Omar struggles when pressed on massive Somali fraud ‘network’ in Minnesota
During a Wednesday interview on CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper,” Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., appeared to struggle to explain how fraud became “so out of control” in Minnesota after federal officials announced an investigation into an alleged Somali fraud network operating in the state.
After being pressed by Tapper to explain how fraud became so rampant within her state, the congresswoman gave a meandering response, attributing the problem to inadequate “guardrails” for COVID relief funds that were subsequently exploited.
“I think what happened, um, is that, you know, when you have these, kind of new programs that are, um, designed to help people, you’re oftentimes relying on third parties to be able to facilitate. And I just think that a lot of the COVID programs that were set up — they were set up so quickly that a lot of the guardrails did not get created,” Omar told the host.
FEDERAL PROBE TARGETS ALLEGED MINNESOTA SOMALI FRAUD ‘NETWORK’ AS COVID-AID CRIME RINGS PERSIST
After the congresswoman’s response, Tapper criticized President Donald Trump for making “shockingly bigoted” comments about not only Omar, but “the entire Somali community in Minnesota,” while speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday.
“These Somalians have taken billions of dollars out of our country. They’ve taken billions and billions of dollars. They have a representative, Ilhan Omar, who they say married her brother. She should be thrown the hell out of our country. And most of those people, they have destroyed Minnesota. She should not be — and her friend shouldn’t be allowed — frankly, they shouldn‘t even be allowed to be Congress people, okay? They shouldn’t even be allowed to be Congress people, because they don’t represent the interests of our country,” Trump told reporters.
After playing the clip for Omar, Tapper asked the congresswoman whether she had any response to the president’s comments about her and other Somali immigrants.
“I’m not shocked, because we know that the president oftentimes resorts to very bigoted, xenophobic, Islamophobic, racist rhetoric when he is trying to scapegoat and deflect from the actual failures that he has himself,” Omar said. “We know that this administration has not fulfilled the majority of the promises that they’ve made, whether it is bringing costs down, whether it is the tariffs that are decimating businesses in the United States, whether it is the possible war crimes that his defense secretary is committing.”
She continued, “And so, to me, it is important for us, one, to remind folks that we are Americans. We’re not going anywhere, and we will continue to be in this country. And two, that Minnesotans are resilient, and we will continue to thrive.”
A representative for Omar did not immediately return Fox News Digital‘s request for comment.
LIZ PEEK: MASSIVE MINNESOTA WELFARE HEIST PROVES DEMOCRATS CAN’T POLICE THEIR OWN MESS
On Tuesday, the Small Business Administration announced its investigation into a network of Somali groups in Minnesota that it says is tied to a massive COVID fraud scandal highlighting alleged systemic failures by Gov. Tim Walz’s team to properly audit public funds.
Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee, has become embroiled in a scandal that has already led to charges against dozens of people — mostly Somali — and prompted allegations from state government workers of retaliation against whistleblowers and institutional negligence.
“Numerous individuals and nonprofits indicted in the $1 billion Minnesota COVID fraud scandal, including Feeding Our Future, received SBA PPP loans in addition to other state and federal funding,” Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler announced on X. “I have ordered an investigation into the network of Somali organizations and executives implicated in these schemes.”
MINNESOTA GOVERNMENT WORKERS BLAME WALZ FOR ‘MASSIVE FRAUD’ AMID ALLEGATIONS AGAINST SOMALI COMMUNITY
She added: “Despite Governor Walz’s best efforts to obstruct, SBA continues to work to expose abuse and hold perpetrators accountable, full stop.”
An SBA spokesperson confirmed the probe to Fox News Digital, saying the agency is “investigating all individuals and organizations indicted as part of the $1 billion Minnesota COVID fraud scheme to identify any that may have also fraudulently obtained PPP loans — evaluating their citizenship status, the legitimacy of their nonprofit work, and other requirements for eligibility.”
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Muslim students spark outrage promoting ‘alarming’ hidden message at HS event
FIRST ON FOX: A Pennsylvania school district is facing backlash from Jewish parents after a Muslim student club promoting Palestinians passed out keffiyahs to students, featured imagery criticizing Israel, and was more focused on activism than culture, parents say.
“My child came home shaken and unsure of whether it’s even safe to speak up as a Jew at school,” Lynn Simon, a Wissahickon School District parent, told Fox News Digital about last Monday’s event at Wissahickon High School, where student clubs were presenting at an annual culture fair stand that had booths representing various cultures, including a booth from Muslim Students of America chapter.
