Republicans call on Mayorkas to reinstate COVID-era border policy amid tuberculosis ‘surge’
FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, led some of his Republican colleagues in calling for Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to reinstate a COVID-19 era border policy due to rising tuberculosis cases in the U.S. “Due to your negligence and refusal to enforce our current laws, tuberculosis (TB) is rapidly spreading through the millions of unscreened illegal immigrants released into the interior of the United States, putting American lives and health at severe risk,” Lee wrote in a letter sent to Mayorkas Wednesday, which was also signed by senators Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., and Roger Marshall, R-Kan. HOW GOP, DEM SENATORS ARE USING 2024 CAMPAIGN TRAIL TO LOBBY FOR CONFERENCE INFLUENCE The senators requested that he close the border, detain and deport “inadmissable” immigrants, reinstate the Trump-era Remain in Mexico policy and bring back Title 42, which gave authority to turn away illegal immigrants due to the risk of communicable diseases. The Biden administration lifted the policy last year despite bipartisan pleading against him doing so. “The Biden-Harris administration’s destruction of America’s southern border has resulted in violent crime, human trafficking, drug smuggling and now a surge in a disease that was declining for nearly three decades before they took power. Secretary Mayorkas must answer for his part in this failure,” Lee told Fox News Digital in a statement. TOP REPUBLICANS PROBE BIDEN ADMIN ON AFGHAN NATIONALS’ ALLEGED ELECTION DAY TERRORIST PLOT He noted that tuberculosis has risen steadily in recent years despite being on the decline for decades. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there were 9,615 cases of the disease in 2023, a 16% increase from 2022. “Despite this increasing human health risk, you have turned what was once border security into a rubber-stamp for any individual seeking access to the interior,” the Republicans told Mayorkas. HARRIS BREAKS SILENCE AFTER GOP LEADERS SAY ANTI-TRUMP RHETORIC ‘RISKS INVITING’ ANOTHER ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT “Rather than requiring immigrants to apply for status prior to arriving at the border and undergo health screenings, your policies encourage immigrants to unlawfully enter the interior with no meaningful processing, screening, or security analysis.” The senators pointed out that some of the most frequently encountered nationalities by Border Patrol are from countries that have higher rates of tuberculosis than the U.S. But the rise in cases is not confined to immigrants entering illegally, the letter said. Lee emphasized that the CDC reported increases in tuberculosis “among all age groups and among both U.S.-born and non-U.S.-born persons.” SEN TAMMY BALDWIN HITS BACK AT GOP OPPONENT’S CLINTON COMPARISON: ‘ACTUALLY CALLED YOU DEPLORABLE’ “There can be no doubt that your administration’s failure to enforce the law is the cause for the dramatic and dangerous rise of TB in the U.S,” the senators continued. The lawmakers asked Mayorkas to respond to several questions, including whether the DHS recognizes a correlation between the influx of migrants from countries with higher rates of tuberculosis and the rising rate in the U.S. The letter further asked him if the department was taking steps to mitigate the spread of the disease and if it considers the rise in tuberculosis a public health crisis. DHS did not immediately provide comment to Fox News Digital.
