US-Canada border eyed as vulnerability by China, Russia, says Patel: ‘The enemy adapts’

U.S. adversaries such as China and Russia have started to target the northern U.S. border with Canada, FBI Director Kash Patel told lawmakers Wednesday.

During testimony in front of the House Intelligence Committee, Patel told lawmakers that the “effective resolution” to the crisis at the southern border has caused adversaries such as China, Russia and Iran to shift their resources to targeting the U.S. northern border.

“The enemy adapts,” Patel said.

FBI DIRECTOR KASH PATEL SENDS MEMO CALLING CNN REPORT OF ATF CUTS ‘ENTIRELY FALSE’

While Patel noted that adversaries have not stopped using the southern border altogether, the “monumental effort” to secure the border and stop known or suspected terrorists from coming into the country has made moving people and substances, such as fentanyl, illegally more difficult since President Donald Trump took office.

Patel’s comments come as Trump has overseen a dramatic shift at the U.S. southern border since taking office in January, with the number of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recorded encounters plummeting by 90% in most sectors compared to the same time period last year.

That shift has been aided by deployments of thousands of U.S. military troops to the border, who have assisted CBP agents with everything from reinforcing barriers to surveillance of potential illegal crossers.

FBI LAUNCHES TASK FORCE TO CRACK DOWN ON VIOLENT TESLA ATTACKS, MIGRANT THREATS

The sudden silence at the southern border comes after record-setting numbers of illegal crossings during the four years of the Biden administration, a trend that also saw a dramatic increase in attempted crossings from immigrants outside of North and Latin America.

Chinese nationals were among the most likely to attempt illegal crossings, with the number of crossings from citizens of the country rising to over 24,000 in 2023, an over 5,200% increase from the 450 encounters just a year earlier, according to CBP data.

Overall, Patel told lawmakers that between 2022 and 2025, roughly 178,000 Chinese nationals attempted to cross the southern border.

Patel warned that the new security of the southern border could now open up threats to the north, arguing that U.S. adversaries will use the same tactics they previously used on sectors not receiving as much security attention.

The FBI did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.

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This year’s March Madness reflects rise of Red State America

Last year, for the first time in American history, the northeast surrendered its 250-year title as the financial and industrial capital of the United States. That title now belongs to the Southeast, America’s new economically dominant region, as measured by GDP.  That’s in large part due to the massive growth of Florida, Texas and North Carolina. (Texas is technically part of the Southeast these days for reasons too complicated to explain here.)

Our new website at Unleash Prosperity, called VoteWithYourFeet.com chronicles the massive migration over the past 25 years of businesses, people and capital from the high-tax and heavy regulation zones of the northeast and the west coast, to the low-tax and light-regulation regions – the south and more recently to the mountain states like booming Idaho and Utah. 

From 2020-23, the southeast gained a net 2.5 million more residents, while the northeast lost in net-migration from other states, almost exclusively people leaving the northeast, California and Illinois.   

‘TICKED OFF’ TOM IZZO RANTS ABOUT NCAA TRANSFER PORTAL OPENING AS MICHIGAN STATE PREPARES FOR SWEET 16

This declining influence of the blue states is embarrassingly amplified by what is happening in college sports. The South has won 17 of the last 20 national championships with the Southeast Conference gaining most of those titles. 

Now look at this year’s “sweet sixteen” in the NCAA basketball tournament.  Amazingly, 15 of the 16 teams that have still survived the first two rounds of the tournament’s first weekend of madness are located in states won by Donald J. Trump in November. 

The survivors include Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Auburn, Brigham Young, Duke, Florida, Houston, Kentucky, Michigan, Michigan State, Mississippi, Purdue, Tennessee, Texas A&M and Texas Tech.  The only outlier was Maryland. Admittedly, Arizona, and Michigan are purple states but all the rest are ruled by Republicans and have a long history of low taxes.  

2025 MEN’S MARCH MADNESS ODDS: TITLE CHANCES FOR SWEET 16 TEAMS

It wasn’t that long ago that the college basketball champion trophy resided in Westwood, California — with John Wooden’s UCLA Bruins stampeding over opponents in the 1960s and early 1970s mostly with home-grown Golden State talent.  Then, in the mid-1980s, it was the rugged Big East with schools like Syracuse, Georgetown, St. Johns and Villanova bulldozing through the NCAA tournament with kids from New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. In 1985 for the first and only time ever — three of the Final Four teams were from the same conference: the Big East.  Now these teams have sunk into mediocrity.  

