National Headlines

Planned Parenthood has publicly distanced itself from a controversial anti-Trump billboard in New York City’s Times Square after an athletic clothing company cited the organization as a partner in its new ad campaign.

On Wednesday, the brand, Dhvani, unveiled the first in a series of images meant to protest the Trump administration’s “gag rule” prohibiting doctors at Title X-funded clinics from referring patients for abortions. The rule prompted Planned Parenthood to pull out of the federal grant program in August.

The billboard ad, called “Lady Liberty,” showed model Michal Mesa, whom Dhvani described in a news release as a Marine Corps veteran and a middle school teacher, standing over a screaming President Trump with her foot on his head. He is tied up, and storm clouds gather over the White House.

“We are proud to join Planned Parenthood in defending women from assaults on our reproductive rights,” Dhvani’s chief communications officer, Chloe Mason, said. “Trump administration policies are threatening the health and bodily autonomy of women, especially women of color, low-income women and LGBTQ women.”

CONTROVERSIAL DHVANI BILLBOARD IN TIMES SQUARE SHOWS TRUMP HOGTIED

However, in a statement to Fox News, Planned Parenthood rejected the campaign and said it would not accept any funds Dhvani vowed to contribute to the organization.

“Planned Parenthood does not endorse this campaign, nor will we be accepting funds raised by this campaign,” Planned Parenthood senior vice president Melanie Newman said. “Our staff members have faced threats and acts of violence for doing their jobs, and many of our patients turn to us as their safe space for care after facing violence in their lives. We do not condone violence or violent imagery against anyone.”

Following Planned Parenthood’s denouncement of the campaign, all references to the organization appeared to have been scrubbed from Dhvani’s website.

Dhvani also provided a statement to Fox News, stressing the company “does not and will never condone violence of any kind” but that it will “push forward” to fight for reproductive rights.”

“Our goal with Lady Liberty is two-fold; one, sell lots of activewear so we can make a massive donation and make a difference directly. Two, bring a lot of attention to this President’s war on women’s reproductive rights,” Dhvani CEO Avi Brown said. “The images we produced for this campaign artistically express the frustrations we believe many American women share, and are metaphorical in nature only. DHVANI does not and will never condone violence of any kind.”

“We’re going to push forward and raise as much money as we can for health care providers and fight the Title X gag rule with all we’ve got.”

As part of its #StandForSomething campaign, the Portland, Ore., company has other images of the president that are just as shocking, including one in which he sits on a golden toilet as a model takes away his cellphone.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

According to Dhvani’s mission, as described on its website, the company is “committed to creating change in the world” and partners with nonprofit organizations.

A Texas longhorn named Bucklehead broke the world record for the longest horn span at a showcase this month, according to a report.

The 6-year-old longhorn from Rocksprings, Texas, measured 11 feet, 1.8 inches from tip to tip of his horns at the Horn Showcase in Oklahoma on Oct. 4-5, unofficially breaking the Guinness World Record.

The previous record was 10 feet, 7.4 inches set by an Alabama longhorn named Poncho Via, according to the San Angelo Standard-Times.

SCOTTISH FARMERS LOSE DAMAGES CLAIM AFTER NEIGHBOR’S BULL IMPREGNATED THEIR COW

Bucklehead’s owners have submitted paperwork so the new record can be deemed official and the longhorn’s mark can appear in the 2020 edition of the record book.

Marceala Gonzalez, 14, Bucklehead’s owner, won the longhorn five and a half years ago at a drawing where five breeders were donating steers. She got to pick whichever one she wanted and chose baby Bucklehead. Her brother, Leandro, is the longhorn’s handler and exhibitor.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Pauline Gonzalez, the mother of Marceala and Leandro, said the family transports Bucklehead to each show by loading him into an 8.5-foot wide trailer and taping tennis balls to the ends of his horns to protect them. The longhorn participates in about 12-15 shows per year.

An Indiana woman was found guilty Friday of reckless homicide after plowing her pickup truck into four children, killing three, as they crossed a two-lane highway to board a school bus.

Alyssa Shepherd, 24, was convicted of criminal recklessness for an Oct. 30, 2018, crash in which she claimed not to be aware she was passing a school bus and crashed into the children, killing twin brothers Xzavier and Mason Ingle, 6, and their 9-year-old sister Alivia Stahl. Maverik Lowe, 11, was critically injured. Shepherd will be sentenced Dec. 18 and could face more than 20 years in prison.

