In which John Green teaches you about the Great Depression. So, everybody knows that the Great Depression started with the …
More than two weeks after the toxic Ohio train derailment, the Biden administration is taking flak for how it has handled the toxic spill after refusing to approve a FEMA disaster declaration.
Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., is one of the White House’s critics, and he joined “Sunday Morning Futures” to discuss how the administration’s handling has indicated a “complete disconnect” from the American people.
“I think there’s a complete disconnect here when you hear the president talking about sending American tax dollars to Ukraine to help pay for their pensions, and he does nothing about the millions of people who stream across our southern border distributing fentanyl, human trafficking and crime across the country,” Schmitt told Maria Bartiromo. “It is completely out of touch to not address this.”
WHITE HOUSE EXPLAINS WHY IT TURNED DOWN DISASTER RELIEF FOR OHIO
“And Pete Buttigieg was a no-show this week in our committee to talk about FAA problems they had in January with the travel system across the country,” he continued. “He’s been a no show in Ohio, and so the American people are right to be upset about this. They demand answers. They demand a presence by this administration to know that they’re going to take care of these issues.”
The Biden administration has said the crisis in East Palestine does not meet legal requirements for a FEMA declaration, even though the agency has deployed resources to the city.
A man raises his hand with a question for East Palestine, Ohio Mayor Trent Conaway, center, during a town hall meeting at East Palestine High School in East Palestine, Ohio, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023. The meeting was held to answer questions about the ongoing cleanup from the derailment on Feb, 3, of a Norfolk Southern freight train carrying hazardous material. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
“What East Palestine needs is much more expansive than what FEMA can provide,” a Biden administration official told Fox News Digital. “FEMA is on the frontlines when there is a hurricane or tornado. This situation is different.”
FEMA sent officials to the town in order to aid in ongoing assessments as residents remain concerned about the air and water quality following the spill.
HOW TO TELL IF YOU’VE BEEN AFFECTED BY TOXIC CHEMICAL POISONING — AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT
Water from the city of East Palestine has been tested and is considered safe, but residents using well water have been encouraged to use bottled water.
And even with hundreds of air samples from homes in the area indicating no present toxins, critics have been quick to note the Biden administration’s apparent delayed handling of the chaos.
Dean Logan, a worker at Pepsi, delivers cases of water for volunteers to distribute to residents on February 17, 2023, in East Palestine, Ohio. ((Photo by Michael Swensen/Getty Images))
“I think it’s part and parcel,” Schmitt said. “A lot of these folks who claim to be environmentalists don’t care much about the environment. They care about climate alarmism to scare people, so they can gather more and more power and control.”
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“That’s what this is about, but again, the Biden administration and Pete Buttigieg specifically has absolutely failed on this Ohio environmental disaster,” he continued.
The Norfolk Southern Railroad freight train originally derailed on Feb. 3, but it wasn’t until three days later that officials conducted a controlled burn of the toxins inside the cars in order to avoid an explosion.
Following the burn, black smoke tainted the community as toxins like vinyl chloride, hydrogen chloride and phosgene filled the air.
Fox News’ Julia Musto contributed to this report.
New York
CNN
—
Meta is testing a subscription service which will allow Instagram and Facebook users to pay to get verified, Mark Zuckerberg announced on Instagram Sunday.
“Meta Verified” will start at $11.99 a month on the web or $14.99 a month on iOS, and the company will begin releasing it in Australia and New Zealand this week and “more countries soon.”
The service also comes with other perks: extra protection from impersonation accounts and direct access to customer support.
To avoid fake accounts, customers who want to get the blue badge would need to provide a government ID which matches their profile name and picture. Users must also be above 18 to be eligible.
“This new feature is about increasing authenticity and security across our services,” Zuckerberg wrote in an Instagram broadcast channel.
In a statement, Meta clarified there will be no changes to accounts that are already verified. Verification was previously for users who are “authentic and notable.”
“We are evolving the meaning of the blue badge to focus on authenticity so we can expand verification access to more people,” a Meta spokesperson said. “We will display follower count in more places so people can distinguish which accounts are notable public figures among accounts that share the same name.”
Meta joins other platforms, like Discord, Reddit and YouTube, who have their own subscription-based models.
Twitter relaunched its own verification subscription service, Twitter Blue, in December, after an onset of fake “verified” accounts forced it to pull the feature. The check mark options now have different colors to differentiate between accounts: gold checks for companies, gray checks for government entities and other organizations, and blue checks for individuals, whether or not they are celebrities.
Twitter Blue costs $11 a month for iOS and Android subscribers, part of owner Elon Musk’s attempt to raise its subscriptions business after buying the platform for $44 billion.
