'Breakthrough Model of the Year' is transgender-identifying child of Naomi Watts
Naomi Watts happily celebrated her offspring with Liev Schreiber becoming the first transgender-identifying person to win a prestigious modeling award.
The celebrity couple's child was born in 2008 with the name Samuel but later identified as Kai Schreiber before signing with IMG as a model.
'I’m also the first trans girl to win this award.'
Watts beamed with pride alongside the 17-year-old before the ceremony for the Daily Front Row’s Fashion Media Awards on Friday in Milan, Italy.
Schreiber said he was "beyond excited" about being accepted into the modeling industry.
"I’m also the first trans girl to win this award," the teen added.
He then said it wouldn’t have been possible for him to be a model "if it weren’t for all my sisters who paved the way for me in this industry."
He added, "I carry that with me into every room."
Liev Schreiber has expressed support for his son identifying as a girl.
"I don’t know what it’s like for you to be a trans dad," he said when asked about giving advice to other parents of transgender-identifying children. "I don’t know how you were brought up. I don’t know what religion you encountered or what your spirituality is. And for me to tell you what I think about my kid feels like an overstep."
He went on to say that raising teens is difficult whether or not they're transgender-identifying.
RELATED: Female wrestler alleging sexual assault by trans-identifying male during match sues school
"They're hard," he said. "It doesn’t matter whether they’re trans or not because you’ll come out of this. But a trans teen is going to be a teen. They’re such a pain so much of the time, and Kai is as feisty and outspoken as they come."
The couple have another male child named Alexander "Sasha" Schreiber who is an environmental activist.
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Iran's stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz continues to erode — and crude oil exports are rebounding
Crude oil exports in the Middle East rebounded in September as the Iranian regime continued to lose its control over the Strait of Hormuz.
Nineteen very large crude oil carriers carrying about 38 million barrels exited the strait just last week, according to data from a Kpler report on Monday.
'You are preventing them from getting access to money that they will use to try and kill Americans and others around the world and their own people.'
The report said crude oil exports from the Middle East had recovered to about 80% of pre-military operation levels in February.
About 20% of the global oil supply is transported through the Strait of Hormuz, which was nearly completely closed off by the Iranian regime after U.S.-Israeli strikes began in late February.
In August, U.S. officials told Axios that military operations had successfully targeted and eliminated Iranian assets in their effort to keep the Strait of Hormuz shut down.
"That sucker is open. The Iranian response is very mild," said President Donald Trump in a phone call to the news outlet at the time. "They don't want us to go back at them. That's the whole ball game. The rest doesn't matter."
The Iranian regime has apparently tried to use spiking gas prices to pressure the Trump administration into caving to its demands to end the military conflict.
Iran is facing its own financial pressure after the Rial, the country's currency, crashed even farther on Tuesday.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi indicated that leaders were speaking with mediators from Qatar in order to resume talks with the U.S. about a possible peace deal.
Trump has predicted that Iran is waiting to see the results of the midterm elections before approving a peace deal, but he also threatened to drive Iran "into hell."
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised the U.S. economic embargo against Iran in comments Monday on Fox News.
"When you're denying them money through oil sales and sanctions, you're not just punishing them," Rubio said. "You are preventing them from getting access to money that they will use to try and kill Americans and others around the world and their own people and build weapons and threaten the world and ultimately break out to a nuclear weapon program."
RELATED: Trump threatens to drive Iran 'into HELL' — and predicts when peace deal will be reached
Economic expert and Blaze Media contributor Carol Roth said in comments to Blaze News that the oil transport work-around was a welcome relief but still a fragile solution.
"If this work-around is sustainable in the short-run, we could [see] some relief pop up at the gas pumps within weeks," she said. "If it is sustainable for longer, that could lead to even more relief, which impacts not only consumers directly via gas and other energy prices, but also flows through the broader economy."
Roth added that American consumer sentiment has plunged downward as a result of the effects of the conflict with Iran.