SISTERS REUNITED AFTER 75 YEARS THANKS TO ONLINE DNA TEST

Shepherd told the courtroom she remembered seeing blinking lights and a large vehicle, but did not realize the vehicle was a bus and did not see the red stop sign on the side of the bus, reiterating claims she had made at the time of her arrest. She described emotions including disbelief and hysteria upon realizing she had hit the children.

“The only way I can describe it is an out-of-body experience,” Shepherd said. “I was a mess.”

Fulton County Prosecutor Michael Marrs said the bus stop had been in place for 50 years and no child had been killed there before. Marrs also mentioned the testimony of the driver behind Shepherd who said she could tell a school bus with its warning lights on and stop arm extended was up ahead.

WOMAN PLEADS GUILTY TO HOMICIDE AFTER FATALLY BOTCHING SILICONE BUTT INJECTION

“The thing that makes me sick here is that this never should have happened,” Marrs said.

The crash led to statewide changes in traffic laws for which the three victims’ families heavily advocated. A bill that Gov. Eric Holcomb signed into law July 1 extended penalties of up to a year in jail and up to a $5,000 fine for passing a school bus with a stop arm out.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“I don’t want to see another parent have to endure what Brittany, Shane and myself have endured,” Michael Stahl, whose 9-year-old daughter Alivia was killed, told Fox 59 of Indianapolis in February.

NEW YORK — DJ LeMahieu drove Justin Verlander’s second pitch over the wall, then Aaron Hicks sent the fans at Yankee Stadium into a frenzy with a three-run homer off the foul pole later in the first inning.

And just like that, the Bronx Bombers were back — in the game, and in this matchup of powerhouses.

After a brutal loss, and with little margin for more errors, the New York Yankees played like a 103-win team. James Paxton chilled Houston’s bats and the bullpen followed with shutdown relief to beat the Astros 4-1 Friday night, cutting their AL Championship Series deficit to 3-2.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE MLB POSTSEASON COVERAGE

Now the teams will rush to Texas, where the series resumes Saturday night without a day off. With pitching plans disrupted by a rainout earlier this week, both teams are expected to go all-bullpen in Game 6. But Gerrit Cole, 19-0 since May, looms as the Astros’ starter on Sunday if New York manages to extend the matchup to the seven-game limit.

Paxton, a fishing aficionado born outside Vancouver in Ladner, British Columbia, wore three-quarter-length sleeves on a night with a gametime temperature of 52 degrees. That was the coldest for a Verlander start since last year’s ALCS opener at Boston — he had on long sleeves and half of Houston’s fielders had hoodies or balaclavas.

After lasting just 2 1/3 innings in Game 2, Paxton struck out nine in six innings, allowing four hits and four walks. Punching his pitching hand into his glove after big strikeouts, he saved his biggest emotion for his 112th and final pitch: a flyout by Yordan Álvarez that Brett Gardner caught in front of the left-field scoreboard with a runner on.

Zack Britton retired Michael Brantley and Alex Bregman to escape trouble after Houston put on two runners in the seventh against Tommy Kahnle, then struck out two in a perfect eighth.

Aroldis Chapman finished with a 1-2-3 ninth.

Paxton outpitched Verlander, an eight-time All-Star and former AL MVP and Cy Young Award winner. Verlander allowed a pair of first-inning homers for the first time in 28 postseason starts and gave up four runs in an inning for the first time since Houston acquired him from Detroit in August 2017.

Verlander retired 10 in a row after Hicks’ homer and wound up allowing five hits in seven innings with nine strikeouts and no walks.

A night after the Yankees made four errors in one of their messier games of the season during an 8-3 loss, Paxton fell behind after 14 pitches. George Springer reached on an infield hit, took second on Gary Sánchez’s passed ball, advanced on a groundout and scored when Paxton bounced a breaking ball off Sánchez’s glove for a wild pitch.

New York came out swinging against Verlander, who had been 4-0 with a 1.85 ERA against the Yankees in seven postseason starts.

LeMahieu fouled off a pitch, then drove a fastball 355 feet to left for New York’s first leadoff homer since Derek Jeter in 2009 ALCS against the Angels.

Aaron Judge singled and Gleyber Torres doubled. Verlander struck out Giancarlo Stanton, who went 0 for 3 without two strikeouts after missing three games with a strained right quadriceps.

Hicks, sidelined for more than two months by a right elbow injury before returning for the ALCS, fell behind 0-2, took three straight balls and sent a chest-high slider down the right-field line. He turned and watched the ball, took a half-dozen slow steps toward first and started jogging after it clanked off the pole for his first home run since July 24.

New York had never hit a pair of first-inning homers in 404 previous postseason games. Verlander could only crouch on the infield grass as Hicks circled the bases.

