This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
U.S. Transportation Sean Duffy sounded the alarm Sunday about the safety of American air travel, indicating he "can't stop the frustration of air-traffic controllers" who face higher-than-normal stress levels as they continue to work without pay 26 days into the federal government shutdown.
"You can see the stress, these people that often times live paycheck to paycheck," Duffy said on "Sunday Morning Futures" with Maria Bartiromo on the Fox News Channel. "I see that burn coming from the controllers."
"They're concerned about gas in the car. They're concerned about child care and mortgages. And so I'm seeing the stress come for the controllers. Just yesterday, Maria, we had 22 staffing triggers. That's one of the highest that we've seen in the system since the shutdown began and that's a sign that the controllers are wearing thin.
"They're taking second jobs. They're out here looking, 'Can I drive Uber? Can I find another source of income to make ends meet until Democrats stop with their radical push for illegal migrants and actually open up the government?'"
Duffy explained: "We have more people calling in sick, more people not showing up for work."
"There's real life situations that they're dealing with their families. I was in one of the towers, and they were celebrating the fact that the airlines had sent them lunch and sent them dinner. I don't want air-traffic controllers going to a food bank."
"The fact that they have to think about how they put food on the table, they need airlines to put food into the towers so they can have lunch or dinner is outrageous."
Duffy said in the next two or three days, he expects "more staffing shortages in towers which means you're gonna see more delays, more cancellations and then you see more Americans frustrated at Democrats and they'll say open up the government. Enough is enough."
When Bartiromo asked Duffy if it is even safe to fly at the current time, Duffy replied: "I need my controllers focused on the airspace, not about the finances at home. They'll tell me there is that seepage of how they're gonna deal with those finances. My job is to keep the airspace safe."
"And so if I don't feel like I have enough controllers, or enough controllers that are focused, we will slow down traffic, we will stop traffic. And that's why you see the delays in the system. And the job No. 1 is, again, get people to where they're going safely. If it's not on time, call the Democrats, call Chuck Schumer. if you're frustrated that you have a staffing shortage and your flight's three hours delayed or your flight is canceled, call Chuck, call Senate Democrats because this is the reason why."
From the earliest days of his 2024 presidential campaign, Donald Trump made clear his intention to reverse the Biden administration’s border failures and to get control of the criminal operations that thrived during his predecessor’s tenure.
Amid news that a well-known Mexican cartel boss was arrested earlier this month, Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard has stepped forward to praise the president and the “seriousness” with which he is taking the thorny challenge organizations such as the Sinaloa group represent, as the Daily Caller reports.
The DNI’s comments came during a Saturday interview on Fox News, when she left little doubt about her position on Trump’s commitment to curtailing cartel influence once and for all.
Gabbard referenced the Oct. 15 arrest of Leonardo Daniel “El Pato” Martinez Vera, a Sinaloa Cartel Plaza chief whose underlings had reportedly been involved in everything from kidnapping to murder.
The DNI was asked whether the apprehension of El Pato – an operation aided by her agency’s Counterterrorism Center -- is likely to send a strong warning shot to cartel leaders who were able to run rampant at the nation’s southern border during Biden’s time in office.
Gabbard declared in response, “Yes, it’s very significant,” adding that she wished she could reveal details of the operation itself, one which was orchestrated by agents currently working without pay “because of the Democrats’ government shutdown.”
She underscored the importance of Trump’s no-nonsense approach to battling the cartels, stating that “people are seeing President Trump is not messing around with this. If they try to resort to their own games of bribery and all of this other stuff, then they will be putting themselves in the target.”
From the first days of his second term in office, Trump made no secret of his plans to tackle the cartels, issuing an executive order on Jan. 20 designating cartels and other organizations as “foreign terrorist organizations and specially designated global terrorists.”
In doing so, the president declared that the “cartels functionally control, through a campaign of assassination, terror, rape, and brute force, nearly all illegal traffic across the southern border of the United States.”
The order went on to state that the activities of the cartels “threaten the safety of the American people, the security of the United States, and the stability of the international order in the Western Hemisphere.”
In furtherance of the presidential order, on Feb. 20, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the designation of a host of groups, including Tren de Aragua, MS-13, Cartel de Sinaloa, and more as “Foreign Terrorist Organizations” and “Specially Designated Global Terrorists.”