Harris-Trump showdown: Vice President keeps her distance from Biden in final stretch
President Biden returns to the campaign trail this weekend with stops in the biggest of the battleground states, his native Pennsylvania. The White House confirmed the president will campaign on behalf of Vice President Kamala Harris and down-ballot Democrats when he makes stops Friday in Philadelphia and Saturday in Scranton, where the 81-year-old Biden was born and spent his early childhood years. But Harris, who with four days until Election Day remains locked in a tight showdown with former President Trump in the race to succeed Biden in the White House, won’t be joining her boss on the campaign trail. HEAD HERE FOR FOX NEWS UPDATES FROM THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN TRAIL The vice president has kept her distance from Biden, who, according to polls, remains deeply unpopular with Americans, and her campaign quietly views him as a liability. And that was before the president made two glaring remarks the past two weeks that quickly went viral. While Harris has noted the policy successes of the Biden/Harris administration the past four years while campaigning, she’s emphasized that she’ll be an agent of change in the White House. HARRIS TAKES AIM AT TRUMP, SPELLS OUT AGENDA, IN CLOSING ARGUMENT IN FRONT OF A MASSIVE CROWD Giving her closing address Tuesday night at the Ellipse, just yards from the White House, where the president was huddled, Harris emphasized, “I have been honored to serve as Joe Biden’s vice president, but I will bring my own experiences and ideas to the Oval Office.” It’s been nearly two months since the one-time running mates teamed up on the campaign trail. You have to go back to Labor Day, when they joined forces at a union event in Pittsburgh. The 81-year-old Biden was replaced by Harris atop the Democrats’ 2024 ticket in July after ending his own bid amid a rising chorus of calls for him to drop out following a disastrous debate performance against Trump. Biden told reporters two months ago he would be “on the road from there on” campaigning on behalf of his vice president. It hasn’t happened. And while former Democratic presidents Obama and Clinton have crisscrossed the campaign trail in recent weeks on behalf of Harris, Biden’s efforts have been more limited and less publicized. WHAT THE MOST RECENT FOX NEWS POLLS SHOW IN THE HARRIS-TRUMP SHOWDOWN While Biden hasn’t done many campaign events, he has made official trips with political overtones into some of the seven key battleground states whose razor-thin margins decided his victory over Trump in 2020 and will likely determine whether Harris or Trump wins the 2024 election. The president has showcased the administration’s accomplishments at those events. “I think they are using him in a targeted way that makes sense,” a political adviser in the president’s orbit told Fox News. Last week, Biden teamed up with progressive champion Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont at a policy event in swing state New Hampshire to spotlight their efforts to lower health care costs. The two octogenarians trumpeted a new report by the Department of Health and Human Services that found nearly 1.5 million Medicare enrollees saved almost $1 billion on prescription drugs during the first half of the year. CHECK OUT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS IN THE 2024 ELECTION But at a political event minutes later, Biden stirred controversy. Speaking to supporters at the New Hampshire Democratic Party headquarters in Concord, N.H., Biden said of Trump, “We got to lock him up.” While the president instantly corrected himself, adding “politically lock him up,” the damage was done. The initial comment gave Trump instant ammunition for his argument that the four indictments against him — and one conviction — are part of an elaborate Democratic Party witch hunt. That’s despite no evidence the president or his administration has played any role in Trump’s prosecutions and despite Trump’s repeated calls over the years to lock up his own political opponents. Biden dug an even deeper hole Tuesday night, stepping all over the vice president’s closing address with more controversial comments during a video call with Latino supporters. Denouncing racist comments made by a comedian at Sunday’s Trump rally in New York City that had dominated news coverage for a couple of days, Biden appeared to call supporters of the former president “garbage.” Biden tried to clean up the mess, saying he was referring to the “hateful rhetoric” from the Trump rally comedian and not to the former president’s supporters in general. But the Trump campaign and allies immediately pounced, and Biden’s comments dominated the news cycle two straight days. Harris on Wednesday morning disavowed any idea of disparaging Trump supporters. She noted that Biden had “clarified his comments,” adding, “Let me be clear: I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for.” Even before the Biden remarks, Harris was walking the tight rope that previous vice presidents running for the top job have faced, trying to balance support for the boss and advertising the administration’s achievements while also spotlighting a forward-looking message and showing how they’d be different. “This election is about Kamala Harris, so people need to see the vision that she has for America. … It’s important that the focus stay on her,” veteran New Hampshire-based Democratic strategist and Harris convention delegate Jim Demers told Fox News. But Demers, who has also been a longtime Biden supporter and surrogate, noted that “you’re not going to hold Joe Biden back from being on the campaign, and, in the final days, it’s good to see him out there urging people to vote for Kamala Harris.” Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Bibek Debroy, noted economist and PM Modi’s Economic Council Chairman, dies at 69
Dr. Debroy was not only a prolific author on economic topics but also translated key Indian scriptures, including the Vedas, Puranas, Upanishads, and the Bhagavad Gita into English.
