INTERNACIONAL
Key Trump voting bloc has concerns with MAHA report, as Trump officials give assurances
Despite assurances from Trump administration officials that farmers will not be impacted by its attempts to reduce environmental chemical exposure from foods, agricultural leaders have been expressing concern that the move will explode costs for farmers and more than double the cost of food.
The administration’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission, made up of many of President Donald Trump’s political appointees and closest policy advisors, released an assessment strategizing how they will tackle childhood chronic diseases, such as obesity and mental health challenges. Part of the report’s focus is on children’s chemical exposure from our foods, which the report says is linked to developmental issues and chronic diseases.
Amid the report’s release, farm groups have expressed concern over the MAHA agenda’s focus on pesticides. They have said that if the administration starts clamping down on widely used pesticides, crop yields would decline, input costs would surge and food costs would more than double.
DOCTOR TAKES AIM AT ‘CANCER-CAUSING’ PESTICIDES IN RESPONSE TO MAHA REPORT
Some farmers are clapping back at a recent Make America Healthy Again report from the Trump administration, arguing it will upend decades of science by going after widely used pesticides. (Stephen Goin)
«Farmers are already facing a host of challenges—uncertainty about their access to critical crop protection products shouldn’t be added to the list,» said Elizabeth Burns-Thompson, Executive Director of the Modern Ag Alliance. «Crop protection tools are not only safe, they are essential to food security, affordability, and the survival of family farms all across this country. Losing access to these critical inputs would be a devastating setback to American agriculture.»
Officials from the MAHA Commission sought to reassure farmers at an event releasing their assessment on childhood chronic diseases on Thursday. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said that «at the center» of the MAHA agenda is «making American agriculture great again.»
«We love our farmers, and we want to pay respect to our farmers. And we always will,» President Trump added at the Thursday event from the White House. «We won the farmers by a lot in the election, and every election, all three elections – and we won by a lot. I will never forget that. And they are foremost in our thought.»
But some farmers are still expressing concern.
MAHA REPORT LAYS OUT ‘CHRONIC DISEASE CRISIS’ FACING AMERICA
A soybean field is sprayed in Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
«The Make America Healthy Again Report is filled with fear-based rather than science-based information about pesticides. We are deeply troubled that claims of this magnitude are being made without any scientific basis or regard for a long history of EPA expert evaluations of these products,» the National Corn Grower’s Alliance (NCGA) said. «We call on the administration to respect the existing body of science on pesticides and, moving forward, to include America’s farmers in discussion as this process evolves.»
According to a statement put out by the Modern Ag Alliance, pesticides are «rigorously tested» by the federal government, noting that in the case of glyphosate – mentioned multiple times in the MAHA report – it is one of the most thoroughly studied pesticides of its kind.
They said that if the MAHA report drives future policy decisions it would hurt farmers and more than double the cost of food.
EX-YANKEES COACH RUNS FARM THAT VOWS TO ‘MAKE MEAT GREAT AGAIN’
«Without glyphosate—the most widely used weed-fighting tool by U.S. farmers—crop yields would decline, input costs would surge by 150%, and food inflation would more than double,» the group said. «When Sri Lanka prohibited the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers in 2021, crop yields fell by over 50%, forcing the government to import massive amounts of food just to meet basic needs. We should be focused on moving American agriculture—and the country—forward.»
The Modern Ag Alliance, a coalition of farmers, has said that policy decisions from the Trump administration clamping down on pesticides could more than double the cost of food. (iSTOCK)
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has been a vocal opponent against the dangerous health impacts of under-regulated pesticides even before he was the MAHA Commission’s leader, said last week in a Senate hearing that «we cannot take any step that will put a single farmer in this country out of business.»
«There’s a million farmers who rely on glyphosate,» he said. «100% of corn in this country relies on glyphosate. We are not going to do anything to jeopardize that business model.»
FARMERS COME FIRST AS INITIATIVE AIMS TO LOWER THEIR COSTS, GET FRESH FOOD TO AMERICANS MORE EFFICIENTLY
The MAHA report reiterates the economic importance of protecting farmers, but it also lists glyphosate in an infographic of «Chemical Classes and Common Exposure Pathways» and says research studies have shown it can cause a range of health effects. It also lists atrazine and other chemicals as dangerous to childhood health.
MAHA Commission officials have said that part of the administration’s focus will be a return to the gold standard of science, but the NCGA said the focus on certain widely-used pesticides, such as atrazine and glyphosate, goes against «decades of extensive research and testing.»
«If the administration’s goal is to bring more efficiency to government, then why is the secretary of Health and Human Services duplicating efforts by raising questions about pesticides that have been answered repeatedly through research and reviews by federal regulatory bodies?» the group questioned.
Both President Donald Trump and Health and Secretary of Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have sought to reassure farmers that they will not be negatively impacted by the Make America Healthy Again agenda. (Getty Images/Greg Nash/Pool/AFP/Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg/Sebastian Gollnow/picture alliance)
Jennifer Galardi, a senior policy analyst focused on health and wellness issues at the Heritage Foundation, took a more balanced view of the MAHA commission’s strategy towards pesticides like glyphosate, noting that it appeared to thread the needle between supporting farmers and trying to ensure America’s food supply is safe and free of chemicals that could impact child health.
«The MAHA Commission Report seems to carefully examine competing issues in a very complex agricultural debate: the potential that crop protection tools as they’re referred to in the report may cause adverse health outcomes and the desire to protect the economic interests of farmers and the country,» Galardi said. «However, everyone should agree that the companies that manufacture products such as glyphosate and GMO’s shouldn’t have undue influence over the research upon which sound policy is based. The American public should demand transparency around these decisions.»
Galardi posited that, due to the tension around the issue of pesticides, the MAHA Commission may decide to go after «low-hanging fruit,» such as improving children’s diets and lack of physical activity, which, she said, are big drivers of obesity and metabolic dysfunction.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
In response to this article, a USDA spokesperson sent the following statement from Secretary Rollins:
«We must do more to improve the health outcomes of our kids and families, and President Trump knows agriculture is at the heart of the solution. America’s farmers and ranchers dedicate their lives to the noble cause of feeding their country and the world, and in doing so have created the safest and most abundant and affordable food supply in the world. We are working to make sure our kids and families are consuming the healthiest food we produce. I look forward to continuing to work with Secretary Kennedy and other members of the MAHA Commission to improve our nation’s health.»
White House spokesman Kush Desai, in a separate statement, echoed Rollins’ sentiment about the importance of agriculture and farmers when it comes to executing the MAHA mission. He also reiterated that the MAHA movement is grounded in «Gold Standard of Science.»
«The guiding principle of President Trump’s movement to Make America Healthy Again is the Gold Standard of Science, and everyone from America’s farmers to everyday parents are critical for the success of this movement,» Desai said. «The MAHA Commission’s report is a historic step by our government to, for the first time, comprehensively review the latest evidence and research of what we know – and what we don’t know – is driving the health crisis afflicting America’s children.»
MAHA,Robert F. Kennedy Jr.,Donald Trump,Food,Health Policies,Children’s Health,Health,Obesity
INTERNACIONAL
Hunter Biden says father was on Ambien before disastrous debate, defends painting sales
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Former first son Hunter Biden disclosed his father was on an anti-insomnia prescription ahead of his disastrous 2024 debate that may have affected his command of the stage that evening.
Biden said former President Joe Biden had taken Ambien, a gamma-aminobutyric acid enhancer similar to benzodiazepines, to help him sleep better amid his grueling schedule and advanced age.
He criticized several members of former President Barack Obama’s inner circle for continually doubting his father, saying that the 2024 State of the Union was a make-or-break moment that the elder Biden «knock[ed] out of the park.»
The debate, he said, was the next test his father was given by Democratic elders to see if he should run for reelection.
HUNTER BIDEN RAGES AGAINST F—ING THUG TRUMP, INVOKES KKK IN IMMIGRATION RANT
Joe Biden, left, Hunter Biden, right (Getty)
«I know exactly what happened in that debate. He flew around the world, basically, the mileage that he could have flown around the world, three times. He’s 81 years old. He’s tired as s—. They give him Ambien to be able to sleep,» he said.
«He gets up on the stage. And he looks like he’s a deer in the headlights. And it feeds into every f—ing story that anybody wants to tell,» Hunter went on, adding that CNN anchor Jake Tapper’s book relied on several anonymous sources for his related expose because in reality no one had spoken out against Joe.
«If this was a conspiracy… somehow the entirety of a White House in which you’re literally living on top of each other has kept their mouth shut about you now, like what? And what’s the conspiracy? Did Joe Biden get old? Yeah, he got old. He got old before our eyes. The people that came out against him were who — nobody — except Speaker Emerita Pelosi did not give a full-throated endorsement, which allowed everybody else to kind of go, ‘OK.’
«Who came out full-throated? Progressives. AOC, Bernie, the entire progressive wing, [Silicon Valley Congressman] Ro Khanna. The entirety of the progressive side of the Democratic Party said Joe Biden has got more of our agenda accomplished in four years than any president in history. The largest investment into climate change in history, just that alone. And so he gets over the hump. He goes and does Stephanopoulos, and everybody said that’s not enough…»
Earlier in the interview, with Delaware Valley podcaster Andrew Callaghan, Hunter savaged Obama’s inner circle, mocking the hosts of «Pod Save America» — made up of his then-youthful close aides — as «Saviors of the Democratic Party.»
DNC VICE CHAIR COMPARES TRUMP TO NOTORIOUS SEGREGATIONISTS DURING HEATED TOWN HALL EVENT WITH BETO O’ROURKE
«[They’re] White millionaires that are dining out on their association with Barack Obama from 16 years ago living in Beverly f—ing Hills telling the rest of the world what Black voters in South Carolina really want or what the waitress living outside of Green Bay, Wisconsin [want].
«I hear Rahm Emanuel’s going to run for president,» he added incredulously. «I think David Axelrod is going to run his campaign for him… there’s a f—ing answer; geniuses all.»
Hunter also disputed claims his father had been the unanimous choice of Democrats in 2020.
«Bull—-. We lost Iowa. We lost New Hampshire. We came in second in Nevada. David Plouffe and David Axelrod went on TV. They said that there’s no way Joe Biden can get the nomination, not a chance in the world. Mike Bloomberg’s gonna crush him in California. Elizabeth Warren’s gonna beat him in Massachusetts… A lot of rural voters said, ‘F— you, we love Joe.’ A lot urban voters said, ‘F— you. We love Joe.’ And they voted for him overwhelmingly,» he said.
He later defended himself against allegations about his decision to market paintings, saying they were a pastime that «saved him» from his vices.
«They accused me of crimes for painting. Not that I couldn’t sell my paintings, but that it was a clear conspiracy to launder money and to curry influence by selling acrylic on canvas — through this abstract painting by Hunter Biden,» he said.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
«All of a sudden, the Iranians are going to change their nuclear weapons program. It’s such f—ing insane bull—-. Meanwhile, these mother f—ers are selling gold telephones and sneakers and $2 billion investments in golf courses and selling tickets to the White House for investment into their memecoin.
«If you believe the worst possible thing that they’ve ever said about me [in terms of influence peddling] — what they are openly doing, they’re openly doing. And nobody’s batting an eye. Don Jr. is opening a club called the Executive Club in Georgetown in which it is promised that you will be able to rub shoulders at the cost of a $500,000 initiation fee with… people and decisionmakers in the cabinet of his father.»
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment, as well as a representative for former President Joe Biden in regard to the Ambien revelation.
La madre de Chen Tianming ve la televisión en el primer piso de su casa en Xingyi. Foto: Andrea Verdelli/The New York Times
Un mercado de productos agrícolas entre los rascacielos residenciales a los que se mudaron los vecinos de Chen. Foto: Andrea Verdelli/The New York TimesINTERNACIONAL
Federal judge blocks Trump administration from defunding some Planned Parenthood facilities
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
A judge on Monday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from stripping some Medicaid funds from Planned Parenthood after Congress and President Donald Trump agreed to partially defund the nonprofit through passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Judge Indira Talwani of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts said in her order partially granting a preliminary injunction that the bill unconstitutionally punishes Planned Parenthood member organizations that do not provide abortions.
The injunction will risk «at most minimal harm—financial or otherwise» to the Trump administration while the lawsuit proceeds, Talwani, an Obama appointee, wrote.
The judge’s order appears to apply to some but not all Planned Parenthood facilities. The nonprofit said in a statement that it viewed Talwani’s order as a partial win and remained «hopeful» that the judge would take further judicial action down the line.
«This isn’t over,» the organization said. «While we’re grateful that the court recognized the harm caused by this law, we’re disappointed that not all members were granted the necessary relief today.»
SENATE PARLIAMENTARIAN OKS BAN ON PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERAL FUNDING IN TRUMP MEGABILL
Pro-life demonstrators gather in front of the Supreme Court building as the Court hears oral arguments over Medina vs Planned Parenthood in Washington D.C. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)
Talwani’s order arose from a lawsuit brought by Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, over the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a massive budget bill that passed Congress this month with no Democrat support. Trump signed the bill into law on July 4.
A provision in the bill stripped Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood, which the nonprofit said could force it to close about 200 of its 600 facilities and deprive about half of its customers, more than one million people, of services that do not include abortion.
Planned Parenthood attorneys noted in court filings that Medicaid typically does not cover abortion.
JUDGE TORCHED FOR PLANNED PARENTHOOD ORDER: HER COURT LOOKS ‘LIKE A FAST FOOD DRIVE-THRU’
A Planned Parenthood sign (ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)
The attorneys argued that the bill would cause cancer and sexually transmitted infections to go undetected, especially for low-income people, and that more unplanned pregnancies would occur because of a lack of contraception access. They said the consequences of losing Medicaid funding «will be grave.»
Department of Justice (DOJ) attorneys had previously argued in court filings that the purpose of the budget provision was to stop «federal subsidies for Big Abortion» by freezing federal funds for certain Medicaid recipients who provide abortions. Weakening Planned Parenthood has been one of the pro-life movement’s leading priorities since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Talwani granted a temporary restraining order two weeks ago in favor of Planned Parenthood. The judge initially offered no explanation for her decision, a move that led to widespread backlash among Republicans who described it as judicial overreach. Days later, Talwani offered more context in a subsequent order.
PLANNED PARENTHOOD USING ‘LOOPHOLE’ TO GET MINORS GENDER TRANSITIONS WITHOUT PARENTS’ OK: WATCHDOG
Anti-abortion activists march across the National Mall near the U.S. Capitol during the 50th annual March for Life rally on January 20, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The preliminary injunction will partially leave in place the pause on defunding Planned Parenthood indefinitely, but the Trump administration is likely to appeal the order to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
The judge noted that her injunction applied to Planned Parenthood entities that do not provide abortion services or receive less than $800,000 in annual Medicaid reimbursements.
DOJ attorneys had previously argued to the court that blocking a measure that was passed by Congress and signed by the president was an extraordinary move and unjustified.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
«Beyond the futility of the claims on the merits, Planned Parenthood fails to demonstrate imminent irreparable harm to justify an injunction, asserting only classically reparable economic injury and irrelevant potential harm to patients, who are third parties not before this Court,» DOJ attorneys wrote.
Aseguran que la última foto del Indio Solari es una completa mentira
Otra vez sopa: Refuerzo estrella de Boca Juniors sufrió su quinta lesión en seis meses y se pierde la Copa Argentina
Hunter Biden says father was on Ambien before disastrous debate, defends painting sales
La Derecha Diario. Así es el periodismo que no odia Milei: militancia libertaria, insultos y datos sin rigor
El costo oculto que paga el Gobierno para contener al dólar: ya hay señales de freno en el crédito
Pánico en Moreno: un puma está suelto y los vecinos denuncian que ya se comió decenas de animales
Se cayeron las reelecciones indefinidas: 22 legisladores y decenas de concejales no pueden ser candidatos y presionan sobre el cierre de listas
Patricia Bullrich lanzó un protocolo para fiscalizar las redes sociales con agentes encubiertos
Milei, Villarruel y una pelea tóxica en la cima del poder con impacto institucional y final abierto
Los cuadernos de las coimas: convocan a una audiencia clave para iniciar el juicio oral contra Cristina Kirchner y 150 acusados
Juan Carlos Maqueda defendió la condena contra Cristina Kirchner: “Hay una sensación de que se hizo Justicia y que no hay impunidad”
La tensión por el dólar se aplacó y la City tiene veredicto: ¿la paz será duradera o temporal?
Así quedó la lista completa de Fuerza Patria para las elecciones 2025 en Buenos Aires
Ya se conocen las listas para las elecciones del 7 de septiembre de la provincia de Buenos Aires (PBA). Tal...
Mendoza: Javier Milei está cerca de firmar una alianza con el radical Alfredo Cornejo
MENDOZA.- El acuerdo avanza con fuerza; las tensiones internas, también. Mientras el presidente Javier Milei y el gobernador radical, Alfredo...
La dura reacción de Javier Milei tras los cortes de luz y la prórroga que favoreció al PJ
Con críticas elípticas, el presidente Javier Milei reaccionó este domingo, poco después del mediodía, al cierre de listas para las...
POLITICA2 días agoJuan Carlos Maqueda defendió la condena contra Cristina Kirchner: “Hay una sensación de que se hizo Justicia y que no hay impunidad”
- POLITICA1 día ago
Expulsada del Gobierno, Victoria Villarruel empieza a tomar distancia, pero no tiene proyecto político para este año
- POLITICA1 día ago
La CGT evalúa adelantar a octubre el recambio de sus autoridades y define una movilización contra Milei
