Fox News Politics: Springfield Pastors Speak Out
Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest political news from Washington, D.C. and updates from the 2024 campaign trail. Here’s what’s happening… – Trump and Vance have had 48 interviews combined since last month, only eight for Harris and Walz – Mexican government buses migrants to US border – Putin warns that the US, NATO risk war with Russia if long-range strike bans are lifted for Ukraine Two Springfield, Ohio pastors spoke to Fox News Digital about the ministry challenges facing their town that has been thrust into the national spotlight after viral videos of residents complaining of disturbing behavior from Haitian refugees who have settled in the area. “I think the biggest change that we’ve seen happen has just been sort of a breakdown in the trust of the community and some basic civility has also broken down a little bit,” BJ Newman, a pastor in Springfield, Ohio, told Fox News Digital from Springfield’s Snyder Park on Thursday. “I think the reason for that is because there have been so many changes so quickly… In the 2020 census, there was about 50,000, a little north of that, residents here, now we have, numbers I have been reading, between 15,000 and 20,000 additional immigrants have arrived.” “I think there’s a larger narrative… that says the only compassionate response in a situation like this is you accept all of these immigrants and shut up. Any sense of raising our hand and saying ‘wait a second, we weren’t considered, we’re suffering her too.’ And the response is something like… you’re racist or you’re a bigot, why are you so anti-immigrant,” Newman said. “There’s tension in the community, much like the ways that tension has arisen in the past when there have been new members to move into an established area,” the Rev. Adam Banks of First Baptist Church told Fox News Digital, adding that his experience with migrants has been generally positive. “They have joined right in helping with the sound system, sharing special music, sharing their lovely voices, reading scripture, providing leadership in various capacities in the congregation,” Banks said, adding that he will continue to “welcome” people who “want to celebrate the gift that each person brings and magnify God.” …Read more BLOCKED: House GOP rolling out bill to block China, American adversaries from accessing US ports …Read more ‘RESPECT OUR WARRIORS’: House GOP veteran proposes key benefit to aid deployed service members …Read more SHUTDOWN SHOWDOWN: Johnson faces major leadership test as GOP wars over government shutdown …Read more 34 TO 1: Trump-Vance ticket has done combined 48 interviews since last month compared to only eight for Harris-Walz …Read more CASH DASH: Harris brings in big bucks in 24 hours after debate with Trump …Read more ‘ONLY OPTION’: Trump adviser Alina Habba hits campaign trail to attract Arab American support in swing state Michigan …Read more COMMUNITY ‘UPENDED’: ‘It’ll upend the community’: PA town roiled by talk of migrant housing in Civil War-era orphanage building …Read more NO ME GUSTA: Half of Latinos haven’t heard of ‘Latinx’ term, overwhelming majority don’t like it: poll …Read more DEFIANT FANI: Fani Willis likely to defy Georgia state Senate subpoena ahead of Friday hearing, chairman says …Read more TOUGH ON CRIME?: Gov. Newsom signs bill to resume harsh penalties for smash-and-grab robberies in California …Read more LIKE ‘ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK’: Springfield resident says roads are like ‘Escape from New York’ after Haitian migrants overrun rural town …Read more ‘GRAY’ AREA: Lawmakers crack down on CCP influence in US government tech, warn of potential ‘devastating’ cyber attack …Read more BORDER BATTLE: Mexican government buses migrants to US border as illegal immigration becomes top issue …Read more BAD WORDS: New online ‘misinformation’ bill slammed as ‘biggest attack’ on freedoms in Australia …Read more PUTIN’S RED LINE: Putin warns US, NATO risk war with Russia if long-range strike bans lifted for Ukraine …Read more Subscribe now to get the Fox News Politics newsletter in your inbox. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.