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The one glaring exception is Connecticut, which won two straight national championships, but even this beast from the East failed to survive the opening weekend of the tournament.

The outlook for a blue state sports comeback anytime soon looks bleak.  According to Rivals, a top recruiting database, 28 of this year’s top 40 high school basketball prospects were located in red states, with Florida, Texas, Georgia and North Carolina producing the most gifted and talented athletes. 

The regional disparity in football high school star recruits is even more pronounced.  Amazingly, 75 percent of the Top 40 high school football seniors are from red states.  

Not only are blue-state progressive policies chasing out businesses, jobs and capital, but now they are driving away young talent and turning blue-state America into sports wastelands. 

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Botched late-term abortion spurs lawsuit in blue-state court: ‘Horrific’

An anonymous woman filed a rare medical negligence lawsuit last week against an Illinois abortionist after a late-term abortion took a “horrific” turn when an emergency hospital visit revealed “half of a deceased pre-born human being” was found left inside her. 

Chicago injury attorney Richard Craig filed the lawsuit on behalf of Jane Doe from Indiana, naming both the Champaign-based Equity Clinic and its founder, Dr. Keith Reisinger-Kindle, as defendants. 

Craig told Fox News Digital in an interview Thursday he’s “never been presented” with a case like this.

DEFUND ‘BIG ABORTION’ INDUSTRY THAT THRIVED UNDER BIDEN, 150 PRO-LIFE GROUPS URGE CONGRESS

The suit alleges that during a 22-week abortion performed in April 2023, Reisinger-Kindle left parts of the fetus inside the woman’s body, leading to severe complications. After the procedure, when the woman reported persistent cramping, Reisinger-Kindle allegedly advised her to take over-the-counter pain relievers and laxatives. She later underwent emergency surgery to remove the body parts. Doe is seeking damages for medical negligence and emotional distress.

“This is someone who performed an abortion that at 22 weeks of gestation – which at that point renders a two-day process – and then on the second day, when most of the work is done, at the culmination of his work, he entered a note, saying, these are his words, ‘products of conception were visibly inspected and confirmed to be complete,’” Craig said. “That’s his note. Well, clearly that didn’t happen.”

“When she presented to the emergency room two days later, they found what they described to be as a half of a pre-deceased fetus,” Craig said. “And the films that are in the records actually suggests more like two-thirds. So, how could he say that he visibly inspected her?”

Doe, a mother of four, also alleged that Reisinger-Kindle refused to provide pertinent information to the attending surgeons without her consent.

In a medical report included in the lawsuit filings, an obstetrician/gynecologist asserts that Reisinger-Kindle “deviated from a reasonable standard of care” during the abortion by perforating the plaintiff’s uterus and failing to recognize the injury. 

DOGE MUST ‘DEFUND’ PLANNED PARENTHOOD, MIKE PENCE’S WATCHDOG GROUP URGES MUSK

The report also states that Reisinger-Kindle “failed to adequately examine the fetal parts” after the procedure. According to the lawsuit, there was a hole in the woman’s uterus roughly the size of a large coin. The report notes that if Reisinger-Kindle “performed an adequate exam of the remains, it should have been obvious that fetal parts were left behind.”

In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade and leaving it up to states to decide on abortion, Illinois has solidified its position as a haven for the procedure, enacting a series of legislative measures to shield both providers and out-of-state women seeking abortion services from lawsuits. 

FEDS GAVE $700M TO PLANNED PARENTHOOD DURING YEAR OF RECORD ABORTIONS

Reisinger-Kindle, who was featured in a Chicago Tribune article, was one of many providers who opened abortion clinics in the Midwest following the high court’s ruling.

Craig – who said taking the case won’t make him “any friends in Illinois” – also alleged Reisinger-Kindle didn’t administer any pain-relief medication to the fetus, which would have stopped its heartbeat, prior to its dismemberment.

