’t there” anymore.
Bacon, who announced this summer that he wouldn’t run for a sixth two-year term in Congress in next year’s midterms, is one of 36 U.S. House members who’ve announced they won’t seek re-election next year.
And the surge in retirements may impact next year’s midterm elections, when Republicans are aiming to protect their fragile House majority.
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“We’re above average,” noted David Wasserman, a senior editor and elections analyst at the non-partisan political handicapper “The Cook Report,” as he pointed to the pace of House retirement announcements so far this cycle.
And we’ve still got six weeks left until the calendar hits 2026.
Waves of retirement announcements traditionally come in the final month or two, amid the holiday season, in the year before congressional elections.
The party breakdown so far on the retirements: 15 Democrats and 21 Republicans.
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A handful of the Democrats headed for the exits are in their 70s and 80s and retiring after long tenures in the House. The most prominent is 85-year-old former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
But in a continued sign that the bitter partisanship in the House has made the lower chamber in Congress far from a pleasant work environment, most of the members who are passing on re-election are much younger.
Among those forgoing re-election next year is 53-year-old Republican Rep. Jodey Arrington of Texas, the House Budget Committee chair who shared his retirement news first with Fox News Digital.
“I have a firm conviction, much like our founders did, that public service is a lifetime commitment, but public office is and should be a temporary stint in stewardship, not a career,” Arrington said.
Also on that list is moderate Democratic Rep. Jared Golden of Maine, who is only 43.
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“After 11 years as a legislator, I have grown tired of the increasing incivility and plain nastiness that are now common from some elements of our American community — behavior that, too often, our political leaders exhibit themselves,” Golden wrote last week in an op-ed for the Bangor Daily News, where he revealed his unexpected decision.
“I don’t fear losing. What has become apparent to me is that I now dread the prospect of winning. Simply put, what I could accomplish in this increasingly unproductive Congress pales in comparison to what I could do in that time as a husband, a father and a son,” Golden emphasized.
Pointing to Golden’s comments, Bacon noted, “He said something I was feeling. The thought of winning was unattractive this cycle. If it feels like it’s a little bit depressing to win, then better let somebody else run.”
“I think that’s where this hyper-partisan ugliness fits in. The thought of winning and going through another two years of this was not a fulfilling thought,” he added.
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Former Democratic Rep. Annie Kuster of New Hampshire, who retired a year ago after serving a dozen years in the House, said the dysfunction and political tension in Congress was “definitely a factor” in her decision to leave.
“It had gotten so much more difficult over 12 years to work across the aisle,” Kuster told Fox News Digital. “It had gotten much more fractured, partisan, less congenial.”
Kuster said “a big factor for me was that most of the moderate Republicans that I worked with all the time had left Congress. The people who were coming in were more hard right partisans.”
Bacon, who describes himself as a Ronald Reagan-style, old-fashioned Republican, joked that he was “stuck in the middle” with “crazies on the right and crazies on the left.”
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While some, like Bacon and Arrington, are taking a break from politics, most of those not seeking re-election to their House seats are running for statewide offices next year.
Wasserman said that “on the Republican side, there’s a sense that not much will get done beyond OBBBA in the next two years of Trump’s presidency.”
OBBBA is the acronym for One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the massive GOP domestic policy bill passed along partisan lines this summer by the Republican-controlled House and Senate that is the centerpiece of President Donald Trump‘s second-term agenda.
“They’ve made the heavy lift and now there are opportunities to be more impactful elsewhere,” Wasserman said.
The bitter battle between Republicans and Democrats over the measure was another sign of the vicious partisan climate on Capitol Hill.
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But Bacon remained optimistic about the future of Congress.
“When folks move on, new people move in, and I know there’s good people out there,” he said.
Southern school’s TPUSA chapter scores crucial win after student government’s ban
FIRST ON FOX: A student court at Loyola University New Orleans vacated the Student Government Association’s (SGA) decision to bar a newly-formed Turning Point USA chapter from becoming an official campus organization, according to a document obtained by Fox News Digital.
The decision was made after an appeal from the would-be Turning Point members with help from some supportive law school counterparts.
The SGA will now review its decision, and vote again on whether to grant TPUSA a charter.
Duffy vows to fight back after court allows illegal immigrants to drive big rigs
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy blasted a court ruling Monday denying the Trump administration’s request to keep illegal immigrants from getting commercial driver’s licenses (CDL).