Pope Francis urges Catholic voters to ‘choose the lesser evil’ between Trump and Harris
Pope Francis on Friday urged Catholic voters to “choose the lesser evil” between former President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. The pope criticized Harris’ support of abortion rights as being an “assassination,” while he also chastised Trump, saying “not welcoming migrants is a sin.” “You must choose the lesser evil,” Francis told reporters in a press conference held from his papal airplane following a 12-day tour of Southeast Asia and Oceania. “Who is the lesser evil? That lady, or that gentleman? I don’t know. Everyone, in conscience, [has to] think and do this.” But he also said, “Not voting is ugly. It is not good. You must vote.” WHITE HOUSE RESPONDS AFTER POPE CONDEMNS ‘GENDER THEORY,’ AFFIRMS BIDEN’S SUPPORT FOR TRANS COMMUNITY Harris has said that she wants to codify Roe v. Wade into law if elected, and Trump has promised the “largest mass deportation in American history of our country.” The pope didn’t specify which candidate, if either, he personally prefers. On abortion, he said, “It is an assassination. On these things we must speak clearly. No ‘but’ or ‘however.’” On Trump’s deportation plans, the pope said: “Not giving welcome to migrants is a sin. It is grave.” “Whether it is the one who is chasing away migrants, or the one who that kills children, both are against life,” he claimed. POPE FRANCIS RESPONDS TO CONSERVATIVE CRITICS IN NEW INTERVIEW Trump previously sparred with the pope in 2016, after the pontiff claimed that his plan to build a wall along the Mexican border was “not Christian.” “I’m a very good Christian,” Trump responded at the time in a news conference, “He’s questioning my faith. I was very surprised to see it.” Trump called questioning a person’s faith “disgraceful,” claiming that the pope was being used as a “pawn” by the Mexican government. The pope has also previously criticized President Biden’s stance on abortion. Biden is a Catholic, but supports a woman’s right to choose, which Francis called an “incoherence” in a 2022 interview, saying that he would leave it to Biden’s “conscience.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP There are more than 50 million Catholics in the U.S., including a sizable number of voters in swing states like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
Springfield flashpoint: How one Ohio town’s experience with immigration has captivated the nation’s attention
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – An Ohio town has been thrust into the national spotlight over the last week after separate but similar claims made by vice presidential nominee and Ohio Sen. JD Vance and former President Donald Trump, making the town an unexpected flashpoint ahead of November’s election. Springfield, Ohio, located roughly 50 miles east of Columbus, bears many of the trademarks of a typical Midwestern town, with a strong history of manufacturing followed by a period of decline that has become a familiar story for many cities just like it. But Springfield has become one of the most unique towns in the country in recent years, with a flood of migrants from Haiti resettling in the city and suddenly reversing decades of population decline. Estimates vary on just how many Haitian migrants have moved to Springfield over the last few years, but most settle somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000, a huge population boom for a town that the 2020 census showed had under 60,000 residents. Many of those migrants have come to the U.S. with temporary protected status, allowing them the ability to live and work in the U.S. for a limited amount of time. HAITIAN REFUGEES ‘DON’T UNDERSTAND THE LAWS,’ FORMER LAWMAKER SAYS AMID FATAL WRECK, CULTURAL CLASHES However, as more and more refugees came to the city, tensions between the local population and the sudden burst of newcomers started to bubble to the surface. Those tensions flared most after an October incident last year, which saw a school bus carrying dozens of children collide with a minivan, injuring many of the students on the bus and killing one, 11-year-old Aiden Clark. Longtime locals have since continued to voice their frustrations, appearing at city council meetings with complaints about unsafe road conditions they claim is due to the influx of drivers unfamiliar with local laws and norms. The attention on Springfield then became amplified more this week, first when Vance took to X to claim that people in the city have had their “pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country.” A day later while giving an answer on immigration and border security, Trump similarly claimed that Haitian refugees in Springfield are “eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats.” “They’re eating the pets of the people that live there, and this is what’s happening in our country, and it’s a shame,” Trump said in the response. SPRINGFIELD PASTORS SPEAK OUT ON HAITIAN REFUGEE CHALLENGES: ‘THE SUFFERING IS REAL’ To date, such claims have not been verified and local officials in Springfield have forcefully denied such incidents have taken place. Nevertheless, the claims have shined an even brighter light on the Ohio town. Still, struggles remain as the town continues to adapt to its new reality. Former Ohio State Rep. Kyle Koehler, a Republican who represented Springfield and is now seeking a seat in the State Senate to represent the same area, acknowledged that the influx of newcomers has come as a bit of a shock to the city. “We’ve got an influx of folks that have come in, and I think we were a little bit shocked that it was close to 20,000 people in a community of 60,000, and that’s caused some issues between the folks that live here and the folks that are coming in,” Koehler told Fox News Digital. Koehler chalked up the disconnect to a difference of cultures, arguing the sudden collision between longtime locals and refugees from another country has “caused some issues.” “They don’t understand the laws, they don’t understand some of our customs, we don’t understand some of their customs, and that clash and the overwhelming amount of people that have come at one point has really caused some issues,” Koehler said. But Koehler also stressed how hospitable Springfield’s residents are and argued that the town has much to offer. “We have a wonderful town,” Koehler said.