The designations, Rubio explained, “expose and isolate entities and individuals, denying them access to the U.S. financial system and the resources they need to carry out attacks,” and they also “can assist law enforcement actions of other U.S. agencies and governments.”
In the wake of El Pato’s arrest, Gabbard’s ODNI took a victory lap, stating in a press release, “We will not allow cartel gangs who target Americans to roam freely, whether in the U.S. or across the border in Mexico.”
The agency added, “Now, thanks to President Trump’s leadership, we are surging resources against cartels and gang leadership, disrupting their networks, and working alongside our Mexican partners to make communities safer and protect American lives,” not to mention undoing the damage Biden’s open-borders philosophy wrought for four straight years.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Authorities were forced to open fire on a U-Haul truck whose driver was backing toward officers at the Alameda, Calif., U.S. Coast Guard base where protesters had been opposing President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal aliens.
Eyewitnesses charged that the driver, who had been loitering for some time, abruptly accelerated toward police, prompting them to respond with shots.
A Fox News report said the driver had been ordered to stop, but refused to follow directions.
"When the vehicle's actions posed a direct threat to the safety of Coast Guard and security personnel, law enforcement officers discharged several rounds of live fire," a statement from the agency said.
The Coast Guard said there appeared to be no injuries to personnel.
The driver fled after the shooting, authorities reported, and later, two men arrived at local hospitals seeking treatment for gunshot wounds.
Protesters had been at the entrance to the base, trying to block U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents from entering the base.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Letitia James, the Democrat attorney general in New York who campaigned for office on the claim she would "get" President Donald Trump, is claiming that she's innocent in a mortgage fraud case federal prosecutors have brought against her.
A report at Fox confirms she was arraigned in Norfolk, Va., on Friday, submitting pleas of not guilty to felony counts of bank fraud and making false statements.
The charges come from her own actions and statements, including when she bought a home in Norfolk in 2020 when she allegedly misled a bank about the use of the residence in order to get better loan conditions.
She claimed it would be her secondary residence, but instead rented it out.
She's accused of trying to benefit by a sum of about $19,000 through a lower interest rate.
The Daily Caller News Foundation documented the case as serious, and Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett explained how she incriminated herself.
A federal grand jury in Virginia delivered charges against her just days ago, after prosecutors led by Interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan brought the case forward.
Jarrett said the charges appear to be justified.
"She'll also claim, of course, 'Oh, it's a big misunderstanding, paperwork snafu, somebody else is to blame.' But under her own stated standard in the Trump case, she declared that is never an excuse. So she's hoisted on her own petard, as Shakespeare would say in Hamlet," Jarrett said.
Jarrett said that the case against James rests squarely on the paperwork she personally executed.
WATCH:
"It's a pretty serious case against her, Sean. You cannot claim an occupied residence, get a lower mortgage rate, and then rent it out. You're cheating the lender by lying, and James actually incriminated herself. Both her mortgage and her insurance documents said she occupied it, but on an IRS records form she admitted it was purely a rental with zero personal occupancy," Jarrett said.
The DCNF reported Jarrett said James is now facing the same standards she once used against others, arguing that her own conduct left little room for defense.
"Well, it can't be both. That's illegal. Predictably, today she just whined that the law is being weaponized against her. Spare me the moral outrage. It was phony. She was the one who campaigned on the promise to get Trump, then conjured up that ludicrous case only to get slapped down by the appellate court in an epic embarrassment," Jarrett said. "I think he or she's going to do exactly what James Comey is doing, claim selective, vindictive prosecution, try to get the case dismissed, avoid trial entirely. But, you know, under the law the burden shifts to her to prove by clear evidence that the case has an unjustifiable motive."
Additional James' mortgage documentation also is at play, including when she allegedly listed her father as a "spouse" on a purchase agreement.
It was the Federal Housing Finance Agency that referred James to the Justice Department for the alleged crimes.
James had orchestrated a civil fraud case against Trump and his companies, obtaining from a radicalized judge in New York a judgment that would have amounted to about half a billion dollars against Trump.
An appeals court threw it out.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has announced that a doctor accused of giving children dangerous chemicals as part of her "gender transition" treatments has surrendered her medical license.
