‘100% on board’: Border state offers Trump massive plot of land to aid mass deportation operation
EXCLUSIVE: Texas is offering the incoming Trump administration a tract of more than 1,400 acres on which to stage its mass deportation operation when it enters office in January, as the transition team begins to make preparations for the ambitious project. Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham has written to President-elect Donald Trump offering him the land in Starr County, which the state purchased from a ranch owner in October. The 1,402 acres are in the Rio Grande Valley sector near the border. Her letter to Trump, obtained by Fox News Digital, says her office is “fully prepared to enter into an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or the United States Border Patrol to allow a facility to be built for the processing, detention, and coordination of the largest deportation of violent criminals in the nation’s history.” ‘SHUT IT DOWN’: RED STATE MAKES MASSIVE LAND BUY TO RAMP UP BORDER WALL EFFORTS AMID MIGRANT SURGE “What I care about is that we have safe communities, and there is no doubt that we are losing too many of our children to these violent criminals that are coming across the border,” Buckingham told Fox News Digital in an interview on Tuesday. “I am 100% on board with the Trump administration’s pledge to get these criminals out of our country, and we are more than happy to offer our resources to facilitate those deportations of these violent criminals.” The Texas General Land Office purchased the land in October to facilitate the construction of additional border wall, a project that the Biden administration stopped. The area, which was a ranch before Texas bought it, had seen drug smuggling and human trafficking, officials said. BATTLEGROUND STATE RANCHER ‘OUTRAGED’ BY BIDEN STOPPING WALL CONSTRUCTION AS MIGRANTS POUR INTO US In light of Trump’s election victory this month, Buckingham said she was brainstorming with her team and decided to make the offer to the incoming administration. “Right now, it’s essentially farmland, so it’s flat, it’s easy to build on. We could very easily put a detention center on there, a holding place as we get these criminals out of our country,” she said. “It’s accessible to international airports as well as a major crossing over the river. And so we’re just happy to get help, do anything we can to get these violent criminals off of our soil.” ‘SANCTUARY’ CITY MAYOR VOWS SHE WILL DEFY TRUMP’S MASS DEPORTATION PUSH: ‘CAUSING WIDESPREAD FEAR’ Trump repeatedly promised throughout his 2024 presidential campaign to launch a historic mass deportation operation. In the days since the election, those plans have been put into motion, with officials looking at where they could build additional detention space. CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS Buckingham said the election proves that Trump’s approach to border security and illegal immigration is the one backed by the American people and that the Biden administration’s approach had been rejected. “This election was a resounding referendum on the fact that Americans want safe communities. We want people to immigrate legally and legally only and that the administration’s policies over the last four years have failed every American citizen,” she said. The Trump plan is likely to face opposition in other states, including Arizona, Illinois and Massachusetts, where governors have indicated they will oppose deportation efforts by the Trump administration. But that is unlikely to stop the incoming administration from conducting its operation. Fox News’ Emma Woodhead contributed to this report.
DePaul University student assaulted by anti-Israel agitator seeks legal action: ‘I will never apologize’
After responding to Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre, former-Israeli Defense Forces soldier Max Long went to the U.S. to attend DePaul University where he was later assaulted while holding a sign that read, “Come talk about Israel with an IDF Soldier.” Now, Long is working to sue the school so that something like that never happens again. Long was a leading advocate for Israel on DePaul’s Chicago-area campus, where he held discussions about Jewish civil rights and Israel’s work to defend itself from Hamas’ terror attack on Oct. 7. That day, Long was deployed by the IDF, as he was serving as a reservist with the Israeli military. As a result, Long said he became the target of disgruntled protesters who harassed him and launched threats against his physical safety. Eventually, Long was beaten unconscious by an anti-Israel agitator on campus, leading to a concussion and other injuries. Now, roughly two weeks later, a top Jewish civil rights law firm, The Lawfare Project, indicated Tuesday that Long had retained them to assist him in defending his civil rights and explore potential legal challenges against the school, including but not limited to Title VI, contract and tort claims. They will hold a press conference Thursday afternoon at DePaul’s student center. The firm also defended a Jewish student at Columbia University earlier this year in a Title VI suit, and shortly after they took legal action, Columbia amended its policies related to campus protesting. That case is still ongoing. VETERANS DAY SUPPORTERS COMBAT IVY LEAGUE PROTESTERS WHINING ABOUT ‘ISRAEL-US WAR MACHINE’ “Colleges and