“We’re not going to take this lying down,” Duffy said on “The Ingraham Angle.”
“We are going to do all we can to protect the American people.”
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Duffy’s remarks come after a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., ruled last Thursday that the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) restrictions on immigrants obtaining commercial driver’s licenses cannot be enforced.
Such restrictions were announced in September, after illegal immigrant truck driver Harjinder Singh was accused of causing a tractor-trailer crash that killed three people in Fort Pierce, Florida.
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The court found that the federal government did not follow proper procedure when creating the new rule, or explain how the rule would promote safety. They also noted that Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration data shows about 5% of all commercial driver’s licenses belong to immigrants, though they only account for about 0.2% of fatal crashes.
Duffy attributed much of the blame to the Biden administration, which he said allowed millions of illegal immigrants to enter, granted them work authorizations and then let them seek CDLs.
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“People are dying,” he said.
“And we thought it was appropriate to protect Americans and we should have an emergency rule, not to go through the month-long process. We did that. The court has rolled us back and said, ‘Well, we’re not quite sure this is an emergency. We want to see more data.’ And I’m like… ‘Watch any show on television, and you’ll see the risk to the American people.'”
Trump gives answer on whether he would sign bill to release Epstein files
President Donald Trump said, “I’m all for it,” when asked by a reporter if he would sign a bill that would force the Justice Department to release all its files related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump made the remark in the White House on Monday as the House of Representatives is preparing to vote on the bill Tuesday afternoon.
“We have nothing to do with Epstein. The Democrats do. All of his friends were Democrats,” Trump said. “All I want is I want for people to recognize a great job that I’ve done on pricing, on affordability, because we brought prices way down, but they go way lower. On energy, on ending eight wars and another one coming pretty soon, I believe. We’ve done a great job, and I hate to see that deflect from the great job we’ve done. So I’m all for it.”
When asked again about signing the bill if it reaches his desk, Trump added, “Sure I would.”
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“Let the Senate look at it. Let anybody look at it. But don’t talk about it too much, because honestly… it’s really a Democrat problem,” Trump also said. “The Democrats were Epstein’s friends, all of them. And it’s a hoax. The whole thing is a hoax, and I don’t want to take it away from really the greatness of what the Republican Party has accomplished over the last period of time.”
GOP lawmakers who spoke with Fox News Digital Monday evening said they would vote for the bill and were optimistic their colleagues would as well — though many of them said they still had concerns about how it was written.
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It comes after House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who had been against the bill but had been pushing parallel transparency efforts in Epstein’s case, said he hoped it would undergo material changes when it reached the Senate to give more protection for innocent people whose names may appear in the files against their wishes.
The legislation is coming to the House floor on Tuesday afternoon via a mechanism called a discharge petition led by Rep Ro. Khanna, D-Calif., and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky.
In a Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump urged House Republicans to vote in favor of releasing the documents.
Trump also argued that if the Democrats “had anything,” it would have surfaced prior to last year’s presidential election.
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“Nobody cared about Jeffrey Epstein when he was alive and, if the Democrats had anything, they would have released it before our Landslide Election Victory,” Trump said. “Some ‘members’ of the Republican Party are being ‘used,’ and we can’t let that happen. Let’s start talking about the Republican Party’s Record Setting Achievements, and not fall into the Epstein ‘TRAP,’ which is actually a curse on the Democrats, not us. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Daily orange juice changes over 1,700 genes linked to heart health, new study finds
A daily glass of orange juice might do more than deliver vitamin C. It may influence gene activity in ways that support heart health, according to new research.
In a small but detailed study, 20 healthy adults drank about two cups of 100% orange juice every day for two months.
Researchers from the University of São Paulo in Brazil, North Carolina State University and the University of California, Davis, tracked changes in more than 1,700 genes within participants’ immune cells, finding broad shifts in genetic activity tied to blood pressure, fat metabolism and inflammation — all key factors in cardiovascular health.
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The findings highlight how citrus flavonoids — plant compounds also found in berries, tea and cocoa that act as antioxidants and anti-inflammatories — may influence the body at a molecular level. The research was published in the journal Molecular Nutrition & Food Research in late October.
Most of the changes among participants pointed toward lower inflammation and healthier blood vessel function, though responses differed by body weight. Normal-weight participants showed shifts in inflammation-related genes, while those who were overweight displayed changes tied to fat metabolism and energy use.