The district’s superintendent, Dr. Mwenyewe Dawan, can be seen in photos on Instagram, along with assistant superintendent Sean Gardiner. The school’s principal, Dr. Lynne Blair, posted photos of the event on her official school social media account, but has since removed some of the photos.
Upset parents say some of the students were displaying slogans like “Jerusalem is ours,” offering cash prize contests, encouraging administrators and young students to don keffiyehs, and essentially engaging in pro-Palestinian activism on school grounds.
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“When the principal is posting pictures of students wearing slogans like ‘Jerusalem is ours,’ and the superintendent is encouraging illegal minor-led games of chance, while visiting & taking photos with politically charged booths dressing students up in keffiyehs, that’s not education—it’s indoctrination. We don’t send our kids to school to be marginalized. We demand accountability, not photo ops.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the Wissahickon School District multiple times and did not receive a response.
Steve Rosenberg, Philadelphia director for the North American Values Institute, told Fox News Digital that “the Wissahickon administration continues to set the gold standard for educational malpractice.”
“The blurring of lines between culture and radical political propaganda — facilitated by staff, celebrated by leadership, and normalized for students — is both an embarrassment and a warning sign. School should be a place for critical thinking, not cultural intimidation and performative activism masquerading as diversity. The district owes its students better.”
A letter sent by dozens of Jewish parents to the school, obtained by Fox News Digital, further outlines the concerns about the event and said their children witnessed several things that “crossed clear educational and ethical boundaries.”
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“Students visiting the Muslim Student Association booth were encouraged to wear keffiyehs, a symbol that in the current global climate is widely associated not only with cultural heritage but with political movements, hostility toward Israel, and in many contexts open expressions of anti-Jewish sentiment,” the letter, sent to Superintendent Dawan, said.
“Multiple students reported that you spent time at the Muslim Student Association table, and did not halt the intimidating and inappropriate behavior. For many Jewish students, this was not experienced as a cultural gesture — it was experienced as political signaling from the highest authority in the district.”
What was “more troubling,” the parents explained, was the cash and candy being given out in exchange for interacting with the booth activities.
The letter reads: “Using financial or material incentives to draw students into a politically charged display is inappropriate and coercive. It exploits students’ curiosity and social pressure, turning an educational setting into an environment where certain political identities are rewarded and implicitly sanctioned by district leadership.”
The photos posted by Blair were described in the letter as “even more alarming,” and the “Jerusalem is ours” slogan was described as a slogan that goes beyond being a “cultural statement” but rather a “political claim that denies Jewish history, identity, and connection to Israel’s capital.”
“This is messaging commonly used in extremist and anti-normalization movements,” the parents argue in the letter. “For a school leader to publicly endorse this imagery, even indirectly, is profoundly inappropriate and sends a chilling message to Jewish students: your history and identity are contested here, and the people in authority are comfortable amplifying those who contest it.”
In a board meeting on Dec. 1, the president of the MSA chapter defended the term and said it is not “inherently antisemitic.”
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“Jerusalem is currently a conflict zone in which two parties are actually fighting over it,” the student said. “That statement was written in Arabic so none of the Jewish students could actually understand that and take that as antisemitic, so that is actually just something that an individual is saying to tear us down and paint us as antisemitic. Which is actually going off of my previous point that antisemitism should not be watered down. We should not throw that term lightly here and there.”
The parents in the letter call on the school to take five measures in response to their concerns, including providing a public explanation of the district’s involvement in the keffiyehs being passed out and addressing the principal’s social media post amplifying the controversial message.
Additionally, the letter calls for the release of the “planning framework” for the event, including how booths were approved.
The parents also ask for “clear district guidelines” addressing how they will ensure that cultural programming does not veer into “political advocacy” and how all groups, including Jewish students, will be protected from “intimidation.”
Lastly, the parents are asking for a “listening session” where Jewish families and students can share how they were impacted by the booths.
“Schools must be safe, neutral spaces where students of all identities are respected,” the letter concludes. “What happened this week undermines that principle, and it has caused real fear among Jewish students who now wonder whether their district will protect them — or leave them to navigate this climate alone.”
College football star appeals to President Trump as football playoff sparks outrage
The College Football Playoff Committee’s penultimate rankings caused a bunch of consternation among fans, and one Heisman Trophy hopeful called on the president to take charge.
The Vanderbilt Commodores are on the outside looking in at the final field with no more games left on their calendar. Vanderbilt has only two losses on the season – against the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Texas Longhorns. Both of them are conference opponents, which kept them from getting into the SEC Championship.
