‘Just like Ganga flows everywhere…’: LoP Rahul Gandhi renews attack on RSS over ‘independence’ remark
Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi continued his attack on the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s reported remarks about not considering August 15, 1947, as the day of independence.
Liberal California may have a political ‘reawakening’ after wildfire disaster, historian predicts
Californians may have a “reawakening” that could trigger a “political shock” among the nation’s top decision-makers after the state’s highly criticized response to the Los Angeles wildfires brought to light the state’s vulnerability and leadership failures, historian Victor Davis Hanson predicts. “So, there is a group of people in California that could fuel a revolt of liberals or Democrats,” Hanson, a Hoover Institution public policy think tank senior fellow, told Fox News Digital in an interview. That group of people could include the wealthy on the coastal line whose homes were destroyed or damaged by the wildfires that broke out Jan. 7. Several celebrities, including filmmaker Mel Gibson and actor Michael Rapaport, openly blasted California leadership for its response to the crisis as the blaze destroyed several Los Angeles districts. NEWSOM CALLS FOR LOOTING TO BE A FELONY IN EVACUATION ZONES AMID LA INFERNO “So, the shock of LA is most of the people that were burned out in Pacific Palisades or on the areas around it were very, very left-wing and very wealthy,” Hanson said. “And this was what’s shocking politically, because the consequences of their votes and their ideology had never really personally affected them to this degree. “This is going to be an accelerant or a force multiplier. That’s because it affects two different groups of people,” Hanson explained. “It affects the very wealthy. For the first time, they got firebombed. Looks like Dresden, and that’s going to be $300 or $400 billion when it’s all over. And they’re going to have to deal with the Coastal Commission, the Los Angeles Planning Commission and permits for building. And they’re going to be irate when they have to do that. “The net result is, I don’t think any California politician is going to have a national profile after this.” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’ absence during the first 24 hours of the inferno, coupled with empty hydrants, a malfunctioning reservoir, a defunded fire department and a lack of new water infrastructure — despite Gov. Gavin Newsom’s backing of billions for new reservoirs — highlighted severe flaws in the state’s response, noted by lawmakers and experts. The state’s response to the crisis has fueled further criticism, particularly regarding its bureaucracy. In response, Newsom signed an executive order Sunday to suspend certain state commission requirements, aiming to speed up the rebuilding process for homeowners. “Goodbye, red tape,” Newsom wrote in a post on X. “Through an executive order, we are making it easier for victims of the SoCal fires to quickly rebuild their homes and lives.” LA COUNCILWOMAN WHOSE DISTRICT RAVAGED BY WILDFIRES LOOKS TO HOLD LEADERS ACCOUNTABLE FOR EMPTY RESERVOIRS “If he could do it now, why didn’t he do it before the fire?” Hanson said of the order. Another issue that has been a multiyear problem is California’s loss of residents to red states. Dubbed the “California exodus” by experts, California has lost hundreds of thousands of residents over the past few years, many of them citing high taxes, unaffordable housing, crime and difficult business regulations. ‘DEVASTATING’: CALIFORNIA HAD RECORD RAINFALL LAST YEAR, BUT LACKED INFRASTRUCTURE TO STORE IT Many former California residents have relocated to states with lower taxes and more business-friendly environments, such as Texas, Florida, Tennessee and North Carolina. Top companies — Tesla, Oracle, Charles Schwab and Chevron — have also moved to other states. Nearly 240,000 people moved out of California between 2023 and 2024, according to the Census Bureau. This was the largest net domestic migration loss in the country during that time period. Between April 2020 and July 2022, the state saw a net loss of more than 700,000 residents. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “They’re getting very, very angry that it’s hard to do business … and they are angry at the gasoline prices,” Hanson said. “And so I think there’s the potential, if there were a clever, adroit, enlightened Republican candidate or political figure that could capitalize on. So far, the Republican Party doesn’t know what to do. They don’t know whether to go left and try to accommodate this left-wing population or go further right and galvanize it. “There’s no dissenting voices … and I think that’s going to change after what we saw.”