“The current laws would prevent me, for instance, from pursuing a claim against this doctor on behalf of the child for what had to be excruciating pain that the child underwent while he was being dismembered piece by piece, without any pain relief,” Craig said. “And so those laws do, in fact, prevent me, or anybody from taking that position and seeking redress for that on the behalf of the child.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to Reisinger-Kindle for comment but did not hear back by time of publication.

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Brazilian ex-President Bolsonaro ordered to stand trial over alleged coup plan

A panel of justices on Brazil’s Supreme Court on Wednesday accepted charges against former President Jair Bolsonaro over an alleged attempt to stay in office after his 2022 election defeat, and they ordered the former leader to stand trial.

All five justices ruled in favor of accepting the charges leveled by Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet, who accused Bolsonaro and 33 others of attempting a coup that included a plan to poison his successor, current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and kill a Supreme Court judge.

The justices said seven close allies should also stand trial on five counts: attempting to stage a coup, involvement in an armed criminal organization, attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, damage characterized by violence and a serious threat to the state’s assets, and deterioration of listed heritage.

RUMBLE, TRUMP MEDIA DECLARE ‘COMPLETE VICTORY FOR FREE SPEECH’ IN WIN AGAINST BRAZILIAN JUDGE

The former president has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and says he’s being politically persecuted. A lawyer for Bolsonaro did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Under Brazilian law, a coup conviction carries a sentence of up to 12 years. When combined with the other charges, it could result in a sentence of decades behind bars.

“Coups kill,” Justice Flávio Dino said when casting his vote. “It doesn’t matter if it happens today, the following month or a few years later.”

Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet on Tuesday said those facing the charges sought to keep Bolsonaro in power “at all costs,” in a multistep scheme that accelerated after the far-right politician lost to the current president.

As in his February indictment, Gonet said part of the plot included a plan to kill Lula and Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who were put under surveillance by the alleged conspirators.

The plan did not go ahead because at the last minute the accused failed to get the army’s commander on board, Gonet said.

“Frustration overwhelmed the members of the criminal organization who, however, did not give up on the violent seizure of power, not even after the elected president of the republic was sworn in,” Gonet said.

That was a reference to the Jan. 8, 2023, riot when Bolsonaro’s die-hard supporters stormed and trashed the Supreme Court, presidential palace and Congress in Brasilia a week after Lula took office.

De Moraes on Wednesday showed the panel a video clip with scenes from that day. “We had a very violent coup attempt,” he said. “A savage violence, in total incivility, with the request for military intervention in the coup d’état.”

Bolsonaro’s running mate during the 2022 election and former Defense Minister Walter Braga Netto, ex-Justice Minister Anderson Torres and his aide-de-camp Mauro Cid, among others, will also stand trial. The court will decide on the fate of the others later.

Bolsonaro, a former military officer who was known to express nostalgia for the country’s 1964-1985 dictatorship, openly defied Brazil’s judicial system during his 2019-2022 term in office.

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Amazon Big Spring Sale: Gear up for spring travel with these 10 essentials

Spring means travel season is upon us! Start getting excited for all your spring and summer trips by gearing up with all your necessary travel essentials. Shop now for luggage options, travel safety accessories and TSA-approved items.

Amazon’s Big Spring Sale has all these travel essentials and more at a discount. The sale starts on March 25 and runs until March 31.

You must be an Amazon Prime member to access these exclusive deals. If you’re not, sign up or start a free trial to access Amazon’s Prime Day savings. Prime membership costs $139 annually or $14.99 per month – and if you’re a student, take advantage of special pricing discounts on Prime membership.

Original price: $29.99

A True Religion crossbody bag is great for outings while you’re traveling out of town. It has a large main compartment that can fit your phone, wallet and keys, as well as a small front compartment and an additional back compartment for your passport or other valuables. The bag comes in nine different colors like black, red, olive green and tan.

Original price: $27.99

Keep your toiletries well organized with a large toiletry bag. It has space for all your family’s shampoo, conditioners, soaps and makeup. Just unzip the pouch and four separate compartments will unfold. The bag’s handle has a built-in hook, so you can easily hang up your bag in your hotel closet.

15 TRAVEL ESSENTIALS YOU NEED FOR YOUR FIRST CRUISE

Original price: $39.58

Pack more when you use compression packing cubes. This set of six packing cubes compresses your clothes or shoes down as you zip, giving you more space in your suitcase. Made from 50% recycled materials, the packing cubes are still durable enough to last.