‘Last few years marked by differences but I prefer…fun times,’ Omar Abdullah on BJP MLA Devender Singh Rana’s demise
“You have been taken from us all too soon and will be missed. May your soul rest in peace now DSR. My heart goes out to your family as I struggle to find the words to convey my condolences to them,” J-K CM posted on X.
No respite for citizens, Delhi registers warmest October in 73 years
Most areas in the capital recorded an Air Quality Index (AQI) over 350, raising health concerns for residents.
Bank Holidays In November 2024: Banks to remain closed for 12 days, state-wise list here
Customers are advised that bank holidays in India vary by state. It is recommended to check with your local bank branch for their specific holiday schedule in advance to stay informed.
Harris ripped for ‘word salad’ after heckler interruption during campaign speech: ‘The gibberish never ends’
Vice President Kamala Harris was mocked by the Trump campaign and other conservatives online for a “word salad” after a heckler interrupted her speech in Nevada on Thursday night. “You know what?” the vice president said in Reno, Nevada after shouting could be heard from the audience as she spoke. “Let me say something about this.” “We are here because we are fighting for a democracy. Fighting for a democracy. And understand the difference here, understand the difference here, moving forward, moving forward, understand the difference here.” “What we are looking at is a difference in this election, let’s move forward and see where we are because on the issue, for example, freedom of choice,” Harris continued as the heckling went on. TRUMP SUES CBS NEWS FOR $10 BILLION ALLEGING ‘DECEPTIVE DOCTORING’ OF HARRIS’ ’60 MINUTES’ INTERVIEW “That’s OK,” Harris said as the voices of her supporters drowned out the heckling. “That’s alright. That’s OK.” “You know what? Democracy can be complicated, sometimes it’s okay. We’re fighting for the right for people to be heard and not jailed because they speak their mind. We know what’s at stake.” Harris quickly drew criticism from conservative critics on social media. MARK CUBAN TRIES TO ‘CLARIFY’ AFTER COMMENT ON ‘THE VIEW’ WIDELY SEEN AS INSULT TOWARD PRO-TRUMP WOMEN “Kamala spirals after ANOTHER speech is interrupted by protesters,” an account run by the Trump campaign posted on X. “CRACKS UNDER PRESSURE,” Trump adviser Stephen Miller posted on X. “CHOKES EVERY TIME. Not a quality you want in the commander-in-chief.” “She is the word salad Queen!” Author Tom Young posted on X. “The gibberish never ends,” Fox News contributor Tammy Bruce posted on X. Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign for comment but did not immediately receive a response. “ “Nevada, I am here asking for your vote,” Harris told the crowd. “I am asking for your vote. And here is my pledge to you, and I got your back, as president, I pledge to you to seek common ground and common sense solutions to the challenges you face. I am not looking to score political points.” “I am looking to make progress. And I pledge to listen to experts, to listen to those who will be impacted by the decisions I make and to listen to people who disagree with me. Because that’s what real leaders do.”
