North Carolina Lawmakers Override Governor’s Veto on DEI Bans

Jose Nino
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North Carolina Lawmakers Override Governor’s Veto on DEI Bans

(José Niño, Headline USA) North Carolina legislators rejected Gov. Josh Stein’s attempts to block three measures eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion programs from public education and state government, the College Fix reported.

The Republican-controlled legislature successfully overrode vetoes on House Bill 171, Senate Bill 227, and Senate Bill 558. The Goldwater Institute noted that “each of the bills—House Bill 171, Senate Bill 227, and Senate Bill 558—contains provisions … intended to end DEI initiatives, offices, and mandatory coursework in government and higher education.” Senate Bill 227 and Senate Bill 558 have now become law.

Senate Bill 558 forbids public colleges from engaging in discriminatory practices, requiring DEI coursework, forcing anyone to affirm belief in divisive concepts, or operating DEI offices and staff positions.

The legislation specifies “divisive concepts” as ideas including “that one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex” and “that an individual, solely by virtue of his or her race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive” and “that the United States was created by members of a particular race or sex for the purpose of oppressing members of another race or sex.”

Public colleges also cannot report or investigate constitutionally protected speech under the new law, “including satire and speech labeled as a microaggression.”

Senate Bill 227 extends these prohibitions to elementary and secondary schools. Governor Stein condemned Republican lawmakers for “stoking the culture wars that divide us rather than fulfilling their long-overdue responsibility of passing a budget.”

Democratic Rep. Amos Quick attacked the legislation as “anti-American.” He asked “How can one be anti-diversity in a proudly diverse society, a society made up of people who are diverse in their ability, ethnicity, gender, age, race?”

House majority leader Representative Brenden Jones defended the measures. “No child should be told that they’re inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, guilty, or morally defined because of their race or sex,” he stated. “That is not censorship, that’s common sense.”

The Goldwater Institute praised the legislation. Director of Higher Education Tim Minella wrote that “DEI cloaks its radical and discriminatory aims with feel-good buzzwords. The ideology behind DEI divides American society into ‘oppressors’ and ‘oppressed’—with both groups defined by identity categories such as race, ethnicity, and sex.”

Multiple states enacted comparable restrictions following President Donald Trump’s federal prohibition on DEI practices. Kansas university officials recently adopted policies limiting diversity programming.

However, a Manhattan Institute study discovered that diversity requirements persist at universities across nearly twelve states that already passed anti-DEI legislation, suggesting enforcement remains inconsistent.

José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino

Lawsuit Filed for Records on Jan. 6 Provocateur Ray Epps

Ken Silva
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Lawsuit Filed for Records on Jan. 6 Provocateur Ray Epps

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) During the Biden years, Kash Patel accused Jan. 6 provocateur Ray Epps of being a federal asset. Referring to the fact that Epps was taken off the FBI’s Most Wanted list in early 2021, Patel said there was only two ways someone could get off that list—either they died or they’re working for the government.

Now that he’s FBI director, Patel has gone silent on Epps. But a New Jersey investigative journalist is trying to force disclosure with a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed Friday in federal court.

In his lawsuit, the journalist, Yehuda Miller, said he filed a request in April 2025 for all communications and directivesrelating to the removal of Epps from the FBI’s wanted list, as well as all communications between the FBI and Epps from Jan. 1, 2020, through Jan. 1, 2025.

Miller filed his lawsuit after the FBI denied him those records on privacy grounds. Miller urged a judge to force the FBI to produce the documents on Epps.

“The public interest in understanding whether the FBI maintained a confidential informant or undercover relationship with Ray Epps, the circumstances of his disparate treatment relative to other January 6 participants, and the FBI’s internal communications and directives relating to his removal from the wanted list substantially outweighs any privacy interest Ray Epps may assert,” his lawsuit says.

“The current FBI Director’s own public statements confirm the significance of this public interest.”

