McDonald's is putting its own briny twist on marathon weekend in Chicago.

The fast-food giant is handing out limited-edition bottles of "Pickle Boost" to runners and spectators during Chicago Marathon weekend, starting Oct. 9 and continuing through race day on Oct. 11.

McDonald's said the promotion is inspired by pickle juice's popularity among athletes who use it when muscle cramps strike during workouts.

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Runners can pick up the bottles at a Friday morning pop-up on Chicago's Lakefront Trail, then at five McDonald's locations along or near the marathon route on race day, while supplies last.

The promotion taps into a longstanding belief that pickle juice can help prevent muscle cramps, which science partially backs up.

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"Pickle juice may help relieve muscle cramps, but the research is mixed," said Jena Brown, RD, CSSD, a Texas-based sports dietitian and owner of Victorem Performance Nutrition, which works with endurance athletes.

One small study found that pickle juice appeared to help electrically induced cramps subside more quickly than water in dehydrated participants, said Brown, who is a longtime runner herself. But that research did not examine runners during an actual marathon, and another study found no benefit.

"Muscle cramps are not fully understood and are likely not induced by a singular cause for all runners," she said.

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Electrolyte losses may contribute to cramps in some athletes, but pickle juice's possible benefit may not be as simple as replacing sodium, Brown said. Another theory is that vinegar may stimulate receptors in the mouth and gut and affect signaling between the nervous system and muscles.

The evidence for that explanation is limited, and it should not turn pickle brine into a runner's primary race-day strategy, Brown said.

"Pickle brine is not a replacement for a hydration and fueling plan," Brown said.

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A typical sports drink supplies fluid and carbohydrates for energy, while a small sip of brine offers little fluid and no fuel, even though it contains electrolytes lost through sweat, she said.

Runners who have tried pickle brine in training may tolerate it well and believe it helps, Brown said. But she cautioned against debuting the sour, salty remedy on the day of the marathon.

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"I would not recommend trying pickle brine for the first time on race day," she said.

If a severe cramp hits and a runner opts to try it, Brown recommends taking small sips rather than chugging it and gently stretching the affected muscle. Runners who are sensitive to salty or acidic drinks should be especially careful, she added, particularly later in a race when heat, fatigue and stomach upset can become bigger concerns.

Fox News Digital reached out to McDonald's for further comment.

Theatergoers filed into the Cahn Auditorium at Northwestern University on Tuesday to see a play comprised of testimonies from those impacted by the 2023 Hamas attacks in Israel. As the attendees sat at the edge of their seats waiting to hear the fate of the people whose stories were told, a fire alarm went off, disrupting the evening.

Ann McElhinney, who co-wrote the play "OCTOBER 7" with her husband, Phelim McAleer, told Fox News Digital that many audience members initially remained seated, believing the alarms were part of the show.

"Initially, they thought it was part of the play because they heard these sirens going off, and the dialogue prior to that had been about sirens going off, rockets going off, the red alarm going off," McElhinney explained to Fox News Digital. "They were like 'Oh, this is part of the play,' until they realized it wasn't."

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After the theater had been evacuated and cleared by authorities, many people left, according to McElhinney, who told Fox News Digital that she believed that people were scared by the incident. However, she said others who chose to stay, feeling "defiant" and refusing "to be terrified by this."

McAleer noted that the performance ended with a standing ovation, which he believed was both a tribute to those who worked on the show and those who returned after the alarm went off.

"The standing ovation was for the actors, the standing ovation was for the director, the standing ovation was for the stories. But it's also, I think people were giving themselves a standing ovation that someone had tried to intimidate them, that someone had tried to say to them, 'You're not going to tell the truth. We don't want to hear the truth, we want to shut you up, we want to shut down, we want to frighten you and intimidate you.' And they didn't succeed," McAleer told Fox News Digital.

