This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

After "two incredible years" at the helm of Elon Musk's popular X social media platform, CEO Linda Yaccarino is stepping down.

In a post on X Wednesday, she said: "When @elonmusk and I first spoke of his vision for X, I knew it would be the opportunity of a lifetime to carry out the extraordinary mission of this company. I'm immensely grateful to him for entrusting me with the responsibility of protecting free speech, turning the company around, and transforming X into the Everything App.

"I'm incredibly proud of the X team – the historic business turn around we have accomplished together has been nothing short of remarkable.

"We started with the critical early work necessary to prioritize the safety of our users—especially children, and to restore advertiser confidence. This team has worked relentlessly from groundbreaking innovations like Community Notes, and, soon, X Money to bringing the most iconic voices and content to the platform. Now, the best is yet to come as X enters a new chapter with @xai.

"X is truly a digital town square for all voices and the world's most powerful culture signal. We couldn't have achieved that without the support of our users, business partners, and the most innovative team in the world. I'll be cheering you all on as you continue to change the world."

Despite no reason cited for her departure, Yaccarino's announcement comes one day after X's Grok chatbot published a series of anti-Semitic posts, prompting the company to shut down its ability to issue text replies.

NBC News reported: "It wasn't the first time Yaccarino had to handle issues around antisemitism on the platform as CEO.

"In 2023, she had to weather the fallout after Musk shared an antisemitic conspiracy theory that Jewish groups were part of a coordinated plot to spread anti-White hate. Musk's posts caused a wave of advertiser departures from the platform, which Yaccarino was tasked with managing."

"Yaccarino stood by Musk's side and defended him even as Musk continued to take actions that were contrary to her statements. In August 2023, Yaccarino met with the Anti-Defamation League's Jonathan Greenblatt to discuss how to address antisemitic hate on X. Days later, Musk began "liking" content related to the #BanTheADL hashtag led by far-right figures on the platform. It was one of several instances in which Musk appeared to publicly sidestep and undermine Yaccarino's work."

In a brief note, Elon Musk told Yaccarino: "Thank you for your contributions."

X remains the top news app in America since Musk purchased the company.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

A filmmaker who is a veteran of comedic satire, Terry Gilliam of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," "Jabberwocky," "Time Bandits" and "12 Monkeys" fame, says his newest project featuring satire about wokeness may face heavy headwinds because President Donald Trump killed the movement.

"The script, in some ways, is out of date because it was a satire of the world two years ago, and Donald Trump has come along, and he is the carnival. He's turned the world upside down – everything. We may have to rework some of the story because parts of it was very specific about the wonderful world of woke before The Donald took over again. That very narrow way of thinking of life. We'll see where it goes. At the moment, I may be out of a job for another 10 years," explained Terry Gilliam in an interview documented by HollywoodInToto.com.

The report explained he saw the "woke revolution" that stifled comedy and culture under Joe Biden "and wanted to make a movie about it. After all, no one in the greater Hollywood community would even attempt such a satire."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

A former model who says she was raped at least three times a day on Jeffrey Epstein's private island is now going scorched earth on President Donald Trump after his Justice Department this week reneged on its pledge to release files including names, flight logs and co-conspirators of the convicted pedophile.

In a video she posted Tuesday on X, Juliette Bryant of South Africa targeted Trump by name, the same day the president blasted a reporter for asking a question about "this creep" Epstein.

"Wow! Donald Trump! American government. Your government kidnapped me," Bryant began.

"You promised the Epstein list. Victims are being found dead. Hello! I mean the whole reason you gained presidency, Trump, was because of promising the Epstein list. Are you as much of a liar as them?

"Thank goodness for Elon Musk for actually standing up for what's right. It's funny how only South Africans stand up, because where are the other 200 Epstein victims? Although maybe they're too frightened to speak up because of the American government.

"Well, I speak for all of them. I speak for all victims. How dare your government abuse, rape and murder?! We'll be coming for you, don't you worry, government.

"You can sit there and pretend that Epstein didn't exist and that none of this happened. But guess what. We're not that f***ing stupid!

"Don't make us any more angry, otherwise we will come and we will find you. How dare you?!

In a separate interview with Don Keith, Bryant said: "If they release what they're really up to, it will break people's brains.

"People will suddenly be all anti-government. People won't want to go to work anymore. Religion will fall away, that's what will happen."

In 2022, Bryant was featured in a BBC documentary called "House of Maxwell," explaining how she became one of Epstein's trafficked sex slaves after being lured with promises of becoming a Victoria's Secret model.

