Trump to appoint former ICE Director Tom Homan as next ‘border czar’: ‘nobody better at policing our borders’
President-elect Donald Trump announced on Sunday that he plans to appoint Thomas Homan as the next ‘border czar.’ Trump made the announcement on his social media platform Truth Social. “I’ve known Tom for a long time, and there is nobody better at policing and controlling our Borders. Likewise, Tom Homan will be in charge of all Deportation of Illegal Aliens back to their Country of Origin. Congratulations to Tom. I have no doubt he will do a fantastic, and long awaited for, job.” HOW HARRIS WAS DOGGED BY ‘BORDER CZAR’ LABEL, PAST RADICAL IMMIGRATION VIEWS DURING FAILED CAMPAIGN Trump added that the “border czar” position isn’t just for monitoring the U.S. southern border with Mexico, but also “the Northern Border, all Maritime, and Aviation Security. I’ve known Tom for a long time, and there is nobody better at policing and controlling our Borders.” This comes less than a week after Trump secured his second presidency, defeating Vice President Kamala Harris, who was dubbed the “border czar” in the Biden administration. Border security was a strong point of Trump’s first presidency, and it was a stalwart during both his 2020 and 2024 campaigns. ‘STATUS QUO’ AT SOUTHERN BORDER ‘ENDS’ WHEN TRUMP’S IN OFFICE, SAYS NATIONAL BORDER PATROL COUNCIL PRESIDENT Illegal border crossings surged under the Biden administration, with nearly 3 million in fiscal year 2024, according to Homeland Security’s website. There have been more than 10.8 million illegal encounters since FY 2021. Trump vowed during his campaign he would once again take a hard-line approach to securing the border. “It’s going to be a well-targeted, planned operation conducted by the men of ICE. The men and women of ICE do this daily. They’re good at it,” Homan said during a Fox News interview on Sunday, adding that deportations would be a “humane operation.” Trump during his campaign referenced illegal migrants as people fleeing countries that didn’t want them. He often said at his rallies that illegal immigrants flooded the U.S. with drugs and gangs, and that they became a hub for smuggling and human trafficking, saying they are “poisoning the blood of our country.” “They’re rough people, in many cases from jails, prisons, from mental institutions, insane asylums,” Trump said. “You know, insane asylums, that’s ‘Silence of the Lambs’ stuff.” This is only the beginning of thousands of positions that need to be filled by his presidency. Trump has already announced that Susie Wiles, his co-campaign manager, will be the White House chief of staff.
Vistara to make last flight today before Air India merger, all you need to know
Vistara, a joint venture between Tata Group and Singapore Airlines, will fully merge with Air India, also owned by Tata Group.
Justice Sanjiv Khanna takes oath as 51st Chief Justice of India
The outgoing CJI, Dhananjay Yashwant Chandrachud, retired on Sunday, making way for Justice Khanna, who will serve a six-month tenure as the Chief Justice.
Delhi continues to choke amid rising air pollution, AQI breaches 350…
At least a dozen stations recorded an Air Quality Index (AQI) of over 350, falling in the ‘very poor’ air category.
GOP Rep Schweikert projected to fend off Dem challenger in key Arizona House race
Republican Rep. David Schweikert, R-Ariz., has withstood a strong Democratic challenge for a seat Democrats had hoped to flip in one of the most closely watched states in the country, the Associated Press projects. Arizona’s 1st Congressional District was expected to be a close race after Rep. David Schweikert narrowly won re-election in 2022 by less than 1%. He had secured the Republican nomination earlier this year after outraising his opponents. Schweikert has served in the House for nearly 15 years and has won re-election in a number of redrawn districts since being elected in 2010. He serves on the House Ways and Means Committee and has emphasized economic policy and fiscal responsibility, including tackling the increasing national debt. GOP REP WINS PRIMARY TO DEFEND CLOSELY WATCHED ARIZONA SEAT Shah, a doctor and former state rep, had emerged from a packed Democratic field to secure the nomination to attempt to beat Schweikert. Arizona Central reports that Shah had success with bills getting passed in the GOP-dominated state legislature, and has been compared to outgoing Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. He emphasized border security in the border state, as well as issues like tackling inflation and abortion rights. CLUB FOR GROWTH POURS $5M INTO TIGHT HOUSE RACES AS GOP BRACES FOR TOUGH ELECTION “Shah, who has already represented key parts of Arizona’s First Congressional District in Maricopa County as a State Representative, has a track record of being an independent voice working across party lines to put Arizona families first,” his website says. “In Congress, he’ll work to lower costs for hardworking Arizonans and protect abortion rights.” Arizona is a closely watched state this election cycle, with multiple races in the House and Senate as well as the presidential contest all potentially to be decided by thin margins. In the state legislature, Republicans hold a thin majority and Democrats are hoping to take both chambers. If so, it would be the first time they took the House since 1966.