In response to Fox News Digital's request for comment, Northwestern Media Relations said in a statement, "At approximately 8:12 p.m., a fire alarm at Cahn Auditorium was activated, which caused the evacuation of the building. Upon a fire and police investigation, the building was determined safe, and guests invited back in. The event continued as planned and concluded at 9:45 p.m. The Northwestern University Police Department will continue their investigation."

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While the play was disrupted, McAleer and McElhinney said there were no protesters outside the venue at the start of the show. McAleer told Fox News Digital that while "people are perfectly entitled to protest outside the venue," what happened inside the theater was "more insidious."

The couple said they believe someone deliberately activated the fire alarm after sitting through much of the performance.

"This was someone, we believe, someone sat through the play and then came out at the most emotional time," McAleer told Fox News Digital.

"It's something very insidious that someone decided to disrupt this rather than even, by the way, have a protest, make their voice heard. But no, they decided they didn't want their — they did the sneaky, cowardly, insidious, nasty thing of setting off a fire alarm, causing huge fear and just absolute nervousness among the people who were there and caused this trauma on the anniversary of October 7th," McAleer added.

McAleer pointed out that while it was still Oct. 6 in Chicago where the play was held, it was already Oct. 7 in Israel when the fire alarm was activated.

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The spoken-word play is a collection of testimonies that McAleer and McElhinney compiled when they went to Israel shortly after the Oct. 7 attacks. McElhinney told Fox News Digital that the couple had been in Ireland as the attacks took place and were stunned to find that people were criticizing Israel's response the following day, seemingly overlooking the attacks themselves.

"We realized that if we didn't go and tell the story and do this work that, you know, it looks very much like nobody else was going to do that," McElhinney told Fox News Digital.

McAleer echoed a similar sentiment, saying that shortly after the attacks, they noticed that "everyone from journalists from the establishment, from university campuses — they all wanted to talk about the war in Gaza, but nobody wanted to talk about October 7th."

"Journalism is supposed to be the first rough draft of history. Nobody was writing that draft," he added.

The couple traveled to Israel — a place neither had visited before — rented a car and began trying to contact people willing to share their stories. McElhinney recalled that their hotel in Tel Aviv had a makeshift memorial for an employee who had been killed at the Nova music festival.

McAleer and McElhinney ultimately interviewed approximately 20 people, with testimony from 15 included in the play.

In addition to Northwestern University, the play, titled "OCTOBER 7," has been performed in New York City, Princeton, UCLA, Bowdoin College and the Kennedy Center. While the incident at Northwestern was noteworthy, it was not the first time the couple had to deal with security for their production.

McElhinney explained that during the play's New York City run, the production had a daily NYPD presence. She said she believed it was the only New York play in living memory to require police protection every day.

"That tells you something about free speech in New York City," McElhinney said. She pointed out that the play, which focuses on the experiences of Israelis, including Jewish survivors of the attacks, needed security while being performed in a city with a large Jewish population.

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Ultimately, McAleer said the incident at Northwestern revealed something about the state of American college campuses.

"American campuses are deeply strange, dangerous places at the moment for a Jewish person," he said. "You mean, you can't mourn your dead. You can't mark your anniversaries. You can't walk the campus without fear of being attacked or having your event disrupted."  

"You know you can have an event without massive and expensive security," McAleer added. "What does that say about the campus idea of freedom and free speech and free thought? Free thought is dead on American campus[es]. Free speech seems to be dead on the American campuses."

McAleer told Fox News Digital that the couple planned to file a police report about the incident and that "we hope that whoever did this feels a full force of the law because this cannot be allowed to stand."

One of President Donald Trump’s most prominent allies in Congress could soon become his highest-ranking defender against a barrage of Democrat-led investigations and impeachment threats.

Several House Republicans told Fox News Digital they expect the chamber will slide out of their control come November — and with it, a major shakeup in their top leadership ranks.