Original price: $9.98

If you travel with a lot of makeup, this floral travel makeup bag can hold everything you need. You can also get the bag in a vintage strawberry print or a basic cream color. The bag offers enough space to hold all your essentials, from makeup brushes to your five-step skincare routine.

Original price: $199.99

Long trips require a lot of luggage. This five-piece luggage set comes with two hardcase suitcases and a matching hardcase carry-on. Included is a weekender duffel bag and a toiletry bag, all for less than $200.

Original price: $26.99

Keeping track of your family’s passports is vital, so keep them organized with a passport holder. The RFID-blocking technology keeps your information safe if you want to store your credit cards in the passport holder.

Original price: $29.99

Losing your wallet while you’re traveling can put a swift end to your trip. Don’t take the chance, use an AirTag wallet that comes with a built-in Apple AirTag. Should you lose your wallet, you can track it with your iPhone. Outside of the AirTag, it’s a typical wallet with plenty of spaces for all your cards and cash.

BE A COOL TOURIST WITH THESE 7 TRAVEL ESSENTIALS

Original price: $15.99

Add even more storage space with a luggage travel cup holder. Just slide the cup holder around your luggage handle and you have two cupholders to store your drinks. The back pocket also has enough room for your phone, sun glasses or other belongings.

Bring your favorite shampoo and conditioner in these TSA-approved travel bottles. You get a set of four bottles and a plastic carrying case to house them in. You can reuse this bottle set over and over again on all your travels.

For more deals, visit www.foxnews.com/category/deals

Original price: $10.99

A handheld luggage scale can ensure your suitcase isn’t over the weight limit set by your airline. All you need to do is strap it to your luggage handle and lift and you’ll see the weight displayed on the small screen.

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GREGG JARRETT: Trump is president but dangerous lawfare still raging against him

“Nazis got better treatment under the Alien Enemy Act than has happened here.”  

Those somewhat snarky words were spoken Judge Patricia Millett of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals during a contentious hearing on Monday involving the deportation of Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang members from the United States.  

Millett, an Obama-appointed judge, appears to have fully embraced a tired tactic of the Left – never miss an opportunity to use the word “Nazi” when discussing Donald Trump. Granted, that may be a cynical interpretation.   

SCOOP: TOP REPUBLICAN CHUCK GRASSLEY SETS PROMPT HEARING ON JUDGES BLOCKING TRUMP

Yet, her incendiary rhetoric was not accidental. One wonders whether it was meant to disguise a potential weakness in her reasoning that members of the violent Venezuelan TdA terror group have an absolute right to due process and a hearing in court before being removed.

I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt.  Sometimes hyperbole drives home a valid point.  

Generally speaking, due process of law entitles people to some kind of hearing before being deprived of “life, liberty, or property.” It is enshrined in the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. Typically, it affixes when individuals are accused of crimes. But it does not imply conventional court proceedings in all cases.  

Importantly, deportation is not a criminal prosecution within the meaning of the Bill of Rights. Instead, the authority to deport is drawn from the power of Congress. This is a salient distinction in the case of the TdA terror gangs. 

Let’s step back.

In 1798, the Fifth Congress passed a law known as the Alien Enemies Act. It granted to the president sole authority to expedite the removal of enemy aliens from American soil during a declared war or (emphasis added) a “predatory incursion.”  

President Trump invoked the Act under the latter provision. Based on compelling evidence gathered by the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security, violent gang members of a designated terror organization were arrested, detained, and deported.  

Even if one were to accept Millett’s argument, the decision of an executive or administrative officer acting at the behest of the president and within the powers expressly conferred by Congress, constitutes an alternative and accepted form of due process (United States v. Ju Toy, 198 U.S. 253). Hence, a standard judicial hearing is not necessarily required.

Presidential use of the Alien Enemies Act is not novel. As I explained in an earlier column, it is well-established, has never been repealed, and has been reviewed by courts numerous times. Four different presidents have invoked it, three of them Democrats in the 20th century. 

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld President Harry Truman’s use of the Act in the case of Ludecke v. Watkins (33 U.S. 160) in 1948. The high court declared that the deportation of enemy aliens may be ordered summarily by executive action. “The very nature of the President’s power to order the removal of all enemy aliens rejects the notion that courts may pass judgment upon the exercise of his discretion,” said the court.  