The 2024 election cycle is drawing to a close – here’s what we know
There was some shock at the outcome of last week’s election. But when it comes to control of the House and Senate, things generally landed in the range anticipated by many learned observers. There was a high probability of a Republican Senate – with the GOP likely having a seat or two to cushion a majority. The House of Representatives was expected to be close. The forecast was that the House breakdown would probably reflect the split between the majority and minority today. The only question was which party would be in the majority. And there was a high likelihood that control of the House would mirror the outcome of the Presidential election. THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE MEANING OF A REPUBLICAN SENATE – AND WHAT’S AHEAD FOR THE HOUSE You know the rest. The House is close, likely in Republican hands. When everything is settled, Republicans will likely have between 221-223 seats. The Senate moved to the GOP – with a few pickups. So say what you will about the Presidential election. But very few predictions about the House and Senate were off. In the Senate, the map always favored Republicans. The GOP would probably score an immediate pickup with Sen.-elect Jim Justice, R-W.V., claiming the seat of retiring Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.V., who caucused with the Democrats. Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Jon Tester, D-Mont., were the most-endangered Democrats up this cycle. Both represented states which heavily supported President-elect Trump. But Brown and Tester consistently proved they could win their races in challenging environments. Plus, there was something else going for them: Brown and Tester always appearing on the ballot in Democratic years: 2006, 2012 and 2018. Democrats won the House and Senate in 2006. That was the “six-year itch” election for President George W. Bush. The second midterm is often brutal for the party of the president in Congress. Voters returned former President Obama to the White House in 2012. Democrats won the House in 2018. 2024? Not a good year for Democrats. TOP REPUBLICAN PRIVATELY BACKING THUNE TO SUCCEED MCCONNELL IN GOP LEADER RACE In Ohio, it appears that Mr. Trump won the Buckeye State by a staggering 11 points. It was always believed that Sen.-elect Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, would run behind Mr. Trump and that the President-elect needed to carry Ohio by about 10 points to unseat Brown. Moreno wound up toppling Brown by four points. Sen.-elect Dave McCormick, R-Penn., appears to have unseated Sen. Bob Casey, D-Penn. The underperformance of Vice President Harris in the Keystone State really harmed Democrats like Casey. Harris lost Pennsylvania by about two points. Something else about Casey? Like Brown and Tester, he was on the same election cycle: 2006, 2012, 2018 and 2024. Democrats would have a fighting chance at flipping the House had they performed better in Pennsylvania. They failed to unseat former Freedom Caucus Chairman Rep. Scott Perry, R-Penn. Meantime, GOP challengers defeated Reps. Susan Wild, D-Penn., and Matt Cartwright, D-Penn. Democrats needed to knock off Perry and hold those seats to claim the House. Despite being in the same boat as Brown, Tester and Casey, Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc., prevailed in a battleground state captured by Mr. Trump. Rep. and Sen.-elect Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., also won in a state carried by the incoming President. In the House, Democrats clung to several key seats they needed in order to flip the House. Rep.-elect Eugene Vindman, D-Va., defeated Republican Derrick Anderson in central Virginia. Reps. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio is on track to hold her seat. And Emilia Sykes, D-Ohio, won – despite Brown’s loss and the blowout of the President-elect. Freshman Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-N.M, won re-election, vanquishing former Rep. Yvette Herrell, R-N.M., in what has been the swingiest district in the country. Vasquez’s district in southern New Mexico has toggled between the parties in each election since 2016. Democrat Janelle Bynum is leading Rep. Lori Chavez-Deremer, R-Ore. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., topped Republican Joe Kent. Gluesenkamp Perez was the surprise winner of all House races in 2022. A ‘VERY DIFFERENT SCENARIO’ FOR THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ELECTIONS IN 2024 During an interview with colleague Bret Baier, Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., cited how moderates like Gluesenkamp Perez ran campaigns to fit their districts and scored reelection. “In Marie’s case, she was criticized by the Washington state Democratic party for some of her votes and some of the positions she has taken. They threatened her with a primary. And then she went out there and won in a Trump plus-six district,” said Smith. Smith added that fellow Democrats “should learn a lot from” the likes of Gluesenkamp Perez, Reps. Don Davis, D-N.C., Pat Ryan, D-N.Y. and Vasquez. In other words, Democrats seemed to do many of the things necessary to gain control of the House. But not enough. Take California. ALL EYES ON CALIFORNIA AS HOUSE MAJORITY STILL HINGES ON TIGHT RACES It was thought that Vice President Harris atop of the ticket could help Democrats flip five or six seats in the Golden State alone. Harris is the state’s former Attorney General and U.S. senator. No dice. Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif., prevailed in her race. Reps. David Valadao, R-Calif., Ken Calvert, R-Calif., Michelle Steel, R-Calif., and John Duarte, R-Calif., are all poised to hold their seats. Things remain close between Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Calif., and Democratic challenger George Whitesides. The same with Democrat Dave Min and Republican Scott Baugh in the state’s 47th Congressional district. Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., vacated that seat in her unsuccessful quest for the Senate. “These are areas that have been Democrat strongholds, and we’re within that fraction of a percentage of taking two more. So the voter shift was significant in a deep blue state. Let’s not kid ourselves. We are a deep blue state. But the shift is significant,” said Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., on Fox Business. The current breakdown in the House is as follows: 432 members. 220 Republicans, 212 Democrats. There are three vacancies: Late Reps. Sheila
Biden appears to struggle while walking on beach with first lady
A video clip making the rounds online shows President Biden appearing to struggle while walking on the beach with first lady Jill Biden. The video shows the outgoing president and his wife padding across the sands of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where he was spending the weekend, as Secret Service members stand by. Biden, 81, can be seen visibly struggling to trudge through the sand, looking as if he is on the verge of toppling over. At one point, the first lady grabs his arm to hold him steady. Off camera, people can be heard asking him what he will say to Donald Trump when the president-elect visits the White House on Wednesday for a traditional post-election meeting. FORMER HARRIS STAFFER CALLS ON BIDEN TO RESIGN, INSTALL HARRIS AS FIRST FEMALE PRESIDENT Such a meeting is customary between the outgoing president and the incoming president and is meant partly to mark the start of a peaceful transfer of power under America’s democracy. The video prompted a flurry of jokes and speculation about Biden’s physical fitness, recalling the barrage of criticism the president received after his June debate performance that ultimately led to him dropping out of the 2024 presidential race. On X, podcast host Benny Johnson quipped, “Joe Biden’s latest opponent: Sand.” Another commented the video was “Brutal to watch.” “Joe Biden can’t walk on sand,” League of American Workers founder Steve Cortes commented. “This man is the President for the next 71 days.” DEM PARTY BLAME GAME: ACCUSATIONS FLY AS TO WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR HARRIS’ MASSIVE LOSS TO TRUMP After losing to Biden in 2020, Trump resoundingly beat Vice President Harris, the Democrat presidential nominee, on Tuesday. Trump is the first former president to return to power for a nonconsecutive term since Grover Cleveland regained the White House in the 1892 election. The White House said Biden called Trump this past Wednesday to congratulate him and invite him to meet in the Oval Office. Their meeting is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Wednesday. In a speech Thursday, Biden said he assured Trump “that I would direct my entire administration to work with his team to ensure a peaceful and orderly transition. That’s what the American people deserve.” Asked about Trump as he left church on Saturday in Rehoboth Beach, Biden said, “I’m going to see him on Wednesday.” Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for a response. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Canada remembers Murray Sinclair, trailblazing Indigenous judge and senator