In the program, Bryant said Epstein "fed off the terror … there was something about the energy of a girl being scared that he liked."

"I was being ordered to his bedroom at least three times a day."

Bryant insisted she "saw at least 60 girls coming and going" while she was on Epstein's Caribbean island.

"It was just like a factory … he was running a machine and Ghislaine Maxwell was the one operating it," referring to his convicted madam.

Bryant's new video Tuesday came amid fresh controversy when President Trump snapped at a reporter who asked if Epstein was a foreign agent.

Meanwhile, journalist Benny Johnson posted an in-depth explanation about why Americans care want details of the Epstein case, saying: "We care about Epstein because we care if our government is protecting an elite pedophile cult. That's it. That why we care.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Another legal victory for the administration of President Donald Trump was documented in the decision of a federal judge to allow the Department of Justice to rescind about $800 million in grants.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington rejected a demand for a preliminary injunction from five groups that benefited from the cash handouts.

They were objecting to the DOJ's cancellation of more than 360 grant awards, according to a report from Fox News.

The judge condemned the decision as "shameful" in his ruling, but said the court lacks jurisdiction and the plaintiffs failed to document a constitutional violation or protection.

"Defendants' rescinding of these awards is shameful. It is likely to harm communities and individuals vulnerable to crime and violence," the judge said. "But displeasure and sympathy are not enough in a court of law."

It was the DOJ's Office of Justice Programs that decided in April to cancel the hundreds of millions of dollars in grant handouts, describing the move as a change in priorities to include more direct support to some law enforcement groups, fight violent crime, and help American victims of trafficking and sexual assault, the report explained.

The complaint, from Democracy Forward Foundation and the Perry Law firm, claimed they were deprived of due process and the decision lacked clarity. They also said the move violated the constitutional separation of powers.

The cancellation of the handout of taxpayer money triggered layoffs and closures in various programs, the plaintiffs claimed.

But the DOJ said that no legal basis existed for the court to order the restoration of "lawfully terminated grants."

In fact, some plaintiffs in other disputes over the Trump administration's decision to cancel cash handouts have claimed that they have a constitutional right to be funded by the taxpayers.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Convinced that his brother was most likely murdered in his Manhattan jail cell, Mark Epstein called the recent FBI memo dismissing that possibility "stupid."

Fox News reports that Mark Epstein, 70, who has long disputed the suicide narrative, is one of many Americans, including Trump-supporting conservative influencers, who are skeptical of the government's memo claiming there is no "client list" and that no evidence exists that Jeffrey Epstein was murdered.

Mark Epstein told Fox News Digital that when he hounded New York officials for answers, they didn't even provide him with the 9-1-1 call reporting his brother's death at a federal jail in Manhattan in 2019.

He said his brother was looking forward to a bail hearing at the time of his death and that autopsy findings were inconsistent with suicide.

Mark Epstein said he laughed when he first saw the FBI memo.

"Every time they say something or do something to try to quash the fact that he was most likely murdered, they put their foot further down their mouths," he told NewsNation this week.

"When Kash Patel came out with that statement, I laughed at how stupid it was," Epstein said.

Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of trafficking in a trial of her own. She is appealing the verdict, and until she exhausts her legal options, neither the FBI nor federal prosecutors are expected to release criminal evidence that hasn't already surfaced in court, Fox pointed out.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently, in the Fuld v. Palestine Liberation Organization case, confirmed that U.S. victims of Palestinian terrorism can sue over their injuries, and for damages, and it's already being used to seek justice.

It's the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that has lifted its abatement, or pause, on actions against the PLO by 70 people who were hurt, or are survivors of those who were killed, by that very terrorism. The order overturned a district court's dismissal of the case and ordered the dispute back into district court for consideration of the claims.

In the Fuld case, a group of U.S. citizens injured by PLO terrorism, or the estates and survivors of victims who were murdered, sued the PLO as well as the Palestinian Authority, back in 2004.

The PLO runs Palestine's foreign affairs, and the PA is an interim governing body for parts of the Gaza Strip.

They have more recently been in the news over the Hamas terror attack on Israel in 2003 in which some 1,200 Israeli civilians were murdered, often in horrific fashion, and hundreds more were kidnapped.