"I don’t see a scenario where everyone gets to keep their job," one House GOP lawmaker bluntly told Fox News Digital. "I think [Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.] would be first out, and then [House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La.] has got to decide if he’s going to run for leader and, can he beat [House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio]?"

Jordan’s name was one that came up often in Fox News Digital’s discussions with various House Republicans, all of whom spoke under the condition of anonymity to discuss internal conference matters.

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A second House Republican said Jordan is the "number one name" in talks of a GOP minority leader.

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The Ohio Republican already enjoys high name recognition among the party base. As the first lawmaker put it, "His celebrity status is very helpful … when Jim Jordan comes to town for you, you put 300 butts in seats."

That status has been on full display so far this election cycle. Jordan has spent much of August and October traveling across the country campaigning for fellow House Republicans along the political spectrum, from vulnerable moderates to conservative MAGA acolytes.

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It’s a far cry from the Jordan who ran for speaker in October 2023, when former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s ouster sparked a historic scramble to replace him. Jordan’s bid at the time was marked by fervent conservative support and fierce opposition from moderates, several of whom said they felt threatened by Jordan’s allies for their opposition.

The first House Republican described his current persona as "Jim Jordan 2.0."

"He's taken steps to, I think, build out way beyond the Freedom Caucus in terms of people that support him," that person said. "Like, he’s just a great citizen of the conference."

But Jordan himself has not publicly pushed any leadership ambitions since the 2023 battle, when Johnson ended up speaker after several weeks of political chaos. The second House Republican said they’ve seen Jordan actively dismiss any such conversations.

He told Punchbowl News earlier this week that he was "focused on winning" the House majority.

The first person said, "I think [Jordan] quietly, without campaigning for it, has built up some infrastructure like that. But also, he could be throwing darts at leadership, and he's not. He's just trying to help us win."

A third House Republican pointed out that, if Democrats win the House in another blue wave, many of Jordan’s most vocal opponents from 2023 will have lost their seats. And unlike a speaker race, where a majority of the full House is needed, a minority leader would only need to win a majority of the GOP conference.

"If we lose 20 or 30 of those guys and all you’re left are guys like me, I think Jim Jordan's chances are much higher. Because the only people left in the conference are going to be conservative," the third GOP lawmaker said, adding they would "1,000%" back Jordan.

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But a potential minority leader Jordan would not come without a fight. Most House Republicans are privately expecting Scalise, Johnson’s No. 2 and a member of House GOP leadership since 2014, to run for the job.

"It’s very obvious they’re both jockeying for it," a fourth House Republican told Fox News Digital. "Jordan’s a pretty big draw for a lot of folks. I think he might have a play there. But there’s a lot of people who are loyal to Steve, especially those that have been around a while."

A fifth GOP lawmaker said, "I would guess, at this point, that Scalise would be in the lead with Jordan running a close second."

"And I think it would just depend on, you know, who would people see as a better fighter against the Democrats?" the fifth person posed.

A sixth House Republican allied with Scalise said a fight between the Louisiana Republican and Jordan seemed on the horizon if Republicans lost, and argued his decision would be based on who is best positioned to continue leading if that majority comes back.

"In some respects, Jim Jordan, I think, would make a pretty good minority leader because he's a bulldog … [but] I've never believed that Jim Jordan would be an effective speaker," that sixth person said. "I think Steve Scalise probably is the best candidate that we have out there that has experience in dealing with the administration, that understands the must-pass portion of our agenda … and is our best negotiator."

It would likely be a bruising battle, given there’s no love lost between the two men after their competing bids for speaker after McCarthy’s ouster. Scalise had won a majority of Republicans in a head-to-head against Jordan behind closed doors but failed to clinch the necessary majority on the House floor.

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But it’s not clear if it may even come to that.

"I think that if Johnson runs for minority leader, he would still get the votes," the fifth person said. "He's done everything you could ask of a leader. He's raised the money, he's been on the road. He's cobbled together very difficult votes over the last two years that no one thought possible."