NY Times reporter roasted after ‘unitary executive theory’ flub in Trump OMB nominee story
A New York Times reporter sparked controversy this week after suggesting in an article that President-elect Trump’s nominee to head the Office of Management and Budget, Russell T. Vough, helped promote a “unitary executive theory” ahead of Trump’s second term. It drew sharp criticism on social media and among conservative analysts who argued the description of the theory was fundamentally untrue. The report in question by Alan Rappeport focused on Vought’s nomination to head up OMB during Trump’s second presidency, a position he also held during Trump’s first term, and the work Vought did after Trump left office. In the years after Trump’s first term, the Times report says, Vought founded a conservative think tank and served as an architect of Project 2025, described in the report as an effort by conservative groups to help advance executive branch power. SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS LOOMING TIKTOK BAN The report says the legal underpinning of Project 2025 is “a maximalist version of the so-called unitary executive theory that rejects the idea that the government is composed of three separate branches” and “argues that presidential power over federal agencies is absolute.” Though the article has since been updated to describe the unitary executive theory as three “separate but equal branches,” the article was panned by conservatives and others who disagreed with the Times’ characterization of the legal theory. It was the second part of the statement in particular that sparked backlash from conservative commentators, including National Review editor Charles Cooke, who argued in an op-ed that the Constitution and its wording, in his view, is explicit about how the executive, legislative and judicial branches can exercise power and about the limitations of the executive branch. “The United States is a democratic republic in which elected officials are held accountable for their decisions,” Cooke wrote in an op-ed for the National Review. TRUMP INAUGURATION GUEST LIST INCLUDES TECH TITANS MARK ZUCKERBERG, JEFF BEZOS, ELON MUSK “The only elected official who holds power within the executive branch is the president. For anyone else to exercise power without the permission or endorsement of the sole electee would be to create a fourth branch of government, unmoored from oversight, and thereby to undermine the whole apparatus.” Others also took aim at the article on social media, arguing the Times reporter fundamentally misunderstood the unitary executive theory. “This is bad, even for the New York Times,” Iowa law school professor Andy Grewal wrote in a widely-shared post on X. The New York Times did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for a response.
Appeals court deals blow to Obama-era amnesty for Dreamers
A federal appeals court on Friday ruled against an Obama-era policy that provides amnesty and a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants who entered the U.S. as children. A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled unanimously that a new version of the policy issued by President Biden in 2022 overstepped the executive branch’s authority. The decision by two Republican-appointed judges and one Democratic-appointed judge is the latest blow to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in a string of legal challenges that has kept 500,000 so-called Dreamers waiting for a resolution for more than a decade. The decision Friday does not immediately change the status quo. Program beneficiaries can still renew temporary permits to live and work in the United States without fear of deportation. But the federal government remains prohibited from issuing new applications. However, Friday’s decision does create an opportunity for DACA to be appealed to the Supreme Court for a third time. And it comes just three days before President-elect Trump assumes office with his promise to begin mass deportations of illegal immigrants. TRUMP ADMINISTRATION PLANNING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ARRESTS THROUGHOUT US ON ‘DAY ONE’ In his first term, Trump attempted to end DACA, but he also made statements expressing his desire for Dreamers to be permitted to stay in the U.S. Obama introduced DACA in 2012, citing inaction by Congress on legislation aimed at giving those brought to the U.S. as children a path to legal status. Legal battles followed, including two trips to the Supreme Court. DEM SENATOR QUIZZES NOEM ON HOW SHE WILL WORK WITH HOMAN: ‘WHO IS IN CHARGE?’ Biden’s 2022 update to the policy did not change much substantively, but it was subject to public comment as part of a formal rule-making process intended to improve its chances of surviving in court. Texas Attorney General Ken Paton, who led the challenge on behalf of Republican-led states, called Friday’s ruling “a major victory.” TRUMP DHS PICK NOEM PLEDGES TO END CONTROVERSIAL APP USED BY MIGRANTS ON ‘DAY ONE’ “I look forward to working with President-elect Donald Trump to ensure that the rule of law is restored, and the illegal immigration crisis is finally stopped,” Paxton said. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. In 2016, with one vacancy on the Supreme Court, the justices deadlocked 4-4 over an expanded DACA and a version of the program for parents of DACA recipients, keeping in place a lower court decision for the benefits to be blocked. In 2020, the high court ruled 5-4 that the Trump administration improperly ended DACA by failing to follow federal procedures, allowing it to stay in place.
Saif Ali Khan stabbing case: Police detains a suspect from Chattisgarh’s Durg, two new CCTV Footages surface
Police have finally detained a suspect from Chattisgarh. The police received information that the suspect was traveling on a train, after which he was taken off the train with the help of local police.