Pope Francis tells US Catholics to choose ‘lesser evil’ in coming election
Without naming the two main US presidential candidates, the pontiff decried abortion and restrictions on immigration. Pope Francis has encouraged Catholics in the United States to vote in the November elections, saying they should “choose the lesser evil” while criticising both of the leading candidates. In remarks on Friday while flying to Rome from Singapore, the pope named neither the Republican nor Democratic presidential nominees: former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, respectively. But he offered pointed criticisms of their platforms, saying refusing to welcome immigrants is a “grave” sin and abortion is akin to an “assassination”. “Not voting is ugly,” Francis said. “It is not good. You must vote.” “You must choose the lesser evil,” he added. “Who is the lesser evil? That lady or that gentleman? I don’t know. Everyone, in conscience, [has to] think and do this.” The 87-year-old pontiff made the comments as the US presidential election is entering its final weeks, with voting scheduled for November 5. While conservative on social issues like abortion, Francis has been one of the foremost critics of rich countries embracing increasingly restrictive immigration policies. “Whether it is the one who is chasing away migrants or the one who kills children,” the pope said, “both are against life.” The US is home to about 52 million Catholics, a conservative-leaning constituency that is well-represented in several key swing states, such as Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Polling by the Pew Research Center indicated that about 52 percent of US Catholics identify with or lean towards the Republican Party, compared with about 44 percent for the Democratic Party. But the centre noted that the Catholics, in the past, have been “closely divided”. In his comments on Friday, which came after a 12-day tour across Southeast Asia and Oceania, Francis also lamented the lack of progress towards a peace deal to bring Israel’s war in Gaza to a close. “Forgive me for saying so, but I don’t see any progress being made towards peace,” he told reporters on board the papal plane, adding that an Israeli strike on a school this week that killed Palestinian children was “ugly”. Adblock test (Why?)
The Hague to ban fossil fuel ads from January
City council in third largest city in Netherlands approves the new rules, which will apply from January. The Hague will ban street advertising for fossil fuels, according to a notice published on the Dutch city’s website, as a number of cities worldwide crack down on publicity for fossil fuels and high-emissions sectors. The Municipal Council in the third largest city in the Netherlands voted on Thursday to approve the new rules for outdoor advertising, which will apply from January to billboards and freestanding advertising screens. “The city council of The Hague adopted two proposals to ban fossil advertising in outdoor spaces,” council spokesman Jordy Kruse told the AFP news agency on Friday. The first proposal informs advertising agencies that fossil fuel advertising is not permitted while the second bans all fossil fuel advertising in public spaces, Kruse said. “We believe that adopting binding laws to ban fossil fuel advertising through local legislation is a world first,” Leonie Gerritsen, a Hague council member for the Party for Animals. “We hope that this law will also give a signal to other cities to do the same to fight climate change,” Gerritsen, one of the main drivers of the legislation, told AFP. Other cities in the world have moved against fossil fuel advertising, but The Hague is the first to enact binding legislation. In June, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged every country to enact bans on ads for fossil fuel companies, which he called “the godfathers of climate chaos”. Oil, gas and coal are the biggest contributors to climate change, accounting for the bulk of greenhouse gas emissions. In 2022, the Dutch city of Haarlem agreed to outlaw ads for intensively farmed meat on public places like buses, shelters and screens. Many countries have banned advertising for products that have proven harmful to human health, such as tobacco. The Hague, the country’s administrative centre and the hub of international law, is seeking to be climate neutral by 2030 Adblock test (Why?)