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Diego Pavia wrote on social media that President Donald Trump should sign an executive order to expand the field with days before the final bracket is released.
“@realDonaldTrump MAKE THE EXECUTIVE ORDER PLEASE,” he wrote on X.
Pavia responded to a post that called for the expansion of the College Football Playoff from 12 teams to 16 teams. The post called for the CFP to have four SEC teams, four Big Ten teams, two ACC teams, two Big 12 teams and four at-large bids.
“Get rid of these stupid committees filled with justifications nobody seems to understand,” the post added.
OLE MISS-LANE KIFFIN DIVORCE TAKES ANOTHER DRAMATIC TURN AS ATHLETIC DIRECTOR SEEMINGLY BACKS PLAYERS’ DISPUTE
Trump taking over the CFP Committee was something Secretary of State Marco Rubio joked about in an appearance on CNN.
Right now, feeling the hurt the most are the Miami Hurricanes, who are sitting on the outside looking into the field despite having a head-to-head advantage against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
There are a few conference championship games Saturday that could shake up the rankings a bit. The BYU Cougars losing to the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the Big 12 Championship will ultimately hurt them and possibly catapult them into the field. The possibility of Alabama staying in the field despite having three losses should they lose to the Georgia Bulldogs in the SEC title game, would create more heated conversation as well.
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The final rankings will come out Sunday once the conference championship games are finished.
Twin brothers arrested for deleting federal records after termination
Two Virginia twin brothers were arrested for their alleged roles in deleting government databases hosted by a federal government contractor, the Justice Department announced on Wednesday.
Muneeb and Sohaib Akhter, both 34, were indicted last month for allegedly conspiring to delete databases used to store U.S. government information, the DOJ said in a news release.
The arrests come after Bloomberg News reported in May how the brothers allegedly compromised data across several agencies, including the IRS and the General Services Administration.
The brothers also pleaded guilty in 2015 to federal charges of conspiracy in connection with data breaches at the State Department and a cosmetics company.
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Both served multiple years in prison before landing jobs as engineers for Opexus, a federal contractor that helps process U.S. government records.
Following their termination as federal contractors, the pair allegedly attempted to harm their former employer and its U.S. government customers by accessing computers without authorization, issuing commands to bar others from modifying the databases before they were removed, deleting databases, stealing information and destroying evidence of their activities, the DOJ said on Wednesday in the latest case against the two men.
In February, Muneeb Akhter deleted nearly 100 databases storing U.S. government information, with many of the databases containing Freedom of Information Act records administered by the federal government, as well as sensitive investigative files of federal government components, the indictment claims.
About a minute after deleting a DHS database, Muneeb Akhter allegedly asked an artificial intelligence tool how to clear system logs after deleting databases.
The brothers also talked about cleaning out their house in anticipation of a police search. The company laptops used by the pair were wiped before they were returned to the federal contractor.
Muneeb Akhter also allegedly obtained information from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission without authorization after he was fired from the contractor. He is also accused of having stolen copies of IRS information stored on a virtual machine, including federal tax information and other identifying information of at least 450 people.
DOORDASH BREACH EXPOSES CONTACT INFO FOR CUSTOMERS AND WORKERS
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Sohaib Akhter is also accused in the indictment of trafficking in a password that could access a computer used by and for the U.S. government.
“These defendants abused their positions as federal contractors to attack government databases and steal sensitive government information. Their actions jeopardized the security of government systems and disrupted agencies’ ability to serve the American people,” Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti of the DOJ’s Criminal Division said in a statement.
Muneeb Akhter is charged with conspiracy to commit computer fraud and to destroy records, two counts of computer fraud, theft of U.S. government records and two counts of aggravated identity theft. Sohaib Akhter is charged with conspiracy to commit computer fraud and to destroy records and computer fraud.
Pentagon faces scrutiny over lawyer’s role in approval of lethal follow-on boat strike
The Pentagon’s account of the September 2 “double tap” strike that killed two survivors of an initial attack on a suspected Venezuelan drug boat is coming under renewed scrutiny after ABC News reported that a military lawyer was present when Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley authorized the follow-on strike. The new detail raises a sharper legal question: if real-time legal counsel was available, what advice did the judge advocate general (JAG) provide when Bradley approved a second round of lethal force?