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‘Deranged partisan fanatic’ Jack Smith obtained personal info on Trump supporters to try to rig the election, Tom Cotton says
The investigation into former special counsel Jack Smith has led to allegations that he was trying to swing the presidential election of 2024.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said a legal whistleblower revealed that Smith had obtained 4,782 checks from Americans who donated to President Donald Trump and pro-Trump entities between 2019 and 2023, often in small amounts.
'Every member on this committee ought to be outraged for what happened to their constituents. Which one of my Democratic colleagues will join me in that outrage?'
Grassley directly challenged Smith to address the allegations while he testified before Congress on Tuesday.
"No matter what you say, there’s no legitimate basis for what you did," said the veteran Republican, according to a transcript in his press release.
"Donations to Republican groups wasn’t necessary to your investigation, which is proved out by the fact it wasn’t mentioned in your public report. Now, the Justice Department and FBI will forever possess thousands of people’s addresses, phone numbers, banks, bank account numbers, bank routing numbers, and copies of their true signatures," Grassley said.
Republicans on the committee posted an image of some of the checks with the personal information redacted.
"Every member on this committee ought to be outraged for what happened to their constituents. Which one of my Democratic colleagues will join me in that outrage?" Grassley asked.
Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas accused Smith of trying to rig the presidential election.
"Jack Smith is a deranged partisan fanatic," Cotton posted on social media. "He is one of the worst abusers of lawfare in history. He secretly seized GOP lawmakers’ phone records for one reason: to try to swing 2024 and help Democrats win."
For his part, Smith said he did not remember those particular subpoenas but defended his investigation against claims of political bias.
"Yes, we acquired financial information. As I sit here right now, I cannot recite to you every subpoena we issued," said Smith. "I can tell you why we issued subpoenas, and it was to conduct a criminal investigation of one of the most serious crimes that's ever happened in our nation's history. I had a duty to collect facts."
Smith was berated by Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana during his questioning about his collecting toll records of phone calls from members of Congress.
"You make me want to throw up in my mouth!" said Kennedy.
Smith obtained two indictments against the president through his special investigation. One had to do with Trump's alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election results and his alleged unlawful retention of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.
Both were dismissed after Trump was elected in 2024.
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'Trump Wh*re': Susan Collins' office vandalized
An unknown assailant vandalized the constituent office of Republican Sen. Susan Collins in Biddeford, Maine.
A message in red spray-paint seen Monday read "TRUMP" on one door and "WHORE" on another. An image of the tagging, shared by Maine Assistant Senate Republican Leader Matt Harrington, comes amid a heated midterm campaign in the state.
'Senator Collins and her staff will not be intimidated.'
Democrat U.S. Senate nominee Troy Jackson has repeatedly suggested that Collins is "owned" by President Donald Trump, despite Collins' reputation as a political moderate.
"Who has she served? She's served Donald Trump," former Maine Senate President Jackson said at the emergency nominating convention in July, when he replaced controversial candidate Graham Platner.
Immediately prior to the vandalism, Jackson ratcheted up accusations of subservience against Collins.
“Donald Trump owns her," Jackson told reporters in Portland over the weekend, according to C-SPAN footage cited by Spectrum News.
By Monday, Collins' office was defaced.
“Vandalism is unacceptable," Sen. Collins' chief of staff, Katie Brown, said in a statement. "Senator Collins and her staff will not be intimidated. Our Biddeford constituent service office remains open, and we will continue serving the people of Maine.”
RELATED: Graham Platner's replacement has history of violence, unearthed police report reveals
The paint was cleared later that same day, according to the Portland Press Herald.
"What has the world come to? This is disgusting, disappointing and it’s not the Maine I grew up in," Harrington said on X. "Do better."
Despite Jackson's earlier rhetoric, he also condemned the vandalism on Monday.