In other words, Congress deliberately granted the president extraordinary powers that cannot be challenged or nullified by any judge or court. The Supreme Court recognized there was a risk of abuse or error, but Congress knowingly accepted the risk: “Such great powers may be abused, no doubt, but that is a bad reason for having judges supervise their exercise…”   

I do not question Judge Millett’s sincerity. She raises a perfectly legitimate point about due process, albeit with provocative language. Given the discourse in court on Monday, I would expect the appellate panel to rule that the right to a court hearing in no way infringes on the president’s unfettered right to invoke the Alien Enemies Act. Both can be true.  

The Supreme Court may be obliged to sort it all out.   

What is most troubling about this case are the actions of District Court Judge James Boasberg who initiated the imbroglio when he issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) and demanded that planes carrying TdA terrorists be halted mid-air and returned to the U.S.  

The absurdity of that directive is self-evident. No judge has the authority to dictate the direction of travel beyond American airspace. Yet, it has become his irrational obsession as he continues to fixate on departure times and other detailed flight information.  He embodies the quintessential qualities of an “activist judge” – bereft of objectivity while enamored of his own imagined power.  

Regrettably, the federal bench is over-populated with them.

Many have become witting accessories in the shameful practice of “judge shopping.” Democrats and liberal groups have elevated it into an art form. Whenever Trump does something  – anything – they race like a bat out of hell to a favorable venue and preferable judge where the result is preordained against Trump.  It’s like rigging the roulette table. 

The Trump deportation case is a prime example. The original five plaintiffs were being held in Texas at the very moment their petition for a TRO was filed. Under law, only a federal court in Texas had jurisdiction, not Boasberg in Washington, D.C. The appellate court should toss out the entire case on that basis alone, but I doubt it will.  

There is another, equally significant, reason why Boasberg’s TRO is a lawless abuse of power. His directive halting deportations is a “universal injunction.” That is, a nationwide order which extends way beyond his very limited district authority. 

The scourge of universal injunctions has reached epidemic levels. It is the latest cudgel by which Trump’s opponents are attempting to bludgeon his agenda.  It is another insidious form of “lawfare.” Having failed in their criminal cases to stop him from ascending to the presidency, they now scheme to dragoon his policy initiatives.  

It is no coincidence that Trump’s adversaries have obtained more injunctions against him during the first two months of his presidency than his predecessor’s entire four-year term. These unelected activist judges have appointed themselves “super presidents” with the power to countermand the elected president.   

Their judicial decisions are not constitutional checks and balances. They are a brazen usurpation of executive authority under the cloak of a black robe. It is a demolition of our cherished separation of powers, and it is spiraling dangerously out of control.  

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It is high time that Congress, which created our federal courts, intervene to rein in the abuse. It must limit or circumscribe district court jurisdiction and bulldoze the dishonest and unethical practice of “judge shopping.”  

Both the House and Senate have separate, but similar, bills designed to do just that. Soon, the lower chamber will hold hearings intended to advance their measure aptly named, “The No Rogue Rulings Act.”

At the same time, it is incumbent on the Supreme Court to move with alacrity to reassert itself. The justices should seize control of the cases where lower court judges have commandeered authority and issued decisions that mangle the law. Those rulings must be repudiated. 

A great many Americans support President Trump’s determination to rapidly evict enemy aliens who murder, rape, extort, and commit an endless array of despicable crimes. TdA is the personification of a “predatory incursion.”  Citizens are understandably furious that judges like Boasberg care more about the welfare of terrorist criminals than their innocent victims. 

The federal judiciary is broken. Doing nothing is not an option, and cosmetic changes will accomplish little. New and muscular rules must be imposed to rectify the chronic abuse by activist judges.  

The question is… who will have the fortitude to do it?

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Jasmine Crockett Rages at Republicans in Hearing: The Fact ‘That You Want To Shut Down Everybody That Is Not Fox News Is Bullsh*t!’

Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) accused her Republican colleagues of being on a mission to shut down unfriendly media outlets at a Wednesday hearing where NPR and PBS were put in the hot seats.