Relatives, friends and leaders say Sinclair, who died this week aged 73, and his legacy will ‘never be forgotten’. Canada has held a national memorial for Murray Sinclair, a trailblazing Indigenous judge and senator who led the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission into abuses committed against Indigenous children at residential schools. The public event on Sunday afternoon in Winnipeg, in central Canada, came days after Sinclair passed away on November 4 at age 73. “Few people have shaped this country in the way that my father has, and few people can say they changed the course of this country the way that my father had – to put us on a better path,” his son Niigaan Sinclair said at the start of the memorial. “All of us: Indigenous, Canadians, newcomers, every person whether you are new to this place or whether you have been here since time immemorial, from the beginning, all of us have been touched by him in some way.” Sinclair, an Anishinaabe lawyer and senator and a member of the Peguis First Nation, was the first Indigenous judge in Manitoba and the second-ever in Canada. As chief commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), Sinclair organised hundreds of hearings across Canada to hear directly from survivors of the country’s residential school system. Caring Society statement on the Passing of the Honourable Murray Sinclair. pic.twitter.com/inhhyamNKt — First Nations Child & Family Caring Society (@CaringSociety) November 4, 2024 From the late 1800s until 1996, Canada forcibly removed an estimated 150,000 Indigenous children from their families and forced them to attend the institutions. They were made to cut their hair, forbidden from speaking their native language, and many were physically and sexually abused. “The residential school system established for Canada’s Indigenous population in the nineteenth century is one of the darkest, most troubling chapters in our nation’s history,” Sinclair wrote in the TRC’s final report. “It is clear that residential schools were a key component of a Canadian government policy of cultural genocide.” Mary Simon, Canada’s first Indigenous governor general, described Sinclair during Sunday’s memorial as “the voice of truth, justice and healing”. She said he had “a heart brave enough to expose injustices, yet generous enough to make everyone around him feel welcome and important”. Other Indigenous community leaders and advocates across Canada also have spent the past week remembering Sinclair for his unwavering commitment to confronting the systemic racism faced by Indigenous people. “One of the greatest insights he shared is that reconciliation is not a task to be done by Survivors. True reconciliation, he said, must include institutional change,” Alvin Fiddler, grand chief of Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) in northern Ontario, said in a statement after Sinclair’s death. Sinclair speaks at a Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada event in 2015 [Blair Gable/Reuters] “Reconciliation, he taught us, is ours to achieve,” Fiddler said. “The work ahead of us is difficult, but we share his belief that we owe it to each other to build a country based on a shared future of healing and trust. Murray encouraged us to walk the path towards reconciliation. Accepting this responsibility is a fitting way to honour his legacy.” Pam Palmater, chair of Indigenous governance at Toronto Metropolitan University, said Sinclair was someone who “never stopped educating Canadians … and making sure we never forget”. In an interview with CBC News on Sunday, Palmater noted that Sinclair “didn’t just conduct the TRC”; he was involved in many other initiatives, including an inquiry into child deaths in Manitoba and an investigation into the police department in Thunder Bay, Ontario. “He’s never going to be forgotten. He’s one of those people where his legacy lives on,” Palmater said. “His impact is going to be felt for many decades to come.” Adblock test (Why?)