universities across the United States are turning into literal battlegrounds where Jewish students are being singled out, discriminated against and beaten for their identity,” said Brooke Goldstein, founder and executive director of The Lawfare Project. “No student — let alone one like Max who served in the IDF and went on the frontlines to destroy Hamas terrorists — should be subjected to physical, verbal or mental abuse for expressing their Jewish identity. DePaul failed Max and needs to be held accountable for its abject failure to protect Jewish students.” Meanwhile, Long added that he “will never apologize” for standing up for his Jewish identity and hopes no one at DePaul falls victim to the same sort of violence he experienced. “I am in incredible pain with bruises all over my face, but I am grateful for the support I have received from the Jewish community at large and The Lawfare Project, specifically, and will continue to work to enforce my civil rights and against the hatred that has consumed American campuses,” Long said Tuesday. CHICAGO JEWISH MOTHER SPEAKS OUT AGAINST RESPONSE TO ALLEGED HATE CRIME: ‘TERRORISM ON MY PROPERTY’ Anti-Israel campus protests that began last year at Columbia University and spread to campuses across the country have continued this year, with Long’s assault being one of the latest examples. The assault against Long came when he and fellow Jewish student Michael Kaminsky stood on a sidewalk near DePaul’s student union holding a sign that read, “Come talk about Israel with an IDF soldier.” At a certain point, Long began engaging in a conversation with an individual. During the slightly contentious, yet calm back-and-forth, a masked accomplice came from behind and knocked out Long. Kaminsky, who broke his wrist, helped fend off the attack before both suspects fled. ATTACKED JEWISH STUDENTS IN CHICAGO SPEAK OUT ABOUT ‘WAR ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES’ Chicago police ultimately responded and determined what occurred was a hate crime. The suspects remain at-large, however. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP In addition to threatening the school with legal action, the Lawfare Project said that it will also work to ensure Long’s attackers are brought to justice and penalized appropriately to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future. DePaul University spokesperson Russell Dorn said in a statement to Fox News Digital that the school’s president, Robert L. Manuel, is “outraged this hate crime occurred.” “The university condemns in the strongest possible terms the antisemitic targeting of these two Jewish students, and the lasting fear and anger that the act has inflicted on our Jewish and broader communities,” Dorn added. “First and foremost, our concerns are for the two victims in this situation.” Dorn indicated that DePaul had reached out to Long and Kaminsky “to offer care and resources” and are actively working with Chicago police to help identify their perpetrators.
Trump Cabinet picks increase odds Edward Snowden could see life of freedom in the US
If President-elect Donald Trump has his way, Tulsi Gabbard will be at the helm of U.S. intelligence and Matt Gaetz will be leading the Justice Department, giving whistle-blower Edward Snowden his best chance yet at a life of freedom in the U.S. Both Gabbard, a former Hawaii House Democrat, and Gaetz, a former House Republican from Florida, will have to be confirmed by the Senate — an uphill battle that may be made more difficult by their anti-establishment beliefs that Snowden should not be punished for revealing information about classified surveillance programs. As members of Congress, both Gabbard and Gaetz co-sponsored legislation that called on the federal government to drop all charges against Snowden. During her 2020 presidential campaign, Gabbard promised to protect Snowden and people like him, if elected. “If it wasn’t for Snowden, the American people would never have learned the NSA was collecting phone records and spying on Americans,” she said on “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast at the time. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ SPARKS BACKLASH FOR CLAIMING TULSI GABBARD IS A RUSSIAN ASSET “As president, I will protect whistle-blowers who expose threats to our freedom and liberty,” Gabbard added. On Sept. 3, 2020, Gaetz posted to X: “Pardon @Snowden.” In 2013, Snowden was working as an IT contractor for the National Security Agency when he traveled to Hong Kong to meet with three journalists and transferred them thousands of pages of classified documents about the U.S. government’s surveillance of its citizens. He then traveled to Russia and planned to head on to Ecuador, but federal authorities canceled his passport before he could get there — and indicted him for espionage. He attempted to gain asylum elsewhere, but ultimately remained in Russia and became a naturalized citizen in 2022. The documents he made public revealed previously classified intelligence-gathering programs run by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) and the U.K.’s intelligence organization, Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), that were conducting surveillance on their own citizens. TULSI GABBARD SAYS TRUMP ‘LISTENS’ AND ‘RECOGNIZES’ CHALLENGES AMERICANS FACE In 2019, Snowden told NPR the U.S. government was “collecting [data] on