Pentagon officials have framed the operation as a counterterrorism mission targeting members of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua criminal network. Experts say that distinction matters because U.S. counterterrorism missions normally embed a JAG in the operations center to determine whether a target remains lawful — oversight not typical for routine maritime counter-narcotics patrols.
Todd Huntley, a former Navy JAG officer at U.S. Special Operations Command, said the presence of a lawyer would fit that framework.
“In normal maritime counter-narcotics operations, a JAG isn’t advising in real time because those missions rarely involve lethal force,” Huntley said. “But these strikes are being handled as counterterrorism strikes. The targets just happen to be on the water.”
In those missions, he said, the JAG participates directly in the real-time targeting cycle. “The JAG works with intelligence and operations personnel to make sure the target is lawful, that the planned strike is lawful, and whether the commander has the authority to approve it or needs to send it higher.” He emphasized that commanders, not attorneys, ultimately make the call. “JAGs only advise. They can’t override the commander’s decision.”
TRUMP ANNOUNCES US MILITARY CONDUCTED ‘LETHAL STRIKE’ ON VENEZUELAN DRUG BOAT IN CARIBBEAN
The central legal dispute now turns on the condition of the survivors at the time of the second strike. According to ABC News, U.S. personnel believed the two men in the water may have been calling for help, potentially attempting to bring reinforcements. The Pentagon did not respond to Fox news digital’s requests for comment.
Under the U.S. Law of War Manual, attacking persons rendered “helpless” due to “wounds, sickness or shipwreck” is explicitly prohibited and described as “dishonorable and inhumane.” Shipwrecked individuals are protected unless they resume hostile action or otherwise regain the capacity to pose an immediate threat.
Calling for help does not automatically remove those protections. Legal experts say the key question is whether U.S. forces had credible evidence that the survivors were attempting to direct further hostilities — or whether they were simply clinging to debris and making distress calls.
The Pentagon has said Bradley authorized the second strike that killed the two alleged traffickers, and that War Secretary Pete Hegseth was not involved in that decision. Officials say Hegseth monitored the first strike but did not view the footage of the follow-on strike.
Rachel VanLandingham, a former Air Force JAG who advised on operations at U.S. Central Command, said she “would be surprised that there wasn’t a JAG” present if the administration viewed the mission as armed conflict. With ABC now reporting that a lawyer was in the room, she said attention shifts to what the operations center understood about the men’s status in the water.
SPEC OPS CHIEF ORDERED DEADLY CARIBBEAN STRIKE ‘IN SELF-DEFENSE’ WITH HEGSETH’S SIGN-OFF, WHITE HOUSE SAYS
But she cautioned that the presence of an attorney does not change the underlying legal standards. Shipwrecked personnel, she said, remain protected unless they take clear steps to rejoin the fight. “Whether a JAG was consulted is almost irrelevant here,” she said. “You don’t need a lawyer to know you can’t kill shipwrecked survivors. This is the classic example we use in professional military education of a clearly unlawful order.”
“Even if they’re the worst criminals in the world, you don’t kill them once they’re helpless and clinging to the side of a boat,” she said. “Killing shipwrecked persons is a textbook war crime.”
She also rejected the Pentagon’s claim that the survivors could have summoned additional boats. “The idea that survivors could have called for backup is absolutely irrelevant,” she said. “Unless they were actively shooting, they remained protected and could not be lawfully targeted.”
Hegseth and Bradley have continued to defend the operation. Hegseth wrote on X that Bradley “is an American hero, a true professional, and has my 100% support,” adding that he stands by Bradley’s decisions “on the September 2 mission and all others since.”
President Trump has also repeatedly highlighted the strikes, releasing video of the second engagement on Truth Social and praising the campaign against what he calls “narcoterrorists.”
With new reporting that a JAG was physically present, and with legal experts emphasizing that shipwrecked personnel retain protection unless they rejoin the fight, the unresolved issue is what specific intelligence the operations center relied upon when Bradley approved the second strike.
Did the JAG conclude that the survivors had regained the capacity to pose an imminent threat? Did the attorney object? Did the operations team interpret the alleged call for help as an active step toward hostile action?
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Until the Pentagon releases a fuller accounting, the legality of the follow-on strike — and the role of the military lawyer who reportedly witnessed it — remains sharply contested.
Ryan Serhant drops bombshell on new trend reshaping where families live
Ryan Serhant says the housing market isn’t broken — it’s transforming.
The celebrity broker told Fox News Digital that America has entered “nobody’s market,” a reality where buyers and sellers are equally stuck and the old rules no longer apply.