There is also a world where Republicans defy expectations to keep the House. And in that world, Johnson is all but guaranteed to remain in charge.

"Speaker Mike Johnson is an example of the American Dream. As Speaker, he's continued to defy the odds with a slim House majority and pass America First-bills," Trump’s campaign posted on X. "After Republicans win in November, they should re-elect Mike as Speaker quickly!"

If the polls prove correct, however, most people are expecting Johnson to willingly step aside.

"I don't think he's going to want to be minority leader after being the Speaker of the House, like, that doesn't make any sense to me," the fourth House Republican said.

The third GOP lawmaker was more blunt: "Johnson’s done."

Johnson himself dismissed any talk of leadership races in an interview with Fox News Digital last month.

"I really haven't given it a moment's thought because we're laser focused," he said when asked if he would seek to be minority leader. "This is a midterm unlike any other, and I'm convinced we are going to defy history and keep and grow this majority."

If Johnson’s prediction does not pan out, one member of leadership is expected to have a good shot at staying in his place: House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn.

Emmer has been privately telling House Republicans that he intends to run for the whip job again no matter what, multiple people told Fox News Digital, avoiding a possible collision course with Jordan and Scalise.

"I think it was a brilliant move, saying, ‘You know what? I'm not going to do anything but try to keep my own spot,’" the first House GOP lawmaker said. "I think Tom's got pretty wide respect, and most of the handwringing from people was, ‘I don't want to have to pick between Tom and Jim.’"

The fifth person said, "It's my understanding that Emmer is, if there is a race, going to be happy being the No. 2."

But nothing is a sure thing in an environment where multiple House Republicans have said they are expecting a "bloodbath" in the midterms.

Three GOP lawmakers told Fox News Digital they expect Democrats to win between 20 and 25 seats — with Republicans’ redistricting efforts sparing them from an even more devastating loss.

A solid defeat, several House Republicans warned, could have people clamoring for a full leadership shakeup.

The second House Republican said the entire leadership team could be "wiped out" in that situation.

"It strikes me that there wouldn’t be a high likelihood of everybody just being OK with the status quo," the first person said.

In that case, there is another name people see waiting in the wings for a potential leadership bid: Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger, R-Texas.

"I keep hearing rumors but have not heard that directly," a seventh House Republican said. "My guess is that he is preparing to make a run in case the opportunity presents itself, but he’s being tactically quiet."

The second House Republican said they heard his name second only to Jordan in terms of frequency.

"When I was a candidate, I had no idea who he was, but he called me and gave money to my campaign," the first lawmaker said. "He’s very ambitious, but I don’t know what he’s aiming those ambitions towards."

Several people speculated that he could run for the No. 2 job as whip if Emmer opted to step aside or was forced to.

The fourth House Republican said they could see a world where Pfluger runs to be chairman of the House GOP campaign arm, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC).

"I think that he's positioned himself very well to be able to be in some sort of leadership position. I think it just depends on what that looks like," that person said.

But there is one thing Republican lawmakers seem to largely agree on: November is not looking good.

"Everyone that I have talked to across the country is seeing the same numbers that I'm seeing. So if you're in anything less than an R+6, I think you're at risk," the third House Republican said.

The first person said, "There seems to be a lot of panic buttons being pushed."

The Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023, involved more than 6,000 Hamas and related military operatives. The massive damage inflicted by these demons caused a countersurge of angels released by God. There were miraculous recoveries and narrow escapes in the wake of these attacks, as well as good-versus-evil events that continue to this day.

On September 30, 2026, Flydubai Flight FZ1073 (note the coincidence — three years after 10/7) was nearly destroyed by evil as co-pilot Hamam al Hamami, a reported radical extremist, repeatedly attacked the pilot, only to be sidelined himself by several passengers, including a plumber, a dentist (who saved the pilot’s life by treating his wounds) and two off-duty pilots who happened to be on board. The angels of Flight FZ1073 saved not only the pilot but the plane and its passengers. They are messengers from God.