According to FBI records, agents had “photographic/and or video evidence that James Ray Epps conspired to and/or recruited others to storm the United States Capitol Building.”

However, a July 29, 2021, FBI report said that its “investigation did not reveal sufficient evidence that Epps … engaged in acts of violence or committed any other criminal violations.” That’s despite the fact that video had already surfaced showing him pushing a sign into a group of police officers, and that Epps had admitted to trespassing on Capitol grounds.

The Justice Department apparently reopened the Epps case after Rep. Thomas Massie, Revolver News and other conservatives began to question whether he was being protected by government. The DOJ eventually slapped him with a lone misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct, and he received one year of probation in January 2024.

Last October, Massie wrote to the DOJ, also seeking records on Epps. Massie sought all internal communications between FBI Headquarters and its Phoenix field office, which initially investigated Epps. He also sought all communications between the FBI and DOJ about him.

Additionally, Massie wanted to know whether the DOJ or any of its components, including the FBI, had any communication with Epps prior to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Hill protest. Such communications might indicate whether Epps was working for the government at the time.

However, there’s no public indication that the DOJ ever responded to Massie’s letter.

Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.

Attorney Accused of Submitting THOUSANDS of Fraudulent Visa Applications

Headline USA Editor
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Attorney Accused of Submitting THOUSANDS of Fraudulent Visa Applications

(Headline USA) An attorney in Washington state promised “miracles” to tens of thousands of immigrants seeking legal status in the United States.

Instead, Alexandra Lozano created fake stories of domestic abuse and human trafficking to apply for humanitarian visas without her clients’ knowledge, according to several lawsuits and a legal ethics investigation. They say she preyed on immigrants’ desperation to drain their bank accounts while leaving them at risk of deportation.

She is accused hiring workers who didn’t have proper legal credentials and building an assembly-line system to rush through applications, even copying clients’ signatures onto documents they never saw.

“I put the trust of my family with her,” 30-year-old Gabriel Martinez Garcia said. After they paid $30,000, he said Lozano duped his family and got his mother placed in removal proceedings despite her marriage to a naturalized U.S. citizen. “We believed in her and then she just let us down.”

Lozano’s firm, Luz del Camino Legal, closed this month amid a barrage of allegations. She permanently surrendered her law license rather than face discipline from the bar association, and denies wrongdoing.

While federal data shows immigration service scams are rising sharply, Lozano’s alleged scheme stands out for its scale. The bar says her signature is on more than 53,000 pending cases.

It’s unclear how many cases were fraudulent or to what extent her clients were complicit. The ones suing her say they had no idea.

The consequences of her downfall are hitting the immigration system “like a tidal wave,” said Erika Gonzalez, an attorney with the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking.

The Trump administration last year started overhauling the humanitarian programs Lozano allegedly exploited, claiming a surge in applications since 2020 was a sign of widespread fraud. The administration tightened the programs’ restrictions and slowed processing rates, which advocacy groups say will hurt legitimate victims.

The visas are meant for people who were trafficked or abused

Lozano specialized in getting visas through the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 and the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, which covers all genders.

These programs seek to protect victims from having their immigration status weaponized by abusers. Evidence standards are more flexible, making the system more accessible to victims. But it’s also easier for an unscrupulous firm to exploit, immigration attorneys say.

Lozano’s firm probed clients for issues at home or work, then spun them as abuse cases that didn’t meet the threshold for these humanitarian programs, according to attorneys representing dozens of her old clients.

Although clients quickly secured work permits, they often faced trouble years later when seeking permanent residency and their claims faced greater scrutiny.

Lozano denies mass immigration fraud

Angelo Calfo, an attorney representing Lozano, said clients were expected to review their applications before signing and blamed them for any false statements.

“Alexandra’s practice has always been to fight for her clients, zealously pursue every lawful option available to them, and support their efforts to build lives in this country,” his statement said.