And out of that confusion, he says, a seismic shift is happening: wealthy Americans aren’t picking one place to live anymore, but rather “choosing portfolios of cities” — a trend he calls the biggest change in the U.S. housing market in 50 years.
“It’s not the buyer’s market, it’s not a seller’s market, it’s actually nobody’s market,” Serhant said, “because rates are high and they’re not coming down substantially anymore.”
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“If there’s a normal we’re all looking for, it’s not an old normal, and it’s not even a new normal, right? It’s potentially no one’s normal, which just means somewhat unaffordable.”
“I’m not nervous at all about luxury. I’m more nervous about the silent affordability crisis – not just in housing, but in everyday life,” he continued. “Wage growth isn’t keeping up with the cost structure of modern America. I think that consumers are relying too heavily on debt to maintain lifestyle norms … and I think if rates stay higher for longer, I think household strain, regardless of whether you’re buying or selling real estate, becomes probably the biggest economic story.”
Serhant — whose brokerage is readying to celebrate the Season 2 release of its Netflix reality series “Owning Manhattan” — believes the U.S. has entered a transitional period where buyers and sellers feel stuck.
Despite cross-country headwinds, Serhant’s real estate success may best be showcased in New York City, where he said his firm surpassed $1 billion in closed and in-contract sales within the first 35 days of 2025.
But while this might not be anyone’s market, there has been a widespread rethinking of where and how people live.
“We’re having bigger life discussions with people regarding their real estate wants and needs than we’ve ever done before,” he said. “People aren’t choosing just one city anymore to domicile in, right? They’re choosing portfolios of cities, almost the same way you would choose a stock portfolio.”
“I think that’s the biggest shift in the luxury American housing market that we’ve seen in 50 years … They’re not just buying one home now, they’re buying three. We have clients who … their life is changing, and so they can’t just have one house.”
HOMEBUYERS SCORE RECORD DISCOUNTS AS SELLERS SLASH PRICES NATIONWIDE
The shift away from single-home ownership could be driven by hybrid work, tax strategies, lifestyle diversification and second-home affordability relative to major markets.
“I think I am fighting the resistance, building a company for the people, and not just for the property. I think we’re building a real estate company for the next era where content, tech and brokerage are all under one roof. Our company is the engine, and I think America is our runway.”
“We’re seeing a lot of traction in a state where we’ve never referred deals or done a lot of business, which is New Hampshire,” Serhant said. “It’s a couple hours north of New York City to have probably one of the better tax structures, relative to Florida and Wyoming, that you can get on the East Coast while still having seasons. Like, you would be surprised at the amount of hedge fund managers, private equity, C-suites, people who spend six months and a day living in New Hampshire.”
“D.C., for example, has stability and global influence … Rhode Island is the Northeast luxury migration. It is a tiny, tiny little market, but that’s how I would define it,” he said of other markets where his brokerage is expanding. “Las Vegas is explosive, tax-driven growth … Together, they also show how diversified the modern American buyer has become.”
Even as people add more cities to their lives, they’re returning to major metros like New York City, where Serhant says the wealth exodus is “absolutely” over.
“The streets of New York City are busier than they were pre-COVID,” he said. “And it’s not just because people who went to Florida are coming back. Yes, there is some reverse migration … but we have people who are experiencing New York City for the first time.”
“I’ve never seen more excitement about owning in New York in my life. If you look at what you’d call the luxury market, so over $4 million, let’s say, that market has had the strongest four weeks since we started recording that market over the past month,” Serhant noted.
His bullish optimism about New York City’s real estate skyline will be on full display Friday, Dec. 5, 2025, when Season 2 of “Owning Manhattan” drops on Netflix.
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“Season 2 is an emotional skyscraper of a show. It is bigger listings, bigger personalities, bigger stakes. And I think it really, really shows a real look at the intersection of real estate, of wealth, of culture of why New York remains the most competitive marketplace in the world.”
“I think I am fighting the resistance, building a company for the people, and not just for the property. I think we’re building a real estate company for the next era where content, tech and brokerage are all under one roof,” Serhant said. “Our company is the engine, and I think America is our runway.”
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Research reveals higher dementia risk for aging adults who lack common activity
A lack of socializing may be a major risk factor for neurological disorders in older adults.
New research from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, Australia, has considered how “social frailty” can be a predictor of dementia.
The study, published in The Journals of Gerontology, looked at data from 851 people over the age of 70 in Sydney’s suburbs who did not have dementia at the time.