Family of Marine vet murdered by cartel violence in Mexico: ‘We’ll take care of it’
Former President Trump was joined onstage at a Nevada rally on Thursday night by the family of a marine veteran who was recently murdered in Mexico. Retired Army Lt. Col. Warren Douglas Quets joined Trump on stage in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson while speaking about his son Nicholas Douglas Quets, a 31-year-old Marine veteran who worked for Pima County, Arizona, on water reclamation projects. The younger Quets was shot and killed along the Caborca-Altar Highway in northern Mexico on Oct. 19, 30 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border. “I really wasn’t planning on being here,” Warren Douglas Quets said. “Two weeks ago, I was a completely apolitical actor. Anybody outside my own home wouldn’t have known who I would have voted for. Today. The situation changed for me two weeks ago.” TRUMP SUES CBS NEWS FOR $10 BILLION ALLEGING ‘DECEPTIVE DOCTORING’ OF HARRIS’ ’60 MINUTES’ INTERVIEW He said Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, met with him three days after the killing. “So when you wonder about where America really is and what the stories are, you don’t have to wonder anymore. The man next to me and his vice presidential nominee, a current seated senator, both met with me within 36 hours of asking, and both took up the cause,” said Quets. TRUMP MAKES PLAY FOR BLUE-LEANING STATE AS HE BRIEFLY DETOURS FROM THE BATTLEGROUNDS “It is the policy that contributed to my son being killed. It is the policy that’s contributing to the death of other Americans,” he added. “It is the policy that’s contributing to fentanyl coming into the United States. Those are political failures, and we need to end them.” Mexican officials reportedly said that Nicholas Quets didn’t stop at a cartel checkpoint, and a group of armed men followed his pick-up truck and opened fire in a “direct attack.” While reports indicate Mexican authorities made arrests, Quets’ father said he was relying on the FBI to conduct its investigation and wants his son’s killers extradited to the U.S. “What I want is sponsorship of a couple things,” Quets said. “One is change to US code so that if people committed crimes against US persons, especially murder, they are brought back here to face our justice. Number two is legislation that is enacted that takes us someplace closer to a plan in Mexico that’ll institute not only military capability, but also institution building.” Quets told the crowd that Trump had a “tear in his eye” when the two talked about his son and that he believes Trump will “keep” his promise to seek justice if elected. Quets also said that his family attempted to attend a rally with Harris running mate Gov. Tim Walz but were told the venue was full and that they could not meet with Walz. Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign for comment but did not immediately receive a response. “That’s incredible and frankly, to do that, to be able to do that literally just a few days after this horrible event happened is pretty amazing,” Trump told the crowd, who at one point erupted with chants of “Nicholas!” “I’ll tell you. We’ll take care of it. We’re going to take care of it. We’re going to get that guy. We’re going to get him. We’re going to get him. They know who he is. Can you believe it? They know who he is. Nothing’s done. Mexico is going to give them to us. Mexico is going to give them to us. They have to. They have to. It’s going to be real easy. When I’m president, we’re going to put the drug smugglers and human traffickers. We’re going to put them right out of business. They’re killing hundreds of thousands of people in our country.” Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano contributed to this report
Allying with Trump, Elon Musk is the latest billionaire to seek gov’t power
If Elon Musk joins the United States government following a Donald Trump victory in the presidential election, he will be the latest in a succession of billionaire businesspeople to hold public office. From the late Vice President Nelson Rockefeller and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and former President Trump himself, the super-rich have long held positions of power in Washington, DC and across US state capitals. With polls showing Tuesday’s election on a knife edge, Musk is in serious contention to join Trump’s cabinet after the Republican candidate floated the idea of the tech billionaire serving as so-called “Secretary of Cost Cutting”. Since entering politics after decades in the real estate business, Trump has displayed a penchant for drafting high-net-worth individuals from the private sector. During his first term in office, Trump nominated five people as Cabinet secretaries who had spent all or nearly all of their careers in the business world, including Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson, billionaire philanthropist Betsy DeVos, and former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda McMahon. According to an analysis by the Pew Research Centre, Trump’s first slate of Cabinet nominees had more businesspeople with no public sector experience than any other before it. Musk, the world’s richest man, has called for drastic reductions in government spending, although he has provided few specifics about where he would direct cuts. During Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX CEO said the federal budget could be slashed by “at least” $2 trillion. “Your money is being wasted, and the Department of Government Efficiency is going to fix that,” Musk told Howard Lutnick, the chief executive of Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald and a member of Trump’s transition planning team, when asked how much he could “rip out” of the latest federal budget. “We’re going to get the government off your back and out of your pocketbook.” Such a reduction in spending – equal to nearly one-third