“These findings reinforce the therapeutic potential of orange juice by providing unprecedented insights into the molecular mechanisms behind its health effects,” the researchers wrote.
“Orange juice isn’t an elixir — it’s one deeply studied example.”
The findings also suggest that body weight “may influence molecular response to bioactive compounds in OJ and provide information for personalized recommendations on the consumption of flavonoid-rich foods,” they added.
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The researchers cautioned that the study was small and lacked a control beverage, showing associations rather than proof of cause and effect.
They said more research is needed to determine whether these molecular shifts translate into clinical benefits.
Nicolette Pace, a registered dietitian nutritionist from New York, said the study supports using plant compounds to promote longevity and reduce future disease risk, but noted that while changes in gene expression and health are interconnected, they are not identical.
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“Orange juice isn’t an elixir — it’s one deeply studied example,” Pace told Fox News Digital.
Nonetheless, she said, the new study “opens the door to incredible possibilities for how individualized nutrition can truly work.” (She was not involved with the study.)
“In normal amounts, the sugar content doesn’t cancel out the benefits.”
Pace said she recommends low to moderate daily orange juice consumption.
“In normal amounts, the sugar content doesn’t cancel out the benefits,” she said.
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Funding for the study came from the São Paulo Research Foundation, Brazil’s National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, the Food Research Center and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
Fox News Digital reached out to the study’s authors for comment.
Meanwhile, past research has found that adults who drank 100% orange juice before a meal ate fewer total calories and had lower blood sugar levels throughout the day compared to those who drank a sugar-sweetened “orange drink,” Fox News Digital previously reported.
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Researchers at Toronto Metropolitan University determined that the difference likely comes from orange juice’s natural flavonoids, which may slow sugar absorption, showing that the body can differentiate between natural sugars and added sugars, according to the 2024 study.
Fraudster admits to lesser charges just before trial in realtor wife’s murder kicks off
Brian Walshe, the 50-year-old convicted fraudster accused of killing his wife Ana in their suburban Boston home after learning of an affair, switched his plea on two lesser charges Tuesday morning, just before jury selection in his murder trial was set to begin.
Walshe pleaded guilty to counts two and three of his three-count indictment, admitting to misleading police officers and unlawful conveyance of a human body.
As prosecutors outlined their case against him, his defense attorney said that he admitted to the lesser allegations but continued to deny the murder charge against him.
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Walshe’s lawyer said he was not admitting to murder and denied putting her remains in a dumpster and denied that he had a role in incinerating her remains.
There was a moment of contention after prosecutors called out Walshe for telling the judge he was still married while under oath.
After a sidebar meeting with the judge, the defense said Walshe recognized that legally, he was no longer married after the death of his wife.
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The judge put off sentencing, saying she needed to give time for the victim’s family to prepare their impact statements.
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Prosecutors said that the plea was not negotiated, and it appeared that the trial would still move forward on the top charge of murder.
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Homeowners facing unexpected $16,000 bill as hidden costs surge
The hidden costs of homeownership are reaching nearly $16,000 per year nationwide, underscoring the ongoing affordability crisis crippling potential buyers.
A new analysis from real estate marketplace Zillow and Thumbtack, an online marketplace for local services, found that insurance, maintenance and property tax can cost the average homeowner $15,979 per year. Maintenance costs account for $10,946 of that, while about $2,003 goes toward homeowners insurance and $3,030 toward property taxes, according to the November analysis.
Collectively, those housing costs jumped 4.7% in the past year, outpacing household incomes, which rose just 3.8%, according to the report. However, coastal metros are getting squeezed the most, with costs in New York City reaching $24,381. In San Francisco, costs reached $22,781, which is slightly higher than the $21,320 reported in Boston.
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Part of the issue, according to the analysis, is that insurance premiums have risen 48% nationwide since February 2020, topping $2,000 annually on the typical home. However, Florida, in particular, is getting hammered by insurance premiums due to the state’s high hurricane and flood risks, rising rebuilding costs and expensive reinsurance for insurers. On top of that, fraud and lawsuits have driven up legal costs and many insurers have left the state, which is reducing competition and driving up prices.
In Miami, premiums average $4,607 per year, up 72% in the past five years, according to the analysis. Jacksonville also saw a similar spike with premiums rising 72%, followed by Tampa at 69% and Orlando at 68%.