Vice President Kamala Harris says that the US has officially declared that Russia has committed ‘crimes against humanity’ in …
Kim Kardashian debuted her new alien-themed SKIMS swimwear ads amid a spate of recent UFO sightings in the United States — and now the reality star’s fans are questioning the curious timing.
The 42-year-old television personality unveiled her new swimwear campaign, which was shot by “Spring Breakers” director Harmonie Korine, in a post that she shared to Instagram on Thursday.
“SKIMS SWIM BY HARMONY KORINE launching Feb 21,” Kardashian wrote in the caption, adding an alien emoji.
Kim Kardashian’s fans were suspicious after she released her new alien-themed SKIMS swimwear ads amid recent UFO sightings. (Kim Kardashian Instagram)
In the images, “The Kardashians” star was seen donning SKIMS bikinis and monokinis while surrounded by models in swimwear with photo-shopped alien heads.
KIM KARDASHIAN’S SKIMS SHAPEWEAR COMPANY IN SPOTLIGHT AFTER KANYE WEST, TUCKER CARLSON INTERVIEW
The extraterrestrial-inspired campaign comes after three unidentified flying objects were shot down over Alaska, Canada and Michigan last week. Days earlier, a Chinese spy balloon that had traversed the United States for a week was brought down by a missile off the coast of South Carolina.
Amid all the inexplicable activity in the sky and with few immediate concrete answers, speculation that the UFOs were sent by aliens became rampant on social media.
After Kardashian posted her new SKIMS ads, fans flocked to the comments section to blame the UFO sightings on the businesswoman.
“All these UFOS shot down to prep us for the skims swim launch, it all makes sense now,” one follower wrote.
“So this is why we’ve been seeing UFOs lately,” another Instagram user mused.
The reality star unveiled the new ads in an Instagram post on Thursday. (Kim Kardashian Instagram)
“Kimmy rescued some of the aliens before their UFO got shot down…protect ET at all costs,” added a fan.
“Is she getting us ready for aliens now,” one social media user asked.
“I knew those UFOs had something to do with the Kardashians,” one commenter remarked.
“She knows something we don’t,” another agreed, with a suspicious smiley face emoji.
Some social media users declared that Kardashian and her family were actually extraterrestrials themselves.
“So you’re gonna sit here & tell me the kardashians aren’t aliens,” one fan wrote.
“She’s is definitely one of them!!! Ppl wake up!” another commented.
President Joe Biden gave his first public address on the Chinese spy balloon and the other three unidentified flying objects on Thursday. He said that the objects were “most likely balloons tied to private companies, recreation or research institutions studying weather or conducting other scientific research.”
Earlier in the week, White House officials dismissed rumors that the objects were connected to alien activity.
“I don’t think the American people need to worry about aliens with respect to these craft. Period,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby declared at the White House podium Monday.
In the images, “The Kardashians” star was seen donning SKIMS bikinis and monokinis while surrounded by models in swimwear with photo-shopped alien heads. (Kim Kardashian Instagram)
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“There is no indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent takedowns,” said White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre. “We wanted to make sure that the American people knew that. All of you knew it. And it was important for us to say that from here because we’ve been hearing a lot about it.”
Kardashian co-founded SKIMS with Emma Grede and Jens Grede in June 2019. The shapewear company is now valued at $3.2 billion.
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Fox News Digital’s Chad Pergram contributed to this report.
Hong Kong
CNN
—
A new online shopping platform linked to one of China’s top retailers has quickly become the most downloaded app in the United States, surpassing Amazon and Walmart. Now it’s looking to capitalize from an appearance on America’s biggest stage.
Temu, a Boston-based online retailer that shares the same owner as Chinese social commerce giant Pinduoduo, made its Super Bowl debut on Sunday.
Temu, which runs an online superstore for virtually everything — from home goods to apparel to electronics — unveiled a commercial during the game that encouraged consumers to “shop like a billionaire.”
The pitch? You don’t have to be one.
“Through the largest stage possible, we want to share with our consumers that they can shop with a sense of freedom because of the price we offer,” a Temu spokesperson told CNN in a statement.
The 30-second spot shows the company’s proposition to users: Feel like you’re splurging by buying lots of stuff cheaply. A woman’s swimsuit on Temu costs just $6.50, while a pair of wireless earphones is priced at $8.50. An eyebrow trimmer costs 90 cents.
These surprisingly low prices — by Western standards, at least — have drawn comparisons to Shein, the Chinese fast fashion upstart that also offers a wide selection of inexpensive clothing and home goods, and has made significant inroads into markets including the United States.
Shein is considered one of Temu’s competitors, along with US-based discount retailer Wish and Alibaba’s AliExpress, according to Coresight Research.
