VP Harris to skip decades-old campaign tradition from 1960 meant to bridge political divides
Vice President Kamala Harris will skip the historic Al Smith dinner, eschewing a decades-old campaign tradition in which presidential candidates roast each other.
Harris’ campaign told event organizers Harris was instead planning to campaign in an unspecified battleground state.
The annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner is traditionally held in New York City to benefit Catholic Charities and is hosted by the archbishop of New York. This year’s event, on Oct. 17, will be the 79th.
“We are disappointed that she will not be with us, as this is an evening of unity and putting aside political differences in support of a good cause of helping women and children in need regardless of race, creed, or background,” Archdiocese spokesperson Joseph Zwilling told The New York Post. “We hope she reconsiders.”
Every presidential election year, the Republican and Democratic candidates will typically come together to give humorous speeches at the dinner. The tradition began when John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon spoke at the event in 1960.
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There have been exceptions to the tradition. The Al Smith dinner opted not to invite the two major presidential candidates during the 1996, 2000 and 2004 election cycles.
Fox News Digital asked the Trump campaign if the Republican candidate plans on attending the dinner but did not immediately hear back. The last time a Democratic candidate opted out of the event while a Republican nominee attended was in 1984, when President Ronald Reagan gave a speech without Walter Mondale in the audience.
In 2020, both President Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden appeared at the dinner. Neither candidate took shots at the other despite the intensity of the race.
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“Throughout my life of public service I’ve been guided by the tenets of Catholic social doctrine,” Biden said in his speech. “What you do to the least among us, you do to me.”
“Catholics have enriched our nation beyond measure,” Trump said at the dinner. “The essence of the Catholic faith, as Jesus Christ said in the gospel, ‘Everyone will know you are my disciples.'”
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Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign for comment but did not immediately hear back.
‘Die Hard’ actor calls out glaring difference between Trump and Harris backers
It’s a tale of two candidates.
While Vice President Kamala Harris continues to reel in mass support from stars like Billie Eilish, Chris Rock, Meryl Streep, Oprah and Taylor Swift, former President Trump appears to have a majority of support from members of the Teamsters union, a historically blue voting bloc.
“They’re not the rank-and-file,” actor Robert Davi, who appeared in movies like “The Goonies,” “Die Hard” and “License to Kill,” told Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade on Saturday.
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“They’re not the Teamsters that actually make the sets work. That 60% of the Teamsters are for Donald Trump. So there’s a huge disconnect in terms of money and the understanding of what the problems of our nation are.”
Davi has broken the ranks of the Hollywood crowd with his own support for the former president, remaining in a special class of Trump-backing personalities like Dean Cain, Hulk Hogan, Kid Rock and Dennis Quaid, to name a few.
At the same time, another unlikely group deviated from expectations as The International Brotherhood of Teamsters refrained from endorsing the Democratic nominee for the first time in over 25 years and decided to remain neutral.
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Online and phone survey results from Teamsters union members suggested a majority support former President Trump over Vice President Harris as well.
“The Democratic Party has been hijacked by an extreme woke ideology from the left, as we’ve even seen from AOC the other day comment on probably one of the biggest interesting combats against terrorism [pagers exploding]. She criticized that and many of the left is doing that, and continues to do that,” Davi told Kilmeade.
So far, Harris has pulled in support from other Hollywood personalities like George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Ben Stiller, Mark Hamill, Jamie Lee Curtis and rapper Cardi B.
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Former agent blows lid off agency struggles, issuing dire warning on Trump’s security
The U.S. Secret Service has dozens of people to protect across numerous properties around the country as the embattled agency struggles with multiple threats to its protectees, including two failed attempts on the life of former President Trump.
The Secret Service is responsible for protecting up to 40 individuals, including all current and former presidents, vice presidents and their spouses.
It’s an unsustainable mission without more manpower, one former agent says.
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While leaders on both sides of the aisle have launched a congressional investigation and demanded accountability, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Tuesday the House is looking at additional Secret Service funding for a “manpower allocation.”
“We don’t want to just throw money at a broken system,” he told Fox News’ Chad Pergram at the Capitol.