Crockett blasted Republicans at a House hearing on Wednesday where Paula Kerger, the chief executive of PBS, and Katherine Maher, the chief executive of NPR, testified as both outlets and their public funding have become targets of Republicans.

During Crockett’s time at Wednesday’s hearing, the congresswoman accused Republicans of not caring about the “safety” of rural Americans, noting local outlets responsible for emergency broadcasting receive public funds. She also pushed back on accusations from Republicans that PBS and NPR have pushed biased coverage of the right, noting Maher was named CEO of NPR only in 2024.

At Wednesday’s hearing, Republican lawmakers called for an end to public funds going to NPR and PBS and blasted both as having a history of being biased towards the left.

“For too long, taxpayers have been asked to fund biased news. this needs to end, and it needs to end now,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) said in her opening remarks. She called NPR and PBS “radical left-wing echo chambers.”

Crockett, who is facing backlash this week for mocking disabled Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) as Gov. “Hot Wheels,” claimed Republicans are on a warpath against unfriendly media outlets. According to Crockett, they want to get rid of everything but Fox News.

“To be clear, free speech is not about what y’all want somebody to say and the idea that you want to shut down everybody that is not Fox News is bullshit! We need to stop playing because that’s what y’all are doing here,” she said.

The Texas representative continued by quoting the Constitution as she was gaveled and informed her time was up.

“You don’t want to hear the opinions of anybody else and the Constitution says Congress shall make no law respecting or establishing of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof or abridging free speech or the press,” she said.

Watch above via CSPAN.

The post Jasmine Crockett Rages at Republicans in Hearing: The Fact ‘That You Want To Shut Down Everybody That Is Not Fox News Is Bullsh*t!’ first appeared on Mediaite.

DAVID MARCUS: It’s all aid, no wokeness in Trump’s West Virginia flood response

The devastating flooding in West Virginia on Feb. 15 that took two lives and caused upwards of $40 million in damage has been an early test of the Trump administration’s disaster response, and despite complaints that Trump is “gutting the government,” so far, it has been a smooth success.

In part, this success is owing to the administration’s laser focus on providing aid, without the moralizing and social justice sentiments that marred recent disaster relief efforts under the watch of Joe Biden.

TRUMP’S FEMA FACES RECKONING AS MORE STAFF FIRED IN ‘POLITICAL BIAS’ SCANDAL

Last week, Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va., and acting administrator of FEMA Cameron Hamilton visited the town of Welch, near the borders with Kentucky and Tennessee, to take in the devastation first-hand, and to show victims there exactly how their federal government is taking action.

“Figuring out the next steps and facilitating federal assistance to get folks back to a better place is what I was sent to Washington to do,” Justice told Fox News Digital. “At the end of the day, getting back to our home states and helping folks deal with real issues impacting them is exactly why we as a party were able to win by such a wide margin.”

And what were some of the forms of this federal assistance that Justice and Hamilton were in Welch, not just touting, but making flood victims aware of? In just over a month, several federal agencies have had a flood of their own, one of aid to the community.

FEMA, among other things, has made assistance for temporary housing available, something the Biden administration often struggled with. The Small Business Administration has declared a disaster in several counties and made loans available. The Department of Housing and Urban Development is making financing for repairs available, and the USDA is providing grocery assistance.

It is a whole-of-government approach that has left many residents grateful, such as local elementary school principal Sarah Diaz, who appreciated Justice’s visit to her school.

“It’s awesome to see how much he supports our families with all this tremendous loss that we’ve gone through and that we’re bouncing back and filled with resilience,” Diaz, who told WVVA News. “We’re excited.”

The kids, it seems, were most excited to see the senator’s famous pooch, Babydog, who is his constant and stalwart sidekick.

We all know that absence of evidence is not the same as evidence of absence, but six weeks into this disaster we are not seeing the kind of anger and frustration we saw in the wake of last fall’s North Carolina and Florida floods.

This time around, there were no federal officials telling responders to avoid houses with Trump signs, there were no photo ops offering a few hundred dollars as if it was like winning the Publishers Clearinghouse sweepstakes.

The real story here is that there is no story. Everything is working as it should be, which is something we were not accustomed to under Joe Biden.

It does and should make us wonder if FEMA, and who knows what other agencies, have been focused on their core missions or, rather, in pursuing utopian fantasies of equity and intersectionality.