Haiti’s transitional council moves to replace PM in contentious move
Council sets out to replace interim Prime Minister Garry Conille, marking more political turmoil and instability. A transitional council tasked with re-establishing democratic order in Haiti has signed a decree sacking interim Prime Minister Garry Conille, in a contentious move that highlights deepening political turmoil in the Caribbean nation. The decree, seen by The Associated Press, Reuters and AFP news agencies and set to be published on Monday, sets out to replace Conille with Alix Didier Fils-Aime, a businessman previously considered for the job. The nine-member council, which was formed in April to try to help Haiti chart a path forward amid surging gang violence and years of instability, appointed Conille as prime minister in May. But the council has been plagued by infighting and has long been at loggerheads with the prime minister, a longtime civil servant who previously worked with the United Nations. The Miami Herald reported that Conille and Leslie Voltaire, who leads the council, are at odds over a cabinet reshuffling and the removal of three council members named in a bribery scandal. Last month, anticorruption investigators accused those three council members of demanding $750,000 in bribes from a government bank director to secure his job. The report was a significant blow to the council and is expected to further erode public trust in it. The three members accused of bribery – Smith Augustin, Emmanuel Vertilaire and Louis Gerald Gilles – were among those to sign Sunday’s decree. Only one member of the council, Edgard Leblanc Fils, did not sign the order. Still, there are “divergent views” on whether the transitional council – whose members represent various political and civil society groups – has the power to remove Conille, the Miami Herald reported. “Constitutionally, only the Haitian Parliament can fire a prime minister, and presidents in the past have done so through political maneuvering by getting supporters in one of the two chambers of government,” the newspaper explained. “Haiti, however, is in the throes of a constitutional crisis where there is no Parliament and no democratically elected leader in the entire country.” The political turmoil comes as Haiti continues to reel from widespread gang violence, with armed groups exerting control over 80 percent of the capital, Port-au-Prince. Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera’s John Holman noted that a multinational, UN-backed policing mission in Haiti – deployed earlier this year and led by Kenya – “doesn’t seem to have made a dent” in the power of the armed groups. The gangs routinely use murder, kidnappings and sexual violence in their fight for control of territory across Port-au-Prince and other parts of the country. “It seems that the gangs are as powerful as ever right now,” Holman said. Last month, the UN warned that nearly half of all Haitians – some 5.41 million people – were experiencing acute food insecurity as a result of the violence. More than 700,000 people, more than half of whom are children, have been displaced from their homes, according to the International Organization for Migration. Adblock test (Why?)
Earthquake rocks Cuba as residents struggle to recover from recent storms
Officials say efforts to assess damage are under way after 6.8-magnitude earthquake hits eastern Cuba. A powerful earthquake has hit eastern Cuba, adding more problems to a country still reeling from a series of recent storms and blackouts. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported on Sunday that a magnitude 6.8 earthquake hit about 40km (25 miles) south of the town of Bartolome Maso. No deaths or injuries have been reported so far. “There have been landslides, damage to homes and power lines,” Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said in a social media post, adding that the areas of Santiago de Cuba and Granma were affected. “We are beginning to assess the damage in order to begin recovery. The first and most important thing is to save lives,” he said. People in affected provinces have said the earthquake was one of the most powerful they have felt in their lives – no small feat in an area that the USGS says has experienced 23 earthquakes of magnitude 5 and above in the last 50 years. “We’ve felt earthquakes in the past, but nothing like this,” Santiago resident Griselda Fernandez told the Reuters news agency. Other residents in Santiago, Cuba’s second-largest city, reported that the quake caused buildings to shake and that many people were still standing nervously in their doorways. “You had to see how everything was moving, the walls, everything,” Yolanda Tabio, a 76-year-old in the city, told The Associated Press. Many of the region’s homes and buildings are older and vulnerable to earthquake damage. State-run media published images of terracota roofs and facades of concrete block homes that had collapsed with the shake. Many images showed structural damage to ceilings, walls, windows columns as well as to public infrastructure. The USGS said that nearby countries such as Jamaica also felt some effects. The tremor is the latest in a series of natural disasters that have compounded existing infrastructure problems in Cuba, where large swaths of the population also face economic insecurity. In October, Hurricane Oscar brought heavy rains and widespread power outages to the island and left at least six people dead after making landfall in eastern Cuba. Another storm, Hurricane Rafael, knocked out power for at least 10 million people after slamming into the eastern part of the island last week. The storm uprooted trees and knocked down telephone poles. Hundreds of buildings were destroyed and hundreds of thousands of people were displaced. Adblock test (Why?)