Bill Gage, a retired Secret Service agent and a consultant with SafeHaven Security Group, welcomed the proposal but said additional agents could take up to two years to hire and train.
“It’s not going to make an immediate impact,” he told Fox News Digital. “[We] need legislation or an executive order to reform the agency.”
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According to the Secret Service, the agency is authorized to protect all current and former presidents and their spouses. The first and second families are also protected, as well as certain high-level Cabinet members and anyone else designated by presidential order.
The children of former presidents receive protection until they turn 16. President Biden’s grandchildren are also protected, even those who are adults like Naomi Biden, 30, whose detail was involved in a shooting outside her Washington townhouse after three suspects broke into a parked government vehicle. She’s been a protectee since her grandfather was vice president, and he could ask his successor to keep her on the list after leaving office.
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Major presidential candidates get protection within four months of Election Day, and presidents-elect and vice presidents-elect receive it before taking office.
Former agents estimate the number of current protectees between 30 and 40. Not all of them receive full-time coverage.
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Additional recipients of Secret Service protection include foreign heads of state, their spouses, and other “distinguished” visitors. That list is often changing, Gage said. Certain events, such as the Republican and Democratic National Conventions, are also protected.
Further complicating matters are presidents’ sprawling properties, where they live and vacation. Trump, a real estate billionaire before taking office, had Mar-a-Lago in Florida, Trump Tower in New York and more. President Biden enjoys Rehoboth Beach in Delaware – right off a major highway.
None of those areas are as secure as Camp David, a Maryland property that serves as the official “country residence” for sitting U.S. presidents.
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“Camp David, believe it or not, is one of the most secure places in the world,” Gage told Fox News Digital. “It is extremely hard to secure vacation properties.”
Gage, who traveled to Hawaii in 2012 during a vacation for President Obama, said it was a massive security operation involving dozens of Navy SEALS and the U.S. Coast Guard.
“Camp David is on a mountaintop – it’s super remote,” Gage said.
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The only way in or out is along a narrow road that stretches about seven miles down the mountain, he said. There are two layers of 8-foot fencing and guard shacks manned by U.S. Marines. That makes it much more secure than the White House, which doubles as the president’s main office building, where workers, deliveries and other people come and go all day long.
Vacation homes are even less secure.
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“There’s a tradition of presidents vacationing in different places,” Gage said. “The issue is that it’s not the same world. For a president to vacation in the 1980s in Kennebunkport, Maine, or the Bush compound, I’m not so sure that a president could do that now without extensive protective precautions being taken.”
“When Obama vacationed in Hawaii in 2012, surrounded on three sides by water, we had 20 or 30 Navy SEALS with us on different kinds of boats patrolling. We had to have multiple Coast Guard entities. We had to have a separate evacuation plan. Landing sites. How far is the hospital? That house had neighbors right there. People were coming and going from their houses. The logistics of that sort of protective operation are very difficult to set up.
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“It really increases the level of risk, and in some ways the Service has darn near an impossible job,” Gage said.
He has been calling for increased manpower and a complete overhaul of the agency to boost its preparedness given the threats against the United States after Sept. 11, 2001.
Aside from the two assassination attempts against Trump, other high-profile threats against U.S. officials in recent months have included the July arrest of a Florida man for making threats against the GOP presidential ticket, August charges against a man accused of making death threats against Vice President Kamala Harris, federal charges against someone accused of threatening Harris, Biden and Obama, and charges against an alleged Iranian agent accused of trying to place a hit on high-level U.S. officials.
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Since the first attempt on Trump’s life in July, the agency saw its director step down and faces internal and external investigations into its preparedness and handling of the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where a gunman named Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire with a clear line of sight to the protectee.
Then on Sunday, Ryan Routh was accused of bringing a loaded rifle to the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, and camping out along the tree line in an alleged assassination plot that failed.
Americans urged to throw away milk in over two dozen states because it could be deadly
Dairy company HP Hood has voluntarily recalled Lactaid, a lactose-free dairy milk, in 27 states due to potential exposure to almonds, according to the company and the Food and Drug Administration.