everyone, everywhere, all of the time, just in case, because you never know what’s going to be interesting… And so what happened was every time we wrote an email, every time you typed something into that Google search box, every time your phone moved, you sent a text message, you made a phone call… the boundaries of the Fourth Amendment were being changed.” At the time of the leak, the NSA claimed mass surveillance stopped terrorist attacks. Sue Gordon, deputy director of national intelligence during the first Trump administration, issued a warning about Gabbard’s push for Snowden to be pardoned on CBS this week. “Unauthorized disclosures of intelligence are always bad. Don’t go with the good or bad, any good outcome or whether he was right or wrong. He had no authority, and he had different paths, and he harmed America,” she said. “He not only harmed intelligence, he harmed our allies and partners, and he harmed our businesses by what it allowed China to assume about that. There is nothing justifiable about what he’s done. None. And so if they vacate it, what they’re basically saying is all those rules you follow in order to be able to serve America, they don’t matter anymore.” In 2013, Trump was asked about Snowden. “This guy is a bad guy and there is still a thing called execution!” he said. But on the campaign trail in 2020, he struck a more sympathetic tone, saying he’d “look at” giving Snowden a pardon. Snowden, in 2019, said he is not searching for a pardon, but rather a fair trial in order to return to the U.S. “One of the big topics in Europe right now is — should Germany and France invite me in to get asylum?… And of course, I would like to return to the United States. That is the ultimate goal,” he said. “But if I’m going to spend the rest of my life in prison, the one bottom-line demand that we all have to agree to is that at least I get a fair trial. And that’s the one thing the government has refused to guarantee because they won’t provide access to what’s called a public interest defense,” the whistleblower said. “I’m not asking for a parade. I’m not asking for a pardon. I’m not asking for a pass. What I’m asking for is a fair trial. And this is the bottom-line that any American should require.”
White House yet to release visitor logs for month Biden dropped out of race
The White House has still not released its visitor logs for July, the month President Biden gave up his re-election bid, leaving questions about who was seeing and advising the president before he made the historic decision to drop out. Despite consistently releasing visitor records at the beginning of each month throughout Biden’s term, the White House as of mid-November is far past its usual timeline for releasing guest records. It released its most recent logs on Oct. 4. These records covered visits to the White House until June 26. PRESIDENT BIDEN ADMITS PRESSURE FROM DEMOCRATS CONTRIBUTED TO DECISION TO DROP OUT At the beginning of Biden’s presidency, media outlets praised the Biden administration for resuming the release of visitor logs after the Trump administration stopped the practice during his term. The New York Times spoke highly of the practice as “part of an effort to restore transparency to government.” This practice revealed that Dr. Kevin Cannard, a top Parkinsons disease expert, made several visits to the White House in 2024, increasing anxieties about the 81-year-old president’s health and physical fitness. After Biden’s poor debate performance on June 27, pressure for him to resign quickly mounted. But Biden did not drop out of the race until July 21. White House visitor logs would reveal who was close to the president in that critical month. DEMOCRATS’ FUROR OVER ‘UNQUALIFIED’ TRUMP NOMINEES PUTS BIDEN’S STAFFING DECISIONS BACK IN SPOTLIGHT This has led some, such as Caitlin Sutherland, executive director of the right-leaning government watchdog group Americans for Public Trust, to question the Biden administration’s reason for delaying publishing its records. Sutherland criticized the Biden administration for failing to deliver on its promise and leaving the American people in the dark. “The American people still don’t know who was coming and going from the seat of power in the lead-up to Joe Biden’s ouster and Kamala’s coronation,” Sutherland told Fox News Digital. “At the outset, the Biden-Harris administration promised truth and transparency,” she added. “Now, in the dwindling days of their term, their refusal to release White House visitor logs from such a tumultuous period illustrates just how hollow that promise was.” Andrew Bates, a White House representative, responded to these criticisms by calling Americans for Public Trust a “dark money group” and pointing to the fact that the Trump administration did not publish any of its visitor records for the entirety of his term. “It’s intriguing that this right-wing dark money group was silent for years as the Trump administration stopped sharing White House visitor logs with the public, but they have now abruptly developed an interest in transparency about records that we’ll be releasing in the near future,” he said. “We appreciate them inadvertently highlighting that Joe Biden leads the most transparent administration in American history.” Bates did not comment on when the White House plans on releasing its July visitor records or what has been the cause of the delay.