Hicks ended a stretch of 15 straight hitless at-bats for the Yankees with runners in scoring position. New York has relied on the long ball, scoring 12 of its 17 runs against the Astros on seven homers.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

FIRSTS

This was the 1,609th postseason game in major league history, and the first in which both teams scored in the first inning and neither scored in the rest of the game

SABATHIA

CC Sabathia dislocated his left shoulder while pitching in Game 4 and was replaced on the Yankees active roster by RHP Ben Heller. That ended the 19-season career of the 39-year-old left-hander, who is retiring. He was given a large ovation when shown on the video board in the sixth and waved to fans from the dugout.

When Donald Trump was running for president, he campaigned on ending endless wars and bringing members of the American military home. Last week he ordered the few special operations forces on the Syria-Turkey border to withdraw and has drawn heavily criticism from the Washington bubble for “abandoning our allies” – the Kurds.

A Republican leader has described this as “catastrophic” and at least one long-time member of Congress has said he is no longer on the “Trump train.”

One ought not to minimize the contribution to defeating ISIS made by a segment of the Kurds. To our military, these fighters were comrades in arms. However, the geopolitical landscape has changed, and President Trump is implementing a policy that hopefully will produce a more stable Middle East.

TURKEY-SYRIA CEASE-FIRE IS ‘NOT A SUCCESS,’ REPUBLICAN LAWMAKER SAY

If my colleagues wish to continue prosecuting the congressionally unsanctioned war in northern Syria, they can introduce a resolution that authorizes military force. They can then make their case that our involvement there is due to an articulable national security interest.

Trump’s withdrawal will result in predictable outcomes, including saving U.S. lives. Turkey wishes to gain a portion of northern Syria in order to place Sunni Muslims in that area.

The PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party, the Marxist branch of the Kurds) and Turks have deep-rooted animosity. The PKK has declared war on Turkey and carried out terrorist attacks in that country. Our own State Department deems the PKK a terrorist organization.

An offshoot of the PKK, the YPG (People’s Protection Units), is the ostensible mercenary partner enlisted by the U.S. against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

However, the Turks are concerned about U.S. cooperation with the YPG because they don’t see any separation between the PKK and YPG. In fact, it has been reported that a high-ranking State Department official admitted just this week that the YPG is the Syrian offshoot of the PKK.

All of this is incredibly complex. President Trump has offered to mediate between Turkey and YPG but has been predictably rebuffed by Turkey.

Meanwhile, Russia wants to defend Syria’s preexisting borders. It views Damascus as an ally. Kurds of many different political persuasions have begun to partner with Syria –and its ally Russia – but they will increasingly face a new Sunni Turkish buffer in the north. This buffer, by extension, will also complicate Shiite Iran’s perennial desire to influence Syrian affairs.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR OPINION NEWSLETTER

The Trump strategy will likely simplify the balance of power in the entirety of Syria, thereby increasing the chance of stability. In any event, the morass that has existed there for centuries – felt more acutely these recent decades – will not get worse.

Additionally, there is little chance that Russian influence will increase as U.S. efforts wind down in Syria: this great power will never risk antagonizing Israel, and it will continue to have its hands full keeping Syria and Iran in line while watching what Turkey will do next.

Trump’s strategy has the potential for success because it forces regionally interested parties to balance against each other. Any good foreign policy realist will tell you that there is more chance for lasting peace when parties balance their interests against their adversaries.

Frankly, a realist approach – long neglected in Washington – is far more likely to bring geopolitical peace and stability than our decades-long liberal approach.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The loudest voices we hear from Washington advocate for the status quo. But how long is the United States supposed to protect the PKK from the Turks? Is it to be, as one former Republican presidential candidate said, maybe 100 years?  And who are the Kurds in Syria, after all? They are a people without a nation or state, nor are they unified.

President Trump’s congressional critics have the option of passing a resolution on the use of force if they insist on further U.S. intervention in northern Syria. If we do not begin bringing home our troops now from Syria, when will Trump’s critics acquiesce to end our intervention there or anywhere else?

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE BY REP. ANDY BIGGS

Rep. Matt Gaetz is a Republican representing Florida.

Former Green Party candidate Jill Stein pushed back against Hillary Clinton after the failed 2016 presidential candidate called her a “Russian asset” this week.

In a new interview, Clinton appeared to float a conspiracy theory that the Russians are “grooming” Hawaii congresswoman and Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard to be a third-party candidate in 2020.

“I’m not making any predictions, but I think they’ve got their eye on somebody who is currently in the Democratic primary and are grooming her to be the third-party candidate,” Clinton said, an apparent reference to Gabbard. “She’s the favorite of the Russians. They have a bunch of sites and bots and other ways of supporting her so far.”