In the 2004 case, the plaintiffs sought damages under the Anti-Terrorism Act and a jury found the defendants liable for six attacks and awarded $218.5 million in damages, automatically tripled to $655.5 million under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

But the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said U.S. courts lacked personal jurisdiction over the PLO and PA. Then Congress in 2019 adopted the Promoting Security and Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act, which deems the defendants have consented to jurisdiction in U.S. courts "if they engaged in certain conduct after the law's enactment: either making payments to families of deceased terrorists or designees of imprisoned terrorists who harmed U.S. nationals, or conducting various activities within the United States (with some exceptions for UN-related activities)."

When the court found defendants had, in fact, made qualifying payments, the 2nd Circuit then claimed the case violated due process.

The Supreme Court reversed, ordering that the law does not violate due process.

The result is that the 10th Circuit withdrew its pause on the new case.

A report from Courthousenews explains the case is on behalf of 70 surviving family members of people killed in a 2014 synagogue attack in Israel.

The report explained it was on Nov. 18, 2014, when two members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, or PFLP, "killed U.S. citizens and Rabbis Kalman Levine, Aryeh Kupinsky and Moshe Twersky during morning prayers at the Congregation Bnei Torah synagogue in the Har Nof neighborhood of Jerusalem. Police sergeant Zidan Saif and Rabbi Abraham Goldberg were also among the six people killed in the attack."

The attackers were killed by police, but celebrated as heroes by Palestinian officials.

The relatives sued the PLO and PA in 2021, charging violations of the U.S. law, the Promoting Security and Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act.

"The families claimed the defendant groups used a 'pay for slay' scheme to incentivize people to carry out terrorist attacks and suicide bombings in exchange for compensation to their families. Congress has declared both the Palestine Liberation Organization and the PFLP terrorist groups," the report said.

The district judge in the case, Biden-appointee Gordon Gallagher, had dismissed the families' complaint, and the 10th Circuit then stepped in and paused action pending the Fuld decision, which now is precedent.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

A newly published commentary notes that Colorado Democrats in the state legislature, who with other Democrats control virtually every aspect of Colorado's government, are fleeing – en masse.

At least 20% of the lawmakers who sit in Denver making rules and regulations for their taxpayers have not been elected; they were appointed by party elites, much like Kamala Harris was appointed to be the party's 2024 presidential candidate.

Jon Caldara, president of the Independence Institute, wrote, "Democratic Rep. Said Sharbini left, citing 'the polarized and contentious climate in the state House.' Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis said the job was emotionally and physically tough when she recently split. But these spoiled kids can have anything they want. They're not squabbling with Republicans. Republicans aren't even in the equation. Republicans are hiding in the janitor's closet hoping not to be found and slapped around. These Democrats are backbiting fellow Democrats. The 'sensationalistic and vitriolic' unhealthy environment is amongst themselves. The polarization and emotional toll isn't coming from the feckless Republicans. Team Left is beginning to eat their own. More than 20% of our legislators were never voted into office in the first place. They were appointed to fill vacancies of those who wanted to get out."

Absolute Democrat control in the state that used to swing back and forth regularly between Democrat and Republican majorities developed two decades ago. That was when, according to a report from American Majority, that the "Gang of Four" billionaires and lowly multi-millionaires essentially bought the state government.

Rutt Bridges, now-Gov. Jared Polis, Tim Gill and Pat Stryker, all pushing the extremes of the leftist agenda, conspired to use their wealth to organize a new Democrat party, "from policy generation to leadership recruiting, coalition building to grassroots activation."

Stryker is a billionaire heiress to a medical tech fortune, and she donated $1.5 million in support of Hillary Clinton's failed 2016 campaign; Gill started Quark, Bridges once said he had "more money than I could spend," and Polis took advantage of early dot-com miscalculations, selling online rights to his parents Blue Mountain Arts greeting card slogans to another company for hundreds of millions of dollars, which then collapsed, and he bought them back at a fraction of the original price.

He spent $1 million to his political start, a seat on the Colorado Board of Education which is an unpaid, part-time time. His GOP opponent raised $10,000, and, reports said, had offered to drop out if Polis has split the difference and given him $500,000.

The report noted what the "Gang" did was flood races with money that no local Republican candidate could hope to compete with, using "dozens" of 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4) and 527 organizations that they personally funded.

The result? "The Democrat Party didn't win Colorado: the progressive left did. They simply used the Democrat Party as a vehicle by which to achieve their political ends."

Since then, there's been a long list of Democrat governors. The state House and Senate have near veto-proof Democrat majorities. The state's top officials are all Democrats.

The agenda has been made clear by their goals and actions.