Incoming GOP senator rallies behind Gaetz, Trump’s Cabinet picks: ‘Republican majority must unite’
FIRST ON FOX: Republican Sen.-elect Bernie Moreno issued a statement in defense of Donald Trump’s Cabinet appointments, including attorney general nominee Matt Gaetz, arguing that the president-elect has a “mandate” from the American people. “The American people delivered President Trump a mandate, and it is crucial that Senate Republicans confirm his nominees quickly,” Moreno said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Our Republican majority must unite and deliver a strong cabinet so we can begin implementing the American First agenda as soon as possible.” Moreno also issued a statement in defense of Gaetz, becoming the first freshman GOP senator to do so. “Under the Biden-Harris administration, the Department of Justice has been weaponized against President Trump and other Republicans,” Moreno said. “Matt Gaetz is exactly the type of leader to clean up the corruption and return the DOJ to following the rule of law.” WHY TRUMP IS STICKING WITH GAETZ, HEGSETH DESPITE NEW ACCUSATIONS – AND HIS ‘MORNING JOE’ MEETING Trump nominated Gaetz for attorney general last Wednesday, coming as a surprise to both conservatives and liberals alike. Democrats have notably slammed the choice, citing the House Ethics Committee’s investigation into Gaetz’s alleged sexual misconduct with a minor. Gaetz has long denied any wrongdoing, and the Trump transition team said they are confident the Senate will confirm Gaetz. “I know Matt personally. He is a great person. He’s a man of integrity. He also is a brilliant litigator. He served on the House Judiciary Committee for eight years. Anyone who has watched him in those hearings knows that he’s incredibly impressive,” Karoline Leavitt, the transition team’s spokesperson and Trump’s recently announced pick for press secretary, said on Fox News last week. TRUMP NAMING CABINET OFFICIALS AT ‘WARP SPEED,’ FAR HEAD OF FIRST TERM PACE Many Democrats and media pundits have issued blistering critiques of many of Trump’s appointments, including Gaetz, Defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, HHS secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Director of National Intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard. “President Trump made a brilliant pick in Tulsi Gabbard, a fierce voice who has been brave in speaking out against corruption,” Moreno said. “Tulsi’s military experience and commitment to our Constitution make her a fantastic pick to lead as the Director of National Intelligence.” Moreno also told Fox News Digital that Kennedy is the right choice at Health and Human Services. “After Americans have been misled for years by the ‘experts’ who are beholden to Big Pharma, RFK Jr. will put the health interests of the American people first. HHS desperately needs new leadership, and I am confident that President Trump nominated the right man for the job.” Moreno, who defeated longtime Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown earlier this month, touted Hegseth’s record and ability to push back against bureaucracy at the Pentagon. “Pete Hegseth is a decorated war hero who dedicated 20 years of his life to protecting our nation,” Moreno said. “Pete is exactly the type of leader who is needed at the Pentagon to shrink bureaucracy, eliminate woke ideology from our military, and put an end to endless wars.” Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton contributed to this report
How Trump and Speaker Johnson could force the Senate to adjourn, allow recess appointments
Some Capitol Hill Republicans are already starting to deliberate whether President-elect Trump has a constitutional pathway to adjourn Congress himself in order to clear any possible resistance to his Cabinet appointments. Trump argued earlier this month in a post on Truth Social that “recess appointments” would enable his new administration “to get people confirmed in a timely manner.” The Constitution grants the president authority to appoint Cabinet officials when the Senate is out of session, a period of time known as “recess,” bypassing the traditional Senate confirmation process. Trump allies are exploring whether a constitutional clause would enable House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to work with Trump to shut down Congress even if the Senate objects – clearing the way for his recess appointments. MIKE JOHNSON WINS REPUBLICAN SUPPORT TO BE HOUSE SPEAKER AGAIN AFTER TRUMP ENDORSEMENT The passage in question would allow the commander in chief to “on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper.” If Johnson proposes to take the House and Senate out of session and the Senate resists, then there is “disagreement,” the theory goes, and Trump could send everyone home for as long as he wants. “We’re still looking at that,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, chair of the House Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government, told Fox News Digital. “I’m actually talking to a bunch of folks who have been a part of litigating this in the past… reviewing it to kind of figure out the history and the contours of that particular provision, because that’s kind of in the zip code of unprecedented.” He said there was “zero question that the House and Senate can choose to adjourn,” at which point Trump could make his recess appointments. “We just kind of gotta work through what is the position of the House and the Senate on adjourning and then figure out… that specific question,” Roy said. Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., told Fox News Digital, “I have heard that there were some discussions about that, whether it is already currently allowed or procedurally correct, but not that much.” MATT GAETZ FACES GOP SENATE OPPOSITION AFTER TRUMP SELECTION FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL “I think basically, what we’re really, really talking about is, should the president be able to have the people confirmed that he has selected to help him pursue and pass his agenda?” Rosendale said. “I think that he should be allowed to have the people confirmed that are going to help him pass his agenda… I do also believe that we have to be very careful of breaking norms, because we saw [ex-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.] do that on many occasions, and it does hurt the institutions.” There’s currently disagreement among legal experts over whether the move is even possible. REPUBLICANS PROJECTED TO KEEP CONTROL OF HOUSE AS TRUMP PREPARES TO IMPLEMENT AGENDA “The whole idea that a president could conspire with the House to eviscerate the Senate’s advice and consent for a nomination is outrageous,” Edward Whelan, a distinguished senior fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, told Fox News Digital. “The mechanism that they have in mind to do that would not work… the House of Representatives has no authority to try to prevent that same thing in session. And its objection to the Senate doing so cannot plausibly create the sort of disagreement that would trigger a presidential authority to adjourn both houses.” Mike Davis, founder of the Article III Project and a former senior aide to the Senate Judiciary Committee, told Fox News Digital he believed the clause was there specifically for such a time. “The Senate’s job is to provide advice and consent. The American people overwhelmingly elected President Trump in a landslide victory. The American people expect the Senate to confirm all of President Trump’s qualified nominees,” Davis said. “If the Senate refuses to do that, the Constitution provides a mechanism for the president and the executive brand to [sidestep] them.” The idea has struck some within the House GOP as preposterous – particularly in relation to former Rep. Matt Gaetz’s nomination by Trump for attorney general. “The speaker should not do that. And my hope is that the Senate president will have more of a backbone,” one Republican lawmaker told Fox News Digital when granted anonymity to speak freely. JOHNSON BLASTS DEM ACCUSATIONS HE VOWED TO END OBAMACARE AS ‘DISHONEST’ “If he wanted recess appointments, nominating Matt Gaetz was the worst thing he possibly could have done… when you throw him in there, you just kill it easily because you just scared the crap out of, I don’t know, probably 30 or 40 Republican senators.” But Trump ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who told Fox News Digital she’s heard “multiple strategies” for helping the president-elect get recess appointments through, said, “Yes, we’re going to get the appointments done,” even if Senate Republicans don’t fully comply. “I’ll just tell you this. If these senators oppose President Trump’s appointments, they are openly declaring war on President Trump and his incoming administration,” Greene said. “They need to sit down and get out of the way, because it’s not going to be tolerated.” Johnson himself appeared to leave the door open to such a strategy during an interview with “Fox News Sunday” when asked about the constitutional theory. “I wish the Senate would simply do its job of advice and consent and allow the president to put the persons in his Cabinet of his choosing. But if this thing bogs down, it would be a great detriment to the country, to the American people,” Johnson said. “They have sent the message that America First policies should be the rule of the day… So we’ll evaluate all that at the appropriate time and we’ll make the appropriate decision. There may be a function for that, and we’ll have to see
Trump appoints Dr. Oz to key HHS position in new administration
President-elect Trump announced on Tuesday that he will nominate Dr. Mehmet Oz to serve as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator in January. “America is facing a Healthcare Crisis, and there may be no Physician more qualified and capable than Dr. Oz to Make America Healthy Again,” Trump said in a statement. “He is an eminent Physician, Heart Surgeon, Inventor, and World-Class Communicator, who has been at the forefront of healthy living for decades.” “Dr. Oz will work closely with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to take on the illness industrial complex, and all the horrible chronic diseases left in its wake,” the statement added. “Our broken Healthcare System harms everyday Americans, and crushes our Country’s budget.” TRUMP APPOINTS TULSI GABBARD AS DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: ‘FEARLESS SPIRIT’ This breaking news story is still developing. Check back with us for updates.