That means May Lau, who was accused of giving children "harmful, irreversible" drugs, no longer can practice medicine in the state.
"Doctors who permanently hurt kids by giving them experimental drugs are nothing more than disturbed left-wing activists who have no business being in the medical field," Paxton said. "May Lau has done untold damage to children, both physically and psychologically, and the surrendering of her Texas medical license is a major victory for our state."
He added, "My case against her for breaking the law will continue, and we will not relent in holding anyone who tries to 'transition' kids accountable."
A report at the Texas Tribune explained Paxton had sued Lau, who was acting as a "Dallas pediatrician."
The state's Senate Bill 14, from 2023, "prohibits physicians and health care providers from prescribing hormones to minors to transition their biological sex," the report said.
Lau was accused of prescribing testosterone to at least 21 patients between the ages of 14 and 17 to transition their biological gender or affirm their gender identity, the report said.
At that time, Paxton pointed out, "Texas passed a law to protect children from these dangerous unscientific medical interventions that have irreversible and damaging effects."
Paxton also accused Lau of "falsifying medical records, prescriptions, and billing records" by inserting a puberty blocker device into a 15-year-old and billing the patient's insurance for an endocrine disorder instead of the patient's gender dysphoria, the report said.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
President Donald Trump has been dispatching National Guard troops strategically to various cities with significant crime problems in recent weeks.
And the results in Memphis, Tennessee, have been startling.
Authorities there have made more than 1,000 arrests, taking 100 gang members off the streets and have found dozens and dozens of missing children.
"From arresting more than 100 gang members to locating more than 70 missing children, our brave federal agents and local authorities are doing incredible work to protect the good people of Memphis," Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
"Tolerating crime is a choice: under President Trump, we refuse to accept the victimization of innocent American citizens and will continue making our cities safe again."
White House statistics revealed there have been 1,309 total arrests since last month, when the help was delivered.
That includes nine cases involving homicide, 52 for sex offenses, 527 for warrants and 132 for firearm offenses.
Before, the city routinely ranked as among the nation's most dangerous, reporting more than 40 homicides per 100,000 people just last year.
Trump's Memphis Safe Task Force was launched Sept. 15, authorizing National Guard help.
Gov. Bill Lee, supporting the effort, said the new campaign will be "forever."
Fox reported that an official "provided Fox News Digital with a snapshot of arrests on the night of Oct. 21, including one man who was arrested on a warrant for aggravated rape of a child; the arrest of a known Grape Street Crip gang member on a warrant for kidnapping, aggravated assault, theft, domestic assault and parole violation; and the arrest of a known Bloods gang member on a warrant for harassment."
Explained, Gadyaces S. Serralta, of the U.S. Marshals Service, in a statement to Fox, "Our priorities in Memphis are removing violent criminals, eliminating drug trafficking, and executing warrants for criminals within the communities."
Democrats have objected to enforcing the law.
Charged Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen, "We are not a training ground or target practice."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
We've been told President Donald Trump is responsible for Joe Biden's high inflation, Joe Biden's open borders damages, Joe Biden's failure to intervene and resolve international disputes, Joe Biden's energy disasters, and much more.
Now a far-left activist has announced that the FBI's investigation into alleged gambling crimes involving NBA personalities, dozens of whom have been arrested, is because of Trump.
The Daily Mail commented that the stunt by Stephen A. Smith in accusing Trump has "sparked fury."
Former University of Colorado player, now Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier were among those arrested.
"Rozier is accused of participating in an illegal sports betting scheme using private insider NBA information. Billups is charged in a separate indictment alleging a wide-ranging scheme to rig underground poker games that were backed by Mafia families," the report said.
Smith took to a broadcast outlet to complain, and accused Trump, charging the situation "was fueled by Trump and his thirst for revenge," the report said.
"You know what world that I live in, in terms of politics. How many times, with one incident after another, have I said 'Trump is coming. He's coming.' I'm going to say it on national television again," he said.
"Don't be surprised if the WNBA is next on his list. When you've got all these protests going on out there, protesting against him … this man is coming, he's coming. I've been saying it for a long time. For me, this is the latest nugget of evidence that we're talking about right here. That's not to question the legitimacy of the case, we don't know. But anybody that has been around him, anybody that has talked to him and seen his reactions, from the sports leagues … they are not surprised at what's going on today.