An all-Democrat state Supreme Court tried to remove President Donald Trump from the 2024 ballot, only to be reprimanded by the U.S. Supreme Court. The state repeatedly has launched attacks on Christianity, demanding its own messaging and disregarding constitutional rights. In one case it got scolded by the Supreme Court for its hostility to Christianity, but it immediately launched the same allegations against another defendant, to be struck down again.

It tried this year to force a Christian children's camp to allow boys in the girls cabins, and showers.

It right now is arguing before the Supreme Court that it has the right to control the speech of Christian counselors who want to help patients to come to them with unwanted same-sex feelings.

The state essentially says, in that case, that counselors are allowed to promote the LGBT ideology, but are not allowed even to mention anything negative about the lifestyle.

Polis, of course, the openly homosexual governor who pundits already have mentioned as a possible future Democrat nominee for president, has been part and parcel of the agenda, apparently from its beginning.

It is, in fact, the leftist CPR which has confirmed, "There will be at least 21 members of the Colorado General Assembly this year who at some point were appointed to the House or Senate by or through a vacancy committee made up of a small number of party insiders, according to a Colorado Sun analysis. That includes 12 state representatives and nine senators. All but three are Democrats:"

It continued, "The number — which represents about a fifth of the 100-member General Assembly — is down from last year, when 29 legislators had at some point landed a job in the General Assembly thanks to a vacancy committee."

Caldara explained, Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen "in any other state" would be "looking to run for governor." Instead, he's fleeing.

"So that Paul doesn't feel alone in his escape from the asylum — I'm sorry, the 'unsupervised mental health facility' — the equally sane House Minority Whip Ryan Armagost is bolting out of the state for an undisclosed 'fantastic professional opportunity' in Arizona," Caldara wrote.

But the majority fleeing are Democrats.

"Recall, Democrats have near veto-proof majorities in both houses, all statewide offices, including governor and attorney general, and judges almost completely appointed by progressive Democrat governors. Like your sibling whom your parents love more than you, Democrats get whatever they want. Your wallet is their oyster," Caldara wrote.

In fact, lawmakers, faced with a constitutional requirement for voter approval for tax increases beyond the rate of inflation and increased population, have resorted to imposing new taxes and then calling them "fees."

For example, vehicle owners are required to pay a "fee" for roads and a "fee" for bridges. Likely they sometimes use them. But out-of-state travelers use those same public facilities, with no fee.

Caldara noted that first, there needs to be reform of how vacancies are filled.

"The bigger question is, what are the Democrats doing to make the place so unlivable?"

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

During a two-hour Cabinet meeting broadcast live Tuesday, President Trump once again talked about his plan to establish a program for illegal-alien farm and hospitality workers to remain in the U.S., despite his ongoing efforts at mass deportation, while many supporters of the president express dismay about this apparent loophole in his otherwise robust immigration ideology.

Trump was asked about critics saying the new plan amounts to amnesty for lawbreakers.

"There's no amnesty," said Trump during the meeting. "What we're doing is we're getting rid of criminals, but we are doing a work program."

Then Agriculture Secretary Brook Robbins explained, "This morning [at a briefing] we talked about protecting the farmers and the farmland, but obviously this president's vision of no amnesty, mass deportation continues – but in a strategic way, and then ensuring that our farmers have the labor that they need."

"[Labor] Secretary Chavez-DeRemer has been a leader on this," Rollins continued. "Obviously, this comes out of the Labor Department, but moving toward automation, ensuring that our farmers have that workforce, and moving toward an American workforce. So all of the above."

Several days ago, Trump first broached the subject of allowing some illegal aliens to stay to work in certain industries, saying he favors legislation to solidify the details.

Then on July 3 in Iowa, during a "Salute to America" event, the president said: "Farmers, look, they know better. They work with them for years. You had cases where, not year, but just even over the years where people have worked for a farm, on a farm for 14, 15 years, and they get thrown out pretty viciously, and we can't do it. We gotta work with the farmers, and people that have hotels and leisure properties, too."

In the speech, Trump acknowledge that some on the right would not appreciate the move, saying, ""Serious radical-right people, who I also happen to like a lot, they may not be quite as happy. But they'll understand."

Trump said on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures" with Maria Bartiromo: "What we're going to do is, we're going to do something for farmers where we can let the farmer sort of be in charge. The farmer knows he's not going to hire a murderer."

Backlash from his supporters has come from several sources.

According to Blaze Media, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis remarked, "No amnesty. No debate. No compromise."