US accuses RT of ‘covert’ intelligence activities, issues fresh sanctions
The US State Department says Russia’s RT network has ‘moved beyond being a media outlet’ and has cyber-capabilities. The United States has issued new sanctions against Russia’s state media outlet RT, accusing the television network of taking part in covert “influence and intelligence operations” around the world and weapons procurement for the Russian military. In a statement on Friday, the US State Department said RT — previously known as Russia Today — had “moved beyond being simply a media outlet and has been an entity with cyber capabilities”. “It is also engaged in information operations, covert influence, and military procurement. These operations are targeting countries around the world, including in Europe, Africa, and North and South America.” Washington also alleged that an online crowdfunding platform operating within RT and on social media provided “material support and weaponry” to Russian military units in Ukraine. The arms include sniper rifles, body armour, drones and other equipment, the State Department said. Friday’s announcement comes amid years of strained relations between the US and Russia over the latter’s invasion of Ukraine. The administration of US President Joe Biden — a staunch critic of his Russia counterpart, Vladimir Putin — has issued waves of sanctions against Russian individuals and companies since the war began in 2022. American officials also have accused Russia of interfering in elections. Last week, the US Justice Department announced a range of actions to counter Russian efforts to meddle in November’s vote, including criminal charges against two RT employees it accused of taking part in a Moscow-directed influence operation. Speaking to reporters about Friday’s sanctions, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Russian state media outlet “wants its new covert intelligence capabilities, like its longstanding propaganda disinformation efforts, to remain hidden”. “Our most powerful antidote to Russia’s lies is the truth,” Blinken said. “It’s shining a bright light on what the Kremlin is trying to do under the cover of darkness.” RT has created websites posing as legitimate news sites to spread disinformation and propaganda in Europe, Africa, South America and elsewhere, officials said. They alleged the outlet also expanded its use of cyber-operations with a new unit with ties to Russian intelligence created last year. Russia’s embassy in Washington, DC, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Reuters news agency. Asked for comment by CNN, the US news outlet said RT “responded with a mocking email that read in part: ‘We’ve been broadcasting straight out of the KGB headquarters all this time.’” Adblock test (Why?)
Kim Jong Un shows off his nuclear facility and calls for ‘exponential’ increase in warheads
North Korea released first-ever photos of a uranium enrichment site on Thursday. Supreme leader Kim Jong Un has been known to show off his nuclear bombs, but this week he revealed the facilities that create the key material that powers them. Kim released photos of himself touring the facility as he called for his military to “exponentially” increase its nuclear arsenal and be ready for combat with the U.S. and its allies. The pictures released by state media KCNA show a glimpse into the country’s secretive nuclear program, which is banned under multiple UN Security Council resolutions. SOUTH KOREA ACCUSES THE NORTH OF SENDING TRASH BALLOONS The images show Kim walking through rows of centrifuge machines that spin uranium at high speeds to produce nuclear warheads. Kim visited the Nuclear Weapons Institute and a production base for weapon-grade nuclear materials, KCNA said, and instructed the base to ramp up the number of centrifuges “in order to exponentially increase the number of nuclear weapons.” “He went round the control room of the uranium enrichment base to learn about the overall operation of the production lines,” KCNA said, and was pleased to see the base “dynamically producing nuclear materials.” The world gets little opportunity to glimpse life in the reclusive, nuclear-armed state, but photos also showed Kim visiting an army training base on Wednesday to “guide the drill of combatants,” KCNA said/ NORTH KOREA’S KIM JONG UN REPORTEDLY ORDERED DOZENS OF OFFICIALS EXECUTED AFTER DEADLY FLOODS On Thursday, North Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea, which landed in the waters between the Korean peninsula and Japan. The distance of the missiles suggests that they were designed to attack South Korea. It was North Korea’s first public weapons firing activity in over two months. Kim said that his pledge to double down on his nuclear efforts was because North Korea faces “a grave threat” because of what he called “the reckless expansion” of a U.S.-led regional military bloc. Last week North Korea flew balloons full of trash toward South Korea for five straight days. Officials in Seoul slammed Pyongyang for its nuclear developments. “Any nuclear threat or provocation by North Korea will be met with an overwhelming and strong response from our government and military, based on the solid extended deterrence of the South Korea-US alliance,” the Ministry of Unification was quoted as saying by South Korea’s Yonhap news agency. It’s not clear how many nuclear warheads North Korea possesses. In July, a report by the Federation of American Scientists concluded that the country may have produced enough fissile material to build up to 90 nuclear warheads, but that it has likely assembled closer to 50.