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The researchers evaluated social frailty using measures of social support, frequency of social interactions, sense of purpose, engagement in community or volunteer activities, and the individual’s perceived social roles and connectedness, according to a press release.
Based on this analysis, participants were classified as socially frail, pre-frail or non-frail.
The participants were followed for over 12 years, undergoing neuropsychological tests every two years to diagnose any new dementia cases. The researchers adjusted for other factors like physical frailty, psychological frailty and health history.
The study concluded that social frailty was associated with a higher risk of dementia, with socially frail individuals facing about a 47% increased risk compared to those in the non-frail group.
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In most socially frail people, the factors that were most strongly associated with this risk included low financial and family satisfaction, infrequent social contact and limited participation in social activity.
Study co-author and clinical psychologist Dr. Suraj Samtani, UNSW Sydney postdoctoral research fellow at the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing, emphasized the consequences of aging people lacking in social connections.
“In midlife, risk factors like hearing loss and metabolic syndromes like hypertension and diabetes are very important to prevent and manage,” he said in the press release. “But in late life, social isolation is the biggest risk factor for dementia.”
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In an interview with Fox News Digital, co-author and postdoctoral research fellow Dr. Annabel Matison noted that the study population was “generally healthy, well-educated and Caucasian.”
While the researchers would like to confirm these findings among a broader group, Matison commented that the strength of the association between socialization and cognitive decline is “noteworthy.”
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“We hope these findings raise awareness that poor social connections, resources and support are risk factors for dementia,” she said. “We encourage older adults to stay socially active with family, friends and neighbors, and to consider volunteering.”
Aging slowly and staying active
Another recent study by researchers at Cornell University found that social relationships can actually slow cellular aging.
Lead study author Anthony Ong, psychology professor and director of the Human Health Labs in the College of Human Ecology in New York, shared with Fox News Digital how the “depth and consistency” of social connection across a lifetime “matters profoundly.”
“Strong social ties appear to work in the background over many years, building a more resilient body by reducing the chronic, low-grade inflammation that is a key driver of accelerated aging,” he said.
In a previous interview with Fox News Digital, longevity experts David Cravit and Larry Wolf, the Canada-based authors of “The SuperAging Workbook,” shared several aspects of “super-aging,” including attachments to others.
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“I’m lucky enough to have been married to the same wonderful lady for almost 60 years,” Wolf said. “Cultivating contact with people you love, with people you like, and expanding your social network, are all very critical.”
The experts noted that mental and physical exercise are also crucial for keeping the brain young and sharp.
The ‘loneliness epidemic’
Multiple studies have shown that loneliness can be hazardous to humans’ health. In fact, a previous Harvard study found that being lonely is as detrimental as smoking 15 cigarettes per day.
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U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy released an updated notice on the loneliness epidemic in September, reporting a growing decrease in social connection, especially among young people.
Psychiatrist Dr. Daniel Amen, founder of Amen Clinics in California, also commented on the grave impact that loneliness may have on human health.
“The number of friends people have has dropped 40% since 1990,” he said in a previous interview with Fox News Digital. “Why? We’re more connected online, but we’re more disconnected in person.”
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“Loneliness increases stress hormones, making you more vulnerable to anxiety and depression, and it’s just bad for you,” he went on.
“When you’re face-to-face with actual people, your brain has to work so much harder, which ultimately is working out your brain.”
Trump’s Venezuela gamble leaves Russia and China puzzled as tools to pressure Maduro dwindle
Absent direct military action, President Donald Trump is running low on options amid his standoff with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, according to experts.
Strikes near Venezuelan waters aimed at drug traffickers, sanctions and a $50 million bounty have so far been unsuccessful in forcing Maduro, whom the U.S. has designated as a leader of the Tren de Aragua drug cartel, to step down from power.
After repeated threats, adversaries may now view a lack of direct military action as a sign of weakness from the U.S. But Maduro is in an equally difficult position — his own military capabilities are dwarfed in comparison to Trump’s, and experts say China and Russia lack the will to directly challenge the U.S. in its own hemisphere.
Meanwhile, the clock is ticking: Trump’s unprecedented military buildup in the Caribbean — including sending the world’s largest aircraft carrier to the region — is taking away resources from other theaters.
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Katherine Thompson, a senior fellow in defense and foreign policy studies at the libertarian think tank the Cato Institute, said that there are very few tools left at Trump’s disposal to oust Maduro, aside from a targeted strike against the Venezuelan leader or a land invasion.