'I'm watching a press conference with the Director of the FBI, tell me when we've seen that? We've seen accusations before, we've seen athletes get in trouble with the law before, you don't see the Director of the FBI having a press conference. It's not coincidental, it's not an accident, it's a statement … and it's a warning that more is coming.
"That's what they're saying here. I'm just telling you. It's as serious as it gets. This isn't the platform for me to get into it, the way I'm going to get into it. But I've been saying, he's coming… he's coming. In his eyes, folks tried to throw him in jail. In his eyes, he's innocent and 'they tried to put me behind bars. I'm getting everybody.' He's not playing. And so this, in a lot of people's eyes… talk to people in the NBA, talk to people in the NFL, talk to people in the world of sports. They think this is just the tip of the iceberg.
"These are the kind of words that are coming out of people's mouths. It's not a surprise. It's very disheartening, it's very concerning, we don't know where this is going to go… but this is just the tip of the iceberg. Everybody better brace themselves, because he's coming."
But oops.
The report explained that Trump supporters simply noted the fact, that the investigation was under way long before Trump returned to the White House this year. Years before.
Among the responses: "TDS is a real thing."
And, "You'd have to live under a rock or be dumb as dirt to believe what he just said."
And, "Rather than talk about the problem (illegal gambling) we are going to blame trump for everything?"
Jessica Tisch, New York police commissioner, explained one of the accusations involves Rozier allegedly telling people he was going to leave a game early with an "injury."
That allowed people to place wagers that raked in thousands of dollars, Tisch charged.
Rozier and Billups were placed on leave.
The report said, "The case was brought by the U.S. attorney´s office in Brooklyn that previously prosecuted ex-NBA player Jontay Porter. The former Toronto Raptors center pleaded guilty to charges that he withdrew early from games, claiming illness or injury, so that those in the know could win big by betting on him to underperform expectations."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
As if professional sports in America weren't already facing enough headwinds, with "wokism" running amok and such.
Now the FBI has confirmed that onetime University of Colorado basketball player and now Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier are under arrest.
Also former NBA guard and coach Damon Jones, and dozens more.
A report from Fox news explained, "The investigation was tied to a probe into members of the La Cosa Nostra crime families."
FBI chief Kash Patel said, in a statement, "Day in and day out, this FBI is following the money — and today is the result of that outstanding work. This operation involved an expansive effort across 11 states arresting 31 subjects, including multiple NBA players and coaches, who allegedly took advantage of their own positions of power to rig gambling systems for their own benefit — eventually funneling money to La Cosa Nostra, enriching some of the most notorious criminal networks in the world.
"That ends today — and the FBI's efforts to make sure gambling operations of all kinds stay within the law are only beginning. Thank you to the outstanding men and women of the FBI who pursued this case and followed the facts accordingly."
Billups was at his team's game against Minnesota Wednesday, but Rozier didn't play in Maim's game against Orlando.
Billups played 17 years in the league and was five times picked as an all-star.
The report explained Rozier's arrest was tied to NBA gambling while Billups was arrested and was linked to poker.
The investigation, Operation Zhen Diagram, "hunted down a nationwide gambling ring allegedly involving members of the La Cosa Nostra crime families who allegedly defrauded unwitting victims of millions," the report said.
It was a "confidential source" that actually recorded some 3,000 phone calls and meetings with alleged conspirators.
"The source introduced undercover agents to the targets and participated in a rigged poker game.
Officials said the poker games involved cheating devices such as rigged shuffling devices," Fox explained.
The investigation also overlapped with another that looked into fixed NCAA basketball games, a plan that reportedly included current and former NBA players.
The report said Billups specifically was suspected "of having ties to the poker games and ties to La Cosa Nostra."
A law firm released a statement on behalf of Rozier, complaining of the arrest and "perp walk."
"It is unfortunate that instead of allowing him to self surrender they opted for a photo op," the statement said.
Threats by leaders in one major crime-plagued U.S. city to sue President Donald Trump over his plan to deploy the National Guard have not gone as expected for them.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that President Donald Trump could deploy hundreds of National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon as part of his plan to fight high levels of violent crime there.