The bar accused Lozano of fraud in May and her firm shut down June 10. She’s being investigated by the fraud unit of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, according to emails obtained by The Associated Press. The Department of Homeland Security, which runs the immigration agency, declined to comment.

At least 920 immigration service scams were reported in 2025, which is more than the first three years of the Biden administration combined, according to Federal Trade Commission data analyzed by the AP. Experts say that’s probably an undercount, given immigrants’ reluctance to come forward.

Clients say foreign workers, not US-licensed lawyers, handled cases

Lozano is accused of enlisting hundreds of employees in Colombia, Mexico and Argentina to provide legal advice to clients and handle visa applications. That would mean clients never got consultations from a U.S.-licensed attorney.

“Alexandra was telling us to please invent more information about the abuse because it is not real abuse,” said Rafael Alvarez, who worked for Lozano from 2022 to 2024 in Colombia. “There were a lot of cases that were not true.”

Lozano’s former chief operating officer, Amy Rios, testified in 2024 that the firm earned $1.7 million teaching other law firms its legal strategies for humanitarian visas and “changed the way many attorneys now approach immigration law.”

Recent lawsuits accuse at least two other firms in Texas and Ohio of replicating Lozano’s tactics, which they deny.

Immigrants say they didn’t know about the lies

Erika Sanchez and her husband entered the U.S. unlawfully. Multiple lawyers told them there was no way to adjust their status from within the country.

But Lozano promised a successful outcome after just one consultation in 2020, according to a lawsuit the couple filed in May alongside seven other former clients.

The couple trusted the firm when it asked for their signatures on blank paper, Sanchez said, and lived on a tight budget to pay Lozano more than $32,000.

“We truly did believe that she was doing the right thing,” Sanchez said.

She added that they never saw the application submitted by the firm for her husband, which they later learned contained false claims that his teenage daughter abused him. He is now in removal proceedings.

Some former clients say they didn’t discover the alleged fraud for years. Nora Murillo Moreno said the firm told her about the fake abuse claims on the day before her green card interview. She panicked.

“Should I say what really happened, or what is written?” Murillo Moreno said. “I knew things didn’t match.”

Trump administration says a surge in visas indicates ‘rampant fraud’

Attorneys suing Lozano say her rise parallels an exponential increase in visa applications for trafficking and domestic abuse cases.

Domestic abuse claims more than tripled between the 2020 and 2025 fiscal years, from nearly 15,000 applications to upward of 53,000 per year, according to immigration agency data. There were also nearly twelve times as many applications from parents alleging their child abused them.

During that same period, human trafficking claims jumped from around 1,000 applications to more than 37,000.

In December, the immigration agency said it would overhaul its domestic violence visa program due to “rampant fraud” based on the increase in filings, without offering other evidence. The changes include narrowing definitions of abuse and giving greater weight to evidence supplied by alleged abusers.

Cecelia Levin, an attorney with the nonprofit Alliance for Immigrant Survivors, said making these visas harder for actual abuse victims isn’t the answer. Instead, the Trump administration should focus on enforcing the law against attorneys running scams, she said.

An earlier ethics complaint was dismissed

Immigration attorneys say Lozano’s social media was filled with red flags, like claiming the Virgin Mary blessed all her cases.

In 2023, the Washington bar said it had concerns about Lozano’s law practice but dismissed an ethics complaint against her on the grounds that she was protected by disclaimers, according to a document obtained by the AP. The complaint alleged deceptive advertising and other misconduct.

Sara Niegowski, a spokesperson for the bar, said it blocked Lozano from practicing law “as quickly as possible.”

Lozano’s ex-clients are in a legal mess

Former clients are now scrambling to get their case files from the defunct firm. Hundreds showed up for recent consultations with volunteer attorneys in Washington and Oregon.

Many applied to join a lawsuit seeking financial compensation for legal malpractice. Another class action lawsuit aims to recoup their attorney fees.

Vicente Omar Barraza, an attorney behind the malpractice lawsuit, said hundreds of former clients told him they still don’t know what Lozano’s firm wrote in their applications. He’s worried many people lost viable pathways to legal status.