While the White House has not directly said that it is seeking regime change, recent media reports indicate that Trump and Maduro have spoken about the Venezuelan leader departing his post.
Thompson noted that previous efforts to squeeze out Maduro, including imposing sanctions on Venezuela and backing opposition leader Juan Guaidó during Trump’s first term, have proven unsuccessful.
“It does not seem like there is — outside of the military option — anything new on the table that hasn’t really been tried,” Thompson said.
Even so, Thompson cast doubt on whether military action would prove successful.
“If the offer on the table from the Trump administration is we’re going to potentially execute an invasion unless you talk to us, perhaps that’s a strong enough diplomatic, strategic move that gets Maduro to capitulate,” Thompson said. “But it just doesn’t seem like we’re picking up that many signals from the Maduro regime that that is going to be palatable.”
Meanwhile, Thompson said that adversaries like Russia and China are probably confused about why the Trump administration has fixated on the Maduro regime, which doesn’t jeopardize U.S. interests as much as other actors, when the Trump administration has adopted an “American First” mantra.
“I imagine for them, it’s probably a bit puzzling, if they’re looking at it through a real, brass tacks, realist lens, why this administration would be prioritizing ousting the Maduro regime, as opposed to conflicts in other theaters,” Thompson said.
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As a result, the Trump administration’s actions focusing on Venezuela likely leave a bit of “befuddlement” on the part of Russia and China about how serious the U.S. is about putting American interests first, Thompson said.
She added that China may be wondering if the U.S. diverting resources, such as directing the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to the Caribbean, could provide an opportunity for it to invade Taiwan if the U.S. is tied up with operations in Venezuela. Multiple U.S. officials have said they believe China will be capable of invading Taiwan by 2027.
Will Russia and China back Venezuela?
While there may be greater interest from China to take action within its own theater, experts agreed it was unlikely that Russia or China would actually get involved and back Venezuela should military operations between the U.S. and Caracas escalate — even though Moscow and Beijing are strategic allies with Venezuela.
Some analysts said Maduro would find himself largely isolated if Trump launched military strikes against Venezuela. Russia, still consumed by its war in Ukraine, is unlikely to offer anything beyond denunciations of U.S. action, and China, despite years of deep economic engagement with Caracas, is also expected to stop well short of military involvement, they said.
From Moscow’s perspective, there is both ideological and strategic discomfort with an American intervention — but little appetite or capability to counter it.
“Moscow opposes unilateral U.S. military intervention, especially when aimed at toppling a friendly authoritarian regime. That said, Russia lacks the will and ability to stop U.S. intervention in this part of the world should Trump decide to go that route,” said John Hardie, a Russian military analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD).
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Hardie said Russia is watching Washington’s internal debate carefully.
“Analysts in Moscow interpret the internal debate in Washington over Venezuela as evidence that although Republican views on foreign policy are shifting, the more traditional, hawkish camp still retains influence,” Hardie said. “This whole episode probably also reinforces Russian views of Trump as unpredictable and impulsive, though I suspect Moscow is glad to see Trump prioritizing the Western Hemisphere over other regions more central to Russian interests.”
China’s likely response would mirror its recent behavior in other conflicts. Beijing has major financial stakes in Venezuela but has shown little willingness to risk confrontation with the United States, especially in the Western Hemisphere.
Jack Burnham, a China analyst at FDD, said Maduro should take note of how China behaved during the 12-Day War, when Iran came under intense U.S.- and Israeli-led strikes.
“If Maduro is expecting support from China, he should have had his expectations corrected by Tehran’s recent experience under fire,” Burnham said. “Despite China providing key war-related materials to Iran prior to the 12-Day War, once the conflict escalated, Beijing stood down, content to stand on the sidelines and offer statements.”
Burnham said that same pattern would likely apply now: “If American military action accelerates, look for Beijing to engage in a war of words rather than send badly needed supplies to Caracas.”
Trump’s crusade against drugs
The Trump administration has beefed up its military presence off the coast of Venezuela and has adopted a hard-line approach to address the flow of drugs into the U.S. For example, it designated drug cartel groups like Tren de Aragua, Sinaloa and others as foreign terrorist organizations in February.
The Trump administration has repeatedly said it does not recognize Maduro as a legitimate head of state, but instead, a leader of a drug cartel. In August, the Trump administration upped the reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest to $50 million, labeling him “one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world.”