Jon Tester casts doubt on unfavorable poll in Montana Senate race: ‘Give me a break’
Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., expressed skepticism about a recent poll that showed him losing his Senate seat in Montana, which prompted two prominent political handicappers to shift their race ratings to give Republicans an advantage. “If you look at the AARP poll, there’s absolute inconsistency with reality,” he told reporters on Thursday. In particular, Tester took issue with how similar his polling stature was to Vice President Kamala Harris. TOP SENATORS BRIEFED ON ‘MAJOR ERRORS’ LEADING UP TO TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT Republican Senate candidate Tim Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL, led Tester in the poll, 49% to 41%. Former President Donald Trump similarly led Harris 56% to 41%. “Give me a break,” the Montana Democrat said of him garnering the same percentage as Harris. “We’re not saying it isn’t a good poll,” he added. DEMS RUN ON BORDER BILL REPUBLICANS SAY ‘WAS NEVER DESIGNED TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM’ According to Tester, “It’s a margin-of-error race right now.” The AARP poll was conducted by the bipartisan polling team of Fabrizio Ward (R) & David Binder Research (D). Between August 25-29, 1,064 likely voters were interviewed, with an overall sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. Tester also told reporters that he didn’t have any thoughts on the Cook Political Report moving his race to “leans Republican.” Asked whether he was concerned about being down in the polls, he responded, “I’m not.” TOP HANDICAPPER GIVES GOP’S TIM SHEEHY EDGE AGAINST DEMOCRAT JON TESTER IN MONTANA RACE SHIFT In a recent interview with Fox News Digital, National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Chairman Steve Daines, R-Mont., for the first time claimed the Republicans would take back the Senate majority in the upcoming election. “We will win the Senate majority,” he said. “Fifty-one is the number that we want to get to. Clearly, there’s an opportunity to get beyond that, but 51 is the number we’ve got to get to,” he explained. On Thursday, Tester also answered why he has yet to endorse Harris, explaining, “Because I want to be about Montana.” TEXAS DEM’S SENATE AD FEATURES BORDER WALL HE ONCE BLASTED AS ‘RACIST’ Despite his refusal to explicitly issue an endorsement of Harris, Tester was reportedly personally responsible for recruiting her to run for the Senate in 2015, when he served as Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) chairman. Even more recently, Tester was supportive of President Biden’s choice of Harris as his running mate in 2020, writing on X, “My friend @KamalaHarris is a proven fighter and an excellent pick for Vice President. As VP, I’m confident she will continue to fight for working families across this country. Looking forward to supporting her and @JoeBiden in November.” Tester has been re-elected in Republican Montana twice but has not appeared on a ballot with Trump before. Trump won the state twice, in both 2016 and 2020. Sheehy notably boasts the endorsement of Trump going into the competitive election. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
‘Paisans for Kamala’ event features De Niro, Pelosi blasting Trump on immigration
“Buonasera Tutti,” former New York Mayor Bill de Blasio toasted as he opened a three-hour “Paisans for Kamala” virtual dinner this week in support of Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential bid headlined by staunch Trump critic Robert De Niro. De Blasio co-hosted the event with Paul Mercurio, a comedian who works on Stephen Colbert’s CBS late-night program. During the livestream event, which featured several high-profile Italian Americans, many dinner guests lauded Harris while criticizing former President Trump’s immigration policies from the viewpoint of children or grandchildren of Italian immigrants. De Blasio noted he had made an intentional visit to the childhood home of one such prominent Italian-American official. “We