She then accused Stein, who ran against her and Donald Trump in 2016, of also being an asset of Russia: “That’s assuming Jill Stein will give it up, which she might not because she’s also a Russian asset. I mean — totally.”

GABBARD DARES CLINTON TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT IN 2020, FIGHTS BACK AGAINST ASSERTIONS THAT SHE’S A RUSSIAN ASSET 

Stein shot back on Friday, challenging Clinton to a one-on-one debate.

“In light of the latest slanderous allegations from @HillaryClinton, I challenge her to a debate. It’s past time to give the American people the real debate they deserved in 2016, but were denied by the phony DNC/RNC-controlled Commission on Presidential Debates,” Stein wrote in a series of tweets. “It’s a shame HRC is peddling conspiracy theories to justify her failure instead of reflecting on real reasons Dems lost in 2016. You can slander progressives as ‘Russian assets,’ but you can’t hide the fact that the DNC sabotaged Sanders & elevated Trump to set the stage for HRC.”

She continued: “HRC’s rant is Exhibit A for how the establishment is using the new Cold War to crack down on dissent & feed the war machine. Instead of addressing the crises working people face, they’re painting progressives as the enemy. It’s as if they’re trying to lose to Trump again.”

Gabbard also had a fiery response to Clinton and dared the former Secretary of State to enter the 2020 race.

“Great! Thank you @HillaryClinton. You, the queen of warmongers, embodiment of corruption, and personification of the rot that has sickened the Democratic Party for so long, have finally come out from behind the curtain,” Gabbard wrote in a three-part tweet on Friday. “From the day I announced my candidacy, there has been a concerted campaign to destroy my reputation.”

“We wondered who was behind it and why,” Gabbard continued in her tweeted answer to Clinton. “Now we know — it was always you, through your proxies and powerful allies in the corporate media and war machine, afraid of the threat I pose. It’s now clear that this primary is between you and me.

“Don’t cowardly hide behind your proxies. Join the race directly” she said in a taunt squarely aimed at Dems’ 2016 standard-bearer.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

.

Fox News’ Alex Pappas and Vadana Rambaran contributed to this report.

Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, fired back at Hillary Clinton’s comments on a podcast in which she claimed there is a current primary contender who is an “asset of the Russians.”

On “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” host Tucker Carlson said a news reporter later asked Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill if the former secretary of state was referring to Gabbard.

Carlson said Merrill responded with the comment, “If the nesting doll fits, this is not some outlandish claim, this is reality.”

The former secretary of state is targeting her because she opposes Clinton’s foreign policy platform, the Hawaii lawmaker said.

Gabbard told Carlson that Clinton and her “proxies” are sending a message not only to her but to veterans, active service members and Americans who are against foreign interventionism.

“They are saying that you are also a Russian asset — that you are also a traitor to this country,” Gabbard said. “The reason why she is doing this is because, ultimately she knows that she can’t control me — that I stand against everything that she represents, and that if I’m elected president, that she won’t be able to control me.”

Gabbard dared Clinton to run for president in 2020, fighting back against assertions that she is a Russian asset

GABBARD DARES CLINTON TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT IN 2020, FIGHTS BACK AGAINST ASSERTIONS THAT SHE IS A RUSSIAN ASSET

“This is about Hillary Clinton sending a very strong message saying that because I am — and have long been — calling for an end to our country’s foreign policy of waging one regime change war after the next,” she said, listing military conflicts in Iraq, Libya and Syria.

She claimed Clinton was essentially accusing her of being “a Russian asset and a traitor to the nation that I love.”

Clinton did not mention Gabbard specifically by name when she was on former President Obama aide David Plouffe’s “Campaign HQ” podcast, though Plouffe ended the podcast by noting Clinton’s “belief that Tulsi Gabbard is going to be a third-party candidate propped up by Trump and the Russians.”

“She is the favorite of the Russians. They have a bunch of sites and bots and other ways of supporting her so far,” Clinton said to Plouffe during the interview. She also claimed 2016 Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein is “also a Russian asset.”

GREG GUTFELD ON HILLARY CLINTON ACCUSING TULSI GABBARD OF BEING A RUSSIAN ASSET: ‘TULSI IS A GRADE A BADA–‘

Gabbard responded to Clinton via Twitter.

“Thank you, Hillary Clinton. You, the queen of warmongers, embodiment of corruption, and personification of the rot that has sickened the Democratic Party for so long, have finally come out from behind the curtain. … It’s now clear that this primary is between you and me. Don’t cowardly hide behind your proxies. Join the race directly,” she said.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The Hawaii lawmaker also claimed Clinton has been targeting her since the moment she launched her 2020 candidacy.