On Sunday, Trump confirmed that he spoke to Maduro over the phone last week, after The New York Times reported that the two had talked, but declined to provide specifics on what they discussed. However, The Miami Herald reported on Sunday that Trump gave Maduro an ultimatum, guaranteeing the Venezuelan leader and his family safety — if he resigned immediately.
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The White House did not provide comment when asked if the Trump administration is pushing a regime change, and whether Maduro had been offered any incentives to step down. However, the officials said all options are on the table to mitigate the influx of drugs into the U.S.
“President Trump has been clear in his message to Maduro: stop sending drugs and criminals to our country,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement to Fox News Digital on Tuesday. “The President is prepared to use every element of American power to stop drugs from flooding in to our country.”
The White House did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital on The Miami Herald’s report.
Additionally, the New York Post reported on Tuesday that U.S. officials are discussing potentially sending Maduro to Qatar, although officials familiar with Qatar’s role in the negotiations said Maduro will not head there. It’s unclear where Maduro would flee to, and no countries have confirmed they will accept him.
Trump’s reported negotiation with Maduro comes as the strikes in the Caribbean are facing heightened scrutiny from the legal community and lawmakers.
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While lawmakers have questioned the legality of the strikes since the beginning, the attacks have come under renewed scrutiny after the Washington Post reported on Friday that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth verbally ordered everyone on board the alleged drug boat to be killed in a Sept. 2 operation. The Post reported that a second strike was conducted to take out the remaining survivors on the boat.
On Monday, the White House confirmed that a second strike had occurred, but disputed that Hegseth ever gave an initial order to ensure that everyone on board was killed when asked specifically about Hegseth’s instructions.
The White House also said Monday that Hegseth had authorized Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley to conduct the strikes, and that Bradley was the one who ordered and directed the second one.
At the time of the Sept. 2 strike, Bradley was serving as the commander of Joint Special Operations Command, which falls under U.S. Special Operations Command. He is now the head of U.S. Special Operations Command.
According to Hegseth, carrying out a subsequent strike on the alleged drug boat was the right call.
“Admiral Bradley made the correct decision to ultimately sink the boat and eliminate the threat,” Hegseth said Tuesday.
Altogether, the Trump administration has conducted more than 20 strikes against alleged drug boats in Latin American waters, and has enhanced its military presence in the Caribbean to align with Trump’s goal to crack down on drugs entering the U.S.
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The last confirmed strike occurred on Nov. 15. Hegseth said Tuesday that although there has been a pause in strikes in the Caribbean because alleged drug boats are becoming harder to find, the Trump administration’s crusade against drugs will continue.
“We’ve only just begun striking narco-boats and putting narco-terrorists at the bottom of the ocean because they’ve been poisoning the American people,” Hegseth said Tuesday.
Charlamagne tha God supports new airline seating policy, urges personal responsibility
Radio host Charlamagne tha God praised an upcoming airline policy change on Wednesday, saying obese passengers should consider eating less food if they don’t want to buy a second seat to accommodate their size.
Beginning on Jan. 27, 2026, Southwest Airlines will ditch open seating, having previously had a “pick any seat” policy, allowing customers to purchase tickets in different boarding groups by selecting where they wanted to sit upon boarding the plane.
The airline has also cautioned portly customers “who encroach upon the neighboring seat(s)” to proactively purchase the necessary number of seats prior to travel. Next month, however, such customers “will be required to purchase an additional seat and pay any applicable seat fee at the airport.”
“Why don’t they just make them fly cargo?” Charlamagne asked on “The Breakfast Club” radio show as his crew discussed the upcoming change. “And furthermore, I don’t have a problem at all with this, OK? If you are too big for one seat, then you just got to buy two seats. Don’t act like the plane is doing something to you. You know how big you are!”
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“But what if you don’t got the bread to buy another seat, but you fat? You can’t control that,” co-host Jess Hilarious said.
“Well, you shouldn’t have been eating so much bread. You need to stop eating bread. All right? OK. By the way, tall people got to go through this, too! Tall people gotta buy the extra leg-room seats, so it ain’t just fat people that gotta deal with this. If you’re a tall person, you gotta buy extra legroom because you know you need it.”
“I don’t think that this is any wrongdoing of the plane, is what I’m simply saying,” Charlamagne said, going on to mention how stuffing somebody who does not fit well into a seat is not only a disservice to them, but to whomever sits next to them.
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He later concluded by telling listeners, “So Southwest is making a push to cut costs, it’s the new year, you should make a push to cut weight, OK? That should be your New Year’s resolution.”
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