just did a little pilgrimage… [to] Little Italy in Baltimore — to the home of Nancy D’Alesandro-Pelosi; where she grew up,” he said, as the former mayor also highlighted the visit on X, posing at Pelosi’s former home alongside Maryland State Sen. James Rosapepe, D-Laurel. “A dinner expresses who we are — we want to be a family as Italian-Americans — [and] bring everyone together for these amazing candidates,” de Blasio said. DE NIRO CLAIMS TRUMP COULD ‘DESTROY THE WORLD’ Mercurio went on to tell De Niro that Trump has “tapped into something” within his base that have bonded them to him. De Niro, who once expressed a wish to “punch [Trump] in the face,” replied that he has indeed listened to some of Trump’s supporters. “I could very well see that there is a way, with them, that’s more for them than with Trump, because Trump doesn’t offer anything,” the actor said. “We’ve seen this before in other countries and other societies… they think they can control someone like him… God forbid he becomes ‘the boss,’ all the people who thought they could control him, they’ll find out differently.” Later, former Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, who said his maternal side is “fully Italian,” joined the dinner sporting a “White Dudes for Harris” hat and spoke about the values he believes Harris brings to the table. De Blasio soon displayed a slice of pizza and proceeded to eat it with a fork — in an apparent homage to a 2014 controversy that erupted when he dined in the same fashion in Staten Island. De Blasio argued he remains correct that it is the proper way to eat a pie. Former CIA Director Leon Panetta later appeared and said he supports Harris because Trump appears to support isolationism, remarking that such behavior “didn’t work before World War II.” “[There is] the importance of presidents standing up to tyrants… not appeasing them,” he said. Later, actor Steve Buscemi said Harris struck the right tone as a descendant of immigrants. WATCH: DE BLASIO DEBATES SEAN HANNITY “Most immigrants are just looking for a better life, better opportunities, and they don’t deserve to be punished for pursuing that dream,” Buscemi said. “Kamala Harris is smart, strong, kind and inclusive.” When Pelosi appeared at the dinner, she recounted how her family lived for multiple generations in the Little Italy neighborhood of Baltimore that de Blasio visited. “My grandfather and his contemporaries came here thinking the streets would be paved in gold — little did they know they would pave the streets when they got here,” said Pelosi, whose father and grandfather, both named Thomas D’Alesandro, were mayors of Baltimore. “It is an important race because of [Trump’s attitude toward immigrants] and so many other reasons. We must not take this election for granted,” she said. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Pelosi went on to cite a speech by former President Reagan, highlighting the fact she was quoting a Republican, and saying that he understood in the speech that the Statue of Liberty is a “beacon of hope.” She claimed to have recited the quote to Republicans, who did not applaud: “I said, ‘They don’t applaud for Ronald Reagan?’” Near the close of the dinner, one of Trump’s former officials — who notably broke with the president years ago — appeared. Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci quipped, in addressing de Blasio, “Can you imagine me, you and [former Republican Vice President] Dick Cheney getting together to support Vice President Harris?” “Yes, I can imagine it because each of us understands the systemic danger involved with the potential reelection of Donald Trump,” he said, before pledging $5,000 to Paisans for Harris. The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
DNA TV Show: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal walks out of Tihar jail after 6 months
Delhi CM and AAP Convenor, Arvind Kejriwal, was released from Tihar jail on Friday evening, hours after the SC granted him bail in a corruption case related to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.