Dems sue PA election board over uncounted provisional ballots amid Senate recount in Casey loss
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee filed a lawsuit Monday over the counting of dozens of provisional ballots in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, alleging that rejecting the ballots violates both the due process clause of the U.S. Constitution and other protections for voters. The lawsuit, which the DSCC filed in state court against the Bucks County Board of Elections on behalf of Sen. Bob Casey, is the latest in a flurry of legal action in the Keystone State as it begins its official Senate election recount. The case centers on 74 provisional ballots in Bucks County that were disqualified because they lacked an inner “secrecy envelope” required for provisional ballots in the state. REPUBLICANS FILE 12 PENNSYLVANIA LAWSUITS IN ‘AGGRESSIVE’ PUSH TO END RECOUNT Lawyers for the Democratic Party argued in the court filing that the provisional ballot errors were the “direct result” of inaccurate instructions from poll workers, rather than the voters themselves, and therefore violated both the due process clause and the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), which states that “an individual’s provisional ballot “shall be counted… in accordance with state law” if election officials determine that the individual is eligible to vote. By excluding these provisional ballots that were the result of poll worker errors, lawyers argued, the Bucks County Board of Elections “unlawfully disenfranchises” voters and harms Casey’s electoral prospects. The lawsuit centers on just 74 ballots, making it unlikely it will have any significant impact on the recount in Pennsylvania. But it comes amid a flurry of recent lawsuits in the Keystone State, where Republican candidate David McCormick narrowly edged out Casey by just 17,000 votes, according to unofficial data from the Department of State – putting Casey well within the 0.5% margin of error required under Pennsylvania law to trigger an automatic recount. BATTLEGROUND STATES’ RECOUNT RULES VARY WIDELY. HERE’S A LOOK AT HOW THEY WORK The Senate recount began Monday, and will continue through Nov. 26. Republican Party officials have argued that the results have been decisive and that Casey lacks any achievable path to victory. They have also criticized Casey for declining to waive the recount, noting that it will cost taxpayers an estimated $1 million. McCormick, for his part, called for a recount of his own in 2022 after he was beaten in the Republican Senate primary by TV celebrity Dr. Mehmet Oz. News of the lawsuit comes after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Monday that mail-in ballots with incorrect or missing dates cannot be counted in the 2024 election, delivering a victory to Republican Party officials as they moved to aggressively defend their narrow Senate victory. Casey’s campaign used news of the DSCC lawsuit to reiterate their criticism of the many Republican-led lawsuits that have been filed in the commonwealth, and which they have suggested risk disenfranchising voters. “Thousands of Pennsylvanians’ votes are in question across the commonwealth as David McCormick and national Republicans work to throw out ballots cast by eligible voters and accepted by county election boards,” a spokesperson for the campaign told Fox News Digital. Casey will “continue to fight back against efforts to disenfranchise voters to ensure Pennsylvanians’ voices are heard and that eligible voters can participate in our democracy,” the spokesperson added. The DSCC did not immediately respond to Fox News’s request for comment on the lawsuit.