Temu, pronounced “tee-moo,” was launched last year by PDD, its US-listed parent company formerly known as Pinduoduo. The company officially changed its name just this month.
PDD’s subsidiary Pinduoduo is one of China’s most popular e-commerce platforms with approximately 900 million users. It made its name with a group-buying business model, allowing people to save money by enlisting friends to buy the same item in bulk.
On its website, Temu says it uses its parent company’s “vast and deep network … built over the years to offer a wide range of affordable quality products.”
Since its rollout in September, the application has been downloaded 24 million times, racking up more than 11 million monthly active users, according to Sensor Tower.
In the fourth quarter of last year, US app installations for Temu exceeded those for Amazon
(AMZN), Walmart
(WMT) and Target
(TGT), according to Abe Yousef, a senior insights analyst at the analytics firm Sensor Tower.
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“Temu soared to the top of both US app store charts in November, where the app still holds the top position now,” he told CNN, referring to iOS and Android mobile app stores.
Yousef said the company had been particularly successful at acquiring new users by offering extremely low prices and in-app flash deals, such as 89% off certain items.
The firm is already eyeing new territory. This month, Temu said on Twitter that it plans to expand to Canada.
Michael Felice, an associate partner at management consulting firm Kearney, said Temu stood out simply by selling products without high markups.
“Temu might be exposing a white space in the market wherein brands have been producing at extreme low cost, and along the value chain there’s been so much bloated cost passed on for margin,” he told CNN.
“That said, American consumers might not even be ready to accept some of these price points … There’s always the question, ‘is it too cheap to be good?’”
Deborah Weinswig, CEO of Coresight Research, has cautioned that it may be too early to tell whether Temu will be able to maintain those extremely low prices, free shipping and other perks.
“Temu aims to continue to experiment in marketing and offerings, which is possible thanks to its resource-rich parent company,” she wrote in a report.
Its launch, she said, “comes at an opportune moment, as consumers search for value amid still-elevated inflation and a degree of economic uncertainty.”
FIRST ON FOX: The Biden administration is considering a rule that would open the door to allow temporary agricultural and seasonal workers to be able to apply for permanent residency in the United States, Fox News Digital has learned.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) previously announced it intends to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking to “modernize and reform” the H-2A and H-2B visas — which are used for temporary agricultural workers and temporary seasonal workers.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has said that rule will incorporate policies to address exploitation and abuse, protect workers and increase program efficiencies.
Fox has now learned that the rule process, which is still going through the consideration process at USCIS, would allow workers on those visas to take steps to become permanent residents and obtain a green card.
BIDEN ADMIN GRANTS 64,000+ EXTRA H-2B SEASONAL VISAS, 20,000 TO HAITI AND CENTRAL AMERICA
When workers come to the U.S. on temporary (or “nonimmigrant”) visas, they are expected to come with the intent of returning to their home countries after their visa ends. However, some visas also allow foreign nationals to pursue a green card at the same time, in what is known as a “dual intent.”
Mexican farm workers who are allowed into America on a special seasonal harvest visa known as an H2A, weed a tobacco field in Greene County, North Carolina. ( Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)
The H-2A and H-2B visas explicitly do not allow for dual intent, stating that workers must return home after completing their period of work. But that would change as part of this rule, should it move forward.
“The [rule-making process] also proposes to provide increased flexibility for H-2 workers by extending grace periods, and allowing H-2 workers to take steps toward becoming permanent residents of the United States without being deemed to have abandoned their nonimmigrant intent or their foreign residence solely on that basis,” says a summary of the proposal, seen by Fox Digital.
The rule change would be in line with the Biden administration’s pledge to open up more legal immigration pathways to those seeking to come to the U.S., both via the southern border and elsewhere.
The rule would also strengthen prohibitions on immigration fees being collected from H-2 workers by their employees via salary reductions, and would introduce factors by which a petition could be denied based on disciplinary actions taken against an employer by a government agency such as USCIS or the Department of Labor. The regulation is also envisioned as allowing workers to begin work immediately upon USCIS receiving their petition, rather than only when the visa itself is approved.
Migrant farm workers check irrigation lines in an orange grove managed by a fifth generation citrus grower on December 14, 2022, in Fort Meade, Florida. (Photo by Paul Hennessy/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
In response to a request for comment from Fox News Digital, a USCIS spokesperson said the agency is “committed to promoting policies and procedures that break down barriers in the immigration system, increase access to eligible immigration benefits, enhance protections for temporary nonimmigrant workers, and better ensure the integrity of the H-2A and H-2B programs, and the agency will continue to uphold America’s promise as a nation of welcome and possibility with fairness, integrity, and respect for all we serve.”
Attempts at reforming H-2 visas are not unique to the Biden administration. The Trump administration announced an ultimately incomplete rule-making process to add more flexibility and stop the abuse of the H-2A system, while strengthening protections of American workers.
MCCARTHY RULES OUT AMNESTY FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS AFTER BIDEN CALLS AT STATE OF THE UNION
The H-2B visa, intended for workers in seasonal occupations such as landscaping and hotel and restaurant work, has proved controversial with both Republicans and Democrats expressing concerns about the abuse of vulnerable foreign workers and fears that it incentivizes employers to use cheap labor rather than employ American workers. Congress has limited the number of H-2B visas to 66,000 a year, but allows DHS to exceed the cap — which it typically does.
Homestead, Florida landscaper Carlos Morales, a member of WeCount!, a labor union of low wage immigrant workers and their families, wears his teeshirt to work. (Photo by Cindy Karp/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)
However, the inclusion of a way to allow H-2 workers to eventually gain permanent residency in the U.S. is likely to be controversial among immigration hawks, who fear the programs are used to import cheap labor which competes with U.S. workers. The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) says that the move would further reliance on foreign labor and hurt American workers, as it says it has done for other visas — such as the H-1B for specialty occupations, which is used primarily by the tech industry.
“The clear desire of foreign nationals to get an H-1B visa — primarily because it can lead to permanent residence — has encouraged unscrupulous outsourcing practices while reinforcing employers’ dependency on cheap foreign labor,” FAIR President Dan Stein said in a statement to Fox. “By morphing two additional guest worker programs into de facto permanent immigration streams, the Biden administration is doing so at the detriment of American workers, even during a time of economic uncertainty.”
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Stein said the administration “must reconsider this proposed rule and instead help American workers who are struggling to compete with cheap foreign labor.”
The administration, meanwhile, is facing a lawsuit from Republican states over its measures announced last month that would allow 30,000 migrants from Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba and Nicaragua into the U.S. each month. Those states filed a request for a preliminary injunction this week.
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CNN
—
A defense attorney who represented the former girlfriend of Rep. Matt Gaetz says that prosecutors made the right decision not to charge the Florida Republican after a yearslong federal sex trafficking investigation.
Attorney Tim Jansen told CNN on Saturday that Justice Department prosecutors were aggressive with his client. She was initially approached as a possible target in the sex-trafficking investigation but eventually agreed to cooperate and testified before an Orlando grand jury hearing evidence in the case last year.
The ex-girlfriend, whom CNN has not named, is not the underage woman at the center of the sex-trafficking investigation.
Jansen, who said the DOJ thoroughly pursued leads against Gaetz, disputed the notion that the congressman was cleared because he was in a powerful position, arguing that the evidence against Gaetz simply wasn’t credible and couldn’t hold up in court.
“They turned over every stone. And I think they ultimately made a decision that they didn’t have evidence to prove a crime,” Jansen said. “And I know critics think that the congressman somehow bought it off or somehow used his power, but I found (federal prosecutor) Todd (Gee) very responsible. He was very organized. He had evidence that he believed that he was following, and they made a determination that they weren’t going to charge.”
CNN has reached out to the Justice Department for comment.
CNN first reported this week that the Justice Department had informed lawyers for Gaetz and several witnesses that it would not prosecute the GOP lawmaker.
Last fall, investigators working on the case recommended not bringing charges amid concerns that the central witnesses in the case would not be perceived as credible, including Joel Greenberg, a former Seminole County, Florida, tax collector who pleaded guilty to six federal crimes, including sex trafficking, and agreed to cooperate with the government.
The DOJ’s formal decision not to charge Gaetz, who has been serving in Congress since 2017, marks the end of a long-running investigation into allegations that the congressman violated federal law by transporting underage girls across state lines for sex.
Gaetz has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
Jansen told CNN that his client was initially threatened with prosecution by federal investigators as part of the investigation. Her phone was seized, and she was told she could be a target in the investigation. She ultimately became a witness, Jansen said.
But Jansen said the problems with Greenberg’s credibility and the inconsistencies in the testimony of the women ultimately prompted Gee, a deputy chief of the Justice Department’s public integrity section, not to charge Gaetz.
“In order to prosecute a case, you have to have credible evidence, either tangible witnesses, and in this case, there was no credible evidence of any wrongdoing,” Jansen said. “Joel Greenberg was somebody who (you) couldn’t put on the witness stand, as a prosecutor. I believe these women; none of them believed they were victims of any crime.”
Where were you? During the Finno-Korean Hyper war? Discord: https://discord.gg/g2A92uCz6N Patreon: …