After all, if FEMA was spending time and energy warning about imaginary violent Trump supporters then their eyes were not fully on the actual mission at hand.

The administration’s response to the flooding in West Virginia is evidence that the government can trim needless fat from programs and not only maintain strong levels of service, but improve upon them. This, of course, won’t stop Democrats from saying the sky is falling.

As Justice put it, “Watching Democrats run around the country with their hair on fire, defending damn-near fraudulent levels of wasteful expenditures, and calling President Trump every derogatory political term possible is a completely delusional hill to die on and quite frankly a waste of time. People across the country voted against this and the people of West Virginia overwhelmingly voted against this.”

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For decades now, when Democrats are in charge of the Defense Department, or the FBI, or FEMA, we have heard agency leaders say again and again, “our first priority is diversity, or inclusion, or social justice,” but that idea is plainly absurd.

The first priority of defense is winning conflicts, not diversity, the first priority of law enforcement is fighting crime, not equity, and the first priority of disaster relief is to help people, not to scapegoat Trump voters as violent.

If the situation on the ground in West Virginia today is any indication of how the Trump administration will handle disasters going forward then the country is in good hands. 

After four years under Biden’s feckless and incompetent regime, this new approach is very welcome news.

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Ratcliffe says new Signal texts show he ‘did not transmit classified information’

CIA Director John Ratcliffe said the Signal chat texts published by The Atlantic Wednesday revealing the so-called “attack plans” targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels prove he “did not transmit classified information.” 

Ratcliffe, speaking during a House Intelligence Committee hearing on worldwide threats, told lawmakers “With regard to that article, I also would appreciate the opportunity to relay the fact that yesterday I spent four hours answering questions from senators as a result of that article that were intimating that I transmitted classified information because there were hidden messages.” 

“Those messages were revealed today and revealed that I did not transmit classified information, and that the reporter who I don’t know, I think intentionally intended it to indicate that,” Ratcliffe continued. “That reporter also indicated that I had released the name of an undercover CIA operative in that Signal chat. In fact, I had released the name of my chief of staff who was not operating undercover. That was deliberately false and misleading.” 

“I used an appropriate channel to communicate sensitive information. It was permissible to do so. I didn’t transfer any classified information. And at the end of the day, what is most important is that the mission was a remarkable success is what everyone should be focused on here, because that’s what did happen, not what possibly could have happened,” he also said. 

ATLANTIC REPORTER PUBLISHES MORE TEXTS ABOUT ATTACK ON HOUTHI TARGETS 

In messages published Wednesday, The Atlantic quoted Hegseth as saying in the Signal group text chat “TEAM UPDATE: TIME NOW (1144et): Weather is FAVORABLE. Just CONFIRMED w/CENTCOM we are a GO for mission launch. 1215et: F-18s LAUNCH (1st strike package). 1345: ‘Trigger Based’ F-18 1st Strike Window Starts (Target Terrorist is @ his Known Location so SHOULD BE ON TIME – also, Strike Drones Launch (MQ-9s),” Hegseth apparently wrote in a screenshot of a text message released Wednesday by The Atlantic.  

 “1410: More F-18s LAUNCH (2nd strike package). 1415: Strike Drones on Target (THIS IS WHEN THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP, pending earlier ‘Trigger Based’ targets). 1536 F-18 2nd Strike Starts – also, first sea-based Tomahawks launched,” Hegseth reportedly continued, before adding “we are currently clean on OPSEC [operational security]” and “Godspeed to our Warriors.” 

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard vowed during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing Tuesday that there was “no classified material” in the messages. 

“My answer yesterday was based on my recollection, or the lack thereof on the details that were posted there. What was shared today reflects the fact that I was not directly involved with that part of the signal chat and replied at the end, reflecting the effects, the very brief effects that the national security advisor had shared,” Gabbard said Wednesday when asked about the matter. 

“So it’s your testimony that less than two weeks ago, you were on a Signal chat that had all of this information about F-18s and MQ-9 Reapers and targets on strike. And you, in that two-week period, simply forgot that that was there. That’s your testimony?” Ranking Member Jim Himes, D-Conn., asked her. 

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“My testimony is I did not recall the exact details of what was included there,” Gabbard said. 