of last year’s federal budget of $6.75 trillion – would almost certainly be impossible to achieve without steep cuts in areas that politicians across the aisle have been loath to touch, including social security, healthcare, veterans’ benefits, and defence. Musk himself has acknowledged that such a sharp cut in spending would inflict serious economic pain. On Tuesday, he responded “sounds about right” to a post on X that predicted there would be “an initial severe overreaction in the economy” and “markets will tumble.” SpaceX and Tesla did not respond to requests seeking comment from Musk. Elon Musk speaks as part of a campaign town hall in support of former President Donald Trump in Folsom, Pennsylvania on October 17, 2024 [Matt Rourke/AP] While politicians pledging to end wasteful spending is hardly new, there is no “precise parallel” to a businessman like Musk overseeing a department tasked with improving government efficiency, said Bruce Schulman, a professor of history at Boston University. Political candidates that touted their experience in business, from former President George W. Bush to presidential nominee Mitt Romney, typically had a track record in public service before seeking to enter the highest levels of the federal government. Government commissions aimed at eliminating waste and inefficiency – such as the Hoover Commission and the National Partnership for Reinventing Government led, respectively, by former President Herbert Hoover and Vice President Al Gore – have also generally been led by seasoned government officials. Schulman said while initiatives to eliminate waste have been endorsed at various times by both Democrats and Republicans, they have been largely for “political show”. “These efforts have had marginal effects, and mostly been for political show. But overall, both the size of the federal government in number of employees and in terms of spending have been flat for a long time even though the US population has increased dramatically. The federal government is much leaner than it was in the 1960s/70s,” Schulman told Al Jazeera. John Pelissero, director of Santa Clara University’s Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, questioned Musk’s standing to hold a government position given his lack of experience in the public sector. “Without any working experience in government, one might wonder how he could be qualified to occupy a position, for example, that focuses on government efficiency,” Pelissero told Al Jazeera. “It is worth noting that past government efficiency or reform commissions have often been led by an individual who has earned public trust and has deep experience in government.” While Musk has been lauded as a tech visionary in the private sector, his business track record is not without its stumbles and controversies. Since his $44bn takeover of X in 2022, the social media platform’s value has fallen about 80 percent, according to a valuation by the investment giant Fidelity, largely as a result of advertisers leaving the platform over its loosening of content moderation. The Environmental Protection Agency has accused SpaceX of polluting the area around its Texas base, damaging a surrounding state park and federal wildlife refuge. In September, the agency fined SpaceX $148,378 over a chemical spill – a minuscule penalty for a company of its size that Musk nonetheless branded as “silly”. A Cabinet position would be an enticing reward for Musk, who has emerged as one of Trump’s most vocal and powerful supporters since July’s failed assassination attempt on the former president. Musk’s companies hold billions of dollars in contracts with government agencies, raising concerns that his elevation to the government would create potentially huge conflicts of interest. SpaceX alone has received more than $15bn in government contracts for launching rockets for NASA, satellites for the Pentagon, and ferrying US astronauts to the International Space Station. In February, the Wall Street Journal reported that the company was awarded a $1.8bn classified government contract with an unnamed government agency. Tesla, which is facing regulatory scrutiny from numerous government agencies, stands to benefit from potentially looser regulatory enforcement during a friendly Trump administration, as well as tax cuts and subsidies. X,
Boeing workers to vote on 38% pay rise offer to end weeks-long strike
Striking workers to vote Monday on contract that includes 38 percent pay rise and $12,000 ratification bonus. Striking Boeing workers in the United States are set to vote on a new contract deal after a previous offer by the company failed to get them back to work. The offer to be voted on Monday includes a 38 percent pay rise over four years, a $12,000 ratification bonus and the reinstatement of an annual bonus scheme that was not included in the earlier proposal, The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) said in a statement on Thursday. Nearly two-thirds of workers last week rejected a contract that would have provided a 35 percent wage rise over four years but did not restore a defined pension plan sought by many employees. Workers have been pushing for a 40 percent wage increase and the reinstatement of the old pension scheme. “Your union is endorsing and recommending the latest IAM/Boeing contract proposal. It is time for our members to lock in these gains and confidently declare victory,” the IAM chapter said. Some 33,000 IAM members have been on strike since September 13, halting operations at Boeing factories in the Seattle area that produce the 737 Max and 777. The strike has added to a difficult year for Boeing, which has been under intense scrutiny since a January incident during which a 737 Max plane operated by Alaska Airlines lost a door panel midflight. Boeing shares rose 2.5 percent in after-hours trading after the announcement of the latest offer, after closing 3.2 percent earlier on Thursday. Adblock test (Why?)