The 2-1 ruling lifted a lower court order that blocked Trump from deploying the troops, but other challenges could make that ruling all but moot.
A second emergency order blocking Trump specifically from deploying any federalized troops to Portland remains in place, and the justices on the 9th Circuit said they couldn't evaluate that order.
Trump has asked the judge who issued that order, U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut, to dissolve her order in light of the appeals court ruling, but that has not happened so far.
Lawyers for California and Oregon are resisting that move, and asked for the order to remain in place until the 9th Circuit decides whether to have the full appellate court bench deliberate on it.
"The fight is not over," Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek vowed to reporters on Monday. "Until the district court acts on the second TRO, National Guard members from Oregon, or any other state cannot deploy."
Friday should bring more clarity on two fronts.
Immergut has ordered both parties to appear on Friday for a decision on whether to dissolve the emergency order.
In addition, the appeals court has scheduled a hearing to decide whether the full court will hear the appeal of that order.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court may get its chance to weigh in soon, since Trump has asked for an appeal of an order blocking him from deploying troops to Chicago, another city sorely in need of some law and order.
The deployment to Washington, D.C. has correlated with a drop in criminal activity, especially vehicle thefts, which were down 34% in the first 30 days of the deployment.
Trump would like to keep Guard troops deployed in D.C., but there's a case pending related to whether he will be able to do that as well.
At any rate, he's showing he wants to do something to help these high rates of crime, which is more than we can say for the Democrat mayors of these cities.
Hold onto your hats, folks—House Republicans are gearing up to drop a bombshell report on former President Joe Biden’s alleged misuse of the presidential autopen, raising serious questions about who was really calling the shots in the White House.
At the heart of this unfolding drama, GOP lawmakers claim Biden’s staff may have overstepped by using the autopen to push through executive actions without his full awareness, while Democrats and legal experts push back hard against what they call baseless accusations, Newsmax reported.
Let’s rewind a bit: the House Oversight Committee, led by Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., has been digging into concerns about Biden’s mental sharpness during his time in office, especially as he aged visibly over his term.
Interviews with over a dozen former senior Biden administration officials have wrapped up, with the committee zeroing in on whether the president’s apparent frailty—noted by some aides as requiring slower schedules and more meetings—opened the door to unauthorized actions.
While specific examples of autopen misuse haven’t been revealed yet, Comer promises the upcoming report will lay out the details, painting what he calls a historic scandal.
"The House Oversight Committee has uncovered how the Biden Autopen Presidency ranks among the greatest scandals in U.S. history," Comer declared in a statement. Well, that’s a bold claim, but without the hard evidence just yet, it’s tough not to wonder if this is more sizzle than steak.
Biden himself isn’t taking this lying down, adamantly rejecting any notion that he was out of the loop on his administration’s decisions.
"Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency," Biden stated over the summer. If only saying it made it so—questions linger when aides like former chief of staff Jeff Zients admit decision-making slowed over time.
Longtime adviser Steve Ricchetti also stepped up to bat, denying any shadowy plots among senior staff to hide Biden’s condition or seize control of policy.
Yet, not everyone was eager to talk—key figures like former physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor and others invoked their Fifth Amendment rights, refusing to answer the committee’s probing questions.
Even as some officials acknowledged discussions about a possible cognitive exam for Biden, who was 82 when he left office, they firmly denied any conspiracy to usurp presidential authority.
Democrats on the Oversight Committee aren’t buying the GOP narrative, dismissing the investigation as a distraction from alleged misconduct in the Trump administration—a classic case of pointing fingers instead of addressing the issue at hand.
Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers are turning up the heat, arguing that any misuse of the autopen could invalidate Biden-era executive actions, pardons, and even laws, with Trump ordering the Justice Department to investigate.
A Trump White House memo to Attorney General Pam Bondi called unauthorized autopen use an "unconstitutional wielding of the power of the presidency," warning of legal ripple effects. That’s a spicy take, but legal experts caution it’s untested ground—and could boomerang on Trump’s own record of autopen use.
Republicans insist Biden’s case is unique, pushing for criminal prosecution of any former staffers found to have abused the autopen, while critics warn such moves could destabilize policies across multiple administrations. It’s a high-stakes game, and one wonders if the cure might be worse than the disease for conservatives who value stability.