"There’s no place for this in Maine,” Jackson said in a statement. “Vandalism and intimidation are wrong, full stop. Senator Collins and her staff should be able to do their jobs without anyone defacing their office, and I condemn whoever did this.”
Jackson's slapdash effort to topple Maine's five-term Republican senator has been an uphill battle. In 1988, Jackson's longtime domestic partner, Lana Pelletier, told police that Jackson "pushed her around" after a fight with another man, though both she and Jackson now deny that he was violent with her that night.
Public polling averages still have Jackson up by one to two points, though Collins has consistently overperformed relative to polling. Collins was expected to lose to Democrat challenger Sara Gideon in 2020, but ended up retaining her seat by 8.6 points on Election Day.
Biddeford Police Chief JoAnne Fisk confirmed that an investigation into the incident has been opened, but no suspects have been named, the Bangor Daily News reported.
State Sen. Harrington and the Biddeford Police Department did not respond to requests for comment from Blaze News.
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Fauci's agency backed an experiment aerosolizing lethal Ebola — then he panicked about what it exposed about vaccination
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases under Anthony Fauci funded deadly gain-of-function research on coronaviruses at the likely Chinese epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, SARS-COV-2 was apparently not the first deadly virus that created panic in the former NIAID director's office.
'I believe all of this is important for bio defense.'
According to a journal entry obtained by Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and published by Just the News, Fauci privately expressed terror upon learning that his agency had supported a U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases experiment that took Ebola — a deadly virus with a case fatality rate ranging from 25% to 90% in recent outbreaks — and aerosolized it, thereby making it airborne.
Fauci appeared to be more concerned about what damning insights the killer form of Ebola provided into a relevant vaccine than about his agency's role in the production of an airborne plague.
In a journal entry dated March 7, 2016, Fauci wrote that he was informed "about a crazy situation where USAMRIID did an aerosolized challenge of Zika in NHPs and showed that the VSV vaccine did not protect (no surprise). However, they showed that although the 2 control animals died and 16 of 20 vaccinated animals died, there was more inflammation in the lungs of the vaccinated animals – implying that vaccination is bad."
Fauci accused "those guys at USAMRIID" of being "idiots."
RELATED: First domino to fall? Fauci's 'consigliere' pleads GUILTY to role in COVID cover-up
Two days later, Fauci wrote that he had a teleconference with officials from the White House, the CIA, the National Intelligence Authority, the Pentagon, and the Department of Health and Human services "regarding an experiment that the USAMRIID did that challenged [nonhuman primates] with aerosolized Ebola to see if the [vesicular stomatitis virus] vaccine protected. Obviously, it did not. Stupid experiment."
The two unvaccinated primates in the experiment's control group did not have inflammation in the lung, but Fauci noted that the "vaccinated animals had necrosis, inflammation and fibrin in the lungs."
After highlighting the finding that Ebola vaccination was apparently a liability in this case, Fauci stated, "This should have been a classified experiment. The foolish DOD people send the data to the FDA and then circulated as FYI to various embassies including to those in West Africa where we are about to engage on a much larger DSD vaccine trial for Ebola."
"The embassies in West Africa (Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone) as you might expect went bonkers since it looks like we're going to vaccinated [sic] people with the dangers [sic] vaccine," added Fauci.
The Obama administration announced plans in early 2015 to begin testing Ebola vaccines in Africa and conducted Ebola vaccine trials in Africa well into 2016. Fauci publicly stated at the time, "A safe and effective vaccine will undoubtedly be a critical tool."
In his journal, Fauci bemoaned the lack of secrecy about the Pentagon's "bioterror related experiments using a variety of Ebola vaccines to determine their efficacy against aerosolized challenge with people," then suggested that government researchers should refrain from publishing such experiments "since they could indicate a vulnerability."
Fauci concluded the March 9, 2016, entry by writing, "I believe all of this is important for bio defense, but has little to do with naturally emerging Ebola outbreaks. Nonetheless, the idea that the vaccine can do harm is now causing people a great deal of concern."