Garcia Martinez, who says his mother is in removal proceedings because Lozano mishandled her case, lives every day in fear that she will be deported.

“I’m just praying really, really, really hard for her,” Garcia Martinez said. “None of this should have happened.”

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Tina Peters Says She Has Remorse, Just Not the Kind Dems Want

Luis Cornelio
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Tina Peters Says She Has Remorse, Just Not the Kind Dems Want

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Tina Peters’ critics have long accused her of showing no remorse for the actions that led to her criminal prosecution. On Thursday, Peters pushed back, saying she does feel remorse but for the lack of accountability in the case.

Peters made the remarks during an interview with podcast host Joe Oltmann on Untamed, where she addressed criticism of her release from prison.

“Especially with this remorse thing, I’ll bring that up again. Oh, you know, ‘Polis shouldn’t let her out because she shows no remorse.’ No, I do show remorse. The remorse is that people that should be in prison are not. That’s my remorse,” Peters said.

Peters, who served as the Mesa County clerk and recorder until January 2023, faced a 2022 indictment secured by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser on charges stemming from a 2021 security breach.

Peters maintained that she was conducting an investigation that uncovered security failures in Colorado’s election systems, including claims of potential manipulation, deleted audit logs and tampering. She specifically focused on systems created by Dominion Voting Systems.

Subsequent investigations claimed that Peters’s findings were the product of human errors. No one has been charged with wrongdoing in connection with her allegations.

Peters, a 70-year-old grandmother, was later sentenced to eight years in prison over the security breach.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, later commuted Peters’s sentence, citing a Colorado Court of Appeals ruling that found major errors in the sentencing process.

Critics continue to refer to Peters’s post-release comments as justification for returning her to prison, though the appellate court found that her political beliefs were unlawfully weighted in sentencing.

 

Would-Be Pelosi Successor Harassed by His Own Political Flank

Luis Cornelio
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Would-Be Pelosi Successor Harassed by His Own Political Flank

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) One of the candidates seeking to replace retiring Rep. Nancy Pelosi had what critics described as a taste of his own medicine after being confronted twice by anti-Israeli activists in San Francisco this week.

California Sen. Scott Wiener, an openly gay and Jewish politician, has shifted further left on Israel in recent months, going as far as accusing the Jewish state of committing genocide in Gaza. But for leftist activists, Wiener’s shift was too little, too late.

Wiener was first targeted on Wednesday while inside a San Francisco bar, when a man walked in and began yelling at Wiener over his support for Israel. As seen in the now-viral video, Wiener remained seated and appeared stunned by the verbal heckling.

“Hey, bro. Hey, you gotta get the f*** out of my neighborhood, bro. It’s Free Palestine, you already know what it is,” the man is heard saying while pointing his camera at Wiener.

“We ain’t for the genocide. You think you gonna come to my neighborhood, bro? You f***ed up. You f***ed up. It’s gonna be a problem,” the man added.

The confrontation lasted more than three minutes until the bar’s staff removed the individual. He reportedly remained outside, where he shouted Wiener’s name and banged on windows.

Wiener encountered the same kind of scene on Friday at a transgender pride-related event in the city.

A video circulating online shows attendees shouting at and cursing him. At one point, one of the protesters called him a “piece of s**t.”

The footage features Wiener wearing a gray long-sleeve shirt and sweater as he attempted to walk through the crowd while activists surrounded him. They accused Wiener of backing a “genocide in Gaza.”

The commotion forced Wiener to leave the event, which he said he has attended since 2004.

The San Francisco Democrat condemned the incidents as harassment in a statement posted on his social media accounts. He said:

“I have no objection whatsoever to anyone disagreeing with me, opposing me, or protesting me. All of that is core to democracy. I also have no issue when people talk to me on the street and ask questions or express opposition. That’s democracy, even when the people engaging in this conduct misrepresent my views.