Miracles are often an accumulation of meaningful coincidences guided by messengers. In my new book, "The Angels Among Us," I tell the story of an Israeli medic named Shlomi who, a few weeks before October 7, 2023, gets a question wrong on a paramedic test about the application of combat gauze to a high thigh wound. 

He studies his mistake until he becomes an expert on combat gauze. On January 11, 2024, the 55th Paratroopers Brigade is planning an incursion into Gaza in search of hostages. It is the 99th day of the war. Bezalel is an intelligence officer, drawing up a map with a photograph and a number on each building to help plan rescue operations. "I make a mistake in the number on one of the buildings. I give it the wrong number on the map in terms of the order… One officer peers at the sheet particularly closely. I have no idea at the moment about the role he will play in my survival."

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The officer figures out the right number for the building, and Bezalel corrects it on the map. "This particular building remains etched in his mind." Shlomi is supposed to go on vacation but has a premonition and stays with his troop, the 55th Paratroopers Brigade.

The next day, they conduct an infantry raid on the city of Khan Yunis in Gaza. Bezalel is inside a building, and as he passes near a window, an explosive is detonated outside. "There is shrapnel in my left leg, up at the beginning of the leg, and it damages the biggest blood vessel in my leg, the femoral artery, and there is no way to stop the blood, no tourniquet can help."

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Shlomi happens to be only five meters away from Bezalel. He successfully applies the combat gauze to save Bezalel’s life. He succeeds because he got the test question wrong and memorized the correct answer. The building they are in is the one that Bezalel mislabeled on the map of the area. The officer who comes to rescue Bezalel in the Humvee is the same one who corrected the number on the map. As a result, he gets there in time to save Bezalel’s life.

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Bezalel is taken by helicopter to Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, where a team of highly trained surgeons operates on his artery. Afterward, he fights for his life in the ICU, followed by a long rehab process. Bezalel encounters God’s messengers every step of the way.

Many other miracles have taken place in Gaza since the start of the October 7 war. I have discovered countless examples of physical and psychological recovery among severely wounded soldiers and civilians in hospitals in Israel, thanks to courage combined with advanced medical care. Perhaps most striking is the story of one soldier who reportedly had a bullet stopped by a book of Psalms he was carrying in his vest.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM DR MARC SIEGEL

FIRST ON FOX: Democrats' largest campaign fundraising platform says it has strengthened its donor verification standards days after House GOP investigators accused it of potentially taking in foreign donations for U.S. campaigns, according to a new letter obtained by Fox News Digital.

Attorneys for ActBlue sent a letter to the House of Representatives on Monday announcing it is launching a new "passport verification program" as part of its "ongoing investment in the security of contributions processed from donors located abroad."

House Republicans have for years accused ActBlue of having insufficient verification standards for weeding out illegitimate campaign donations.

The platform has long been used by a myriad of Democrats to raise money for their political campaigns, including Democratic leaders in the House and Senate. ActBlue said it paused donations from Americans abroad in 2025, however. 

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ActBlue has consistently denied wrongdoing in responses to Fox News Digital and communications to House investigators. Ten top figures within the company, including executives and founders, have pleaded the Fifth Amendment to avoid answering questions in both public and private sitdowns with GOP-led committees.

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But a new report released earlier this month, first reported by Fox News Digital, appears to show employees green-lighting donations despite some questions about where they came from.

Chief among the GOP's concerns is ActBlue's passport number verification. According to the report, the field only required the correct number of characters for a U.S. passport number rather than a valid code for a donation to be accepted.

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But the Monday letter said ActBlue's new program "adds passport-based identity verification as a further enhancement to ActBlue’s multi-layered approach to fraud and foreign-contribution prevention."