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Insurance costs also jumped significantly outside the Sunshine State. The analysis showed costs were up 79% in New Orleans, 59% in Sacramento, 58% in Atlanta and 56% in Riverside, California.
Zillow senior economist Kara Ng said insurance costs are rising nearly twice as fast as homeowner incomes, creating a barrier to entry for first-time buyers and families already stretched thin.
“Buyers who are already facing affordability challenges in today’s market need to understand and budget for these less obvious expenses when calculating how much home they can truly afford,” Ng said.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in August that one of his top priorities is addressing the U.S. housing affordability crisis.
“We are really going to work on this housing affordability crisis. That’s one of my big projects for the fall,” Bessent said during an interview on “Mornings with Maria.”
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Bessent said that the White House is exploring how to monetize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which could involve selling all or part of the government’s stake in the enterprises. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac play a critical role in the home financing industry and have been under federal conservatorship since the 2008 financial crisis. Bessent said the administration is looking at how to get the best value for taxpayers when it comes to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and how to keep mortgage rates from rising – or lower them – in order to fix the persisting affordability crisis.
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The report also suggests that buyers plan for maintenance costs early and to reconsider the type of home they are looking to buy. For instance, rather than a large single-family home, budget-conscious buyers can explore more affordable options, such as townhomes or condos, which may offer less upkeep.
Buyers can also consider looking into new construction. While it may cost more upfront, a newly built home typically requires less maintenance in the near term.
Judge allows two murder suspects to walk free without paying a penny in bail
A California judge has released a second murder suspect without requiring a cent in bail to be posted, just weeks after freeing another accused killer.
Agustin Sandoval and Vicente Aguilera-Chavez were both charged with murder in connection with a June 8, 2017, shooting that left a 21-year-old dead and a 24-year-old injured, according to KTVU. The Sunnyvale, California, nightclub parking lot shooting was allegedly gang-related and resulted in the death of 21-year-old Edu Veliz-Salgado, according to Mercury News.
The case went cold until 2024, when detectives with the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety identified the suspects in 2024. Both men were charged with the murder of Salgado, but a spokesman for the Santa Clara County District Attorney told Fox News Digital that Sandoval was the driver of the car that shots were fired from.
During a court hearing on Friday, Judge Hector Ramon released Sandoval on his own recognizance, meaning he does not have to pay bail, the spokesman said.
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Aguilera was also charged with murder. Ramon released him during an Oct. 31 hearing.
Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen told Fox News Digital that two accused murderers are now roaming through the community.
“It was bad enough that an accused murderer with a violent past was let out of custody, now there are two. The odds of re-offense or fleeing from justice just doubled. People’s lives ride on those odds,” Rosen said.
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Rosen said he was “shocked” by Ramon’s initial decision to release Aguilera.
“This is an individual who not only committed a murder, who’s not only been to prison once, but has been to a prison twice, and is a documented gang member, this is a dangerous person, and I’m the district attorney and as the chief law enforcement officer, my job is to protect this community’s safety,” Rosen said. “This person is absolutely a danger to our community.”
“I think that there’s a range in which judges can make decisions that are reasonable and reasonable people can disagree. The reason I’m speaking out about this case is this is not a reasonable decision. This is outside the bounds of what’s acceptable and it’s dangerous to the public,” he added.
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The district attorney’s office also said it tried to get Ramon to change his mind about the decision to release Aguilera, but was unsuccessful.
“The court is gambling he does not pose a risk to public safety because he has not been arrested for the last few years,” the DA’s office said in the filing asking Ramon to reconsider Aguilera’s release. “The court should give equal weight to his criminal history … and the fact that he brazenly murdered a stranger in front of a crowd because the stranger was drunk and mouthing off.”
According to The Mercury News, Deputy Alternate Defender Kristin Carter, who represents Sandoval, argued in court that her client “hasn’t committed a felony and hasn’t hurt anyone” since the alleged murder.
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Deputy Public Defender Jennifer Redding, Aguilera’s defense attorney, filed the motion seeking his release from pre-trial custody in October and said that her client wasn’t involved in the shooting and has strong ties to the community.
“There is no evidence that Mr. Aguilera, especially with (supervised release) conditions, would present any risk of bodily harm to others,” Redding wrote. “Mr. Aguilera is motivated to clear his name. … There is no compelling interest in detaining Mr. Aguilera on public safety grounds or out of concern he is a flight risk.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Sandoval’s attorney and to court administrators for comment.