“But when opposition and disagreement transition to harassment, including cornering me, touching me, or trying to physically bully me out of a public event, that crosses a line.  We’re living in a time when violence is all too often threatened or used against people in public life. In San Francisco, we’re better than that.”

Some conservative critics had little sympathy for Wiener, arguing that the violent environment he now faces has been fueled by his staunch support for transgender policies and anti-Israel causes.

Wiener changed his views on Israel as he ran in the primary for California’s 11th congressional district. He is now facing Connie Chan, Pelosi’s endorsed candidate, in the general election.

Daughters of American Revolution Slammed for Voting to Admit Trannies

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Daughters of American Revolution Slammed for Voting to Admit Trannies

(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) The very organization once tasked with preserving America’s founding principles and memorializing the legacy of its founding fathers has reportedly gone woke.

The Daughters of the American Revolution was founded in 1890, during the tumultuous transitionary period between the Civil War and the Industrial Age, with the goal of promoting historic preservation, education and patriotism.

But some critics suggest it may have lost hold of those principles after losing a vote, by a ratio of 3:2, to allow in members who may be biological males.

“How destructive for DAR that it is marginalizing ACTUAL daughters of the revolution in favor of men who assert they are women,” wrote Mollie Hemingway, editor of The Federalist. “Institutionally catastrophic.”

Refuting a claim from X user “Isabel Ringing,” Hemingway cited firsthand accounts from DAR members that the vote was 981 to make membership based on chromosomes and 1,474 to make it based on state-issued birth certificates, which may be easily altered, depending on the state.

The DAR concluded its weeklong Continental Congress on Sunday. The heated internal debate also seemed to have spilled over to a Facebook page, ostensibly set up to discuss restoration efforts.

Some of those defending their vote to oppose a tranny ban defended it by saying the group had nothing to gain from wading into the issue of gender identity.

“While admitting men with amended birth certificates is still a violation of the bylaws, I do believe the will of the assembly was heard today,” DAR member Laura McDonald told the Washington Times. “We don’t know what the future holds or what God’s plan is, but we do know He has a plan and we trust Him.”

Ben Sellers is a freelance writer and former editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/realbensellers.

Axios: US and Iran Agree To Stop Striking Each Other

Headline USA Editor
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Axios: US and Iran Agree To Stop Striking Each Other

(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) Axios reported on Sunday that the US and Iran have agreed to stop striking each other after several days of attacks across the Strait of Hormuz and that the two sides will meet for talks in Doha this Tuesday.

So far, the story hasn’t been confirmed by the Iranian side, and an Iranian official said earlier in the day that Tehran had not participated in technical talks with Washington scheduled for Sunday over the attacks and the US’s failure to fulfill its commitments under the US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding.

“For example, one of the reasons is checking if we have access to the unfrozen funds, if there is no access then this condition has not been fulfilled,” said Mehdi Fazaeili, a member of the office of Iran’s supreme leader.

Photo released by US Central Command on June 25, 2026, showing US fighter jets flying over the Middle East

US officials told Axios reporter Barak Ravid that the talks on Tuesday were initially supposed to take place in Switzerland and focus on Iran’s nuclear program, but they’ve been moved to Qatar and will now focus on the dispute over the Strait of Hormuz. The report said that Nick Stewart, who recently joined US envoy Steve Witkoff’s team, will participate in the talks.

Stewart came from the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, an ultra-hawkish pro-Israel think tank that has been pushing for war with Iran for many years. According to Axios, Stewart, who has previously denounced the idea of negotiating with Iran, is leading the US technical team, which doesn’t bode well for the prospects of a long-term deal between the US and Iran.

The attacks over the past few days mark the first major flare-up since the US-Iran MoU was announced. After talks with Iranian officials in Switzerland, Vice President JD Vance said Iran had agreed to establish a direct military line with the US to manage tensions, but according to an Axios report, it is not yet operational.

This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.

UC Boulder Students Honor Man Who Napalmed Elderly Jewish Woman

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UC Boulder Students Honor Man Who Napalmed Elderly Jewish Woman

(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) The trend of left-wing extremists hijacking liberal institutions to push support for anti-Semitism and violence recently spilled into the political sphere with the election of communist and pro-Hamas candidates in California and New York.

But an ultra-liberal Colorado town may prove a cautionary tale for how it will end: with de-facto state-sanctioned terrorism.

The University of Colorado Boulder recently condemned an unofficial campus group, Students for Justice in Palestine, for celebrating the one-year anniversary of a June 1 firebombing at Boulder’s Pearl Street pedestrian mall that killed an elderly Jewish woman.

“Glorification of violence is abhorrent and does not reflect the University of Colorado Boulder’s values,” it said in a strongly worded statement. “We denounce antisemitism and violence in all forms, and prohibit discrimination and harassment on the basis of protected class.”

Mohamed Sabry Soliman used Molotov cocktails and an improvised flamethrower to target a group of Jewish demonstrators, resulting in fatal injuries to 82-year-old Karen Sorin Diamond, who died 24 days later.

Soliman pled guilty to 101 charges, including 67 violent crimes, and was convicted last month. He is serving life in prison without possibility of parole, plus an extra 2,176 years for good measure, KGNU reported.

Shortly after his sentencing, the SJP group at UC Boulder released a statement of solidarity on its website that called for Soliman’s release, as well as advocating for the abolishment of ICE and urging fellow extremists to “continue the struggle” with additional acts of terrorism.

“The state would have us believe that Mohamed took the action he did because he is insane — a fanatic, a terrorist, guilty of a hate crime — but we know the truth and we reject the state’s inversion of it,” the SJP statement said.

“Mohamed chose the only sane response available to a rational human being confronted with the normalization of genocide,” it continued. “He refused the comfortable position of the grateful immigrant and the role of the obedient subject, choosing confrontation with a violent system over passive proximity to the comfort of empire.”

In addition to SJP’s insistence that the act was entirely rational, the statement lamented the injustice heaped upon Soliman with eight consecutive life sentences.

“We honor a man who sacrificed his comfort and his proximity to empire, willingly expending his own liberty in attaining his objective,” it said.

Finally, the group sought to invalidate the U.S. judicial system—or any other measure of accountability outside of the Muslim legal code.

“[T]he Palestinian Resistance stands as the sole legitimate authority capable of delivering accountability for the genocidal actions of the Zionist entity,” it said.

In addition to UC Boulder officials’ condemnation, Democrat District Attorney Michael Dougherty rebuked it with a sharply worded statement of his own, insisting that the verdict and sentencing were reasonable.

“I join in the many rational voices condemning their statement as heartless and vile,” Dougherty said. “Thankfully, the law does not justify or excuse a person setting other human beings on fire in an effort to kill them.”

Rep. Brittany Pettersen, D-Colo., also issued a sharply worded post via social media.

“This behavior is a disgrace and should be denounced by every Coloradan and American,” she wrote. “This is not who we are.”

Despite the group’s apparent gripes with the justice system, SJP activists haven’t been shy about using the courts in the past for their own benefit.

In 2024, two of the group’s UC Boulder members, Max Inman and Mari Rosenfeld, were barred from campus events after disrupting a campus job fair.

The students sued, claiming that their First and 14th Amendment rights (free speech and due process) had been violated.

In March, U.S. District Judge Philip A. Brimmer, a George W. Bush appointee, partially dismissed the plaintiffs’ claims against the school, citing administrators’ qualified immunity, but kept open the possibility that some of the students’ claims may be brought again.

The case ultimately was rendered moot in May, when Holly Nelson, UC Boulder’s deputy dean of students overseeing student conduct and conflict resolution, determined that the students “did not materially and substantially disrupt the career fair.”

Ben Sellers is a freelance writer and former editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/realbensellers.