"In doing so, it also enables U.S. citizens located abroad—who have been unable to contribute on the ActBlue platform since 2025—to resume participating in the political process by supporting the candidates and causes of their choice," the letter said. "The new program uses the best available technology to allow eligible donors located abroad to verify their identity using a valid U.S. passport. It reflects substantial engineering investments by ActBlue to ensure that, as it resumes processing contributions from foreign addresses, its compliance systems can withstand scrutiny."

Committee on House Administration Chairman Bryan Steil, R-Wis., said it amounted to a confession.

"This decision to implement a NEW passport verification program only confirms what we've been saying: ActBlue failed to verify the citizenship of individuals who made donations from abroad. That's unacceptable," Steil told Fox News Digital. "This new policy should have been in place on day one. Right now, far too many questions remain unanswered, including what percentage of the billions of dollars that have flowed through ActBlue came from illegal foreign sources. Chairman Jordan, Chairman Comer, and I will continue to seek answers for the American people."

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The probe is being co-led by his panel as well as House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky.

A spokesperson for Jordan told Fox News Digital, "This action confirms that the platform's fraud prevention measures were not as robust as [ActBlue CEO Regina Wallace-Jones] told Congress. We will continue to demand answers."

The GOP's earlier report cited a letter by Wallace-Jones to Steil, which maintained that donations on the platform made by people with addresses outside the U.S. required a passport number for verification.

But the Republicans' report alleged that the verification "only ensures that the entered passport number contains a certain number of characters, not that it is a valid U.S. passport number," rendering it an essentially meaningless step.

ActBlue told Fox News Digital in response to the report at the time, "There’s nothing to see here. After we released findings of a third-party forensic analysis that completely undermined a central claim that they have made against ActBlue, Republicans are refusing to move on."

"Instead, they are orchestrating another political stunt before rushing out of town weeks early to go campaign. This coordinated campaign against ActBlue isn’t about the facts, or legislating, it’s about Republicans’ efforts to silence organizations they believe threaten their agenda," the platform said.

A spokesperson for ActBlue pointed Fox News Digital to a blog post announcing the update when reached for comment.

"In 2025, amid unprecedented attacks from President Trump and his allies, our organization took the proactive step of temporarily suspending all contributions from outside the United States," the statement said. "ActBlue has now further enhanced its verification process to allow eligible Americans with a U.S. Passport who are located abroad to participate through the platform while maintaining the robust security and compliance standards that donors, campaign, and the public expect." 

It also said ActBlue "accurately described" its vetting process to Congress.

For most of my life, basketball has been at the center of everything I do.

I played 11 seasons in the NBA. I competed against some of the greatest athletes in the world. I know what it takes to reach the highest level of the game—the years of training, the sacrifices, the injuries.

But I didn’t become the player I was in front of thousands of people under the bright lights of an NBA arena.

I became that player in the hours no one saw.

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It happened in empty gyms, one practice at a time. One more shot. One more drill. One more day of showing up and doing the work. The moments that eventually looked big to everyone else were built on thousands of small ones that hardly anyone noticed.

I’ve come to believe courage works the same way.

We tend to notice courage in the big moments—the speech, the protest, the public stand, the moment someone refuses to back down. But courage is usually built long before anyone is watching.

It is built every time you decide that fear will not make your decisions for you.

I learned that lesson long before I understood how important it would become in my life.

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I grew up in Turkey. When I was a boy, some kids in my neighborhood once handed me an American flag and a lighter and told me to burn it.

I didn't understand why I was supposed to hate a country I had never seen or people I had never met. So I went home and asked my mother what I should do.

She gave me advice I have never forgotten: "Don't hate anyone before you meet them."

It was a small moment.

But small moments have a way of shaping a life.

Years later, I came to the United States to play basketball. I remember hearing one of my teammates openly criticize the president of the United States. I was shocked. I thought he was crazy.

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Where I came from, criticizing the person in power could carry severe consequences. Here, my teammate laughed and explained something that Americans grow up knowing: This is America. You are allowed to disagree with your government. You are allowed to criticize your leaders. You are allowed to speak.