According to NIAID documents released by Sen. Paul, Fauci's agency funded at least one of the Ebola aerosol experiments.
Paul noted, "The study was conducted at the Army's infectious disease institute at Fort Detrick under a NIAID task order, an engineered exposure that drove the virus deep into the lung in a way natural infection would not. NIAID helped craft the study design. Its own internal report later confirmed: 'NIAID provided funds.'"
That "internal report" was attached to an email sent to Fauci by Michael Kurilla on March 18, 2016, in response to a request from Fauci. "This originated with concerns that NIAID undertook studies that should have been classified (or perhaps even never conducted)," Kurilla wrote.
In a March 10, 2016, email to an underling at NIAID, Fauci noted that he "almost fell off [his] chair" when the Pentagon admitted at the multi-agency that it funded the experiment with NIAID.
Fauci subsequently demanded more information about his agency's involvement with the experiments, telling subordinates in a March 11 email, "No one will get hurt if they made a mistake, but then they told me the truth. If someone does not tell me the truth and I find out they did not, then they are gone."
Last month, Fauci's former senior adviser and longtime acolyte David Morens pleaded guilty to his role in the attempted cover-up of federal records pertaining to the origin of the COVID-19 virus and to a clandestine initiative to restore U.S. funding to the infamous Wuhan Institute of Virology.
The NIAID, USAMRIID, and a legal representative for Fauci did not respond to Blaze News' requests for comment. Kurilla could not be reached for comment.
Sen. Paul told Just the News, "Americans deserve to know what kind of risky research their taxpayer dollars are funding. It is clear additional oversight is needed into what Dr. Fauci's institute was paying for long before COVID."
Dr. Richard H. Ebright, a molecular biologist at Rutgers University, told Blaze News that the Ebola aerosol experiments were unjustified:
Ferret models of Ebola virus infection by the intramuscular route and the intranasal route already had been performed and published. There was no legitimate justification for performing an animal study — especially an extremely costly primate study — of Ebola virus infection by aerosols in an aerosol chamber. The fact that the NIAID funded and DOD performed this redundant, pointless, and extremely costly study underscores the over-funding, excess capacity, and waste in U.S. bioweapons-agents research and the opportunities for reductions in over-funding, excess capacity, and waste in U.S. bioweapons-agents research.
Ebright added that Fauci's "main reaction to the study was that its existence and its results needed to be classified, in order to prevent policymakers and the public from learning about its existence and drawing conclusions from its results."
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279,000+ Indians are approved for H-1B visas in US each year — no other nationality is even close
The vast majority of approved H-1B beneficiaries since 2022 are from India, government data shows.
Although the Trump administration is pumping the brakes on the tech-heavy visa program with a new executive order, there are still city-sized numbers of Indian workers getting new visas each year.
A whopping 77,673 Indians were approved for initial employment in 2022.
Between 2022 and 2025, official government data shows a shocking number of visas were approved for Indian workers.
In fiscal year 2022, that number was 320,791, according to numbers from United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. For 2023, the number decreased to 279,386. But for 2024, the number went back up to 283,397, before stagnating at 283, 772 for 2025.
As well, Indian nationals represent the vast majority of H-1B recipients, accounting for at least 70% of beneficiaries each year: almost 73% in 2022, over 72% in 2023, 71% in 2024, and approximately 70% in 2025.
Chinese people represent the second-most H-1B approvals in each year, but only account for between 11.7% and 12.5% of the total. Canada and the Philippines are the next-highest contributors, but their share is just over 1% each.
Our message to corporate America is simple: We’re not going to let you lay off American workers so you can replace them with cheap foreign labor.https://t.co/Ct7CGfaGDp
— JD Vance (@JDVance) September 24, 2026
While these numbers include both extensions and new approvals, the number of Indians acquiring initial employment in the U.S. each year is still staggering and makes up the majority of foreign workers.
A whopping 77,673 Indians were approved for initial employment in 2022, representing almost 59% of all initial H-1B visas. Chinese workers were second at just under 19,000 or 14.3%
Initial employment visas were given to almost 69,000 Indians in 2023 (57.9% of total), while more than 80,000 received approval for initial employment in 2024 (57% of total).
To the Trump administration's credit, the number dropped to 57,747 in 2025, a 50% share.
In terms of gender, from 2022 to 2024, the vast majority of Indian workers getting visa approvals were men. Each year the share of Indian men getting H-1Bs was at least 75%; the 2025 data did not report on the gender split.
Vice President JD Vance recently echoed the administration's position on H-1B visas, saying that the White House was not going to let corporate America "lay off American workers so you can replace them with cheap foreign labor."
Vance linked to a fact sheet that boasted some of the administration's accomplishments and intentions when it came to the program and the job market.
The Trump administration stated that it wanted to improve interagency coordination and enhance "scrutiny of H-1B visa applications."
The document touted the renewal of a $100,000 fee for "certain alien H-1B visa applications," which it said had reduced IT outsourcing by the largest firms by 92%.
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Friends honor everyone's favorite TV principal: Mr. Belding of 'Saved by the Bell'
Friends and fans alike have rushed to honor the man they knew as Richard Belding, the principal on the hit 1990s teen sitcom "Saved by the Bell."
Actor Dennis Haskins, best known for playing Mr. Belding from "Good Morning, Miss Bliss" in 1988 all the way through "Saved by the Bell: The New Class" in 2000, passed away on Sunday in Burbank, California. He was 75 and had been suffering from Parkinson's disease for the past eight years, the New York Times reported.
'Dennis was the biggest kid on the SBTB set. If you knew him, you loved him.'
Fellow "SBTB" cast members took to social media to remember their friend.
Mario Lopez, who played handsome jock A.C. Slater, wrote:
Heartbroken to hear about my old friend Dennis Haskins. He played the principal, but Dennis was the biggest kid on the SBTB set. If you knew him, you loved him — and if there was karaoke, you knew Dennis was getting on that mic! I’m grateful for the laughs, the memories, and the friendship we shared all these years. Rest easy, my friend. You’ll always be part of our Bayside family.
Lark Voorhies, who played social butterfly and fashionista Lisa Turtle, said:
Knowing Dennis Haskins for almost 40 years has been one of the truest blessings of my life, which makes losing him hurt so deeply. We shared so much history together from our earliest days, and through it all, he remained a fabulous person, a loyal friend, and someone with such a kind, gentle heart. I am truly heartbroken by his passing and will miss his warmth and laughter more than words can say. Rest in peace Dennis, you will always hold a special place in my heart.
Dustin Diamond, who played nerd Samuel "Screech" Powers, preceded Haskins in death. Diamond died of lung cancer in 2021.
RELATED: 'Saved by the Bell' star Dustin Diamond dies at 44
"SBTB" alumni are not the only ones grieving the loss of Haskins.
Longtime Fox Sports commentator Tim Brando called Haskins a "dear friend" of 30 years. "He was a wonderful soul, and like so many actors on shows of that kind busting his chops to remain a working actor, but having been in such a strong role as Principal it wasn’t easy," Brando recalled.
"Just a charming man with. Huge heart."
TV nostalgia X account Blaze Binges shared an endearing clip of Haskins from the show, claiming, "Saved by the Bell was sacred in my house."
Another fan wrote: "To say 'Saved By the Bell' was a big part of my childhood would be an understatement. Rest peacefully, Dennis Haskins. And thank you."
Reports indicate that Haskins was as friendly and charming in real life as his on-screen persona, Mr. Belding. According to the NYT, he grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee, got married and divorced, and eventually made his way to Burbank.
Kimberly Snow, once a bartender where Haskins was a regular, eventually became his caretaker. "A lot of people thought he owned it, but he didn’t," Snow recalled of Dimples Karaoke, now closed.