"There is no other issue the conservative base feels more passionately about than immigration," responded Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA. "In just a few decades, everyday Americans have watched their country transform into a nation of strangers. We must deliver mass deportations, not amnesty."

"Any sort of mass amnesty plan would result in a devastating midterm defeat for Republicans in Congress," commentator Todd Starnes said.

Responses on X included:

"If you are letting them stay, it's called amnesty."

"It's not amnesty, they're just not going to deport them. What a sick joke."

"This amnesty bill will be a complete BETRAYAL to the MAGA base, especially now that ICE has the budget to commence these promised mass deportations."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Kevin O'Connor, who served as the physician to Joe Biden during his term in the White House, has refused to answer questions from Congress investigating Biden's health decline, and the threats that could have posed, while in office.

That there was a decline was obvious to all who saw him during live events, where he would stumble over words, make mistakes including calling on members of Congress who were dead, jumble comments, even sometimes simply stare vacantly or wander around trying to find a way off stage.

It came to a crisis point during his debate with President Donald Trump during the 2024 campaign, a performance that gave the Democrats no other option but to allow him to "withdraw" as the party's nominee, after which the party elites in a non-democratic process named Kamala Harris as their choice.

Biden's decline is under investigation because of serious questions about some of his formal actions, including pardons to family members, which were signed by a government autopen.

Such actions are, in fact, routine, but the questions are whether he even was aware of those actions, often done by subordinates.

Legal questions remain about the validity of actions his aides would have taken if he was not fully cognizant of them, and the ramifications.

The House Oversight Committee has started taking depositions on the topic, but O'Connors lawyers submitted a statement to the members of Congress that he would "decline to answer" any questions.

"First, the physician patient privilege and the physicians' ethical duty of confidentiality require that Dr. O'Connor refuse to testify about any aspect of his care and treatment of President Biden," they said. "Second, the pending Department of Justice criminal investigation leaves Dr. O'Connor no choice but to invoke his constitutional rights under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution to any questions posed by the committee."

However, the results of annual physical exams for other presidents routinely have been made public, even to the point of including the results of President Donald Trump's cognitive tests during his exams.

A report from the Washington Examiner noted O'Connor's claims were based on his "Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination."

The committee's investigation into the cover-up of Biden's health issues began days ago with a deposition from Neera Tanden, a Biden aide.

O'Connor earlier had insisted that his deposition be delayed, a demand refused by the committee.

The White House has waived executive privilege for those summoned by the committee, making it problematic for them to refuse to answer.

"The American people have a right to know the health condition of the president, both physical and mental," House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., has confirmed.

"It's no secret that this is an investigation of the autopen, but at the center of the use of the autopen is whether or not the president knew his name was being signed with an autopen."

The committee has been forced to issue subpoenas for some members of Biden's entourage, as they had voluntarily promised to appear and testify, then reversed course and refused.

Republicans want to know what tests were done for Biden, and the results, especially whether Biden's inner circle put pressure on O'Connor to say he was fit for office.

Others expected to testify include Jill Biden's "work husband," Anthony Bernall, Ron Klain, Steve Ricchetti and Ashley Williams.

Comer has cited Biden's recent revelation of a cancer diagnosis.

There are suspicions, he said, "that people were covering up the president's mental decline. But yet Dr. O'Connor's reports were glowing with, you know, how healthy the president was."

Comer said, "I think the president, the state of the president's health is the transparency that we all expect. The president of the United States is the most powerful person in the world. The American people have a right to know the health condition of the president, both physical and mental,"

He also noted, "There's more and more evidence that comes out every day that would suggest that the president was in a pretty severe mental decline."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

The saga of Sadé Perkins, the former Houston mayoral appointee who went viral with a racist tirade against the white girls killed at Camp Mystic in weekend Texas flooding, continues as her own reverend boyfriend and church officials are disavowing her remarks.

"My partner Sadé Perkins has made comments on social media regarding the horrific flooding that devastated Camp Mystic," said Rev. Dr. Colin Bossen, senior minister at First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston. "I want to be clear that I disavow her comments."

"While she was not speaking on my behalf or on behalf of my congregation, I recognize that her comments have caused harm to many who are experiencing terrible loss and anxiety.

"I believe strongly that all people have inherent worthiness and dignity. Her comments were not in the spirit of the Unitarian Universalist values centered around love that my congregation and I share."

Joan Waddill, board president of the church, issued her own statement, indicating: "We are aware that a person who is affiliated with our church, but not a member or on our staff, has made offensive remarks on social media about these deaths.