Biden Interior Dept puts together handbook to apply ‘indigenous knowledge’ into agency practices
Officials at the Department of the Interior are pushing to finalize a new “implementation handbook” to guide agency decision makers on how to “apply indigenous knowledge” in their day-to-day work. The notion of “indigenous knowledge” puts forward that Native groups possess an understanding about the natural world that others do not, due to their ethnic background. The Interior Department’s new handbook supplements a Departmental Manual chapter added last year, entitled “Departmental Responsibilities for Consideration and Inclusion of Indigenous Knowledge in Departmental Actions and Scientific Research, 301 DM 7.” The aim of the new chapter in the agency-wide manual is to “equitably promote the inclusion of indigenous knowledge,” but this new supplemental handbook lays out methods for “applying” indigenous knowledge into departmental practices, such as scientific research, environmental compliance work, community resiliency and more. “This Handbook is not a step-by-step guide,” a draft version of the handbook states. “Instead, it includes context, approaches, and ways of engaging along with references to numerous existing resources where employees can learn more about a specific topic. The goal is for employees to have a foundation of knowledge to draw upon to create individualized processes as each situation arises in a respectful, equitable, and lasting way.” US INTERIOR DEPARTMENT TO ALLOCATE MORE THAN $120 MILLION TO TRIBES TO ADDRESS CLIMATE-RELATED THREATS One approach laid out in the handbook instructs employees to seek out indigenous “knowledge holders” to supplement their scientific research, including ensuring that there is enough project time allocated to adequately consider indigenous knowledge and compensating any “knowledge holders” for their participation. The guide also implores hiring mangers to consider employing these indigenous knowledge experts. When it comes to scientific research, some laws require the consideration of scientific information, methods and practices. However, the handbook points out that in some cases these statutes allow the inclusion of indigenous knowledge. “In these cases,” the handbook posits, “Bureaus and Offices should include [indigenous knowledge] as an aspect of best available science when it is generally considered authoritative by the Indigenous Peoples who possess it.” BIDEN APOLOGIZES FOR FEDERAL INDIAN BOARDING SCHOOLS: ‘ONE OF THE MOST HORRIFIC CHAPTERS IN AMERICAN HISTORY’ The nearly 150-page handbook includes a litany of other “approaches” to applying indigenous knowledge into the agency’s practices, including how to create “an ethical space to receive indigenous knowledge” and information about how to shield “sensitive” indigenous knowledge from public disclosure laws. “President Biden came into office loudly stressing scientific integrity and creating new rules to supposedly ensure government scientific findings were never ‘distorted or influenced by political considerations.’ No matter how well-intentioned, elevating indigenous knowledge to being on a par with results obtained through rigorous application of the scientific method opens a Pandora’s box whereby desired results, even if at odds with reality, can be imposed to serve political ends,” Michael Chamberlain, director of the conservative nonprofit Protect The Public’s Trust, told Fox News Digital. Chamberlain and his nonprofit dug into how the Biden administration has implemented indigenous knowledge across the federal government, including through the use of public disclosure laws. “We’ve already seen [indigenous knowledge] in action as the Department of the Interior elevated indigenous knowledge that supported their position over indigenous knowledge that didn’t in canceling oil and gas leases in Alaska,” Chamberlain pointed out. “The fact that the administration explored ways to exempt indigenous knowledge from FOIA adds to the potential for misuse.” BIDEN-HARRIS BORDER POLICIES WREAK HAVOC ON INDIGENOUS TRIBE, SAYS EXPERT: ‘PUSHED ASIDE AND DESTROYED’ Officials from the Department of the Interior declined to comment on the record for this story. In 2022, the Biden administration’s Office of Science and Technology Policy unveiled federal guidance on utilizing indigenous knowledge across various sectors of the government. The guidance was also accompanied by an “implementation memorandum,” both of which the White House said, work to “value and, as appropriate, respectfully include Indigenous Knowledge” throughout government practices in order to “make the best scientific and policy decisions possible.” From the sidelines of the 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29) in Baku, the Interior Department’s Acting Deputy Secretary Laura Daniel-Davis highlighted the agency’s commitment to incorporating indigenous knowledge and pointed out that the agency will be conducting consultations with tribal leaders and other indigenous knowledge holders in December to help finish fleshing out the details of the handbook before it is formally released. President-elect Trump nominated North Dakota Republican Gov. Doug Burgum to be the next head of the U.S. Interior Department, which manages public lands and minerals, national parks, wildlife refuges and any federal responsibilities to recognized Native American tribes across the country.
State Board of Education signals support for Bible-infused curriculum
Critics say the curriculum overemphasizes Christianity. The board is expected to officially vote on whether to approve the materials later this week.