"He just loved the place and its people."
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Vance: Talarico wears Christianity as a 'skin suit' — and it reveals more than just contempt
Vice President JD Vance believes "woke is dead," and he thinks recent conduct from Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico demonstrates the point.
In an episode of conservative Vince Coglianese's podcast that aired on Tuesday, Vance sorted through white and black pills pertaining to the midterm election, which is now only five weeks away.
'Democrats are literally running away.'
Vance acknowledged the recent rightist doom-saying about the election, boosted in part by recent polls indicating that the Democrats have a serious edge in multiple races. However, the vice president emphasized that the country "is not going to be saved by what Thomas Paine would have called sunshine patriots."
"You have got to get in there and win these races and make it possible for Republicans to deny a bunch of crazy communists from having positions of power in the United States of America," said Vance. "It's just that simple."
Vance further suggested that the situation may not be as bleak for Republicans as some think, recalling polls from fall of 2024 that indicated that then-Vice President Kamala Harris was going to trounce President Donald Trump and that the Democrats were going to maintain control of the U.S. Senate.
In a Reuters/Ipsos poll published in late September 2024, Harris led Trump 47% to 40%, while an NBC News national poll showed Harris leading Trump 49% to 44%. Trump ultimately defeated Harris in a landslide, securing the popular vote and 86 more Electoral College votes than the Democrat.
While optimistic that the pollsters may be wrong again, Vance noted there are nevertheless "headwinds" and that seldom does a party that controls the House, the Senate, and the White House maintain its trifecta through the midterm election.
"It almost never happens, but this is very different," said Vance. "Number one, we have a very unique president. Number two, we have a bunch of crazy people running on the other side — yes, people who are promising not to lower your prices or to make your life better. They're promising to trans your kids and steal all your property. Like, that is not what the American people want out of their government."
On the topic of the "lunatics" Republicans must work to deny power, two Democratic names came up: Abdul El-Sayed, who is running for the U.S. Senate in Michigan, and Talarico, who is running against Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Coglianese noted that "Talafreako" appears to be "spending all of his time running away from every insane position he's ever expressed around with a camera" and referenced recently published undercover footage revealing the radicalism and heresy at the Democrat's church in Austin, Texas.
"This is what I think a particular type of hyper-progressive does to Christianity," said Vance. "They don't actually believe in the Resurrection. They don't believe that Jesus died as an atonement for human sin. What they believe is that Christianity can possibly be a useful tool to acquire political power. So they strip your religion of all of its meaning, of all of its truth, and wear it as a skin suit — and they try to trick people into voting for them."
"That's what Talafreako is fundamentally engaged in," added Vance.
The vice president once again identified a silver lining: Whereas Talarico was previously proud of his theological, economic, and moral radicalism, now when "you turn on the TV ... you would think James Talarico is basically a Republican, maybe a moderate Republican — but you would have no idea if you're just a normal Texas voter watching his advertising who this guy is."
Although Talarico's election-time moderation could be read as naked opportunism and deceit, Vance suggested instead that it means "we've won the argument."
"When you've won the argument so thoroughly that the other side is pretending they agree with you on the issues just to get elected, the result is not the black pill," said the vice president.
"The reason I'm super optimistic about just the nature of the country long-term is we have won the argument. Woke is dead. The Democrats are literally running away from things that they said two years ago in an effort to gain political power. That's cynical. It's ridiculous. But the fact that we won the argument is a very good first step."
Talarico — who had a five-point lead over Paxton in a September Texas Public Opinion Research poll and was tied with Paxton in the new Republican-sponsored Stratus Intelligence poll — recently walked back his previous claims that there are six genders and that "God is nonbinary," as well as his support for male transvestites playing in girls' sports.
A lesbian chaplain at Talarico's church in Austin was recently shown in undercover footage claiming that while Talarico has publicly pivoted about God being "nonbinary," "he'll change his tune back to where he was" if elected.
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