That freedom fascinated me. But eventually, it would still wind up costing me a lot.

As my basketball career grew, so did my platform. And I began using it to speak about human rights abuses in Turkey and to criticize President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's government. Of course I could have stayed quiet, and that would have been much easier and safer. It was a small moment, but I knew it could have an impact. So I spoke.

And it was then that I saw the power of one person speaking up. The Turkish government revoked my passport. Arrest warrants were issued for me. My father was imprisoned. My family suffered because of my decisions. I narrowly escaped attempts to detain me abroad. Eventually, the Turkish government placed a $500,000 bounty on my head.

Speaking up cost me and those I loved enormously. But once you understand what it means to be free, silence comes with a cost of its own.

Later, I began speaking out about the Chinese Communist Party and its treatment of Uyghurs, Tibetans, Hong Kongers, and others. I wore shoes onto NBA courts carrying messages the Chinese government did not want displayed.

Again, I knew there could be consequences.

Again, I spoke anyway.

Again, there was a cost.

That’s why, when I finally became an American citizen, I chose a new last name: Freedom.

I didn't choose it because freedom is an abstract idea to me. I chose it because I know what life looks like when it disappears.

Freedom is the ability to ask a question powerful people would rather not answer. It is the right to challenge institutions. It is the right to say something unpopular without surrendering your dignity or your voice.

Freedom comes with costs too. This country has seen the cost at which freedom was obtained. And we still see the cost of keeping it. But freedom only survives when we accept that cost and continue to exercise it.

That lesson has stayed with me far beyond basketball, Turkey, or China. Because once you have decided that some principles are worth defending despite enormous consequences, you cannot suddenly decide that other difficult questions are better left alone because people might criticize you.

That is why I am speaking now about women’s sports.

I spent most of my life competing at the highest levels of basketball. I know what athletes sacrifice for a chance to compete. I know what it means to dedicate years of your life to becoming a fraction of a second faster, a little stronger, a little better.

And I believe women and girls deserve to know that the opportunities they are working toward will be protected.

At the heart of this debate is a biological reality: Men and women are different, and those differences matter in competitive sports.

Saying that has become controversial, but I don't believe it should be.

Every person deserves dignity and respect. That principle matters deeply to me. I have spent years speaking for people around the world whose basic human dignity has been denied.

But respecting every human being does not require us to pretend that biological differences do not exist.

We should be capable of doing both.

We can treat people with compassion and still ask difficult questions. We can disagree without hatred. We can protect the dignity of every individual while protecting fair competition for female athletes.

And we should be able to have that conversation openly, because I have learned something over the years about controversial issues: The moment people become afraid to ask the question is often the moment when asking it matters most.

Female athletes should not have to worry that defending their own sports will cost them teammates, endorsements, playing time, or their reputations. Coaches shouldn't have to whisper what they believe behind closed doors. Parents shouldn't be afraid to ask whether the rules governing their daughters' competitions are fair.

Whatever our disagreements, those conversations should be possible in a free country.

I know what it feels like when they aren't. There is a reason I carry the word "Freedom" everywhere I go.

Freedom isn't just something written into a constitution or celebrated once a year. It is something we practice. We practice it when the crowd is cheering. We practice it when people are criticizing us. And perhaps most importantly, we practice it when standing alone would be easier than speaking up.

Somewhere today, a little girl is standing in an empty gym working on her jump shot. She's putting in one more practice. One more drill. One more shot.

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Nobody is watching. But those quiet hours could someday become something extraordinary. I know, because mine did.

She deserves the freedom to chase that dream. She deserves a fair opportunity to see how far her work can take her. And she deserves adults who are willing to have difficult conversations today about how we protect that opportunity tomorrow.

Big change rarely begins with a big moment. It begins when someone decides to speak. Then someone else does. And someone else.