Biden appointed more federal judges than Trump did in his first term, new research shows
President-elect Trump appointed three Supreme Court justices during his first White House term, significantly reshaping the nation’s top court. But President Biden appointed more federal judges than Trump in the past four years. According to fresh data from the Federal Judiciary Center, Biden is slated to end his tenure having installed 228 judges to U.S. district and appellate courts, including record numbers of female and minority judges to district courts across the country. That total was aided in part by a flurry of eleventh-hour confirmations by Senate Democrats, who scrambled to approve Biden’s judicial nominees last month in the final days of the 118th Congress and while they still held a narrow majority in the chamber. SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS LOOMING TIKTOK BAN Trump appointed 226 federal and appellate court judges during his first White House term, just under Biden’s total. Biden also placed one justice on the Supreme Court, Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman on the nation’s highest court. Sixty percent of the judges appointed by Biden are Black, Hispanic, Asian or part of another racial or ethnic minority group, according to data compiled by the Pew Research Center, the highest percentage for any U.S. president. Biden’s federal judge appointments, both in their diversity and scope, bear similarities to another single-term Democratic president, Jimmy Carter. CARTER’S JUDICIAL PICKS RESHAPED THE FEDERAL BENCH ACROSS THE COUNTRY Unlike Biden, Carter did not appoint anyone to the Supreme Court. But he appointed more than 260 federal and appellate court judges during his four years in office, including record numbers of women and minority judges, helping the courts better reflect the populations they represented. The appointments helped reshape the federal bench and paved the way for women and minorities to serve on the Supreme Court. Most notably, Carter is credited with installing Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, a decision that set her up later for promotion when Democratic President Clinton tapped her for the nation’s highest court in 1993.
‘I have not done this, one IPS is…’: Here’s what Sanjay Roy told court after conviction in Kolkata doctor rape-murder
After his conviction in the horrific rape and murder of a trainee doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College, civic volunteer Sanjay Roy claimed before the court that he is being “falsely implicated” in the case.
Kolkata doctor-rape-murder case: What are possible punishments for guilty Sanjay Roy?
Months after the horrific rape and murder of a trainee doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College, the Sealdah sessions court found civic volunteer Sanjay Roy guilty.
Many Texas schools take “wait and see” approach to Trump’s mass deportation plans
Schools near the border say it’s hard to prepare for the unknown. Immigration advocates say they should help communities understand students’ rights.
Four killed in Russian drone and missile attack on Ukraine’s Kyiv
Dawn raid on busy Shevchenkivskyi district also damaged water pipeline and forced closure of metro station. At least four people have been killed in a Russian drone and missile attack on the Ukrainian capital. Timur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said the attack at dawn on Saturday took place in the city’s centrally located Shevchenkivskyi district. “Stay in shelters,” said Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, in a post on Telegram on Saturday morning. He had warned of a “ballistic missile threat” against the capital hours earlier and said air defences were in operation around the city. Windows were shattered in Shevchenkivskyi district, including those at the entrance of the Lukianivska metro station, which was closed down, according to the mayor. Shevchenkivskyi area is a busy part of Kyiv with universities, bars and restaurants. Also on Saturday, Russian forces “attacked the centre” of Zaporizhzhia, injuring two people, according to local governor Ivan Fedorov. An administrative building of an industrial facility was partially damaged, he said. Firefighters work at the site of the damaged Lukianivska metro station after a Russian missile attack on Kyiv [Efrem Lukatsky/AP Photo] Reporting from Kyiv, Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull said explosions were heard at about 6am (04:00 GMT), “reverberating amid a volley of anti-aircraft fire, with air alerts suggesting both ballistic missile and drone threats”. Advertisement He said that smoke was seen coming out of a residential building. Later that morning, the Ukrainian Air Force reported that it had destroyed 24 drones and two ballistic missiles that were launched as part of the same attack. Ukrainian counterattacks The rare strike on the heart of the Ukrainian capital comes in the middle of intensified Ukrainian aerial attacks on Russian energy and military facilities in recent months. Ukraine’s army has hit several Russian oil depots recently, including two major strikes on a facility near a military airfield in Russia’s Saratov region that triggered days-long blazes. Late on Friday, a Ukrainian drone attack on Lyudinovo in Russia’s Kaluga region sparked a fire at an industrial site, according to regional governor Vladislav Shapsha. Video posted on unofficial Russian social media sites showed firefighting vehicles speeding off in the direction of a large blaze at what they said was an oil storage depot in the city. No casualties were reported. Adblock test (Why?)