The milk may contain trace amounts of almonds, which were not listed on the label and could pose a risk to people with an allergy or severe sensitivity if they consume the products. The FDA says these individuals may run the risk of a serious or life-threatening allergic reaction.
HP Hood issued the recall Friday on 96-ounce containers of whole, 1%, 2%, fat-free and 2% calcium-enriched Lactaid Milk that were shipped to retailers and wholesalers from Sept. 5 through Sept. 18.
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This problem was discovered during routine maintenance programs that revealed the potential for trace amounts of almond.
The states where the recalled milk was sold include Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
No illnesses or allergic reactions have been reported from consuming the product.
The recall only applies to products that have the code 51-4109 P2 and specific “best by” dates announced by the FDA.
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Anyone who purchased a product impacted by the recall may return it to the store where it was purchased for a full refund or exchange.
Hunt for killers intensifies after mass shooting leaves several dead
Four people were killed and at least 18 others were wounded during a mass shooting in a popular nightlife district in Birmingham, Alabama, on Saturday night.
Two men and a woman were killed at the scene in the 2000 block of Magnolia Avenue in the Five Points South area near the University of Alabama at Birmingham, while a fourth victim died at the university’s hospital, the Birmingham Police Department told Fox News Digital via email on Sunday morning.
Police responded to reports of gunfire shortly after 11 p.m., police said.
“Detectives believe the shooting was not random and stemmed from an isolated incident where multiple victims were caught in the crossfire,” police said in the emailed statement.
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Birmingham Fire and Rescue transported eight victims to the hospital. Police said the injuries among the wounded ranged from non-life-threatening to life-threatening.
Police said it is unclear who the suspected gunmen were targeting in the shooting. No suspects have been taken into custody.
“Rest assured, we are going to do everything we possibly can to uncover, identify and hunt down whoever was responsible for preying on our people,” Officer Truman Fitzgerald told AL.com.
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Streets have been blocked off in the area as police continue to investigate in the Five Points South area, which contains entertainment venues, restaurants and bars and is often crowded on Saturday nights.
Fitzgerald said police have reached out to the FBI and ATF for assistance.
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Authorities asked anyone with information to contact police, adding that a reward was possible.
Common household appliance now being used to keep kids from skipping class
Steep payouts, ice cream, mini-breaks and – laundry machines?
Schools are incentivizing kids to come to class as chronic absenteeism remains a major post-pandemic concern, but the lattermost – taking effect in Detroit Public Schools – might sound a bit unconventional without context.
“I have the opportunity to come to the school and wash my son’s clothes,” parent Melania Willis, whose son is a senior at a local high school where she works as a security guard, told WXYZ-TV in The Motor City.
“I do stay in an apartment and it’s hard for me sometimes to put money on the card because they close at a certain time,” she added.
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The machines found their way into local schools thanks to the help of Detroit Public Schools Foundation President Kerrie Mitchell and charitable donations and a GE Appliances investment.
Willis said installing the washers and dryers helps kids from less privileged households, including one who has no running water at home and is bullied regularly.
Though unclear if she was referencing the same student, she noted that one student who doesn’t have laundry machines at home approaches her and often asks her to take her clothes to the washing machine.
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“One student came to me like, ‘I don’t have a washing machine at home. Do you mind if you take my clothes to the washing machine, to the laundromat?’ So, I took it and brought it back to her,” she recalled.
In another instance, Davis Aerospace Technical High School teacher Janine Scott said she noticed a student she thought had poor hygiene actually just needed to have his hoodie washed, and the problem extends to other students, especially of younger age groups, as well.
Older age groups reportedly avoid the embarrassment by either finding ways to cover up the scent or staying out of class altogether.
Detroit Public Schools have been hit hard by the chronic absentee epidemic, with two-thirds of students falling into the category of those who miss at least 10% of the school year, according to education website Chalkbeat.
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The same report said more than half of the district’s 108 schools now have the appliances installed.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, school districts across the U.S. have struggled to get kids back into classrooms, with some taking measures to reel them back in.