Until one day, the thing that once required courage simply becomes common sense.

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"It is not something that has been put to rest," said Nicole Parker, a Fox News contributor and former FBI special agent.

She addressed a case that has captivated America and has people asking, "Where is Lynette Hooker?"

It's been six months since the 55-year-old Michigan mother vanished while on a sailing vacation with her husband in the Bahamas.

LYNETTE HOOKER MISSING IN BAHAMAS: TIMELINE OF MICHIGAN WOMAN’S DISAPPEARANCE, HUSBAND’S ARREST

No one has seen nor heard from Hooker since April 4.

According to her husband, Brian, she "went overboard" from a dinghy in Hope Town after the couple went out for drinks that evening. They were making their way back to their sailboat "Soulmate," he told investigators.

HUSBAND OF MISSING AMERICAN WOMAN RETURNS TO US AFTER BAHAMAS JAIL RELEASE, SOURCE SAYS

He was initially detained, questioned and then released by Bahamian authorities. He has not been charged with any crime or accused of wrongdoing.

"Just because the public doesn’t exactly see what’s happening, doesn’t mean that it’s not happening behind the scenes," Parker said.

INVESTIGATORS TO COMB BRIAN AND LYNETTE HOOKER’S SAILBOAT AND NEW SEARCH ZONE IN BAHAMAS DISAPPEARANCE

The U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service continues to actively investigate the case; the agency seized "Soulmate" in May.

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They also sent a team of divers to search for any trace of Lynette at the beginning of June. Agents returned to the U.S. with the Hookers' dinghy that was sent to a forensics lab for testing.

WATCH: COAST GUARD VIDEO REVEALS SEIZURE OF BRIAN HOOKER'S SAILBOAT AFTER WIFE'S BAHAMAS DISAPPEARANCE

"Certain pieces of evidence were sent to the FBI lab and to Quantico for investigation, for them to analyze it, and that takes time," Parker said.

She went on to say, "They're trying to reconstruct a potential crime scene that occurred in the waters."

FEDS COULD BRING CHARGES IN BAHAMAS DISAPPEARANCE CASE WITHOUT EVER FINDING BODY, EXPERT SAYS

Parker was the FBI's Crimes on the High Seas Coordinator and said she knows firsthand how frustrating the slow-moving investigative process can be.

"There were times when even I myself as an investigator, I wanted things to move more quickly. I wanted results, I want it to happen, but these types of cases, they do take time," she said.

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Lynette's mother, Darlene Hamlett, came forward in July and said publicly she believes her daughter made it back to "Soulmate" before she vanished.

"She made it back to the boat, and there was foul play," Hamlett told Fox News Digital. She did not elaborate on how she reached that conclusion but said she has been limited by the Coast Guard in what she can publicly discuss.

BRIAN HOOKER’S STEPMOM WANTS TO HELP INVESTIGATORS AS SHE SUSPECTS HE ‘LIED ABOUT EVERYTHING’: REPORTS

"Remember, there was no one else on the water with them," Parker said.

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She said the limited release of information "doesn't mean that there isn't work going on behind the scenes," she said.

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As the search for any clues in Lynette's case continues, Parker said investigators are working around the clock.

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"They're doing everything that they can to bring answers. At the end of the day, that's what Lynette deserves."

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Brian appears to be living a peaceful and quiet life staying at his mother's home in Citrus Heights, California – northeast of Sacramento.

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Fox News Digital spotted Hooker walking dogs, chatting with neighbors, making trips to a local pharmacy, and even collecting neighbors' trash items up and down the street.

LYNETTE HOOKER’S HUSBAND BRIAN RUMMAGES THROUGH TRASH ON CALIFORNIA STREETS MONTHS AFTER WIFE’S DISAPPEARANCE

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He has not made any recent public statements about his wife's disappearance.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Brian Hooker's attorney for comment. The FBI and Coast Guard declined to comment.