Hooters Has Closed Every Location in Four Blue States

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Hooters Has Closed Every Location in Four Blue States

(Ben Sellers, Headline USA-) Iconic chicken-wing chain Hooters may be throwing in the towel on its 35-year struggle to stay politically incorrect.

While some restaurants, like Cracker Barrel, have successfully fought off the takeover of corporate wokeness, Hooters recently announced the closure of its last New York location, the New York Post reported.

“Thanks for the mammaries,” the paper wrote in a nod to the buxom waitresses who became a prominent marketing gimmick and, ultimately, a business model for the franchise.

In addition to shuttering its holdout location in Colonie, N.Y., just outside Albany, Hooters also recently closed its final three Massachusetts locations in Dedham, Saugus and West Springfield.

And in March it said goodbye to its final locations in Connecticut and Minnesota, the latter of which was located in the Mall of America.

Technically, it was not the prescriptive mandates of virtue-signaling womynists that drove the chain under, but rather a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing last year.

It cited inflation and other issues as the reason for sagging sales.

However, after closing around 40 company-owned restaurants, the final nail in the coffin may have been a “family friendly” rebranding, with the company focused on retaining its beach-bar motif—along with more modest server outfits, the Post reported.

“I don’t think you’re going to see a bunch of butt cheeks hanging out,” said Neil Kiefer, the 73-year-old lawyer who took control of the brand after its default, according to the Wall Street Journal.

For decades, Hooters fought off outside attempts to rein in its “delightfully tacky” image, including a four-year fight with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over its refusal to hire men as servers.

In a 1997 case, the restaurant argued that it was safeguarding women’s rights under Title VII by designating womanhood a Bona Fide Occupational Qualification, meaning it was a necessity to the operation of the business. (Hooters made no such distinction for its chefs and kitchen staff, who disproportionately were men.)

As the Obama era gave way to #MeToo grievances, the restaurant continued to weather a barrage of complaints including allegations of sexual harassment and objectification of women.

“It is time women spoke up and were not browbeaten into accepting places such as Hooters so they are not seen as prudish,” said former Cardiff University lecturer Gill Boden in a 2010 BBC article. “Places such as this all contribute to the current climate where men see women’s bodies as available objects.”

In the Biden era, as identity politics blossomed into a giant turd, the restaurant not only fell victim to financial issues like pandemic restrictions, supply-chain shortages and increased poultry costs, but also new threats from cancel culture.

In 2023, Hooters was sued by Taria Daughtridge, a dark-skinned waitress at a North Carolina branch who claimed white and light-toned servers received preferential treatment.

In 2024 came the inevitable lawsuit attempt by a biologically male transgender individual, going by the name “Brandy Livingston,” who was banned from Hooters as a man for making lewd comments but went on to sue the restaurant for discrimination after undergoing a gender transition.

Ben Sellers is a freelance writer and former editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/realbensellers.

US Marine Missing Off the Coast of California

Headline USA Editor
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US Marine Missing Off the Coast of California

(Headline USA) Multiple agencies continued to search Sunday for a U.S. Marine who went missing during a training exercise off the coast of southern California, military officials said.

Crews began searching for the Marine early Thursday morning, shortly after midnight, according to a Navy news release. The Marine was reported missing from the USS Anchorage during integrated training between the Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group and the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit.

It’s at least the second time in six weeks that the U.S. military has been forced to look for missing members. The remains of the second of two U.S. Army soldiers who went missing during military exercises in Morocco were recovered in May, the Army said, ending a multinational search operation that deployed air, naval and artificial intelligence assets.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and all who are affected during this difficult time,” the Navy said in the news release this week about the missing Marine.

The Navy transitioned from search-and-rescue efforts to a search-and-recovery operation Friday evening. The Marine’s name was being withheld pending the notification of family.

The search has covered about 2,400 square miles and involved three surface ships and 12 aircraft from the Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Air Force, officials said.

The USS Anchorage is an amphibious transport dock ship based at Naval Base San Diego.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

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