Ohio lawmakers floated an idea to get kids in class – and across the graduation stage – by incentivizing their attendance with payouts, but the bill ultimately stalled.
Some Rhode Island schools incentivized good attendance with rewards like ice cream socials and extra recess time, according to Chalkbeat.
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Viral travel drama draws thousands of angry comments on social media
A “friends” drama involving a serious travel disagreement has gone viral, eliciting some 5,000 reactions on social media plus nearly 3,000 comments, with those weighing in clearly taking one woman’s side of the issue over the other.
“My best friend and I recently went on a trip to the U.K.,” wrote a woman describing herself as just 20 years old.
“I actually have a U.K. passport since my dad is British,” she added, “but my friend had to get a U.K. visa.”
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She said the two friends “were supposed to take two flights, one that would arrive in France and a connecting flight that would fly to the U.K.,” she noted on the Reddit page known as AITA (“Am I the a–hole”).
“However,” she went on, “the second flight ended up being canceled. The next available flight wasn’t until 2 p.m. the next day, so we would have to wait around 17 hours.”
She said passengers “were allowed to stay in nearby hotels for free.”
Yet “this didn’t apply to people like my friend,” she added, “who wasn’t legally allowed to leave the airport because she didn’t have a visa for Europe.”
This is when matters became strained between the friends, as the woman’s account noted.
“I had the option to stay with her, but I chose to go to the hotel instead.”
The friend without the visa for Europe “had to stay within a specific area of the airport that had these bright ceiling lights that would stay on 24/7. There was construction nearby, so there was this extremely loud drilling noise every so often.”
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The writer added, “All the available seats were taken by other passengers, so my friend had to sleep on the floor. Plus, earlier that day, water spilled on our phone chargers, and her phone was only on 40%.”
The woman continued, “I had the option to stay with her, but I chose to go to the hotel instead.”
The friend was “furious” at this, said the woman, and “accus[ed] me of being a fake friend.”
She also “told me she was scared of being alone in a creepy, unknown place and wanted me there to comfort her,” said the writer, “and I assured her that [I’d] be back by the morning.”
The woman was accused of being “a fake friend.”
The friend found little consolation in those remarks.
“She said I was acting selfish for not even spending one night with her, but I hadn’t gotten any sleep in over 24 hours and I didn’t see why both of us had to suffer,” the woman wrote.
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She asked others for their opinions — and received a flood of thoughts.
The top upvoted response to the drama itself received some 13,000 reactions.
“That was a really sh—- thing to do,” wrote the commenter as part of a much longer response.
“On a smaller scale, it reminds me of a friend who told me she wanted me to go to a certain touring Broadway show with her and how excited she was to see it with me. I couldn’t afford the $300 seats she wanted to buy and told her, but said that I could afford the $100 seats about 15 rows back.”
The commenter added, “She just brushed me off and said, ‘Well, this is where sitting.’ She was very surprised … when I told her she would have to enjoy the show alone, then.”
The same person added, “We are not friends anymore. That was 20 years ago.”
She added to the young woman, “Consider the fact that what you did was even worse. It wasn’t just wanting to sit away from [the friend] in a better seat, it was abandoning her in a foreign country where she was scared. Major AH thing to do.”
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Said this same commenter in an attempt to school the user, “I know you’re only 20, so I’m willing to give you a tiny bit of leeway due to that, but please learn now that your whole ‘why should both of us suffer?’ attitude will not serve you well in life.”
She went on, “You’ll lose many more friends than you make, you’ll be alienated at work, and you’ll find yourself alone more often than not. Selfishness like yours isn’t attractive, not even to other selfish people.”
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Wrote another responder, eliciting plenty of reaction as well, “You don’t just abandon your mates and leave them on their own, especially not overnight and in a foreign country. I wouldn’t leave my friend to walk to a corner shop alone at night, let alone overnight where she’s expected to sleep on the floor, miles away from home, surrounded by strangers and unable to leave this room to get herself anything to make it more comfortable.”
Another person wrote that apparently “one night of discomfort” wasn’t worth the “friendship to you.”