“That was not your testimony,” Himes responded. “Your testimony was that you were not aware of anything related to weapons, packages, targets and timing.” 

“As the testimony yesterday continued on, there were further questions, related to that, where I acknowledged that there was conversation about weapons,” Gabbard said. “And, I don’t remember the exact wording that I used, but I did not recall the specific details that were included.” 

At one point in Wednesday’s Senate hearing, Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said there were “operational details” in the Signal messages. 

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., and Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., also joined other Congressional Democrats calling for the resignation of Secretary of State Pete Hegseth over the leak. 

“There can be no fixes. There can be no corrections until there is accountability. And I’m calling on the administration to move forward with accountability,” Crow said.

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Prince Harry ‘in shock’ as he quits African charity amid foundation’s mounting legal issues

Prince Harry is parting ways with Sentebale, an African charity he co-founded in honor of his mother, Princess Diana, nearly two decades ago. 

On Monday, the Duke of Sussex, his co-founder Prince Seeiso of Lesotho and fellow trustees resigned amid tensions with Dr. Sophie Chandauka, the chair of the charity’s board, according to The Times.

“Nearly 20 years ago, we founded Sentebale in honour of our mothers. Sentebale means ‘forget-me-not’ in Sesotho, the local language of Lesotho, and it’s what we’ve always promised for the young people we’ve served through this charity,” Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso, who co-founded the charity in April 2006, said in a joint statement to The Times.

PRINCE HARRY CONFIRMS $1.5 MILLION FROM MEMOIR PROCEEDS WILL BE DONATED TO CHARITY

“Today is no different. With heavy hearts, we have resigned from our roles as patrons of the organization until further notice, in support of and solidarity with the board of trustees who have had to do the same. It is devastating that the relationship between the charity’s trustees and the chair of the board broke down beyond repair, creating an untenable situation.”

The Duke of Sussex co-founded the charity with Seeiso, whose mother died in 2003, after visiting Lesotho during his gap year in 2004. Sentebale was created to help people in Lesotho and Botswana living in poverty and those suffering from HIV and AIDS.

According to The Times, the charity had carried out a “restructuring” of its board as “confirmation of its strategy to redeploy senior roles to be proximate to most of the team and programs in southern Africa.” The outlet reported that Chandauka is believed to be suing the charity’s trustees after they voiced concerned over her leadership. 

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Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso said the trustees “acted in the best interest of the charity,” despite ongoing tensions with Chandauka. 

“These trustees acted in the best interest of the charity in asking the chair to step down, while keeping the well-being of staff in mind. In turn, she sued the charity to remain in this voluntary position, further underscoring the broken relationship.”

“We thank all the trustees for their service over the years and are truly heartbroken they’ve had to follow through with this act,” the statement continued. “What’s transpired is unthinkable. We are in shock that we have to do this, but we have a continued responsibility to Sentebale’s beneficiaries, so we will be sharing all of our concerns with the Charity Commission as to how this came about.”

“Although we may no longer be patrons, we will always be its founders, and we will never forget what this charity is capable of achieving when it is in the right care,” the statement concluded.

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In response, Chandauka reportedly filed a lawsuit against Sentebale in the High Court, and accused both princes of playing the “victim card,” CBS reported

“I chose to join Sentebale first and foremost as a proud African who understands that – in the spirit of Ubuntu [interconnectedness] – to whom much is given, much is expected,” she said in a statement to CBS. “Everything I do at Sentebale is in pursuit of the integrity of the organization, its mission, and the young people we serve. My actions are guided by the principles of fairness and equitable treatment for all, regardless of social status or financial means.”

“There are people in this world who behave as though they are above the law and mistreat people, and then play the victim card and use the very press they disdain to harm people who have the courage to challenge their conduct,” the statement continued. “Discerning readers will ask themselves: why would the chair of the board report her own trustees to the Charity Commission? Why would the High Court of England and Wales accept her application to hear the matter at all if the case had no merit?

“Well, because beneath all the victim narrative and fiction that has been syndicated to press is the story of a woman who dared to blow the whistle about issues of poor governance, weak executive management, abuse of power, bullying, harassment, misogyny, misogynoir [misogyny directed towards Black women] and the cover-up that ensued. I could be anyone.”

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Representatives for Prince Harry and Sentebale did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

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