She said Clinton is responsible for military casualties in the Iraq War, which she supported as a U.S. Senator from New York.

“Their blood is on her hands,” Gabbard said.

Fox News’ Alex Pappas contributed to this report.

Forecasters are predicting that despite high winds, surging seas and heavy rain along the Gulf Coast, Tropical Storm Nester is not expected to morph into a hurricane, much to the relief of states in the storm’s path that were more than 75 percent devastated by Hurricane Michael just last year.

The National Hurricane Center predicted that conditions along the coast late Friday into early Saturday are expected to deteriorate as Nestor makes landfall around the coast of Mexico Beach on Saturday morning without strengthening into a hurricane.

WET WEEKEND: TROPICAL STORM WARNINGS FOR US GULF COAST

Florida officials said they activated the state’s emergency operations center at its lowest level and are not bracing for life-threatening or devastating damage. Even heavy rainfall — which is expected to be 2 to 4 inches from the central Gulf Coast to the eastern Carolinas, and up to 6 inches in some spots — will be a welcome change for areas suffering from a severe drought.

“We’ve done very little preparation only because there’s nothing really to prepare for,” Mexico City Beach Mayor Al Cathey said, according to reports by The Associated Press. “We haven’t seen any alarm at all.”

Forecasters said that as of 4 p.m. ET Friday, the storm was about 150 miles south-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River, or about 280 miles southwest of Panama City, Fla. It had top sustained winds of 60 mph and was moving to the northeast at 22 mph.

A tropical storm warning is in effect from Navarre, Fla., to Yankeetown, Fla. A storm surge warning is in effect for Indian Pass to Clearwater Beach in the state.

Conditions in parts of Alabama, Georgia and northern Florida, reaching into the Carolinas and Virginia, may include blustery winds and heavy rain through Sunday.

The Coast Guard predicted dangerous rip currents and sea levels that could rise to 20 feet around Panama City, a bustling tourist beach destination at this time of year.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

Nester also impeded attempts by officials to use explosives to topple the damaged construction cranes that remain unstable after the Hard Rock Hotel in New Orleans partially collapsed last week, causing them to delay the efforts until after the storm.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

After less than a year of dating, Jim Carrey and Ginger Gonzaga are throwing in the towel, according to several reports.

Per Us Weekly and E! News, the breakup happened earlier this year.

The duo made their red carpet debut at the Golden Globes Nominations celebration in January.

JIM CARREY CLEARED IN THE DEATH OF EX-GIRLFRIEND CATHRIONA WHITE

Gonzaga, 35, would later post a photo from that day with the caption, “Most partial to this talented nominee #goldenglobes.”

Carrey, 57, was nominated for his role in “Kidding.”

JIM CARREY NOVEL ‘MEMOIRS AND MISINFORMATION’ SLATED FOR MAY RELEASE

Carrey and Gonzaga first worked together on “I’m Dying Up Here,” which Carrey produced and Gonzaga played a recurring role in. They would work together again on “Kidding,” starring Carrey and Gonzaga again in a recurring role.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The actor was previously married to actress Melissa Womer from 1987 to 1995, per Us Weekly. He married his “Dumb and Dumber” co-star Lauren Holly in 1996 but they called it quits after one year of marriage.

Following a five-year relationship with Jenny McCarthy, Carrey dated makeup artist Cathriona White in 2012. She died in September 2015 from a prescription drug overdose, the outlet reported.

A rep for Carrey did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.

After being gifted a life-sized pillow of her husband Mark Consuelos, television host Kelly Ripa joked that it’s missing the “best part.”

A fan gave Ripa the pillow during the Thursday taping of her show “Live with Kelly and Ryan.”

“I have the real thing at home,” Ripa told Seacrest during Thursday’s episode.

“He is in the dressing room, yeah,” Ripa said of her pillow. “I didn’t need the pillow. When you have the real thing, who needs [it]? Because the pillow is just the top half of him.”

“The lower half is missing, and that’s my favorite half,” she admitted of her hubby.

KELLY RIPA TEASES SHE’D NEED A ‘PLASTIC SURGEON’ TO MATCH HUSBAND MARK CONSUELOS’ TONED PHYSIQUE

Ripa and Consuelos, 48, have been married for 23 years after meeting on the set of “All My Children.”

They tied the knot in Las Vegas in 1996.

The power couple has three children: Michael, 22; Lola, 18, and Joaquin, 16.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP