Soros nonprofit donated over $1M to group that previously bailed out suspect charged in deadly Texas shootings
A nonprofit bankrolled by liberal billionaire George Soros provided over $1.2 million to the left-wing group that previously bailed out the individual charged with killing several people in Texas, including his parents. Shane James, 34, is accused of killing six people and injuring others in Bexar County and Austin. James served as a U.S. Army Infantry officer from February 2013 to August 2015 and has been charged with several counts of capital murder. In January 2022, James was charged with aggravated assault against his mother, father, and sister, Fox San Antonio reported. Bail records showed he was bonded out by the Texas Organizing Project, a nonprofit focused on progressive issues that helped elect Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales and county Sheriff Javier Salazar. Meanwhile, the Texas Organizing Project received hefty donations from Soros’ nonprofit before bailing out James. TEXAS PROGRESSIVE GROUP PREVIOUSLY BAILED OUT SUSPECT CHARGED IN DEADLY AUSTIN, SAN ANTONIO SHOOTING RAMPAGE “The Texas Organizing Project, like its major donor, Mr. Soros, thinks that our Justice system is an arbitrary social construct that can be torn down and reshaped however they see fit with no consequences,” the Capital Research Center’s Parker Thayer told Fox News Digital. “There are always consequences, and this time, six people lost their lives because a billionaire wanted to feel morally superior by funding activists with too many college degrees and not enough common sense.” The Open Society Policy Center, the advocacy nonprofit in the Soros-funded Open Society Foundations network, provided $700,000 to the Texas Organizing Project in 2019 for organizational support. Later, in 2021, the policy center gave the group $565,000 to “support policy advocacy on democracy reform and government accountability in Texas,” according to its grant database. Soros’ cash accounted for a sizable chunk of the group’s reported money in both of those years. According to the Texas Organizing Project’s tax forms, the group pulled in $2.3 million in donations in 2019, meaning the $700,000 from the Soros nonprofit accounted for roughly 30% of its cash that year. And in 2021, the Texas Organizing Project received $2.4 million, with the Soros contribution making up nearly a quarter of its contributions. “The violence earlier this week in Texas is horrific and tragic,” an Open Society Spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “We share the sentiments expressed in the Texas Organizing Project’s statement and support the decision to review its programs.” GEORGE SOROS SPENDS BIG IN LAST-MINUTE ATTEMPT TO RESCUE FAR-LEFT TEXAS DISTRICT ATTORNEYS The Texas Organizing Project said it was “profoundly saddened and deeply troubled by the tragic events” in a lengthy statement following the deadly shootings. “Texas Organizing Project (TOP) is profoundly saddened and deeply troubled by the recent tragic events involving Shane James,” the group said. “We condemn his most recent egregious acts, full stop. Our heartfelt condolences go out to the victims and their families during this incredibly difficult time.” “Through our justice program, we bailed out James in coordination with the Bexar County’s public defender’s office, nearly two years ago in February 2022 on misdemeanor charges where his bond fees totaled $300,” it continued. “The events that have unfolded are devastating, and we recognize the pain and suffering this incident has caused. We take our responsibilities seriously and acknowledge that we must address both the immediate impact of this tragedy and the broader implications for our bail program.” James killed six individuals in the hours-long shooting spree on Tuesday, including his parents and four other people. He also left three others injured, including two police officers. The Texas Organizing Project did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment on the Soros donations.
Most federal government employees continue remote work, contradicting Biden pledge
A federal watchdog published a report this week showing there is not a single government agency that occupies even half of its office space, potentially costing taxpayers millions of dollars on wasted heating and cooling costs. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued the report, which Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, requested earlier this year over concerns about wasted taxpayer dollars, revealed the 24 top federal departments utilized between 7% and 49% of their office space with most agencies using less than 30%. In a statement to Fox News Digital, Ernst said the data revealed the Biden administration’s “green hypocrisy.” “The Biden administration’s green hypocrisy continues to show,” Ernst told Fox News Digital. “At only 17% occupancy at the EPA and 25% at the Department of Energy, imagine all those fossil fuels being emitted to heat and cool a largely empty building. Doesn’t sound very green to me!” “All the climate czars in the Biden administration should agree with me — it’s time to forfeit the unused buildings heated and cooled on the taxpayer’s dime,” the Iowa Republican added. BIDEN’S BILLION-DOLLAR PLAN TO BUILD 500,000 EV CHARGERS HAS YET TO YIELD A SINGLE CHARGER Overall, the GAO reported that the Department of Housing and Urban Development in Washington, D.C., and the Social Security Administration in Baltimore were tied for the lowest occupancy rate of 7%. The Agency for International Development, Agriculture Department, Education Department, Health and Human Services Department, Labor Department, Transportation Department, Veterans Affairs Department, General Affairs Administration, NASA, National Science Foundation and Office of Personnel Management all had occupancy rates of 25% or lower. The report was released roughly four months after Ernst requested an investigation into the agencies, expressing concern that government telework policies are negatively impacting delivery and response times of services. HOUSE PANEL TO PROBE BIDEN ADMIN’S NEGOTIATIONS WITH ECO GROUPS TRYING TO TEAR DOWN KEY POWER SOURCE In response to Ernst’s concerns, the General Services Administration’s Office of Inspector General said it would consider an audit to examine whether it has appropriately evaluated its physical space needs and utilization. The agency then announced that it would downsize 3.5 million square feet of federal buildings, an action that would save taxpayers more than $1 billion. “Thousands of calls to the Department of Veterans Affairs from veterans seeking mental health services are going unanswered,” Ernst said in a Senate floor speech in early September. “Desperate travelers are waiting hours on the phone or in line hoping to speak with someone at the State Department about passport delays that are causing vacation cancelations.” “Our seniors are calling the Social Security Administration and are increasingly being greeted with busy messages, waiting longer to speak to a representative, or having their calls go unanswered altogether as the agency shifts towards remote work,” she continued. “Frustrated Americans are being put on hold while too many federal employees are phoning it in.” “Seventy-five percent or more of the office space at the headquarters of most of our federal agencies is not being used. The vacant offices beg the question: Where are all of the federal employees?” Ernst said. “Most of America is back to work, and it’s time for burrowed bureaucrats in Washington to answer the call of duty on behalf of taxpayers, veterans, seniors, and our great nation.” She noted that President Biden pledged in his 2022 State of the Union address that most federal workers would soon return to in-person work. “It’s time for Americans to get back to work and fill our great downtowns again,” Biden remarked at the time. “People working from home can feel safe to begin to return to the office. We’re doing that here in the federal government. The vast majority of federal workers will once again work in person.”
Sen. Tuberville vows to continue fighting DOD abortion policy: ‘Time to change the game plan’
FIRST ON FOX: After months of holding military promotions over the Pentagon’s abortion policy, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., relented this week amid growing calls from lawmakers – including some in his party – to drop them. He blamed Democrat senators for not coming to the table to negotiate. “I couldn’t get anybody to negotiate,” Tuberville told Fox News Digital on Thursday. “Democrats cared nothing about negotiating, and they wanted to stick by the unlawful executive order.” Tuberville released all holds except about a dozen four-star generals, which he said he’ll likely vote for when they’re brought to the floor. The Alabama Republican’s change of tune comes as a Democrat-led effort to change Senate rules to allow hundreds of promotions to proceed without voting individually was gaining momentum from lawmakers, including some in his own party. “I hated to drop the holds, but I didn’t want them to change the rules in the Senate,” he said. “You can only fight for so long and when you’ve basically run out of options, it’s time to change your game plan. So, now my game plan will be to work on it for the budget next year, and also try to get President Trump elected because he will change it back.” TUBERVILLE ENDS BLOCKADE OF MOST MILITARY PROMOTIONS AFTER MONTHS-LONG ABORTION FIGHT Additionally, Tuberville said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., “changed the rules” in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) – an annual bill that authorizes funding for the U.S. military and other defense initiatives – by not allowing a vote to remove the abortion policy from the budget earlier this year. “He changed the rules midstream and said, ‘No, I’m gonna make all decisions, I’m not gonna leave that policy in there that was in the House budget,’” he said. “So you just can’t beat somebody that’s got the ability to change the rules.” Tuberville began blocking President Biden’s military nominations in February over what he said was the Pentagon’s “illegal” policy of providing travel expense reimbursements to service members who seek an abortion. The Biden administration adopted the policy last year in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade and held the U.S. Constitution does not confer a right to abortion. TUBERVILLE NOT BUDGING ON MILITARY HOLDS OVER ABORTION POLICY AS DEMS EYE RULES CHANGE Almost 400 military nominations have since been in limbo due to Tuberville’s blanket hold on confirmations and promotions for senior military officers. Tuberville’s opponents have said it has left key national security positions unfilled and military families with an uncertain path forward. Other routes to overcome the Pentagon’s policy have sprung up in the last few months. One of those avenues, introduced by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., proposed taking the policy to court. It would need the support of House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to bolster momentum for a lawsuit. “We’ve been working on that for six or seven months,” Tuberville said. “I think eventually, that will happen.” However, he added, the court system “takes a long time” and the effort would have to start in the House. GOP SENATORS RAIL AGAINST TUBERVILLE’S MILITARY HOLDS NEARLY ALL NIGHT Nonetheless, Tuberville said he will “continue to fight” to eliminate the abortion policy. “It wasn’t the outcome that I wanted, but again, I got a lot of people’s attention, of the illegal use of taxpayer money for abortion,” Tuberville said. Fox News’ Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.
Weather update: IMD predicts heavy rainfall in several states; check latest forecast for next 3 days
Moreover, there is a good chance of isolated pockets of dense fog on Friday and Saturday morning over Punjab, Haryana, and Chandigarh. Over the weekend, similar weather is predicted for Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Assam and Meghalaya.
US House votes to censure Democrat Jamaal Bowman over fire alarm incident
The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Thursday to censure Democratic Representative Jamaal Bowman for pulling a fire alarm while trying to use a locked exit in September as lawmakers prepared to vote on a measure to avert a government shutdown.
These rural Texans opted out of a degree. The community college down the street wants them back.
To survive, Texas community colleges have to prove their worth. But residents of this rural north Texas town are questioning what’s right for them.
Hunter’s ex-business associate blasts Biden’s new claim about son’s business dealings: ‘Complete malarkey’
EXCLUSIVE: A former business associate of Hunter Biden is pushing back against President Biden after he angrily claimed it was a “bunch of lies” that he interacted with his son’s foreign business associates. Biden was pressed during a press conference on Wednesday about why he interacted with “so many” of his son and brother’s foreign business associates, but he denied having any such interactions, despite evidence to the contrary. “I’m not going to comment. I did not, and it’s just a bunch of lies,” Biden responded. “They’re lies. I did not. They’re lies.” One of Hunter’s former business associates reacted to Biden’s comments by telling Fox News Digital that his claim was “complete malarkey” and said there is “plenty of evidence” to refute his denial. HUNTER BIDEN PAID JOE BIDEN FROM ACCOUNT FOR BIZ THAT RECEIVED PAYMENTS FROM CHINA: COMER Fox News Digital has reported extensively on the mounting evidence contrasting Biden’s claim, including that Hunter’s former friend and longtime business partner Eric Schwerin visited the Obama White House and then-Vice President Biden’s residence dozens of times between 2009 and 2016. Schwerin was the founding partner and managing director of Hunter Biden’s now-dissolved firm Rosemont Seneca Partners when he was appointed by then-President Obama to the Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, an independent U.S. government agency, in early 2015. Obama reappointed him to the commission in January 2017. In addition to being a key player in facilitating Hunter Biden’s Chinese business deals, Schwerin was also intimately involved with handling the elder Biden’s finances. A person familiar with Schwerin’s role in handling the finances previously told Fox News Digital that Schwerin worked on Biden’s personal budget and helped coordinate with his tax preparers. The individual also pointed to the frequency of Schwerin’s communications with Biden and his top aides and said it was “inevitable” Rosemont Seneca business came up in conversations. NATIONAL ARCHIVES TO HAND OVER 62,000 BIDEN RECORDS TO HOUSE GOP, INCLUDING EMAILS USING ALIASES Biden also met with at least 14 of Hunter’s business associates from the U.S., Mexico, Ukraine, China and Kazakhstan over the course of his vice presidency, and was even photographed alongside Hunter giving some of them a tour of the White House’s Brady Briefing Room. In a 2016 email to Miguel Magnani, a business tycoon and former Hunter associate from Mexico, Hunter admitted that he had “brought every single person [Miguel has] ever asked [him] to bring to the F’ing White House and the Vice President’s house and the inauguration” and blasted him for going “completely silent.” Hunter also said he wanted Magnani to be at the plane with his parents when Biden landed in Mexico City. Hunter had previously introduced Magnani to his father during a White House tour on Feb. 26, 2014. White House visitor logs show that Magnani and Magnani’s father, Miguel Aleman Velasco, visited the West Wing on Feb. 26, 2014, and Biden was later photographed with Hunter giving Velasco and Magnani a tour of the White House Brady Press Briefing room. Additionally, in December 2013, Hunter traveled with Biden on a trip to Asia, which included a stop in China, and introduced him to his Chinese business partner Jonathan Li in the lobby of the hotel where the U.S. delegation was staying. A closed-door interview over the summer with Hunter’s former business partner, Devon Archer, revealed that the elder Biden would also have coffee with Li during the visit. Less than two weeks later, Hunter would enter into a joint-venture called BHR Partners, a Beijing-backed private equity firm controlled by Bank of China Limited. BIDEN’S NARRATIVE ON NEVER DISCUSSING BUSINESS DEALS WITH HUNTER CONTINUES TO CRUMBLE The closed-door interview before House Oversight investigators also revealed that Hunter would use his dad as “defensive leverage” to send “the right signals” to his foreign business partners, while selling him as “the brand” that offered “capabilities and reach,” as well as a “unique understanding of D.C.” The transcript said Hunter put his father on speakerphone while meeting with business partners at least 20 times to sell “the brand.” The elder Biden was also in attendance at a spring 2015 dinner at Washington, D.C.’s, upscale restaurant Cafe Milano, which included Burisma board adviser Vadym Pozharskyi. The Biden campaign tried to discredit the New York Post’s initial reporting on the controversial dinner in 2020 and said, “No meeting, as alleged by the New York Post, ever took place,” but Archer torpedoed that narrative. Pozharskyi emailed Hunter the following day and said, “Thank you for inviting me to DC and giving an opportunity to meet your father and spent [sic] some time together. It’s realty [sic] an honor and pleasure.” WHITE HOUSE, HUNTER BIDEN’S TEAM KEEP SHIFTING GOALPOSTS IN DENYING DAD’S INVOLVEMENT WITH BUSINESSES A year earlier, Biden attended another dinner at Cafe Milano, according to a House Oversight memo, which included Russian oligarch Yelena Baturina, former Kazakhstan Prime Minister Karim Massimov and Kazakh oligarch Kenes Rakishev. Earlier this year, Massimov was sentenced to 18 years behind bars for his reported role in an attempted coup. The committee provided screenshots of bank records they say demonstrate that Baturina, the widow of former Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, wired $3.5 million to Rosemont Seneca Thornton on Feb. 14, 2014, a couple months before the dinner. Fox News Digital also previously reported on how associates and top staffers at Hunter’s now-defunct company visited the Obama White House more than 90 times when he was vice president in the Obama administration. Biden has repeatedly insisted that he had no knowledge of his son’s foreign business dealings and had no role in influencing them. He also repeatedly said he never spoke with his son about foreign business dealings, despite mounting evidence contradicting this claim. “First of all, I have never discussed with my son or my brother or anyone else anything having to do with their business, period,” Biden said in August 2019 during his campaign. “There wasn’t any hint of scandal at all when we were there. It was the same kind of
Trump fake electors buckle in Wisconsin, get charged in Nevada
Nevada charged six Republican fake electors in connection with a scheme to overturn Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden, while 10 false electors reached a legal settlement in Wisconsin that affirmed the Democrat’s victory.
Congress poised to extend domestic surveillance law by four months
Congress is preparing to extend the domestic surveillance authority that allows law enforcement to spy on Americans without a warrant by another four months, giving lawmakers more time to either reform or keep the disputed program.
Las Vegas campus closed as police investigate deadly shooting
The University of Nevada at Las Vegas will stay shut on Thursday as authorities work to understand why a shooter opened fire on campus, killing three people and wounding a fourth as students and faculty prepared for final exams.